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Esteban Guzman, who was abused by woman in California, tells Guardian such incidents have become ‘increasingly regular’
This article is more than 2 years old
This article is more than 2 years old
A Latino man who was filmed being racially abused by a white California woman has said similar incidents have become “increasingly regular” since Donald Trump took office.
Trump repeats call to deport undocumented migrants without due process Read more
Video of Esteban Guzman being verbally attacked by the unidentified woman has been watched more than a million times since it was shared early on Monday morning.
The footage shows the woman pointing her finger in Guzman’s face.
“Why do you hate us?” Guzman asks.
“Because you’re Mexicans,” the woman replies.
Guzman tells her “we’re honest people”.
“Yeah, rapists. And animals,” the woman says. “Drug dealers.”
The language closely echoes words used by Donald Trump during his campaign and since becoming president. Trump kicked off his campaign by claiming Mexicans seeking immigration were “rapists” and “drug dealers”.
In May Trump, discussing his administration’s efforts to deport “people trying to come in” to the US, said: “These aren’t people. These are animals,” Trump said.
Guzman, 27, works in construction on weekends to supplement his full-time job in IT as a systems administrator. He and his mother were clearing a yard in Running Springs, 80 miles east of Los Angeles, when the woman approached.
“She was yelling at my mom go back to Mexico,” Guzman told the Guardian.
Guzman said he was “afraid” for his mother’s safety when he approached.
Americans are world's most inclusive to immigrant citizens, global study finds Read more
“I was like hey, what’s the problem? And she said we were all illegals,” Guzman said. “I told her: ‘I’m a United States citizen.’ And she obviously she didn’t believe me.”
Guzman said he had suffered racial abuse “all my life”, but said it had become more frequent since Donald Trump’s emergence on the political scene and use of racist rhetoric.
“Ever since last year it’s becoming increasingly more regular,” Guzman said.
“I think his speech gave everybody permission to call us those names and to think bad of us,” Guzman said. ““I know a lot of people that have had it said to them” | 1,266,500 |
Facebook and other social platforms are watching users' chats for criminal activity and notifying police if any suspicious behavior is detected, according to a report.
The screening process begins with scanning software that monitors chats for words or phrases that signal something might be amiss, such as an exchange of personal information or vulgar language.
The software pays more attention to chats between users who don't already have a well-established connection on the site and whose profile data indicate something may be wrong, such as a wide age gap. The scanning program is also "smart" — it's taught to keep an eye out for certain phrases found in the previously obtained chat records from criminals including sexual predators.
If the scanning software flags a suspicious chat exchange, it notifies Facebook security employees, who can then determine if police should be notified.
Keeping most of the scanned chats out of the eyes of Facebook employees may help Facebook deflect criticism from privacy advocates, but whether the scanned chats are deleted or stored permanently is yet unknown.
The new details about Facebook's monitoring system came from an interview which the company's Chief Security Officer Joe Sullivan gave to Reuters. At least one alleged child predator has been brought to trial directly as a result of Facebook's chat scanning, according to Reuters' report.
When asked for a comment, Facebook only repeated the remarks given by Sullivan to Reuters: "We've never wanted to set up an environment where we have employees looking at private communications, so it's really important that we use technology that has a very low false-positive rate."
SEE ALSO: State Law Requires Sex Offenders to List Status on Facebook
Facebook works with law enforcement "where appropriate and to the extent required by law to ensure the safety of the people who use Facebook," according to a page on its site.
"We may disclose information pursuant to subpoenas, court orders, or other requests (including criminal and civil matters) if we have a good faith belief that the response is required by law. This may include respecting requests from jurisdictions outside of the United States where we have a good faith belief that the response is required by law under the local laws in that jurisdiction, apply to users from that jurisdiction, and are consistent with generally accepted international standards. "We may also share information when we have a good faith belief it is necessary to prevent fraud or other illegal activity, to prevent imminent bodily harm, or to protect ourselves and you from people violating our Statement of Rights and Responsibilities. This may include sharing information with other companies, lawyers, courts or other government entities."
Indeed, Facebook has cooperated with police investigations in the past. In April, it complied with a police subpoena from the Boston Police Department by sending printouts of wall posts, photos and login/IP data of a murder suspect.
Is Facebook doing a public service by monitoring chats for criminal behavior? Share your thoughts in the comments.
Image courtesy of iStockphoto, adventtr | 1,266,501 |
UK citizens can now be stripped of their passports for “actual or suspected” activities declared to be “contrary to the public interest” without a legal procedure, Conservative Home Secretary Theresa May has announced.
May told parliament the move is aimed at “individuals who seek to engage in fighting, extremist activity or terrorist training outside the United Kingdom, for example, and then return to the UK with enhanced capabilities that they then use to conduct an attack on UK soil.”
“The need to disrupt people who travel for these purposes has become increasingly apparent with developments in various parts of the world.”
Previously, the Home Office could only confiscate passports if a UK citizen engaged in "demonstrably undesirable" acts. The sanction was applied infrequently, and since 2005 not one Briton has been divested of their travel documents.
Earlier this week Foreign Secretary William Hague said a “substantial number” of UK citizens is fighting in the Syrian conflict as part of radical Islamic groupings. Most of Britain’s domestic terrorists, including the organizers of the 2005 London bombings, received training in terrorist camps in countries such as Afghanistan and Pakistan.
But some experts disagree as to the origin of radical conversion to extremism. The radicalization process is taking place in the UK and not overseas argues defense consultant, Moeen Raoof.
“They are being radicalized in their living groups up and down the country. The television sets are informing the radicalization process,” Raoof told RT. The consultant argues that domestic terrorists are “self-radicalizing or radicalizing in peer groups.”
The Home Office will be able to make the decision to withdraw a passport without consulting Parliament or going through the legal system, as the issuing of foreign passports is a Royal Prerogative, a legacy power possessed by the monarchy, and by proxy, by the Cabinet.
Nonetheless, those refused passports will be informed of the reasons for the rejection.
The new rules will not just cover potential terrorists, but those facing arrest warrants, bail restrictions or international orders. As an example, May said that known football hooligans could be banned from leaving the UK.
But May insisted that despite the wide-ranging discretion given to the Home Office on the issue, the measure will only be used where it is “necessary and proportionate”.
Under the current guidelines, four Britons returning from Guantanamo eight years ago were stripped of their passports. Somali-born UK national Mahdi Hashi went missing while visiting the African country and was reportedly imprisoned at the US base; his family in the UK discovered that his citizenship had been revoked. The new law is expected to be applied much more readily, though the Home Office refused to estimate how many people would lose their travel rights.
Being a Royal Prerogative, the new policy comes into force immediately.
| 1,266,502 |
different is that they use different words (for people who consider themselves to be the smartest thinkers, different words are usually a key indicator of different meanings).
Due process basically says that the government can’t take your stuff without following certain procedures like fair trials. Substantive due process says there are things the government can’t take away from you no matter what. Due process asks whether the government followed all required procedures before taking away someone’s rights (like the right to stay out of prison). Substantive due process asks whether any purpose is sufficient, regardless of what procedures have been employed, to deprive someone of those rights. Now, even seasoned attorneys will tell you that precisely defining “substantive due process” is difficult (and many legal scholars argue that this is because it’s a doctrine without a basis in the Constitution), but the overall point is that “due process” and “substantive due process” are obviously different things with different meanings and significantly different implications.
.@ezraklein The law has EVERYTHING to do with substantive due process.
Popehat (@Popehat) October 16, 2014
It’s okay that Ezra Klein didn’t know the difference before he published his know-it-all piece on how laws work. It’s okay to not know things. What’s not okay is 1) pretending you know everything about everything, 2) refusing to double-check the things you think you know to make sure they’re not, oh, I don’t know, completely false, and then 3) telling the world that this completely false thing is actually true.
Look, I get that this is Vox, and that expecting basic fact-checking from a TMZ-style celebrity photo click farm is about as reasonable as expecting a full day’s worth of nutrition from a Pop Tart and a pack of Skittles, but come on. This isn’t that hard. It’s not like somebody asked Ezra Klein to tell us how old the Constitution is.
UPDATE: Klein has stated on Twitter and in a footnote to the article at issue that the “higher standard” line was “just a typo,” and that the “substantive due process” snafu was a “copy mistake” and he totally knew what he was talking about you guys:
@ezraklein @JGreenDC The meanings of both of your key legal explanations—due process, burden of proof—were inverted by typos? Okay.
Charles C. W. Cooke (@charlescwcooke) October 16, 2014
Here’s the full text of the correction on Klein’s piece as of 4:55 p.m. EST (who knows how many more times it will be updated): | 1,266,503 |
the late 1st and early 2nd century. So, we’re balls deep in underwhelming evidence.
Moreover, there is no contemporaneous mention of Jesus, i.e., nothing written about him during the time he is said to have lived. Now this, alone, does not suggest that there was no historical Jesus. “God knows” there were plenty of folks strewn throughout history that were never contemporaneously attested, but nonetheless existed. However, what it does tell us is that Jesus must not have been terribly significant, if indeed he ever lived. Various peoples and events in the 1st century Greco-Roman world were widely recorded, and there were plenty of contemporary historians who could have mentioned him, most notably Philo of Alexandria. But nary a word.
All of this begs the question: How does a virtual nobody become elevated to the status of a god? To the point that the earliest discussion of him in the New Testament is practically devoid of anything but lofty divinity? Caesar Augustus and Alexander the Great were significant historical figures, so it makes sense that they’d be so deified. But, a relative nobody? A person about whom contemporary and 1st century historians gave zero total fucks?
We come at last to the question of probability: Does all of this make more sense in terms of a historical person mythologized, or a mythical figure historicized? Especially since the initial, Pauline Jesus smacks of the latter? It would seem Jesus is better explained as a god become man, rather than a man become god. Zero to hero seems far less likely than Jesus having simply begun as a mythical hero. How’s that for executing ye olde Law of Parsimony?
It’s not that any of this proves there was no historical Jesus. It’s a question of verisimilitude (probability to you laymen). Based on all of the available information, one has damn good reason to suspect that this magical space-cadet motherfucker never even walked the earth. Perhaps that’s why Glenn Beck’s man-crush, Thomas Paine, had exactly this to say:
These repeated forgeries and falsifications create a well-founded suspicion, that all the cases spoken of concerning the person called Jesus Christ are made cases, on purpose to lug in, and that very clumsily, some broken sentences from the Old Testament, and apply them as prophecies of those cases; and that so far from his being the Son of God, he did not exist even as a man — that he is merely an imaginary or allegorical character, as Apollo, Hercules, Jupiter, and all the deities of antiquity were. There is no history written at the time Jesus Christ is said to have lived that speaks of the existence of such a person, even as a man. -Thomas Paine, The Age of Reason | 1,266,504 |
Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) suggested this week that CNN deliberately tried to silence him in the wake of several mass shootings over the weekend. But the network says Gaetz is deliberately misrepresenting the facts.
The Florida Republican made the suggestion Tuesday in response to CNN noting the number of Republicans who were unwilling to appear on the network to discuss gun laws following the shootings.
Gaetz, a TV-friendly regular on Fox News and other cable-news programs, responded that he was booked on Erin Burnett on Monday, but the show cancelled on him. Then, he claimed, he was also bumped by Anderson Cooper after getting booked on his primetime CNN program.
“I’m ready for the discussion whenever CNN is,” he claimed.
But in a statement to The Daily Beast, a CNN spokesperson pushed back on Gaetz’s claims, saying the congressman’s timeline is all out of whack.
According to the spokesperson, several shows on the network had in fact declined to book Gaetz last week—before the shootings ever took place.
“Wrong Congressman! Your staff pitched you a week ago for an in-studio interview based on your travel to NY. Both shows declined last week, well before the tragic events over the weekend. Those are the facts,” the spokesperson said.
Gaetz responded later on Tuesday saying he was not one of the members of Congress CNN reached out to in the wake of the shooting.
The absence of Republicans lawmakers appearing on non-Fox News networks in the wake of the shootings in El Paso and Dayton has been a subject of some criticism from Democrats and journalists, who believe the politicians should answer questions about the party’s continued opposition to major gun-control measures.
Several prominent news hosts like Tapper and Rachel Maddow pointed out that few Republican elected officials had been willing to appear on CNN, MSNBC, and other mainstream television outlets in the wake of the shootings that left a combined 31 people dead.
Some Republicans, including House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, did sit down for major TV interviews, but with only Fox News. In his Sunday conversation with Fox, the Republican leader blamed violent video games for the mass shootings. Meanwhile, Republican leaders have continued to ignore calls for a serious discussion about possible new gun laws—instead focusing on video games and mental illness.
“We’ve always had guns. We’ve always had evil,” Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said during a weekend interview with Fox News. “But what’s changed where we see this rash of shooting? And I see a video game industry that teaches young people to kill.”
UPDATE: Gaetz responded again to CNN by posting a screenshot of an email showing he was booked to appear Monday evening on CNN. The booking confirmation was from August 2, before the shootings happened. | 1,266,505 |
The research says the country will remain ahead of China.
India will be the base to the economic pole of global growth over the coming decade, remaining ahead of China, according to a Harvard University research.
The study also warns of a continued slowdown in global growth over the coming decade. India and Uganda top the list of the fastest growing economies to 2025, at 7.7 per cent annually.
“The economic pole of global growth has moved over the past few years from China to neighbouring India, where it is likely to stay over the coming decade,” new growth projections presented by researchers at Centre for International Development at Harvard University (CID) said.
Advantage emerging markets
Growth in emerging markets is predicted to continue to outpace that of advanced economies, though not uniformly. The projections are optimistic about new growth hubs in East Africa and new segments of South-East Asia, led by Indonesia and Vietnam.
Researchers attribute India’s rapid growth prospects to the fact that it is particularly well-positioned to continue diversifying into new areas, given the capabilities accumulated to date.
“India has made inroads in diversifying its export base to include more complex sectors, such as chemicals, vehicles, and certain electronics,” it said.
Decline in China’s exports
The new data reveals a decline in China’s exports.
China’s economic complexity ranking also falls four spots for the first time since the global financial crisis.
“China’s rapid growth rate over the past decade has narrowed the gap between its complexity and its income, which researchers suggest is the harbinger of slower growth,” the research said.
The growth projections still have China growing above the world average, though at 4.4 per cent annually for the coming decade, the slowdown relative to the current growth trend is significant, it added.
The growth projections are based on measures of each country’s economic complexity, which captures the diversity and sophistication of the productive capabilities embedded in its exports and the ease with which it could further diversify by expanding those capabilities.
New capabilities
“The major oil economies are experiencing the pitfalls of their reliance on one resource. India, Indonesia, and Vietnam have accumulated new capabilities that allow for more diverse and more complex production that predicts faster growth in the coming years,” said Ricardo Hausmann, director of CID, professor at the Harvard Kennedy School (HKS), and the lead researcher of The Atlas of Economic Complexity.
Uganda joins three other East African countries in the top 10 fastest growing countries, though a significant fraction of that growth is due to rapid population growth. On a per capita basis, Uganda is the only East- African country that remains in the top 10 in the growth projections, though at 4.5 per cent annually its prospects are more modest. | 1,266,506 |
life, and dealing with expanding our timeframes, beginning to think in longer timeframes as we make critical decisions, the kinds of investments which endure through generations. I really appreciate your contribution to that thought process, some very winsome points made, and again, thank you for your time today.
Dr. Tainter: My pleasure.
* * *
Kevin: So many good points, Dave, but I’ll tell you the one I kept writing down while I was listening to you guys talk, was the reserve problem-solving capacity. You can solve a problem many times, but if it is depleting your energy, there is a point where you no longer have that savings in reserve, that energy savings, to get through the next problem.
David: We, of course, are equivocating on the term energy. Energy has two different ideas, here. One, obviously, there was energy required for a complex system long before there was such a thing as fossil fuels, plus we have the notion today that the global economy is dependent on cheap fuel. In a parallel track, and again, I think we are on sort of two separate rails here, you need the renewable sources, as he suggested, or an energy supplement, but there is this other more critical issue of reserves for problem-solving capacity. Reserve problem-solving capacity. In the past, for the State of Rome, it represented gold ounces in the treasury, and they replenished their reserve problem-solving capacity when they took over another country, and it basically represented, from that point forward, the treasury, or the savings of a nation. You are in a very different situation when you don’t have the savings of a nation, and the treasury is not responsible for keeping the wealth of the nation, and in fact, is responsible for the creation of IOUs. Think of what the Treasury does today for us. It is not the repository of national wealth. It is the distributor of national IOUs.
Kevin: So, the new gold is faith in future credit.
David: Which frankly, goes back to a Ponzi scheme which works until it doesn’t work, and is utterly dependent on confidence in the system, on confidence in a complexity which now requires, not only an all-in bet on the part of the Fed, but as we discussed with Joseph today, we are unable to get out of this particular system. We are grinding forward in terms of our progress, until we come to a grinding halt.
Kevin: And just as we began the program, the people in England who were far enough removed from Rome to see the fall started putting away gold coins, Dave. You see what it was that they saved. What was the last ditch effort to create a reserve problem-solving capacity? It was gold.
David: Real money, outside the hands of government. | 1,266,507 |
of Cholesterol
Healthy fats (lipids) are critical to healthy hormone production and therefore overall wellbeing. Hormones are the chemical messengers your bodies uses to create change from your organs, tissues, brain, mindset and metabolism. If your hormones are out of whack, you are destined for emotional, mental and physical challenges. But when we talk about healthy fats, chief amongst them all is Cholesterol.
This might surprise you. While your brain represents about 2-3% of your total body weight, 25% of the cholesterol in your body is found in your brain, where it plays important roles in such things as membrane function, acts as an antioxidant, and serves as the raw material from which we are able to make hormones, critically including vitamin D.
After the brain, the organs hungriest for cholesterol are our endocrine glands: adrenals and sex glands. They produce steroid hormones. Steroid hormones in the body are made from cholesterol: testosterone, progesterone, pregnenolone, androsterone, estrone, estradiol, corticosterone, aldosterone and others.
To read more on Cholesterol, and how it have been wrongly demonised for decades, check out the below article.
#5 – Eggs Improve Brain & Functional Development
Eggs contain Choline. Choline is an essential nutrient for human health and is needed for various processes in the body. Choline is important for liver function, normal brain development, nerve function, muscle movement, supporting energy levels and maintaining a healthy metabolism
The best sources of choline in the diet are egg yolks and beef liver. One large egg contains 117 mg of choline.
#6 – Eggs Protect Eye Degeneration with Antioxidants
There are two antioxidants in eggs that can have powerful protective effects on the eyes and promote good eye health. They are called lutein and zeaxanthin, both found in the yolk.
Lutein and zeaxanthin tend to accumulate in the retina, the sensory part of the eye, where they protect the eyes from harmful sunlight and can dramtically reduce the risk of macular degeneration and cataracts.
So, Here’s Some Eggs-tra #Foodporn
Like you needed it! Eggs for brunch tomorrow… anyone?
Eggs are amazing. No need to hold back from your urges any longer, or ration yourself as you were once advised. How many eggs per week should you eat? As many as you like!
#BeYourBest
Enjoyed the read? Articles, our shorter Micro Blog sections, grab Healthy Meal Ideas from AdapNation Food Diary, and Free Gym Workout Plans at #HyperWorkouts. Comment below, and check out our longer-form, our shorter, grab Healthy Meal Ideas from, and Free Gym Workout Plans at | 1,266,508 |
the brain, it can lead to brain damage, coma, and death. The best available treatment option for people with UCD today is a liver transplant.
Synlogic aims to treat UCD with a daily biotic that functions in a surprising way: “It can decrease the ammonia in the bloodstream, without even contacting the blood,” Lu says.
Ammonia levels in the bloodstream, he explains, are dependent on ammonia production in the large intestine. Synlogic’s biotic converts intestinal ammonia into an amino acid, which is flushed out of the body through the stool, thereby dramatically reducing the flow of ammonia to the blood and reducing ammonia levels in the bloodstream.
Synlogic’s biotic for PKU, which affects 13,000 people in the United States, functions in a similar way, to regulate the processing and extraction of phenylalanine. PKU patients must adhere to a lifelong, extremely low-protein diet that can result in serious developmental disorders, because they can’t eat normal foods that contain phenylalanine — including many meat, dairy, and seafood products. “If we can degrade phenylalanine with convenient administration of this probiotic, that will change the course of this disease,” Lu says.
Collins says Synlogic has potential to treat many other rare genetic metabolic disorders. But the recent AbbVie deal, he says, also “opens up possibilities of using these microbes to produce biologics or other small molecules to treat a range of conditions.” These include cardiovascular disease and autoimmune, oncology, and central nervous system disorders, which have been linked to metabolic dysregulation.
Reaching clinical efficacy
Part of the reason that probiotic treatments are not used for serious diseases is their lack of clinically validated efficacy. Synlogic, on the other hand, aims to overcome these efficacy issues with potent and precision-programmed synthetic biotics, Lu says.
For example, in engineering the safe and easily programmable E. coli Nissle, Synlogic engineers have designed the microbe to consume a massive amount of toxic metabolites. The E. coli Nissle strain that forms the basis of Synlogic’s UCD program, for instance, can consume orders of magnitude more ammonia than natural E. coli can, Lu says. “For this treatment to work for patients, you want the max performance you can squeeze out of any one of these biotics,” he says.
Based on their preclinical data, Synlogic’s treatments have the potential to reach “clinical levels” of efficacy not seen often in synthetic biology, says Collins: “Synlogic is programming these probiotic microbes to consume ammonia or phenylalanine for example, and they are reaching levels that are expected to be clinically meaningful, which is quite remarkable.” | 1,266,509 |
is necessary because, as a substitute, he does not hold an educator's license, Yazbak said.
As for Patten, "any investigation by CSDE would depend on the outcome of the Montville district/police department's investigation," he said.
Police: Teacher on video encouraging fighting
As part of their investigation into Fish, police obtained a search warrant to access all relevant video clips that had been sent to school administrators. A trooper reviewed the footage and determined there had been two fights, each occurring on a separate day and each involving two teenagers. Both occurred about 1:50 p.m., and both were between students who didn’t appear to be evenly matched, police noted.
Police identified four juveniles — one 14-year-old boy, one 15-year-old boy and two 16-year-old boys — as victims. At least one of them was not a willing participant in the fights, police said, and at least three of them weren’t assigned to Fish’s classroom.
In the videos, the affidavit states, Fish can be seen encouraging the fighting. In one of the fights, police said, one of the two participants stopped fighting because he started throwing up. According to the affidavit, Fish tried to get the two to start fighting again after the victim stopped vomiting.
One of the victims told police that Fish additionally allowed students to draw lewd pictures on the board and encouraged them to add him on Snapchat.
Another victim said Fish “didn’t really set up the fights but he would watch them.”
A third victim described Fish as a mentor, police said.
In an interview with police, the affidavit states, Fish said he started teaching in August and had about 15 freshmen in his room. He told police the fights began in September as horseplay and became more serious, the affidavit states. Fish allegedly said he knew of four fights that had happened in his classroom.
Fish told police that he wanted his students to feel comfortable opening up to him. He also said he was “immature” and an “idiot” who wanted to befriend his students, according to the affidavit.
Fish was arraigned Thursday in Superior Court in Norwich. He was appointed a public defender. Judge Arthur C. Hadden ordered him released on a written promise to appear in court and scheduled his next court date for May 9.
Underground brawling groups were in part popularized by Chuck Palahniuk's 1996 novel, "Fight Club," followed by the 1999 film of the same name, directed by David Fincher.
Some parents on Facebook indicated they had heard students were slapboxing, which simulates boxing or sparring but involves open-hand slaps instead of fists.
[email protected]
[email protected] | 1,266,510 |
(Reuters) - Warren Buffett's company will become the biggest shareholder in Bank of America Corp BAC.N, after Berkshire Hathaway Inc BRKa.N on Friday invoked its right to acquire 700 million shares of the second-largest U.S. bank.
Berkshire will take a roughly 7 percent ownership stake, worth about $17 billion based on Bank of America’s closing price of $24.32 on Thursday.
The transaction will make Bank of America one of Berkshire's largest equity investments, joining Apple Inc AAPL.O, Coca-Cola Co KO.N, Kraft Heinz Co KHC.O and Wells Fargo & Co WFC.N, the nation's third-largest bank.
It was made possible by Bank of America’s June 28 decision to boost its quarterly dividend to 12 cents per share from 7.5 cents, after passing the Federal Reserve’s latest “stress test” of its capacity to weather difficult markets.
Shares of Bank of America were up 16 cents at $24.48 in early trading on Friday.
Berkshire will exercise warrants to acquire the 700 million common shares when Charlotte, North Carolina-based Bank of America increases its dividend, expected in the third quarter.
It will swap the $5 billion of Bank of America preferred shares it bought in August 2011 for the common stock, in a cash-free exchange.
Slideshow ( 2 images )
Berkshire is sitting on a roughly $12 billion paper profit, because Bank of America’s stock price is more than triple the $7.14 exercise price for the warrants.
After the swap is completed, Buffett will begin collecting $336 million of annual dividends, more than the $300 million he gets from the preferred shares, which have a 6 percent dividend.
Berkshire is also the largest shareholder in Wells Fargo, which sends Buffett close to $800 million of annual dividends.
The billionaire investor’s Omaha, Nebraska-based conglomerate also owns more than 90 businesses such as the Geico car insurer, Dairy Queen ice cream and BNSF railroad.
Brian Moynihan, Bank of America’s chief executive, accepted Buffett’s investment when many investors worried whether the lender would have enough capital.
The bank was only about midway through a multi-year process to clean up its balance sheet, litigation and regulatory probes, largely from its purchases of Countrywide Financial Corp and Merrill Lynch & Co. That process cost more than $70 billion.
Buffett has often praised Moynihan’s leadership, telling CNBC in September 2015 that Moynihan resuscitated a bank that had been a “terrible mess.”
Bank of America’s current largest shareholder is Vanguard Group, whose 652.4 million shares give it a 6.6 percent stake, Reuters data show. | 1,266,511 |
Japanese engine manufacturer Honda has confirmed that it has held initial discussions with the FIA's Formula E series about potentially moving into the all-electric championship.
Honda achieved a break-through success in Formula 1 last weekend when it claimed victory in the Austrian Grand Prix in partnership with Red Bull Racing and Max Verstappen.
It's their first race win in F1 since their return to the sport in 2014.
However rumours persist that the company's senior management will be meeting in coming weeks to decide whether to continue their involvement in the top tier of motorsport.
Currently, Honda provides engines to Red Bull and to its sister team Toro Rosso. It's put behind it a troubled three-year partnership with McLaren that ended in acrimony and a distinct lack of on-track success.
But speculation that Honda is actively looking into joining Formula E adds a new level of doubt about their future intentions in F1.
“As Honda, we have conversations with Alejandro Agag," Honda’s F1 managing director Masashi Yamamoto told Motorsport.com this week, referring to the series' founder and CEO.
“Formula E is done inside of cities, as a street race, and it’s kind of like advertising using racing, rather than pure racing," he explained.
Honda is about to roll out its new Honda e electric vehicle in Europe, which explains the timing of its interest in the series.
“There are many Honda customers who are interested in our electric cars so it’s good to appeal to them," said Yamamoto.
"There must be technology we can take away from the races to the road cars. That’s the reason we have interest.”
But even if Honda is interested in joining Formula E, it would not be until 2021/22 when the next homologation period opens up to allow new manufacturers to enter. And as things stand, the grid has already reached its maximum capacity.
Mercedes-Benz will be joining Formula E as a manufacturer next season, after deciding to cut its existing ties with DTM. Also set to join the championship for season 6 is Porsche.
Meanwhile Renault has gone in the other direction. Signing up as one of the original manufacturers in Formula E, it has since pulled out and handed over its Formula E operations to Nissan.
In any case, Yamamoto was keen to say that any move toward Formula E did not mean that Honda was considering leaving F1.
"We want to focus on F1," he said. "If Honda races, we have to win. We have to reach a certain level to be satisfied in this category. That's the first priority for us at the moment."
Gallery: The beautiful wives and girlfriends of F1 drivers
Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter | 1,266,512 |
As music sales have dwindled over the years, artists have increasingly turned to making special editions of their albums to entice hardcore fans to spend more hard-earned cash — but there's never been an album quite like what Wu-Tang Clan is cooking up. In addition to releasing a 20th anniversary album this summer called A Better Tomorrow, the hip-hop collective also recorded a double album in secret over the last two years — and is only releasing one single copy of it.
As reported by Forbes, The Wu - Once Upon A Time In Shaolin will be encased in a silver and nickel box crafted by British-Moroccan artist Yahya and will probably sell for millions of dollars. However, before it is sold, the one-of-a-kind album will tour the world as many other famous pieces of art do, with stops at museums, galleries, and potentially music festivals. Fans will be charged a cost to attend a "listening event," where they'll get a chance to hear the album on headphones after being carefully screened for recording materials.
"We're making a single-sale collector's item. This is like somebody having the scepter of an Egyptian king."
"We're about to put out a piece of art like nobody else has done in the history of [modern] music," says Wu-Tang Clan member Robert "RZA" Diggs. "We're making a single-sale collector's item. This is like somebody having the scepter of an Egyptian king."
Once that exhibition tour is complete, Wu-Tang Clan will sell the album for an unspecified price in the millions of dollars — from there, its owner will be free to do what it wants with it. While it's too early to say who will shell out the cash for this unique item, Forbes speculates that brands may be interested in the cachet of having this exclusive album; another option may include a wealthy collector purchasing it and either liberating the audio for the masses, or keeping the songs.
"The idea that music is art has been something we advocated for years," says RZA. "And yet it doesn't receive the same treatment as art in the sense of the value of what it is, especially nowadays when it's been devalued and diminished to almost the point that it has to be given away for free." Whether or not Wu-Tang Clan is able to find enough people who want to go experience their album in a museum to make an impact remains to be seen — as does the viability of a multi-million dollar unique pressing of that album, but the group is OK with its plan going awry. "It might totally flop, and we might be completely ridiculed," says co-producer Tarik "Cilvaringz" Azzougarh. "But the essence and core of our ideas is to inspire creation and originality and debate, and save the music album from dying." | 1,266,513 |
Amidst at 2-10 start the Wild have fired Iowa Wild coach Kurt Kleinendorst, according to Michael Russo of the Star Tribune. Russo says, “Kleinendorst, 53, was informed of the Wild’s decision by director of minor-league operations Jim Mill after Sunday’s loss to the Chicago Wolves. An announcement is expected Tuesday morning.”
BREAKING per sources: #mnwild fires Iowa coach Kurt Kleinendorst, re-hires John Torchetti as replacement http://t.co/PuFb0pQRli — Michael Russo (@Russostrib) November 11, 2014
Iowa currently sits at the bottom of the AHL after coming off a season where they finished in last place in the Western Conference, making for a thus far unceremonious arrival in Des Moines.
According to Russo’s sources the team has tabbed former Houston Aeros coach John Torchetti to replace Kleinendorst. Torchetti is said to be starting the job immediately and will be at practice tomorrow.
Torchetti coached the Aeros to the back-to-back postseason appearances with a regular season record of 75-51-26 before using an out-clause in his contract to head to the KHL to coach CSKA Moscow the season the team moved to Iowa. For more about Torchetti, check out Russo’s blog post.
The team is not bereft of talent, though there are questions about depth, but there’s really no reason for the team to be 2-10. It’s a roster that boasts some NHL experience with Jordan Schroeder, Justin Falk, Stu Bickel, Stephane Veilleux (though he’s with the NHL squad right now), Cody Almong, and others. There’s also Finnish star Michael Keranen, QMJHL standout Guillaume Gelinas, and plenty of other talented players who, on paper, shouldn’t be a recipe for a 2-10 team.
It’s somewhat alarming with the Wild already having their depth tested in a slate of injuries 15 games into the season that has included at different points Zach Parise, Jonas Brodin, Matt Cooke, Josh Harding, Jared Spurgeon, Keith Ballard, and Christian Folin.
Iowa has lost five straight games and has been outscored this season 27 to 46.
Derek wrote about the struggles in Iowa here, which is a good read you should take a look at. Derek discusses a lot of the lead up to what’s now happening, how Kleinendorst appeared to have lost the room, stopped talking to reporters, and was laying the blame at the feet of the team.
The Wild play in Milwaukee against the Admirals on Wednesday and then have a weekend series against the Oklahoma City Barons in Des Moines. | 1,266,514 |
Published in the October 2013 80th Anniversary issue
When our federal government is so stubbornly committed to failure, our only recourse is to look to the local. Adapted from Esquire's 80 Things, here are seven mayors from around the country who are actually doing their jobs and doing them well.
JULIÁN CASTRO, 39
San Antonio (population 1.36 million)
Created a pre-K program that will allow 22,000 low-income four-year-olds to attend school.
TERRY BELLAMY, 41
Asheville, N.C. (population 85,000)
Reduced carbon emissions by 18 percent in five years; first African-American and youngest mayor in the city's history; homecoming queen of Asheville High School.
MICHAEL NUTTER, 56
Philadelphia (population 1.536 million)
Launched an initiative to reduce gun violence by targeting repeat offenders and teaching gun safety, which led to a 40 percent drop in shooting victims; created nearly 10,000 summer jobs for city youths.
SHANE BEMIS, 41
Gresham, Oreg. (population 107,000)
Enabled 144 small businesses to open in three years by waiving all fees and charges for new businesses if they moved into previously vacant spaces; currently replacing all of Gresham's streetlights with LED bulbs; owns Boccelli's Ristorante, described on Yelp as "the best restaurant in Gresham. Granted that's not a high bar, but still the best."
ANNISE PARKER, 57
Houston (population 2.14 million)
Total number of jobs have grown 13.1 percent since she became mayor in 2010, the highest rate of improvement among large cities; first gay mayor of a major American city; former oil executive who champions renewable energy; raised a teenager she met at a pride parade.
R. REX PARRIS, 61
Lancaster, Calif. (population 157,000)
Requires all new homes to be powered by solar panels in an effort to make Lancaster the first energy-self-sufficient town; explains his acceptance of climate-change science by saying he "may be a Republican" but he's "not an idiot."
JERRY GIST, 71
Jackson, Tenn. (population 65,000)
Improved the health of citizens by making groceries available in food deserts, improving biking and walking paths, and reducing health-care costs by $2 million in the first year of reforms; describes his role as the mayor of a small town as the one "everybody calls."
This content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano.io | 1,266,515 |
Melania Trump lives in the White House as a virtual prisoner of the Secret Service and is hiding a strong personality, suggests Brigitte Macron.
The wife of the French president praised the first lady and told of her fun side after a three-day visit to Washington.
Yet to many Mrs Trump seemed stern and unsmiling compared to the repeated hand-holding and hugging her husband and French President Emmanuel Macron shared during the trip.
Melania Trump lives in the White House as a virtual prisoner of the Secret Service and is hiding a strong personality, suggests Brigitte Macron (far left)
Yet to many Mrs Trump seemed stern and unsmiling compared to the repeated hand-holding and hugging her husband and French President Emmanuel Macron shared during the trip
President Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron shake hands during a news conference in the East Room of the White House in Washington, Tuesday, April 24, 2018
As their husbands chat on the night of the state dinner, the two first wives sit down and, according to Mrs Macron, start to build a solid relationship
The image portrayed by the 48-year-old is allegedly a lie, Mrs Macron, 65, said: ‘On the contrary she is really fun. We have the same sense of humour. We laugh a lot together.
‘Everything is interpreted, over-interpreted. She’s someone who has a strong personality but she makes an effort to hide it.’
Mrs Macron also offered sympathy for the restricted life she believes Mrs Trump must live: ‘She is much more constrained than me. Melania can’t do anything.
‘The security is terrible. She can’t even open a window at the White House because immediately the security services call and say “close it”.
The image portrayed by the 48-year-old is allegedly a lie, Mrs Macron, 65, said: ‘On the contrary she is really fun. We have the same sense of humour. We laugh a lot together'
President Donald Trump, first lady Melania Trump, French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte Macron, pose for photographs as they arrive for a State Dinner at the White House
She can’t put a foot outside,’ Mrs Macron told French reporters. ‘Every day, I go out in Paris.’
The two first ladies held on to each other while balancing on their towering heels during the White House welcome ceremony, Le Monde reported.
Twenty-five years older than her husband, Mrs Macron spoke of her life at the Élysée Palace after nearly a year there, The Times said.
The former teacher, whose relationship with Mr Macron began when he was her teenage pupil, said she has been forced to restrain her energy but insists she won’t be changing herself as she has nothing to prove at her age. | 1,266,516 |
business
Updated: Mar 18, 2019 12:46 IST
Travelling this summer and looking for destinations with visa on arrival? Consider this: If you visit Thailand before April 30 this year, you won’t have to pay for your visa, which would have otherwise cost you ₹3,000. In fact, there are at least eight countries where you don’t have to pay a fee for your visa, according to data compiled by Cox & Kings.
More than 50 countries across the world provide visa on arrival for Indian citizens. “Currently, 59 countries from around the world offer visa on arrival facility to Indian passport holders. Recently added to the list are Kazakhstan, Thailand and Turkey [Indian passport holders who for have valid visa or residence permit from Schengen, US, UK and Ireland],” said Sharat Dhall, chief operating officer, business to consumer, Yatra.com, an online travel firm.
The number of countries where you have the facility of visa on arrival has increased, mainly owing to the soaring number of international travel from India. “The outbound travel segment in India is growing rapidly. In the last five to six years, the number of countries that has granted visa exemptions or simplified visa processes to Indians grew tremendously,” said Karan Anand, head, relationships, Cox & Kings. In fact, the number of Indians visiting countries with visa on arrival facility has increased post visa relaxation. “We have seen that the overall traffic to a specific country increases once they move to visa on arrival. Thailand had great footfall during December, January and February when they made it easy by making providing visas on arrival for free,” said Raj Kiran, operations manager, Pickyourtrail.com, a travel tech startup.
In case of visa on arrival option, usually the cost of visa ranges between ₹1,800 and ₹8,800, depending on the country you are visiting, according to data compiled by Pickyourtrail.com. The rate also changes based on the currency fluctuation.
In the case of countries for which you have to apply for visa in advance and obtain it before travelling, the duration differs from country to country. Usually, the duration to get tourist visa approval ranges from 3-30 working days, according to Cox & Kings. For instance, a Singapore visa take three working days for approval, compared to 15 working days for UK visa. Some countries have, in fact, increased the cost of visa as well. “Lately, USA and Turkey have increased their visa fees. Schengen visa fees keeps changing as per the current exchange rate,” said Anand.
If you are looking for a quick break, don’t like to go through the visa process and don’t have a specific country in mind, the visa on arrival option may be useful for you. | 1,266,517 |
SEC issues warning on initial coin offerings
The Securities and Exchange Commission took its first steps to rein in startups that have raised money by selling their own virtual currencies, a growing trend known as initial coin offerings.
The agency said Tuesday that it had concluded after an internal investigation that at least some virtual currencies being sold to investors should be categorized as securities and needed to follow federal securities laws.
Since the beginning of the year, startups and entrepreneurs have raised more than $1 billion by selling custom-made virtual currencies to investors in initial coin offerings.
MBA BY THE BAY: See how an MBA could change your life with SFGATE's interactive directory of Bay Area programs.
Most companies selling virtual currencies in recent months have done so with little regulatory oversight and have not made any effort to comply with securities laws, which, among other things, requires companies to disclose information about their operations before collecting money from U.S. investors.
Many lawyers have warned that the fundraising method was likely to draw attention from regulators. The announcement Tuesday suggested that the agency was likely to scrutinize both past and future coin offerings.
“The writing is on the wall for many recent ICOs: The SEC is coming,” said Brian Klein, a former federal prosecutor who now works at the law firm Baker Marquart.
The price of virtual coins that have recently been sold to investors dropped sharply after the announcement came out Tuesday, according to the exchanges where they are bought and sold.
The SEC did leave open the possibility that some coins could be devised so that they are not defined as securities, depending on the “economic realities of the transaction.”
Lawyers have said that coins could avoid being categorized as securities if they do not promise any returns to investors and do not represent any sort of ownership in the company that creates the coin, among other attributes.
The SEC focused its report on the Decentralized Autonomous Organization, a project that raised nearly $150 million in 2016 before quickly succumbing to hackers. The project aimed to raise money from investors and then invest it in other projects, like a leaderless venture capital fund.
The regulators said Tuesday that the tokens sold by the organization were indeed securities, but they added that they would not bring charges against the organization’s creators.
Still, the announcement made it clear that the agency could decide to go after other projects as well as the exchanges where the digital currencies are bought and sold. Only registered securities exchanges are allowed to offer securities for sale, the SEC said.
Some companies could devise their initial coin offerings to comply with securities law, which would probably limit significantly the number of investors who could participate.
Companies could also seek to bypass the rules by not offering the coins to U.S. investors, which would also limit the potential number of investors.
Nathaniel Popper is a New York Times writer. | 1,266,518 |
Ferdinand Marcos can’t really have too much in the way of morality restraining him, and so his association with Yanukovych was perfectly natural. But make no mistake, Manafort’s claim that his role with Yanukovych started and ended with negotiating some “framework” with Europe is, at the very minimum, an enormous lie of omission.
Yanukovych, of course, became a ruinous president for Ukraine. His blatant corruption must have been known to Manafort, but Manafort turned a blind eye to that and got on with helping his client in various ways, including an attempt to buy up local media in the southern city of Odessa (using money from the aforementioned Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska) so that messages leading to support of Yanukovych’s Party of Regions could be crafted and delivered, and also helping to orchestrate protests against a NATO training exercise taking place in Crimea, stating the obvious now, that’s nothing whatsoever to do with Europe.
‘When I completed, I left’
This, also, is simply not true. It appears that Manafort wants to create the impression that he did a good thing for Ukraine (he certainly didn’t,) and left as a winner because he saw the job through to the end (he didn’t do that either.)
With Yanukovych having taken up exile in Russia after his power base collapsed when his former allies were calling for a Parliamentary session to seek his impeachment, Manafort’s Ukraine gravy train was more or less ending, but it wasn’t completely over, he still had a few people seeking his advice.
Manafort’s swan song in Kyiv wasn’t in helping to push the EU – Ukraine Association Agreement and DCFTA over the finish line, when those things were in fact signed he had absolutely nothing to do with it, as these agreements were completed after negotiations with the post-revolutionary leaders of Ukraine, with whom Manafort had almost zero involvement.
The job that Manafort actually completed before he left Ukraine was taking the shell of the now defunct Party of Regions, and helping with an image make over, again. A few (quite rich) politicians wanted to stay together, but a rebrand was needed, and so Manafort helped to create the party, name, image, that is now the “Opposition Bloc” on Ukraine’s current political scene. Although a more appropriate name might have been the Obstructionist Bloc, judging by their voting records in parliament.
The creation of the Opposition Bloc and the crimes attributable to the period when Yanukovych was president are the twin legacies of Manafort’s work in Ukraine. The statement he made to cover this reality is laced with falsehood.
Fact checking, as per his invitation, Manafort’s pants are on fire. But, in the very near future this is likely to be the least of his problems. | 1,266,519 |
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Shenmue III developer Ys Net has promised its Kickstarter backers that it is “listening to their concerns” after it signed a one-year PC exclusivity deal with Epic Game Store. In a brief update on its Kickstarter page, the studio asked for fans “to have some patience” as it finished up its E3 activities, but says it will “assess the situation and together find a way forward to justify the trust you placed in us”.
Shenmue III is the latest game to become a timed PC exclusive on Epic Game Store. Despite fan disappointment and an angry backlash, Ys Net has confirmed “refunds will not be granted” for those upset the game will not be coming to Steam at the same time.
“We want to make sure that the Backers are aware that we are listening to their concerns,” said a brief statement on the company’s most recent Kickstarter update (thanks, PC Gamer). “We kindly ask all our fans to have some patience, we are currently at E3 demoing the game and need to get back to our respective offices to assess the situation and together find a way forward to justify the trust you placed in us. Thank you for your patience and support.”
Shenmue III was first announced at PlayStation’s E3 press conference in 2015, the same year it was successfully Kickstarted to the tune of $6,333,295 – breaking world records in the process. Since then the original 2017 release has been pushed back several times, moving from 2017 to early 2018, then August 2019, and – as of last week – now November 2019.
Deep Silver and creator Yu Suzuki stated that “whilst [the game is] almost ready” the highly-anticipated sequel “simply needs a little more refinement before being truly finished”.
Epic has recently announced a slew of exclusive titles for Epic Game Store from partners as wide-ranging as Take-Two’s Private Division, Quantic Dream, Remedy, and 505 Games. Following the success of The Division 2, Ubisoft has committed to launching more new titles, and back catalogue titles, on the store, too, continuing its partnership where titles are exclusive to UPlay and Epic Game Store. Some of those back catalogue titles have also been promised as part of the free games programme.
The most startling inclusion in the list of true exclusives are PC releases of Quantic Dream’s last three games: Heavy Rain, Beyond: Two Souls, and Detroit: Become Human, all of which are coming to PC for the first time via Epic’s store. Mobius also confirmed last month that its Fig-funded space exploration game, Outer Wilds, will be a PC exclusive for Epic Games Store, much to the disappointment of many backers. | 1,266,520 |
107 pilot whales die after mass stranding on remote New Zealand beach
All members of a pod of 107 pilot whales that stranded on a remote New Zealand beach have died, including 48 that were euthanised.
The stranded whales were discovered by hikers on Sunday near Cavalier Creek on Stewart Island, off the southern tip of New Zealand's South Island.
Conservation department staff flew to the area and found that about half of the group were already dead and the others were dying, the the government's conservation agency said in a statement.
Grisly: 107 pilot whales were found stranded on a remote beach in Cavalier Creek on Stewart Island, off the southern tip of New Zealand's South Island
WHY STRANDED WHALES ARE PUT DOWN
Animal welfare groups, including the RSPCA, believe stranded whales should be humanely put down rather than rescued.
They say there is evidence that the creatures have ‘little or no chance’ of survival once they are trapped on the shore or in shallow waters.
The new policy was announced in 2009 as more than 70 long-finned pilot whales died after beaching themselves on a remote south-west Australian beach.
The RSPCA acknowledged its policy change was controversial but said it had to put the welfare of whales first.
The new approach covers all the major deep sea whales.
Dolphins and porpoises are less vulnerable and will still be rescued.
Whales will be killed by a lethal injection once a vet and marine mammal experts have checked the scene.
The whales were well up the beach and the tide was receding, leaving little chance of keeping them alive until more rescuers could arrive.
'Euthanasia is a difficult decision, but is made purely for the welfare of the animal involved to prevent it from prolonged suffering,' said Brent Beaven, the official who led the team at the site.
Pilot whales are about 13 feet to 20 feet (4 meters to 6 meters) long and are the most common species of whale in New Zealand waters.
Whale strandings are common in New Zealand.
Last month, 24 pilot whales died after stranding on the North Island.
In December 2009, more than 120 whales died in two separate beachings near Golden Bay and on the east coast of North Island.
Many unexplained deaths of marine mammals could be caused by soundwaves from underwater military sonar equipment, zoologists believe.
They think the signals may cause bubbles in the animals' tissue, in the same way as divers can suffer decompression sickness known as 'the bends'
Experts have long feared whales and dolphins are being deafened by the noise from shipping and drilling, although it is not known if there were any naval operations in the area at the time of this weekend's stranding. | 1,266,521 |
Man of Mystery
Roger J. Stone Jr.
Few alliances in politics are as complicated as the 40-year relationship between the Nixon-tattooed Mr. Stone and Mr. Trump. Mr. Stone won’t say how frequently they speak these days, but he shares the president’s tear-down-the-system impulses and is ubiquitous on cable news, radio and the website InfoWars defending Mr. Trump.
The Clubgoers
Ike Perlmutter
Mr. Perlmutter, the chief executive of Marvel Comics, who is so reclusive that there are few public photographs of him, has been informally advising Mr. Trump on veterans issues. The two men are old friends, and Mr. Perlmutter has been a presence at Mar-a-Lago.
Robert Kraft
The owner of the New England Patriots is a Democrat, but his loyalty to Mr. Trump, Mr. Kraft once said, dates partly to the president’s thoughtfulness when Mr. Kraft’s wife died. Mr. Trump loved talking about the Patriots during the campaign, and Mr. Kraft has been a Mar-a-Lago presence since the transition.
The First Lady
Melania Trump
Mrs. Trump is uninterested in the limelight, but she has remained a powerful adviser by telephone from New York. Among her roles: giving Mr. Trump feedback on media coverage, counseling him on staff choices and urging him, repeatedly, to tone down his Twitter feed. Lately, he has listened closely, and has a more disciplined Twitter finger.
The Governor
Chris Christie
Mr. Kushner, the president’s son-in-law and palace gatekeeper, has shown a capacity to hobble his rivals, but few have been finished off. The most durable has been Mr. Christie, whose transition planning, several West Wing aides now concede, should not have been discarded. He has been a frequent Oval Office visitor and has worked with the White House on the opioid addiction crisis.
The Speaker
Paul D. Ryan
Mr. Trump and the clean-cut and wonky Wisconsinite aren’t exactly best friends forever. But their relationship is closer than in the bad old days of the 2016 campaign when Mr. Ryan delayed a hold-my-nose endorsement of Mr. Trump, whose morality he had long questioned. But as the president’s agenda passes through the razor-blade gantlet of the House, where Mr. Ryan faces the constant threat of opposition and overthrow, the two men have become foxhole buddies.
The Sons
Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump
The two sons and the president insist they no longer discuss company business. But the family is close, and Mr. Trump still speaks to his sons frequently, inquiring about their lives and searching for gut-checks on his own. | 1,266,522 |
The importance of security should never be underestimated. The consequences of losing data can be disastrous for any organisation. For example, the loss of a single unencrypted laptop may have huge repercussions. This could include breaching data protection legislation with the risk of a significant fine, a loss in the confidence of an organisation, as well as the risk that sensitive data may fall into the hands of a competitor or third party with malicious intent.
Of course, whenever information is accessible, there is the risk of its loss. A misdirected fax or a misdelivered letter can lead to sensitive information being disclosed in error. But the severity and ramifications of that risk is exacerbated when the data is stored on a computer. Modern computer hard disks have the capacity to store a gargantuan amount of data. A single hard disk may hold personal details of hundreds of thousands or even millions of individuals. In the event that the data is not encrypted, the loss of the hard disk may represent an organisation’s worst nightmare. The actual cost of replacing the hard disk of the machine pales into insignificance compared to the loss of the confidential information and customer security.
Disk encryption is one method to help minimise the risks by preventing unauthorised access to data storage, to ensure safe information exchanges, safeguard against data leakage, and manage compliance. This form of security is useful for any computer that holds personal information, not only laptops. Disk encryption uses disk encryption software to encrypt the entire hard disk. The onus is therefore not on the user to determine what data should be encrypted, or to remember to manually encrypt files. By encrypting the entire disk, temporary files, which may reveal important confidential data, are also protected. Security is enhanced further when disk encryption is combined with filesystem-level encryption.
Many organisations and individuals need to encrypt sensitive files but do not have the funds to buy disk encryption software. Fortunately, there is a good selection of open source software available to download at no charge that offers good functionality. There are many different tools that allow for disk encryption.
To provide an insight into the open source software that is available, we have compiled a list of 5 notable disk encryption tools. Hopefully, there will be something of interest here for anyone who wants easy-to-use data encryption and security.
So, let’s explore the 5 disk encryption tools at hand. For each application we have compiled its own portal page, a full description with an in-depth analysis of its features, screenshots, together with links to relevant resources and reviews.
Disk Encryption Tools loop-AES Encrypt disk partitions, removable media, swap space and other devices dm-crypt Transparent disk encryption subsystem cryptsetup Configures encrypted block devices SD4L Hides complete file systems within encrypted regular files TrueCrypt Used for on-the-fly encryption
Return to our complete collection of recommended free and open source software including our latest additions.
Related articles | 1,266,523 |
"A president can run the country," President Donald Trump said. "And that's what happened, George. I run the country." | Evan Vucci/AP Photo White House Trump: ‘I run the country’
President Donald Trump stood firm in his belief that former special counsel Robert Mueller absolved him of any crimes, adding that he had every right to fire Mueller if he wanted to.
Speaking with ABC News' George Stephanopoulos in an interview segment broadcast Sunday morning, Trump dove into the Mueller investigation into the 2016 election, justifying his decision not to speak with the special counsel's team.
While denying he ever had any such plans, the president also argued that firing Mueller would not have amounted to obstruction. Former White House Counsel Don McGahn has testified that Trump wanted to fire Mueller, which Trump disputed during the interview.
"A president can't obstruct justice?" Stephanopoulos asked.
"A president can run the country," Trump responded. "And that's what happened, George. I run the country."
Reflecting the famous 1977 interviews between David Frost and former President Richard Nixon, Stephanopoulos asked the president "When the president does it, it's not illegal?"
Trump replied that Article II is "very strong. Read it."
Stephanopoulos also asked about the Trump team's decision not to testify in person to the special counsel, opting instead to submit written responses. Stephanopoulos noted that the president was answering questions covering similar topics as the investigation on national TV. Trump went after Mueller as being partisan and unfair.
"Because they were looking to get us for lies, for slight misstatements," Trump said of the Mueller investigation. "I looked at what happened to people, and it was very unfair. Very, very unfair. Very unfair."
Segments of the interviews have already been released ahead of its full broadcast Sunday evening. In a segment released Wednesday, Trump shook Washington by saying he would likely take foreign assistance if offered ahead of the 2020 elections and that he may not report it to the FBI. Those remarks were widely condemned across the political spectrum for opening up to foreign interference in a U.S. election.
Trump reiterated to Stephanopoulos his frequent claim that there was no collusion with Russia, heating up as he kept bringing up the topic with the ABC News anchor.
"Look, George, you're being a little wise guy, OK, which is, you know, typical for you. Just so you understand. Very simple. It's very simple," Trump said. "There was no crime."
Though Mueller did not bring up charges against Trump for obstructing justice, he did not absolve the president either, saying that if "we had had confidence the president clearly did not commit a crime we would have said so." But Trump was confident he would not be prosecuted after leaving office.
"I did nothing wrong," Trump said.
| 1,266,524 |
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The drooling tantrums of the Senate Democrats will never end, but soon no one will be listening
October 4, 2018
By Laurie Roth The Democrats in the Senate have shown themselves through this Kavanaugh witch hunt to care zero about due process of law and commitment to any kind of truth. We were forced again and again to listen to the sanctimonious lies and arrogance of Democrat after Democrat assaulting Judge Kavanaugh and America. I watched the whole thing and nearly threw up several times. I was especially inspired by Senator Blumenthal (D) who lectured Kavanaugh about how telling one lie means all you say is a lie, using fancy language from on high. The only problem with that is that Blumenthal is a serial liar himself. During a huge chunk of his political career, he talked of his brave military service in Vietnam, storming up hills in fire fights, which never happened. He didn't go to Vietnam, but who cares about that small little detail.Then there is Senator Feinstein who held back the letter from Dr. Ford for two months, instead of having the Senate do their duty and investigate whether the accusation had any merit or not. She never cared about merit or whether Dr. Ford was telling the truth. She only saw a plan to smear and stall the Trump nomination until after the Mid Term elections.Magically Dr. Ford's letter was leaked to the press, bringing Ford forward for a very pubic testimony. Naturally, Feinstein has zero idea how it was leaked, though it had to be tracked to her or one of her close aids. Mabey one day she will say she served in Vietnam also. After all, it is just politics, who cares about the facts and truth.That leads us to the 7th FBI investigation on Kavanaugh. Once again, they found nothing and shockingly, he appears to be the man Trump and most of the nation believe he was and is.Now, the desperate Democrats, just on the verge of the midterm elections, continue to scheme and invent more lying tantrums, flipping them like pancakes. Few, if any Democratic Senators will accept the FBI report offered up yet again. The good news in all this is that Kavanaugh will soon be confirmed and our Supreme Court will lean conservative and Constitutional instead of settling to be a leftist, political football.The Democrat leftists and media can do nothing but hate anything President Trump does or supports, including Kavanaugh and Trump supporters, because most of us believe in freedom, our Constitution, rule of law, freedom of speech, God, and right to life for the very young and old. We love the idea of America first instead of last, sovereignty and secured borders.In this battle between good and evil, up and down, right and wrong – Democrats and Republicans, I strongly believe the Democrats wrote up their own conclusion and future for the Mid Terms by exposing their cruelty and evil to the nation. They lose big and Republicans will get even more of the House and Senate. Too bad, so sad.© Laurie Roth | 1,266,526 |
AOC will unleash its latest 240 Hz gaming monitor, which will be available in the second week of August. Apart from its impressive refresh rate, the AOC AGON AG251FG boasts a 1 ms response time, NVIDIA G-SYNC, NVIDIA ULMB and other premium gaming features.
The AOC AGON AG251FG comes with a 24.5″ (62.2 cm) TN panel in 16:9, 1920 x 1080 Full HD resolution. With its 240 Hz refresh rate and built-in NVIDIA G-SYNC module, it is an ideal choice for NVIDIA graphics card owners looking for super-smooth gameplay in all fast-paced games like FPS where truly each delivered frame counts. The G-SYNC technology synchronises the display’s refresh rate to the graphics card’s GPU in order to eliminate screen tearing and minimise display stuttering as well as input lag. The monitor’s 1 ms response time and NVIDIA ULMB option reduce motion blur and ghosting, so that gamers can enjoy razor-sharp graphics even in extremely fast game scenes. To boost players’ comfort as well, the AG251FG comes with a convenient headset holder, the highly flexible AOC Ergo Dial Base, the eye-protecting Flicker-Free technology and more.
Try it out at gamescom, get it in stores
Starting in the second week of August, the AOC AGON AG251FG will become available in stores, with an MSRP of £519. Visitors can try out the new monitor first-hand at AOC’s gamescom booth in Cologne (23 - 26 August 2017, hall 5.1, B020).
Other AOC gamescom highlights
Press visitors can also get an exclusive look at a prototype of the new AGON 3 model and learn more about the upcoming QHD curved HDR AGON display with a 0.5 ms response time and an also new 27″ 4K HDR AGON model with 144 Hz. At a joint booth with Soundblaster and Creative Labs as well as the MediaMarkt booth in hall 5.1, visitors can take a look at several AGON displays, including the AMD FreeSync models AOC AGON AG251FZ (240 Hz), AOC AGON AG352QCX (200 Hz, curved) and AOC AGON AG271QX (144 Hz), or the 4K G-SYNC model AOC AGON AG271UG.
Model AG251FG Display 24.5″ TN @ 240 Hz Resolution 1920x1080 pixels Sync technology G-SYNC Signal input 1 x HDMI
1 x DisplayPort
4 x USB 3.0
Audio out
Microphone in/out Special features Ergonomic stand
NVIDIA ULMB mode
Stereo speakers
1ms response time Launch in Europe August 2017 MSRP £519
| 1,266,527 |
As the Senate prepared to vote on Wednesday, Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) and several other Democrats sought to attach a raise to the bill but were prevented by the Republican leadership of that chamber.
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The measure is now before the House, where a similar attempt could be made.
“We’re encouraging Congress to include the modest 1.9 percent pay adjustment in the final spending deal, and we are working with our allies in the House to get it included in any deal they pass,” J. David Cox Sr., American Federation of Government Employees president, said in an email.
The House in its version of the earlier bill included no language on a raise, in effect favoring a freeze. Under the complex federal pay law, if Congress remains silent, the White House’s recommendation takes effect by default. In an August message to Congress, Trump said that if Congress takes no position, he would set the default raise at zero.
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By that time, the Senate already had voted in favor of paying a 1.9 percent raise, setting up a conference with the House on that bill. At one point in the process, House Republicans tentatively agreed to support a raise. However, that bill has not come to a final vote.
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Even before the Senate vote Wednesday on the new temporary measure, Van Hollen raised the prospect of attempting to pass a pay boost early in the new Congress and make it retroactive.
“I was disappointed last night that the Republican leadership refused to include a modest cost-of-living adjustment for federal employees, which had already passed the Senate earlier this year on a bipartisan basis,” he said in an emailed statement Thursday. “But the fight isn’t over. Negotiations on a long-term funding deal will begin as soon as Congress is back in session in January, and I will keep pushing my colleagues in both the House and the Senate to end Trump’s pay freeze on hardworking civil servants.”
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“There is strong, bipartisan support for giving the nation’s frontline, middle-class civil servants a pay bump in return for their dedication and service,” National Treasury Employees Union President Tony Reardon said in a statement. “If necessary, NTEU will build on the current momentum in the 116th Congress for a retroactive pay increase when legislators finish the 2019 appropriations bills early next year.”
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There is precedent for paying a federal employee raise retroactively. It was done in 2003 and 2004 during the George W. Bush administration when final agency funding similarly hadn’t been resolved until past the start of the new year. In both cases, a raise had been paid by default in early January but was overridden by a larger one contained in a later full-year appropriations bill. | 1,266,528 |
In 1992, when I was 26, I was convicted for distributing crack cocaine in Fort Worth, Texas. For this nonviolent offense, I was sentenced to life without parole. I turn 50 this year and have lived for almost a quarter-century in the Federal Correctional Institution El Reno in Oklahoma, where President Obama was stopping on Thursday – the first sitting president to visit a federal prison.
He deserves praise for showing a lot of interest in criminal justice reform, and for commuting the sentences of 46 inmates on Monday, which was very much needed. But there are hundreds of other nonviolent offenders just like them, and just like me, who are serving sentences that are no longer considered fair. If I were to be granted clemency, it would be like a breath of a new life after years of incarceration. I have seen so much while here in El Reno, especially the comings and goings of a lot of inmates. I tell them that one day I will be like them — going home a free man. The most important thing to me about freedom is caring for my parents. Their health is going downhill. My mother has stage 4 breast cancer, and my father has just learned that he has prostate cancer. I am my parents’ only son, and I long to rejoin my three sisters to help care for them. Also, I haven’t been able to see my daughters grow into young ladies, and I haven’t had the benefit of assisting my sisters as a brother should – let alone just living life as a free person.
With all of this going on, the day-to-day of prison is taking an even greater toll on me. But I continue to pray that one day soon I’ll look back on this and thank God for the will to keep on.
I wake up every day and pray in a cell that’s white and grey with little room to move around in between me and my cellmate. On Monday through Thursday, my days begin at 4:30am as I prepare to work in the commissary as a clerk from 6am until 3:30pm. After work, I keep myself in good health by exercising from 6–7pm, and pretty much after that my day is almost over. On Saturday I head to the law library to read case law, as I have a diploma in paralegal studies.
Clemency is something that I long for – not just for me, but for a lot of inmates who have served well over 20-plus years for crimes involving crack cocaine. Most of us convicted back in the early 1990s are still serving very long prison sentences because the law punished crack offenses more harshly than cocaine powder offenses. If I had been convicted for a crime involving cocaine powder, instead of serving a life sentence, I would be out of prison today. I hope President Obama continues this effort, because there are many more people who should get clemency. | 1,266,529 |
Noting that the resulting health crisis is a serious matter, the report said that more than 140,000 children younger than five years die each year in India due to diarrhea. Noting that the resulting health crisis is a serious matter, the report said that more than 140,000 children younger than five years die each year in India due to diarrhea.
Around 60 per cent of Indians do not have access to safe and private toilets, a new study has claimed.
A report titled ‘It’s No Joke – State of the World’s Toilets’ by WaterAid states that “If all 774 million people in India waiting for household toilets were made to stand in a line, the queue would stretch from Earth to the moon and beyond.”
According to the study released on the occasion of World Toilet Day on Thursday, the world’s second most populous nation has 60.4 per cent of its people without access to safe and private toilets.
“Since 1990, access has improved by 22.8 percentage points, putting India at seventh out of eight countries for improvement in South Asia. In South Asia, Nepal has seen the most improvement, followed by Pakistan and Bhutan,” the report stated.
Noting that the resulting health crisis is a serious matter, the report said that more than 140,000 children younger than five years die each year in India due to diarrhea.
“Nearly 40 per cent of India’s children are stunted; this will affect both their life chances and the future prosperity of India. India also has high rates of maternal and newborn mortality linked to sepsis,” the report said.
The equipment necessary to prevent infection during and after child birth is simple and inexpensive, but requires clean water and soap along with clean surroundings, which are difficult to achieve in an environment contaminated by open defecation and without good hygiene practices such as handwashing with soap by clinic staff and midwives, it said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given the sanitation issue a top political priority, and last year launched Swachh Bharat (Clean India) Mission.
Commenting on Swachh Bharat, which aims to ensure a toilet for every household by 2019 and to educate people about the long-term health and economic benefits of using a a proper sanitation system, the report said that “by simply building the toilets won’t be enough.”
“What will be absolutely crucial is getting local, state and national government to make this a priority, and creating the cultural shift that will ensure that once the toilets are built, they are used by everyone,” it added.
📣 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. | 1,266,530 |
Diabetes is one of many diseases that cause distress for both men and women. The reason being is that it damages the major organs like heart and kidneys. In fact, diabetics are susceptible to fatal heart diseases. This disease interrupts the normal flow of blood in the nerves and vessels that sends command erection among men.
Diabetic men suffer from abnormal hormone levels that actually affects the sustainability of solid erection. Erectile dysfunction is common among diabetic men, especially those who have Type II diabetes. That’s why male enhancements made available in the market. Some medications for ED can be acquired over the counter without a prescription, some are not.
The most common male enhancement pills that were prescribed to diabetic men are Cialis, Levitra, and Viagra. These are synthetic pills that claim 50% effectiveness.
Cialis blocks certain enzymes in the body system that actually is essential in maintaining a solid erection. According to users, this pill can hold up for a maximum of one and half day. However, experts explained the adverse results of this drug as it cause blurry vision. Please take into account that this pill can react to some fruit enzymes, especially grapefruit.
Levitra, on the other hand, promotes blood flow to the nerve ending of the penis, which is essential to penile erection. However, this pill does not enhance sexual drive or libido. Unlike Cialis, its effectivity can only last up to ten hours. But this pill loses its effectiveness when combined with alcohol. Too much consumption of liquor causes difficulties in sustaining erection.
Lastly, Viagra, that is the most common pill among men. Works the same as the pills mentioned above.
Above all, it is more important for men with or without diabetes how this pill works. These male enhancement are produced to serve its purpose in boosting libido as well as sustaining erection.
The pill works by dilating the extracts in the blood vessels, allowing blood flow to the nerve endings of the penis. The brain sends signals to the nerve cells in the penis to produce Nitric Oxide. This nitric oxide is responsible for dilating and expanding the arteries, hence, blood supplication causes an erection.
However, all medicines have adverse side effects. For these synthetic male enhancement pills, the most common effects are the following:
Palpitation
Dizziness
Insomnia
Blurry vision
Diabetes is a serious medical condition. Hence, an utmost precaution in taking any oral medication is necessary.
Alternative male enhancements now take the limelight. iRexion is one of the few natural male enhancements. Since its components are all natural fruit or vegetable extracts, a prescription is not a requirement. You can get the maximum results without compromising your health. Nonetheless, this is a guide that might come in handy, in considering the benefits as well as the catch in the available products in the market. | 1,266,531 |
Egypt - Can be formed if Al-Misr Arabic (aka Mamelukes), and have adm tech 20, and is independent, while owning Cairo, Rashid, Dumyat, Faiyum & Alexandria.
Bukhara - Can be formed after 1500 by the Uzbeks if they own Bukhara., which releases Sibir as independent and makes Bukhara high basetax, and swaps you to a muslim techgroup nation.
Kurland - Livonian Order or Riga can form it if they are protestant or reformed and has both Kurland & Semigallia at admtech 10, while independent. They become a feudal monarchy with old prussian culture then.
Sikhism
Ibadi
Coptic
The Great Khan- As the Mongol Khanate or the Golden Horde, conquer China, Persia and Russia. Four For Trade - Get Four Trading Companies and have them provide merchants. The Grand Armada - Have 500 heavy ships and have no loans. Je Maintiendrai - Form Netherlands as dutch culture minor dutch culture minor) A Protected Market - Get 100% Mercantilism Queen of Mercury - As Kilwa, own Zanzibar & Bombay. A Pile of Gold - Own 10 provinces producing gold. Sons of Carthage - Tunis, own Sicily, Sardinia, algiers, tunis & spanish coast on med. The Princess is in this Castle - Female Ruler & Female Heir Electable! - Become elector when not starting as elector.
Hi.Since may 1st was a holiday here in Sweden, you guys did not get a development diary that day.. So we give a bonus one this week, so we can finish them all before release in the end of may. *touch wood*Here's a list of free features for the 1.6 Patch, that will accompany the Wealth of NationsAustralia & New Zealand are now a colonial region, so nations colonising them will get a colonial nation down under as well.- Enables after 1499 from an event in India, and also comes with its unique events.5% cheaper techs, and +5 land morale, while having -1 when someone tries to convert a sikh province.There is also a new religiongroup called dharmic, which has Hinduism and Sikhism, which allows voluntary conversions between them.- Makes Oman more alone in the world.+100% heir chance and +10% Naval Morale, while having -2 like all the other muslims to conversions.- Ethiopia is no longer Orthodox+10% Defensiveness, and +2 Tolerance to own. Hardest christian to convert with -2.A country with Iqta can now reform to administrative monarchy at admtech 12 if they have westernised and have good legitimacy.On thursday, Besuchov is back and will talk about the interface improvements. | 1,266,532 |
to future operations, products and services; and other statements identified by words such as "will likely result," "are expected to," "will continue," "is anticipated," "estimated," "believe," "intend," "plan," "projection," "outlook" or words of similar meaning. Such forward-looking statements are based upon the current beliefs and expectations of our management and are inherently subject to significant business, economic and competitive uncertainties and contingencies, many of which are difficult to predict and generally beyond our control. Actual results and the timing of events may differ materially from the results anticipated in these forward-looking statements.
The following factors, among others, could cause actual results and the timing of events to differ materially from the anticipated results or other expectations expressed in the forward-looking statements: our substantial competition, which is likely to increase over time; our ability to attract and retain subscribers, which is uncertain; interference to our service from wireless operations; consumer protection laws and their enforcement; unfavorable outcomes of pending or future litigation; the market for music rights, which is changing and subject to uncertainties; our dependence upon the auto industry; general economic conditions; the security of the personal information about our customers; existing or future government laws and regulations could harm our business; failure of our satellites would significantly damage our business; the interruption or failure of our information technology and communications systems; our failure to realize benefits of acquisitions or other strategic initiatives; rapid technological and industry changes; failure of third parties to perform; our failure to comply with FCC requirements; modifications to our business plan; our indebtedness; our principal stockholder has significant influence over our affairs and over actions requiring stockholder approval and its interests may differ from interests of other holders of our common stock; impairment of our business by third-party intellectual property rights; and changes to our dividend policies which could occur at any time. Additional factors that could cause our results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements can be found in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2016, which is filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the " SEC ") and available at the SEC's Internet site (http://www.sec.gov). The information set forth herein speaks only as of the date hereof, and we disclaim any intention or obligation to update any forward looking statements as a result of developments occurring after the date of this communication.
Source: SiriusXM
Media contacts:
Andrew Fitzpatrick
SiriusXM
[email protected]
Herb Vincent
SEC
[email protected]
View original content with multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/sec-and-siriusxm-to-launch-exclusive-new-sports-channel--siriusxm-sec-radio-300564456.html | 1,266,533 |
Apple has pulled all games from its App Store which contain the Confederate flag. When explaining to developers why their content was banned, Apple stated it was “because it includes images of the confederate flag used in offensive and mean-spirited ways.”
Below is an image of the Confederate flag’s use in developer HexWar Games’ historical strategy title Civil War 1863, which was banned:
Apple CEO Tim Cook addressed the Confederate flag on Twitter:
My thoughts are with the victim's families in SC.Let us honor their lives by eradicating racism & removing the symbols & words that feed it. — Tim Cook (@tim_cook) June 21, 2015
Apple is citing Section 19.1 of its App Store Review Guidelines as reason for removing games displaying the Confederate flag. Section 19.1 says that “apps containing references or commentary about a religious, cultural or ethnic group that are defamatory, offensive, mean-spirited or likely to expose the targeted group to harm or violence will be rejected.”
While Apple has removed Confederate flag apps, Google has not. The app “Southern Pride Wallpaper!” is still available for purchase on Google Play and features several variations of the Confederate flag for use as a wallpaper. Some of these apps are free, including “Rebel Flag,” which features the Confederate flag stars and bars floating around in hearts.
A statement from Game Labs, creators of the now-banned game Ultimate General: Gettysburg reads:
We accept Apple’s decision and understand that this is a sensitive issue for the American Nation. We wanted our game to be the most accurate, historical, playable reference of the Battle of Gettysburg. All historical commanders, unit composition and weaponry, key geographical locations to the smallest streams or farms are recreated in our game’s battlefield. We receive a lot of letters of gratitude from American teachers who use our game in history curriculum to let kids experience one of the most important battles in American history from the Commander’s perspective. Spielberg’s “Schindler’s List” did not try to amend his movie to look more comfortable. The historical “Gettysburg” movie (1993) is still on iTunes. We believe that all historical art forms: books, movies, or games such as ours, help to learn and understand history, depicting events as they were. True stories are more important to us than money. Therefore we are not going to amend the game’s content and Ultimate General: Gettysburg will no longer be available on AppStore. We really hope that Apple’s decision will achieve the desired results. We can’t change history, but we can change the future.
Apple’s decision to remove Confederate flag products follows the bans of other major retailers such as Amazon and Walmart.
Follow Rob Shimshock on Twitter. | 1,266,534 |
Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Professor Green removes Bournemouth's 'anti-homeless' bench bars in January
A picture of a rainbow-coloured bench has launched a debate about homelessness, exclusion and hostile design on social media.
On Saturday, Twitter user Isaac Azuelos posted an image of a bench in his home town of Calgary, Canada.
The bench featured metal bars which prevent homeless people from sleeping there.
Mr Azuelos' tweet was widely shared and other users posted their own examples, some using the hashtag #HostileDesign.
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Some saw the design as evidence of the marginalisation and exclusion of homeless people from public spaces.
"These are designed specifically to prevent tired people from laying down on them," wrote Twitter user @ThisMicah.
"It's a feature, not a bug," the tweet continued.
"I think the problem is that society tells them they're a problem and shuns them from public spaces," wrote another.
"But that doesn't solve the issue, [it] just pushes it out of sight. Maybe by treating homeless people like humans they can actually progress rather than be a 'problem'."
But others questioned why people should be allowed to sleep on public benches.
And some pointed out that bars can provide support and assistance to the elderly or less physically able.
"Ever thought about old people who need something to hold onto to get up and down?" asked one.
"Pretty sure it's rather for them than against homeless people sleeping there."
The debate has captured the interest of many. Mr Azuelos' original tweet has generated significant discussion online and tens of thousands of likes and retweets.
On Sunday, he posted a screenshot of a conversation he had with the organisation which runs the site where the bench was installed, Springboard Performance.
"The bench was actually a donation to our non-profit by city workers, specifically for an elderly patron who walks by every day" a spokesperson said.
"The intent was not to institute or uphold the principles of hostile or exclusionary design."
British artist Stuart Semple has previously used social media to shine a spotlight on examples of hostile design.
In February, he set up a website to document what he describes as "designs against humanity" after seeing benches fitted with "anti-homeless" bars in Bournemouth, Dorset. He posted an image of one of the benches to Facebook in January which, he claims, was viewed more than a million times inside 24 hours.
Bournemouth council officials later announced that all bars would be removed following protests.
Social media users contribute to Mr Semple's campaign by tagging pictures on Instagram with the hashtag #HostileDesign. Pictures featured in the website's gallery include examples from Milan, New York and Toronto. | 1,266,535 |
I enjoy cuteness tinged with tragedy, but there is a certain line past which I feel the need to be mean and cynical to balance things up a bit. I mean, if you’re going to be tugging at my heart strings and squeezing my eyes for some juice, at least be decent about it.
Paws [official site], a standalone spinoff from Shelter 2, came out today, together with an “interactive book” called “The Lonesome Fog.” You will never believe how many lynx cubs die a tragic, painful death in this new story trailer!
Not one. Not a single bloody one.
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Even YouTube knows what’s up. Look what it recommended me. (I don’t have an account and I delete cookies, so these are not based on my youtube history)
I mean, the dog’s owner died, isn’t that sad? Don’t you want to see what happens next? It’s going to be heartbreaking, you’re going to admire the bravery of this little hero and you’re going to believe the world is a beautiful place after all. All of which could be said about Paws, too: “a story about friendship and the strength to overcome overwhelming odds” that will let players take control of a small and fragile lynx cub.
Still, the game is not going to be Shelter 2 with a new skin and map. Paws is a platformer, and you have a companion to help you overcome obstacles and solve puzzles. I appreciate that devs Might And Delight are trying to shake things up a bit.
The Lonesome Fog is also something quite new: the devs describe it as an interactive diorama, or a living book, and it can be purchased separately. It’s a short story of about 20 pages: each one with a few words and a gorgeous semi-animated drawing
At the end of the day, it’s still a ruse to get you to spill tears over fictional animals. But I guess I could buy it. For my sister. And I should probably read it by myself first. Just, to make sure there’s nothing inappropriate for a 2-year-old.
(Almost nothing in this post is true. I cried when I finished Shelter, like everyone else. Dammit.)
Paws is out now on Steam for Windows and Mac, priced £10.99/$14.99/€14.99. The Lonesome Fog can be bought separately for £3.99/$4.99/€4.99 or as part of the “Pitter Patter” edition. | 1,266,536 |
New York (AFP) - The request was for a Van Gogh to adorn the walls of the president and first lady's private residence in the White House.
The answer? No -- but how about a fully functioning, 18-karat gold toilet instead?
While it's customary for US presidents to borrow works of art during their time in office, the Guggenheim in Donald Trump's hometown of New York was polite, but firm in its refusal, The Washington Post reported.
When the White House requested the renowned Dutch painter's "Landscape With Snow," the museum's chief curator -- an outspoken Trump critic -- countered that the 19th century painting was "prohibited from travel except for the rarest of occasions."
"We are sorry not to be able to accommodate your original request," wrote Nancy Spector in an email obtained by the Post, "but remain hopeful that this special offer may be of interest."
Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan's "America" -- a gleaming gold toilet -- was on display at the Guggenheim for nearly a year, installed in a restroom for the private use of members of the public with a guard posted outside.
Now that the exhibition was over, the artist would "like to offer it to the White House for a long-term loan," the Post quoted Spector as emailing.
"It is, of course, extremely valuable and somewhat fragile, but we would provide all the instructions for its installation and care."
Asked to explain the meaning of the installation and why he offered it to the Trumps, 57-year-old Cattelan told the Post: "What's the point of our life? Everything seems absurd until we die and then it makes sense."
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The Guggenheim, asked by AFP, said it had "no further information to provide." The White House did not immediately respond to an AFP query.
In a blog last August, Spector called the toilet "a cipher for the excesses of affluence" and said more than 100,000 people had queued "for the opportunity to commune with art and with nature."
Story continues
"Though crafted from millions of dollars' worth of gold, the sculpture is actually a great leveler. As Cattelan has said, "Whatever you eat, a $200 lunch or a $2 hot dog, the results are the same, toilet-wise."
Neither is it the first association between Trump, whose Manhattan home is famous for its lavish gold color scheme, and a golden toilet.
Last June, Trevor Noah's "The Daily Show" hosted a free exhibition in New York lampooning the president, inviting the public to soak up his tweets and fire off one or two of their own from a golden toilet. | 1,266,537 |
A rare set of semi-identical twins – only the second set ever reported in the world – have been identified in Australia.
The now 4-year-old boy and girl from Brisbane share all of their mother’s DNA but only a part of their father’s DNA, making them identical on their mother’s side but fraternal on their father’s, a statement detailing the discovery said.
This was also the first time semi-identical twins have been identified during pregnancy, according to a case report recently published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
WORLD'S 'SMALLEST SURVIVING BABY BOY' DISCHARGED FROM HOSPITAL
Semi-identical twins, also called “sesquizygotic twins,” were first discovered in the U.S. in 2007.
“It is likely the mother’s egg was fertilized simultaneously by two of the father’s sperm before dividing,” Nicholas Fisk, a professor at the University of New South Wales in Australia, said in an online statement. Fisk is a fetal medicine specialist who led the fetal medicine team that cared for the mom and twins and worked alongside clinical geneticist and lead researcher Dr. Michael Gabbett on the case report.
When one egg is fertilized by two sperm, it creates three sets of chromosomes — "one set from the mother and two from the father," Dr. Gabbett explained.
“Three sets of chromosomes are typically incompatible with life and embryos do not usually survive,” he added. “In the case of the Brisbane sesquizygotic twins, the fertilized egg appears to have equally divided up the three sets of chromosomes into groups of cells which then split into two, creating the twins.”
MOM WHO SUFFERED HEART ATTACK WHILE PREGNANT WARNS ABOUT RARE CONDITION
Doctors caught on to the semi-identical twins during the mother’s routine ultrasounds back in 2014. Her ultrasounds at six weeks indicated she was expecting identical twins, but the 14-week scan “showed the twins were male and female, which is not possible for identical twins,” Fisk said.
The 28-year-old woman was a mother for the first time and had conceived naturally, BBC reported.
To make sure there weren’t other semi-identical twins who hadn’t been identified previously, doctors examined genetic data from 968 fraternal twins and their parents but found no other examples of the phenomenon.
“We know this is an exceptional case of semi-identical twins,” Fisk said. “While doctors may keep this in mind in apparently identical twins, its rarity means there is no case for routine genetic testing.” | 1,266,538 |
deposit conclusive in correlation with insider information.
DAI
Excluded, because there is no monetary reason.
MKR
Excluded, not listed on monitored exchanges.
CVC, MANA, DNT, LOOM listing (timestamp: 1544210037, 12/07/2018 @ 7:13pm )
In all of these tokens I haven’t found any suspicious transactions, only transactions of decentraland (MANA), leading from following address
https://etherscan.io/address/0xf16a25a1b4e6434bacf9d037d69d675dcf852699#tokentxns
These transations are probably linked to the Decentraland Marketplace actions, so I’m considering them as irrelevant.
ZRX listing (timestamp: 1539277535, 10/11/2018 @ 5:05pm)
Time: 10/8/2018 3:19:38 PM (74h before, cca 3.1 days)
Value: $300,000
Token amount: 800,000 ZRX
Link: https://etherscan.io/tx/0x5f0bed46918f7f0adc4ea496bf640f33bc82359d068a5cc2a4ba8405a151c0cd
This deposit we can most likely correlate to 20% price increase (2018-10-07), thanks to high volume of ZRXBTC it’s not probably linked to Coinbase announcements.
BAT listing (timestamp: 1541188810, 11/02/2018 @ 8:00pm)
Time: 10/27/2018 02:50:53 PM (149h before, cca 6.2 days)
Value: $835,000
Token amount: 6,000,000 BAT
Link: https://etherscan.io/tx/0x239de3c46733343758ab07d7af81c33ed160d9149cd8446531bafe364a60773a
BATBTC pairing is one of the biggest by volume on Binance, 6 millions of tokens may not be big enough sum, to find out when it could've been sold.
Conclusion
Findings of suspicious transfers have not been conclusive, personally I have expected this result, but I wanted to do research it anyway. My commentary on transactions should be taken with grain of salt and you should definitely do your research on them.
I personally find GNT deposit is the most interesting, because it can be linked to Polychain eth address, it could be interesting to find some relations between Coinbase and Polychain or is it's just coincidence. | 1,266,539 |
Through co-ordinated raids across the country, Hungarian police have attempted to decimate the country's BitTorrent scene. Following the deployment of many officers, dozens of servers were seized and many of the country's trackers shut down, including the prominent 900,000 peer 'ncore' tracker. An ISP, university and many seedboxes were also targeted.
This week saw unprecedented action against the Hungarian BitTorrent scene. As is always the case with these types of actions, until the smoke clears most details are largely unverified but thanks to information provided to TorrentFreak by Sct of ASVA.info (the country’s biggest P2P blog) and our Hungarian contacts, we can provide an outline.
Following investigations carried out by ASVA.hu (movie industry group) and PROART.HU (Association of Authors Rights) since early 2010, on Wednesday co-ordinated police raids across the country targeted many torrent sites, an ISP and even a technical university.
Ncore, the largest site targeted in the raids with around 900,000 peers, was the most prominent to be taken offline. Unconfirmed reports suggest that the main site may still be intact as the police only found the site’s proxy.
Ncore
While quite a few sites went down once news of the raids started to spread, it remains difficult to be 100% certain which were actually visited by the police and which went down as a precaution.
1stTorrent appears to be trouble as they are calling out for a lawyer with IT/copyright expertise but have offered users assurances that their details are safe. Bithorló definitely had their servers seized as did GigaTorrent, Evolution, Blue Dragon, Dreamland and Deja Vu.
Insane and Pirate Bay reportedly received warnings of a raid and shut down voluntarily.
It is clear, however, that the raids were significant. According to the police, more than 50 servers were seized containing more than 500tb of data. Sources have confirmed that in addition to searches on an ISP and university, many seedboxes were seized.
Some seized “servers”…
Labeling the operations as “a huge milestone in the fight against Internet piracy”, the Association of Authors Rights (PROART) thanked the police for carrying out the raids and praised them for “establishing protection for the rights of creators”.
Under pressure from the United States, Hungarian authorities have carried out at least two sweeps against torrent sites in recent years, notably in 2007 and 2009.
Interestingly, a report on the PROART website from last month celebrates the news that the U.S. government recently removed Hungary from a blacklist due to its previously poor record in dealing with piracy.
In the meantime, the large Bithumen tracker, which was named in official documents as a target for closure, continues to operate from Germany. | 1,266,540 |
, however, the core of this data is stored in the blockchain to guarantee its integrity.
Alice has the opportunity to browse through the listed available flats, including John’s. She can check John’s reputation score to implicate the risk associated with John. With the assumption that Alice chooses John’s flat to view, she submits her request which is also then stored via a transaction in the blockchain to ensure non-repudiation. John also has the opportunity to check Alice’s reputation score to implicate the risk associated with Alice. The
viewing arrangement is carried out off-chain and off-platform and henceforth, is not considered here.
After viewing the flat, if Alice chooses to rent the flat, she can initiate the process via the OpenBrix platform using the web portal or the app. They can sign a contract using their corresponding private keys. Alice can utilise the BRIX tokens to pay an advance and on-going rental fees. An additional option could be that Alice needs to provide a certain amount of BRIX to be put in escrow which will essentially act as a deposit. Alice would get back her deposit automatically when the contract ends. In this way, she will not need to rely on a third-party to return her deposit, as is the case in the UK.
With each positive interaction, the reputation score will increase. For example, Alice can increase her renter reputation score by paying the rental fee in advance. This will instil trust on Alice as a renter. John can increase the reputation score by acting benevolently and performing his duties as the flat owner.
If John wishes, he can delegate his tasks to estate agents who are acting on the platform, who would perform their required duties. Based on their performance, they can also build up their reputation score as estate agents. Like before, all the interactions among different actors will be stored in the blockchain in an immutable fashion, providing the accountability and transparency for others. There is no way for a bad actor to cheat and remain unnoticed.
The open nature of the OpenBrix will attract innovations. In particular, we are excited at the possibility of new knowledge being generated from the data created in the OpenBrix platform. This will allow third parties to utilise this data set to create overlay applications. For example, a third-party application could leverage the reputation scores generated in OpenBrix to improve the credit rating of their corresponding users. In contrast to this, such third-party applications could bootstrap better reputation scores, specifically for the newly registered users having base reputation scores, by aggregating credit scores into the platform.
OpenBrix is focused on innovation that is aimed towards disrupting a lucrative niche market. We would like to welcome all to be part of this innovative idea. For further information, please read our whitepaper. Alternatively, reach out to us using our social media channels. | 1,266,541 |
, two weeks before the group met in Hong Kong. He kept improving it in the months that followed, and it’s this proposal that forms the most concrete basis of the proposed “Hong Kong hard fork.”
This proposal would increase the block size limit, though the exact size of the increase is yet to be specified. According to the Hong Kong Roundtable consensus, the increase should be around 2 MB, but will also include a reduced “discount” on witness-data to ensure that adversarial conditions don’t allow blocks bigger than 4 MB. The proposal also includes further — rather uncontroversial — optimizations.
Progress on development, though, has slowed down over the last months. This is in part because the Bitcoin miners did not seem very interested in the proposal, Todd said. Perhaps more importantly, several developers — both those in Hong Kong and others — consider the agreement to have been broken by at least one counterparty in the deal: the Chinese mining pool F2Pool.
“The whole point of putting ‘Run Bitcoin Core compatible clients’ in the agreement was for miners to stop playing political games for a few months,” Todd explained, “and to give developers a reason to work with them. By not doing that, we’ve been totally unable to get any other developers to consider joining the effort, and if anything, the experience soured them on the very idea.”
Additionally, most of the Hong Kong developers have seemingly come to believe that short-term community consensus on a block size limit hard fork is virtually impossible in the current climate.
“The community clearly doesn’t want a hard fork, and the Ethereum fiasco just sealed that,” Luke Dashjr told Bitcoin Magazine.
Moving Forward
That said, the Hong Kong developers will continue to work on the proposal — something Todd noted they were planning to do either way. Whether it will be finished within the allotted three months after the Segregated Witness release remains uncertain.
“Nothing in that agreement on the developers’ side was stuff we weren’t interested in doing anyways,” Todd said. “The whole point was to find some common ground that people didn’t previously know they had … So I’m still working on my part, which is to design and implement better approval mechanisms that don’t rely on miners to approve forks — both soft and hard.”
Dashjr also said he will continue to work on the proposal. While he is no longer strongly committed to presenting fully finalized hard-fork code within the original three-month deadline, he might. And he remains hopeful the solution will eventually be adopted.
“Maybe in a few years things will change,” Dashjr said. “After the ‘hard fork’ altcoiners go away.” | 1,266,542 |
Friday, April 21st, 2017 (2:48 pm) - Score 1,916
Canadian security researchers working at the University of Waterloo have developed a new anti-censorship system called Slitheen, which involves wrapping cats in newspapers aims to help people who live in countries where the internet is being heavily censored by their Government.
As most people know it’s already possible to circumvent most censorship systems by using Proxy Servers or Virtual Private Networks (VPN), which can both give you a different Internet Protocol (IP) address in order to protect your privacy and / or offer an additional connection layer over the Internet that ISPs find very difficult to restrict without harming legitimate traffic.
However in the endless game of whack-a-mole such systems are by no means perfect and even complex webs like TOR can be hindered, although it takes a lot of effort to continuously and successfully disrupt them. Never the less, the Internet was never designed to be censored and as such there’s always a loophole somewhere to get around blocks.
At this point some of you will no doubt have spotted that Slitheen is also the name of an alien race in Dr Who (BBC TV series) and one that disguised themselves as humans in order to evade detection, which is of course no coincidence.
Ian Goldberg, Professor of Computer Science at the UW, said: “Some countries block certain websites based on their web address or their content. Similar to the aliens on Doctor Who, our Slitheen censorship-resistance system works by disguising your connection to a restricted website – for example, a connection to Wikipedia or the New York Times – as that of an allowed website, maybe a site about cute cats. Unlike other fields of computer science, we have active adversaries. People see our research and how to protect a system and they use that to try to defeat. We have to play both sides of the game – thinking like an attacker to try to defeat our own systems, in order to build better defences. There’s always an arms race where the defender makes a better system, then the attacker makes a better system. This is what makes the research fun and interesting but also very challenging.”
Cecylia Bocovich, PhD Student in Goldberg’s Lab, said: “The technology not only provides users with content blocked in their region, but it also protects them by hiding the fact that they are evading their country’s censorship policies.”
Goldberg is also a founding member of the Cryptography, Security, and Privacy (CrySP) research group at Waterloo, which has provided a rather entertainingly simplistic video to help showcase how Slitheen works. Just try to avoid looking too deeply into the cold dead eyes of newspaper cat.. for he is evil.
Meanwhile the technology is still in development, but the researchers hope to have a version available for public use within a year. | 1,266,543 |
week). 130,000 Macs is 22% of their laptop fleet, pretty far from “nothing to them.” — gus · Oct 20, 10:34 AM · #
An article that blows my mind. It’s going to take a while to digest and watch, thus saved it to Pocket for future re-read, maybe in five years, lol. I remember Steve Jobs defined Macs as digital hubs. Hard to imagine that Apple is shifting focus to mobile. — JP · Oct 24, 04:27 PM · #
Interesting article. The only problem with the comparison is that Mac is essentially iOS or a more complex version of it (both OS X), whereas the Apple II was orphaned by the Mac’s gui and was self-evidently about the past. When the first iPhone came out, it seemed like something from the future. It was science fiction come true. But iOS these days is a good phone OS, but it too is old. Sure, it’s steadily improved, but a Mac replacement it is not. In terms of efficiency and productivity a split-screen tablet isn’t even close. The decline in the tablet sales already tells you people are hanging onto their iPads because there’s nothing compelling enough in the software or hardware to warrant an upgrade. The lack of true innovation on the Mac has frustrated users as it is prevented from going beyond its tablets (Apple Pages being a great example). I have another idea: Apple doesn’t know how this is going to land. It’s making its own great chips, but it has a mobile OS that’s limited and not great for all use cases. Basically, they haven’t cracked it. Out of the two, the Mac is best placed to be adapted, tinkered or re-skinned. iOS is locked to its user interface. The pencil at least tells you what it has to offer isn’t enough. Despite their best efforts, it offers an area for growth and has always been the anchor for technical innovation. Really, they should go back to the user experience and start getting all these parts of the OS working together. Personally I’d like a finder that slides open from the side so I could drag and drop into full screen apps. — PK · Oct 25, 06:21 PM · #
Well My MacBookPro is turning into a hacked nightmare due to this sick infected ruby~command! home-brew and whatever. I was duped because I’m not a Dev like most on here. But I trusted them. Hackers are nothing but children throwing a temper tantrum. Any help before all my and my families personal info is splattered about the web, thus coming off my my dads passing in 2016 so Yay I’m in a real good damn mood, would be appreciated. — ColeMac · Oct 26, 09:27 PM · # | 1,266,544 |
too effective in pvp when considering the ‘HP cost’ to ‘Damage increase’ ratio. Thus damage increase has been changed to 30% in PvP.
* Infinity Sword
1. Infinity Sword’s ‘Cruel Slayer’ was considered to be in similar situation as Dark Knight’s ‘Blood Runaway’ thus cooldown of 1 second was added between stacks.
* Add
1. Add’s ‘Particle Prism’ being available continuously long as resource allowed it was identified as a problem in team matches
Cooldown time was increased and MP cost was increased so its usage will be more planned out.
* Time Tracer
1. Players remaining vulnerable after the end of ‘Void field’ due to its debuff was identified as a problem.
Debuff duration was changed to 1 second so that debuff is only maintained when skill is being used.
2. ‘Maximum Strike’ hitting targets far away regardless of character locations and granting easy catch was considered to be unfair compared to the skills in other character’s repertoire.
So the skill’s maximum target range has been limited, and it has been changed so that even if the target is within range, the target will become unlocked if the hits do not happen within 2 seconds.
It was also determined that the skill was dealing too much damage to characters that weren’t intended targets. Thus, the damage reduction has been added depending on distance traveled by projectile.
* Diabolic Esper
1. There was a problem where ‘Time Control’ effect was activating too frequently and compared to other Add classes, the benefits of using DP was too great and effects of cooldown penalty almost couldn’t be felt.
Thus ‘Time Control’ will only activate on Special Active skills and unintended cooldown reduction of ‘Seal of Time’ will not happen anymore.
[Other]
1. Additional Channels added for Winter Break event and Channel composition and level ranges changed.
2. Channels have been added but level range of channels has been increased to limit channel disparity.
Most enticingly, Sander Channel has been added and it has the level range of 61~75.
3. To prevent players from not being able to play in desired channels during the Winter Break event. EXP bonus for playing in channels within level range will temporarily always work regardless of the channel played.
<Update Item Preview>
– Ara Elesis, Add 2010 Christmas Avatar –
– Classic Attitude avatar’ and ‘Blood Lord/Count’ avatars –
– Lu’s crown, Assassin’s X shaped scabbard –
– Lu Archdevil –
– Ciel Arch Angel –
| 1,266,545 |
Bond. James Bond.
When AudioGo first announced this round of new recordings a couple of years ago, I was manic to have them. I own copies of the original Simon Vance recordings from my pre-Audible days, which are phenomenal, but being the Bond fan that I am, I'm always curious to see what others can bring to the table. Then I found out these new recordings weren't available outside of the UK, and my heart sank. I prayed Audible would bring them to me.
At last, my prayers have been answered, and wouldn't you know, I had to hunt for them. Instead of referring to them by their official series name of "007 Reloaded," they're called "celebrity performances." Well, by any other name, it means my 2 credits a month are dedicated for the next few months (barring Star Wars releases), and not being independently wealthy, I can't afford to spring for them all at once as I'd like to do. Curses, foiled again.
Be that as it may, I have begun the series, and I'm over the moon impressed with this new performance by Dan Stevens. He impressed me with his work on Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, and his work here is every bit as nuanced and incredible. I almost wish he could do the rest of them too, but the point is to have a variety of talent for this series, so I'm looking forward to riding that wave. As many times as I've gone through the original novels, I'm still not as familiar with them as I am the films, and this provides the perfect excuse for me to dive in again and live with them for a while.
For those new to the original Fleming novels, this is a great introduction to the series. You almost have to forget what you've seen on screen and take Bond in his original cold war context, but thanks to the recent Daniel Craig films coming closer to Fleming's work, the in-road to the classic version has never been friendlier. It might take some getting used to Bond using a Beretta instead of the Walther PPK, or driving a Bentley instead of the Aston Martin, but the core of everything that is Bond starts here and evolves into what we've come to know and love throughout the series. Fleming's incredible detail brings these stories to life at every level, from Bond's scoping the room for signs of intrusion and tampering, to food and drink, to the gambling tables, to the torture sequences, and beyond. It's visceral in a way that can only come happen thanks to practical, real world experience. That's what separates Bond from his world of knock-offs and wanna-be copycats. Setting the standard of all that's come before and all that will come to be in the action/spy genre, regardless of medium, there's only one name you need to know. The name's Bond. James Bond. | 1,266,546 |
hand dipped, chocolate covered, frozen banana. The only choices then were nuts or no nuts? (PS: Always nuts). At Bananarchy, there are endless topping choices on their menu, or you can create your own disater concoction.
What did we order? Double dip chocolate with M&M’s and chocolate dip with nuts and oreos.
Cow Tipping Creamery (2512 Rio Grande Street, Austin, TX 78705) – The menu is huge, and the possiblities are endless. Soft serve goes to another level with the ice cream trailer’s stackers, which layer everything that makes sundaes delicious, including housemade ingredients, including fresh fruit purees.
What did we order? The cara-nutella popcorn stacker.
40⁰ North (1502 S 1st Street, Austin, TX 78704) – Clint, a New York lawyer-turned-chef opened this wood-fired pizza trailer specializing in Neapolitan-style pizza after moving to Austin in 2011. He left the law behind to study the craft of pizza making in Naples, Italy. They were also just listed on Thrillist’s 10 Best Pizza Spots in Austin.
What did we order? The Margherita Pizza, although they are famous for their Hot Honey pizza which has San Marzano Tomatoes, Hot Coppa, Ricotta, Parmigiano Reggiano, and Mike’s Hot Honey.
Chi’Lantro is one of the only trucks on this list that actually changes locations. Click HERE for their schedule of locations. their truck is the orignal home of the Kimchi Fries, although now they also have 2 restaurant locations. Their food is an Korean-Mexican fusion truck with some crazy combinations that are delicious. They serve hybrid tacos, burritos, and bowls that meld Korean tastes and tradition with Texas’ rich Hispanic culture.
What did we order? The Kimchi Fries of course! Who could resist a tower of crispy fries topped with caramelized kimchi, cheddar, monterey jack, cilantro, onions, magic sauce, sriracha, and sesame seeds
Luke’s Inside Out (1109 S Lamar Blvd., Austin, TX 78704) – Luke Bibby and his wife Tracy run this French inspired food trailer located next to the Gibson Bar. Everyday there are three daily specials on the menu in addition to the regular menu items. Head over on a Sunday from 11:30am-3pm for an all you can eat, buffet brunch ($12) featuring all sorts of goodies.
What did we order? The Chicken, a grilled sandwich filled with spciy, Schezuan fried chicken topped with sesame slaw.
Now that you are well fed, make sure you check out Austin’s best breweries. | 1,266,547 |
Research.org, ASMR sensations can be categorized into two types: Type A are triggered by thought patterns and include no external stimuli; Type B activate in response to external stimuli triggered by one or more of the senses. Similarly, ASMR viewers can be categorized into two groups: Those who experienced ASMR in childhood and those who seek the experience as adults.
“Whether a “braingasm” is a true, scientific phenomenon or just jargon for feeling good, ASMR videos are really about engaging in a sensory experience designed to activate pleasurable and relaxing brain responses.” Ilse explains, “The people who associate it with when they were a kid, they get triggered by something they remember…. For example, when their mom would read them a story or a grandma who would touch their hand or a little kid would whisper in their ear.” For this category of ASMR viewers, the quest is usually to search for triggers to experience that pleasure again. And that quest ranges wide: The ASMR community has developed an enormous catalog of videos so viewers can easily search for specific triggers. The scope of videos spans a few minutes to almost an hour, lending flexibility to how viewers can create their own personalized ASMR experience.
Depending on your personal and individual response, ASMR videos have the potential to do more than help you remember a childhood experience. Thousands of ASMR viewers, including those with post-traumatic stress disorder, report that the videos help them relax, plus reduce anxiety and depression. Writing on Oprah.com, Kate Sztabnik swears Ilse’s ASMR videos cured her insomnia during a particularly stressful period at work. Sztabnik explains, “I decided to search online for relaxation videos. This produced sterile waterfalls, classical music—and Ilse. Pretty, with no makeup and charmingly crooked teeth, Ilse breathed her channel’s name—”The Waaaterwhissspers Ilse”—and a tickly feeling spread through my scalp, a burst of prickly warmth followed by a sense of deep relaxation. She leaned in to the camera, pretending to examine my pores and give me a facial. Whoa, sister, I thought. But then something even stranger happened. My arm went slack; I was snoring within minutes.”
Whether a “braingasm” is a true, scientific phenomenon or just jargon for feeling good, ASMR videos are really about engaging in a sensory experience designed to activate pleasurable and relaxing brain responses. Admittedly, the idea can seem strange, disturbing, or funny, but when you get past any initial resistance, you just might find yourself thinking back to what made you feel tingly as a kid or what sensory stimulation you enjoy as an adult and then, on a night you can’t sleep, thinking maybe, just maybe, an ASMR video is exactly what you need to relax and drift off. | 1,266,548 |
AKRON, Ohio -- An Akron DJ beat a man to death at an Akron bar after the man complained about the loud music, police said.
Akron police said the music volume was one factor in the argument that broke out about 12:05 a.m. Friday at the Zodiac bar in the 1900 block of Triplett Boulevard.
Regular bar customer Forrest Ryan, 39, of North Canton, was at the bar with friends when an argument broke out between Ryan and Robert Jarvis, the bar's DJ.
Jarvis, 64, punched Ryan three times in the head, according to police reports. The two wrestled on the ground until Ryan lost conscious. Jarvis fled after the fight.
A woman at the bar called 911 and told a dispatcher Ryan was barely breathing.
The woman said she was unsure what happened. A 911 dispatcher gave her instructions on how to perform CPR on Ryan.
The woman told the dispatcher that Ryan periodically would gasp for air. Later in the call, she said it appeared that his breathing had improved.
Investigators arrived and found "copious amounts of blood" coming from Ryan's nose and mouth, according to Summit County Medical Examiner records. He was taken to Akron General Medical Center, where he died of blunt force trauma to his head, according to medical examiner records.
Ryan suffered multiple facial and head fractures during the fight. Ryan was hit in the head, where he already had a large scar from a surgery stemming from injuries that he suffered in a 2013 car crash, medical examiner records say.
Jarvis later returned to the bar and was arrested. He is charged with murder and is in the Summit County Jail.
Several people who identified themselves as friends or family members of Ryan made a make-shift memorial at the bar with balloons and roses. They declined to talk about Ryan.
The homicide is not connected to another homicide that happened at a different Akron bar about 45 minutes earlier across town, according to investigators.
In that case, two men argued about 11 p.m. Thursday at the Hi-De-Ho Lounge on Vernon Odom Boulevard during a private party for a motorcycle club, according to police.
Lentheric Caldwell, 39, and Willie Hicks III, 41, argued inside the bar. They both went outside and fought.
Caldwell walked back into the bar. Hicks, who is on probation for stabbing his son in June, walked into the bar with a shotgun about 10 minutes later. Hicks shot Caldwell once in the left side of his chest, according to court records.
Caldwell was taken to Akron City Hospital, where he died of the gunshot wound. His death was also ruled a homicide.
Hicks is charged with aggravated murder. He was arrested about 4 p.m. by the U.S. Marshals Northern Ohio Violent Fugitive Task Force in a Willoughby motel, police said. | 1,266,549 |
asso Bus at White Linen Night in the Heights. While an artist painted Picasso’s Reclining Woman Reading on the side of our truck, we displayed several of The Picasso Bus’ works inside, alongside about 65% of our collection. Here, we arranged to have a portion of the truck designated to non-library purposes, in a manner that would have made the Library as Incubator Project proud – as a library/art gallery.
We encourage any and all local artists, artisans, and/or craftspersons – particularly those also involved with Houston Makerspace – interested in displaying, selling, and/or loaning their work to please be in touch with us. We would like our bookmobile to serve as a mobile incubator space (complementary to the makerspace itself) that facilitates getting HMS makers’ work out into the community. More fashion-oriented makers may want to be in touch with our friends at Urban Izzy.
A “Boutique”
The above proposal can include parts of our library collection, or it can’t. We can leave all of the shelves in, or we can take them all out. You can turn our space into a furnished room, an art gallery, an exhibit, a pop-up shop – anything you can put your mind to.
“Boutique,” not unlike “bookmobile-for-hire,” may be a controversial and confusing word choice here, which is why it has quotation marks around it. The point is, our space is available for library and non-library purposes alike, and we hope for it to be utilized as such.
Recent studies have shown that there has been tremendous growth in a socioeconomic movement called the Collaborative (or Sharing) Economy. Wikipedia defines the Collaborative Economy as “a socio-economic system built around the sharing of human and physical assets. It includes the shared creation, production, distribution, trade and consumption of goods and services by different people and organizations.”
Without really knowing there was a name for it, we, along with Kitchen/Brewery Incubator, Houston Makerspace and maker-/hackspaces in general, and Calliope Arts are all willing particpants in the collaborative economy.
Using the chart above, we can see that the traveling library side of our project largely participates through the redistribution of pre-owned goods, loaning materials out, and providing professional and personal library services to the community.
As an incubator space, we’ll offer several other types of collaborative consumption by integrating custom maker goods into our collection, by making our space and our vehicle available as a resource, and, through the makerspace, by expanding our professional services and skills both inside and outside the bookmobile.
—
Feeling inspired? Contact us for more information about utilizing our space! | 1,266,550 |
Because Microsoft’s new Edge web browser is stuck on the Windows 10 upgrade schedule, it has been updated infrequently in the past year, and it still lags behind the competition. Microsoft, it’s time to fix this problem and make Edge an app. And then just update the hell out of it going forward.
Of course, Edge literally is an app. It’s even a Universal Windows Platform (UWP) app. What I mean is that Edge is still serviced the old-fashioned way, as part of the OS, meaning that it is only updated along with Windows. Instead, you should be able to get Edge updates regularly through Windows Store, as you do with other apps that ship with Windows 10.
By comparison, Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox have both been updated numerous times in the year since Windows 10 first shipped. Edge? Just twice: In November, when Microsoft shipped Windows 10 version 1511, and this past month, when we received Windows 10 version 1607.
That’s too slow. It’s too slow in some theoretical world in which Edge already matches up, functionally, to competition like Chrome or Firefox. But it’s especially too slow in the real world, where that is not the case: Yes, Edge has improved materially since the initial release of Windows 10 last year. But that’s the minimum: As first shipped, Edge was horribly incomplete.
To be clear, I’m speaking in terms of end user features here. Separate from this, Microsoft has a roadmap for improving Edge’s web platform features as well. These are low-level features like the rendering engines and so forth. These are actually updated fairly routinely behind the scenes.
And yes, those on the Insider Program can gain access to new Edge features more quickly than the public. But doing so comes at great cost: You must download and install full Windows 10 builds each time there’s a new release.
There has to be a better way. And there is: Microsoft should simply treat Edge like it does other apps and issue app updates, regularly, through Windows Store. These updates should and could include new features.
To those who may argue that businesses require a more stable and predictable web platform, I say fooey. Only large managed businesses require such a thing, and Microsoft already has controls in place for such enterprises. Smaller businesses and individuals use browsers like Chrome, and they’re updated regularly. Nothing breaks.
Edge will never be taken seriously by any mass of real users until it is brought up to speed with leading web browsers. And that won’t happen if we have to wait until next March or whatever to get the next set of Edge functional updates. Whatever those might be.
Microsoft, set Edge free. It’s time. It’s past time.
Tagged with Microsoft Edge | 1,266,551 |
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The share of U.S. mortgage refinancing activity contracted last week to its smallest in more than 8-1/2 years amid a jump in home borrowing costs this year, Mortgage Bankers Association data released on Wednesday showed.
A woman looks at real estate listings at an office in the Brooklyn borough of New York, U.S. March 21, 2017. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
The refinance share of overall mortgage activity fell to 41.6 percent in the week ended April 7, the lowest level since September 2008. It was 42.6 percent in the previous week.
The average interest rate on 30-year, fixed-rate conforming mortgages, the most widely held type of U.S. home loan, fell to 4.28 percent, up 46 basis points from a year ago. It was 4.34 percent in the prior week.
Conforming loans are those with balances of $424,100 or less and that qualify for guarantees from federal mortgage agencies Fannie Mae FNMA.PK and Freddie Mac FMCC.PK.
MBA’s seasonally adjusted gauge of applications to refinance an existing home loan was little changed, hovering at a six-week low at 1,272.3. It was 40 percent lower than 2,122.0 a year earlier.
“With the rates today, it’s hard to get back to a refinancing boom anytime soon,” said Chris Nard, president of mortgage at Citizens Bank in Boston.
Mortgage rates had jumped in step with U.S. bond yields following Donald Trump’s surprise U.S. presidential win. Traders had bet he and a Republican-controlled U.S. Congress would quickly enact tax cuts and infrastructure spending and loosen regulations, spurring business investments and inflation.
Home loan costs and Treasury yields US10YT=RR have retreated in recent weeks after Trump and leading Republican lawmakers failed to pass healthcare reform, causing traders to pare bets on rising inflation.
Worries about the French presidential election and tension between the United States and Syria as well as North Korea have sent bond yields and mortgage rates even lower.
Meanwhile, the Washington-based industry group said its seasonally adjusted gauge of application activity to buy a home, a proxy for future home sales, rose 2.9 percent at 246.7 in the latest week. It was 241.9 a year ago.
“We are optimistic about home sales this spring and the upcoming summer season,” Citizens Bank’s Nard said.
MBA’s measure on overall mortgage applications rose 1.5 percent to 402.9, its first increase in four weeks. It was 520.2 a year earlier.
The share of applications for adjustable-rate mortgages was unchanged from the preceding week at 8.5 percent. | 1,266,552 |
Back in 2011 Prog Magazine put Genesis on the cover for the very first time. In a cover feature that spoke to Phil Collins, Tony Banks, Mike Rutherford, Ray Wilson and Anthony Phillips about various eras of the band's career, we collared original Genesis guitarist Phillips to recall his time in the band.
Since leaving Genesis in 1970, Anthony Phillips has gone on to develop a career in writing both library music, TV scores and since 1977, a string of solo albums, the most recent of which is Pathways & Promenades. However he’s still best remembered as one of the founding members of Genesis. Phillips recalls how in their earliest gigs audiences didn’t know what to make of the group.
“We were playing at technical colleges, at night clubs and we bemused people. The most trouble we had was with the quiet songs because we just didn’t have the amplification and people just wouldn’t listen. One of the sad things about that year on the road was that a lot of material was dropped. We used to kick off sets with Grandma and Little Leaf [which later appeared as Old Wives Tales on Private Parts & Pieces III]. These might’ve have made it onto Trespass but were torpedoed off the road as they were too quiet.”
After a year of continuous touring, Phillips, suffering from a bout of glandular fever and an extreme form of stage fright, quit the group. Did he ever regret his decision? “Of course, but I wouldn’t have wanted to go touring or have the press intrusion. It would’ve scared the living daylights out of me.”
Is it ever irksome being associated with something that you did over 40 years ago? “You do get the 'Pete Best' routine from people. It is difficult in that respect because you can never really get away from people who are much more interested in the fact that you were in Genesis than anything else. You learn very quickly to be polite and quite quickly take your leave in those circumstances. The good side is that nobody can ever take away that I was one of the founding fathers; there was an input, a certain side from Mike Rutherford and I which is in the foundations. That’s the good side, and the reflected glory that comes with all of that.”
Would Phillips ever be tempted back for a grand reunion gig? “The answer most definitely would be ‘No!’ I haven’t toured since 1970 so I would feel completely out of my depth. if such a gig was for a charity. Then I would have to say ‘yes.’ I don’t know how to say this without sounding too humble but I feel a bit small. These guys have been gigging all over the world. I’m just a studio musician now, really.” | 1,266,553 |
An artists rendition of NASA's Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO)-2, which will launch on July 1 and measure atmospheric carbon dioxide
NASA is preparing a July 1 launch for its first satellite dedicated to measuring atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas that plays a key role in climate change.
CO2 levels have reached their highest point in at least 800,000 years, according to the US space agency.
The Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 (OCO-2) satellite is very similar to its predecessor, OCO-1, which was destroyed during its launch in February 2009.
The satellite will help provide a more complete and global picture of man-made and naturally occurring CO2 emissions as well as the effects of carbon "sinks," like oceans and forests, which absorb and trap the gas.
"Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere plays a critical role in our planet's energy balance and is a key factor in understanding how our climate is changing," said Michael Freilich, director of NASA's Earth Science Division.
"With the OCO-2 mission, NASA will be contributing an important new source of global observations to the scientific challenge of better understanding our Earth and its future," he added in a statement.
The OCO-2 satellite will be launched on a United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, aiming for an orbit at 438 miles (705 kilometers) above the Earth's surface.
Smoke stacks at American Electric Power's (AEP) Mountaineer coal power plant in West Virginia on October 30, 2009
NASA envisions it becoming the lead satellite for a six-strong fleet that will circle the Earth every 99 minutes, allowing nearly simultaneous observations across the globe.
OCO-2, designed to operate for at least two years, will take measurements of carbon emissions and carbon sinks around the world to help scientists analyze how they change over time.
In April, monthly concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere surpassed 400 particles per million in the northern hemisphere, which NASA said was the highest level in at least the past 800,000 years.
Human activities—including the burning of fossil fuels like oil, natural gas and coal—are blamed for emitting nearly 40 billion tonnes of CO2 in the atmosphere each year, leading to an unprecedented accumulation of the greenhouse gas.
Climate scientists have concluded that the increase of CO2 emissions from human activities, especially from fossil fuels and deforestation, have upset the planet's natural carbon cycle, prompting rising temperatures and planet-wide climate change.
Currently, less than half of the CO2 emitted by human activities remains in the atmosphere, scientists say.
Measurements of CO2 levels taken by the new satellite will be combined with data obtained by land-based observatories, airplanes and other satellites.
Explore further NASA carbon-counting satellite arrives at launch site
© 2014 AFP | 1,266,554 |
Google will spend north of $1bn to launch a fleet of 180 satellites to blanket unwired parts of earth with internet access, according to the Wall Street Journal.
While details of the project are subject to change, people familiar with Google's satellite plans told the paper the project will start with 180 small, high-capacity satellites that orbit lower than typical satellites.
The Google project is said to be being led by Greg Wyler, the founder of satellite startup O3b Networks; Google participated in a $1.2bn funding round in the company back in 2010.
O3b derives its name from the term "other 3 billion people" who lack broadband access either due to geography, political instability, or economics. With four satellites currently in orbit and four more set to launch in July, O3b currently provides backhaul to last-mile mobile network providers.
According to the report, Google's satellite plan could cost anywhere between $1bn and $3bn. The project is being led by Wyler with the support of up to 20 people, including O3b's chief technology officer Brian Holz, who reportedly joined Google this week.
News of Google's plans follow a report this week by Space News that L5/WorldVu — a Channel Islands company backed by Google and O3b Networks — had acquired Ku band spectrum that was initially allocated to now-defunct Skybridge, which had planned to launch 360 small satellites for a global broadband service.
The choice of Ku band spectrum bucks the trend for broadband satellites that have typically used Ka band for broadband, according to Tim Farrar, who heads up US-based satellite-consulting TMF Associates.
"This takes advantage of the FCC and international rulings secured by Skybridge in the late 1990s, which made over 3GHz of spectrum available for [non-geostationary satellite orbit] Ku-band systems, so long as they avoid interfering with satellites along the geostationary arc," Farrar wrote on the company's blog.
Farrar also told the Journal that the satellite constellation would probably replace Google's other satellite initiative, Project Loon, which relies on a network of hot air balloons at an altitude of 20km to deliver 3G-like speeds. The Google X Lab project launched its first Loon balloons in June last year.
Google's potentially serious move into satellites also follows Facebook’s efforts under internet.org and the Connectivity Lab, which are exploring the potential for drones, satellites, and lasers to connect the next billion people.
TMF Associates' Farrar has estimated it would take around five years to construct and launch 180 satellites, which could be done for a cost of $2bn to $3bn. If Google followed through with Skybridge's full 360 satellite plan, the project could be completed for around $5bn.
Read more on this story | 1,266,555 |
accomplish this. Google makes it easier to remove all the annoying bloatware pre-installed on a device with a little help from the Google Play store. Downloading the Default App Manager Lite app is a good start.
12. Built-in heart rate monitoring The iPhone can track heart rate through the use of certain health apps. Well, Samsung’s upped the ante and stuffed a monitor inside its next-gen smartphones—one that measures the speed of heartbeats more accurately than anything found in the App Store. Gimmicky as hell, but it works.
13. Tap-to-share photos It took years for Apple to jump on the Near Field Communication bandwagon. Granted, the company’s using the technology for Apple Pay, but that’s mostly it. NFC is practically a standard on all Android phones these days and offers one special attribute that is MIA on the latest iPhone: tap-to-share functionality. This opens the lane to exchange photos with others by simply tapping both phones together.
14. Receive the latest Google Maps updates, quicker Most iPhone users depend on Google Maps to be their travel guide since Apple Maps is terrible. But every time Google rolls out its latest software updates, Androidphiles get first dibs on the service’s newest features such as batching upload photos and speaking or typing phrases to check upcoming events. There’s advantage being in the Google Club.
15. Supports more mobile payment systems Apple Pay is cool, but there’s just one major problem with it…the mobile payment system only works at NFC-enabled terminals. Some of Android’s compatible services like Samsung Pay lets users complete purchases at any store with a credit card reader, which is practically every shopping establishment in the world. You do the math.
16. Removable batteries iPhones are designed to die fast. And even with a portable charger on hand, we still find the better option to be swapping out the battery. A handful of Android phones let you do so by popping off the back cover and replacing the rechargeable cell with a new one. On the other hand, the only way you’re removing an iPhone battery is by handing it over to a Genius Bar rep.
17. More customizable interfaces As seamless as iOS operates, the level of control for customization on it is limited. Android gives us the freedom to personalize the homescreen as we see fit. The ability to sort apps and folders anywhere on the home panel and add interactive backgrounds and assign colors to folders is quite liberating in comparison to Apple’s OS.
18. Better file management Searching for a lost document or unedited Instagram clip on iOS is a lost cause. Reason for that is Apple’s operating system has no centralized location to track down files. Hence why companies like Samsung programmed a file manager on its front-end touch interface to give people full control of their media. | 1,266,556 |
Washington, D.C. — An Army soldier serving in Kansas shared bomb-making instructions online and discussed killing activists and bombing a news network, the Justice Department contends. According to a criminal complaint filed in the U.S. District Court of Kansas, the Army solider spoke with an undercover FBI agent on the Telegram messenger app, where he relayed instructions on how to make "a Middle East style bomb."
Jarrett William Smith, a 24-year old private first class infantry soldier stationed at Fort Riley, Kansas, was charged with one count of distributing information related to explosives and weapons of mass destruction.
Smith joined the Army on June 12, 2017 and was transferred to Fort Riley on July 8, 2019.
In this Feb. 9, 2015 file photo, an honor guard stands at the entrance before ribbon cutting ceremonies for the new 1st Infantry Division Headquarters at Fort Riley, Kan. Prosecutors say a U.S. Army infantry soldier stationed at Fort Riley shared bomb-making instructions online and also discussed killing activists and bombing a news network. AP
Prosecutors allege Smith discussed his plan to kill far-left-leaning "antifa" activists and described how to build a bomb that could be triggered by calling a cellphone. Smith reportedly said on Facebook that he wanted to travel to Ukraine to fight with a paramilitary group known as Azov Battalion.
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Smith also suggested targeting a major news network with a car bomb, though the news network was not identified in the complaint. Smith appeared to be targeting former Texas Congressman Beto O'Rourke as well, according to prosecutors. O'Rourke is currently running for president in the 2020 presidential election.
"You got anyone down in Texas that would be a good fit for fire, destruction and death?" the undercover FBI agent allegedly asked Smith.
"Outside of Beto? I don't know enough people that would be relevant enough to cause a change if they died," Smith said allegedly.
Beto O'Rourke seen September 12, 2019, in Houston. Getty
In a statement to CBS News, O'Rourke's national press secretary thanked the FBI for its diligence: "We take any threat like this very seriously," Aleigha Cavalier said. "And our team is in direct contact with the FBI regarding this case. This isn't about any one person or one campaign and we won't let this scare us or cause us to back down in fighting for what's right."
Smith was arrested Saturday. In an interview before his arrest, Smith told investigators he knew how to make improvised explosive devices and routinely provided instruction on building them. He stated he did this to cause "chaos."
Smith could face up to to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000 if he is convicted. The FBI investigated the case, while U.S. Attorney Tony Mattivi will prosecute. | 1,266,557 |
oughed,
Where is the knowledge treasure, my Lord?
I sailed and sailed,
Where is the island of peace, my Lord?
Almighty, bless my nation
With vision and sweat resulting into happiness
About Dr. A.P.J Abdul Kalam
Similar to his Motivational Quotes, his life itself very Inspiring for the Young Indians. Dr. Abdul Kalam was born in small Town called as Rameshwaram in the State of Tamil Nadu, India on 15th October 1931.
Kalam is a notable scientist and engineer. And, Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam has served as the 11th President of India from 2002 to 2007.
During his term as India’s President, he was popularly known as the People’s President.
Before his term as India’s president, he worked as an aeronautical engineer with DRDO and ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation). He is popularly known as the Missile Man of India for his work on development of ballistic missile and space rocket technology. Kalam takes important roles in India’s Pokhran-II nuclear test in 1998
People especially Students love and respect Kalam so much.
Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam is a man of vision, who is always full of ideas aimed at the development of the country. He firmly believes that India needs to play a more assertive role in international relations.
Dr. Kalam had received honorary doctorates from 30 universities and institutions, and he is the recipient of many awards including India’s highest award Bharath Ratna.
Abdul Kalam has written many books such as “Wings of Fire” (An Autobiography of APJ Abdul Kalam), “India 2020 – A Vision for the New Millennium”, “My journey” and “Ignited Minds – Unleashing the power within India”
Kalam has proposed a research program for developing bio-implants and Space solar power. And, he is a supporter of Open Source (e.g LinuAbdul Kalamx, Mozilla FireFox, php, apache) over proprietary solutions and believes that the use of free software on a large scale will bring the benefits of information technology to more people.
And, he is doing teaching and research tasks. Above all he took up a mission to ignite the young minds for national development by meeting high school students across the country.
His book ‘India 2020? highlights the action plans that will help develop the India into a knowledge superpower by the time 2020.
And, his poems and Quotes inspire young minds. You may share this page to your friends to inspire them with Quotes of Dr. Kalam.
For More Abdul Kalam FaceBook Covers | 1,266,558 |
, seventh edition Counterspell. Oof. On his turn, he Snapcaster Mages the Hymn to Tourach again, and I’m uneventfully beaten down by Leovold, Emissary of Trest.
Sideboarding: -1 Infernal Tutor, -2 Ponder, +2 Empty the Warrens, +1 Thoughtseize
Game Two:
I start off crafting my hand with a Ponder, and he lands another turn 2 Hymn to Tourach. Next turn, I drop Chrome Mox imprinting Burning Wish, and cast Rite of Flame with the intent to Ad Nauseam. Sean thinks for a while on the Rite of Flame, and eventually casts Force of Will, thinking I was possibly holding Empty the Warrens. I let it get countered, trying to hold my joy. If I draw one more mana source (that isn’t Chrome Mox), I can hardcast Ad Nauseam. I topdeck a fetch, and proceed as planned. Sean, having had terrible luck in his MTGO testing the few weeks before, seems to be making up for lost luck. He had that one-of foil seventh edition Counterspell waiting for me again. I take a few turns off to rebuild my hand, as he builds his board. My draws are abysmal: Tendrils of Agony, Empty the Warrens, Infernal Tutor – at which I laugh – and finally a Brainstorm. I draw some gas that might let me combo off. I cast Gitaxian Probe to see if the coast is clear.
His hand is STACKED. Force of Will, Force of Will, Flusterstorm, Spell Pierce, Leovold, Emissary of Trest, Leovold, Emissary of Trest. I don’t even bother trying. I immediately scoop.
14-7 | 7-2-1
I’m out of contention, but I’ve earned cash prize. I watch Sean play his feature match against the burn deck piloted by Patrick Owens. Sean’s only loss during the tournament was to Patrick, and then Patrick again.
I was ecstatic to have Top 8’d my first larger tournament, which amped me up enough to drive us all home in Mike’s car.
Closing Thoughts
I had a blast playing the deck. It felt like nobody was really ready for me to be so explosive. The full set of Empty the Warrens was amazing all day. I’m sure if this list becomes popular, it won’t stay that way and the meta will shift against us. We’ll just have to shift with it.
MVP: 4th Cabal Therapy
USELESS: Meltdown
Until next time, may your Ponders be better than mine were. | 1,266,559 |
said.
That night, Sept. 12, Cofield was killed.
On Wednesday, Sept. 13, about 10:30 a.m., deputies responded to a call about a stolen book from Books a Million in Towne Center. The report indicated that a white male in a red car came into the store and took the book "The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy," Moore said. No one was immediately arrested.
The next night Smart was killed. Ten rounds were fired, Moore said.
On Friday, the day police matched the bullets from the Smart and Cofield shootings as coming from the same gun, law enforcement working together at the Violent Crimes Unit at State Police headquarters also received two videos that allowed them to better target a specific red car.
Custom Security was able to provide footage of the man taking a license plate off a car, which also showed the man using duct tape to cover an American flag sticker and dealership emblem on the back. The car also had a dent in the back bumper. A Walgreens a few blocks from the Florida Street shooting also provided video of a red car driving by around the time of the shooting, Moore said.
A Baton Rouge Police officer stopped a red car with the same dent in the bumper and American flag Saturday afternoon and took Gleason into custody. As detectives questioned the 23-year-old, the State Police crime lab and other officials continued to work the evidence.
Early Tuesday, the crime lab reported the clinching information: DNA matching a swab taken from Gleason was found on the casings taken from the Florida Street shooting. A ballistics analysis also determined that the casings from each of the three shootings — all different kinds of ammunition — were all fired by the same weapon, Moore said. No gun has been discovered, although the prosecutor said Gleason purchased a 9mm handgun in November 2016.
"It's incredible the amount of work that was done on this case so quickly," Moore said, adding it is particularly remarkable to find DNA on a fired shell casing. He credited Baton Rouge's crime lab and scene technicians for being able to find and process the evidence.
Gleason was booked Tuesday on two counts of first-degree murder, two counts of illegal use of a weapon, two counts of attempted first-degree murder and aggravated criminal damage to property.
But Moore emphasized that investigators are still working to process more DNA evidence from the two other crime scenes, and have "more work to do."
Moore and other law enforcement officials said the arrest was only possible through the Violent Crimes Unit, which was established in 2011 to bring together the Baton Rouge Police, the Sheriff's Office, State Police, the District Attorney's Office and federal agencies.
"It's a perfect example of what cooperation and collaboration can do when we're trying to fight crime," Gautreaux said. "It's an invaluable tool." | 1,266,560 |
assets of Harvey and Bob Weinstein, from both the original label named after their parents, and the Weinstein Co. After leaving Disney, the Weinstein’s took the Dimension banner and library with them.
A Byzantine headache for recent and previous owners of the Miramax library has been tracking down, sorting, and analyzing the myriad chain of titles on the catalog in an effort to monetize them. Some attribute such complex deals to the way that the original Miramax made deals out of film festivals. When the latest regimes of Miramax first wanted to revive the latest edition Halloween, it had to wait for a rolling option that the Weinstein Co. had on the franchise to expire. Then Miramax had to get permission from the IP’s owner, Malek Akkad, whose father Syrian filmmaker Moustapha Akkad produced the feature series.
. The Wedding Ringer
Adam Fields was one of those hired by Colony Capital as a creative consultant and producer to plunge the depths of the catalog for properties to exploit. One of the scripts he unearthed in a New Jersey warehouse was Golden Tux which he sold to Screen Gems for roughly $1M. That became the 2015 Kevin Hart-Josh Gad movie The Wedding Ringer ($80M WW box office). Other titles that Fields licensed out of the Miramax library include Total Recall which was sold to Sony for an estimated $5M (the 2012 Colin Farrell remake grossed close to $200M at the WW B.O.) as well as the Bad Santa sequel to Broad Green (sold for under $1M, however, wasn’t the cult hit like the original, making a low $17.7M stateside). Other IP licensed by Fields included Sin City 2, the Gone Baby Gone TV pilot to Lionsgate, Dusk till Dawn TV series, and a Cop Land Starz TV pilot.
Miramax
In regards to the Quentin Tarantino product in the library, i.e. Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill Vols. 1&2, Jackie Brown or his short in Four Rooms, such exploitation would require his approval we hear. He has long spoke about a full cut of Kill Bill with animated footage that was cut out of the original 2003-04 movies (called Kill Bill The Whole Bloody Affair). TBD on Kill Bill The Whole Bloody Affair. We understand there has always been a friendly dialogue between the Tarantino and post Disney Miramax camps.
Despite all the entangled rights and chain of title nightmares we’ve heard in the past about the Miramax library, we understand that the situation now is that most of that has been scrubbed between the Colony Capital and beIN Media regimes and remains in a turnkey position. Says one non-Miramax source about the potential of capitalizing on the catalog’s IP, “Nothing is impossible.”
Dade Hayes contributed to this article. | 1,266,561 |
by the federal judiciary. "I strongly encourage all public and private institutions to both respect and allow our nation’s judicial system to proceed without economic threats or political retaliation toward the 22 states that are currently challenging government overreach," McCrory said, referencing two separate, multi-state lawsuits against the Obama administration's guidance that public schools grant transgender students access to the bathrooms of their choice.
"Sadly," said McCrory, "the NCAA, a multi-billion dollar, tax-exempt monopoly, failed to show this respect at the expense of our student athletes and hard-working men and women."
A spokeswoman with the state Republican Party also spoke out against the NCAA’s move, calling it “so absurd it’s almost comical.”
“I genuinely look forward to the NCAA merging all men’s and women’s teams together as singular, unified, unisex teams,” said the spokeswoman, Kami Mueller, in a statement viewed by critics as a less-than-encouraging sign change would come from the legislature.
Yet, for their part, the two schools with perhaps the most to lose from the NCAA’s decision — Duke and the University of North Carolina — each came out in support of the action.
Related: Texas, Other States File to Support North Carolina's HB2 Bathroom Law
“Duke agrees with the decision,” said the school’s president, Richard Brodhead, on MSNBC Tuesday. “It was the NCAA’s to decide, and obviously they have many things to try to compute, and I think at the end of the day they regarded this as a fairness and equal rights, equal protection kind of issue. Certainly that’s the way that we see it.”
North Carolina Rep. Darren Jackson, a Democrat who introduced a failed bill to repeal HB2 last session, told NBC News he would try again when the legislature reconvenes in January. The NCAA's decision, he said, may help his cause.
"I think it's certainly going to put it back on the front page. Though I don't know if it will change the minds of our Republican governor and leadership," he said. "They're pretty dug in."
LGBT rights activists, meanwhile, are confident the courts will side with them, even if lawmakers never will. Last month, a federal judge issued a limited injunction against HB2, saying the plaintiffs were likely to succeed on claims the law violates existing federal protections. The same judge is scheduled to hear the full challenge in May.
“If the legislature does not fix this, we are confident that the law will eventually be overturned in court,” said Mike Meno, communications director of the ACLU of North Carolina. “We’re optimistic that HB2’s days are numbered.” | 1,266,562 |
A California government agency is taking heat for running a bunch of anti-obesity ads as part of their new campaign that is gracing the city streets of San Francisco and other areas of the state.
The public service ads by First 5 feature an obese black girl drinking sugar out of a cardboard box with a straw. Obviously not a realistic scenario, but its intention is simply to shock.
"It was intended to show parents the real-life consequences of obesity and what sugar can do to our children's lives," First 5 spokesperson Lindsay VanLaningham tells MSN. "The ads have just started going up in a series of convenience stores in certain parts of the state where it's hard to get access to healthy food … areas deemed 'food deserts.'"
Below the girl in the ad, the tagline reads: "'Less sugar' still has too much sugar. Sugary drinks like juice, sports drinks and soda can cause obesity. Choose milk and water instead."
There are similar ads targeting the Asian population, which are not in English.
Also see: Surprising thing that could lead to childhood obesity
And turns out, the photos have been altered.
"They are just stock images which were Photoshopped," VanLaningham says. "When you are handing a child soda or a juice box to drink you might as well be handing them a packet of sugar. Because that's what happening."
But it appears some California residents and journalists are outraged, claiming that despite the lack of statistical data to support the ads effectiveness, they also engage in "fat shaming" by making kids and adult feel terrible about themselves.
Jezebel points to recent data that suggests anti-obesity programs only result in a one pound weight loss.
"Is the one pound weight loss enough to justify the time, cost, and effort put into this campaign?" writes Laura Beck.
Also see: School obesity-prevention programs could actually trigger eating disorders
It's worth noting, however, that some for the data Beck references is not entirely applicable. Some of the studies do not specifically look at the effectiveness of anti-obesity ads, but rather a range of other anti-obesity tactics including school diet and exercise programs.
And then there is disgusted San Francisco resident Marilyn Wann who has taken the liberty of putting the original image of the black girl beside the Photoshopped image and posted it to Facebook and Tumblr, calling the ad campaign "hateful."
"Children of all sizes deserve to be valued as they are and supported in eating and exercising, because these behaviors are fun, feel good, and are good for health. No shame or blame!" she writes.
Her post, as of Thursday, has received 19 shares, 75 comments, and 48 likes.
What are your thoughts on these types of anti-obesity ads? Do you believe they are effective? | 1,266,563 |
ユニークなデザインの雑貨をつくっているイギリスの企業suck UKが、付箋パック「Block Notes」を販売している。テトリス感覚でメモを残すことができる遊び心あふれた商品だ。
遊べる付箋「Block Notes」
テトリス感覚でメモを残せる
全て組み合わせた状態
ユニークなデザインの雑貨をつくっているイギリスの企業suck UKが、付箋パック「Block Notes」を販売している。ゲーム感覚でメモを残すことができる遊び心あふれた商品だ。「Block Notes」は人気のゲーム「テトリス」ブロックの形を模した付箋。勉強や仕事を楽しいものにしたいという想いから生まれた。カラフルでいろいろな形をした付箋を並べたり、付け足したりすれば、テトリス気分で仕事を楽しめる。販売サイトのコメント欄には購入者からの「可愛くて楽しい！」「用途に合わせてそれぞれの形が使える。彼氏にあげたら喜んでくれた」「テトリス好きなら持つべき」という声が寄せられている。サイズはブロックを正方形に組んだ状態で10.2x1.1x11.9センチ。8色各100枚入りで1セット。米国Amazon.comなどで購入できる。 | 1,266,564 |
“Even if we have a Supreme Court ruling that says all 50 states have to recognize marriage for same-sex couples, we’re still likely going to have implementation issues that will take time, maybe even years, to solve,” says Emily Hecht-McGowan, director of public policy at the Family Equality Council, a nonprofit organization devoted to LGBT parenting. “There are states that are less excited about implementing marriage equality, and there are places where it will be difficult to work with adoption administrators and officials to get them to recognize the rights of parentage that flow from marriage.”
Under the status quo, laws that restrict gay couples from marrying have created unorthodox family structures, at least on paper. Take April DeBoer and Jayne Rowse, a Michigan couple. The pair has four adopted children, but none of them legally belongs to both women: two are DeBoer’s and the other two are Rowse’s. The Supreme Court is considering their family situation in Obergefell v. Hodges, a consolidation of six cases from four states that asks whether the Fourteenth Amendment demands same-sex marriage.
While the justices ponder that question, families like the DeBoer-Rowses remain especially vulnerable to accidents and medical emergencies. If one of the mothers were to die or be otherwise incapacitated, there’s no way to be sure that the second parent would get custody of the two children who had been adopted by the first; a judge could hand them over to someone else. That possibility has caused LGBT families tremendous anxiety. When the DeBoer-Rowses had a near-miss with a truck driving on the wrong side of the road at night, they began to create wills and trusts to benefit their kids. They could dictate the disposition of their assets, they realized, but not of their children themselves. (Justices Roberts and Thomas may be sympathetic—both men have adopted children of their own.)
But same-sex marriage bans harm families with LGBT parents in other ways, too. The Sixth Circuit appeared to recognize these harms last year when it wrote in DeBoer v. Snyder, the suit filed by April and Jayne, that the traditional definition of marriage “deprives [gay couples] of benefits that range from the profound (the right to visit someone in a hospital as a spouse or parent) to the mundane (the right to file joint tax returns).” Then there are psychological harms to the children of gay couples, largely caused by the stigma associated with having parents whose relationship is considered to be legally or morally inferior. A 2008 report found that 42 percent of students with LGBT parents said they had been verbally harassed at school in the past year due to their parents’s sexual orientation, with more than a third of students saying they had been harassed about their own. Almost a fifth of these students experienced LGBT-related physical attacks during the same period. | 1,266,565 |
Joining the young Scots in Pool C are six-time U20 champions New Zealand, last year's bronze medallists South Africa and an increasingly-impressive Georgian age-grade side, all of whom are ranked above the men in blue.
The world’s premier age-grade rugby tournament will be hosted in Rosario and Santa Fe this June (4-22 June) and features 12 nations across three pools of four, based on rankings from the 2018 competition.
Defending champions and 2018 hosts France will take on home-favourites Argentina, Wales and newly-promoted World Rugby U20 Trophy winners Fiji, in Pool A, while Pool B sees 2018 runners-up England face Australia, Italy and Ireland.
WORLD RUGBY U20 CHAMPIONSHIP
POOL A POOL B POOL C France England South Africa Argentina Australia New Zealand Wales Italy Georgia Fiji Ireland Scotland
SCOTLAND U20 SCHEDULE
Tuesday 4 June: South Africa v Scotland (kick-off 10.30am)
Saturday 8 June: New Zealand v Scotland (kick-off 3.30pm)
Wednesday 12 June: Georgia v Scotland (kick-off 10.30am)
VIEW THE FULL MATCH SCHEDULE
Tickets for the event which provides a great chance to see the best young players in the world are available at www.ticketek.com.ar priced from £5.65 for pool matches.
First held in Wales in 2008, only four nations have lifted the distinctive trophy: New Zealand, South Africa, England, and for the first time in 2018, France.
The tournament is already a proven pathway to the top with a total of 653 players having graduated from the U20 Championship to play test rugby since New Zealand won the inaugural title.
It is anticipated that Rugby World Cup 2019 will see more than 300 players take the field in Japan who have previously appeared at U20 Championships.
Argentina is an experienced host of international age-grade tournaments.
The hosts of the World Rugby U20 Championship 2019 have seen the future starts of world rugby up close in 1997 (U19) and 2005 (U21) before age-grade rugby was unified under the U20 category.
In 2010, the U20 Championship was held in the same region as the one that will host 12 nations come June and Buenos Aires hosted the Youth Olympic Games in 2018 at which Argentina won the men’s rugby sevens gold medal in front of an exuberant home crowd.
Following a record breaking U20 Championship in France last year that saw 97,776 fans attend across the tournament, a peak domestic television audience of 1.31 million fans watching the final and more than 41.5 million video views in total, Rosario and Santa Fe will be expecting a great level of local interest and passionate support for Argentina. | 1,266,566 |
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A U.S. judge canceled a key permit Wednesday for the Keystone XL oil pipeline that’s expected to stretch from Canada to Nebraska, another setback for the disputed project that got underway less than two weeks ago following years of delays.
Judge Brian Morris said the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers failed to adequately consider the pipeline’s effect on endangered species such as pallid sturgeon, a massive dinosaur-like fish.
READ MORE: Work starts in Montana on Keystone XL pipeline
The ruling, however, does not shut down work that has begun at the U.S.-Canada border crossing in Montana, according to attorneys in the case. Pipeline sponsor TC Energy will need the permit for future construction across hundreds of rivers and streams along Keystone’s 1,200-mile (1,930-kilometer) route.
A spokesman said TC Energy was reviewing the ruling.
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“We remain committed to building this important energy infrastructure project,” spokesman Terry Cunha said.
2:33 Keystone XL pipeline moves forward with Alberta gov’t investment Keystone XL pipeline moves forward with Alberta gov’t investment
Officials with the Army Corps of Engineers did not have an immediate response to the ruling.
Morris is holding a court hearing Thursday on two other lawsuits against the $8 billion pipeline. American Indian tribes and environmental groups want him to halt the construction at the border while a lawsuit challenging President Donald Trump’s approval of the pipeline last year works its way through the courts.
The pipeline was proposed in 2008 and would carry up to 830,000 barrels (35 million gallons) of crude daily to Nebraska, where it would be transferred to another TC Energy pipeline for shipment to refineries and export terminals on the Gulf of Mexico.
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1:52 Keystone XL pipeline permit cancelled by U.S. judge Keystone XL pipeline permit cancelled by U.S. judge
It was rejected twice under the Obama administration because of concerns that it could worsen climate change, then Trump revived it.
TC Energy’s surprise March 31 announcement that it intended to start construction amid a global economic crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic came after the provincial government in Alberta invested $1.1 billion to jump-start the work.
1:57 Keystone XL clears another legal hurdle, what’s next? Keystone XL clears another legal hurdle, what’s next?
Tribal leaders and some residents of rural communities along the pipeline’s route worry that thousands of workers needed for the project could spread the virus.
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As many as 11 construction camps, some housing up to 1,000 people, were initially planned for the project, although TC Energy says those are under review amid the pandemic. | 1,266,567 |
Councillor Norm Kelly (open Norm Kelly's policard) has officially been invited to the 6th annual OVOFest, according to Drake’s Instagram account and much to the delight of many who’ve been keeping an eye on the drama surrounding the rapper and the councillor this week.
It’s not clear whether Kelly will actually be attending. His office could not immediately be reached for confirmation.
In the early hours of Friday, Drake posted a picture of the councillor on his Instagram account, captioned “6th Annual OVO Fest this weekend. @welcomeovo.”
The two have become unlikely allies in recent days, with the Twitter-savvy Ward 40 councillor coming out in full force to support Drake, whom he calls a “Canadian hero,” in Drake’s ongoing Twitter feud with Philadelphia rapper Meek Mill.
The saga started when Meek Mill lashed out on Twitter, accusing Drake of using a ghostwriter.
In an unexpected show of support for the rapper, the 73-year-old Kelly declared that Meek Mill was no longer welcome in Toronto, where he was scheduled to perform with Nicki Minaj the following week. Mill responded saying, “U sound like a thug lol.”
Mill was booed after he showed up almost 90 minutes late, reportedly because he’d been held up at the U.S.-Canada border, at Minaj’s concert on Tuesday night at the Molson Canadian Amphitheatre.
Fans hoping for an intense battle between Drake and Mill were left largely disappointed by the one-sided exchange—by Wednesday morning, Mill had yet to respond to two diss tracks, “Charged Up” and “Back to Back,” released by Drake consecutively.
After the second track came out, Kelly posted an image of back-to-back reflections of himself, even though he’d pledged a two-week Twitter vacation.
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When Mill’s highly anticipated response emerged online Wednesday night, Kelly was not impressed.
“This is the reason people hire ghostwriters. #WeDidntWannaKnow,” tweeted the councillor, who has won international attention for his part in the feud.
In fact, Twitter Canada declared Friday that Kelly has collected 65,000 new followers on Twitter in July, calling it #SummerofNorm.
Drake seemed to agree with Kelly’s tweet. He uploaded a photo of himself laughing at something on his phone.
OVOFest, a festival organized by Drake for the sixth year in a row, runs Saturday through Monday at the Molson Canadian Amphitheatre, featuring performances from the rapper himself, J. Cole, Big Sean, YG, and surprise guests.
Read more about: | 1,266,568 |
calculate. I didn’t prepare for and when the moment came, I zigged when I should’ve zagged,” said Jackson. “Obviously there’s pressure. You don’t want to go in and lose to CM Punk, that pressure is there, but outside of that, there is no pressure. I know that he’s not better than me in any facet of the game, so I’m prepared for what he has to offer, whether it’s on the feet or on the ground, the clinch, wherever it goes. I’m prepared for whatever [CM Punk] has.”
Don’t mistake his confidence for disrespect, because Jackson does appreciate the risk that CM Punk is taking by accepting a second fight with the UFC.
“As a man, I respect him for his willingness to step inside a cage with another man and see who is the best that night. So I respect him for that,” said Jackson. “My issues with him come from his words, but his actions in terms of his willingness to step into a cage, I respect that.”
If Jackson gets a win over CM Punk, he has his eye on another UFC fighter who he thinks he matches up favourably with. Of course, that is dependent on whether that fighter is still with the promotion following his recent actions.
“I called out Artem Lobov, Conor McGregor’s little homeboy, following a fight. I told him, ‘Hey, if you want to boogie at 155 [pounds], we can do it.’ He responded to it, he liked the idea, so I’m still open to that match if that arises,” said Jackson. “But then again, we don’t even know if little Artem and his little arms are going to be in the UFC after his thuggish ways at UFC 223.”
But before his eyes get too big, Jackson knows that he needs to defeat CM Punk and his strategy is clear.
“We’re going for the big knockout. We know what time it is,” said Jackson. “It really depends on how I feel that day and I’m being legitimately honest. There are times when one part of me wants to go out here and beat this dude up for three rounds. Look, this isn’t going to a decision by any means, but there’s a part of me that wants this to go a little bit just so I can really show my skills and what I bring to the fight game. Then the other part of me really wants to go out there and get this cheque in under a minute.”
Mike “The Truth” Jackson faces CM Punk at UFC 225 in Chicago on Saturday, June 9, 2018 | 1,266,569 |
From the 1970s, Irifune Restaurant was a cornerstone of the Kapahulu community, a culinary time capsule that never changed. When my family moved from Kalihi in the early '80s, one of my mother’s favorite “fancy” restaurants in our new neighborhood was always Irifune. For her, like almost everyone else, it was the signature garlic ahi belly that was the draw.
Then it closed and for the last 18 months, Irifune was absent from our lives — until yesterday. On Monday the restaurant made a humble return as a drive-in-style diner in downtown Honolulu. Approaching the counter, I cross my fingers and hope the new Irifune will live up to my memories.
Perusing the menu, the first thing I look for is their famous garlic ahi. For whatever reason, it's currently only offered as part of the bento lunch along with a small shrimp and vegetable tempura set and three pieces of ahi sashimi. You might even miss the "G ahi" listed in small print between the sashimi and tempura. Old-timers like me will be glad to know the ahi is still perfectly cooked, infused with garlic flavor and moist as can be, although I could do with more than the small 2- to 2.5-ounce portion.
Next we try the Japanese curry with chicken karaage. While I try to keep my expectations for takeout curry to a minimum, I'm pleasantly surprised by this one. Curry enthusiasts will pick up on the dark roux flavors forming the backbone of the distinctively homemade flavor. Not to be outdone, the light, crispy, juicy morsels of karaage chicken contrast nicely with the thick, moderately spicy curry.
The last dish we try catches us completely by surprise. Irifune's breaded tofu is probably better described as a tofu katsu. Presumably double fried, the amazingly crunchy crust adheres firmly to the tofu steaks. A bright shoyu-ginger sauce complements the fried tofu and primes the palate for the next bite. The plate is $10; I would gladly pay more for a second slice of tofu. This is certainly the highlight of our lunch.
The new Irifune is on Mililani Street, along the pedestrian stretch makai of Queen Street between Richards and Punchbowl. There's some public parking in the area, but parking may be a challenge unless you work nearby. You should also be aware that lunches seem to be cooked to order, which means that you can expect to wait 10 or 15 minutes. At least that was our experience on day one. The good news is that Irifune’s food remains true to its Kapahulu origins and has not suffered from their long absence.
Welcome back!
Irifune Restaurant
850 Mililani St. | 1,266,570 |
Thurman cuts her way through the Crazy 88’s in a carefully choreographed sequence that reminds me how it can be to watch carefully choreographed action unfold under controlled, cinematic conditions. Robert Richardson’s trademark spot-lit overhead key lights add a fantastic glow to everything, and Tarantino’s knack for combining music with imagery (in this case, the 5,6,7,8’s) really shines through here. I’m excited to see the uncut version, sans black & white. I have a strange love/hate relationship with kung fu. I’m not a fan of wire work, but it seems the sloppier it is, the more I dig it. In this case, Tarantino seemed to be challenging the Shaw Brothers kung fu films of the 1970’s. There’s no concern for realism. In fact, the opposite holds true. This fight is meant to be pure cinema. Blood spraying as a representation of death rather then a realistic portrayal of it.
2. Death Proof – Car Chase
Although I loved the entire film, even hater’s have to admit the two major action set pieces in Tarantino’s Death Proof are amazing. The final 30 minutes of the film are essentially built as a tribute to stunt drivers and the road films of the 70’s, showcasing Zoe Bell as a new female talent in the industry. Tarantino manages to capture every possible cool angle throughout this chase, and does proudly without any CG. (Maybe some wire removal?) Everything is shot low to the ground as the road blurs by, tipping you off as to how fast they really are going. It’s a lengthy sequence that ends with a surprising twist, and a definite return to form for Kurt Russel. If only Neil Marshall’s ‘Doomsday’ took this similar approach to it’s car sequences.
1. Children of Men – The Long Take
Here is the perfect example of how to use CG in an action scene; invisibly.
As with the previously mentioned hallway scene in Oldboy, Alfonso Cuaron seems to be inspired by the first person immersion of video games like Call of Duty and Medal of Honour, choosing to play out his two major action sequences in long, single takes. (with hidden cuts of course) The goal, of course, is to simulate the look and feel of war journalism. Mission accomplished. The final scene of the film plays out like a Universal Studios ride. (minus the creepy mechanical E.T. saying your name as you exit) Blood splatters onto the lens, explosions shoot dust and debris everywhere, characters cross paths only to lose each other and eventually meet up again in different locations. Watching Clive Owen traverse the battle field is probably the closest I’ll get to experiencing the thrill of paint ball. Or war I suppose. Nah, paintball. | 1,266,571 |
Two weeks ago Hillary Clinton accused Donald Trump of being an insensitive boor for “fat-shaming” Miss Universe Alicia Machado while she was Miss Universe in 1996.
Machado was representing the Miss Universe pageant at the time – which Trump owned.
Machado claimed that she felt humiliated when she was photographed exercising at a gym with Trump watching. He said Tuesday that ‘she gained a massive amount of weight’. (Daily Mail)
The Clinton Campaign was working with former Miss Universe Alicia Machado since summer in their attempt to smear Donald Trump.
They missed a few things…
TRENDING: Unhinged Quebec Woman Pascale Ferrier Identified as Suspect in Case of Ricin Letter Sent to Trump White House
“Operatives in Brooklyn had been working with Machado since the summer.” https://t.co/PY9D5gecQC & they missed this? https://t.co/w5QxM5bT1Q — Mickey Kaus (@kausmickey) September 28, 2016
In 1998 Alicia Machado was accused of driving her boyfriend from the scene of a murder attempt – at a woman’s funeral.
She was also a porn actress who did a live sex show.
And then there’s this….
Alicia Machado had an anchor baby with a Mexican drug kingpin.
Now this…
Alicia Machado says she will stop talking about Trump after the facts came out about her porn past, her sex on live TV, murder charges and baby to a Mexican drug lord.
The Daily Mail reported:
A former Miss Universe who says Donald Trump ‘fat-shamed’ her and called her ‘Miss Piggy’ says she’s done battling the billionaire. Alicia Machado will not give any more interviews on the way Trump treated her, representatives for the Venezuelan-born beauty queen told DailyMail.com, ‘We will not be discussing the Trump subject any further,’ an email from her reps at Anderson Public Relations Group said. A statement from Machado that accompanied to the message blasted Trump and his campaign for ‘launching insults and are attempting to revive slanders and false accusations about my life, in order to humiliate, intimidate, and unbalance me. ‘These attacks are cheap lies with bad intentions,’ she said.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3824110/Former-Miss-Universe-says-s-giving-interviews-fat-shaming-life-story-unravels-not-discussing-Trump-subject-further.html#ixzz4MKBMoRBv
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook | 1,266,572 |
It can’t be easy for an international star on the most popular show on television. Fun? Definitely. But easy? Probably not. So although fans the world over positively love Game of Thrones hero Jon Snow, actor Kit Harington may not be quite as fond of the character.
Harington recently told the BBC that he has moved on from Snow and the show. “It was emotional to leave the job, definitely,” Harington said. “But I wouldn’t say I was sad: If, like me, you go all the way back to the pilot of Game of Thrones, that’s almost 10 years of your life. That’s really unusual in an actor’s career.”
Though Harington is making upwards of $500,000 per episode and GoT has afforded him the part of a lifetime (for which he routinely expresses gratitude), it’s understandable why he’d want to move on at this point. “It was a huge emotional upheaval leaving that family,” he said. “But would I want to go back and do more? Not on your life.”
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Given that he’s been in the role since the show began in 2011 and the difficulty of filming on multiple continents, why shouldn’t he be ready for the next stage of his career? You try shooting in freezing temperatures for half the year and see how you feel.
The actor’s recent comments echo his previous sentiments about the looming conclusion of his Westerosi tenure. In October of 2017, Harington said, “Thrones is coming to the end at the right time for me…It will be liberating, just the thought of having a whole year free! You shoot for six months, but half of the projects you might want to do will have started shooting before that six months is over. There’s a lot of things you can’t do.”
He continued, “I’m looking forward to finishing, and eight years is the right amount of time. I wouldn’t want it to go on any longer than it has. I have other ideas I’d like to look at producing.”
Later, he remarked that his fame is “bizarre and weird” and that he doesn’t “particularly enjoy” being a heartthrob. “I’m glad I’ve experienced it, but that’s what I mean about it being eight years, then it’s done. You couldn’t go on for much longer. It’s a bit incessant.”
Harington will get his wish when Game of Thrones returns for its final supersize, six-episode season in April 2019. | 1,266,573 |
s what the bot wrote:
Strong and free. I’m going to work with you on those, and on that day, that is a victory for you that we will take out all the evil. But this is going to be a good day for you, my friend.
This is going to be, this is going to be a fight for you. You are going to fight, my friend, for the world you’ve always dreamed of as a child. We all have a choice about who will hold on to that kind of freedom.
Because when we stop trying, we can’t sustain this kind of freedom and justice for long.
Our children and our citizens will never forget the sacrifice of the men and women of this military. Their sacrifice will never be forgotten. There will be no second Vietnam or Vietnam War for a long time.
I’ve met with all kinds of different groups who are protesting today. They’re all upset because at some point they want us in their country. But we’re not going to have another Vietnam War, OK?
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The bot appears to have turned the PPC slogan into a pump-up speech that veers into a discussion of the Vietnam War.
New Democratic Party — “In it for you.”
Here’s what the bot wrote:
In it for you. If someone is trying to take from you, then show him how much you love him before you do the taking. As soon as you make a decision to do something, don’t hesitate to say: “This isn’t about me anymore. I’m going to do this for you, because I love you.”
So, this article is about how to give. Because if you can give, then someone else will have a reason not to take from you. It’s not going to be easy to be giving. No single gift is going to give what you value. You just have to show yourself willing. As you take life by the hand, you will learn that this gift that comes with it might go right to the heart of each and every recipient.
In a recent chat I had with an acquaintance, she asked me about taking what she really loves in life. I replied with an open question: what I love in life is … being a good person. If this is what I love in life, then what’s the reason for you to take from me?
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This speech doesn’t sound strange if you imagine it coming from Jagmeet Singh. He’s faced prejudice and racism on the campaign trail, and he’s responded by reaching out to people in a compassionate way.
It also raises a bigger question: Did an AI just write a moving speech about love? | 1,266,574 |
Donald Trump stands in front of compacted recycling in Pennsylvania. REUTERS/Louis Ruediger Donald Trump on Tuesday said that, if he is elected president, then one of the first actions he will take will be to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).
During a speech in Pennsylvania, Trump laid out a broad vision for a more aggressive enforcement of US trade policies under his theoretical administration, contrasting them with those of presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.
The presumptive Republican nominee said that one of his top priorities would be the renegotiation of NAFTA, which eliminated a number of tariffs and state and local barriers on trade when it went into effect in the mid-1990s.
Trump said, according to prepared remarks distributed by his campaign:
"I'm going tell our NAFTA partners that I intend to immediately renegotiate the terms of that agreement to get a better deal for our workers. And I don't mean just a little bit better, I mean a lot better.
"If they do not agree to a renegotiation, then I will submit notice under Article 2205 of the NAFTA agreement that America intends to withdraw from the deal."
In his speech, Trump repeatedly slammed Clinton for her proximity to business leaders who support free-trade agreements. He highlighted her previous support for NAFTA and invoked Sen. Bernie Sanders' criticisms of her trade stances.
Trump said:
"Hillary Clinton, and her campaign of fear, will try to spread the lie that these actions will start a trade war. She has it completely backwards. Hillary Clinton unleashed a trade war against the American worker when she supported one terrible trade deal after another — from NAFTA to China to South Korea.
"As Bernie Sanders said, Hillary Clinton 'voted for virtually every trade agreement that has cost the workers of this country millions of jobs.' Trade reform, and the negotiation of great trade deals, is the quickest way to bring our jobs back."
For her part, Clinton's position on NAFTA and free trade has shifted over the past several decades.
Though she supported the deal during her husband's presidency, she said in 2008 that she was in favor of "fixing" parts of the trade agreement. Last year, Clinton also rescinded her support for the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a multinational trade agreement that would roll back some tariffs in exchange for currency protections and some labor and environmental-standards mandates.
The Clinton campaign has attempted to undermine Trump's protectionist policies by highlighting his reliance on international trade in his private business deals.
In a conference call hosted by the campaign in advance of Trump's speech, Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown slammed the real-estate magnate for outsourcing the production of some of his branded products overseas.
"We know just in my state alone where Donald Trump could have gone to make these things," Brown said. "He could have fought to make these products here, but he didn't." | 1,266,575 |
If Cee-Lo wrote the greatest song of all humankind with "Fuck You," which has sufficiently taken over the Internet this week, then Meat Loaf certainly deserves a firm No. 2 spot for his own masterpiece, "California Isn't Big Enough (Hey There Girl)," a song that finds the 62-year-old singing, quite proudly, "I can barely fit my dick in my pants."
Crazy, right? Uh-huh.
Well, turns out, the Dallas-born Meat Loaf Aday will be performing his own brand of cock rock at the House of Blues on Thursday--and, in his honor, we've decided to dedicate a list to his... uh, presence.
So, without further ado, check out our list of the top 30 songs about genitalia right now.
Well, OK, check it out--all of it, baby--after the jump.
1. Arab Strap "Packs of Three"
2. Nirvana "Heart Shaped Box"
3. Bull Moose Jackson "Big Ten Inch"
4. Prince "Pussy Control"
5. Chuck Berry "My Ding-A-Ling"
6. Riskay "Smell Yo Dick"
7. Fred Schneider "Monster"
8. King Missle "Detachable Penis"
9. Pantera "Use My Third Arm"
10. The Rolling Stones "Cocksucker Blues"
11. Li'l Wayne "Lollipop"
12. Khia "My Neck, My Back"
13. Too Short "My Dick, My Sac"
14. Theater Fire "The Testicle Song"
15. PJ Harvey "Rub Til It Bleeds"
16. Homer Henderson "Hillbilly Pecker"
17. Grinderman "No Pussy Blues"
18. AC/DC "Big Balls"
19. Isaac Hayes "Chocolate Salty Balls"
20. Primus "Wynonna's Big Brown Beaver"
21. Slick Rick "Lick The Balls"
22. Missy Elliot "Work It"
23. Too Short "Cocktales"
24. XTC "Pink Thing"
25. Nerf Herder "I've Got A Boner For Christmas"
26. Elvis Presley "A Big Hunk O' Love"
27. Monty Python "The Penis Song"
28. Jack Black/Mr. Show "Don't Stick Your Dick In These Holes"
29. Sheena Easton "Sugar Walls"
30. Uncle Bonsai "Penis Envy"
30. The Cramps "Can Your Pussy Do the Dog?" | 1,266,576 |
Amazon announcing creation of tech hub in Detroit
The online retailer Amazon.com is to announce today that it plans to build a technology hub in downtown Detroit with the creation of more full-time technology jobs.
Amazon's announcement is set for 9:30 this morning at Cobo Center.
As part of its announcement, Amazon said it is donating $10,000 and 30 Amazon Fire tablets to the Carver STEM Academy program in the Detroit Public Schools. The academy offers students in pre-kindergarten through eighth grade a curriculum rich in science, technology, engineering, the arts and mathematics.
“We have a long-term plan to grow our presence in the great state of Michigan, and bring more full-time, high-tech jobs to the city of Detroit,” said Peter Faricy, vice president for Amazon Marketplace. “We have are focused on hiring in the state and look forward to being a part of the community, professionally and personally. Michigan is a rapidly growing technology corridor and we’re eager to bring the incredible local Detroit talent to Amazon.”
Amazon currently leases space on one floor in the 150 W. Jefferson office tower downtown where about 100 employees work on software development, engineering and advertising sales. Amazon will be expanding that space to multiple floors in early 2016 to create its tech hub but has not released an estimate on how many more employees it will hire there.
The expansion of the online retailer will continue and likely accelerate a trend downtown toward a greater tech presence. Quicken Loans now employs more than 10,000 workers downtown in a variety of tech-related roles, and the Quicken spin-off Rocket Fiber will soon launch the first pilot rollout of its high-speed Internet service. Such tech giants as Microsoft and Twitter have a presence downtown, as do numerous smaller tech-related companies including GalaxE Solutions, Level Eleven and Detroit Labs.
The expansion of Amazon at 150 W. Jefferson is likely to add to downtown's growing reputation as a tech hub where tech-savvy workers find employment.
“It’s exciting to see Amazon creating a presence in Detroit and I’m proud to have them here,” said Gov. Rick Snyder. “Amazon plans a commitment to developing talent, investing in high-tech jobs and keeping that talent in-state. This company will be a strong partner in growing our talented workforce and opening up these great opportunities.”
“We are excited to welcome Amazon to the city of Detroit,” said Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan. “Having a global company establish a base in our city is another example of how more businesses are seeing Detroit as a good investment.”
To learn more about job opportunities with Amazon in Michigan, go to www.amazon.com/careers.
Contact John Gallagher: 313-222-5173 or [email protected] | 1,266,577 |
Netcraft, a UK based security services company, the hackers have compromised the web server owned by the gaming company, Electronic Arts (EA) to host a phishing site which targets Apple ID Account holders, asking for users' Apple ID and password, along with their full name and date of birth and credit card details as well. According to the researchers at, a UK based security services company, the hackers have compromised the web server owned by the gaming company,to host a phishing site which targets Apple ID Account holders, asking for users' Apple ID and password, along with their full name and date of birth and credit card details as well.
The phishing site attempts to trick a victim into submitting his Apple ID and password. It then presents a second form which asks the victim to verify his full name, card number, expiration date, verification code, date of birth, phone number, mother's maiden name, plus other details that would be useful to a fraudsters," wrote the researchers in a blog post.
" wrote the researchers in a blog post.
The Hackers compromised the EA Games server by exploiting one of the vulnerabilities in an outdated WebCalendar application and used it as a weapon to create the fake "My Apple ID" page designed to look like the legitimate Apple login page, as shown. Once the users submit the details, they are redirected to the legitimate Apple ID website.
"In this case, the hacker has managed to install and execute arbitrary PHP scripts on the EA server, so it is likely that he can at least also view the contents of the calendar and some of the source code and other data present on the server. The mere presence of old software can often provide sufficient incentive for a hacker to target one system over another, and to spend more time looking for additional vulnerabilities or trying to probe deeper into the internal network." researchers at Netcraft said.
In addition to host a phishing site, the EA Games attack was also used for another phishing attack that steals users' login credentials of Origin digital distribution platform, that means if a site has been online for more than a week, it has attempted to steal email addresses, passwords and security question answers as well, according to the researchers.
Using hijacked Apple ID details, hackers can gain access users' personal data stored on iCloud, including email, contacts, calendars, and photos, that could even be used to clone an iPhone or iPad by restoring an iCloud backup to a device in their possession.
Netcraft informed EA yesterday that their server has been compromised. However, the vulnerable server and the phishing content were still online at the time of publication.
We always recommend our users not to click on any link blindly and the best way to protect yourself from such attacks is by using two-step verification, which means that a code is also required with the ID and Password to access your account. | 1,266,578 |
Barcelona forward Ousmane Dembele was two hours late for a training session on Sunday, sources have told ESPN FC.
Dembele, 21, was tracked down at his home by club security staff a day after starring in the 4-0 derby win over Espanyol.
In October, sources told ESPN FC that Barca had concerns about Dembele's off-pitch behaviour.
The France forward then failed to report for a training session the following month, with coach Ernesto Valverde dropping him from the squad against Real Betis as a result.
Valverde, speaking at a news conference ahead of this week's Champions League match against Tottenham, tried to downplay Dembele's lateness, but sources said the club hope the player can address the situation quickly.
Barca also have concerns about the company Dembele keeps and feel his childhood friends could do more to ensure that he remains professional.
Urbano Ortega, who was assistant to former sporting director Robert Fernandez, said Barcelona had received reports about Dembele's off-pitch conduct when signing him from Borussia Dortmund last year.
"The people that surround Dembele don't help," Ortega told radio station COPE. "When we signed him, we already knew about his indiscipline problems."
Barca want to nurture Dembele's talent rather than cashing in on him, despite a number of Premier League clubs having been linked with a move.
He has scored and set up eight goals in his last eight appearances and was selected ahead of Philippe Coutinho against Espanyol, responding with a goal and an assist.
"Something happened [on Sunday], but we will try to resolve it internally," Valverde said when asked about Dembele. "I don't have anything else to say, really.
"We will try to help the player because he has a lot of talent and we want to help him. He is a player that gives us a lot on the pitch, but we have behaviour-based rules which are the same for everyone."
Defender Clement Lenglet said Dembele's teammates were more concerned about how he was playing.
"What matters to me is what Ousmane does on the pitch, and he's doing really well," he said. "You're talking about non-sporting matters, but when he's played he's played really well.
"I understand journalists look at other things but, for me, the most important is to watch the games and to see if he's doing well."
Last month, both Gerard Pique and Luis Suarez offered support to Dembele but called on him to be more professional.
Dembele is expected to be in the squad for Tuesday's Champions League game against Spurs, with Barca having already qualified. | 1,266,579 |
the shop’s cafe and tea room.
By the mid-19th century, the company’s reach was global, as seen in the sales-room murals depicting four major continents—Europe, Asia, Africa, and America—where ingredients were sourced and products sold. Income from the company’s cosmetics helped pay for the upkeep and restoration of the neighboring church of Santa Maria Novella. But after the unification of the Italian states in 1861, the Catholic church was forced to divest of its properties and pass them to the new central government. Fra’ Damiano Beni was the final monk to manage the pharmacy, though through a special arrangement, he was allowed to cede ownership of the business to his nephew Cesare Augusto Stefani in 1869. (A descendant of this family, Diana Stefani, is one of the co-owners to this day.)
“The monks had to give ownership of the pharmacy building to the City of Florence,” Foà explains. “From that point on, laymen were managing the company, though the property is still under a long-term lease agreement with the city.” Although the management changed, Foà says the company retained its commitment to sourcing high-quality, natural ingredients for its time-tested recipes.
Take the Florentine iris, long a favorite ingredient for perfume, which is still in high demand. “To extract the essence from its roots, you have to wait three years before they can be dried, peeled, and crushed, reducing everything to a powder,” Foà says. “You form a sort of butter to extract the essential oils, which cost around 30,000 Euro per liter. And imagine that from one ton of roots, you get scarcely one and a half liters of essential oils. It’s unaffordable for the industrial cosmetics companies, but we do it because it makes a difference in the product.”
When asked about the variations between the company’s new and old products, Foà provides samples of recently developed scents versus those based on historic recipes: While the modern perfume has a subtle floral fragrance, the ancient perfume is sharp like a pungent vinegar, conjuring the harsher smells of medieval Florence. “The needs of men and women were completely different from today,” he says. “Perfume was designed to cover the smell of trash, so it was very, very strong. Now, tastes have changed completely.”
But even as technology, medicine, and urban life shifted dramatically, the Officina Profumo-Farmaceutica di Santa Maria Novella avoided short-lived trends and stayed faithful to its roots. Relying on centuries-old recipes, the company unintentionally discovered a different kind of alchemy—the recipe for success—in a world where wrinkles and body odor are more feared than the bubonic plague. | 1,266,580 |
. The most puzzling thing is not that it shows we need to rethink the chronology for a number of exploratory discoveries, but that it describes Antarctica’s topography as not being masked by ice and in great detail. The last time that occurred was more than 6000 years ago. Tell me then. How did a Turkish admiral from half a millennium ago map a continent that’s been covered by ice for the last 6000 years?
The Nazca drawings (or lines) definitely have something otherworldly about them. Discovered in 1930 — when the US inaugurated two new commercial lines — they cover 450 square km and some measure more than 200m in length. They depict lines, geometrical figures, animals, and figures that we haven’t entirely figured out yet (many believe them to be constellations). Whether made for the gods or for some other reason, it’s obvious that they were meant to be seen from the sky. Scientists have had trouble trying to figure out how they could have been designed and created without somebody directing the work from above. We can only marvel at these amazing figures and continue to wonder how and why they were created by a people called the Nasca.
The mysterious city of Nan Madol – a city built on corals
The city of Nan Madol was built between 200 B.C. – 800 A.D., on a coral reef near Micronesia. It consisted of about 100 artificial islands made from huge basalt blocks and connected with viaducts. From the start, it dazzles us with a mix of the bizarre and grandeur. From the start it seems incongruous; 250 million tons of offshore basalt in the middle of nowhere. How were these huge blocks quarried, transported, and placed in the perfect spot? Even by today’s standards, it would an impressive engineering feat. Additionally, the reasoning behind its development remains a mystery. Archaeologists have few clues as to what happened to the civilization responsibile for its creation.
The Sacsayhuaman walls
Near the city of Cuzco, more than 3500 meters above sea level, these amazing walls first fascinated the Spanish conquistadores. They were astonished to discover how these people who, according to them, were ignorant and lacked the ability of logical reasoning required to have built such wonders. They are in fact 3 concentric walls, the average being roughly 360 meters in length and 6 meters in height, made from limestone blocks that weigh about 300 tons each. They didn’t use mortar or any other kind of cement to bind the walls, but they are carved and placed in such a way packed so closely that even a sharp knife can’t be wedged between 2 blocks. Scientists have tried to achieve this at a much smaller scale and have failed in their efforts to replicate the tight joints of the Sacsayhuaman walls. | 1,266,581 |
Because we care about individual liberty here, we think you should be able to engage in self‐defense to protect that liberty (and your life, if it comes to that). That includes the right to armed self‐defense, of course, a right that becomes all the more important when encountering potential assailants who are stronger and/or more numerous than you.
Indeed you might recall from the legal fight to guarantee an individual right to keep and bear arms, that my colleague Tom Palmer once fended off some anti‐gay marauders by just showing them that he had a gun.
And now we see that same story play itself out, except the would‐be victim scared off a homophobic gang by merely maintaining the impression that he had a gun:
The situation could have gone either way: I could end up beaten or dead, or we could all go our separate ways.
All I could think to do was to get to my backpack and find my phone. As I fumbled for the phone, I heard one of them say, “Does he have a gun?”
So I kept my hand in my backpack, allowing them to wonder whether I was reaching for a gun. Then a couple of them started to run away, and the others soon followed. I got back on my bike and pedaled as fast as I could out of there.
When I got home, I began to reflect on what had happened, and more disturbingly what could have happened. I am in contact with the LGBT unit of the police department to file a report. But I’ve thought a lot about the turning point of the situation — the fact that one of them thought that I might have a gun. None of them said, “There’s a law against antigay hate crimes!” That wasn’t the deterrent. It was the possibility that I might have had a gun that saved my life Friday night.
It’s unfortunate that the people Mr. LaSalvia encountered are around — whatever their motivations — but would we be in a better world if people like him couldn’t imply the potential for armed self‐defense?
Of course, in DC, Chicago, and many other places — which, after the recent Supreme Court rulings, must allow guns to be kept at home — it’s still illegal to carry a gun (open or concealed). If the thugs Mr. LaSalvia ran into knew the local gun regulations (as many professional criminals do) and accurately gauged their target as a law‐abiding citizen, they would have known that he was bluffing.
Is that what gun‐control proponents — many of whom I surmise strongly support gay and women’s rights — want?
(H/t: Lindsay Charles) | 1,266,582 |
Former Republican lawmaker and presidential candidate Ron Paul said it’s “conceivable” Obamacare will “totally self-destruct,” declaring it will “eventually end because it’s such a disaster.”
The libertarian icon spoke with Fox News’ Stuart Varney Thursday about whether the net loss of nearly 4 million private health plans under Obamacare “spells the end of activist government.”
“I wish,” Paul quipped. “No, there’s a lot of diehards out there. There’ll be excuses made and politicians will spend it a certain way. But it’ll eventually end because it’s such a disaster. This a sign that the delivery of healthcare will even be worse than signing up for the healthcare.” (RELATED: It’s official: Obamacare debuts with more canceled plans than enrollments)
Paul predicted that the total cost of medical care in the U.S. under Obamacare “is going to be huge. It’s going to be a tax, and the quality of care and what people are going to get — everybody’s tells me, ‘They’re canceling me, they’re charging me more, I’m getting less,’ and they’re furious. It’s going to be the biggest political issue in this year’s campaign.”
Despite the problems, Paul noted that a political solution is nearly impossible. “You’re not gonna get rid of it, you’re right about that,” he told Varney. “They’re gonna limp along. If Republicans win in the fall, they may tamper it a bit and tinker with it and change it.”
But that doesn’t necessarily mean we’re stuck with Obamacare forever. “The only way it’s going to disappear quickly is if it totally self-destructs, which is conceivable,” he claimed. “Everybody just quits because they’re getting nowhere with it… One day it’s going to be so bad, people are just going to opt out on their own.”
“All we need to do is have the right to opt out and have a little bit of competition,” Paul concluded.
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Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact [email protected]. | 1,266,583 |
DETROIT (Reuters) - The head of General Motors Co's GM.N Cadillac luxury division said on Thursday the brand will shrink its lineup of sedans and expand its offerings of sport utility vehicles and hybrid and electric vehicles in response to market shifts.
Cadillac President Johan de Nysschen speaks to reporters during Auto China 2016 auto show in Beijing April 25, 2016. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon
Expanding Cadillac’s global sales is central to GM’s overall profit strategy, and Cadillac has reported a 27 percent increase in worldwide sales through the first half of the year.
However, in the United States, now the brand’s second largest market behind China, Cadillac sales are down 1.6 percent and combined sales of the brand’s four sedan models have plummeted 16.3 percent through the first half of the year.
That has forced GM to order layoffs at two Michigan factories that build Cadillac cars, and raised questions about the long term future of the plants.
“We have to rebalance our sedan portfolio,” Johan de Nysschen told Reuters in interview, offering new details about the strategy.
Cadillac will not directly replace the current XTS, CTS or ATS sedans when they end their life cycles in 2019, he said. Instead, Cadillac will use a single new car called the CT5 to appeal to consumers shopping for sedans priced between $35,000 and $45,000. New versions of the CT6 sedan will be offered to customers who want a larger car starting at $50,000.
The CT5 will be built at a factory near Lansing, Michigan, that currently builds the slow-selling Cadillac ATS and CTS models. A small luxury sedan to compete with the Audi A3 will be built in the same plant, de Nysschen said.
Cadillac will offer more SUVs, starting with a compact model called XT4, followed by a larger SUV with three rows of seats due by 2019 to compete with vehicles such as Volvo’s current XC90 model.
Volvo, owned by China's Zhejiang Geely Holding Group [GEELY.UL], scored a public relations coup by announcing plans earlier this month to power all its vehicles with either hybrid or all-electric technology starting in 2019. The move challenges Tesla Inc TSLA.O, which has eclipsed more established brands with tech savvy luxury buyers.
Cadillac has plans “not dissimilar to what Volvo has announced,” with more electrified vehicles launching in the second half of the next decade, de Nysschen said.
To stay abreast of Tesla and others in the industry’s technology race, Cadillac will launch later this year its Super Cruise system that enables hands-free driving up to 85 miles (137 km) per hour. | 1,266,584 |
low bid price of 2.99¢/kWh*. Masdar Clean Energy also has large stakes in the gigantic London Array offshore wind farm, the world’s first floating wind farm (Hywind), and other solar CSP and PV power plants around the world.
Clearly, carbon pricing is one way to send a strong and clear signal to the investment and development communities. This topic is picking up and the broad business community wants it — Exxon wants it, Total wants it, Shell wants it, and, of course, renewable energy companies want it. A good carbon price provides a “level playing field” and “you begin to understand what the real cost of energy is,” as Adnan Z. Amin summarized. Nonetheless, with certain countries (the USA, Poland, Italy …) engaging in climate action negativity, a global carbon price definitely won’t come about within a year or two. However, perhaps more regional initiatives on this matter will pop up or expand, enabling quicker cleantech growth (and the economic benefits that follow) in those regions.
Chart via IRENA
Amin also noted that there are 9.5 million people working in renewables worldwide, according to IRENA research, and he highlighted independently what the former head of Mexico stated later at the opening ceremony of the World Future Energy Summit — a lot more people now work in renewables than in coal. 85,000 people work in the coal industry in the United States, whereas approximately 400,000 people are employed in renewables in the USA.
Renewables are the future because they are cheaper and because they create a greater number of jobs. Going renewable or taking climate action is no longer a charity. The governments and institutions that most aggressively push the cleantech transition and enable faster flow of capital into their regions for renewable energy projects will see more economic growth and benefit. If I were a policymaker anywhere right now, I’d be examining and having my staff examine specific policies to implement in order to get a bigger portion of the cleantech pie. It’s logical from an economic perspective, a health perspective, a climate perspective, and a moral perspective.
*This record has since been beaten in Chile and perhaps again in Dubai (but the latter has an odd deal in which the bid price is much higher in summer than at other times).
Top two photos by IRENA (some rights reserved), Bader Saeed Al Lamki photo by Masdar
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On the first day of school as part of our advisory period, we gather the 6th graders together (about 40 students) and take them outside to do this ice breaker as a whole class. The 5 advisors model how to do this activity and then we hand each student a card and allow them to mingle and mix for about 10-15 minutes.
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Strike a Pose
I am not really sure what the name of this activity is, so I just call it “strike a pose” – if you know what it is, please let me know in the comments so I can update it 🙂
This is also a really fun large group activity where the kids get to run around outside and make different poses. Start off with everyone just mingling around, and then you call out a “pose” for them to strike. When starting this activity, use multiples that total the number of students you have so that no one is left out in the first few rounds. For example, it you have 40 students, you can do poses that need a pair of students, a group of 4, a group of 5, etc. Then, after a few rounds, you pick a number that does not fit evenly. Mix up the groupings randomly, they have to figure out how many people to complete the pose. The students that don’t pair up with someone, will then sit out. You can keep going until you have a handful of students left or restart at any time. This is really fun and the kids will grab anyone near them to complete the pose!
Examples of Poses:
Single: Statue of Liberty, Michael Jackson, Spider Man, Hulk, a bowler
Statue of Liberty, Michael Jackson, Spider Man, Hulk, a bowler Duos: Batman & Robin, Sonny & Cher, Tennis Partners, Woody & Buzz
Batman & Robin, Sonny & Cher, Tennis Partners, Woody & Buzz Trios : Charlie’s Angels, Nirvana, Jonas Brothers, Three Musketeers
: Charlie’s Angels, Nirvana, Jonas Brothers, Three Musketeers Group of 4: Beatles, Fantastic 4, Ghost Busters, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Beatles, Fantastic 4, Ghost Busters, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Group of 5: Basketball team, The Incredibles, Jackson 5,
Basketball team, The Incredibles, Jackson 5, Group of 6: Brady Bunch, Volleyball Team, Cast of “Friends”
Brady Bunch, Volleyball Team, Cast of “Friends” Group of 9: Baseball /SoftballTeam
Baseball /SoftballTeam Everyone – class of 20XX
– class of 20XX etc…
Please add additional ice breakers in the comment section! | 1,266,586 |
İmamoğlu pulling ahead by 9%, the government resorted to desperate tactics. Erdoğan insinuated the opposition candidate was working with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ party (PKK) and a bizarre statement carried on the official government news agency from the jailed PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan called on Istanbul’s approximately 4 million Kurdish voters not to support the secular CHP’s İmamoğlu. The measures backfired after Kurdish political parties reiterated their unofficial coalition support for İmamoğlu.
On Sunday night, the swift and gracious acknowledgement of defeat from the AKP struck yet another tone.
Lisel Hintz, a professor at Johns Hopkins University’s European and Eurasian studies department, said: “We still need to see how Erdoğan reacts to İmamoğlu’s victory. Istanbul serves not only as a symbol of where he launched his political career, but also as a massive source of rents that can be used to garner electoral support.
“We’ve seen already through the rerun that he was not willing to let it go easily. We now have to wait and see whether İmamoğlu’s tenure as mayor will be interfered with in any way, whether by cutting off funding and hampering his office’s ability to provide services or by removing him under some legal pretext.”
Also on Monday, the trial began of 16 prominent figures from the 2013 Gezi Park protests in Istanbul that challenged Erdoğan’s authority – a reminder that while Istanbul has signalled its overwhelming appetite for change, the president has over the years consolidated his grip on Turkey’s democratic institutions, and remains very much in control.
For many, memories of the 2015 general election which ended the AKP’s majority in parliament – but was reheld in October that year, yielding a more favourable result for the ruling party – are still fresh.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Turkish soldiers stand guard in front of a courthouse on Monday before a trial of 16 people. Photograph: Gurcan Ozturk/AFP/Getty Images
The overarching mood on the city’s İstiklal Avenue and in liberal neighbourhoods was still upbeat, however, as the opposition relished its rare victory.
“I want İmamoğlu to follow through on the promises he made to the city,” said Aysun Oktay, 18. “I want more sports facilities and opportunities for young people.”
“Her şey çok güzel olacak [everything’s going to be alright],” she said, echoing the slogan of İmamoğlu’s second campaign. “He has shown us we can trust him.”
Additional reporting by Gökçe Saraçoğlu | 1,266,587 |
so we love “Doctor Who” and “Sherlock Holmes” and look what happened. Just because it’s great. I don’t think there’s a complicated answer to why we love Sherlock Holmes. He’s the biggest hit in fiction. Who the hell doesn’t like Sherlock Holmes? People who don’t like Sherlock Holmes are the people who haven’t paid attention to it yet. It’s not quite what you think of it and the original stories are so much cleverer and funnier than people realize. It’s brilliant.
There are facets to it, where you could each be drawn to specific aspects of the characters.
MOFFAT: It’s a very good, entertaining portrayal of a clever man. The celebration of his deductions is riveting as a kid when you read that for the first time. Then there’s that lovely, lovely unspoken about the central friendship, between these two men that no one would ever have put together. An ex-army doctor and a lunatic and they’re just the best friends.
VERTUE: And they have adventures and they enjoy it so it’s actually quite uplifting. With detective series, it’s often quite depressing.
MOFFAT: Yes, the “darkness of the human psyche?” Not with Dr. Watson and Sherlock Holmes. They think “Get another case! Let’s go out and catch a bad guy!” They love it.
VERTUE: You wanted to get them laughing, you said they enjoy themselves a lot in the original stories.
MOFFAT: Yes, one of the things people always look at in the show is that he’s a drug-taker or possibly a manic depressive and you look and he laughs in the show, he’s always laughing! He and Watson have huge laughs at things that happen. One guy comes in and tells his whole story, Sherlock Holmes looks at Watson and they both burst out laughing and you don’t always see that, except in ours.
And what could possibly go wrong?
MOFFAT: Pretty much everything we throw at them, but they get back up again and have more fun. They get upset for awhile. But then they say, “Oh well.”
The “Doctor Who” Christmas Special, “The Husbands of River Song,” premieres Christmas Day on BBC America. “Sherlock: The Abominable Bride” premieres January 1 on PBS.
READ MORE: Your TV Is A Lot More International Than You Think (And That’s A Good Thing)
Sign Up: Stay on top of the latest breaking film and TV news! Sign up for our Email Newsletters here. | 1,266,588 |
The Lithuanian finished second on the road to Gronholm RX driver Toomas Heikkinen in the opening session of the weekend to set the fifth best time, then climbed to second at the first corner of the first race in Q2, before taking the lead and race victory after the joker laps played out.
Double DTM champion Timo Scheider had made a near-perfect launch to take the lead of the same encounter in Q2 but finished second in the race and on the time sheets to hold third at the end of the first day, just behind Heikkinen.
The Finn, who tested the GRX Hyundai for the first time at Mayenne on Tuesday, returns to World RX for a one-off outing and was fastest in Q1. He was sixth on the Q2 time sheets, one place behind team mate Niclas Gronholm but remains second overnight, with Gronholm in sixth.
Winner of the Norwegian round, Gronholm led the final race of Q1 from pole, but was passed by Timmy Hansen at the end of the opening tour, Hansen missing out on the fastest time by less than half a second.
Of the three drivers most likely to be fighting for the title in the final three rounds of the season, Hansen sits highest in the Intermediate Classification in fourth, one place ahead of Canadian round winner Andreas Bakkerud.
Hansen lost out at the first corner of his Q2 race and could only manage eighth fastest, while younger brother and championship leader Kevin Hansen twice started from the outside grid slot.
He was held up in Q1 then made a better launch in Q2 to beat closest title-rival Bakkerud into turn one, but was hung out to dry on the outside by EKS Sport’s Krisztian Szabo and ran fifth on the opening tour.
Kevin Hansen is 11th at the end of Saturday, one place ahead of Szabo and behind Anton Marklund, who battled with Bakkerud for track position in Q1.
Bakkerud meanwhile is ahead of GRX pairing Gronholm and Timur Timerzyanov and Latvian Janis Baumanis in the overall order, Baumanis having been second to Scheider in their Q1 race.
British driver Liam Doran couldn’t pull off a planned around-the-outside move at turn one in Q1 but made a brilliant start in Q2 to comfortably take the race lead on the opening lap and be fourth fastest, putting him ninth overall.
Latest ES Motorsport signing, Russian autocross racer Matvey Furazhkin had a challenging opening day. He hit a type bale in the second corner in Q1, damaging the front of the Skoda Fabia. He then chased ex-WRC driver Jani Paasonen in Q2 to set 18th best time.
Classification after Saturday: | 1,266,589 |
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The leader of Al-Nusra has been critically injured in an airstrike carried out by the Russian Air Force, the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement, adding that at least 12 Al-Nusra field commanders had been killed in the same attack.
Abu Mohammad al-Julani, the Commander-in-chief of Tahrir al-Sham, a terrorist group formed after the collapse of the Al-Nusra terrorist organization, was targeted by the Russian airstrike, the ministry's spokesman Major-General Igor Konashenkov said.
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Julani “sustained shrapnel wounds and is in a critical condition after losing his arm, according to information from multiple independent sources,” Konashenkov added.
The airstrike killed at least 12 Al-Nusra field commanders and some 50 members of the group’s security detail, the ministry’s spokesman said, adding that Julani’s aide was also killed in the Russian strike.
On October 3, Russian intelligence “uncovered the time and place of the Al-Nusra leadership meeting” led by Juliani, the statement said. After getting confirmation of the terrorists’ arrival and the start of the meeting, Su-34 fighter-bombers and Su-35 fighters were deployed to strike the location.
More than a dozen militants were also injured in the airstrike, the ministry added.
The airstrike on the Al-Nusra leader took place a week after the Russian Defense Ministry confirmed that five prominent Al-Nusra field commanders had been killed in an airstrike in Idlib province in Syria. Those commanders had led an attack on Russian Military Police (RMP) officers in Hama province earlier in September.
Read more
The incident in Hama had been reported by the Russian General Staff, which said that Al-Nusra militants attempted to capture the RMP unit, mandated to monitor the ceasefire in the Idlib de-escalation zone.
READ MORE: 850 jihadists killed as Russian warplanes help Syrian Army repel Idlib offensive – Moscow
The Russian command in Syria then ordered an operation to repel the militants’ attack. The Al-Nusra offensive was stopped and the militants suffered heavy losses. The losses were estimated to include around 850 fighters, 11 tanks, three infantry fighting vehicles, 46 armed pickup trucks, five mortars, 20 freighter trucks, and 38 ammo supply points.
September 30th marked the second anniversary of Russia’s military operation in Syria.
Russian forces have recently intensified airstrikes on extremists’ positions. The Russian Ministry of Defense said on Saturday that between September 19 and 29 the operations resulted in the deaths of 2,359 militants, with a further 2,700 or so wounded.
“Terrorist organizations Islamic State and Al-Nusra have sustained their most serious losses for the last several months,” the statement said. | 1,266,591 |
blossoms to DC. They love those single digit temperatures http://t.co/Ot0cDrEEy4 —
Steve Goddard (@SteveSGoddard) February 08, 2015
DC cherry blossoms second latest on record, beating out last year's second latest on record stevengoddard.wordpress.com/2014/04/13/ano… —
Steve Goddard (@SteveSGoddard) April 13, 2014
@WeatherGeeker In 1946, they blossomed on March 14. Unprecedented global warming over the last 70 years has lead to what we have today. —
Steve Goddard (@SteveSGoddard) March 25, 2014
Before Mann-made CO2 ruined the climate, cherry blossoms were blooming in Washington - 60 years ago today. http://t.co/W4PdUib6QG —
Steve Goddard (@SteveSGoddard) March 21, 2014
Climate experts say that global warming makes DC cherry trees bloom earlier earthcam.com/usa/dc/cherryb… http://t.co/txQdOmUrcZ —
Steve Goddard (@SteveSGoddard) March 17, 2014
On this date in 1945 and 1946, DC cherry trees were already blooming earthcam.com/usa/dc/cherryb… http://t.co/MxQdHEjcd9 —
Steve Goddard (@SteveSGoddard) March 15, 2014
March 14, 1946, cherry trees were blossoming in Washington DC. Not going to happen this year. earthcam.com/usa/dc/cherryb… http://t.co/imxSEeVaCs —
Steve Goddard (@SteveSGoddard) March 12, 2014
Experts say that global warming makes DC cherry blossoms bloom earlier in March http://t.co/a21RjuKaVD —
Steve Goddard (@SteveSGoddard) March 04, 2014
I'm not seeing any cherry blossoms yet in DC www2.nature.nps.gov/air/webcams/pa… http://t.co/N7F65MqGta —
Steve Goddard (@SteveSGoddard) March 03, 2014
In 1946, there were cherry blossoms in Washington DC by March 15 news.google.com/newspapers?id=… http://t.co/2h6TjRKwSu —
Steve Goddard (@SteveSGoddard) March 03, 2014
In 1946, DC cherry blossoms appeared by March 15. In 2013, they didn't appear until April news.google.com/newspapers?id=… http://t.co/mfmh4jZOJi —
Steve Goddard (@SteveSGoddard) January 12, 2014 | 1,266,592 |
Ohio Governor John Kasich (R-OH) Getty Images
Republican Ohio Gov. John Kasich, who is undecided about making another run the presidency in 2020, appears to be using President Donald Trump’s shocking press conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin to demonstrate how he differs with the president on foreign policy. Kasich's allies and advisors say he offers a sharp contrast to Trump when it comes to foreign policy. Trump appeared to embrace Putin during Monday’s summit in Helsinki, and accept the Russian president’s “extremely strong and powerful” denial that Russia meddled in the 2016 presidential election. “What happened yesterday was remarkable in a bad way for Trump but could be a critical moment for John,” said Thomas Rath, who worked as a senior advisor to Kasich in New Hampshire when the governor ran for president in 2016. “He is an expert in foreign policy and is taking advantage of the moment. He has very strong views about where the Republican Party has to be and he relishes the stage."
On Tuesday, Trump tried to walk back his controversial comments from Helsinki, claiming he misspoke during the press conference. He also claimed that he does, in fact, support the intelligence agencies conclusions that Russia interfered in the election. Even still, he said he believes other countries could have also been involved. Kasich has been steadfast in his own foreign policy agenda, which dovetails far more closely with traditional Republican views on Russia and other issues on which Trump has taken different positions. The Ohio governor has also sought to strike a unifying tone. Speaking with MSNBC’s Chris Matthews on Monday, Kasich said Trump's statements Monday were an opportunity for Democrats and Republicans to coalesce over what he called "a traditional model, which is a strong America, belief in our allies, the critical importance of the western ethic.”
NATO worries
Kasich also said he was concerned about the relationship between the U.S. and NATO, following Trump's contentious meeting with other heads of state from the trans-Atlantic defense alliance. “I’m really worried about the stability of the West, we’re not there yet, but it’s fraying," Kasich told CNN. "I don’t know why we want to fray an alliance.” Kasich did acknowledge, however, that Trump's style of managing foreign policy “from moment to moment” holds some sway with some GOP voters. Yet, he added, it's not a long-term solution for engaging with the world. For Kasich, Trump's widely criticized appearance with Putin is a chance to stress that Trump's approach may not be what the country needs, said Charlie Black, who advised the Ohio Republican during the 2016 campaign. “In this case, John can do what is right and gain politically. Trump gets traction on protectionism, but not isolationism,” Black said.
Will he or won't he? | 1,266,593 |
FORT MEADE, Fla. — The Polk County Sheriff's Office responded to a triple shooting in Fort Meade on Monday night.
Deputies say that the shooting occurred around 6:45 p.m. in the 400 block of 3rd Street SW, nearest cross street, Palmetto Street South.
According to the Polk County Sheriff's Office, 30-year-old Calvin Johnson could be heard yelling at 40-year-old Charles Peddycoart and his girlfriend about Johnson's missing dog. Deputies say Johnson repeatedly accused the couple of stealing his pit bull.
Investigators say that earlier in the day, the couple had walked to a nearby store and a pit bull began following them. The couple says they attempted to shoo the dog away, but it continued to follow. When they left the store, the dog was gone.
On their walk home, Peddycoart's girlfriend was approached by Johnson who asked if she had seen a couple walking with a dog, to which she replied "no." She then realized Johnson might have been asking about them, so she went back down the road and told him about the dog following them.
She told investigators that Johnson became irate with her because she didn't return his dog. She said she didn't know who owned the dog, which had no tags or collar. Johnson sped away in his car, leaving the woman feeling uneasy about his behavior toward her, according to a press release.
A short time later, deputies say Johnson returned to the home and knocked on the door. Peddycoart and his girlfriend stepped outside and saw that 18-year-old Edward Burgess and 30-year-old Teconsa McDonald were also on the porch.
Johnson reportedly began to yell at the couple, accusing them of stealing his dog — which they denied.
Johnson made threats to the couple and witnesses reported that the three men were right up in the couple's face on the porch, plus as many as five more people in the front yard.
Deputies say that Peddycoart warned the men to leave and that he had a gun. Johnson reportedly said, "I don't care about that gun!"
Following the warning, they continued to threaten the couple and shots were fired. Peddycoart shot the three men who were on his porch, deputies say.
McDonald was pronounced deceased. Johnson and Burgess were both shot in the torso, Sheriff Grady Judd said in a press conference Monday night. They were transported to the hospital where they both underwent emergency surgery.
PCSO says that neither Peddycoart or his girlfriend knew the three men and have had no previous interactions with them.
Peddycoart has not been arrested at this time. Deputies are continuing to talk to witnesses and gather more information. The investigation continues.
This is a developing story and will be updated as more information becomes available. | 1,266,594 |
By 1864, the Union Army's victories in Vicksburg and Gettysburg were overshadowed by growing criticism of the president's leadership and the failure to capture Richmond. Lincoln feared he wouldn't be re-elected, unless he could produce tangible evidence that the end of the Civil War was in sight.
As the award-winning historian Susan Schulten notes on her blog, Mapping the Nation, Lincoln believed that a repudiation of his presidency would be a repudiation of the war itself. With a third-party candidate, John Frémont, threatening to steal votes away from dissatisfied Republicans, it was not unthinkable that the Democrats—who favored an armistice with no preconditions—would win the White House. The Democrats chose George McClellan as their candidate; the general whom Lincoln had fired two years previously.
Fortunately for Lincoln, just two months before the election, Confederate forces surrendered Atlanta to Union forces under the command of General William Tecumseh Sherman. Though this was not the only factor in the election, it certainly demonstrated strong territorial gains for the Union. Frémont chose not to continue his campaign and the Democrats were handily defeated in November.
Schulten writes that:
Had McClellan won, General Sherman's march through Georgia would surely have come to an end. But instead, just days after the election, Sherman took his men on one of the ambitious and risky campaigns of the war, cutting loose from his supply line to cut a sixty-mile swath through to the sea. He reached Savannah on December 10, presenting the city to the president as an early Christmas gift. It was at this moment, just after the election, that Lincoln's top engineers delivered a series of maps to the Senate to demonstrate the substantial victories made by Sherman and the larger hope that victory was near….To demonstrate these gains the Chief Engineer of the Corps took a commercially published map of the U.S. and colored those areas under Union and rebel control in 1861 and 1864. Notice that in the 1861 map even the formally loyal slave states of Missouri and Kentucky are partially colored in rebel color, as if to acknowledge the very real Confederate sentiment in those states.
This made the contrast to the second map representing November 1864 all the more apparent and tangible. If Virginia remained stubbornly Confederate, there were still huge and undeniable territorial victories…. The conquest of the Mississippi had completely bisected the Confederacy. But it was the gains in Georgia that prompted the Corps to make the map, for they showed an incursion into the heart of the Confederacy, and correspondingly signaled the war's final phase. Sherman's conquest is remembered as one of the most controversial campaigns of the war. But the outcome mattered not just for the war but for politics. The dual victories on the battlefield and at the ballot box gave Lincoln the mandate not just to continue the war, but to press the House to pass a constitutional amendment permanently ending slavery in the U.S. | 1,266,595 |
Pippen’s arrival. Once the ball did get rolling, Jordan and the Chicago Bulls were the dominant team of their era, comparable to Golden State. They were never the underdogs in the finals.
Are the comparisons between these two players completely far-fetched? From purely a statistical and individual era of dominance perspective, not so much. Although many attempt to discredit LeBron James, he is the most dominant basketball player since Jordan. Taking two separate franchises to the finals for seven straight seasons is not a task that should be swept under the rug. He will continue to surpass Jordan and other greats in various statistical categories while carving his own path to basketball’s Mount Rushmore.
From a playing style perspective though, it’s unfair to compare James to Jordan or Kobe Bryant. Jordan and Bryant’s greatness is rooted in their “killer instinct” with the game on the line. They took and made many big shots throughout their careers. While James has done so as well, his greatness is rooted in his high basketball IQ, ability to see the floor and willingness to make the often-criticized right basketball play. LeBron James is a superior hybrid of Magic Johnson and Scottie Pippen. These were players with the ability to dominant the game in all aspects. Despite being the best player on the court, James’ trust for his team mates and ability to make players around him better are unmatched.
Currently in an all too familiar bind, down 3-1 in the finals against the league’s best team, James has already reached basketball immortality. Last year, he led everyone in points, rebounding and assists on road to an improbable finals victory. This year, he’s only improved on those numbers to average a triple double. He’s putting up 31.8 ppg, 11.8 rebounds, and 10.5 assists, with a slash line of 54/39/70. Those are video game stats reminiscent of NBA 2k MyPlayer with a max rating.
Losing this series can do no harm to his legacy as the Cavaliers came in as serious underdogs to a super talented Warriors team. But his legacy will be undebatable if he is able to overcome this year’s challenge of being down 3-0 against a two-time MVP in Stephen Curry, former MVP and scoring champion Kevin Durant, arguably the best two-way guard Klay Thompson and all defensive forward Draymond Green. Has his career been perfect, no. But neither was Michael Jordan’s or Kobe Bryant’s the two he’s most often compared to.
Finally, what’s not highlighted here is his transcendental approach to the business of the NBA, empowering other players to take control of their careers. Also unnoted is his role as a leader within the community off the basketball court, a story deserving of a full feature in itself. | 1,266,596 |
a cultural, political, and religious identity, and a shift away from the Middle Eastern/Arab identity."
With nearly a third of American Muslims identifying as African-American, calls for intersectionality are gaining traction. The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) has openly supported Black Lives Matter while leading black commentators like Shaun King and Van Jones have been outspoken in their calls for solidarity with Muslims affected by the rise in hate crimes and anti-immigrant rhetoric.
Magari Aziza Hill, an African-American Muslim and Co-Director of Muslim Anti-Racism Collaborative, says the experiences of black immigrant Muslims are often erased. "Since most black American Muslims are African-American, there's a tendency to render African Muslims invisible. Discussions of anti-blackness within immigrant Muslim communities often erase the experience of African immigrant communities. I've certainly been guilty of that and have been trying, especially given recent events, to shed more light on those stories."
In Minnesota, the local CAIR chapter has experienced a marked increase in its caseload. According to Jaylani Hussein, the executive director, the abrupt rollout of the immigration ban fueled distress and paranoia that heightened pre-existing fears among many Muslims. "Traditional African-Americans are already greatly concerned about their rights and dealing with law enforcement, particularly local police. But immigrant black Muslims also have to deal with the Department of Homeland Security and FBI," says Hussein. "That exacerbates perceived notions of what law enforcement is, particularly for many that come from police states where law enforcement can detain people for no reason."
Daad Sharfi, a Sudanese-American student at Yale University, lives in Albany Park, one of Chicago's most ethnically diverse neighborhoods. Although her immediate family was naturalized during the Obama years, many members of her extended network are permanent residents or visa holders vulnerable to the consequences of the administration's executive order. "I am an immigrant and I have always been surrounded by immigrants and asylum seekers, so this attack on migration was personally very disheartening as it jeopardized my community and the entire system through which my family was able to enter the U.S.," she says.
After the Ninth Circuit Court refused to uphold the administration's immigration ban, the future for black Muslims of immigrant descent remains uncertain as the Trump administration issues a revised executive order. However, individuals like Sharfi and organizations like CAIR are gearing up for a fight. On her part, Sharfi plans to pursue a career in immigration law following her graduation from Yale in May. Mohamed says CAIR will continue to engage in civic education and policy advocacy, leaning on powerful advocates including Rep. Ilhan Omar, the first Somali-American legislator in the United States and Rep. Keith Ellison, who represents Minnesota's 5th district, which includes Minneapolis.
Akinyi Ochieng is a writer and researcher studying at the London School of Economics. Follow her @kikiochieng. | 1,266,597 |
Sen. Christopher Coons Christopher (Chris) Andrew CoonsMurkowski: Supreme Court nominee should not be taken up before election Battle lines drawn on precedent in Supreme Court fight Sunday shows - Ruth Bader Ginsburg's death dominates MORE (D-Del.) said he hoped that Senate Republicans would stand up to President Trump Donald John TrumpBiden on Trump's refusal to commit to peaceful transfer of power: 'What country are we in?' Romney: 'Unthinkable and unacceptable' to not commit to peaceful transition of power Two Louisville police officers shot amid Breonna Taylor grand jury protests MORE amid simmering disagreements over his decision to place tariffs on Mexico.
“Hopefully this is the break point where Senate Republicans show some wisdom and slow down our president’s endless swinging of the club of tariffs and hitting some of our closest allies,” Coons, who sits on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said on CNN Wednesday morning.
Trump announced Thursday that a 5 percent tariff would be implemented on all imports from Mexico starting next week and that it could be steadily hiked to 25 percent if the White House is dissatisfied with efforts by Mexico City to curb illegal border crossings.
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The announcement irked Senate Republicans, who have long placed high value on free trade, especially with America’s neighbors. Some members warned the White House against the plan during a meeting behind closed doors Tuesday.
Sen. Ted Cruz Rafael (Ted) Edward CruzCruz blocks amended resolution honoring Ginsburg over language about her dying wish Trump argues full Supreme Court needed to settle potential election disputes Press: Notorious RBG vs Notorious GOP MORE (R-Texas), who attended the meeting, told reporters “there was deep concern expressed in the lunch about the prospects of tariffs with Mexico.”
“I think it's fair to say … that every senator who spoke, and there were probably a half-dozen, generally had the same point of view. Nobody was supportive, who spoke,” added a second GOP lawmaker.
Some Republican lawmakers in the House and Senate are mulling a disapproval resolution, though there is skepticism that it will be brought up on the Senate floor. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell Addison (Mitch) Mitchell McConnellFEC flags McConnell campaign over suspected accounting errors Poll: 59 percent think president elected in November should name next Supreme Court justice Mark Kelly: Arizona Senate race winner should be sworn in 'promptly' MORE (R-Ky.) told reporters Tuesday that “we’re hoping that doesn’t happen.”
Coons appeared to wonder how strongly Republicans would rebuke Trump on the tariffs, citing the party’s mostly consistent loyalty to the White House since the administration took power in 2017.
“This is a Republican caucus that tends to fall in line even when they have good reason to have profound misgivings about the president’s abrupt decisions,” he said. | 1,266,598 |
Image copyright PA
The average UK household's disposable income - or spending power - rose by nearly £600 in 2015-16.
The typical household had £26,332 to spend after taxes were paid and benefits received, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said.
Retired households saw a faster rise than others compared with the previous year, owing primarily to income from private pensions.
The richest fifth of the population saw a slight fall in their spending power.
Better off?
The average UK household saw their disposable income rise by £564 compared with the previous year, after the rising cost of living - measured by inflation - was taken into account, the ONS said.
Senior statistician Claudia Wells said: "Household incomes are above their pre-downturn peak overall, but not everyone is better off.
"While retired households' incomes have soared in recent years, non-retired households still have less money, on average, than before the crash."
The median average disposable income of pensioner households has recorded a rise of 13% since 2007-08, compared with a 1.2% fall among non-retired households.
The ONS puts growing private pensions ahead of the guaranteed rise in the state pension - under the so-called triple lock - as the long-term reason for the pick-up in pensioners' incomes.
However, the £21,770 of typical spending power for retired households remains below the £28,481 of non-retired households.
The top fifth of households saw real incomes fall back by £1,000 a year, while the poorest gained £700 on average in 2015-16, the ONS said.
Top pay levels have come under pressure, but employment prospects and pay for the poorest have improved, it added.
The figures come as Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said he would like to see a maximum cap on the amount people can earn.
Household income has tended to pick up faster over the years owing to an increasing number of couples both in employment.
'Squeeze'
Matt Whittaker, chief economist at the Resolution Foundation think tank, said: "It was another strong year for living standards, particular for poorer households. Strong employment growth, low inflation and rising pensioner incomes over recent years have helped drive inequality down to its lowest level in nearly 30 years.
"However, the last three years of growth have come back off the back of a living standards squeeze so deep that typical working age families are still £345 poorer than they were before the financial crisis.
"With employment plateauing, productivity growth refusing to budge and inflation rising, the risk is that this mini boom won't continue."
Former chancellor George Osborne tweeted that "ONS data today shows inequality fell in 2015/16 & incomes of poorest rose. Progressive Conservative policy at work." | 1,266,599 |
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