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The bank lobby is making another attempt to unseat Rep. Walter Jones, R-N.C., the maverick House Republican who consistently supported greater oversight of the finance industry, and is the last remaining member of the GOP caucus to have voted in favor of the Dodd-Frank reform law.
The American Bankers Association, a lobby group for the banking industry, this week used a subsidiary called the Fund for Economic Growth to pour $50,000 into campaign advertisements in support of Taylor Griffin, a candidate seeking to unseat Jones in the Republican primary on June 7.
This is the second attempt by Griffin. In 2014, Griffin left a position with Hamilton Place Strategies, a consultancy that helps Wall Street firms with political strategy, to challenge Jones. Griffin’s bid was backed by a Super PAC funded by hedge-fund manager Paul Singer, as well as funds from many major corporate political action committees, particularly from big banks such as Wells Fargo and J.P. Morgan Chase.
Despite well-heeled support from the establishment, Griffin lost.
Campaign finance records show that banks are again fueling his primary challenge this year. PACs controlled by J.P. Morgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America and Wells Fargo have contributed to Griffin’s campaign, according to Federal Election Commission disclosures. So, too, has the American Bankers Association’s PAC, which provided the maximum donation of $5,000. Thanks to the Citizens United Supreme Court decision, however, the ABA is allowed to exceed the traditional campaign donation limit by using a corporate subsidiary to spend $50,000 in support of Griffin’s campaign as an independent expenditure.
“Griffin has the experience and expertise to advocate for pro-growth economic policies in Congress that will foster job creation,” says Elizabeth Colt, a spokesperson for the American Banking Association’s FEG. “He is a proven leader with principled values.”
Jones has bucked the demands of Wall Street by opposing a number of proposals to deregulate big banks, and was the only House Republican to reject an effort last year to delay the implementation of the Volcker Rule, which bans taxpayer-backed banks from speculative trading.
Ethics records show Griffin has taken up work as a consultant to the health insurance industry, providing public relations advice over the last year to Aetna, Amerihealth, Anthem, UnitedHealth Group, Centene Corp, and Wellcare Health Plans.
Jones has also earned the ire of powerful conservative and business interest groups for criticizing the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, for backing campaign finance reform, and for loudly condemning House Republican leadership for having cozy ties to lobbyists. Along with Rep. Stephen Lynch, D-Mass., Jones was among the very first members of Congress to call for the release of the 28 pages of the 9/11 Commission Report, the classified section that reportedly details Saudi Arabian support for the September 11 attack. | 1,266,800 |
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The Royal Navy looks set to release details of a new space-based surveillance and reconnaissance capability dubbed Project Moonraker.
The programme for the fifth Maritime Reconnaissance and Surveillance Technology Conference, set to take place Rome, Italy, in February next year, says that Commander Graeme Smith, Information Warfare Commander at The Royal Navy's Maritime Warfare Centre, will discuss the project.
The Royal Navy says its Maritime Warfare Centre is "an alliance of Servicemen, scientists, and analysts, whose sole driving purpose is to create battle-winning tactics"
The unit is made up of some 120 people, split roughly equally between civilian and military, "although at any given time a hefty chunk of these people will be out at sea, on board ships, running trials and experiments; and most importantly asking questions", says the Navy's website.
This year's The Maritime Reconnaissance and Surveillance Technology has an increased focus on space based maritime reconnaissance.
Project Moonraker appears to be named after a James Bond Film featuring a secret space station and spaces shuttles named Moonrakers.
The Maritime Reconnaissance and Surveillance Technology programme says: "Commander Graeme Smith, Maritime Warfare Centre Information Warfare Commander, Royal Navy, will present on 'RN Maritime intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) tactical development of commercial space based multi-spectral data for improved situational awareness and counter surveillance tactics'.
The programme also lists in bulletpoints that Cdr Smith's presentation will include:
Royal Navy's Project MOONRAKER
Using military and civilian satellite data to identify and track targets
Using signatures to seek out threats or ships attempting to be ‘dark targets’
Future Maritime Warfare developments in space-based ISR
The conference is being chaired by Retired Royal Navy Vice Admiral Duncan Laurence Potts, Former Director General Joint Force Development, Joint Forces Command.
Other key note speakers include NATO Commodore Tom Guy, The Executive Director of the EU's European Maritime Safety Agency, Mrs Maja Markovcic Kostelac, and Brigadier General Carlos De Salas, Head of Space Programmes for the Spanish Ministry of Defence.
The First Sea Lord of the Royal Navy, Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Tony Radakin, has said technology and innovation are one of his five main priorities.
LATEST ROYAL NAVY AND ROYAL MARINE NEWS HERE
The Royal Navy says it Autonomy and Lethality Accelerator NaxyX aims to "rapidly develop, test and trial cutting-edge equipment, with the aim of getting new technology off the drawing board and into the hands of our people on operations at a pace that has not been possible before".
The MoD has been approached for more details about Project Moonraker. | 1,266,801 |
Scientists and science educators often say they wished they could teach how science is really done. But Katja Grace says it isn’t hard to teach kids “the central idea of science: experimenting for the purpose of changing your mind”:
If you want to learn to do science, with all the thrills of actually discovering anything, you are probably best to pick an area where people don’t already know all of the cheap answers … Does decreasing the length of my skirt increase the propensity of the cool students to talk to me? Does learning the piano as a child really make people happier later in life? Does Father Christmas exist? Do the other children hate me or are they just indifferent? What factors best cause my brothers to leave me alone? How much do my grades change if I do half an hour more or less homework each night? Does eating sugar all evening really keep me awake? How often will I really be approached by potential kidnappers if I hang out at the mall by myself after school? …
Most children and teenagers disagree with their parents, teachers and other adults on a large number of issues. Investigating those issues scientifically might have the added benefit of getting students in the habit of keeping their opinions related to reality. (more)
Given the typical expression on the typical student’s face, it is amazing that schools present themselves as sanctuaries of personal fulfillment, and sacred founts of creativity and innovation. School advocates imply: “All the great artists, scientists, etc. did well at school, and without school they’d be so much less.” But in fact schools arose with industry to get folks to accept the regimentation and ranking of the industrial workplace, and to curb natural human creativity, exploration, and challenging of authority. As Katja’s proposal’s illustrates, schools could in fact teach folks how to question common beliefs “scientifically,” if in fact authorities wanted common folks doing that sort of thing. As I’ve written:
School is mostly not about the material taught in classes. I’m less sure to what extent it is about learning-to-learn, coming-to-obey, bonding with other kids, and signaling these features as well as intelligence and conscientiousness. I’m pretty sure signaling of various sorts is at least 30% of the average private value of school, and it could go as high as 80%. … The best evidence I’ve seen that school adds great value is the stories I’ve heard about how difficult are employees who grew up in “primitive” cultures without familiar schools. Apparently, it is not so much that such folks don’t know enough to be useful, but that they refuse to accept being told what to do, and object to being publicly ranked relative to co-workers. (more; see also more)
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What Pisses Kelly Off? McCoy Answers
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LeSean McCoy says he can now tell when Chip Kelly is pissed off at him and when his head coach is pleased with him.
The Eagles’ running back talked to NFL Network’s Rich Eisen about what he’s learned about Kelly in the last year and a half. Asked specifically what pisses Kelly off the most, McCoy had an answer ready.
“Well, I can speak for myself, not running in the correct hole gets him very angry,” McCoy said.
“The cool thing about Chip is he has such a great personality where he actually wants the best for the player, and there’s times where we have these talks, and everything is to help the player out. And sometimes during the games we get into it because I might see something my way and the play should be going a certain way. And that’s just kind of teaching me to play within the system and then after that, letting your natural instincts go. And that’s something that he helps me out with to be a better player.”
The relationship between Kelly and McCoy has been a fascinating one to observe. When it comes to running the football, Kelly is a perfectionist. That was never more clear than on Dec. 9. A day earlier, McCoy had carried 29 times for 217 yards and a pair of touchdowns against the Lions. While everyone else was slipping and sliding on the snow, McCoy played like he was cutting and running on a dry turf.
Kelly praised McCoy during his press conference the next day, but also offered this.
“There were plays that LeSean made… LeSean made one big run. He could have had a 70‑yard run,” Kelly said. “He cut back to it and got tackled by [Ndamukong] Suh and the defensive linemen. If he had broken to his left, he might have had another one. Those are things we’re continuing to work on.”
Earlier in the season, with the Eagles trying to run the clock out against the Bucs, McCoy and Kelly exchanged words on the sideline. According to an Inquirer report, Kelly thought McCoy could have hit the hole and picked up additional yards on a play late in the game. After watching the film and realizing there was no hole, the head coach reportedly apologized to the running back in front of the team.
Clearly, Kelly sees McCoy’s talent and is determined to maximize it. By all accounts, McCoy appreciates being pushed. While everyone else is patting him on the back, Kelly is trying to get him to do more. That’s the way the relationship seems to work. And based on how things turned out in 2013, there’s no reason to change the setup going forward. | 1,266,803 |
Documentarian Marie Dumora has established her singular cinematic territory with an interconnected series of films all set in a small region of eastern France. There she follows her characters from project to project, revealing the upheavals and challenges of their lives on the margins with the pathos and admiration of Greek drama. The hero of this 2017 feature is Belinda Baudein, a young woman Dumora first met in 2009, when she was just 9 and living in a children’s home. The filmmaker’s raw, epic and tender portrait rediscovers her subject at 15 and then at 23, jumping to key moments in Belinda’s life and each time finding fresh and moving insight into her struggles, community and astonishing courage.
“I always leave on an adventure, at first, without a definite and structured production approach, in order to verify an assumption, an intuition, and to be completely free,” says Dumora. Using a bulky, hand-held camera, she shoots the films herself and with a lens close to that of human vision – lending a physical presence to her filmmaking both on set and on the screen. As we see Belinda during three decisive moments in her life and through all of the changes to her character and appearance that occur across them, this rigorous, unsentimental approach allows small miracles of understanding and identification.
“And therein lies all the interest of cinema: revealing people like a photograph in a chemical bath; it’s also shining a light on things on the margins, things people don’t ordinarily notice, detecting echoes within ourselves and building bridges.” MARIE DUMORA
A discovery that Dumora made during production was that Belinda, her family and boyfriend Thierry are all Yenish: a once nomadic minority group with a presence through much of Central and Western Europe, a vernacular language borrowing from German, and a long history of persecution. This informs the film, whose scope includes its subject’s devoted family and the traces of this historical trauma. However, in Belinda we can also find echoes, as Dumora did, of some of the great characters from works of art: Barbara Loden’s Wanda, Paulette Goddard’s characters in Chaplin and The Odyssey’s Penelope.
Since her debut with Avec ou sans toi in 2002, Marie Dumora’s films have screened at film festivals around the world, including Cannes, the Berlinale and Cinéma du Réel. Belinda won the Best Documentary prize at FIDMarseille in 2017 and was acclaimed by French critics. Loin de vous j’ai grandi (Far from You I Grew) is Dumora’s latest film and screens as part of ACID Cannes’ 2020 selection in Paris this month. She continues to shoot all of her projects in the same region of eastern France. | 1,266,804 |
She says she needs a copy of my receipt. She says she needs it immediately. I have the receipt on my desk, so I ask the lady on the phone to wait just a moment. I glide my mouse in one swoop over the paper slip, then I choose "Share" from a popup menu and e-mail it to her. She says she got the receipt. She says she got it immediately.
It's just another day in the life of the double-duty Brookstone Scanner Mouse.
It looks just like a conventional, inexpensive wired mouse – left and right buttons, a scroll wheel in the middle, and a laser sensor on the belly. But on closer inspection, one notices the sensor eye on the bottom is housed in a larger-than-normal opening, and that there's a thumb button on the left side labeled "Scan."
Somehow, Brookstone has cleverly incorporated a 100- to 400-dpi scanner into the mouse. Also, in the box is a CD with some capture software for Windows and Mac OS X.
My tests produced surprisingly good scanned images. I simply pressed the scan button with my thumb and slid the mouse over the documents. the results can be saved in half a dozen file formats, including JPG, PDF, and DOC.
The actual scanning process is as easy. I used paintbrush-like movements, swooping from left to right, then right to left, working my way down the page to capture a document. As I scan, the document appears on screen and the software works to adjust the edges and complete the image.
The included OCR software can convert scanned text into a Word document, an Excel sheet, or plain text that can be read by any editor. Saved scans can be shared via e-mail, or uploaded to Facebook, Twitter, and Flickr, all without leaving the included scan program.
For the most part, scanning was fluid. But for letter-size (8.5 x 11-inch) pages, I needed a wide open space on my desk to slide the mouse completely across the page and not get restricted by the long and stiff USB cable. For this alone, a wireless mouse version would be much easier to use.
Clearly, the Scanner Mouse is no substitute for a full flatbed scanner, or even a larger portable model. But there's no doubt that for short, in-a-pinch jobs, this device screams convenience.
WIRED Conventional-looking mouse incorporates a scanner that captures images with natural mouse movements. Best for small documents such as receipts and business cards, but handles letter-size paper as well. Drivers can be downloaded if you don't have a CD drive.
TIRED Long USB cable can interrupt fluidity of image capturing. Software, because of its versatility, requires some concentration. May not work properly with the built-in scan capture software that ships with your operating system. | 1,266,805 |
Shayara Bano, petitioner (ANI photo)
Shayara Bano, on whose petition the Supreme Court declared triple talaq unconstitutional, now feels vindicated. An elated Shayara Bano spoke exclusively to NBT's Rajesh Chowdhary. Excerpts:
Q. What is your first reaction to the verdict?
Bano: This is a historic day for me and for all Muslim women. This will be a milestone on the road to reforms.
Q. How did you muster courage to file a petition on such a sensitive issue?
Bano: It was 2015. I was residing in Kashipur, Uttarakhand. My husband sent me the talaqnama via Speed Post. I was left in dire straits, with two kids to bring up. I somehow managed to survive with support from my family members. I was initially rattled, but then resolved to fight this injustice. I received encouragement from many people. My brother Arshad was always by my side. He brought me to Delhi, where we met Supreme Court advocate Balaji Srinivasan. He assured me of all legal help.
Q. What was the net step you took?
Bano: With help of my lawyer I filed the petition to declare triple talaq unconstitutional and bar the practice. I was confident of getting justice from the Supreme Court.
Q. Did you come under pressure from any organisation during your legal battle?
Bano: I did not, and no amount or pressure would have dented my determination. My lawyer was once told by a Muslim organisation that nothing will change, and he will only put his reputation at stake. But he too was determined to carry on the fight.
Q. After the Supreme Court verdict, do you think Muslim women can now live with their heads held high?
Bano: This is a huge moment. Now Muslim women cannot be turned out of the house at someone's whims and fancies. But it is still a long road ahead for reforms. We need to raise awareness against practices like polygamy and nikah halala.
Q. Do you plan to move court against these malpractices too?
Bano: Definitely I will go to court against polygamy. Some even said that the Prophet too did not support triple talaq, yet the practice had prevailed. Such comments should not dent our resolve. People need to speak out against such evils.
Q. How do you see your life changing after this judgment?
Bano: Now I will fight for the custody of my two children. I have filed a petition in a lower court, and hope to get justice. I have an MBA degree, I hope to take up a job and also continue my fight for the rights and dignity of Muslim women. I hope my daughter doesn't go through the sad experiences that I did.
Read this story in Hindi
| 1,266,806 |
A star-forming galaxy similar to those observed from the Galaxies-Intergalactic Medium Interaction Calculation simulation. Cold gas (red) flowing onto a spiral galaxy feeds star formation. This intense star formation drives turbulent outflows (blue).
The discovery of what scientists call "living fossil" galaxies afflicted with cosmic turbulence is shedding light on how stars are born.
In the study, astronomers investigated a set of rare, relatively modern galaxies that have the same type of unusual turbulence found in more ancient galaxies. [Photo of star-forming galaxy.]
?They?reliving fossils of space? galaxies we just didn?t expect to find in today?sworld,? said study co-author Andrew Green, an astronomer with SwinburneUniversity in Australia, in a statement.
The findings could shed new light on the persisting mystery of starformation, astronomers said.
"Themost exciting thing about these findings to me is how they might tell ussomething about howstars form," Green told SPACE.com. "Despite the fact that we livein a galaxy, the Milky Way, and we live next to astar, our sun, we still have a very poor idea of how galaxies form and evolveand how stars form from primordial gas. Now we think we might have found a linkbetween star formation and this galactic turbulence."
In the early universe, two-thirds of all galaxies were massive,rotating disks. Mysteriously, wind speeds within these ancient galaxies werefive times more variable than in today's disk galaxies.
Scientists had bandied about several causes for such turbulence.Perhaps extra gas or dwarf galaxies that were more common in the early universestirred up the massive disks as they fell into them, drawn by their gravity.
To settle the question, Green and his colleagues investigated 65modern-day star-forminggalaxies within roughly 1 billion light-years of Earth. One light-year isthe distance light travels in a single year, about 6 trillion miles (10 trillionkm).
They found 11 modern galaxies with wind speeds as variable asthose seen in older, massive galaxies.
Matter falling into the galaxies could not account for suchturbulence as it might with ancient disks? all that extra gas and those dwarfgalaxies had largely been absorbed by other galaxies in the interveningtime, the researchers said.
Instead, Green, his supervisor and co-author Karl Glazebrook, and theircolleagues found the level of this variability in wind speed was linked to star-formingrates. This suggests the energy released by newly formed stars drives galacticturbulence both then and now.
"It's entirely possible that all spiral galaxies, includingthe MilkyWay, went through a stage in the past when they had high star formationrates and associated high turbulence," Green said.
The scientists detailed their research in the Oct. 7 issue of thejournal Nature. | 1,266,807 |
Eggshells can enhance the growth of new, strong bones needed in medical procedures, a team of UMass Lowell researchers has discovered.
The technique developed by UMass Lowell could one day be applied to repair bones in patients with injuries due to aging, accidents, cancer and other diseases or in military combat, according to Assistant Prof. Gulden Camci-Unal, who is leading the study.
Through the innovative process, crushed eggshells are inserted into a hydrogel mixture that forms a miniature frame to grow bone in the laboratory to be used for bone grafts. To do so, bone cells would be taken from the patient's body, introduced into this substance and then cultivated in an incubator before the resulting new bone is implanted into the patient.
The research demonstrates that when eggshell particles -- which are primarily made of calcium carbonate -- are incorporated into the hydrogel mixture, they increase bone cells' ability to grow and harden, which could potentially result in faster healing. And, because the bone would be generated from cells taken from the patient, the possibility the individual's immune system would reject the new material is greatly reduced, according to Camci-Unal.
The process could also be used to help grow cartilage, teeth and tendons, she said.
"This is the first study that uses eggshell particles in a hydrogel matrix for bone repair. We have already filed a patent for it and are very excited about our results. We anticipate the process can be adapted for use in many significant ways," said Camci-Unal, adding that one day, eggshell particles could also serve as a vehicle to deliver proteins, peptides, growth factors, genes and medications to the body.
UMass Lowell students participating in the research include biomedical engineering and biotechnology Ph.D. candidates Sanika Suvarnapathaki and Xinchen Wu of Lowell, along with Darlin Lantigua of Lawrence. Wu was the lead author of the team's research findings, which have been published in the academic journal Biomaterials Science and will be featured on the cover of the publication's print edition this month.
Using eggshells to support bone growth provides a sustainable way to reuse them while advancing the technology behind these procedures, according to the researchers.
"Global waste of discarded eggshells typically amounts to millions of tons annually form household and commercial cooking. By repurposing them, we can directly benefit the economy and the environment while providing a sustainable solution to unmet clinical needs," Camci-Unal said.
This is not the first time Camci-Unal has used an unconventional approach to design new materials for biomedical engineering. Last year, she and her team used the principles behind origami -- the ancient Japanese art of paper folding -- as inspiration to build tiny 3D structures where biomaterials can be grown in the lab to create new tissues. | 1,266,808 |
one where a lot of us have questions; I haven't seen any detailed language." Durbin said. "I just want to make sure that at the end of the day we're being fair, human and doing this in an orderly way."
Still, several top Democrats have rallied around the Obama proposal.
"I commend the Administration for doing what it can to quickly address this surge of children and families attempting to enter our country, and I urge my colleagues in Congress to support it," said Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.), who chairs the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, in a statement.
The rift between the parties hinges on a fundamental disagreement in how the current crisis can be best handled. Republicans argue that Obama must stop the flow of illegal immigrants to the border and ensure that the entire border is secure before focusing on the tens of thousands who are already in detention facilities there.
"You are never going to pass anything else on immigration until you deal with the enforcement first. Period," Rubio said.
Citing that logic, Heritage Action, the Super PAC associated with the influential conservative think tank that closely monitors how Republican lawmakers vote, decried the Obama funding proposal as a "non-starter."
“President Obama’s request is a non-starter because it seeks to address the symptoms, not the cause," Michael A. Needham, Heritage Action's CEO, said in a statement. "The President should rescind his anti-enforcement policies and demonstrate a commitment to implementing existing law."
Democrats, meanwhile, say that the first step must be to provide more funding to pay for new detention facilities and legal services to work through the debilitating backlog of children who are already at the border.
Providing an influx of money for detention centers and to pay for additional judges, several Democrats have argued, is more urgent than altering the 2008 law in terms of addressing the current crisis.
“The process I don’t think is the problem," said Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.). "I think it is a real crisis. Lives are going to be lost and mistakes are going to be made, so I think this supplemental is really all important to get passed.”
Meanwhile, other Republicans have continued to hammer Obama for his plans to attend a series of Texas fundraisers later this week and not visit the border while he is in the state.
"If it's serious enough for him to send a $3.7 billion funding request to us, I would think it would be serious enough for him to take an hour of his time on Air Force One to go down and see for himself what the conditions are," Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tex.) told reporters after declining to comment on the funding request, which he said he had yet to read. "I think it would be instructive for him."
— Ed O'Keefe contributed to this report. | 1,266,809 |
Netflix addicts, rejoice!
Netflix has announced it will spend approximately US$7 billion and US$8 billion on content in 2018, following a revenue growth of US$2,985 million for the third quarter of 2017, a year-on-year (yoy) growth of 30.3% compared to the previous quarter.
This comes after Netflix announced in July 2017 that it will spend up to US$750 million on content and global expansion. The move is an effort to increase its investment in content, especially in its original series, having benefited from its content strategy in the areas of revenue and profit growth.
It garnered a total streaming revenue of US$2,875 million in the third quarter, reflecting a 33.2% yoy growth driven by a 24% increase in average paid memberships and 7% growth in average selling price. International streaming saw a revenue of US$1,327 million while US streaming achieved a revenue of US$1,547 million. In Q3 2017, 5.3 million memberships were added globally, up 49% yoy, reflecting Netflix benefiting from a "strong appetite" for its original series and films, as well as the adoption of internet entertainment worldwide.
According to Netflix's third quarter letter to shareholders, the company's future "largely" lies in exclusive original content that creates excitement around Netflix and viewing satisfaction for its subscribers, such as Stranger Things, House of Cards, The Crown and Death Note. Netflix's statement added that the company has US$17 billion in content commitments over the next few years. It is also working with content creators such as creator of Grey's Anatomy Shonda Rhimes, as well as acquired Millarworld, a company founded by comic book writer Mark Millar. Netflix added that its aim is to collaborate with the "best creators" worldwide and own the intellectual property, so it can continue offering content to subscribers.
As Netflix boosts its marketing investment in anticipation of a growing content slate, it expects the Q4 2017 US contribution margin to be at 34.4%, a decline yoy and sequentially. The statement added that it spends "disproportionately" in the US to generate influencer and media awareness for its programming, which Netflix believes is effective in facilitating word of mouth globally.
Since 2013, Netflix has adopted the long term view that there will be a transition from linear TV such as broadcast and cable, to internet entertainment, the statement read. With competitors such as Disney launching direct-to-consumer services for ESPN and Apple reportedly planning to spend US$1 billion on original content, Netflix aims to improve "as rapidly as possible" to satisfy its subscribers and remain competitive.
Read also:
Netflix set to provide video and movie content in Malaysia
Netflix enters china market with iQiyi deal
Mediacorp ties up with Netflix to take local content global
Netflix names new PR agency for Singapore and Malaysia | 1,266,810 |
Early Saturday, the U.S., along with Britain and France, carried out three airstrikes in Syria. Donald Trump ordered the strikes in response to accusations of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad's forces using chemical weapons, although this sort of escalation has seemed inevitable ever since the president named warmonger John Bolton as his new national security advisor. Currently, there's a lot of conflicting information about the results: While the Pentagon says that it's unaware of any civilian casualties, Syrian state TV is reporting that at least three civilians have been wounded. According to CNN, director of the Joint Staff, Lt. Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, reports that "none of the aircraft or missiles involved in this operation were successfully engaged by Syrian air defenses," while Russian military claims that as many as 71 of the 105 missiles were shot down.
Regardless of what really happened, Trump is celebrating. He thanked France and Britain via tweet, and then declared "Mission Accomplished." Of course, if Trump didn't stop forming short-term memories after the late 80s, he'd realize that "mission accomplished" is a loaded phrase that doesn't really inspire confidence, since the last triumphant, all-caps time a president used it was at the start of a decades-long, still-no-end-in-sight war in two different countries.
War fetishists in Congress are already drooling for more and egging Trump to step things up. But what comes next isn't clear, partly because Trump's cabinet doesn't seem to have an actual strategy yet and partly because Congress seems split over whether the airstrike was technically legal. In many ways it feels like a repeat of the strikes Trump ordered in April 2017 after seeing pictures of "beautiful babies" killed in another suspected chemical attack.
We've been over this before, but if Trump really cares about people fleeing brutality in Syria, or if he's at least invested in appearing to care, there's a incredibly simple thing he can do: allow Syrian refugees into the U.S. While his attempt to outright ban them from the country has stalled, the U.S. has only allowed in 11 refugees from Syria in 2018. Since October of 2017, only 44 Syrian refugees resettled here. By contrast, in Barack Obama's last year in office, more than 15,000 refugees were resettled, which is still a paltry number compared to the 6 million people displaced since the civil war there began and far below what other developed countries have committed to.
Even before Trump took office, the U.S. had admitted a disgracefully low number of Syrian refugees, and since then he's preferred to attack and demonize them for cheap political points, pretending that they're a security threat and a social drain by sidelining any evidence to the contrary. But, to be fair, it's unrealistic to hold Trump and his administration to basic moral standards here, when they consistently fail to live up to them on every other issue, too. | 1,266,811 |
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Joe Biden has sparked outrage after telling a campaign rally that “poor kids are just as bright and just as talented as white kids”.
The US presidential hopeful was addressing a group of mostly Asian and Hispanic voters at the Iowa State Fair when he made the gaffe.
Quickly realising his mistake, the former vice president added: “And wealthy kids, black kids, Asian kids.”
Mr Biden made the remarks to the Asian and Latino Coalition in Des Moines, where he is on a four-day campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination.
The blunder was quickly seized upon by the Trump campaign, which tweeted a clip of the speech from its @TrumpWarRoom account.
Donald Trump Jr swiftly retweeted the post to his 3.7 million followers.
The tweet has since received more than 4,000 comments, most of which ridicule Mr Biden and call his slip-up “the dumbest remark remark he has ever made”.
Mr Biden had been stressing that all kids could achieve equally high standards “if given a shot”, when he made the horrifying error.
“We should challenge students in these schools and have advanced placement programs in these schools,” he said.
“We have this notion that somehow if you’re poor, you cannot do it.
“Poor kids are just as bright, just as talented, as white kids... Wealthy kids, black kids, Asian kids, no I really mean it, but think how we think about it.
“We think how we’re going to dumb it down. They can do anything anybody else can do given a shot."
It came shortly after the 76-year-old mangled a different line during his first campaign speech of the day.
“We choose truth over facts,” he said, instead of “we choose truth over fiction.”
He also referred to himself as “President of the United States” later while responding to a question from DailyMail.com about gun control, according to the website.
On Monday, Mr Biden also confused the locations of the El Paso and Dayton mass shootings.
He expressed sympathy for the “tragic events in Houston today and also in Michigan the day before.
During the Democrat debate last week, he also told supporters to "go to Joe 30330" when he meant to tell them to donate to his campaign by text. | 1,266,812 |
CMG Mint
This week we want to showcase, CMG Mint. They make very cool and appealing art bars and rounds, with extremely limited mintage. They frequently fetch very high prices on the secondary markets after original release. CMG Mint was founded by Christopher Mark Geiner (hence the name) CMG Mint.
Chris has a long passion for silver and coin collecting. In fact he is a 3rd Generation coin collector starting at the age of 8. He can even recall getting his first silver art bar a 1970 Pontiac GTO silver bar from his Dad at a local coin show when he was 10. Little did he know then just how much influence that one bar would have and where it would lead him.
When he was still young and even in elementary school he would save up his allowance, chore money and even his lunch money to buy coins for his collection or silver. He recalls silver costing only $4.25 per ounce back then. His early collecting was generic silver and numismatic circulation coins. It wasn’t until many years later when his collection finally took focus to art bars and rounds and semi-numismatic bullion. He can remember searching through the internet and ebay to find all the unique bars and rounds. He even sold his childhood coin collection and silver stack to fund more art bar purchases. He especially liked Duane Spellman Mint’s enameled bars. Here are a couple examples.
Finally in 2012 this passion led him to create CMG Mint. He missed the more creative and various themed bars that the 1970′s-1980′s produced. There didn’t seem to be anyone minting these designs or bars. He wanted to bring them back but in his own way, which was by creating designs that he would of liked to see on silver art bars. He also wanted to stay true to the art styles from the past and it certainly shows in his designs. Many have an adult flavor to them and you can check here for the full catalog (open at your own risk there are lots of boobs) but we will share some designs in photos. I certainly wish I would have found CMG mint before I would have certainly collected the beauties series.
CMG Mint has established themselves as leaders in today’s art bar market. Their bars are not only desirable but highly collectible. This is achieved by having very limited mintage and they are all uniquely serialized and offered with enamel or not. For the early years Chris handled all the sales through his Facebook group or Ebay here, but has recently started a website to handle the sales and transaction. www.cmgmint.com
If you like your art rounds alluring, but safe to display at work, please check out our Temptation of the Succubus Round, which can be purchased directly by clicking the image.
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EXCLUSIVE: Paul Greengrass will next direct a movie he has written about the Norwegian terrorist who in 2011 murdered 77 people in the country’s deadliest attack since WWII. Netflix has won the right to make the film in heavy competition. Scott Rudin will produce with Greg Goodman and Eli Bush.
The horrific violence was inflicted by Anders Behring Breivik, a self-described right-wing Christian extremist with a hatred for Muslims. He started the carnage by detonating a fertilizer bomb outside the headquarters of the prime minister that killed eight people. After that, Breivik dressed in a police uniform, took a short ferry ride to Utoya Island outside of Oslo, and methodically murdered teens attending a Labor Party Youth Camp as they tried to escape. The madman, who wrote a 1500-page manifesto critical of Muslim immigration and European liberalism that he was not permitted to read at trial, was sentenced to 21 years. That was the maximum possible sentence in a country that doesn’t have the death penalty.
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I’m told the film will be shot in Norway at a $20 million budget with local actors. Prep will begin this week for a fall shoot. It sounds similar to Greengrass’ 2002 film Bloody Sunday, about the Irish civil rights protest march and subsequent massacre by British troops on January 30, 1972, or United 93, the Best Picture-nominated 2007 film that Greengrass directed about the heroism of passengers who lost their lives wresting control of a plane and crashing it in Pennsylvania before terrorists could slam it into the White House or the Capitol Building on September 11, 2001. I wrote about the passionate pitch that Greengrass made on that film, and this sounds like the same kind of passion project with difficult and troubling subject matter. Greengrass last directed Jason Bourne, and before that the Best Picture nominee Captain Phillips, the latter a film that was produced by Rudin along with Michael De Luca and Dana Brunetti. Rudin is aligned with Greengrass on Memphis, the final days of Martin Luther King Jr, his assassination and the subsequent manhunt by the same FBI agents who haunted the Civil Rights leader. So far they haven’t gotten that one made. Rudin also produced the Noah Baumbach-directed The Meyerowitz Stories, a film that debuted at Cannes and will be released exclusively on Netflix.
Greengrass had expected to make the Brian Helgeland-scripted film Ness, about the famed incorruptible lawman, at Paramount. There was talk that Greengrass’s favorite leading man collaborator, Matt Damon, was being courted. But instead he will next make this movie. It is a big get for Netflix’s Scott Stuber-run feature division, winning over five other offers to make the picture when Greengrass’s reps at CAA brought the project to the marketplace. | 1,266,814 |
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"Tucker Carlson Tonight," Nielsen said the administration is considering placing military forces on the border. “I think we're looking into that. We've made the request. I'm in constant contact with the acting secretary of defense. I talked to some of the combatant commanders today. We are in fact pushing more and more military resources to the border,” Nielsen said. President Trump has threatened to close the U.S.-Mexico border to combat the crisis. His aides say closing the border is one of a number of options being explored. TWO NEW BIDEN ACCUSERS: Two more women have accused former Vice President Joe Biden of touching them inappropriately at events, bringing the total number of women who have complained publicly about the prospective 2020 Democratic candidate to four... The latest accusations were reported by the New York Times. One of the claims dated from 2012, while the other encounter was said to have taken place a few years later. Biden has denied acting inappropriately and a spokesman for the former vice president accused "right wing trolls and others" of feeding the controversy. Meanwhile, members of presidential campaign team for Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., deny suggestions that they were behind the allegations made by the first Biden accuser, former Nevada lieutenant governor candidate Lucy Flores - and ardent Sanders supporter. Still, despite Biden's woes, Democratic presidential candidate Kirsten Gillibrand, who led the #MeToo drive that led to the resignation of Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., in 2018 over misconduct, was not quick to call for the former vice president to ditch his 2020 aspirations, saying, "Voters will have to decide." LINDSEY GRAHAM VOWS COMEY WILL BE ON HOT SEAT: Senate Judiciary Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., vows that former FBI Director James Comey will be brought back to Capitol Hill and grilled about the origins of the Russia collusion investigation... "Millions of Americans believe that the top level of the Department of Justice and the FBI, they wanted Clinton to win and Trump to lose," Graham said in an interview on "Hannity" on Tuesday. "They manipulated the law to let her off, manipulated the facts and the law to go after Trump and that’s a big deal to a lot of people. So I promise you former Director Comey will get to testify in the light of day." Graham also repeated his call for a special prosecutor to investigate the investigators and find out if any laws were broken.
Trump's @Whitehouse considering using military resources for #BorderCrisis & Sanders eyed in Biden scan #MAGAFirstNews with @PeterBoykin MILITARY MULLED FOR 'CAT 5' IMMIGRATION CRISIS: Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen on Tuesday compared the immigration crisis at the border to a “Cat 5 hurricane disaster" and the Trump administration is considering using all of its resources - including the military - to contain the problem... In an interview on | 1,266,815 |
John Oliver summed up many people’s feelings on Sunday’s “Last Week Tonight” when he named 2016 “the fucking worst,” and tried to make sense of Donald Trump’s victory.
All roads led back to the same important question: “What the fuck do we do now?”
“We’re going to need to stay here and fight, and not just politically in four years when he’s up for reelection, but constantly, monitoring legislation as it moves through Congress, and fucking voting when your legislators come up for reelection in two years,” Oliver said. “But that is still below the barest minimum of what is going to be needed.”
Oliver’s plan included resisting the urge to let things feel normal, and standing up for minorities, organizations and causes that will come under threat during a Trump administration.
The show also tweeted some of the many places viewers could donate.
If you can afford the time or money, here are some organizations that are worth supporting… — Last Week Tonight (@LastWeekTonight) November 14, 2016
To support women's health: Planned Parenthood (https://t.co/X5wWRvmZA4) or the Center for Reproductive Rights (https://t.co/Fmv3NDumck). — Last Week Tonight (@LastWeekTonight) November 14, 2016
If you don’t believe man-made global warming is a a silly issue, give to the Natural Resources Defense Council (https://t.co/CNllXnlAIG). — Last Week Tonight (@LastWeekTonight) November 14, 2016
If you don’t think refugees are a terrorist army in disguise give to the International Refugee Assistance Project (https://t.co/K2DDLuh8zs). — Last Week Tonight (@LastWeekTonight) November 14, 2016
Give to the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund (https://t.co/LM1T4zs4kb) or the Trevor Project for LGBT youth (https://t.co/dYcEhvChQI). — Last Week Tonight (@LastWeekTonight) November 14, 2016
Another worthy cause is the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund (https://t.co/v4dDnCfcWw). — Last Week Tonight (@LastWeekTonight) November 14, 2016
And to support journalism, subscribe to a newspaper and donate to ProPublica (https://t.co/W79hgrWYSL). — Last Week Tonight (@LastWeekTonight) November 14, 2016
Sunday’s episode of “Last Week Tonight” was its final one of the year, and Oliver decided to bid farewell in a way that will probably make you laugh ― and cry. Watch it in the clip above. | 1,266,816 |
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As expected, President Barack Obama will announce a series of gun-related executive actions Tuesday meant to expand background checks on firearm purchases and step up federal enforcement of existing gun laws.
One executive action would clarify existing law that anyone “engaged in the business of selling firearms”—including at gun shows and online—must be licensed and conduct background checks on gun purchasers. The White House’s fact sheet explains:
…it doesn’t matter where you conduct your business—from a store, at gun shows, or over the Internet: If you’re in the business of selling firearms, you must get a license and conduct background checks. Background checks have been shown to keep guns out of the wrong hands, but too many gun sales—particularly online and at gun shows—occur without basic background checks.
But as my colleague Mark Follman wrote Monday, that clarification won’t be enough: “Expanding background checks through a broader interpretation of current federal law still won’t close the so-called gun show loophole; hundreds of thousands of firearms will continue to be bought and sold with minimal regulation, both online and in person. Only an act of Congress could change that comprehensively.”
Other executive actions include:
A $500 million investment in mental-health services.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tabacco, Firearms, and Explosives will announce a rule requiring background checks for people who purchase weapons through a trust or corporation. (The White House’s earlier efforts to close this loophole through executive action hit a roadblock nearly two years ago, when ATF officials delayed publishing the rule after facing opposition from industry groups, including the National Rifle Association.)
The White House will request funding for 200 new ATF agents and investigators to enforce existing gun laws.
The ATF will require licensed dealers who ship guns to notify law enforcement if their guns are lost or stolen.
The FBI will hire more than 230 examiners to process background checks in an overhauled system.
Obama’s announcement comes days before he hosts a town hall meeting on guns Thursday night. The move is expected to garner pushback from opponents, especially those in a divided Congress who blocked legislation three years ago to close the so-called gun show loophole. House Speaker Paul Ryan has already warned that the president’s actions was a “dangerous level of executive overreach.”
“This is not going to solve every violent crime in this country. It’s not going to prevent every mass shooting. It’s not going to keep every gun out of the hands of a criminal,” Obama told reporters on Monday. “It will potentially save lives in this country and spare families the pain of these extraordinary loss.” | 1,266,817 |
(Reuters) - Texas tycoon Sam Wyly engaged in “deceptive and fraudulent actions” in a years-long scheme to dodge taxes on more than $1 billion held in offshore trusts, a federal bankruptcy judge ruled on Tuesday.
Texas investor Samuel Wyly exits the Manhattan Federal Court April 22, 2014. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson
U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Barbara Houser in Dallas ruled that there was “clear and convincing evidence” Wyly committed tax fraud, rejecting his arguments that he relied on professional advisers to vet the offshore system.
“The Court does not believe that the law permits Sam to hide behind others and claim not to have known what was going on around him,” Houser wrote.
The ruling followed a trial in which the Internal Revenue Service sought $1.43 billion in back taxes, penalties and interest from Wyly and $834.2 million from Caroline Wyly, the widow of his late brother Charles.
The IRS claimed the Wylys, through a scheme that dated back to 1992, used offshore trusts to avoid paying taxes on $1.1 billion while exercising stock options and warrants of four companies on whose boards the brothers sat.
While Houser found that Sam and Charles Wyly committed tax fraud, she ruled that Caroline “Dee” Wyly was innocent of wrongdoing and did not know the details of what was done offshore.
The judge directed the IRS and Sam Wyly’s lawyers to attempt within 30 days to determine how much he should pay. If no agreement can be reached, Houser said both sides should submit proposals within 45 days.
Stewart Thomas, the Wyly family’s general counsel, in a statement said while the Wylys were pleased Houser found Dee Wyly was innocent, “They are surprised and disagree with the court’s fraud finding as to Sam and his brother Charles.”
The ruling came nearly a year after Sam Wyly and the estate of Charles Wyly were ordered to pay the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission $299.4 million for engaging in securities fraud through those same trusts.
In that case, a Manhattan jury in 2014 found the Wylys liable for scheming to hide $550 million in trading profits in the stocks of Sterling Software Inc, Michaels Stores Inc, Sterling Commerce Inc and Scottish Annuity & Life Holdings Ltd, now called Scottish Re Group Ltd SKRUF.PK.
Following that verdict, Sam Wyly, who last appeared on Forbes’ list of the 400 richest Americans in 2010 with a net worth of $1 billion, and Caroline Wyly filed for bankruptcy in October 2014. Charles Wyly died in a car crash in 2011.
The case is In re Samuel Evans Wyly, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Northern District of Texas, No. 14-35043. | 1,266,818 |
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We are a leading forte’ in the planning of the kitchen and can illustrate the same because we, the kitchen designers and planners at Powers Design and Build, are the lifelong cooks and also the principal cooks in our own homes. We have participated in hundreds of community charitable in-home cooking events over the years too, so we are credible. We believe we know our way around the kitchen space and can design what it needs to first work well and then look fantastic. We are the kitchen gurus of Tulsa, Oklahoma!
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When it comes to style we are 'global'. No two people want the same kitchen, bath or closet, so it is our job to 'flush-out' our client's thoughts and dreams and put them into a professionally designed layout with an appearance that is satisfying to the customer. We carry 3 different lines of cabinetry to incorporate your tastes and budget. We represent Timberlake cabinetry, a division of American Woodmark Corp.; Medallion cabinetry, a division of Elkay, and Crestwood cabinetry, a custom cabinetry manufacturer/supplier located in Kansas.
We also design for the 'age in place' generation. Clients want to hear about different aging in place options and with today's technology and styles we are able to design and build whatever it takes to make your life easier and safer as you get older.
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Transit ridership is down 4.3 percent so far this year — a decline officials blame on fewer homeless people using the Free Fare Zone in downtown Salt Lake City as a result of Operation Rio Grande.
“With the shifting distribution of the homeless, we’re getting significantly reduced numbers in the Free Fare Zone,” said Steve Meyer, the new interim executive director of the Transit District of Utah, which was called UTA until Tuesday.
That news came in a board committee meeting on Wednesday, the second official day of operation as the new TDU. That name change was ordered by the Legislature through a new law to restructure the agency, which took effect Tuesday.
Operation Rio Grande began last summer to clean out drug dealers and criminals in areas frequented by the homeless in downtown Salt Lake City.
Transit officials say that some of the people swept up — plus the homeless residents who relocated for services elsewhere — had used TRAX at nearby free-fare zone stations, such as Old Greek Town, Planetarium and Salt Lake Central.
“It’s one of the clear reasons we can point to” for reduced ridership, especially downtown, Meyer said.
But he said Operation Rio Grande could lead to greater transit ridership eventually. With some of the more dangerous elements of the Rio Grande area gone, transit riders may feel more safe. “And renovations and innovations are coming to the Gateway,” a mall in the area, “and we hope that will increase ridership,” Meyer said.
Besides Operation Rio Grande, Meyer said other factors contributing to lower ridership for the first quarter of this year include a mild winter and what had been low gasoline prices — although they have begun to rise in recent weeks.
“We had mild weather this winter. The bike share program even operated all year, so people could walk or bike” instead of using the Free Fare Zone downtown or transit elsewhere, Meyer said.
Also traditionally when gasoline prices are low, people tend to drive their own cars more instead of using transit. That is seen as a reason ridership has declined nationally, and in Utah, for the past several years.
“But gas prices are starting to go up again. So I’d just like to remind everyone that transit is a great option” to possibly save money amid high gas prices, Meyer said.
For the first three months of this year, ridership in the UTA system was down by 496,127 trips, officials report. A total of 10.98 million rides were taken in that time, down from 11.48 million in the same period a year earlier.
While the number of rides was down by 4.3 percent, fare revenue was down only by 1 percent. “That’s because much of the reduction in ridership was in the Free Fare Zone,” Meyer said. | 1,266,820 |
Last updated on.From the section Cycling
Froome calls for tighter TUE regulations
Three-time Tour de France winner Chris Froome rejected a therapeutic use exemption to treat a medical condition during his 2015 win on moral grounds.
The Briton, who rides for Team Sky, was granted TUEs twice previously, in May 2013 and April 2014, to treat asthma.
Froome was told he had a condition that required a TUE during the 2015 Tour.
However, he said: "I didn't feel having a TUE in the last week of the Tour was something I was prepared to do. It did not sit well morally with me."
In 2013 Froome's TUE allowed him to use prednisolone for his asthma for a week before winning the Criterium du Dauphine - a week-long race in June which is usually a good indicator of form leading into July's Tour de France - while in 2014 he took it for a week during the Tour de Romandie, as he defended his title.
Britain's most decorated Olympian Sir Bradley Wiggins, who retired in December, and Team Sky have come under scrutiny for Wiggins' use of TUEs and the contents of a medical package he received in 2011, after his confidential medical information was leaked by hackers 'Fancy Bears'.
TUEs allow the use of otherwise banned substances if athletes have a genuine medical need, and Wiggins, an asthma sufferer, said he sought them to "put himself back on a level playing field".
Froome told BBC Sport it was "healthy" to be asking questions about why Wiggins was granted a TUE to take anti-inflammatory drug triamcinolone before the 2011 Tour de France, his 2012 Tour win and the 2013 Giro d'Italia.
There is no suggestion that either Froome, Wiggins, British Cycling or Team Sky have broken any rules.
British Cycling has been unable to provide paperwork to prove the contents of a medical package delivered to Sir Bradley Wiggins in France in 2011, according to MP Damian Collins.
Team Sky boss Sir Dave Brailsford told MPs earlier in December the package used by Wiggins contained a decongestant but did not have supporting documentary evidence.
Froome, who says he is aiming to win a fourth Tour de France title this year, added: "The fact that we're having that debate about authenticity means there's a problem with the system.
"I think Wada [the World Anti-Doping Agency] need to tighten their regulations around TUEs, so they're not something that we question, their legitimacy.
"It's not good for sport in general," he added. "The fact that we're discussing the validity of results, that brings it back to the authorities, it is something they need to tighten up on so that there aren't questions being asked anymore." | 1,266,821 |
A senior Syrian official has warned that Israel will need to think twice before attacking Syrian targets, following a Russian announcement that it will be supplying an S-300 anti-missile system to its ally.
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Moscow made the announcement in response to the downing of the Ilyushin IL-20 Russian spy plane by Syrian air defenses while trying to repel an IAF attack on the coastal city of Latakia.
"Israel, which got used to carrying out many attacks under different pretexts, would have to recalculate and reconsider before attacking again," said Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad, emboldened by the latest development.
S-300 anti-missile batteries (Photo: EAP)
The Russian Defense Ministry announced on Sunday that Israel bears responsibility for the Syrian downing of the Russian reconnaissance plane during the Latakia offensive, despite Jerusalem’s claims to the contrary.
Mekdad made the comments to the Xinhua news agency on Tuesday and was quoted in the Russian-owned Sputnik news outlet.
It was reported on Tuesday that the first shipment of electronic jamming systems from Russia had already reached Syria, despite Israel and the US warning Moscow against escalating tensions that have arisen from the plane's downing, which Israel attributed to Syrian incompetence.
Israel has cautioned Moscow against supplying the advanced air defense system to President Bashar Assad’s forces amid concerns that it would compel a revision of the Israel Air Force’s strategy and inhibit its freedom in the skies.
Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad (Photo: AP)
Israel has carried out at least 200 attacks in the past year-and-a-half on targets in Syria as part of its declared objective of preventing Iranian military entrenchment in the country and preventing the transfer of advanced weapons to the Iranian-sponsored Hezbollah terror group.
According to Mekdad, “the S-300 missiles that the Russians plan to supply within two weeks will be used for defense only. Syria will continue to defend itself as it has done until now.”
Mekdad went on to say that relations between Syria and Russia have become even deeper and are guided by loyalty. “Every attack on Syria is an attack against all forces operating there against terror,” he said.
S-300 in action (Photo: AFP)
Despite the Russian supply of the S-300 system, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday that Israel will continue to act in order to prevent Iranian entrenchment in the region.
"In the past three years, Israel has been very successful in preventing the Iranian military from setting up bases in Syria and attempting to supply lethal weapons to Hezbollah. We did this with maximum and successful security coordination with the Russian military,” the prime minister said before flying to New York to address the UN General Assembly. | 1,266,822 |
CHICAGO - A new scientific study shows that eating cheese may actually increase how much someone likes the wine they are drinking. The study, published in the October issue of the Journal of Food Science, used a new sensory evaluation method and found consuming cheese while drinking wine impacted the description and preference of different wines.
The study was conducted at the Center for Taste and Feeding Behavior in France with frequent wine and cheese consumers from the city of Dijon. The subjects evaluated four wines (Pacherenc, Sancerre, Bourgogne and Madiran) using a new sensory evaluation method developed by the researchers to show how perception and liking of wine change after cheese intake over several sips, which is closer to what happens in typical consumption. The subjects were given a list of sensations which they used to indicate what caught their attention (called the dominant sensation) as they consumed the wine over three consecutive sips and after they swallowed.
Once the wines were initially evaluated, the task was repeated, but with a piece of cheese eaten in-between sips. Four different cheeses (Epoisses, Comté, Roquefort, Crottin de Chavignol) were sampled over different sessions with each wine.
Results showed that cheese consumption had an impact on the description for all wines, and impacted preference for most. None of the four cheeses included in the study had a negative impact on wine preference. Liking of each wine was increased or remained the same after cheese intake. In both red wines (Bourgogne and Madiran), the four cheeses decreased the duration of dominance of astringency and increased that of red fruits aroma. In the sweet white (Pacherenc), the duration of dominance of sweetness was not changed by cheese intake, but in the white dry wine, cheeses had an impact on the main aroma.
"Thanks to our research we learned that the duration of the perception of astringency of a certain wine could be reduced after having cheese and that the four evaluated cheeses had the same effect. In short, when having a plate of assorted cheeses, the wine will probably taste better no matter which one they choose," lead author Mara V. Galmarini explained.
According to the authors, the sensory method developed in their work can help build better understanding of how the perception of one product is changed when consumed in combination with another. This information can help food brands communicate their products' characteristics, thus improving consumers' experiences.
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Read the Journal of Food Science abstract here.
About IFT
Founded in 1939, the Institute of Food Technologists is committed to advancing the science of food. Our non-profit scientific society--more than 17,000 members from more than 90 countries--brings together food scientists, technologists and related professionals from academia, government and industry. For more information, please visit ift.org. | 1,266,823 |
As the Year of the Home Run collides with an annual All-Star home run tradition with $1 million on the line for the first time, we dive into the numbers behind the home run spike and the sluggers you'll be watching swing for the fences in Cleveland on Monday night.
Here's what you need to know about how home runs are taking over baseball and how the Home Run Derby proves it.
All-Star coverage: All-Star Week guide | ESPN+: How sluggers are preparing | Rosters, how to watch
The new sultans of swat
Baseballs are leaving the yard more frequently than ever, and the game's top sluggers are taking advantage of the rise. We could see the game's first 60-plus home run season since Barry Bonds and Sammy Sosa eclipsed the mark in 2001. And even if Christian Yelich can't break 60, you can expect to see several 50- and 40-homer campaigns come October.
MLB's 2019 home run leaders Player Current total Season pace *Christian Yelich 31 56 Pete Alonso 30 53 Cody Bellinger 30 53 Josh Bell 27 50 Hunter Renfroe 27 49 Mike Trout 26 47 Franmil Reyes 25 46 Mike Moustakas 25 45 Gary Sanchez 24 44 Alex Bregman 23 42 Freddie Freeman 23 41 Jorge Soler 23 41 *Out of HR Derby with back injury
It all adds up to a lot
Remember that record-setting year of long balls way back in 2017? Well, that number isn't looking so big these days. With 14 teams projected to set their franchise record, MLB is on a pace not just to best that total -- but to smash the mark.
The big payoff comes tonight
The stakes will be higher than ever during tonight's Home Run Derby, as one powerful slugger will be rewarded with a $1 million prize for one night of long-ball work. For some of the contestants competing in Cleveland, that means they could make more money in a few hours than they'll be paid for the entire 2019 season.
Participant 2019 salary $1 million would be how much of salary? Pete Alonso $555,000 180.2% Vlad Guerrero Jr. $555,000 180.2% Matt Chapman $580,000 172% Josh Bell $587,000 170% Alex Bregman $640,500 156% Ronald Acuna Jr. $1,000,000 100% Joc Pederson $5,000,000 20% Carlos Santana $17,000,000 5.88%
And we'll be watching
Remember the days when the Home Run Derby was a clear warm-up act for the main event of the Midsummer Classic? That's not how it works anymore. While the game itself is still baseball's marquee of attraction of the summer, more and more fans are watching their favorite stars go deep as a part of how they celebrate the festivities. | 1,266,824 |
About This Game
You play by writing JavaScript AI which controls your units 24/7 even while you're offline.
Units of all players coexist in the same real-time huge persistent world and obey the same rules.
Many kinds of units, base building, mining resources, territory control, economy, manufacturing, transporting, logistics, trading—all the attributes of a real strategy game which you need to program!
The better your scripts, the better your game—irrespective of the time played. Your creeps will mine, build, defend, and conquer as you just work, sleep, or walk your dog.
Only basic programming skills are required. However, if you are a pro developer, now is the chance to put your skills to the limit!
Edit your scripts from the in-game editor, or using your favorite external IDE.
Permanent MMO access with 20 CPU limit included in the starter package. Unlock your full CPU in your account on the official server by purchasing a CPU subscription plan or via in-game items called Subscription Tokens (can be bought by in-game credits). The subscription cost is the same for all players, there is no way to pay more to gain more advantages.
If you don't want to buy a subscription, that's fine—there is a standalone non-subscription world shard where you can compete with other non-subscription players on equal terms.
Host your own server, modify games rules and play with your friends via LAN or on the Internet. No subscription required. The server is an open source project.
The game is slow-paced (from 2 seconds to 5 seconds per game tick depending on a world shard where you start playing), since it allows you to debug your scripts in the real-time world. You can use your private server to develop and test with fast pace (up to 10 game ticks per second).
It is an open source MMO RTS sandbox game for programming enthusiasts, wherein the core mechanic is. With all the attributes of a full-fledged strategy game, you control your colony by writingwhich operates 24/7 in the single persistent world filled by other players on par with you.Your colony canresources,units,territory,with other colonies. As you conquer more territory, your influence in the game world grows, as well as your abilities to expand your footprint. But beware, multiple players aiming for the same territory may lead to conflict!Screeps is developed for people with programming skills. Unlike some other RTS games, your units in Screeps can react to events without your participation – provided that you have programmed them properly. And, unlike other MMO, you do not have to play Screeps constantly to play well. It is quite enough just to check once in a while to see if everything goes well.Features: | 1,266,825 |
SOUTH LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — Raw emotions were still boiling over Sunday night in a South Los Angeles community after the deadly police shooting of a black teen.
Just before 8 p.m. a protest broke out at Western Avenue and 108th Street in South L.A. Sky9 was above the scene as drivers started doing donuts in the intersection and some young people were seen tagging businesses with spray paint.
People in the community were upset over the use of lethal force by officers on 18-year-old Carnell Snell, Jr. after a chase.
Snell was shot just two houses away from where he lived.
Investigators say the incident unfolded about 1 p.m. when they saw a car with paper plates that they suspected of being stolen. Authorities allege that the driver of the vehicle refused to stop. A couple of blocks away, investigators say the driver of the car did stop, and two men got out of the car, but the vehicle then fled.
Police say they then turned their attention to the foot pursuit, chasing one male about two blocks, at which point an officer-involved shooting occurred. It is not clear what caused the officers to open fire, but police have said that a handgun was discovered at the scene.
Six bullet holes in an iron fence are leaving residents with a reminder of the deadly shooting.
“Let’s wake up, let’s wake up and try to show some love and compassion for each other,” concerned mother Avis Bates said.
The LAPD has scheduled a new conference for Monday.
Early Sunday morning, more than two dozen protesters dispersed overnight after they gathered outside the home of Mayor Eric Garcetti.
About 30 protesters converged outside the Getty House in Hancock Park, wanting to draw attention to police shooting earlier Saturday.
Mayor Garcetti offered this statement Sunday:
“Our city has worked hard for two decades to make our communities safer and to build bonds of trust between our neighborhood residents and the police officers who serve them. I would appeal for everyone to come together as a city and to wait for the completion of a thorough and proper investigation of yesterday’s events.”
As CBS2’s Joy Benedict reports, Garcetti’s home and vehicle were also egged, though it remains unclear who is responsible, or whether the incident was connected to the protest.
Police arrived on scene early Sunday, and were investigating the vandalism. As of 7 a.m., the street surrounding Garcetti’s home remained blocked off.
Footage captured the demonstrators outside Garcetti’s home, as well as at the scene where Snell was killed. His mother was inconsolable at the scene in South Los Angeles after learning her son had been killed.
The shooting drew almost instant protests at the scene, where about 100 people gathered. | 1,266,826 |
of vitamin C, plus plenty of vitamin A and potassium. Additionally, watermelon is another great source of vitamin C, as one serving will give you 112 percent of your daily requirement.[20]
11. Dark Leafy Greens
Kale, mustard greens, turnip greens, watercress, chard, and spinach (as well as most other leafy greens) are all great vitamin C foods to add to your diet. While they all provide different amounts of this essential nutrient, they are all very healthy for you. Kale is the best choice, as it may have up to 130 mg of vitamin C in one serving — that’s one full day’s requirement of vitamin C!
12. Camu Camu Fruit
An exotic berry from the Amazon rainforest, this nutrient-dense superfood is high in C as well as flavonoids and anthocyanins.[21] Because of its tart flavor, it's generally used in powder or supplement form for its immune-boosting properties.
13. Broccoli
Whether you eat it raw or cooked, you can never go wrong with broccoli. One serving of this little green tree has over 90 mg of vitamin C. As a bonus, broccoli is also one of the best detox foods to add to your diet.
14. Amla (Indian Gooseberry)
The amla fruit, also known as Indian gooseberry (Emblica officinalis), is incredibly high in vitamin C. One berry has 600 to 700 mg of vitamin C — second only to Acerola cherry![22] They also contain tannins, which have additional antioxidative properties, as well as the potent polyphenol gallic acid, which promotes immunity.[22]
15. Tomatoes
Bright, red tomatoes are another common vitamin C food. Try using sun-dried tomatoes; they are particularly concentrated with this essential nutrient. Just one, 100-gram serving holds over 100 mg of vitamin C. This equals 170 percent of your daily requirement.[23]
16. Select Herbs
Many fresh herbs such as cilantro, chives, thyme, basil, and parsley are high in vitamin C. Buy some fresh herbs and sprinkle on every meal. In fact, just one cup of fresh parsley has over 130 mg of vitamin C. Thyme comes in first, with 160 mg in one cup.[24]
There you have it, 16 delicious foods that are great sources of vitamin C. If you don't get enough of these fruits and vegetables, consider Global Healing's Organic Plant-Based Vitamin C.
†Results may vary. Information and statements made are for education purposes and are not intended to replace the advice of your doctor. If you have a severe medical condition or health concern, see your physician.
This entry was posted in Foods, Healthy Foods, Nutrition, Supplements, Vitamins | 1,266,827 |
If you're familiar with Small Business Saturdays, you probably know exactly what date that was. If you're not as familiar with Small Business Saturdays, then it's worthwhile to note that October 25th last year was declared Small Business Saturday across all of Canada, a day in which people were encouraged to shop and support their local small businesses.
Small Business Saturdays, which is something that takes place both in the United States and Canada, began in Canada in 2012 under the inspiration of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business or CFIB.
The CFIB is a Canadian organization composed of over 109,000 small business owners from across the country. CFIB's purpose, in part, is to represent the interests of small business owners before the three levels of the Canadian government.
With an understanding that small business owners truly need to find new ways to compete against big brand names, as well as find new ways to connect to their customer base, the CFIB launched Small Business Saturdays in 2012 to bring more attention to local shops and businesses.
The fact is that small businesses play an integral role in the health of the Canadian economy. In the year that Small Business Saturdays began – 2012 – it was recorded that small businesses were responsible for 42% of the country's private sector gross domestic product, while employing more than five million people. Five million people equates to 48% of the private sector labor force in Canada.
Since 2012, Small Business Saturdays has grown not only in name, but also in customer engagement. Last year, the entire week of October 25th was declared Small Business Week, a time in which, under the direction and help of the CFIB, webinars for small business owners were hosted, the MyStartUp initiative was launched, and a fun #MyFavSmallBiz tweet contest took place with customers tweeting their favorite small businesses in their areas.
What's more, Small Business Week (and Day) successfully directed attention to the shopsmallbiz.ca, a website that was created by the CFIB in 2012 as a way to give customers in Canada an easier, more convenient way to find their local small businesses.
"There's no doubt that small businesses in Canada, and in the United States too, need to find other avenues for customer engagement. That's one of the reasons why I think [Small Business Saturdays] is such an inspiring program." This is from Calgary's Rob Peers who works in business development and is familiar with the struggle that small businesses face in an economy that is increasingly dominated by corporate brand names.
"I think Small Business Saturdays has had more success in some areas of Canada than others," continues Rob Peers. "And I look forward to more people (and businesses) in Calgary learning about the event and taking part."
With the current support the event has garnered and the momentum it's enjoyed in North America, there's little doubt that 2015 will be another successful year for Small Business Saturdays throughout Canada. | 1,266,828 |
CHELSEA, Manhattan (WABC) -- The sister of a man who is believed responsible for two separate random slashings over the past eight days is speaking out, saying the family tried in vain to get help for the troubled suspect.And her comments come as the NYPD announced that 41-year-old Kari Bazemore is now charged in a third assault.Bazemore has 32 arrests over the years and was taken into custody after 23-year-old Amanda Morris was attacked on a Chelsea street early Wednesday. He was then linked to a similar assault on 28-year-old Nikki Pagliaro in the Port Morris section of the Bronx on New Year's Day. She required 150 stitches to close the cut on her face, while Morris needed seven stitches for gashes above and below her lip."I feel like I got hit in the head with a baseball," Morris told Eyewitness News. "I don't know what I did to deserve that. I guess I was in the wrong place at the wrong time."Dana Bazemore is the sister of the man police believe committed both assaults, along with many others, and she believes the system failed her family and the victims."This could have been prevented," she said. "This could have all been prevented."Kari Bazemore had recently grown increasingly violent, including a December 30 arrest for assault. But the judge released him."Anybody that looked at him could tell that he had a mental issue," Dana Bazemore said. "So if you locked him up on the 30th, why did the judge let him go?"Dana Bazemore said the family has tried for months to get their brother the care he needed, but that no one would help."It was a ping-pong game," she said. "They keep telling us, 'Go to Bellevue,' then Bellevue says go to the NYPD. We called Ward's Island. These are places where he's been at, so that's why we called them, because we figured they got history of him being there, so it would help. But it didn't, obviously."She said she knew what her brother was capable of violence, and she tried to prevent it."I thank God nobody didn't get killed," she said.Bazemore was being investigated in at least two more unsolved attacks, and he his now charged with felony assault and criminal possession of a weapon in one of them. Police say that just before noon on November 11 in Midtown, Bazemore approached a 43-year-old female who was walking northbound on 5th Avenue between 55th and 56th Streets. It is alleged that without provocation, the suspect struck the victim in the face with a large plastic bag containing an unknown blunt object. The victim sustained injuries to her head and face.In another incident, also in the Bronx, a woman was cut and another was punched.Bazemore is undergoing a psychiatric evaluation at Bellevue Hospital. | 1,266,829 |
South Korea, Taiwan and Australia issued travel advisories warning pregnant women and others about the situation in Singapore.
Given Singapore’s position as a Southeast Asia travel hub, health officials say it’s likely, perhaps even inevitable, that travelers will inadvertently spread Zika elsewhere. While the subtropical region is used to dealing with mosquito-borne infectious diseases such as dengue and slower-developing illnesses such as HIV/AIDS, many countries’ surveillance systems are not set up to closely monitor pregnant women and their babies, the individuals who are most vulnerable to the pathogen. One of the tricky things about Zika is that most people who get it don’t have any symptoms, and by the time traditional tracking methods such as those in emergency rooms pick up on groups of patients with the virus, it has probably already spread throughout the population.
At the construction site where the Singapore cases were first seen, health authorities have set up a kind of informal quarantine. Work has been shut down, and those with Zika have been given their own rooms in a dormitory with “Wi-Fi and their three meals delivered to them,” according to a description in the Straits Times.
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All workers are getting their temperature taken twice a day, the newspaper added, and they have to apply mosquito repellent each hour and wear two types of patches with repellent. They are also given vitamin C each day. It’s unclear how this will help combat Zika, but the belief that the supplements can help with a related illness — dengue fever — is common in Singapore, just as the idea that supplements can help with the common cold is in the United States. Medical studies haven’t been able to confirm a link for either. However, vitamin C is a powerful antioxidant. As long as you’re not consuming megadoses (which can be harmful), nutrition science says the supplement can help round out a diet lacking in citrus and other foods rich in the nutrient, ensuring that you’re getting enough to support normal growth and development.
The number of confirmed Zika cases in Singapore is 56. Most of those people have made a full recovery, but a handful remain hospitalized.
According to the latest situation report from the World Health Organization — a report issued Aug. 18 — 67 countries have reported evidence of mosquito-borne Zika virus since 2015. Seventeen of them have reported babies being born with microcephaly, or shrunken heads, or other central nervous system malformations linked to Zika. The most numerous and severe cases have been seen in Brazil where the link between Zika and microcephaly was first established.
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Eighteen countries and territories have reported an increased in incidence of Guillain-Barré syndrome or have confirmed Zika infection in people with the potentially life-threatening disorder, in which the body’s immune system attacks nerves. | 1,266,830 |
After two very helpful closed betas in September and October, we continued development on Pit People with tons of feedback from the gaming community. It was the first time we had a closed beta for two platforms in the same year!
Now, we’re going for our next milestone, which is having our first game ever in Xbox One Game Preview AND Steam Early Access starting January 13, 2017. Pit People will be the first time we do early access and it’ll be the first time we release a digital title on two separate platforms in the same year!
SO! You wish to know why we are doing this?? I shall tell you at once!
After implementing our changes post-beta, holding onto the game in its current state just feels weird. The core gameplay is complete and we’ll be adding content until the full version is released. We feel that Pit People is at a point where we’ll confidently say there’s more than enough fun, content, variety, value and play-time to keep someone happy. We won’t sell something unless it meets these standards, so it definitely seems like it is time! This will also be a good opportunity to monitor the balance in the game and continue getting feedback from you and the gaming community as we finish up!
Feel free to come along with us on this trip (when you dip I dip we dip).
The Pit People Early Access experience will include a sizable chunk of the Story mission, plus access to several world maps (yes, there are more than one!), quests, Unfair Challenge against the AI, and Versus mode. The game can be experienced as a single player or two-player cooperative mode. Additionally, versus can be played with up to 4 people in 2v2. All multiplayer modes can be played locally or online!
We’ll be continuing development throughout Early Access which means things like more quests, collectible items, story missions, world maps and other polish will be worked on–Except this time you can be right there with us just like Atreyu & Bastian from the Neverending Story!
As a thank you to those who support our first ever early access release and in appreciation for playing the game early during its development stages, there will be a $5 discount off the full release price! Pit People will be a low $15 during Early Access on both platforms!! Once the game has made its full release, the price point will be $20. Of course, if you purchase it during Early Access the game will unlock all the features once the full release comes out and you keep all of your save data.
Note: The Xbox One version and Steam version are separate purchases and cross-platform between the two are not supported.
See you all in 2017! It may be “next year” but it’s only a few weeks away! | 1,266,831 |
the trainers aren’t safe. It’s as simple as that.”
Gabriela Cowperthwaite. Photograph: Victoria Will/Invision/AP
SeaWorld is currently fighting back against four citations from the California division of occupational safety and health over alleged inadequate procedures to protect employees who swam with or rode on killer whales in a pool used for providing medical attention, and for employees who were present with killer whales on poolside ‘slide outs’, where whales can briefly emerge from the water. SeaWorld denies the claims and said that far from presenting a danger to employees, contact between trainers and orcas “is essential to their safety”. The company has been banned, by the US Labor Department, from allowing trainers to have close contact with orcas unless they are protected by a physical barrier. SeaWorld says that ruling doesn’t apply to health or medical care.
In its advertisments, SeaWorld vets say the whales are “healthy” and “thriving” and “I wouldn’t work here if they weren’t... because we love them.”
Cowperthwaite said it was clear that the “$2bn a year industry will not go away without a fight to the death” and she urged consumers to make their voices heard by the company and regulators.
Helping to lead that fight is John Hargrove, a former senior SeaWorld orca trainer who was friends with Brancheau and featured prominently in Blackfish.
Hargrove, who started as an apprentice trainer in Shamu stadium as a 20-year-old in 1993, said it had been so hard to get the real story of SeaWorld out to the public because the people closest to the whales – their trainers – are fearful of speaking out for fear of losing their dream jobs.
“I had a life with these whales. I loved these whales,” he said. “I knew what we were doing was ethically wrong, but like a lot of trainers, it was our childhood dream. How could I walk away from that?”
Hargrove says that as he rose up the ranks, he felt increasingly uncomfortable with his role teaching whales tricks – and, at that time, riding whales (which was banned by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration following Brancheau’s death) – but when asked by children if the whales were happy he would “lie for the company”.
“I would be having fights with management, telling them: ‘What we are doing to these whales is wrong,’ but if anyone asked, I would say all the lines I was rehearsed to say: ‘Of course they are happy. They have better healthcare and dental than I do. Ha, ha, ha.’” | 1,266,832 |
There is no question about it, antivirus software is not very effective. While tests may highlight that some programs have detection rates of 99% or more, it is not really the case.
The main issue with tests is that they use known samples which are usually older than a day. The real threat however is malicious code that is younger than that, as it will often remain undetected until antivirus companies catch up and add it to the signature database of their application.
But is antivirus really the only problem?
One question that does not get asked nearly enough is how malware gets on the system. Does it make *poof* and it appears magically on the user system?
Not really. While there are attack forms where malware gets downloaded automatically to user systems, drive by downloads come to mind, it often boils down to how users protect their computer systems.
If you check malware statistics, you often find viruses listed there that exploit known vulnerabilities that have already been patched. These kind of attacks are successful because user systems are not patched.
The same is true for third-party exploits targeting Java, Adobe Flash or Reader. While there are certainly attacks that use new 0-day vulnerabilities, the majority uses old vulnerabilities that are not a threat if the targeted plugin is updated to its latest version.
According to research, attacks originate predominantly on the Internet these days and not via email or other means. According to Symantec, 1 in 8 sites had critical unpatched vulnerabilities that attackers could exploit to spread malware.
While antivirus software certainly is not as effective as it should be, a core reason why malware is this lucrative for criminals is that user systems are not protected properly.
This includes updates more than anything else, but does not stop there. Many Internet users lack knowledge when it comes to threats, especially when it comes to knowing what they should and should not do.
Tech savvy users would never open an email attachment from an unknown source, or at least not without proper precaution such as running it in a sandbox or virtual environment to limit the impact it has on the system.
Users who think that security is all about installing antivirus -- and not necessarily updating it regularly -- don't follow what is common sense for tech savvy users.
Phishing and malware attacks would be less effective if all computer users would follow these basic security principles:
Always keep the PC and software running on it up to date.
Use of limited accounts on systems for most activities.
Use of secure unique passwords and two-factor authentication if available.
Installation of additional security software, e.g. Microsoft EMET, Malwarebytes Anti-Exploit, Sandboxie or a second opinion scanner.
It needs to be noted that this would not eliminate all malware, but it would render a lot less effective or not effective at all anymore.
What's your take on this?
Advertisement | 1,266,833 |
Elsewhere, Nina Anika Klotz, a Berlin-based journalist who runs an online craft beer publication, told CNBC that cans have been appearing in local stores since last year. Stone Berlin, BROY and BRLO as just three brands that she highlights that — have taken to this type of packaging.
"We'll see more cans in the future, I'm sure," she said via telephone.
Top-line figures
Yann Ropars | Oskar Blues
The prime example of the recent growth that the industry can manage comes from Colorado's Oskar Blues Brewery, the first craft brewery in the U.S. to brew and hand-can its beer. After producing 150 barrels of beer in 2002, it has surged to 192,000 barrels last year. The brewery reportedly filled 50 million cans with fresh beer in 2015, achieving over 30 percent growth in year-over-year sales.
Love's canning company has achieved 30 percent revenue growth in last five years, and he's predicting the good times to continue. Australian Brewery's Ward says it has generated major volume for the company.
"Some of the biggest craft brewers in Australia have also adopted the format along with (for better or worse) the hipster movement," he said.
There's even an mergers and acquisition story in the sector, although little evidence that this boom in sales has fueled any willingness for a firm to let go of its cash. Last year, Colorado's since Ball Corp. unveiled a $6.38 billion takeover of U.K.-listed rival Rexam, which the Financial Times reported would be the world's largest maker of metal drinks containers.
And into Asia
Rob Trent, a globe-trotting craft beer enthusiast who writes a blog dedicated to Asia beer, has seen cans creep into some markets in the region, but with varying success.
"In the Philippines only 2 of about 30 craft breweries are canning their product. The consumers do not see canned beer as of high quality as bottled beer due to lack of education," he told CNBC via email.
Jessica Rinaldi | The Boston Globe | Getty Images
However, he believes that "funky artwork" on cans and the ability to market to resorts will definitely help boost demand.
In India, he noted that cans are used by most of the macro brewers due to local laws restricting bottling and even kegging. China also has tough regulations on small breweries to start bottling or canning, he added. "Korea recently has seen two craft breweries venture into cans, however laws inhibit smaller breweries from being able to offer their products on the retail level," he said. "Overall, it will take a great shift in education to consumers to get them to look positively towards canned craft beer. The can will suit places like The Philippines well as transport, light exposure and environmental concerns will be key selling points."
The challenges | 1,266,834 |
A juror passed out after seeing graphic photographs of a murder victim during the trial of a woman accused of killing her pregnant friend and cutting her baby from the womb.
A judge was forced to halt the Bronx Supreme Court trial after prosecutors presented a gruesome image of Angelikque Sutton’s mutilated body as evidence.
Ashleigh Wade is alleged to have butchered the 22-year-old on her wedding day after slashing the expectant mother's voice box so she could not scream for help and cutting major blood vessels so she was unable to move.
She then cut open Ms Sutton's abdomen, removed her uterus and extracted the infant, who miraculously survived.
The court was shown a graphic autopsy picture of the victim's detached uterus and umbilical cord on a large TV just feet from the jury box as forensic pathologist Declan McGuone gave evidence, the New York Daily News reported.
Justice Margaret Clancy cleared the courtroom after noticing one juror, a middle-aged woman, was slumped unconscious in her seat.
"It appears the juror fainted," the judge announced after a 45-minute break, during which an ambulance took the woman to a hospital for a check-up.
She said the juror was now conscious but adjourned the trial until the next day.
"That must have shook you guys up, like it did everyone, when the juror was unresponsive," Ms Clancy told the remaining members of the jury.
The judge had taken the rare step of allowing jurors to opt out before the trial began due to the gruesome nature of the case.
Jonathan Polanco Ortiz, the first police officer to arrive at the scene of the killing, has told the trial what he saw “left a mark on his soul".
Jurors have also seen pictures of the blood-drenched bathroom floor of Ms Wade's apartment in The Bronx, New York, where Ms Sutton's mutilated remains were found.
Ashleigh Wade (New York Department of Corrections) (NY Department of Corrections)
Ms Sutton was on her way to get married in November 2015 when she stopped off to see her friend, who told her she wanted to give her a gift.
She died of multiple stab wounds to her neck.
Prosecutors allege Ms Wade, 23, coldly and carefully planned to kill her friend, who was nine-months pregnant, and steal her baby.
They said Ms Wade faked pregnancy for months before murdering Ms Sutton and tried to pass the child off as her own before she was arrested. She had stockpiled baby clothes and nappies before the killing.
Ms Wade later told officers she had "rescued" the baby girl, who is now 22 months old.
Defence lawyer Amy Attias denied that Ms Wade, who faces life without the possibility of parole if convicted, had “intentionally” killed Sutton. | 1,266,835 |
Say the Canadian army invades America during the NFL Draft. America, all “whatever, we’re busy,” surrenders. For America’s own good, the benevolent occupiers abolish Americans’ right to vote and let Canadians choose the presidential nominees.
What happens?
Canadians laugh, very hard. And then they do the same thing Americans are doing.
A new Forum Research poll suggests a Canada-only U.S. election would also produce a tight Republican race between Donald Trump and Ted Cruz, a Hillary Clinton lead over Bernie Sanders in the Democratic race, and a massive Clinton advantage over Trump in the general election.
So we’re not totally different. But we are different. Most notably, our conservatives are much more liberal than their conservatives. While supporters of Canada’s Conservative Party narrowly prefer Trump to Cruz, more of them support Clinton, a villain to most Republicans, than any Republican candidate.
Twenty-six per cent of Canadian Conservatives said Trump would be the best Republican nominee. Twenty-five per cent said Cruz. Ohio Gov. John Kasich got the same 21 per cent support from Conservatives as he has from Republicans, but Trump, who has 40 per cent support from Republicans, and Cruz, who has 33 per cent from Republicans, both did much worse with Canada’s version of right-wingers. Twenty-eight per cent of Conservatives said they didn’t know who was the best Republican candidate.
If Liberal voters got to settle the Democratic primary, Clinton would be beating Sanders 52 per cent to 38 per cent, the poll found. But the race would be tighter if supporters of the New Democratic Party were included. Among NDP voters, the “democratic socialist” from Vermont led the former secretary of state 51 per cent to 33 per cent.
A general election conducted in Canada would be over before it started: Just 20 per cent picked any Republican.
Clinton was the preferred choice even of a plurality of Conservative voters. Twenty-six per cent picked her, 23 per cent Trump. And even Sanders did better with Conservative voters (14 per cent) than Cruz (11 per cent), a hard-right Texas senator.
The pronounced age gap in Clinton support and Sanders support exists in Canada too. With Canadians age 18 to 34, Sanders led Clinton 51 per cent to 31 per cent. Among Canadians 45 to 54, Clinton led 53 per cent to 32 per cent.
The poll was based on an interactive voice response telephone survey of 1,455 randomly selected Canadians 18 years of age or older. It was conducted on April 4 and 5, 2016. Results based on the total sample are considered accurate to within three percentage points, 19 times in 20. Forum houses its poll results in the data library of the department of political science at the University of Toronto.
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delhi
Updated: Jun 17, 2019 10:16 IST
A 20-year-old compulsive user of ‘TikTok’, a short video mobile phone application, has been arrested for snatching a high-end phone worth Rs 1 lakh. Police said the suspect, Jatin Nagar, was arrested on Saturday from Vikas Marg in east Delhi’s Preet Vihar.
They said Nagar wanted the phone for recording “better quality videos for his TikTok account’.
Deputy commissioner of police (east) Jasmeet Singh said on Wednesday, Jatin Chhabra, a resident of north Delhi’s Gujarawala Town, filed a complaint with the Preet Vihar police station. Chhabra alleged that he wanted to sell his iPhone XS and had given an advertisement on an online commerce site.
Singh said a few days ago Chhabra received a call from a buyer and after negotiations the deal was finalised for Rs 80,000. Both the parties agreed to meet near the Preet Vihar traffic signal to exchange the phone for cash.
On June 12 around 6 pm, Chhabra reached the meeting point. A man on a KTM bike reached there and identified himself as the buyer. He asked Chhabra to show his iPhone so that he can check it before giving the cash. As Chhabra took out his iPhone, the biker allegedly snatched it and sped away. By the time Chhabra could shout for help, the snatcher had fled the crime spot, said a senior police officer associated with the case.
The DCP said that a snatching case was registered and investigation was taken up by the local police. Investigators collected details about the suspects and his tracked down his movements.
On Saturday, the police received information that the suspect would come to Preet Vihar area on the bike.
“A trap was laid and Nagar was apprehended from Vikas Marg. The stolen iPhone was recovered from his possession,” said the DCP.
During the interrogation, the officer said, Nagar told the police that he worked as a call centre executive with a popular food outlet and also earned money as a “TikTok artist”. Nagar claimed that his TikTok videos were not getting desired hits as the their quality was not good. Also, the viewers of his videos often commented that he should get a better phone to shoot quality videos, the officer said.
“As Nagar’s financial condition did not allow him to buy a costly phone, he hatched the idea of stealing someone’s iPhone. He scanned the online commerce site, selected an iPhone XS seller and tricked the seller into meeting him to sell the phone after impersonating as a potential buyer,” the officer added.
Nagar does not have a criminal record, the police said. | 1,266,837 |
LA Galaxy Host Sacramento Republic in US Open Cup Round of 16
Sacramento Republic FC is one of two USL teams remaining in this year’s US Open Cup competition. They have had things pretty cush so far the 2017 Open Cup. All of their matches in this year’s knockout competition have been at home. That advantage evaporates this week as SR FC travel to meet interstate rivals, LA Galaxy at the StubHub in SoCal.
LA Galaxy (H)
Current (MLS) record: 6-6-4
Last time out: Lost at home to Sporting of KC, 1-2 on Saturday.
Player to watch for: Galaxy keeper Clement Diop had something of a meltdown in his last outing. If he draws the start against Sacramento his confidence will either still be feeling the effects or the short rest won’t have given him time to wallow. It’s a toss up.
Win/Lose X-Factor: Galaxy have played their way through about one-half of their season and they are also sitting about half way down the MLS Western Conference table as well. Galaxy knows that the team they face in SR FC as Open Cup foes could soon become another in conference-, and interstate rival to their north. A statement game about who the big dog in California is might be in order.
Sacramento Republic FC
Have you voted for @Tblackwood17 for @USL Goal of the Week? You have until Thurs at 6 a.m. to get your vote in! ➡️ https://t.co/5HFAtCUEdS pic.twitter.com/f7rBGuFy3Z — Republic FC (@SacRepublicFC) June 27, 2017
Current (MLS) record: 7-6-3
Last time out: Defeated LA Galaxy II on another of the StubHub grounds on Sunday.
Player to watch for: If you read the tweet above then you know that SR FC forward Tyler Blackwood is up for the goal of the week. He scored that one in his club’s big win over Rio Grande Valley on June 21. (The competition reel is here. Blackwood’s is first up on the video.) But the club’s other forward, Trevin Caesar, has scored 4 in his last two starts. Galaxy defenders will need to keep their heads on swivels.
Win/Lose X-Factor: The Sac have put together a 3 game win streak in USL league play this month. They’ve done it by scoring goals in buckets. They have rung the till 11 times over those 3 wins. If they can stay hot and remain unintimidated by the opposition, they might complete a unique sweep of LA Galaxies, juniors and seniors.
Score Prediction:
LA Galaxy 2
Sacramento Republic FC 3 | 1,266,838 |
“He’s really tough,” Saban said. “He’s a very physical player.”
Among the reserves, Scott Lashley is 6-7, Amari Kight is 6-7 and Tommy Brown is 6-7. They aren’t as thick as the players ahead of them. However, there’s redshirt junior Deonte Brown, who made an immediate impact when inserted at Tennessee last year.
Brown will begin the season on the sideline while finishing his suspension after violating an NCAA rule prior to the College Football Playoff, but he’s an extremely powerful 6-4, 338.
In case you’re wondering, the Alabama men’s basketball team has six scholarship players who are listed as being 6-7 or taller. One of them is guard Herbert Jones, who is also 206 pounds.
No one has ever mistakenly called Jones “thick.”
Nevertheless, there’s been little buzz about Alabama’s offensive line, which at least physically should be impossible to overlook. That’ll change once fans get a good look at them against Duke on Aug. 31 in Atlanta, and the subsequent games.
It could be a monster group, and Nick Saban knows it.
The coach has said on more than one occasion that he likes this group, which for him is huge (pun intended). The coach praised the linemen at the start of fall camp and then recently added: “Without naming specific players, I think we can have a really good offensive line.”
Seriously, when was the last time you heard Saban say that about a position group before the Crimson Tide took a single snap of a season? But there are other signs about this line having massive potential, from the talk about being more physical to the increased focus on red-zone play.
“I think the key to the drill in the red zone is you have to be able to run the ball,” Saban said.
How does a defense counter that kind of size, especially when Alabama uses extra linemen at the goal-line?
Alabama’s wide receivers are outstanding. It has the Heisman Trophy runner-up at quarterback. At running back is a guy who some recruiting services touted as being the best prospect in the nation a couple of years ago.
But if the Crimson Tide wins the national championship it might be because of this line.
“I feel like this group has the potential to do anything we want,” Leatherwood said. “We have the guys to do it. Not to mention our receiving corps, they’re a huge threat. So all the people are all going to be in the coverage areas, Smitty and all those dudes, That just gives us the opportunity to do something in the run game. We can attack you in many ways.” | 1,266,839 |
I have found few tricks that makes writing CoffeeScript more efficient and fun, especially when learning it and I’d like to share it with you.
These tricks are for Vim, but the ideas can be carried out to other editors as well. I know that at least the TextMate CoffeeScript Bundle can do some of these.
Basics
Let’s get the basics out of way. Get syntax hilighting from vim-coffee-script plugin and automatic syntax checking from Syntastic. These will take you a long way, but with CoffeeScript we can do more.
Reading compiled code
Especially when starting out with CoffeeScript you are not always sure what the snippet you are reading or even the code you just wrote does. Chances are that you already know Javascript so we can use that to our advantage. vim-coffee-script makes that incredibly easy.
Lets take following snippet that might be confusing to CoffeeScript newbies:
1 { @foo } = bar
With vim-coffee-script you can just select the snippet in Visual Mode and type :CoffeeCompile which will open up a new scratch buffer with a compiled version of the snippet which will clearly tell what this syntax in CoffeeScript means. You can use this to verify that you understood the CoffeeScript syntax by using your Javascript knowledge!
I recommend creating a shortcut for this. It’s so useful. Put this to your.vimrc :
1 2 vmap < leader > c < esc >: '<,' >: CoffeeCompile < CR > map < leader > c : CoffeeCompile < CR >
This allows you to invoke the compiler with Leader-key + c. The leader key is backslash by default, but usually it is redefined to comma.
Stack Traces
I don’t like manually compiling CoffeeScript files for my Node.js apps. Instead I use the coffee command directly or use plain js wrapper app that starts my CoffeeScript apps. This is clean and simple, but can be painful when you get an exception. There is a stack trace, but it refers to the compiled Javacript file which does not exist! You could look up the original CoffeeScript file and try to guess what line the stack trace means by looking variable names or manually compile the file when exception occurs. Not so fun.
vim-coffee-script to the rescue!
When you execute the CoffeeCompile Vim command in Command Mode you will get the whole file compiled into the scratch buffer. In that you can scroll the line referred by the stack trace and see what code exactly rose it. This is bit clumsy since normally you can jump to a certain line by typing :<number>. We can do better! Put this to.vimrc :
1 command - nargs = 1 C CoffeeCompile | :< args > | 1,266,840 |
Last month, a group of 19 Harvard Law School professors issued a press release denouncing the film The Hunting Ground as “propaganda” and condemning its “unfair and misleading portrayal” of the case of Harvard Law student Brandon Winston. Winston was dismissed from the law school for an alleged sexual assault, but later reinstated after faculty reversed the decision.
According to the professors’ press release:
With respect to Mr. Winston, the film gives the impression that he, like others accused in the stories featured in the film, is guilty of sexual assault by force and the use of drugs on his alleged victims, and that he, like the others accused, is a repeat sexual predator.
These allegations, the professors state, create a “seriously false picture” of Winston’s case.
In a statement emailed to The Harvard Crimson and reported yesterday, Hunting Ground director Kirby Dick and producer Amy Ziering suggest that the professors’ criticism of the film may constitute actionable sex discrimination in violation of Title IX:
“The Harvard Law professors’ letter is irresponsible and raises an important question about whether the very public bias these professors have shown in favor of an assailant contributes to a hostile climate at Harvard Law,” Dick and Ziering wrote.
To say this assertion is ludicrous is an understatement. Unfortunately, that doesn’t mean it isn’t worth taking seriously. After all, the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) recently opened a Title IX investigation into the University of Mary Washington (UMW) in Virginia in part because students alleged that a letter from the university president defending UMW against allegations of discrimination constituted “retaliation” in violation of Title IX. Similarly, Northwestern University investigated Professor Laura Kipnis earlier this year for alleged Title IX violations after she wrote an essay for The Chronicle of Higher Education about what she called the “sexual panic” on campus.
So while FIRE would hope that any Title IX complaint filed against the professors for their criticism of The Hunting Ground would be shut down immediately, we have little faith in the good sense of either university administrations or OCR in the current climate of moral panic over the issue of campus sexual assault. FIRE, therefore, will be keeping a very close eye on this story.
UPDATED: Harvard Law School professor Jeannie Suk, an outspoken advocate of campus due process and one of the 19 signatories to the press release, provided FIRE this response to the filmmakers’ statement:
It’s insulting to sexual assault victims to suggest that raising challenges to a film’s veracity, accuracy, and fairness is contributing to a sexually hostile climate. But it exemplifies the reckless way some people use the concept of a hostile environment these days, to the detriment of victims and serious treatment of sexual assault.
Earlier today, Suk expressed her displeasure with the situation on Twitter: | 1,266,841 |
pregnancy
robber
pregnant
Bengaluru
Vinay is in jail as he was arrested by the city police in a robbery case. We have to take him into custody –A police officer
POCSO
The girl is now in the eight month of herA woman helped ashe was acquainted with repeatedly rape her daughter for a year, leaving the 14-year-old. When the girl complained to her mother about not feeling well, she did not offer any help and now the girl is in the eight month of pregnancy. She had to finally take her grandmother’s help to get to the hospital, where they came to know of the grim news. The child has filed a police complaint against her mother and the man.The woman would bring the robber, Vinay, to their home on the outskirts of the city inSouth and force her daughter to sleep with him. She told her daughter that Vinay would marry her. After the girl missed her periods and started feeling unwell, she requested her mother to take her to the hospital. But the woman advised her to take medicines and refused to take her to the hospital.The girl finally told her grandmother about her ordeals. Unaware of the trauma that was awaiting them, the grandmother took the girl to a government hospital. There it was found that she was eight months pregnant. The girl filed a complaint with the Magadi sub-division police.The girl has studied till Class 7 in a government school. Her mother deserted the father and has been staying separately for 10 years. The woman works in wedding halls and is said to have known the Vinay, 22, for the last one year. Vinay is an auto driver by profession and was involved in robberies too.The victim has told the police that her mother and Vinay would get alcohol and drink at home. Her mother is alleged to have been sending the victim to sleep with him. She is also accused of mixing sedatives in the girl’s food. The victim was being raped since the last one year. Vinay stopped coming to her house over the last few months after the girl told him she had missed her periods.“Vinay is presently in jail as he was arrested by the city police in a robbery case. We will have to take him into custody and have to thoroughly question him. The victim’s mother is immobile as she has broken her leg and arms after slipping and falling from the stairs a few months back. We are unable to arrest her due to this. She will be arrested after she recovers. We do not know about the relationship between the accused and the mother. Only Vinay’s interrogation will throw light on this,” said an officer who is a part of the investigations.A case of rape and a case under Protection of Children from Sexual Offences () Act, 2012, has been registered against the victim’s mother and Vinay. | 1,266,842 |
Every morning, Josh Cyganik gives Leonard Bullock a smile and a wave as he walks past the 75-year-old man's house on his way to work.
For four consecutive years, the 35-year-old track inspector for the Union Pacific Railroad has nodded to the Pendleton, Oregon, resident, who sits on his porch all day long, but not once has he ever said a word to the man.
Last month, he finally broke his silence.
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As Cyganik stepped out to the curb to fill a garbage can, he overheard two teenage boys walking past Bullock's house yell, "Look at this crappy house. They just need to burn it down!"
As Cyganik glanced over, he saw Bullock with his head down.
"I couldn't believe what those kids had said," Cyganik told CBS News. "It was Leonard, this elderly, old man, who never hurt anybody a day in his life -- sits there all day long."
Later that day, Cyganik went home and stewed about the boys' rude comment.
After a couple days of thinking, he decided to do something about it.
He called a friend who runs a lumber and paint store, asking him if he'd be willing to donate materials to fix up the stranger's house. His friend agreed; "anything you need," he said.
Once Cyganik knew he had enough materials, he moved on to the next item on his check list: workers.
He posted a Facebook status, explaining his call for help.
To his surprise, more than 6,000 people shared the post and dozens commented.
With a little bit of faith, Cyganik knocked on Bullock's door the next day and asked him if he would like his house repainted.
"He was just flabbergasted," Cyganik said. "He was excited and he said he would love that!"
The following Saturday, Cyganik and his five coworkers headed over to work on Bullock's house, unsure how many people would join them.
One by one, people started coming. In fact, the number exceeded Cyganik's expectations so much, he stopped counting at 95 people.
A before and after look at Leonard Bullock's house. Facebook/Josh Cyganik
"It was amazing. That's the only word I can say," Cyganik said proudly. "I had no plan. I had no guidance. The way it all fell together -- the way it turned out."
It took nine hours to finish the job, but they did it.
Bullock can now sit proudly outside of his freshly painted house and call it "home." Even better, he can now call Cyganik not a "stranger," but a "friend." | 1,266,843 |
Fox entered the modern arena of live primetime television in a big way with Grease: Live in late January and will carry on with Tyler Perry’s live Jesus musical at the end of March. Now, news has come out that Fox is trying for something even more ambitious - although decidedly less musical - with live television. An animated episode ofwill end with three minutes of live footage.executive producer Al Jean teased the exciting and somewhat bizarre news on his Twitter account earlier today. The episode will hit the small screen on May 15 at 8 p.m. ET on Fox, and both the East Coast and the West Coast airings will feature differing live animated scenes. Marge, Lisa, and Bart will turn over the show to Homer, who will take questions and deliver answers straight to the audience live.Over its 27 seasons so far has seemed to achieve the impossible with bringing animated television into the mainstream using a plethora of various techniques, but live animation feels inconceivable even for the Fox juggernaut. As it turns out, however, the team athave a plan in place to turn the May 15 episode of the show into something unforgettable in the best way.According to Al Jean, in a chat with The Wrap, the final minutes of the episode will use motion capture technology to animate master improviser and voice actor Dan Castellaneta in real time. Considering that Castellaneta has been bringing the laughs as Homer since 1989, we can be sure that he’ll be pulling his weight in the' first go at live TV.Of course, Dan Castellaneta can’t possibly pull off a successful few minutes of live animation all alone, and sowill be drawing on the proven motion capture techniques developed by Fox Sports in order to bring Homer to life. Early tests have shown that the motion capture can work well with the animation style of, and there’s almost definitely enough time between February and mid-May for any and all kinks in the process to be worked out.Possibly even more exciting for fans than the idea of live footage is that they will have the opportunity to get involved in the episode. Starting on May 1 and running until May 4, viewers will be able to tweet questions to be answered during the May 15 installment with the hashtag of #HomerLive. While the early deadline may seem a bit suspicious given Al Jean’s promise that the three minutes will be 100% live, the reality is that the team atwill need time to obtain the proper permission from tweeters. In fact, Jean has teased that a few clues will be included in the broadcast to tip viewers off that Homer’s comments couldn’t have possibly been pre-recorded.Sadly, we still have quite a wait ahead of us before we get to see Dan Castellaneta tackle the role of Homer Simpson live on air, but at least knowing thatwill continue working to keep things fresh even in Season 27 makes watching in the meantime a more appealing prospect. | 1,266,844 |
A top billionaire Republican donor says he's disappointed Speaker Paul Ryan Paul Davis RyanKenosha will be a good bellwether in 2020 At indoor rally, Pence says election runs through Wisconsin Juan Williams: Breaking down the debates MORE (R-Wis.) hasn't yet backed presumptive nominee Donald Trump Donald John TrumpObama calls on Senate not to fill Ginsburg's vacancy until after election Planned Parenthood: 'The fate of our rights' depends on Ginsburg replacement Progressive group to spend M in ad campaign on Supreme Court vacancy MORE.
“I’m very disappointed,” businessman Stanley Hubbard said on Fox Business Network on Monday. "Sorry, did I approve of all Donald Trump did and all that he said? No, but he’s a candidate who would be a heck of a lot better than Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham ClintonWhat Senate Republicans have said about election-year Supreme Court vacancies Bipartisan praise pours in after Ginsburg's death Trump carries on with rally, unaware of Ginsburg's death MORE.
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“I don’t think Trump’s a fool,” the Hubbard Broadcasting CEO added. "He’s proven he’s a winner. I think he’s still our best choice.
His comments come after Ryan said last week that he wasn't ready to support Trump yet but hopes to find common ground. The two are scheduled to meet on Thursday.
“Although he wasn’t my favorite candidate, I think he will moderate a lot of his views. If you leave him, you’re going to have Hillary as president – simple as that," said Hubbard.
Hubbard also criticized other prominent Republicans who are not embracing Trump.
“Mitt Romney was a terrible candidate who didn’t understand how to reach the common person,” he said of the GOP’s 2012 nominee.
“I’m disappointed in the Bushes because it didn’t go their way so they’re going to take their ball and go home,” he continued, about former Presidents George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush.
“Anybody who wants to see sensible government and get away from the Obama message should get on board, whether they love Trump or not,” he added.
Hubbard told The Hill last week that he would contribute to Trump despite previously giving $10,000 to Our Principles PAC, an anti-Trump group.
Romney is skipping the Republican National Convention in July, as are George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush.
Hubbard on Monday said Clinton would help unite Republicans behind Trump.
“I think as time goes by, people are going to realize we have two choices – either Donald Trump, who may not be our favorite choice, and Hillary Clinton, who’s our worst choice." | 1,266,845 |
It's your fault, Uncharted fans, that The Nathan Drake Collection doesn't include the multiplayer portion of the series second and third games on PlayStation 4. Just not for the reasons you think.
"Our communities are still really strong," Naughty Dog community strategist Eric Monacelli told Mashable. "Like Uncharted 3... I get submissions every week from people still, which is a testament to how strong that community is.
"People are still playing Uncharted 2 [online], believe it or not," he continued. "2009 was when [that] came out. It's a pretty old game but people love it."
Naughty Dog felt that carrying multiplayer over from the latter two Uncharted games could potentially fracture the still-active PlayStation 3 community. And with multiplayer beta access for Uncharted 4: A Thief's End included with The Nathan Drake Collection, the online play itch is scratched.
The collection features a number of enhancements for fans, starting with the expected jump to 1080p resolution running at 60 frames per second. The action is smooth, "buttery" as Monacelli describes it, and new details in the environment — including more visibility inside the game's epic landscapes — convey a much stronger sense of place.
There are also a few extras, like a new take on the skins that unlock in the earlier games' multiplayer mode. "In [The Nathan Drake Collection], if you want to play the game as 'Doughnut Drake,' you can do that through all three games if you want," Monacelli said.
"We'll have 55 to 65 different skins. They'll probably all be unlocks, and as you play through you'll earn them."
There are also some new difficulty settings. One is aimed at beginners, dialing the challenge down even further from the game's existing easy difficulty. Then there's a new one for the pros.
"If you're super hardcore, we're going to add something we call Brutal," Monacelli said. "If you already beat [the highest difficulty], Crushing, and you're awesome at it, you're gonna be challenged."
If you're looking for experience-altering new features, you won't find them here. Naughty Dog's goal in working with port developer Bluepoint Games is to preserve what made the originals so great, but present them in a way that lays the whole story out for newcomers.
"You're gonna get to see Nathan Drake's story from beginning to end, which we've never shown before," Monacelli said.
"It's one of those things where if you play them all back to back, you get a good, clear picture. We put a lot of love into our characters. It's almost like when you watch a Netflix series straight through, you get the full-fledged version of what that character is."
Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection comes to PlayStation 4 on Oct. 7. | 1,266,846 |
About 8000 people marched on central Auckland on Saturday afternoon as opposition grows to the Government's mooted asset sales.
A march supporting the 'Aotearoa is not for Sale' hikoi descended on the city shortly after 3pm, heading up Queen St to Aotea Square for a rally.
The hikoi - which was launched in the Far North on Tuesday - is travelling the length of the North Island to protest against a raft of issues, including the Government's planned asset sales.
NEIL REID/Fairfax NZ NO HOLDS BARRED: Protestors chanted "John Key, you suck eggs".
Veteran protestor John Minto was among the gathering, telling the crowd that "there was no way Aotearoa is up for sale".
He said the country was "under attack", but added 2012 was the year for everyday New Zealanders to "fight back".
Earlier, protestors had chanted "John Key, you suck eggs" and "Aotearoa is under attack".
It will take two weeks to reach Wellington, before kick-starting a week of hui and protest action around the capital city.
A statement from hikoi organisers said: "The hikoi will express public opposition to privatisation and the selling off of our country's assets, natural resources, land and public services.
"Most New Zealanders don't want our public assets, resources and farm land sold to private investors. It is not in our interests to put our future in the hands of a few large foreign companies whose primary goal and self-interest in profit undermines what is good for the country we live in and love.
"If we don't act now, looking back in 15 years' time, our country could have overseas corporations buying and bullying political favours and oucomes. This is the message the hikoi will take to Wellington... this is not the brighter future many of us dream of."
While the hikoi is not aligned to anyone political party, today's protest activities in central Auckland figured officials from Labour, Mana, the Maori Pary and the Greens.
Meanwhile, earlier today about 500 people marched through Nelson in another protest action against the mooted asset sales.
Chanting slogans, the marchers walked up Trafalgar St to the Church Steps, where they heard speakers from the Green, Labour, and New Zealand First parties as well as Greenpeace and the Campaign Against Foreign Control of Aotearoa.
The common theme was that the Government didn't have a mandate to sell shares in state assets and that the decision could be overturned if the campaign was maintained.
A message from Nelson's National MP Nick Smith, who was in Dunedin, was drowned out by boos and a "not for sale" chant and former soldier Gareth Palmer was cheered when he said that in his eyes: "John Key is a traitor". | 1,266,847 |
Michigan Congressman Mike Rogers, a co-sponsor of the controversial online security bill CISPA, deleted a post from his official Twitter account linking to a website outlining how much funding each US politician has received from pro-CISPA lobby groups.
Rogers has been a vocal supporter of the Cyber Intelligence Security Protection Act (CISPA), which critics say will effectively eliminate privacy on the Internet under the guise of enhancing cybersecurity.
The congressman retweeted a message from MapLight, an organization billing itself as a “nonpartisan research organization that reveals money’s influence on politics,” that linked to an article revealing that the House Intelligence Committee - which Rogers currently chairs - “received 15 times more from pro-CISPA groups than anti-CISPA groups.” The tweet was preserved on Politwoops, a website that logs deleted messages from politicians.
According to the MapLight article, Rogers has been on the receiving end of donations totaling $214,750 from interest groups backing CISPA. He deleted the retweet 23 minutes after posting it.
It only gets worse for the congressman, though, as digital activists made him an online punchline on Friday for his frequent use of the Twitter hashtag #CISPAalert. Most likely unknown to Rogers was the fact that each time the phrase is included in a tweet, the domain registrar Namecheap donates one dollar to the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a group dedicated to stopping the legislation.
CISPA has come under fire from privacy advocates as well as Internet giants including Craigslist and Reddit for the powers it would provide government officials and corporations. The bill would allow companies like Microsoft, Facebook, Verizon and many others to share information about web users without any legal obstruction when their networks are under attack. The government could then prosecute individuals based on the personal information passed on.
Critics of the bill have complained that its broad language would virtually legalize surveillance, while proponents have deemed it necessary in the battle to stop hackers. The legislation failed to pass through Congress last year but will be voted on in April.
“The bill would allow companies to share private user information with the government in ways that are currently illegal, and provide legal immunity to companies that share information for vaguely defined ‘national security’ purposes,” said the Internet Defense League in a Tuesday statement.
Earlier this week Martin Libicki, a senior management scientist at the RAND Corporation, warned the House Homeland Security Committee to be wary of the line between realistic projections regarding cybersecurity and fear-mongering.
“The more emphasis on the pain from a cyberattack, the greater the temptation to others to induce such pain — either to put fear into this country or goad it into a reaction that rebounds to their benefit,” he said. “Conversely, fostering the impression that a great country can bear the pain of cyberattacks, keep calm and carry on reduces such temptation.”
| 1,266,848 |
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Supreme Court justices, hearing a dispute over presidential powers a day before the U.S. election, indicated on Monday they might curb a president’s authority to staff top administration posts in a case involving the National Labor Relations Board.
U.S. Supreme Court is seen in Washington, U.S., October 3, 2016. REUTERS/Yuri Gripas/File Photo
The eight justices heard an hour-long argument in a 2014 legal challenge brought by Arizona-based private ambulance company SW General Inc to President Barack Obama’s temporary appointment of Lafe Solomon in 2011 as NLRB general counsel. Obama also nominated Solomon to fill the position permanently, a move that required U.S. Senate approval.
The company, a subsidiary of Envision Healthcare Holdings Inc, challenged Solomon’s appointment after the labor board found SW General had committed an unfair labor practice by discontinuing bonus payments for long-term employees.
If SW General wins, the NLRB order would be thrown out because of Solomon’s participation.
Solomon filled in for former general counsel Ronald Meisburg, who resigned in 2010. Obama withdrew Solomon’s nomination after it stalled for more than two years. The Senate ultimately confirmed Richard Griffin to the post in 2013.
SW General argued that Solomon should not have continued to fill the position on a temporary or “acting” basis pending Senate confirmation.
In a 2015 ruling against the administration, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit said a 1998 federal law bars officials from serving in an acting role while awaiting Senate confirmation unless they were previously the “first assistant” to that post.
The administration contends others who fill posts temporarily can also be nominated, including those previously confirmed by the Senate to another position.
The Supreme Court in 2014 limited presidential powers in another case involving the NLRB, ruling that three 2013 appointments Obama made to the board while Congress was in recess were invalid.
Justice Anthony Kennedy questioned whether new constraints on presidential appointment power would make as much of a practical difference as Obama’s administration claims, calling the system “quite capable of accommodating” a ruling in favoring SW General.
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said concerns about past government actions taken by acting officials being challenged retroactively were overblown.
The administration said 100 appointments over the past 18 years would have been invalid under the approach sought by the company, including several in sensitive national security jobs.
Justice Elena Kagan said with the recent history of “partisan bickering” over appointments, “we would have heard about it” if members of Congress had objected in the manner the company does.
The outcome of the case could assume added importance if the next president faces protracted nomination battles and opts to appoint officials on a temporary basis.
A ruling is due by the end of June. | 1,266,849 |
�s sexuality. This is an image Cyrus is presenting to the public (or being pressured to present) — it’s about representation. If you can’t differentiate between that and Miley’s private desires and/or sex life, then you may want to tread a little more lightly when entering into conversations about feminism and female liberation.
O’Connor says that which we can all see is true: the music industry will try, with all their might, to exploit young women — to “prostitute” them, as she says; meaning to use their bodies and sexualities to profit.
“Real empowerment of yourself as a woman would be to in future refuse to exploit your body or your sexuality in order for men to make money from you. I needn’t even ask the question. I’ve been in the business long enough to know that men are making more money than you are from you getting naked.”
And here’s what O’Connor knows that Cyrus, and many other young women (including myself at that age) don’t know: that power you feel — the power you get from having men want you — is fleeting. Further reinforcing this particular kind of imaginary “empowerment” only perpetuates the idea that, without sexual appeal and without youth, women are useless, irrelevant, and invisible.
While disgusting Terry Richardson (who, by the way, is known to be a sexual predator) is busy turning Cyrus into soft-core porn, we’re all busy trying to make sure everyone knows how empowered! and in charge of her own sexuality! Cyrus is; telling anyone who dares to state the obvious that they are judgy slut-shamers. Why not point your busy twitter fingers at the exploitative industry or the pervy Richardson rather than at those who tell the truth, that “the music business doesn’t give a sh– about you, or any of us. They will prostitute you for all you are worth, and cleverly make you think its what YOU wanted”?
What O’Connor says is (mostly) right: “Women are to be valued for so much more than their sexuality. We aren’t merely objects of desire.” And she deserves to be listened to and respected, not mocked.
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Meghan Murphy Founder & Editor Meghan Murphy is a freelance writer and journalist. She has been podcasting and writing about feminism since 2010 and has published work in numerous national and international publications, including The Spectator, UnHerd, the CBC, New Statesman, Vice, Al Jazeera, The Globe and Mail, and more. Meghan completed a Masters degree in the department of Gender, Sexuality and Women’s Studies at Simon Fraser University in 2012 and lives in Vancouver, B.C. with her dog. | 1,266,850 |
of which occurred on Dec. 3, according to NASA.
A blue moon is merely a "quirk in the calendar," as the second full moon in a month, Petro said, adding that there is "nothing really to see there."
In the early morning hours of Jan. 31, the moon will transform to a reddish hue as becomes completely submerged in the Earth's shadow, Petro said.
How to take the best photographs of the super blue blood moon
Expert advice: Put down the smartphone.
Taking a photo of the moon is "a little bit difficult," said Honda, the New York City-based photographer.
On the phone, the moon will be appear small on the screen, he said.
If a smartphone is the only photography tool available, Honda suggests that the best thing to do is to adjust your phone manually. Otherwise, the moon will appear like a "big blob."
Amateur photographers should brace themselves on a car or the side of a building to avoid a blurry picture, Honda said.
"That's a lot better than standing and holding your phone in your hands," he added. "That'll make it a lot steadier."
Find a landmark
Frame the super moon or lunar eclipse against some sort of landmark or landscape to put the moon in perspective, Honda said. Even a tree or background of a countryside will work, he said.
"Often times, those pictures are much better than a moon standing in the middle of the sky," Honda said.
Biderman said to think about foreground and an aesthetic in which you "create more of a sense of place."
"Don't just think about shooting the moon in the sky," he said.
Biderman also suggested scouting locations before the actual event.
To photograph the super moon, go out during twilight hours on Jan. 30
A bright moon combined with a very dark sky is the "worst thing" for a photo due to the stark difference in contrast, Honda said.
The super moon will be best photographed on Tuesday evening, before the sun has completely set, Biderman said.
"Whenever you want to shoot the full moon, it's always best to photograph it the day before the 100 percent full moon," he said.
Ideas for other types of shots
For a close-up of the moon, or what Biderman calls a "crater-licious shot" where the viewer can see the details of the moon, photographers can use a point-shoot camera with a big zoom or even a telescope, he said.
Another shot, which Biderman calls "star trails," can show an interesting perspective of the moon and its reflection over the water.
"It can have that sort of beacon in the night look," Biderman said, suggesting people to use a telephoto or wider lens. | 1,266,851 |
-- the perfect backdrop -- for us vampires. Not too much sun, just enough shadow... surrounded by forest, rainy... and out of way... Paradise. Vampire territory."
And our personal favorite:
"From there, it only took nine months from 'hello' to 'I do'. Stephenie was 21 when she married Chirstian [sic]... also known as 'Pancho.'"
Thanks to the Midnight Movie Dracula voice that Burton has foisted on his narration, that last one comes off not as compelling narrative, but more like Robert Stack giving a woman's last known whereabouts on an episode of "Unsolved Mysteries," right before he advises you to call in with any information you might have about a man named Pancho.
It's when art and writing come together, though, that this thing achieves the absolute peak of its awfulness. As we said, Meyer's life itself doesn't have much going on, so in order to spice things up, Burton and MacNeil engage in absolutely shameless techniques at padding things out. In the absence of anything magical -- what with this being a biography about a writer of fiction -- they turn to a tenuous link to palmistry, actually drawing the state of Utah on her hand...
...in a five-panel sequence that takes up an entire page.
Shortly after that, there's a break where Fake Dracula eats a spider. Why Fake Dracula is eating a spider, we have no idea, but that's three pages that Burton didn't have to worry about trying to fill with the actual biography that people are ostensibly paying for, and he manages to rack up another four recapping the dream Meyer had that was the basis for "Twilight."
Which means that this is a dream that has already had both a book and a movie made about it, both of which have been experienced by the comic's target audience already. Although to be fair, we're assuming that the comic is unique in adding Meyer herself creepily leering at teenagers while they make out in the woods:
Eventually things start to wind down, and after a hilarious montage representing the booming popularity of "Twilight" that includes these two monstrosities...
...we finally find out why Fake Dracula's been narrating the story. In what is the most mind-shattering cliche that he could've possibly pulled out, Burton reveals that "Twilight" is just part of the sinister vampire master plan to make people love vampires! For the monsters... are reeeeeeeaaaaaallllll!!!!!
Sure, Stephenie. Write more. Knock yourself out.
But you, Burton? I think we've had enough of you.
Elsewhere on the Web:
Rejected Mortal Kombat Fatalities (Gorilla Mask)
Expelled Over a Miniskirt (Ask Men)
13 Bizarre Comics & Cartoons (I Am Bored) | 1,266,852 |
Josh Homme and Jesse Hughes of Eagles of Death Metal perform at the Teragram Ballroom on Oct. 19, 2015 in Los Angeles, California.
Update: On Sunday, Dec. 6, U2 wrote on its website that Eagles of Death Metal would not be appearing at its rescheduled Paris concert on Sunday night. The band didn't mention whether EODM would appear at Monday's show. Read more here.
When the members of Eagles of Death Metal gave their first interview since the Nov. 13 Paris attacks, they vowed to finish their tour and be the first band to play the Bataclan once it reopened. The venue is still on the mends, but it appears Eagles of Death Metal are already returning to the stage.
A source tells Billboard the band will join U2 for its final song at Paris' AccorHotels Arena -- U2 is set to play the venue on Sunday, Dec. 6 and Monday, Dec. 7 -- although it's unclear on which night Eagles of Death Metal will take the stage. And that's not all -- the Paris cameo will include co-founder Josh Homme, who often does not tour with the band and was not present at the Nov. 13 attack. And, adds an insider, Eagles of Death Metal will continue its halted European tour in Feb. 2016.
U2 will also play the AccorHotels Arena the following night, Dec. 7. That same evening, HBO will premiere U2: Innocence + Experience Live in Paris at 9 p.m. (ET). “HBO presents U2 in concert from their current, groundbreaking Innocence + Experience world tour -- direct from Paris and only on HBO,” the channel’s official site reads.
Both Paris shows were originally scheduled for Nov. 14 and 15, but were postponed after the attacks. Bono and his bandmates were extremely supportive of Eagles of Death Metal during the tumultuous weekend, buying them new phones, offering them use of their plane, and providing counsel on what they'd just endured.
Eagles of Death Metal Reflect on Paris Benefits in Tearjerking Beats 1 Episode
Queens of the Stone Age frontman Homme founded Eagles of Death Metal in the late 1990s, along with Jesse Hughes. On Dec. 2, Hughes guested on Homme's Beats 1 radio show Alligator Hour, and discussed the charity singles artists like the Dean Ween Band have recorded to benefit those affected by the attacks.
The tragedy on Nov. 13 left 130 dead, 89 of them at Eagles of Death Metal's Bataclan concert, including merch manager Nick Alexander. The members of the band escaped relatively unscathed. For more of their account of the incident, read Billboard's coverage of Eagles of Death Metal's Nov. 25 interview.
A representative told Billboard that Eagles of Death Metal has no comment on the reports of an appearance with U2 and the 2016 tour. | 1,266,853 |
The new figures, released by the EU's statistical office Eurostat, now puts Ireland's population at 4.6 million.
Ireland is in the midst of a full-blown population boom boasting the EU's top birth rate and second-lowest death rate.
There was 14.4 babies born per 1,000 residents in the State last year, easily eclipsing the EU average of 10.1.
In stark contrast, Ireland also recorded one of Europe's lowest death rates at 6.4pc per 1,000 residents - some distance behind the EU average of 9.7pc.
The new figures, released by the EU's statistical office Eurostat, now puts Ireland's population at 4.6 million.
Given the nation's birth and death rates, it means Ireland saw a natural change in population of +8.1pc in 2014.
Housing and childcare sectors are already struggling under the weight of young families, while at the other end of the scale the low death rate means the pensions bill is spiralling.
Experts warned that childcare in the country was not fit for purpose, given the nation's growing young population.
Early Childhood Ireland CEO Teresa Heeney has said that while Ireland's high birth rate is the "envy of our European neighbours", she warned that the sector is facing a crisis.
"Our current level spending in the sector is just 0.2pc of GDP. This is far short of where we need to be and we must move towards 0.7pc which is closer to the European average, and ultimately to 1pc," she said.
"This Government must make choices in the next Budget which will have a long- lasting impact on Irish children, families and early childhood educators.
"The lack of a clear plan today is leading to duplication and poor sustainability in a childcare sector that is overstretched and not invested in properly."
Fianna Fáil spokesman for children Robert Troy has also expressed concerns in relation to Ireland's early childhood care infrastructure.
"While the increase in births is very welcome, we must asses our current systems. The structures we have in place are just not fit for purpose."
The total population of the EU ballooned by almost two million people last year. As a whole, the population grew from 506.9 to 508 million.
Germany continues to be a European powerhouse with some 81.2 million residents accounting for 16pc of the total.
France takes the second spot with 13pc of the population or 66.4 million residents.
The UK, which is home to some 64.8 million people, makes up 12.9pc.
During 2014, 5.1 million babies were born, 33,000 up on the previous year. It appears Europeans are now living longer with the number of deaths across Europe down by 46,000 to 4.9 million.
Irish Independent | 1,266,854 |
Since the advent of Title IX, American athletics have been understood as a principal avenue for women’s empowerment and advancement. Confidence, self-esteem, strength, and resilience are touted as positive qualities imparted to girls through the playing of sports.
But how quickly is this cultural messaging undermined by the very institutions that are suppose to endorse them? The egregious crimes of Dr. Larry Nassar prove that even within realms intended for their advancement, girls and young women are being systematically abused and violated under the guise that they are being supported and coached in their quest to become champions and strong, independent women.
Not only that: It’s still possible for this abuse to go on for decades before anyone takes it seriously.
So how do men like Nassar “get away with it?” We must first look to the institutions — USA Gymnastics, the US Olympic Committee, Michigan State University, Hollywood, higher education, the Oval Office — that so often serve as “enablers.” These elite organizations perpetuate the culture of silence that can cover up and even lead to sexual assault. This is especially true for young female athletes who are groomed to be as pleasing aesthetically as they are athletically, seen and admired but rarely heard.
Young female athletes are groomed to be as pleasing aesthetically as they are athletically, seen and admired but rarely heard.
Within the realm of gymnastics broadly, a 2016 investigative report by the Indy Star found that “at least 368 gymnasts have alleged some form of sexual abuse at the hands of their coaches, gym owners and other adults working in gymnastics” over the past two decades.
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And while Nassar’s trial was big news — this week — the crimes he committed stretch decades back in time. They were also first reported in the summer of 2016, during which time he was convicted of child pornography charges and the case failed to make many national headlines.
As a comparative point of reference, commentators note that the sex abuse scandal at Penn State University, where assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky was convicted of 45 counts of sexual abuse against young male athletes made headlines much sooner. The scandal engulfed America, making it impossible to miss. “I remember when the Penn State scandal was talked about at length for months and months and even years,” sexual abuse survivor Morgan McCaul told the HuffPost. “This is nearly five times the size and no one knows about it.”
Buzzfeed contributor Jessica Luther attributes this gender difference in media coverage to the gendered prescriptions of the two respective sports — football is culturally coded as “male,” while gymnastics is coded “female”— and the correlative lack of sports coverage given to gymnastics in general, “a sport that most people only care about for one week every four years.” | 1,266,855 |
How Online Sales Scams are Happening!
According to Norton’s Cyber Security Insights Report, Online fraudsters are most commonly using Click and Receive, text phishing and offer alert scams to get the money from users.
This online crime has affected approximately 590 million people worldwide in 2015. Most of the cases came from United Kingdom. Every one in seven victim from United Kingdom told about hijacking of his financial credentials during online shopping. Millions of people have also face the problem personal information leakage. Scammers had stolen personal identities of 13 million people. These are the approximate figures.
A number of online fraud scams have been revealed by Norton’s Cyber Security Insights this January. Scammers are doing all this in different ways like:
1.Text Phishing: Sometimes scammers send fake text messages to the people same as bank. In message they wrote that there are some suspicious activities going in their bank accounts, so please tell us PIN code or other sensitive data related to financial accounts. This is called Text phishing. Another technique is called Vishing, which happened with mobile phone. But the purpose of message remains same.
2.Fake Websites: Scammers are also targeting people by making fake websites, which look likes the popular online sites and have fake domain names related to original domain names.
3.Click and Receive: In this case scammers sends emails to people, saying that they have won a gift voucher and Just click here to got your prize. Scammers can collect sensitive information from here, which they can use for other illegal purposes.
4.Refund Pop-ups: In this technique scammers are using some pop-ups which are directly connected to a controlled database. They gave messages like “For refunds click here”, “Worried about wrong transaction, click here to get money back” etc. They can collect financial information of people using this fraud.
5.Fake off Sale Offers: This is another type of pop-ups. Scammers are using this technique as Honey-Pot. They gave messages to people through these pop-ups like “50% off sale”, “Special Offer’ and “Your Discount Voucher is here” etc. Millions of people had lost their financial details.
Some Tips for Online Shoppers:
1. Do not click on fake website’s links. Look very carefully on the web addresses of websites and relate it with original.
2. Do not fill your passwords on suspicious forms.
3. Shop only from trusted websites and don’t fall for the cheap price tags.
4. Time-to-time check your credit card statements.
5. Do not use public WiFi networks for online shopping.
6. Use proper antivirus and anti-malware techniques.
Source: scmagazine.com | 1,266,856 |
found that while 79 percent of Hispanics found his earlier comments on Mexican immigrants offensive, only 14 percent said that they felt the statements represent the GOP.
Many strategists fret that Trump’s controversial comments could hurt the party’s brand as a whole, but they are confident that individual candidates can weather that storm.
The Nevada GOP strategist said that Heck, the state’s leading GOP Senate candidate, has made an effort to build a broad coalition to include Hispanics.
That, he believes, will insulate Heck from significant damage from Trump’s comments. The strategist added that he would advise candidates looking to attract Hispanic voters to provide a stark contrast to Trump’s immigration stance.
Pat Brady, an Illinois Republican strategist and former state GOP party chair, admits that Trump’s message does “a lot of damage to Illinois Republicans” as far as the party’s work to put the state back in play for the presidential race.
But he countered the assertion that Trump’s rhetoric would sway voters against Kirk, who is fighting to keep his Senate seat.
“They are never going to equate anything Donald Trump says or does with a guy like Mark Kirk who has been a centrist Republican,” he said.
Still, it’s not likely that Kirk will stump with Trump, Brady said.
“I would guess that you don’t see Donald Trump in the same county as Sen. Kirk.”
Trump’s campaign sees his candidacy as a positive for the Republican Party.
Campaign Manager Corey Lewandowski framed Trump’s bid as about engaging those who haven’t ever been politically engaged. He told a story about a New Hampshire man in a wheelchair who asked a town clerk to come to his home so that he can register to vote for Trump.
“This election is about the silent majority, it is about all those people who felt that they haven’t been able to participate in the process,” Lewandowski said.
“That helps not just presidential race, it helps every race at every level of government from Senate to the local levels of government.”
In the end, most Republicans dismissed the notion that Trump would become the GOP nominee, despite his lead in the polls. But if he can, experts say they’d have to throw the playbook about the down-ballot races out the window.
“The assumption has been that there’s no way he can be the nominee. But I don’t know if that’s beginning to fray,” said University of Florida Political Science Professor Stephen Craig.
“If he manages to win the nomination, all of our traditional assumptions will be upset and we will be on such new turf that anyone that says they can predict the future should be put out to pasture.” | 1,266,857 |
BALTIMORE (WJZ) — A Frederick Douglass staff member was hospitalized Friday night after being shot at the high school.
It was chaotic outside Frederic Douglass High School after shots were fired in the school’s lobby.
Police said that a 25-year-old man tried to enter the school around noon but encountered 56-year-old Michael Marks, a special education assistant.
That’s when officers said the suspect pulled out a gun and shot marks in the lower torso.
The suspect was quickly taken into custody.
Robert Ames, a friend of the special ed. Assistant, said that he rushed to the hospital to visit Marks.
“I was shocked,” he said. “I couldn’t believe it. I’ve known this guy forever.”
Students were on lockdown for about an hour before being dismissed around 1:15 p.m.
City Schools said that the suspect is a family member of a Frederick Douglass student.
President of the School Police Union, Clyde Boatwright, said that coincidentally, there was a conference with Police School supervisors in the school who heard the shots and made a rapid arrest.
Last month, the school board voted against arming school police officers.
Boatwright said that the shooting proves his point: That city school officers need to be armed.
“If they were not here and our unarmed police office had to confront his gunman, what would we of had?” asked Boatwright. “We would have had more casualties.”
City Schools CEO Sonja Santelises said that Marks had “served Baltimore students for many years, and I ask you all as part of our City Schools community to hold him and his family in your hearts.”
She also went on to say that schools must be havens of safety and peace without weapons and confrontation and that they would review all security protocols.
“He’s always been a friend to everybody,” said Ames. “but he’s always been about the kids. He’s always helping kids.”
Mayor Catherine Pugh tweeted out that gun violence is unacceptable in schools and also said that they’ll be conducting a full assessment to make sure this doesn’t happen again.
Statement on shooting at Frederick Douglass High School. pic.twitter.com/MSwHGTEbjZ — Mayor Catherine Pugh (@MayorPugh50) February 9, 2019
Police have said this is an active investigation.
Mayor Catherine Pugh tweeted out that gun violence is unacceptable in schools and also said that they’ll be conducting a full assessment to make sure this doesn’t happen again.
Follow @WJZ on Twitter and like WJZ-TV | CBS Baltimore on Facebook | 1,266,858 |
The chemical seeds of Earthly life were planted by meteorites, says Columbia University chemist Ronald Breslow – and if it happened here, it could happen elsewhere.
In a report delivered to the American Chemical Society's annual meeting,
Breslow simulated the behavior of "left-handed" amino acids in an
Earth-like environment. The acids' appendage appellation derives from their molecular orientation, also known as chirality; except for a few oddball bacteria, all living creatures are composed of proteins made from left-handed amino acids. This phenomena has long perplexed scientists. Why left instead of right-handed? Why not both?
One possible explanation: because the first amino acids came from space, riding to Earth on meteorites. When the meteorites passed neutron stars, they were blasted with circular polarized light, in which photons corkscrew to either the left or right. Breslow's earlier experiments showed that CPL damages amino acids of corresponding handedness: if, on a fateful journey some four billion years ago, an Earthbound meteorite passed a star emitting right-spiraling CPL, it would have been stripped of right-handed acids, leaving the present orientation of life's building blocks as a biochemical echo of our extraterrestrial origin.
In his ACS report, Breslow added left-handed amino acids to the amino acid precursors found on pre-biotic Earth. The resulting acids were also left-handed and eventually dominated Breslow's mixture, suggesting that a similar process could have happened four billion years ago after a rock from space hit our hot and lifeless world.
Will we ever know for sure? Of course not. But it's plausible, and excesses of left-handed amino acids have indeed been found on meteorites landing in Australia and Tennessee during the last century.
Breslow next plans to study the origin of nucleic acids – the chemical units of DNA.
“This work is related to the probability that there is life somewhere else,” said Breslow in a press release. “Everything that is going on on
Earth occurred because the meteorites happened to land here. But they are obviously landing in other places. If there is another planet that has the water and all of the things that are needed for life, you should be able to get the same process rolling.”
Meteorites delivered the'seeds' of Earth's left-hand life [press release]
*
Image: Tobin*
*
Note: I never feel good about quoting a press release, but in the blog world it's inevitable. At least I tell you when you're getting a canned quote. Wouldn't it be nice if other publications followed suit? *
See Also:
WiSci 2.0: Brandon Keim's Twitter and Del.icio.us feeds; Wired Science on Facebook. | 1,266,859 |
The BBC will make the unemployed and low-paid workers compete against each other for a cash prize in a controversial Hunger Games-type show to find “Britain’s Hardest Grafter”.
Only the UK’s lowest-paid workers will be invited to compete to “show their worth” in the reality show, capitalising on the trend for “poverty porn” established by the Channel 4 series, Benefits Street.
Applications for Britain’s Hardest Grafter, which will be screened on BBC2, are limited to those currently earning less than £15,500 per year.
The BBC is seeking 25 British workers, a mix of the unemployed, the under-employed and those earning the minimum wage, who will be given the opportunity to “prove themselves” through a series of challenges. A cash prize is on offer for the winner.
A representative of the production company Twenty Twenty told the website Graduate Fog: “In each episode, people will be put to the test in a series of challenges and tasks.
“At the end of each episode, those who have produced the least will be eliminated and by the end of the process, just one worker will remain. The winner will receive in the region of £15,000 which is a year’s living wage (outside of London).”
The advert for Britain's Hardest Worker (credit: BBC) (BBC)
An advert for applicants asks “Have you been out of work since leaving school? Are you sick of living off your parents? Are you losing out on jobs because you’ve got no experience? Have you got a degree but not a graduate job?” The producers are seeking “people who feel passionately about the issues in the UK today”. The series will investigate “what effects people in the workplace”.
The producers, previously responsible for Benefits Britain 1949, in which claimants volunteered to live by the rules of the first year of the welfare state, asked Graduate Fog to publicise the show on its website “so we can attract more graduates who are struggling to secure a decent living wage.”
Twenty Twenty said participants would be paid a compensatory figure “not below the national minimum wage” for the length of their contribution to the programme.
Graduate Fog questioned whether the show would simply “exploit desperate young workers for entertainment value.”
A spokesman for producers Twenty Twenty said: “Britain's Hardest Grafter is a serious social experiment for BBC Two which investigates just how hard people in the low wage economy work.
"Each week the contributors - who are all in work or actively looking - will experience a different 'blue collar' role as the series explores the truth about Britain's work ethic. Throughout the series, the contributors are rewarded for the work they do.” | 1,266,860 |
established throwaway character Yozora, a character that looks remarkably similar to a Final Fantasy protagonist from the cancelled game Final Fantasy XIII Versus. This will be summarized in the end as to what this means, but this marks the beginning of Nomura’s master plan that we know of so far.
I wasn’t kidding.
Finally, we have the Final Fantasy 7 Remake. Though it is a remake in name, it hosts a number of deviations that almost create a new beast of its own. For one, there is a new ever-present theme of fate and deviating from one’s own oedipal demise. For example, Zack Fair’s death is well known as the origin story of Cloud Strife’s Buster Blade and his indomitable will to carry on past his murky origins. However, something strange happened at the end of the remake. Zack was seen alive in a moment that was clearly when his death would have taken place, and not only that, there was evidence of a separate timeline altogether. The remake also establishes these beings called Whispers that act as the arbiters of the timelines, to ensure the timeline does not go awry like the Grecian fates would. It seems almost as though this timeline is running parallel to the original story, almost like a “what-if scenario” that some fans may find thoroughly confusing in regards to the original game.
It’s spawned a wonderful little subculture of memes as well.
This leads to the cultivation of three games themes of fate, death, and a potential destiny each protagonist holds. Prepare the detective magnifying glass! Sora, in the end, awakens in Shibuya with Yozora and appears to be adhering to the same rules as the reapers game. TWEWY ended on an ambiguous note on what became of the reapers and the extent of their omniscience nature. FF7R indicates this master plan of converging timelines and death averted as they were written. Could this be the beginning of the “Nomura Cinematic Universe”? It appears to be leading into this master plan that binds the themes together with a zip tie made of time travel, parallel worlds, and a foretold destiny. Y’know, all the tropes written in a pile that here span multiple genres and have little correlation? As to what becomes of the FF7R remake remains to be seen. There is a pivotal point where Aerith, who infamously died in the original release, can now be saved. We simply don’t know what will happen at this point with any of these three series. Like Kafka on the Shore, sometimes you can’t even trust the linearity of storytelling and rather need to take the backseat and enjoy the ride. Just remember, there’s going to be plot holes and logic jumps on this roller coaster, so buckle up. | 1,266,861 |
Parts of the town of Wetumpka, Ala., sit within a 4.7-mile in diameter meteor crater. It was created approximately 83 million years ago when a meteor 1,100-plus feet in diameter traveling 10-20 miles per second struck what is now Elmore County.
The area at that time would have been under a shallow sea, perhaps covered by 100 feet of water. The impact was roughly 175,000 times greater than the Hiroshima nuclear explosion of 1945. Everything within a radius of 25 miles would have been totally devastated. The area's largest natural disaster would have produced a huge earthquake, a tsunami, an atmospheric blast wave and falling debris that would have reached to what is now the Gulf of Mexico.
For comparison, the size of the meteorite would have been large enough to fill the entire bowl of either Jordan-Hare or Bryant-Denny Stadium. No fragments of the meteorite have been found as it was vaporized upon impact.
All that remains today of the crater is a crescent-shaped ring of 300-foot ridges rising above the surrounding area. While most of the impact area is hidden by forest growth, other parts of the crater remnants are visible from U.S. 231 and Alabama 14. Approximately 3,000 residents of Wetumpka currently live within the rim of the crater.
The crater structure was first noted in 1969 by geologists with the Geological Survey of Alabama. In 1976 a paper by Thornton L. Neathery and co-workers proposed that it was formed by a meteorite. This was confirmed in 1998 when Auburn University geologist David T. King Jr. completed a 630-foot drilling operation at the crater's center. The samples obtained revealed evidence of structures formed by high pressure and sudden impact such as a meteor strike. After the results of the research were published in 2002, the site was established as an internationally recognized impact crater.
In 2002, a roadside historic marker that describes the crater was erected by the Alabama Historical Commission on U.S. 231 in front of the Elmore County Health Department.
Each year the Wetumpka Impact Crater Commission holds crater lectures and tours. On Thursday at 7 p.m., King will give a free public lecture on the science of the crater. The lecture will be held at the Wetumpka Civic Center on Main Street, Wetumpka.
School tours will take place on Friday and public tours will take place on Saturday. For more information on the tours visit the crater commission website at www.wetumpkaimpactcratercommission.org.
To register for the school tours teachers can call Marilee Tankersley at 334-567-4637. To register for the public tours on Saturday call Valencia at 334-567-5147.
On New Years Eve the city of Wetumpka holds a meteor drop to commemorate the impact. Here is a YouTube video by Pam Bergmann. | 1,266,862 |
【9月9日 AFP】仏研究チームは、ロシア・シベリア（Siberia）の永久凍土で採取された3万年前の巨大ウイルスを蘇生させる計画を発表した。気候変動が原因で、危険な微小病原体が目を覚ます可能性があると同チームは警鐘を鳴らしている。
米科学アカデミー紀要（Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences、PNAS）に今週、掲載された研究論文で、研究チームはこの巨大ウイルス「Mollivirus sibericum」の発見を発表した。2003年以降に発見された先史時代のウイルスとしては4種類目で、同チームによる発見はこれで2個目となる。
研究チームはウイルスを蘇生させる際、動物や人間に病気を引き起こす可能性がないことを事前に検証する必要がある。
ウイルスが「巨大」とみなされるには、全長が0.5ミクロン（1ミクロンは1000分の1ミリ）を上回るものでなければならない。
「シベリア由来の柔らかいウイルス」という意味の名前のMollivirus sibericumは、ロシア北東部の永久凍土層で発見され、0.6ミクロンで巨大ウイルスの仲間入りをした。 | 1,266,863 |
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I’m not a Quaker, but the Quakers are a big part of my family history. My mother’s family came to America with William Penn, the Quaker who founded Pennsylvania. As a result, the Quakers loomed large in my imagination when I was growing up. As a young teenager I became interested in the abolitionist movement of the 1800s, and I was delighted to find that the Quakers played a significant role in abolishing slavery. So, when I came across Margaret Fell, a woman who is known as “the mother of Quakerism,” I wanted to know more.
Margaret Fell was born in 1614 and lived almost a century, dying in 1702. In her late teens, she married Thomas Fell and became the lady of Swarthmoor Hall in Cumbria, England. When she was in her late 30s, she heard George Fox, founder of the Religious Society of Friends (also known as the Quakers), and was completely convinced of the Quaker beliefs.
The Fells’s impressive estate became a center of Quaker activity as Margaret took charge of communicating, personally and officially, to missionaries of the movement. She also became a fundraiser for these missionaries, which was invaluable because she had contacts among the wealthy in England. Unfortunately, Thomas died just a few years later, but that didn’t stop Margaret’s ministry. Their home become a haven for those who were being persecuted for their faith by the government.
Because she was part of the gentry and therefore had standing in society, she lobbied for George Fox and others who were often at odds with King Charles II’s rule concerning freedom of religion. But her bold stance was not without cost. When she was 40, Margaret was arrested for allowing Quaker meetings to be held in her home and for failing to take an oath (Quaker beliefs hold that all people are equal and thus one shouldn’t swear loyalty to the king). She defended herself by saying "as long as the Lord blessed her with a home, she would worship him in it." Her stand resulted in four years of prison, but she didn’t lose focus. While in jail, she wrote prolifically, including a Scripture-based argument for women serving in ministry. When she was released, she married George Fox.
It wasn’t until after George’s death, though, in the 1690s, that Margaret finally saw at least partial legal tolerance of the Quakers. Until her death, Margaret continued to fight for religious freedom, and for following God with the freedom Christ gives. In the last decade of her life, she firmly opposed fellow Quakers who tried to establish standards of conduct, such as what Quakers should wear. Margaret felt establishing such standards and rules took the focus off of Christ, his kingdom, and the freedom he provides. | 1,266,864 |
EPA opens up sales on higher ethanol content gasoline, in blow to refineries
A fueling station pump in Lawrence, Kan., offers various grades of fuel, including E15. (Associated Press) A fueling station pump in Lawrence, Kan., offers various grades of fuel, including E15. (Associated Press) Photo: Robert White, HO Photo: Robert White, HO Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close EPA opens up sales on higher ethanol content gasoline, in blow to refineries 1 / 1 Back to Gallery
WASHINGTON - Gasoline with a higher concentration of ethanol - branded E15 - can now be sold year round, the Environmental Protection Agency announced Friday.
The EPA had long restricted sales of the fuel during summer months to prevent against potentially dangerous increases in air pollution. But under pressure from Midwestern farmers, whose corn crops feed ethanol production, the Trump administration announced last year it planned to waive the restriction.
"As President Trump promised, EPA is approving the year-round sale of E15 in time for summer driving season, giving drivers more choices at the pump," EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler said in a statement.
ETHANOL BREAKS: With flood of EPA waivers, refineries find way around ethanol mandate
Within the ethanol industry, hopes are the end of the summer restriction will lead more gasoline stations to sell E15, which contains a 15 percent concentration of ethanol compared to the 10 percent in standard gasoline. So far, E15 remains a niche product primarily available in the Midwest.
"Year-round E15 will also provide a badly needed long-term demand boost for our industry and America's farmers, who face a number of daunting challenges today," Geoff Cooper, president of the Renewable Fuels Association said in a statement.
The expanded sales of ethanol deal a blow to U.S. oil refineries, who are already watching national gasoline sales stagnate under increased efficiency standards for cars and trucks.
Representatives of the oil and gas industry are already hinting they plan to challenge the rule change in court.
"The statutory language leaves no question that the EPA lacks authority to extend the E10 volatility waiver to E15. Finalizing this aspect of the proposed rule would clearly be unlawful, and we strongly oppose it," Chet Thompson, president of American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers, said in a statement last month.
In its announcement, the EPA said it was also changing the rules for the trading of credits used to track that ethanol is being blended into the fuel supply - known as Renewables Identification Numbers, or RINs. The price of those credits had skyrocketed in recent years amid increased speculation from Wall Street investors.
Traders that exceed a certain threshold of RINs now will be required to disclose their holdings publicly. Also, EPA said it will improve its monitoring of the RIN market through increased data collection and work with the Internal Revenue Service to stamp out incidents of RIN fraud. | 1,266,865 |
On December 17, 1903, two American brothers from Dayton, Ohio, Orville and Wilbur Wright, launched the first manned, powered flight on a windy beach in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. Their handcrafted biplane, though aloft a mere 12 seconds, ushered in the age of aviation and changed the course of history. On Wright Brothers Day, we commemorate this monumental achievement and look ahead to new chapters of American aviation in which new scientists, inventors, dreamers, and entrepreneurs will change history, fulfilling the human spirit’s relentless quest for exploration and discovery.
In the 115 years since the Wright brothers achieved their groundbreaking flight, the United States has led the world in aviation innovation. We have developed supersonic jets, walked on the moon, placed increasingly advanced landers and rovers on Mars, and vaulted spacecraft into the far reaches of the universe to explore distant horizons. The aviation industry has transformed the way we live and communicate, strengthening our connections to other nations and continents, expanding the global marketplace, and extending the frontiers of imagination and experimentation. These revolutionary achievements trace their origins back to the triumphs of Orville and Wilbur, two daring pioneers who, fueled by passion, undeterred by years of failure, and empowered by legendary American intrepidity, took mankind to new heights.
We reflect with pride on the historic successes of our Nation’s aviation visionaries, and we look ahead to a future of limitless potential and even greater accomplishment. My Administration is working to build on America’s heritage as aviation pioneers and the world’s greatest space-faring nation. I have instructed Federal agencies to embrace aeronautics and space industries of the future by modernizing our outdated regulations and funding aerospace research and development. We will broaden America’s leadership in aerospace technology, including through the return of civil supersonic flight, the growth of commercial unmanned aircraft systems, and continued innovation in space exploration and travel. As we continue our pursuits in flight, we are indebted to the Wright brothers for hazarding to dream and inspiring our Nation to look heavenward.
The Congress, by a joint resolution approved December 17, 1963, as amended (77 Stat. 402; 36 U.S.C. 143), has designated December 17 of each year as “Wright Brothers Day” and has authorized and requested the President to issue annually a proclamation inviting the people of the United States to observe that day with appropriate ceremonies and activities.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, DONALD J. TRUMP, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim December 17, 2018, as Wright Brothers Day.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
fourteenth day of December, in the year of our Lord two thousand eighteen, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and forty-third.
DONALD J. TRUMP | 1,266,866 |
HUNTSVILLE, Alabama - The city animal shelter is reducing pet adoption fees in an effort to spare more stray dogs and cats from being euthanized.
Huntsville Animal Services Director Dr. Karen Hill Sheppard said the shelter recently implemented a flat adoption fee of $120 for most puppies and adult dogs and $80 for cats and kittens. The fee includes a lifetime animal license, spaying or neutering, and up-to-date vaccinations
Previously, the shelter had a tiered adoption fee that ranged as high as $132 for dogs and $93 for cats.
The shelter is located at 4950 Triana Blvd. Call (256) 883-3783 to inquire about adopting a pet. The Friends of Huntsville Animal Services Facebook page includes photo galleries of available dogs and cats.
Changes to the city's animal control ordinance approved by the Huntsville City Council on Feb. 27 also allow the shelter to run specials on large dogs and kittens and give away special-needs pets.
Huntsville Animal Services Director Dr. Karen Hill Sheppard at the city animal shelter on Triana Boulevard. (File photo)
"I'm just so happy that we got this done," Sheppard told AL.com Tuesday. "We have a puppy right now that has epileptic seizures. If we find the right family, we might just give it to the family. We understand that particular pet is going to have more extensive medical bills."
The shelter plans to slash its kitten adoption fee to $35 during the summer months when strays are more common, she said, while most dogs over 50 pounds will cost just $50.
"They're the ones that get overlooked, and we want to encourage people to take a big dog," said Sheppard.
Huntsville is also reducing the price of a lifetime animal license for lower-income families. The lifetime license, which is offered only for spayed or neutered pets, has cost $35 since 2005. The city is cutting that to $20 for pet owners with household incomes below $25,000 as well as those enrolled in Medicaid, Social Security Disability or the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
And people who previously had to pay a $50 penalty to retrieve their impounded animal from the shelter can now apply that money instead toward having their pet spayed or neutered, said Sheppard.
She said she hopes the changes cause a permanent spike in the number of adoptions at the city shelter, which means fewer unwanted dogs and cats being put to sleep.
Currently, about 60 percent of stray dogs and 30 percent of stray cats at the shelter find new homes. The rest are euthanized.
Sheppard said the number of strays taken in by the shelter has been trending down since peaking at 10,262 in 2009. The 2013 figures are still being reviewed and will be released publicly in the next few weeks, she said. | 1,266,867 |
Don’t be afraid to find and play the right champion in League of Legends even if it’s not the META. Play what you love and more often than not, you’ll find success.
We’ve all been there before. Whether you’re new to League of Legends or bored with your current champion pool, we’ve all at one point thought about playing other champions. For those of you that are unfamiliar, the META stands for who are the strongest champions at the time whose abilities are strong and are able to win a lot of matches.
Case in point, I’ve been faced with an interesting problem in League of Legends. For a while now and most of Season 7, I’ve stuck to the top and mid lane as my main roles. My champions were Mordekaiser in the top and Vel’Koz in the mid lane. My backups were Cho’Gath and Karthus, respectively.
After a while, it just wasn’t working out for me. Since Season 7 is just about to be over, I decided to change things up and go back to the drawing board. I’ve decided to now specialize in the support and ADC roles. For my support champions, I’ve decided to play Vel’Koz and have Fiddlesticks as a backup. For my ADC champions, I’m going with Varus and have Jhin as a backup.
After I made my final decisions based on the champions I’d like to play, I started letting friends know and even posted on my personal Facebook page about it. I can’t begin to tell you how many people hit me with why my champion choices are bad because they’re not META, broken, or aren’t good at all.
While I appreciated all the feedback, I realized something that a lot of other Summoners face when they’re presented with such situations. As long as you play the champions you’d enjoy and don’t mind mastering them to the point where you can play them well, it’ll easily show in the results.
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Always remember, when you’re having fun with a champion you love, you’ll only get better with practice and playing them exclusively. It’ll take time and patience but don’t be afraid to play champions you enjoy, even if everyone is making faces at you because you’ve selected an unpopular pick or especially those that aren’t in the current META. From professional Esports players and even coaches, they always preach the same message of playing the champions that interest you the most because, at the end of the day, that’s all that matters. | 1,266,868 |
Google Play Music is partnering with production company Milk — not to be confused with the struggling music service from Samsung of the same name — to create a new series which aims to highlight emerging artists, according to Billboard.
A small number of hand-selected acts will be brought to Milk’s New York offices for a day, where they will have access to the company’s full production staff and talent, and host a performance inside Milk’s JamRoom. That should mean some pretty high-quality wares to pedal; Milk Studios is a very well respected production house, having done acclaimed work for major artists including The Weeknd.
Work on the new project will take place between now and June, and will likely continue if the companies deem it a successful enterprise.
The collaboration will spawn making-of style documentary clips and performance videos, and will be hosted on Milk’s website GPM, YouTube, VEVO, and the artists’ own sites.
“We’re very interested in investing in artists at an early stage in their career and sticking with them to create meaningful partnerships they and our users can benefit from,” says Google Play Music’s global content marketing manager Eric Davich of the project.
The companies aren’t exactly plucking artists from the bottom rungs of the industry, instead picking already-established musicians who music executives admire, but who aren’t selling out stadiums yet. The first artist to participate in the new series is New York electro-pop artist Empress Of, who boasts nearly 340,000 monthly plays on Spotify and has a record deal with XL.
The new partnership began when executives from the two companies — who have offices across the street from each other — began to reminisce about the classic days of live music recordings.
“This conversation started out about a year ago, about how we miss walking down St. Mark’s Place and buying tapes from live performances, and how important those tapes were,” says Milk chief Mazdack Rassi. “Our goal is to capture that kind of performance. We never really did that properly in the past. If it was done, it was just done on the fly.”
Rassi went on to describe how the two companies are not looking to grow the new series into something massive, instead focusing on bringing attention to artists that executives feel are under-recognized.
“The idea is not to scale it, we’re not looking to do more,” says Rassi. “We were very careful with who we partnered with and we felt like this was the right opportunity. There’s a lot of trust between us. We treat it a little like a school, and now we’re building a curriculum around music, which is really wonderful for us because we are so passionate about it.”
Editors' Recommendations | 1,266,869 |
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Do you ever wish that Amazon's Alexa or Google Assistant were a bit more present for your chats? The answer might be this robotic head from tech company Furhat Robotics.
As well as offering you a more human way to talk to a computer the Furhat robot also has the advantages of being able to emote, something Alexa and Assistant struggle with.
Designed by a Swedish firm, Furhat isn't entirely designed to replace consumer products like Alexa and Assistant. The robots are currently being used by larger companies who need to give some life to artificial intelligence.
(Image: Furhat)
Cost is likely to be an issue here - Furhat doesn't publish a price list, because each robot is different. But it's incredibly likely that this sort of device might one day be available for in-home use.
The robot uses a small projector, which is mounted inside the head, to project a real time video onto the face. All of this should make for a much more human-like experience when you're chatting with artificial intelligence.
In another video posted to YouTube the company demonstrates two key features of the robot. Firstly, it can speak as many as 40 languages, ideal for tourist locations where people need help and may not speak the local language.
The second interesting part of the demo was the use of the artificial intelligence to understand natural language and be able to respond to relevant details. The video shows a couple stressed about a train - but the AI is able to help them, in their own language.
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The physical presence of the Furhat Robot means that people already understand how to interact with it, rather than having to speak to a less human device, be that a smart speaker or automated help point.
And of course, you don't have to interact with a human. You could talk to a dog and alien or pretty much anything at all. The masks are customisable and interchangeable, Furhat says that when you change the mask, the personality changes too.
The head can move with three degrees of freedom. That means that vigorously agreeing with you and vigorously disagreeing with you can all be shown through head movements.
It's all run by a fairly standard computer - in this case an Intel Core i5, 8GB of RAM and 128GB SSD.
The robohead also comes equipped with custom-tuned stereo speakers, so you can hear your bot clearly. There's also an HD webcam so it can interact more realistically with its owner.
Hopefully one day the whole thing will come attached to one of Boston Dynamic's Atlas robots and we can just get on with welcoming our robot overlords. | 1,266,870 |
Hong Kong topped global rankings in terms of initial public offering volumes in the first half of 2018 and highly anticipated technology listings that are in the works in the six months ahead are expected to give markets an additional boost.
The Chinese territory recorded an estimated 98 IPOs in total in the first half of the year — in comparison, the New York Stock Exchange saw 35 IPOs in the same period — but, when it comes to IPO proceeds during that time, Hong Kong came in fifth, according to EY. Hong Kong's main board, together with its Growth Enterprise Market, is forecast to have raised 50.2 billion Hong Kong dollars ($6.4 billion) in the first six months of 2018.
That's around one third of an estimated $18.6 billion raised by the NYSE, which took the crown in first-half standings based on IPO proceeds. Also besting Hong Kong in those rankings were the Nasdaq, the Shanghai Stock Exchange and the Deutsche Boerse, which raked in $11.4 billion, $10.1 billion and $8.9 billion, respectively.
But things are only expected to heat up further for Hong Kong's IPO market in the months ahead, with a number of high profile companies — including several well-known technology names — expected to come to market this year. Among those names are Xiaomi, a consumer electronics company known for its smartphones, telecommunications infrastructure operator China Tower and Meituan-Dianping, an online platform for food delivery and other services.
"The second half of the year will be totally different from the first half," Ringo Choi, EY's Hong Kong-based Asia Pacific IPO leader, told CNBC's "Street Signs." "We expect that the second half will be a very, very busy time for us."
EY forecasts a total of HK$200 billion ($25.5 billion) in funds will be raised by IPO activities in Hong Kong in 2018.
Among the factors contributing to EY's "cautiously optimistic" outlook for Hong Kong's IPO markets are recent reforms to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange's listing rules and regional "opening-up policies" such as plans for the Greater Bay Area initiative.
As for the mainland market, EY expects the first China Depository Receipt, a scheme that will let mainland investors hold a form of shares in Chinese companies listed overseas, to be issued in the second half of the year.
"I think at the moment, they are very cautious about the CDR. That's why they are just allowing those very big unicorns or some listed companies, like BAT (an acronym referring to Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent), to go back to the mainland," Choi said.
That came after Xiaomi indicated last week that the company did not have a time frame for its mainland share offering. Reuters reported that issues related to CDR valuation were behind the delay, but Xiaomi later refuted that claim. | 1,266,871 |
Who was worse, Hitler or Stalin?
In the second half of the twentieth century, Americans were taught to see both Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union as the greatest of evils. Hitler was worse, because his regime propagated the unprecedented horror of the Holocaust, the attempt to eradicate an entire people on racial grounds. Yet Stalin was also worse, because his regime killed far, far more people, tens of millions it was often claimed, in the endless wastes of the Gulag. For decades, and even today, this confidence about the difference between the two regimes—quality versus quantity—has set the ground rules for the politics of memory. Even historians of the Holocaust generally take for granted that Stalin killed more people than Hitler, thus placing themselves under greater pressure to stress the special character of the Holocaust, since this is what made the Nazi regime worse than the Stalinist one.
Discussion of numbers can blunt our sense of the horrific personal character of each killing and the irreducible tragedy of each death. As anyone who has lost a loved one knows, the difference between zero and one is an infinity. Though we have a harder time grasping this, the same is true for the difference between, say, 780,862 and 780,863—which happens to be the best estimate of the number of people murdered at Treblinka. Large numbers matter because they are an accumulation of small numbers: that is, precious individual lives. Today, after two decades of access to Eastern European archives, and thanks to the work of German, Russian, Israeli, and other scholars, we can resolve the question of numbers. The total number of noncombatants killed by the Germans—about 11 million—is roughly what we had thought. The total number of civilians killed by the Soviets, however, is considerably less than we had believed. We know now that the Germans killed more people than the Soviets did. That said, the issue of quality is more complex than was once thought. Mass murder in the Soviet Union sometimes involved motivations, especially national and ethnic ones, that can be disconcertingly close to Nazi motivations.
It turns out that, with the exception of the war years, a very large majority of people who entered the Gulag left alive. Judging from the Soviet records we now have, the number of people who died in the Gulag between 1933 and 1945, while both Stalin and Hitler were in power, was on the order of a million, perhaps a bit more. The total figure for the entire Stalinist period is likely between two million and three million. The Great Terror and other shooting actions killed no more than a million people, probably a bit fewer. The largest human catastrophe of Stalinism was the famine of 1930–1933, in which more than five million people died.
Of those who starved, the 3.3 million or so inhabitants of Soviet Ukraine who died in 1932 and 1933 were victims of a deliberate killing policy related to nationality. In early 1930, Stalin had announced… | 1,266,872 |
Not only does homework impact students but it also impacts their families. It is common for students and families to feel that they don’t have the time it takes to maintain a healthy balance between work and the rest of their lives. Family time that could be spent getting outdoors, visiting friends and relatives, and relaxing is being unnecessarily burdened by the large amount of homework kids have to do.
It is often said that a sign of insanity is doing something over and over again and expecting different results each time. This sums up how most American schools are dealing with the homework issue.
One student’s homework has the power to reshape how the entire family spends its time and sets its schedules. I don’t think most teachers appreciate this fact when they assign work.
Guesstimating Pitfalls
Despite studies -- such as this one from Stanford -- that show homework is ineffective beyond a certain amount per night, teachers and administrators continue to assign too much homework.
Teachers promise to assign a manageable amount of homework, but they don’t gather data on how long it takes their students to complete their homework. And exactly how do teachers estimate how long an assignment will take? Do they do it themselves first -- not factoring in that they already understand the content? How on earth do you measure the length of time it takes for a student to think through a problem or a question, and not just write the answer down on a piece of paper?
One negative result of guesstimating time allotment is that students who take more time than is allotted for the assignment can feel that they are somehow inadequate, when the truth is that the allotted time is arbitrarily set. Students might also grow cynical and believe that the teachers are gaming the system by not being honest in stating the allotment, knowing that the homework will probably take more time than promised.
Valuing Free Time
I’ve heard some teachers argue that if students stop multitasking and stay off social media, they could then get the work done in the time allotted. Perhaps, but in addition to this argument also lacking data, it is built upon the dangerous idea that young people are experts at wasting their own time.
Too many adults seem to vastly undervalue the benefits and necessity of free, unstructured time. They undervalue the impact of relaxation and social time on forming well-rounded, healthy adults. So, when students get home from band practice, a game, or their extracurricular activity at six (if they have a short commute), are eating dinner by seven, and doing their homework by eight, at what point do they have time for decompressing, connecting with friends, pets, and family?
This is a plea to teachers and administrators: Take these studies and the testimonies of students and families seriously. Gather data, and if the assignment can be done in class, determine whether making it a homework assignment is truly warranted. | 1,266,873 |
Julian Assange will provide evidence clearing Russia of interfering in the US election in return for a pardon, according to a pro-Russia congressman.
Republican Congressman Dana Rohrabacher has offered a 'deal' in which Assange would provide electronic evidence that would clear Russia as the source of the emails published last year by Wikileaks that damaged Hillary Clinton's presidential run.
In exchange, Rohrabacher was seeking for Assange 'a pardon or other act of clemency from President Donald Trump,' according to the Wall Street Journal.
Julian Assange (pictured outside the Embassy of Ecuador in London) will provide evidence clearing Russia of interfering in the US election in return for a pardon, according to a pro-Russia congressman
Rohrabacher visited Assange in London in August and afterwards said he was seeking a meeting with President Donald Trump to discuss his case.
Rohrabacher told The Daily Caller that Assange told him he had proof that Russia was not behind the hacking and leaking of emails from Democratic National Committee officials during the 2016 election.
'Thus if he comes up with that, you know he's going to expect something in return. He can't even leave the embassy to get out to Washington to talk to anybody if he doesn't have a pardon,' Rohrabacher told the publication.
But when questioned on Sunday about the possible deal, President Trump said: 'I've never heard that mentioned. Really, I've never heard that mentioned.'
Republican Congressman Dana Rohrabacher (pictured) has offered a 'deal' in which Assange would provide electronic evidence that would clear Russia as the source of the emails published last year by Wikileaks
The US Justice Department has acknowledged investigating Assange and WikiLeaks for the release of a series of top secret US documents and computer hacking tools as well as the Clinton emails.
No charges have been unveiled. But Washington is widely believed to have asked London to arrest and extradite the Australian if he steps out of his refuge in Ecuador's embassy in London, where he has lived for five years.
US intelligence officials have blamed Russia for the theft of Clinton campaign communications and documents last year as part of a deliberate effort to hurt her chances as president.
When questioned on Sunday about the possible deal, President Trump said: 'I've never heard that mentioned. Really, I've never heard that mentioned'
They allege that WikiLeaks, in publishing the documents, knowingly acted in concert with Russian intelligence, and have branded it a 'hostile intelligence service.'
WikiLeaks has denied that the source of the material was the Russian government, but stresses it will never divulge the sources of the information in gets.
Rohrabacher confirmed that he spoke to White House Chief of Staff John Kelly but would not say what was discussed.
Rohrabacher told conservative commentator Sean Hannity's radio show that the assertion that Russia hacked the US election last year was a 'con job' to undermine the Trump administration. | 1,266,874 |
Introduction
Editors note: As the year winds down, we wanted to revisit some of the best accountability journalism from each of our coverage sections. We’ll be posting a new list daily for the rest of the year.
In this election off-year, our Consider the Source team made a point of covering money-in-politics issues that don’t often get attention from mainstream media, like state-level super PAC and nonprofit spending, and potential conflicts of interest within state justice systems. Here’s a look at the work we’re most proud of.
(If you aren’t signed up for our Watchdog email newsletter, what are you waiting for? It’s totally free, and you can receive customized updates from us on a daily, bi-weekly or weekly basis. Sign-up using the form below.)
Ever heard of the Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity? In 2011, 95 percent of the Franklin Center’s revenue came from a charity called Donors Trust, a donor advised fund that has become a major vehicle for tax-exempt giving from wealthy conservatives such as billionaire industrialist Charles Koch. Keep reading
Judges across the country were paid to attend seminars on topics such as “The Moral Foundations of Capitalism,” and “Corporations and the Limits of Criminal Law.” Who picked up the tab? Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation, ExxonMobil, Dow Chemical and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Keep reading
We looked at 10 state supreme court races from 2012 and 2013, nearly 40 percent of spending came from out-of-state groups. This outside influence was especially potent in North Carolina, Mississippi and Iowa judicial races.
Keep reading
Despite a nasty falling-out between William and his more well-known brothers, Charles and David, William is also a businessman and a billionaire who isn’t shy about using his fortune to influence politics. While Charles and David seem to prefer giving through nonprofits, William donates both personally and through his corporations. Keep reading
So far in his second term, President Obama has nominated 23 elite fundraisers, or bundlers, to top diplomatic posts. See where the bundlers were sent, in comparison to where career diplomats were sent. Keep reading
We all know the ‘Citizens United’ ruling made it easier than ever for outside groups to raise and spend cash, but the ruling also threw out spending rules in 24 states. More than one out of every two dollars spent originated from groups funded primarily or entirely by out-of-state donors. Keep reading
Very few states require meaningful for judges’ financial holdings. Based on the rules that do exist, however, we found 35 cases of questionable gifts or investments overlapping with caseloads. As one might be able to expect, this report drew ire from a number of judges around the country. Keep reading | 1,266,875 |
The Wall Street Journal reports:
“The U.S. economy is running at its full potential for the first time in a decade, a new milestone for an expansion now in its ninth year.
“Total economic output in the third quarter was slightly above the maximum sustainable level of output as estimated by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.”
Given that one has to come back to the underlying problem with the tax bill: It is totally unnecessary and counterproductive.
The central argument for a massive cut in taxes for the rich and for corporations — which will produce trillions in new debt — is that it’s necessary to get the economy going and create jobs. When we are already at maximum capacity, such action is unwarranted, especially when one considers the downsides of the bill (e.g. new debt, further income stratification, pressure on spending for worthwhile endeavors).
Taking a step back, one can make the case that historically tax bills of this type don’t change the trajectory of the economy. William Gale of Brookings writes:
“From 1913 to 1950, taxes averaged almost 11 percent of GDP, reflecting the introduction of income, estate, and payroll taxes and expansion of corporate levies. The economy went through two World Wars, the Great Depression, and a post-war recession.
“By 1950, the economy had entered a new period with permanently higher taxes (and government spending). From 1950 to 2014, federal revenues averaged more than 17 percent of GDP.
“Despite the radical differences in taxes as a share of the U.S. economy, the annual growth rate of real GDP per person averaged about 2 percent over each period. Despite big changes in taxes, long-term economic growth barely budged.”
Republicans are pursuing a giant, irresponsible tax bill for political, not economic, reasons. They desperately need a “win,” and their donors and activists still worship at the altar of supply-side economics, which nicely coincides with economic self-interest.
Imagine a different scenario. Congress pursues a revenue-neutral corporate tax reform akin to the 1986 tax reform bill. Instead of delivering big tax cuts to the rich, Congress looks to policies that might boost productivity, prevent further income inequality and look to the long-term economic health of the country. An infrastructure bill, new trade deals to open foreign markets, investment in worker training and alternatives to four-year colleges and revamping of legal immigration (not to cut numbers but to bring the best and the brightest to the United States). That might not thrill the Mnuchins or the Trumps, but it would actually address the needs of ordinary Americans, including those in the Rust Belt who need something better than trickle-down economics.
In sum, the political tumult surrounding the tax bill obscures a fundamental economic reality — it’s rotten policy that diverts revenue and focus from far more beneficial policy endeavors. | 1,266,876 |
A shadowy cyber-espionage group that has operated in secret since at least 2015 has been exposed by researchers from Symantec this week (7 November). Analysis shows how it uses a new form of malware dubbed "Felismus" to launch targeted attacks on governments.
The hackers, codenamed 'Sowbug', were spotted conducting clandestine attacks and document thefts from foreign policy institutions, government bodies and diplomatic targets in South America and south east Asia – including Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador, Peru and Malaysia.
Read more How to boost your WiFi speed: Top tips how to avoid interference and patchy signal
"The group is well resourced, capable of infiltrating multiple targets simultaneously and will often operate outside the working hours of targeted organisations," a Symantec report said.
Security researchers said they first saw evidence of Sowbug activity in March this year, directed at an unnamed target located in Asia.
Using analysis of the Felismus malware, experts were able to connect earlier campaigns to the group – indicating that it had been operational for years.
Symantec said it is still not common to see South American countries targeted when compared to the US, Europe and Asia.
How the hackers gained a foothold in computer networks remains unknown, but researchers said that evidence suggested it has used fake, malicious software updates.
The unit appears to have used a tool called"Starloader" to deploy additional malware on victims' networks – for example credential-thieving software and keyloggers. Symantec said that Starloader files were spread as updates entitled AdobeUpdate.exe and AcrobatUpdate.exe.
In one attack from 2015, Symantec said the group searched for "very specific" government data. It attempted to exfiltrate all Word documents stored on a compromised server.
Sowbug, Symantec said in its report, likes to maintain a "long-term presence" on computers – and has been spotted lurking undetected on infected networks for months at a time.
"It gives its tools file names similar to those used by software and places them in directory trees that could be mistaken for those used by the legitimate software," the firm said.
The report continued: "This allows the attackers to hide in plain sight, as their appearance is unlikely to arouse suspicion.
"The attackers took further measures to remain under the radar by carrying out their operations outside of standard office hours.
"In this case, the attackers maintained a presence on the target's network for nearly six months between September 2016 and March 2017."
Often, groups of this nature are state-sponsored – well-funded and resourced by a government – but with origins that are almost always difficult to trace.
In recent years, hacking units including 'Lazarus', 'Fancy Bear' and 'BlackEnergy' have hit the headlines for alleged links to major hacking operations in the West. | 1,266,877 |
UPDATE: Police arrested 28-year-old Zachary Greenberg for allegedly assaulting Williams on Feb. 19.
The Leadership Institute Field Representative Hayden Williams offered an update Monday on Fox Business Network nearly one week after he was punched in the face on the campus of the University of California-Berkeley while helping to train and recruit other conservatives.
"There's a certain culture there that is especially hostile on Berkeley's campus and across the country to conservative students and they're willing to use violence if they think that you're being too controversial."
The Leadership Institute is the parent organization of Campus Reform.
[RELATED: VIDEO: Conservative suffers blow to the face at Berkeley (UPDATE: Police ID suspect)]
"As a field representative for the Leadership Institute, it's my job to help conservative students and clubs on different campuses organize events and recruit new members, so this Tuesday I was invited by conservative students at UC-Berkeley to help them do just that, recruit new members," Williams told FBN's Stuart Varney.
"We set up for most of the day and near the end, these two people just approached our table very erratically and began cussing and so at that moment I knew this might be a troublesome situation so I took out my phone and started recording right then." Williams reiterated that he had every right to be on campus and to be recruiting conservative students.
However, he continued, even following all of the rules is not enough for some with differing views.
"There's a certain culture there that is especially hostile on Berkeley's campus and across the country to conservative students," Williams said, "and they're willing to use violence if they think that you're being too controversial."
[RELATED: UC Berkeley employee elated by violence against conservative]
Williams added that he did file a police report following the attack. UC-Berkeley said it has identified the suspect but has not released his name. Williams said that, for now, he is focused on his health, as he can still hear ringing in his ears and suffers "other symptoms of a concussion."
Watch the full interview:
Leadership Institute Vice President of Campus Programs Bryan Bernys released a statement on Friday, which read, in part, "this event is shocking, but it is not isolated. Conservative and libertarian students have faced violence and intimidation for sharing their political philosophy on campus from coast to coast in this country."
UC-Berkeley Chancellor Carol Christ and Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Stephen Sutton released a statement condemning the attack.
"Let there be no mistake, we strongly condemn violence and harassment of any sort, for any reason. That sort of behavior is intolerable and has no place here. Our commitment to freedom of expression and belief is unwavering," the statement read.
Follow the author of this article on Facebook: @JonStreetDC and Twitter: @JonStreet | 1,266,878 |
he said.
For the uninsured who get sick, the cost implications of getting treatment can be significant. Jennifer Tolbert, Kaiser Family Foundation
Scrambling to fill gaps
Last week, New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo ordered health insurers in the state to waive some fees and expenses associated with health insurance including out-of-pocket costs for certain urgent care facilities and doctors' offices, as well as emergency room visits related to the coronavirus.
But the directive does not dictate how self-funded, employer-based health insurance plans bill for coverage.
A recent experience of a Florida man illustrates just how cost-prohibitive seeking medical help for suspected coronavirus can be for the insured. Having returned from a business trip to China with flu-like symptoms, the man went to an emergency room where he tested negative for COVID-19, only to be presented with a $3,270 bill - $1,400 of which his insurance company says he is responsible for, the Miami Herald newspaper reported.
Part of the problem is deficient health insurance. Regulations relaxed by the Trump administration have allowed a rise in short-term policies that don't meet the requirements of the federal Affordable Care Act, often referred to as Obamacare.
Dubbed "junk" plans by their critics, these short-term policies offer coverage that lasts less than a year, places tight limits on doctor visits and covered benefits, and can exclude people with pre-existing conditions, according to a KFF analysis.
A person with such a plan may choose it because of its low premiums, then find it caps hospital coverage at $1,000 per day, even though the average cost of a three-day hospital stay in the US runs about $30,000, according to HealthCare.gov.
Lawmakers from multiple congressional committees have asked the Department of Health and Human Services and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to provide a detailed plan on how they plan to ensure uninsured and underinsured people are tested and treated for the coronavirus.
"Testing and treatment costs of thousands of dollars will cause many uninsured and underinsured individuals to avoid care for coronavirus-like symptoms," the committee chairs wrote in a letter this week. "That will not only hurt those who go untreated, but it will also hasten the spread of COVID-19."
Last week, Vice President Mike Pence announced that low-income Americans and pensioners over age 65 who have health coverage under federal programmes Medicaid and Medicare would have their testing costs covered.
But McCormick believes the government should step in and make coronavirus testing free to all who need it.
"We've bailed out banks, auto manufacturers, and farmers in recent years at great initial expense to taxpayers," he said. "Similar emergency funds should be allocated to ensure that tests are run and that monetary barriers don't keep people from finding out if they are carrying the disease." | 1,266,879 |
BEIRUT (Reuters) - A Syrian government official said he did not expect civilians or rebels to leave besieged eastern Aleppo on Friday during an evacuation window announced by Russia and accused insurgents of blocking any exit.
Rebel fighters drive their motorcycles under the smoke of burning tyres, western Aleppo city, Syria November 3, 2016. REUTERS/Ammar Abdullah
Moscow and the Syrian army told rebel fighters this week to leave opposition-held neighborhoods with light weapons through two corridors by Friday evening, and said civilians would be allowed to evacuate by other exit points.
There was no sign of any evacuations, however.
“I wish civilians would exit... but I expect that won’t happen, not under these circumstances,” Fadi Ismail, an official based in Aleppo in Syria’s reconciliation ministry, told Reuters via telephone.
Ismail said fighters from al Qaeda’s former Syria branch were preventing both rebels and civilians who wished to leave from doing so, and that factions appeared determined to fight on.
“Jabhat al-Nusra is in control of all of the crossings. For civilians, it’s impossible to leave as long as Nusra controls the area,” he said, referring to the group which now calls itself Jabhat Fateh al-Sham.
“We’re communicating with civilians and even with some militants, the ones who want to leave. Unfortunately, when militants want to leave it’s individual cases, not (entire) factions handing themselves over.”
Rebels say that Fateh al-Sham has a very small presence in Aleppo city itself, although the powerful group has been crucial for the fight against President Bashar al-Assad’s forces and their allies more widely in Aleppo province.
Ismail said prospects for a deal with rebels looked bleak, and he expected military action to resume if no one left on Friday.
“All the messages (from rebels) that I used to receive were ‘we’re coming for you with car bombs’,” he said. “There was nothing to suggest reconciliation would happen.”
Asked what would happen if no one evacuated, he said: “There must be military action, of course”.
Russia is expected to resume its bombardment of Aleppo once the evacuation window closes later on Friday. Moscow says it has not launched air strikes on the city for more than two weeks as Damascus calls on rebels to leave.
Insurgents have meanwhile launched a counter attack to try to break the siege on eastern Aleppo, which has been mostly surrounded by pro-government forces since July.
Assad seeks the recapture of Aleppo as a strategic prize in the civil war, which is in its sixth year. Some 250,000 people are trapped in eastern Aleppo, and around 1.5 million live in the government-held western neighborhoods. | 1,266,880 |
Dr FUBAR Privileged
Join Date: 4 Jan 2011 Location: Hollow Town Posts: 3,388 Threads: 137 Thanked 10,763 Times in 2,986 Posts
Re: My masterthread, so no reply please!! Title; "Hollow vs Rubblepile" for now. 'one' Tower.
44 Big generators from all the mecanical rooms. I asume they were on WTC 2 also.
About the Drawnings, let's roll images does not upload these, so i link the drawnings. Got the same problem with the control panels.
The floors are mentioned in the drawnings, 9 generators floor 41, 4 gens on floor 75, 5 gens on floor 76 and 4 gens on the 110th floor.
Quote: I count 22 gensets in the north tower, and none correspond with the one William Rodriguez referrede to. < scratches head >
They got questionmarks as well.
Quote: Originally Posted by Just a comment
This equipment did not sit on top of trusses, that's for sure.
Why are there very few signs of all this heavy equipment in the ruble pile?
Attached to this post:
Gensets_A.gif (192.54 KB)
9MVC_001X.jpg (142.29 KB)
9MVC_002X.jpg (142.53 KB)
9MVC_003X.jpg (172.52 KB)
9MVC_004X.jpg (165.57 KB)
Many thanks to Loose Change;
http://s1.zetaboards.com/LooseChangeForums/topic/3839716/1
I believe the mechanical rooms were supported by I-beams! And the concrete for those floors was not 4", but at least twice as thick.
Just like in this photo.
. These big generators were only inTower.About the Drawnings, let's roll images does not upload these, so i link the drawnings. Got the same problem with the control panels.The floors are mentioned in the drawnings,floor 41,on floor 75,on floor 76 andon the 110th floor.They got questionmarks as well.Attached to this post:Many thanks to Loose Change;I believe the mechanical rooms were supported by I-beams! And the concrete for those floors was not 4", but at least twice as thick.
Let us not tolerate outrageous conspiracy theories...? George Walker Bush. __________________ Last edited by Dr FUBAR; 11 Sep 2011 at 06:30 AM. | 1,266,881 |
items cannot fall out, and put the can into the recycling.
Small metal items
Other metal items like plumbing fixtures or pipes can also be placed into the recycling cart, but these items must weigh less than 10 pounds and be shorter than 18 inches in length.
Large metal items
Bigger metal items (like posts and filing cabinets), or tangling items (like aluminum blinds or chicken wire), or very heavy items (like car parts), can be recycled if they taken to a drop-off site. Some of these items may also be collected as large item.
glass RECYCLING
The following empty & clean glass item without lids can be placed in your green recycling cart:
Jars Bottles
Glass Items that Do Not Belong in the Recycling Cart:
Windows
Mirrors
Ceramics
Drinking glasses
Vision glasses
Dishes and bowls
Flower pots and vases
Fluorescent light bulbs
LED or incandescent light bulbs
Laboratory glass & chemical bottles
general Recycling tips
Keeping the lid of the recycling cart closed protects the material inside from the rain and snow that can damage paper.
Flattening boxes, cans and plastic bottles will save space in your cart for material.
If you are running out of space in your cart regularly, upgrade to a larger size cart for free. Or if you have the largest cart already, you can purchase an additional cart for a one-time fee.
what happens to your recycling?
Watch a video about the Pellitteri Waste Systems recycling facility sorts everything you have placed into the recycling carts.
Recyclopedia & Fact sheets
Looking for more information on Streets Division services and even more recycling details? Download the 2019 Recyclopedia.
Paper copies of the Recyclopedia are available at Madison Public Libraries and can be mailed to your home by request (just contact the Streets Division).
The new Recyclopedia is designed to be easy to use and search while on your computer. You're welcome to download the PDF file or just bookmark the page. Be sure to update your bookmarks with the 2019 version.
And for something that has more detail than the photo guide, but less than the Recyclopedia, here's our reference guide to the rules and guidelines for recycling.
And while you're learning what to put into the cart the correct way, here's the guide on how to use the cart itself the right way:
You can even use the lid of your recycling cart, which may have this guide on it.
Our universe of stuff is complicated and constantly changing. So you may still encounter an item or question that is not covered by any of these resources. Please contact us and we'll help.
| 1,266,882 |
So over the last couple of weeks I have been criticized for my “click bait” and “hot take” posts here. Apparently being critical of the Titans about things that are concerning on the field falls into those categories....or maybe you can only criticize the team after a loss. I need to refresh myself on the rules.
Here is my promise to you about what I do here at this site- I will never post click bait. You will never see me post anything just to increase page views. That’s not me. Everything I write I believe 100%. I am never creating controversy just because I think it will be good for the brand or whatever.
OK, now that I have that off my chest, let’s talk about the Titans offensive situation. Arthur Smith has no idea what he is doing when it comes to installing a game plan and executing it. The offseason hype train for Art was a lot of fun, but he isn’t ready to be an offensive coordinator. Mike Vrabel should fire him today, but he probably won’t, and to be honest, would it really matter if he did? There is no way the offense is going to be fixed this season.
The most important thing here is that Smith is not allowed to stay on when the Titans have a new quarterback in place next year. I don’t know if that new quarterback will be a veteran or a rookie, but the Titans MUST get someone in here that can be an offensive innovator. At this point I would settle for a competent NFL offense, but that shouldn’t be the goal.
Vrabel’s first offensive coordinator choice when he was hired, allegedly, was Ohio State’s Ryan Day. That would have been a great hire, but it didn’t work out because Urban Meyer is the worst. Vrabel, if he is the one that gets to make the next hire, needs to think outside the box again. The #establishtherun model that this group is working off of just isn’t getting it done in today’s NFL.
The process for hiring a new OC, because again I am working off of the assumption that Vrabel isn’t getting fired even though I think he should, should be starting now. Back up a Brinks truck to that dude’s house and don’t take no for an answer. Let him pick his quarterback from this class and then spend whatever draft capital it takes to go get him. A quarterback on a rookie contract will be cheap and will allow them to fill holes elsewhere in free agency for a couple of years.
The only way the Titans are ever going to be a legitimate contender is to go all in on offense. They have tried every other way, and even in the “good” years it never felt like they were a threat to win the Super Bowl. | 1,266,883 |
, it’ll actually allow the host larva to grow into an adult, maturing along with it in a strange kind of Calvinist predestination—the host is doomed to a horrible death right from birth. That’s real goofy, because normally the insect’s immune response would form a capsule around any foreign objects in the body cavity. But Kathirithamby never sees that happening to the strepsiptera. They do seem to wrap themselves in the inner layer of the exoskeleton, called the endocuticle, which could help them remain unnoticed.
So the male strepsiptera grows big and fat in its own little vehicle. “They need that because they want the host to be alive and moving,” and therefore be better able to disperse in the ecosystem, Kathirithamby said. And “in spite of almost the whole abdominal segment being occupied by the strepsiptera, the host is still able to move around."
Once he’s good and ready, the male erupts out of the ant or wasp or bee and takes flight in search of a female, leaving behind the sad husk of his host. He doesn’t eat, and he doesn’t sleep. In fact, he only lives for 3 to 6 hours, so he’s in a bit of a rush. Once he sniffs out a female’s pheromones with his chemoreceptors, he dives in and mates with her on her own unfortunate host, then perishes.
The females typically go about development a little bit differently. While the larvae that will eventually become males hitchhike to their hosts, the larvae that will become their sisters stick around closer to their mother. Ideally, her host—perhaps a cricket—would have recently had its own nymphs, which the strepsiptera larvae climb into, develop into females, and begin the whole horrifying process anew.
The strepsiptera are far from alone in their parasitic shenanigans inside other creatures—the ant-decapitating fly’s larvae, for instance, will invade ants, climb into their brains, pop off their heads, and develop there nice and cozy—but what sets them apart is the radically different strategies and body types between the males and females. I mean, peacocks and peahens have their differences, but come on. The strepsiptera are just ridiculous.
But they’ve certainly been doing something right. The strepsiptera have walked the Earth for a long, long time: They’ve been found frozen in 100-million-year-old amber. And as long as their hosts don't start dying out, I reckon they'll be around for quite some time more, snatching up all those Mother of the Year awards. Sorry, ma.
Second call from my mother in 3...2...1... | 1,266,884 |
by Hye Sung
I'm glad you don't hate gay people. I'm glad you think Black Lives Matter. I'm glad you're inclusive, welcoming, affirming - I'm glad you're the good kind of religious people.
But you're not.
A lot of us had to learn that the hard way.
We had to learn that we were counted as members in order to reach a quota. We were present so the pastor, the church, the denomination, looked good. Open-minded. Liberal. Progressive.
Our gifts were used, flaunted even, and we were constantly affirmed. Told we were needed, necessary, and we were thanked. Over and over again. For what? For showing up. Without saying a word, we were counted prophets.
Until we noticed how you spoke to our immigrant mothers in broken English, or that your missions program was deeply problematic, or that the whole staff was white - and we said something. And then, we were no longer told we were prophets. Instead, we were trouble.
Sometimes we were patted, thanked for speaking our truth, told our words mattered and that they'd spill into the board meeting. But nothing happened. We were just politely hushed.
And then so many of us realized what was happening, wondered why are we even here anyway?
We fell in love with Jesus - who centered and glorified those on the margins. We fell in love with Jesus, but maybe not your Jesus.
It felt good to hear his words from the pulpit, it set fire under our feet, a burning in our chest, but then we looked around the congregation and wondered who here would die for me?
And when we realized that we couldn't be confident that our fellow church members would share their wealth, their privilege, or their lives with their siblings in Christ, that's when we also realized they probably aren't our siblings. And this is probably not a church. At least not the one Jesus formed.
We want the Church of Jesus. A church that feeds the hungry, frees prisoners, cancels debts. A church that is aware and awake to the suffering around them and determined to dismantle and destroy every system causing this suffering. A church led by and for those so often pushed down and out. A church that embodies Love, a church that embodies Jesus.
That's not what you offer. Your seminaries, your liturgies, and your churches weren't made for us. Not even your gospel is for us. I'm not the only one that's left the white liberal church, and I won't be the last. We're done with your churches and we're not coming back. And I'll let you know - we're finding each other and we're building something better. Truer.
Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one's life for one's friends. | 1,266,885 |
Remember the great sadness among the mainstream media on Election Night last year when it dawned on them that Donald Trump would be elected president against all expectations of the polls and pundits? Martha Raddatz even cried during the ABC News coverage of the election. Therefore imagine the flow of tears on Election Night 2020 if there is a repeat performance and Donald Trump is re-elected.
That scenario came to mind at the tail end of a heated interview between Jake Tapper and the new White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci on the July 23 State Of the Union. As if to take a bit of an edge off the tension, Scaramucci offered to bring a box of Kleenex to CNN after the next presidential election. Tapper took the tweaking in stride but was his boss, Jeffrey Zucker already getting moist in the eyes at the very thought of a President Donald Trump until January 20, 2025:
ANTHONY SCARAMUCCI: If I said some things about him when I was working for another candidate, Mr. Trump, Mr. President, I apologize for that. Can we move on off of that? I know you and I have moved on off of that. Jake hasn't moved on off of that, obviously. And that's OK, Jake. I don't care. But I'm going to be working for you. And I'm going to serve the American people. And we're going to get your agenda out into the heartland, where it belongs. And we're going to turn this thing into a movement, a bigger movement than we have already. JAKE TAPPER: I -- I -- I love how you're talking to one specific viewer right now, the -- the -- the most -- the most important audience that there is. SCARAMUCCI: I like talking to him. But you know who else I'm talking to? The people I grew up with. TAPPER: I get it. SCARAMUCCI: And they get -- they get me and they get him. And he's going to... TAPPER: I grew up in a very similar neighborhood in Philadelphia. SCARAMUCCI: And he's going to -- he's going to win again. He's going to win again, Jake. He's going to win again. I will bring a box of Kleenex over here to CNN in 2020. TAPPER: We don't -- we don't need Kleenex. We don't need any Kleenex. SCARAMUCCI: He is going to win again, Jake.
So let's see. Right now for 2020 it looks like Donald Trump will run against Bernie or Pocahontas or Kamala...Ha! Ha! Ha!
Hey, Mr. Scaramucci! Could you also send a box of Kleenex my way since I already have tears running down my cheeks laughing over the image of the Democrat 2020 lineup? | 1,266,886 |
the $75 in fees every two weeks. Then one day, an emergency struck and she needed more money than that.
“I saw on TV this ad: ‘Call this number! You will qualify!’ And sure enough I got suckered into it,” said Ladd, 42, who lives in Kansas and works as a paramedic.
For about two years, she kept making payments each month and felt like she was getting nowhere.
“I went to my bank and got a personal loan from them to pay that loan off,” said Ladd. “I was like: ‘I can’t keep paying $800 a month per loan.’ Fortunately they were like: ‘Absolutely, let’s help you get you out of this.’”
Her bank helped her pay down the loan and also shut down her checking account, but not before the payday lender tried to convince them to keep it open. In the end, Ladd said she paid about 250% interest on that loan.
'Legalized loan sharking': payday loan customers recount their experiences Read more
According to Ladd, the best thing lawmakers could do is to raise wages. “Bottom line is wages have to go up,” she said. “People are not getting paid enough.” In Kansas, minimum wage is $7.25 – same as the federal minimum wage, which has been stuck there since July 2009.
Clark, who earns a minimum wage in Las Vegas, says: “That’s not enough to have a decent living. You definitely need a second income or some type of support system to be able to live and survive.” But she has no second income, no savings and is just one emergency away from finding herself in need of cash.
When asked if she would take out another payday loans, Clark hesitated.
“I want to say no, I wouldn’t get one, because like I said, the interest rate is too high and then in the future, it messes up your credit,” she said. “It goes on your credit report. It can be reported to a collection agency if you still end up owing. So now I would say no but who knows what the near future would bring.”
But if she found herself in real financial hardship again, she said there is a good chance she would do it anyway. The high interest rates weren’t enough to deter her last time, either.
“At the time, I was facing homelessness,” said Clark. “I didn’t have a job, the rent was due and I had a five-day’s notice. I was trying to save my apartment … So, at that time I wasn’t concerned about the interest rate.”
| 1,266,887 |
The US has used “unscrupulous means” to attack Huawei’s business in recent months – trying to hack its servers and turn employees into spies using extortion, legal threats and coercion, the Chinese telecom giant has claimed.
Washington “has been using every tool at its disposal – including both judicial and administrative powers, as well as a host of other unscrupulous means – to disrupt the normal business operations of Huawei and its partners,” the company said in a statement released on Tuesday, adding that the US had been “leveraging its political and diplomatic influence to lobby other governments to ban Huawei equipment” as well.
Also on rt.com Huawei blasts US move to expand blacklist of its affiliates as ‘politically motivated’
Jealous of Huawei’s number-two position in the world smartphone market, the US government has used law enforcement to threaten, coerce, and entice current and former employees to become spies for Washington, impersonated Huawei employees for entrapment purposes, launching cyberattacks against company systems, and “obstruct[ed] normal business activities,” Huawei declared, accusing the US of interfering with shipments, denying visas, and otherwise waging lawfare against the company.
Washington has even conspired with Huawei clients and competitors to try to get the company blackballed in the industry, the company added.
The statement came in response to last week’s claim by the Wall Street Journal that the US Department of Justice was investigating Huawei for stealing a patented smartphone camera design.
Patent-holder Rui Pedro Oliveira, Huawei claimed, had threatened the Chinese company with media exposure and pressure exerted through “political channels” if it did not pay “an extortionate amount of money” – even though his design bears little resemblance to Huawei’s own. Accusing Oliveira of “taking advantage of the current geopolitical situation,” Huawei also slammed the media for “encouraging” such mendacious behavior.
Also on rt.com Huawei ready to share source code with foreign nations to alleviate security concerns
The allegations may seem like a ‘man-bites-dog’ story to media that have uncritically parroted US allegations that China is the one using Huawei’s ubiquitous telecom infrastructure to spy on other countries and stealing their tech, but Huawei has always maintained it is innocent of the charges of spying leveled against it by the US, and no proof of any spying has emerged.
“The fact remains that none of Huawei’s core technology has been the subject of any criminal case brought against the company, and none of the accusations levied by the US government have been supported with sufficient evidence,” the statement continued, concluding that “no company becomes a global leader in their field through theft.”
Like this story? Share it with a friend! | 1,266,888 |
On Monday morning, the United States Supreme Court asked the Solicitor General’s office for its opinion in a lawsuit involving three states about the commercial sales of marijuana for recreational use in Colorado.
Marijuana1
Among the Court’s orders today was a CVSG (or call for the view of the Solicitor General) in the case of Nebraska and Oklahoma v. Colorado.
The lawsuit was brought by the state of Nebraska and Oklahoma last December, when their attorneys general asked the Supreme Court to rule on the legality of the Colorado’s legalized marijuana law, in an original jurisdiction case.
The two states said the Supreme Court was the only venue where they could seek relief under the Constitution’s Supremacy Clause, arguing that “the federal government has preeminent authority to regulate interstate and foreign commerce, including commerce involving legal and illegal trafficking in drugs such as marijuana.”
Nebraska and Oklahoma aren’t asking that Colorado now stop personal marijuana use or to go back to its previous laws that prosecuted marijuana use as a crime in the state. Instead, the two states wants Colorado’s plan disallowed by the Supreme Court that allows for commercial growing and distribution of marijuana with the state.
Colorado has asked the Supreme Court to ignore the suit as unrealistic.
“[Nebraska and Oklahoma] suggest that the federal government will backfill the resulting regulatory vacuum, even though the Presidential Administration has indicated it lacks the resources and the inclination to fully enforce the federal marijuana ban; Congress has partially endorsed the Administration’s non-enforcement policy; and the States have, for the last four decades, carried out the vast majority of marijuana enforcement across the country,” said Colorado Attorney General Cynthia Coffman in March.
Four states and the District of Columbia have passed laws to make recreational pot use legal under certain circumstances. And 23 states and the federal district have legalized marijuana for medical use.
Story continues
Colorado’s law was approved in a voter referendum in November 2012.
However, recreational and medical marijuana use is still illegal nationally under the Controlled Substances Act and it is listed under the Schedule 1 list of drugs, along with heroin and LSD.
The conflict between state laws that allow limited marijuana use and the federal law that bars it, in theory, falls somewhere in the domain of the Constitution’s Supremacy Clause.
The Court typically takes its time with original jurisdiction cases and at least four Justices will need to vote to accept the case for arguments, once the Solicitor General’s opinion is filed.
Recent Stories on Constitution Daily
10 cases to watch as Supreme Court starts home stretch
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For Law Day: Five unusual laws that remain on the books today
Constitution Check: Is it too soon for same-sex marriage? | 1,266,889 |
The Jewish congregation of the southern Swedish city of Malmö has warned that rising antisemitism is turning the city into a no-go zone for Jews.
The congregation sent a letter to the city, warning that the numbers of Jews have decreased dramatically from 842 members in 1999 to 387 members in 2019 and runs the risk of disappearing entirely in the future, Nyheter Idag reports.
“The Jewish congregation will soon disappear if nothing is done drastically. Malmö is already a no-go zone for Jews around the world. When Malmö is mentioned in the media around the world, it is far too often related to antisemitism. A Google search for ‘antisemitism Malmö’ gives 215,000 hits. Unfortunately, current initiatives are not enough,” the congregation said.
WATCH: Hundreds Chant ‘We Want Our Freedom Back and We’re Going to Shoot the Jews’ at Rally in Malmo, Sweden https://t.co/0avA1a6yRZ — Jack Montgomery (@JackBMontgomery) December 10, 2017
Svante Lundgren, an associate professor in Judaism at CTR, the centre of theology and religion at Lund University, admitted in December of 2017 that migration from countries in the Middle East with a history of antisemitism fuelled the rise of incidents in the city.
“Of course it is so that most people with this background are not antisemitic but there is a group that is, and then they have brought their hatred away from home. In Malmö, we have a large part of the population who are from abroad, and in many places, there are social problems,” Lundgren said.
The comments came after an incident in the city following U.S. President Donald Trump’s announcement to move his country’s embassy in Israel to Jerusalem in which pro-Palestine protestors shouted: “We have announced the intifada from Malmö. We want our freedom back, and we will shoot the Jews.”
“We are careful. You don’t want to display the Star of David around your neck or other Jewish symbols. An Orthodox Jew does not find life easy in Malmö, he is subjected [to discrimination],” Freddy Gellberg of the Malmö Jewish congregation said at the time.
Sweden Funds Holocaust Memorial Trips to Tackle Surging Anti-Semitism https://t.co/UY6Ojvo2Ht — Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) May 18, 2018
Earlier this year, there were several other antisemitic incidents in Sweden including the stabbing of a Jewish woman in Helsingborg, reportedly by a Muslim man, and a case at a school in Gothenburg where a student was told to refrain from giving a pro-Israel speech in order not to offend other students. | 1,266,890 |
Elon Musk has warned again about the dangers of artificial intelligence, saying that it poses “vastly more risk” than the apparent nuclear capabilities of North Korea does.
The Tesla and SpaceX chief executive took to Twitter to once again reiterate the need for concern around the development of AI, following the victory of Musk-led AI development over professional players of the Dota 2 online multiplayer battle game.
If you're not concerned about AI safety, you should be. Vastly more risk than North Korea. pic.twitter.com/2z0tiid0lc — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 12, 2017
This is not the first time Musk has stated that AI could potentially be one of the most dangerous international developments. He said in October 2014 that he considered it humanity’s “biggest existential threat”, a view he has repeated several times while making investments in AI startups and organisations, including OpenAI, to “keep an eye on what’s going on”.
Musk again called for regulation, previously doing so directly to US governors at their annual national meeting in Providence, Rhode Island.
Nobody likes being regulated, but everything (cars, planes, food, drugs, etc) that's a danger to the public is regulated. AI should be too. — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 12, 2017
Musk’s tweets coincide with the testing of an AI designed by OpenAI to play the multiplayer online battle arena (Moba) game Dota 2, which successfully managed to win all its 1-v-1 games at the International Dota 2 championships against many of the world’s best players competing for a $24.8m (£19m) prize fund.
The AI displayed the ability to predict where human players would deploy forces and improvise on the spot, in a game where sheer speed of operation does not correlate with victory, meaning the AI was simply better, not just faster than the best human players.
Musk backed the non-profit AI research company OpenAI in December 2015, taking up a co-chair position. OpenAI’s goal is to develop AI “in the way that is most likely to benefit humanity as a whole, unconstrained by a need to generate financial return”. But it is not the first group to take on human players in a gaming scenario. Google’s Deepmind AI outfit, in which Musk was an early investor, beat the world’s best players in the board game Go and has its sights set on conquering the real-time strategy game StarCraft II.
Musk’s latest comments come after a public spat with Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg over the dangers of AI, with Musk dismissing Zuckerberg as having “limited” understanding of the subject after the social network’s head called out Musk for scaremongering over AI. | 1,266,891 |
While John Kasich's daughters were off in Arizona with their mother on a college tour, the Ohio Governor was in New York continuing what can only be described at this point as a desperate campaign to join the Republican ticket as a vice presidential nominee. But based on his most recent problematic comments about women, it remains to be seen if he is actually helping or hurting his cause amongst leery conservatives.
At a town hall in Watertown Friday morning, the Ohio governor answered a college freshman's question about his plans to improve campus safety nationwide "regarding sexual violence, harassment, and rape," with a dated reference to "coeds" and an even more dangerously dated bit of casual victim blaming.
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"You ought to absolutely know that if something happens to you along the lines of sexual harassment or whatever," Kasich began, well enough, calling for increased access to rape kits, "you have a place to go where there is a confidential reporting, where there is an ability for you to access a rape kit, where that is kept confidential, but where it gives you the opportunity to be able to pursue justice, after you have had some time to reflect on it all."
Mentioning his own twin daughters, who were reportedly strolling around a college campus at the time, Kasich then told the St. Lawrence University student, "I’d also give you one bit of advice."
"Don’t go to parties where there’s a lot of alcohol."
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That's it. That's all Kasich had to offer. No free advice for the young men in attendance, policing their recreational activities and whereabouts. Just traditional, casual victim blaming disguised as earnest, goodnatured "advice."
Although a spokeswoman for the National Sexual Violence Resource Center did concede to ABC News that Kasich does have a solid track record of helping victims of sexual violence in Ohio, adding that it was “too bad he didn’t slow down” with his answer, the man tagged as a "moderate" by his party's rapid drift to the extreme right has joined with his fellow conservative governors in defunding Planned Parenthood, a vital women's health organization.
And Kasich's clumsy (to put it generously) finish to an otherwise decent answer is part of a pattern, or his style, if you will. After all, this is the same Kasich who infamously bragged about inspiring an army of women to leave their kitchens to come out vote and for him.
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"Kasich’s pattern of dismissing the concerns of women is disturbing enough," Executive Vice President of the Planned Parenthood Action Fund Dawn Laguens said in a statement, pointing out that Kasich eliminated domestic violence prevention programs when he defunded Planned Parenthood. “John Kasich’s plan for combating sexual assault as president is to blame women who go to parties."
Watch Kasich's comments below, via Slate:
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Scarlett Johansson reportedly vetoed funding from the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, for her next film.
The actor is set to play the Pulitzer prize-winning photojournalist Lynsey Addario in a biopic directed by Ridley Scott, but when she found out the initial set of funders included Bin Salman, she rejected his involvement.
“Scarlett Johansson said absolutely not,” Addario said in an interview with Nicholas Kristof of the New York Times. “She said: ‘This guy is perpetuating the war in Yemen. He has women in prison.’”
She also added: “This was before the killing of Khashoggi, when he became one of the main people who wanted to fund the movie.”
Bin Salman has recently been implicated in the death of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who died in the Saudi embassy in Turkey after writing critically about Bin Salman’s rule.
Lynsey Addario, pictured in 2013. Photograph: Mireya Acierto/Getty Images
“I didn’t meet with him personally,” Addario said. “But my sense is that he probably – my movie got folded into this huge charm campaign. And that fact that he wanted to show the west that he was into Hollywood, he was into all the great things of the west … Do I want him associated with this movie? Obviously not. And thank God he’s not.”
In April, Bin Salman headed to Hollywood to meet with studio heads and stars including Dwayne Johnson. It was a visit that led to protests and last week the CNN reporter Oliver Darcy tweeted a screen grab of an Instagram post from Johnson at the time stating it was a “pleasure” to meet him.
“Such a silly, clickbait post, Oliver,” Johnson fired back. “I’m surprised you’d post this. Go back and really read my words. I listened and learned then. As I listen and learn now. C’mon man.”
Addario’s work has focused on global conflicts and particularly the effect they have had on women. During her career, she has been kidnapped twice and sexually assaulted while detained in Libya. The upcoming film, originally set to be directed by Steven Spielberg and starring Jennifer Lawrence, is based on Addario’s memoir It’s What I Do.
Johansson was recently embroiled in controversy after signing on to play a transgender character in fact-based crime drama Rub & Tug, a decision that led to upset and caused her to abandon the project. “Our cultural understanding of transgender people continues to advance, and I’ve learned a lot from the community since making my first statement about my casting and realize it was insensitive,” a statement read. | 1,266,893 |
Contrary to the implication of “polycystic,” some women with the condition don’t have any cysts. A diagnosis requires only two of the following three criteria to be met: elevated levels of male sex hormones (which can cause excess hair growth, acne, and baldness), irregular or absent periods, and/or at least 12 follicular cysts on one or both ovaries.
“If a woman has fewer than eight menstrual periods a year on a chronic basis, she probably has a 50 to 80 percent chance of having polycystic ovary syndrome based on that single observation,” said John Nestler, the chair of the department of internal medicine at Virginia Commonwealth University. “But if she has infrequent menstruation and she has elevated levels of androgens such as testosterone in the blood, than she has a greater than 90 percent chance of having the condition.”
When the syndrome was first described in 1935 by American gynecologists Irving Stein, and Michael Leventhal, it was considered a rare disorder. Today as many as five million women in the United States may be affected, according to the Department of Health and Human Services, but researchers are still just beginning to uncover the disorder’s full impact.
“Classically, we thought of PCOS primarily as an infertility disorder or a cosmetic annoyance, but we now know that it’s also a metabolic disorder and a serious long-term health concern,” Nestler said.
According to a recent study published in the Endocrine Society’s March 2015 issue of Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, women diagnosed with PCOS are twice as likely to be hospitalized for heart disease, diabetes, mental-health conditions, reproductive disorders, and cancer of the uterine lining. The cost of evaluating and providing care to women with PCOS is approximately $4.36 billion per year.
The definitive cause of PCOS is unknown, but researchers have found a strong link to insulin resistance, a genetic condition often associated with diabetes, in which the muscle, fat, and liver cells do not respond properly to insulin and thus cannot easily absorb glucose (sugar) from the bloodstream. As a result, the body produces higher and higher levels of insulin to help glucose enter the cells.
“The excess insulin that's being produced stimulates the ovary to make testosterone, which can interfere with ovulation, rendering many women infertile,” said Nestler. PCOS is the most common cause of infertility in industrialized nations. “The exact cellular and molecular mechanisms are still being explored and are not completely understood.”
In one study, insulin resistance was found in 95 percent of overweight women with PCOS and 75 percent of lean women with PCOS. Perhaps relatedly, women with PCOS have a more than 50 percent risk of getting Type 2 diabetes or pre-diabetes before age 40. | 1,266,894 |
DENVER – Colorado Sen. Cory Gardner is holding a town hall meeting with constituents after all – he just won’t be there in person.
Gardner, Colorado’s Republican senator, announced Monday he would be holding the first of what he says will be several telephone town halls on Wednesday, March 1 at 9:30 a.m. Mountain Time.
It had originally been scheduled for 10 a.m., but was rescheduled Wednesday morning. A stream of the call can be heard here.
“Throughout the year, I’ll be hosting live telephone town halls. During the interactive meetings, you’ll hear from me regarding updates on the work I’ve been doing for fellow Coloradans, and I’ll talk about issues important to my constituents,” a post on Gardner’s website says. “In addition, you will have the opportunity to ask me questions on the phone and online.”
The senator has been under fire for more than a month in Colorado after comments about people protesting at his office being "paid" to do so, but the fervor intensified last week after he spent the week in the state at various meetings with business leaders and others.
But he didn’t show up to a handful of town hall meetings planned by organizers and constituents to discuss a wide range of topics, including health care, energy and President Donald Trump’s executive orders.
One of the town hall meetings used a cardboard cutout of Gardner in his absence.
“Over 14,000 people have signed a petition requesting a meeting; hundreds of people have either called or protested outside his office requesting the same. But so far, Senator Gardner has said no,” said Katie Farnan, a lead organizer with Indivisible Front Range Resistance who organized the town hall.
Gardner’s camp issued a statement on his behalf last week regarding his meetings in Colorado saying he “had the opportunity to meet with and speak to hundreds of Coloradans and discuss issues ranging from the challenges facing the agriculture community to reforming our health care system,” in part.
Gardner is a former U.S. House member who narrowly defeated Democrat incumbent Mark Udall for the senate seat in 2014 by a 48.5 to 46 percent margin.
He has so far voted with President Donald Trump in each possible confirmation or vote, according to FiveThirtyEight.
Colorado’s other senator, Democrat Michael Bennet, also has held no town hall meetings this year.
To sign up to participate in Gardner’s telephone town hall, click here.
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JAIPUR: A Class 8 girl was found murdered in Chaksu on the outskirts of Jaipur on Wednesday. She had gone to school to appear for her exams and had gone missing after that, following which her family initiated a search. Her body was found on Thursday morning with stab wounds. Police said on Saturday that she was killed by a 10-year-old girl from the same school over a pen.
On Wednesday, the victim had gone to write her exam to school. A quarrel broke out in the classroom when the 10-year-old allegedly took the victim’s pen. During the heated argument, she hurled expletives at the victim, accusing her of stealing her pen. After the completion of examination, the victim went home, changed her uniform and decided to confront the girl. As soon as the victim reached the girl’s house, a scuffle broke between them. The girl attacked the victim with an iron rod, which left her bleeding heavily. However, the victim was conscious and managed to get up on her feet and threatened to inform the police.
Afraid, the girl took a sharp weapon from her house and attacked the victim. “She hit her about 19 times, leading to her death,” said an official.
The girl realised she had killed the other girl. She cleaned up the scene of crime and covered the body with a plastic sack. “When her mother reached home from her NREGA work in the evening, the girl informed her about the murder. The mother decided to cover up the crime,” the official said.
While the entire village had initiated a search for the victim, the daughter-mother due packed her body into a sack and threw it in a pond near their house. Late in night, the mother informed her husband that their daughter had killed the missing girl. “He also did not inform the police but schemed to cover up the crime,” the official said, adding that the man thought if body was to be found near their house, they may be suspected.
The couple then went to the pond and fished out the sack, took out the body and disposed it away from their house. On Thursday morning, the police discovered the body and sent it for the post-mortem.
DCP (South Jaipur) Yogesh Dadhich told TOI that the police have detained the minor, while arrested her father and mother for disposing of the body. “We found one earring on the body, while another one was missing. During the search operation, we found blood spots and missing pair of earring at her classmates’ house. It had become clear to us that she was murdered in the particular house,” he said.
The minor girl and her parents admitted to the crime, and that they had tried to destroy the evidence to help save their daughter from the arrest.
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Kentucky’s vast expanses of forested terrain make it one of the best places in the U.S. to enjoy nature’s spectacular display of fall color. About 12 million acres – 47 percent of Kentucky’s land area – are forested, and some 175 tree species grow wild in the state. Kentucky is rich in hardwood forests populated by trees known for their bright fall colors.
Under the right conditions, dogwoods and sumacs can turn red and purple,sugar maples turn orange and red, oaks, sourwoods and sweet gums takeon red hues, and poplars and hickories turn yellow and gold.
The color changes usually begin as early as September in the higher elevations of the eastern mountains and gradually progress to the west during October and into early November.
Scenic vistas and great outdoor pursuits like hiking, camping and biking make the mountains of eastern Kentucky ideal for experiencing autumn color. Enjoy a cozy fall mountain escape at several state park lodges that offer all the necessities for a memory-making romantic getaway.
Take a scenic drive in Daniel Boone National Forest in eastern Kentucky. At the northern end, explore the Red River Gorge and Zilpo Scenic Byways, while the southern end boasts the Wilderness Road Heritage Highway. The byways pass through heavily wooded and mountainous terrain that shows off fall foliage colors to great advantage.
Among the most scenic routes in western Kentucky is the Woodlands Trace National Scenic Byway in Land Between The Lakes National Recreation Area.In central Kentucky, fall is an ideal time to take the Bluegrass Country Driving Tour, which winds past horse farms with their wooden and stone fences underneath a canopy of many-colored leaves.
Rail excursions, such as southeastern Kentucky’s Big South Fork Scenic Railway, provide an excellent way for families to take in the fall beauty without roadside distractions like signs and billboards.
You won’t find a better venue than Bernheim Forest near Clermont from which to admire the sculptural grace of mature trees in a natural setting. Stroll the paths or hike the trails and take in colorful fall displays that include maples, dogwoods, magnolias,conifers, cypresses, hollies, beeches and buckeyes.
While you’re out and about, joining in a fall festival is another way to experience autumn’s pleasures. A host of fests are all about enjoying the season and its traditional events. A fall visit to an orchard or farm open to the public can yield plenty of apples, pumpkins, Indian corn, gourds and other autumn bounty.
You don’t even have to leave the city to take in fall color. Strolling tree-lined streets in older neighborhoods, cemeteries, campuses and historic grounds in Lexington, Louisville and other cities is a pleasurable fall pursuit. | 1,266,897 |
The impact of US president Donald Trump’s recent immigration ban has been deeply felt in one very international community: scientists.
Many scientists currently in the US feel trapped, unable to visit their home countries. Ehssan Nazockdast, a post-doctoral fellow at New York University who specializes in fluid dynamics was planning to attend his sister’s wedding in Tehran, Iran in March, but worries now that he will be unable to re-enter the country.
Others who are based in the US but were out of the country when the executive order was passed now find themselves stranded away from their places of work. In response, scientists from all over the world are offering to host them in their own labs.
The “Science Solidarity List” launched on Feb. 1 by the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO), an organization of researchers in the life sciences, lists European-based scientists offering temporary bench or desk space, library access, and accommodation for US-based scientists stranded abroad because of the Trump administration’s immigration ban.
“Everyone agrees we must do something,” Maria Leptin, EMBO’s director, told The Scientist. Leptin, based at the University of Cologne, is offering researchers space in her own lab. “It’s a feeling of solidarity with people who are stranded and with our colleagues in the US.”
The list currently includes 430 host volunteers based in Europe, Canada, the UK, Brazil, Australia, Hong Kong, and more. Some of the listings go beyond desk space and offer “open-minded and friendly colleagues,” “help with finding accommodation,” “room in house,” “free wifi and coffee,” “a warm welcome,” “support,” “coffee, tea, and chocolate,” and “extreme tolerance.”
Magnus Nordborg, a population geneticist at the Gregor Mendel Institute of Molecular Plant Biology in Vienna, said he had been stranded for months in Europe following 9/11. At the time he was an assistant professor at the University of Southern California, where his colleagues covered his teaching duties until he could return. “History is full of examples of scientists who found refuge under worse circumstances…and it seemed obvious that we can and should do something,” he said. “Who knows how long this madness will last? If we can rescue even a single scientific career this way, it will have been worth it!”
Over 5 million of the US’s 29 million scientists and engineers were not born in the country, according to a 2013 report by the National Science Foundation. While the EMBO hosting program might provide a temporary fix, the ban is likely to hurt American science in the long run.
The hashtag #scienceshelters is being used to connect people on Twitter: | 1,266,898 |
Moussa Dembele has confidence in Tottenham in Gareth Bale's absence © PA Photos Enlarge
Tottenham's Premier League clash with Everton on Sunday is live on ESPN. Click for details on how to subscribe
Moussa Dembele is confident Gareth Bale's ankle injury will not derail Tottenham's hopes of a top-four finish in the Premier League.
Bale, 23, was ruled out of action for two weeks after suffering ligament damage in Spurs' Europa League draw with Basel on Thursday, keeping him sidelined for the return leg in Switzerland next week and Sunday's crucial league clash with Everton - live on ESPN.
Tottenham sit in third place, just two points clear of Chelsea, although sixth-placed Everton are still in with a shot of finishing in the top four.
Bale has scored 17 goals for Spurs this season, but team-mate Dembele believes his side have the depth to cover the Welshman's absence.
"Can we make the top four without Gaz? Yes, of course we can," he said. "There are other good players who play well. He has been very important for us but other players have to step up now."
That depth up front will be tested in the coming weeks with winger Aaron Lennon also under an injury cloud following Thursday's match, but Dembele has backed Clint Dempsey to fill the void left by Bale and Lennon.
"Everybody knows they are two very important players for us so it's another big disappointment," he said. "But I think we have a big, good squad and we have to concentrate on beating Everton now.
"Clint is one of the players I was talking about. I remember from my time at Fulham he was very important so I know what he can do. He can score important goals as well. He has just come back from injury but before that he was showing some good form. That's the reason I have confidence, but there are other players as well."
The injuries give midfielder Gylfi Sigurdsson an opportunity to prove himself and he believes Tottenham's fringe players can step up.
"If we are missing Gareth for a couple of games it is a huge loss," Sigurdsson said. "But there are many players on the bench who are hungry to come in and do well.
"When someone gets injured then someone has to step up and fill his place. It will not be easy with Gareth because of how well he has been doing this year, but someone needs to come in and do well.
"I think I am back to my best now even though I am not playing in my favourite position. I am playing on the wing, but I am happy so long as I am playing. If you get a few successive games you are going to get in to your stride and you get more confidence and then you can push on."
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