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Stenberg, who is in charge of feeding 10,000 Norwegian troops 35,000 meals per day, says the soldiers in Rena, who received questionnaires to fill out at the end of last week's lunch, have generally responded well to the initiative.
"They seemed to eat a lot of it, until journalists asked, "You know it’s not meat in there?'" Stenberg tells me. "And then they said, 'What?'" (The Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten spotted one soldier who was convinced the mysterious soy product in his taco was ground beef.)
This isn't the Norwegian military's first push to be more environmentally friendly; Stenberg says the armed forces, mimicking national targets, have already met a goal of carving out 15 percent of the catering budget for organic food.
And the experiment has Norwegian politicians talking—and arguing. This week, one lawmaker from the country's Socialist Left Party urged parliament to adopt meatless Mondays as well. That drew a fiery response from right-wing politician Per Sandberg. "Why not Tuesday's?" Sandberg asked. "Both meat and fish are on Parliament's menu. People have the sense to choose for themselves."
Stenberg, who, for the record, is not a vegetarian himself, responds to that criticism by arguing that institutions like the armed forces "are supposed to be ahead of others with regard to environmentally friendly, ethical standards as well as healthy food. That's our vision."
But it's not a vision everyone in Norway shares. Andrea Bruer with the Oslo-based Norwegian Vegan Society points out that while Norwegians are becoming more aware of meat's harmful effects on the environment and climate issues more generally (the Norwegian Green Party won its first parliamentary seat this fall), a 2005 report found that only 1 to 2 percent of Norwegians are vegetarians (other studies suggest this figure may be slightly higher).
During a recent trip to neighboring Sweden, she notes, she found stores selling ready-to-eat vegan hot dogs. “Go across the border to Norway," she adds, "and there's lots of meat and potatoes staring you in the face.” According to the Norwegian environmental group The Future in Our Hands, the average Norwegian eats more than 1,200 animals in his or her lifetime, including 1,147 chickens, 22 sheep, six cattle, and 2.6 deer.
So, might the U.S. military, which isn't exactly known for catering to vegetarians, follow suit? Before we get ahead of ourselves, it's worth keeping in mind that Norwegian military officials aren't even sure their flirtation with vegetarianism will pan out.
"We need to get our soldiers to understand why they should eat more environmentally friendly," Stenberg says. "If we don't, the project will fail."
We want to hear what you think about this article. Submit a letter to the editor or write to [email protected]. | 1,267,400 |
If you attend a Tame Impala live show these days, you’ll see frontman Kevin Parker completely in his element, relaxed and serene, whipping the crowd into a frenzy, bantering with them calmly and effortlessly.
However, it wasn’t always like that. A natural introvert, Parker’s crowd interaction chops didn’t come easy and he reckons the band began headlining rooms well before he learnt the finer points of speaking to an audience.
“The live environment’s completely different from recording – they’re two completely different ways of producing music,” he recently told Time Out Sydney when discussing the transition from album to stage.
“I consider myself to have a unique style in the way I play drums and the guitar, but to expect those musical nuances to transfer to the other people who are playing… it’d be stifling to the others.”
Before the release of 2012’s Lonerism, which promoted Parker from a national favourite to a bonafide international star, Parker expressed concern about his ability to play the compelling frontman and interact with the crowd.
“We definitely started headlining before I knew how to talk to an audience,” he said. “I didn’t consider myself as having the type of personality who could stand up in front of 6,000 people and get them revved up, and I’m still not that kind of person.”
However, Parker’s anxiety has since subsided and he’s actually got some very sage advice for any musicians out there who may be having a difficult time playing rockstar. The secret? Don’t.
“It was because I assumed that I had to be [that kind of person] that I felt shy,” said Parker. “As soon as I realised I just had to be myself and talk to the audience like I’d talk to anyone, I really found my persona on stage.”
[include_post id=”474403″]
Of course, Parker didn’t get into the music game to be a rock star, there was simply nothing else he wanted to do. As he revealed in a recent interview with The Australian, little else held his interest besides music.
“In high school, I was an absolute derelict,” Parker said. “I just never came home, shoplifted, smoked weed. I was totally into the thrill of breaking the law.” Around the same time, Parker was teaching himself drums and guitar.
After enrolling and dropping out of engineering and astronomy degrees, Parker decided there was only one thing he was interested in. “Music became a bigger and bigger thing in my life, the only thing I thought about, the only thing I wanted to do,” he said. | 1,267,401 |
昨年アメリカでヒットした映画『GBF』を知っているだろうか？
GBFとは、ゲイ・ベスト・フレンドの略語。ノンケ女子たちがゲイの主人公を争奪戦し、ゲイのベストフレンドを持つことをステータスにするという学園コメディーだが、むろん現実世界でも起こり得ること。
そこで、ゲイとストレート女性がマッチング出来るオンラインサイト『Every Girl Needs A Gay（全ての女子はゲイを求めている）』が登場し話題を呼んでいる。同サイトは、2016年1月に公式ローンチ予定で、現在会員を募集している。
同サイトでは、ゲイと女性が出会うことは科学的根拠に基づき、両者の心の拠り所を作ることを目指しているという。
Photo via : www.everygirlneedsagay.net
当然かもしれないが、同サイトはゲイコミュニティから大きな非難を浴びている。
「このサイトは極めて不快で、ステレオタイプで、我々を侮辱している。」「これはノンケのアイディアに過ぎない」などコメントが寄せられている。
また、数日前まで会員登録を受け付けていた同サイトは、現在公式Facebookページ＆公式サイトを一時的に閉鎖している。今後の展開が気になるところだ。 | 1,267,402 |
Don't lie. We know you've already bought your Halloween candy -- and we know it's not going to make it to October 31. So what'dya get? As far as we're concerned, you can keep your gummy skulls covered in marshmallow, then dipped in chocolate and rolled in sour sugar. We just want our favorites.
10. Reese's Peanut Butter Cups - We will take these in any form. Little, big, pieces, pumpkins, whatever just give them to us and lots of them. Nothing could ever take the place of Reese's peanut butter covered in Hersey's chocolate. Nothing.
- For anyone who grew up in the late 80's early 90's, you likely lived through a period where you couldn't get enough of these fiery hard candies. Even after polishing off a bucket of 500 when we were 10 years old, we are still going back for more in our 30's.
Get the rest of the best Halloween candy after the jump.
- The original rainbow is still one of our favorites and we will taste it all day long. A classic candy that never loses its charm.
- Probably the most fun candy ever made and sometimes, maybe even the most painful. (Ever put the entire pack in your mouth?) Regardless of the flavor, we're stoked when we see the little black envelope.
- For some reason they always taste better when they are in individual Halloween bags. You know you like them, too. Just because there are old school doesn't make them any less delicious.
- We have never actually snorted the pink stuff, but it's fun to watch other people do it. This picture is a prime example of why it made our list.
- If we ever meet the genius who came up with these, he(or she) will be getting the biggest hug ever. No matter how much these get stuck in our teeth, we won't give them up.
- This is our list and we can put what we want on it and we happen to be huge fans of this classic confection. Especially the peppermint and strawberry banana.
- You can never have enough little boxes of Nerds in your trick or treat bag, but don't plan on getting them from our house because we will probably be secretly hording them until the last of the Sweet Tarts are gone. And even then we might just turn off the light.
- Good ol' plain Hersey's Milk Chocolate Bars. The bigger, the better. We remember our mother stealing these out of our candy bags after we were done terrorizing the neighborhood because she "didn't want them to melt." We don't recall ever getting them back.
What's your favorite candy for Halloween? We want to know. Tell us in the comments section.
| 1,267,403 |
The executive action that President Obama is expected to take this week could delay deportations for millions of undocumented immigrants, which is a fairly clinical way of describing any reprieve he might grant. Another way to put it is that he'll delay the deportations of millions of mothers or fathers, and stave off — at least for now — the breakup of millions of families.
However you feel about the legal basis of such executive action, that policy itself is pro-family. And anyone who believes that children thrive best with two parents at home — anyone who's lamented the decline in America of two-parent households — should recognize that while immigrants may come to the U.S. for economic opportunity, they often want and need to stay for their children.
Obama is scheduled to rally support for his plan on Friday in Las Vegas, in a state where nearly one in five children grades k-12 has a parent who's an unauthorized immigrant. That means nearly one in five children of school age in Nevada could lose a parent at any time — a single parent or a second one — without any movement from Washington on immigration. Without their parents, these children would also lose out on the things that are on average easier for two parents to provide: income, stability, reading time, attention.
Nationwide, a Pew Research Center report released this week found that 6.9 percent of all students enrolled in kindergarten through 12th grade, as of 2012, had at least one unauthorized immigrant parent. Those children are disproportionately clustered in a handful of states: Nevada, California, Texas and Arizona. The societal consequences of family breakup, in other words, would be magnified in those places, too.
According to the Migration Policy Institute, about 3.5 million of the 11.4 million undocumented immigrants in the U.S. live with a child who is a U.S. citizen. Another 671,000 live with children who are undocumented, too. About 4.3 million are married — either to U.S. citizens, legal permanent residents or other undocumented immigrants.
If the scale of these numbers doesn't grab you, read this story by the Post's Eli Saslow about how deportation divided a single family.
National debates around immigration reform and poverty typically take place in separate spheres. But here they are intimately related. If children of poor, inner-city single mothers would be better off with two parents at home, the same is true of the children of immigrants. Likewise, as policymakers — and particularly those on the right — are trying to find ways to create stable families for children who don't have them, it makes little sense to pry apart families that currently exist.
None of this is an argument for whether Obama has a legal right to grant such deportation delays, or whether it's politically savvy of him to forge forward without Republican support. But to the extent that some conservatives oppose anything that looks like amnesty, it's worth noting that amnesty promotes another favorite conservative priority: family values. | 1,267,404 |
NC man charged with murder, rape and kidnapping in 'demonic crime,' police say
A man has been arrested after a woman was killed and her teenage daughter was injured in what a North Carolina sheriff calls a "demonic" crime. Gary Stephen Love, 47, is charged with murder, kidnapping and rape, Iredell County Sheriff Darren Campbell said. Deputies said they did a welfare check on Monday morning at a home near Statesville after the 14-year-old daughter sent a friend a message asking for help. Deputies said when they got to the house, they spoke with Love, who told them the woman and teen were at a funeral. Love ran away from authorities during questioning and was later taken into custody, deputies said. Deputies searched the house and found the body of a 46-year-old woman. Deputies say the teen told them she had been tied up and held inside the home by Love since Christmas Eve. She said she had not seen her mother since that day. The teen was taken to a hospital for treatment of injuries. The Iredell County Sheriff's Office says there are indications that one or both of the victims suffered violent sexual attacks while being held. Iredell County detectives say Love had only been in North Carolina for about 90 days and knew the woman from when they were younger and lived in New York. The Sheriff's Office says Love had an outstanding arrest warrant for domestic violence- related charges and an active protection order against him, both from Ohio.
A man has been arrested after a woman was killed and her teenage daughter was injured in what a North Carolina sheriff calls a "demonic" crime.
Gary Stephen Love, 47, is charged with murder, kidnapping and rape, Iredell County Sheriff Darren Campbell said.
Deputies said they did a welfare check on Monday morning at a home near Statesville after the 14-year-old daughter sent a friend a message asking for help.
Deputies said when they got to the house, they spoke with Love, who told them the woman and teen were at a funeral.
Love ran away from authorities during questioning and was later taken into custody, deputies said.
Deputies searched the house and found the body of a 46-year-old woman.
Deputies say the teen told them she had been tied up and held inside the home by Love since Christmas Eve. She said she had not seen her mother since that day.
The teen was taken to a hospital for treatment of injuries.
The Iredell County Sheriff's Office says there are indications that one or both of the victims suffered violent sexual attacks while being held.
Iredell County detectives say Love had only been in North Carolina for about 90 days and knew the woman from when they were younger and lived in New York.
The Sheriff's Office says Love had an outstanding arrest warrant for domestic violence- related charges and an active protection order against him, both from Ohio. | 1,267,405 |
Metro police disturbed that people film attacks on cops instead of calling for help
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Johannesburg - The Johannesburg Metro Police Department (JMPD) says it's concerned with members of the public who film fights between officers and law breakers instead of calling for help. This is after several video clips of officers being attacked in front of other people who did not come to their rescue went viral. On Friday, October 25 the Intelligence Bureau SA shared a video of a fight between an officer and a taxi driver which according to JMPD spokesperson Chief Superintendent Wayne Minnaar took place in July. Minnaar said internal investigations into the video revealed that the incident occurred on the Old Pretoria Main Road in July and added that the driver has since been arrested for reckless and negligent driving as well as assault. In the video, a taxi driver is seen viciously assaulting assaulting a male JMPD officer in full view of commuters while others can be clearly seen filming the incident. The officer then falls after being overpowered by the driver.
According to Minnaar, the a male and female officers tried to stop a taxi driver for a traffic violation when the driver subsequently fled, disregarding two traffic lights and endangering the lives of other motorists.
He added that the fight erupted after the officers managed to stop the taxi driver and while the female officer was trying to call for back up, passengers filmed the fight.
“The JMPD Chief David Tembe is extremely concerned, as to why the public chose to only take video instead of calling for help or even try to assist the officers,” Minnaar said.
On Sunday, October 20, another video surfaced where a female JMPD officer was attacked while enforcing City by-laws for illegal street trading outside the Pan Africa Mall in Alexandra.
Minnaar said during the altercation, the officer sustained bruises to her face and body and was taken to Milpark hospital where she was treated and discharged.
“The JMPD regrouped and returned to Pan African Mall where they arrested two male suspects. The two were charged at Alexandra police station for assault and interfering with an officer in the execution of duty,” Minnaar added.
In another incident, a Gauteng traffic police was filmed while hanging from the bonnet of a car while the motorist was driving away in Krugersdorp in September.
The 27-year-old female driver who was reported to have been on her cellphone while driving was then cornered by the Gauteng Traffic Police minibus taxi and was arrested.
In June, a group of police officers were also filmed while they were attacked by an angry mob, after a murder case against two foreign nationals who had allegedly killed a woman was postpone in the Burgersfort Magistrate Court.
Police managed to rescue the officer that was attacked and arrested two suspects aged 27 and 37.
The Star | 1,267,406 |
SEPT. 16, 2015 — The U.S. Census Bureau announced today that in 2014, there was no statistically significant change from 2013 in either real median household income or the official poverty rate. At the same time, the percentage of people without health insurance coverage declined. Unless otherwise noted, the following results for the nation were compiled from information collected in the 2015 Current Population Survey Annual Social and Economic Supplement.
The nation’s official poverty rate in 2014 was 14.8 percent, which means there were 46.7 million people in poverty. Neither the poverty rate nor the number of people in poverty were statistically different from 2013 estimates. This marks the fourth consecutive year in which the number of people in poverty was not statistically different from the previous year’s estimate.
Median household income in the United States in 2014 was $53,657, not statistically different in real terms from the 2013 median income. This is the third consecutive year that the annual change was not statistically significant, following two consecutive annual declines.
The percentage of people without health insurance coverage for the entire 2014 calendar year was 10.4 percent, down from 13.3 percent in 2013. The number of people without health insurance declined to 33.0 million from 41.8 million over the period.
These findings are contained in two reports: Income and Poverty in the United States: 2014 and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2014. The Current Population Survey Annual Social and Economic Supplement was conducted between February and April 2015 and collected information about income and health insurance coverage during the 2014 calendar year. The Current Population Survey, sponsored jointly by the U.S. Census Bureau and U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, is conducted every month and is the primary source of labor force statistics for the U.S. population; it is used to calculate the monthly unemployment rate estimates. Supplements are added in most months; the Annual Social and Economic Supplement questionnaire is designed to give annual, calendar-year, national estimates of income, poverty and health insurance numbers and rates.
Another Census Bureau report, The Supplemental Poverty Measure: 2014, was also released today. With support from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, it describes research showing a different way of measuring poverty in the United States. The supplemental poverty measure serves as an additional indicator of economic well-being and provides a deeper understanding of economic conditions. The Census Bureau has published poverty estimates using this supplemental measure annually since 2011. Today marks the first time the official poverty measure and the supplemental poverty measure have been released simultaneously.
The Current Population Survey-based income and poverty report includes comparisons with one year earlier and to 2007 (before the last recession); historical tables in the report contain statistics back to 1959. The health insurance report is based on both the Current Population Survey and the American Community Survey and includes comparisons with one year earlier. State and local income and poverty results, as well as local health insurance coverage results, will be available Thursday, Sept. 17, from the American Community Survey. | 1,267,407 |
Despite all the work that scientists are putting into space exploration and research, and all that we've achieved and learned about our solar system, the general public's true understanding of all this is lacking, mostly due to how this information is communicated. It's hard for most people without backgrounds in science to really comprehend what it means when we send a probe past Jupiter, or how far away Eris really is. It's simply difficult to truly grasp the magnitude of our solar system and all it's celestial inhabitants, and the physical dimensions are so vast that rendering it visually has always been difficult to do accurately, leading to a lot of misunderstanding. Thus, OMG SPACE was created: series of various visuals that attempt to solve this problem as part of a graphic design thesis project.
This project is only possible with the infinite scale of the web. To do this in print, one would have to sacrifice either distance or size in order to make it a feasible print job, which is why many textbooks unfortunately fail to illustrate the scale of the solar system accurately. All the planets on this website are to scale, including the sun and dwarf planets. The distances between each object and the sun are also to scale, and both the planets and relative distances are to scale with each other. Everything is calculated at a ratio of 1:647 to make easier numbers to work with and give me reasonable pixels sizes for this website. So if the Sun is 1,391,000 kilometers in diameter, then 1,391,000 divided by 647 equals 2149.92, and if I convert kilometeres to pixels where one kilometer is one pixel, my image of the sun is 2149 pixels squared. The same works for the distances: if Mercury is 57,909,050km from the Sun, with the ratio of 1:647, the distance is boiled down to 89503.94, so Mercury is place 89,503 pixels from where the Sun is placed on the screen.
OMG SPACE is the thesis project of Margot Trudell, a q graduate of the graphic design program at OCAD University in Toronto, Canada (2011). This website aims to illustrate the scale and the grandeur of our solar system, as well as communicate through the use of infographics our work in the exploration of our solar system with various spacecraft. This website was created in 2011. All data regarding planets, space imagery, missions etc is only up to date as far as early 2011. Minor updates to design and development were made in 2015. Since launch in 2011, this project has been featured online in Fast Co. Design, Wired, Applied Arts and PC Gamer, in print in Arcade Magazine and Depict Magazine, and was published in Understanding the World (Taschen ) in 2014.
The largest image (the Sun) is over 2000 pixels squared and the smallest image (Makemake) is only 1 pixel squared; this page is over 19 million pixels long. Load times may vary.
Infographic prints are available at Society6. | 1,267,408 |
Back to the Florida Wasteland in MGP's annual FallOut event! Wasteland VI November 15, 2014 Waynes World of Paintball, Ocala, FL
$35 Online Pre-Registration - $40 Onsite Download Players Pack Download Operations Map Register Online
The FallOut world is not quite our own. It is an alternate reality that diverged from ours at some point after the second World War. The base concept for the setting is the World of Tomorrow as imagined in the Golden Age of Science Fiction. This means that before the Great War, the FallOut world was more or less what the people of the 1940s and 1950s thought things would be like in 2077—the wonders of Atomic Age technology. The most important event in the FallOut setting was the Great War which happened on October 23, 2077. Our game continues in the central Florida Wasteland of 2284.
The setting and factions within this event are very different that a traditional MilSim type event, if that has been your sole experience in airsoft to date. Please read the
Visit the Welcome back to the Wasteland! Wasteland 6 is the next installment of MGP’s successful Wasteland event series. The Wasteland is an alternate reality event based on the FallOut computer games.The FallOut world is not quite our own. It is an alternate reality that diverged from ours at some point after the second World War. The base concept for the setting is the World of Tomorrow as imagined in the Golden Age of Science Fiction. This means that before the Great War, the FallOut world was more or less what the people of the 1940s and 1950s thought things would be like in 2077—the wonders of Atomic Age technology. The most important event in the FallOut setting was the Great War which happened on October 23, 2077. Our game continues in the central Florida Wasteland of 2284.The setting and factions within this event are very different that a traditional MilSim type event, if that has been your sole experience in airsoft to date. Please read the Players Pack if you're considering coming out for the Wasteland. The event is tremendous fun but probably not what you're looking for if you only want a MilSim experience. Wasteland events have more creativity, negotiations, double-crossing and a sense of humor than a traditional MilSim game and brings out a great group of players every year looking to enjoy the wild and unpredictable setting found in the Wasteland.Visit the MGP Forums for additional information and to chat / coordinate with other Wastelanders!
Event Uniform Range
Wastelanders - Post-Apocalyptic Mixed
Raiders - Post-Apocalyptic Mixed w/ gang recognition element
Rasta Raiders - Post-Apocalyptic Mixed w/ Rasta Colors
Brotherhood of Steel - Power Armor and Multicam
Talon Company - Black
Sons of the Crimson Star - Power Armor and Woodland
| 1,267,409 |
Donald Trump Donald John TrumpBiden leads Trump by 36 points nationally among Latinos: poll Trump dismisses climate change role in fires, says Newsom needs to manage forest better Jimmy Kimmel hits Trump for rallies while hosting Emmy Awards MORE received five deferments from the military draft during the Vietnam War, according to a new report, including one medical exemption for a problem with his heels.
Trump was granted one medical and four educational deferments, which kept him out of the conflict, The New York Times reported Monday.
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The Republican presidential nominee registered with the Selective Service System, which is used for the draft, after he turned 18 in 1964. Trump received his first educational deferment the following month, the report said, while starting his undergraduate studies at Fordham University in the Bronx.
Trump then transferred to Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, receiving additional deferments during his sophomore, junior and senior years. He graduated in the spring of 1968.
The fall after he graduated, Trump was granted a 1-Y medical deferment due to a foot condition.
“I had a doctor that gave me a letter — a very strong letter on the heels,” he told The New York Times.
“They were [heel] spurs,” Trump said of his condition. "You know, it was difficult from the long-term walking standpoint. [It was] not a big problem, but it was enough of a problem.”
Heel spurs are bone protrusions caused by calcium buildup. The condition is typically treated through stretching, orthotics and, at times, surgery.
“Over a period of time, it healed up,” Trump said.
Trump kept his 1-Y status until 1972, when he became 4-F and was permanently disqualified from military service in Vietnam, the Times reported. Last year, Trump said he feels “a little bit guilty” for having never served in Vietnam.
His military deferments are getting new scrutiny following his feud with the parents of a Muslim U.S. soldier who died in Iraq.
Khizr Khan, Capt. Humayun Khan’s father, challenged Trump’s treatment of Muslims during last week’s Democratic National Convention.
“Go look at the graves of the brave patriots who died defending America,” he said on July 28 in Philadelphia. "You will see all faiths, genders and ethnicities.
“You have sacrificed nothing and no one,” Khizr Khan added of the GOP’s presidential nominee. "We can’t solve our problems by building walls and sowing division.”
Trump fired back by questioning why Khan’s wife, Ghazala Khan, stood by his side at the convention without speaking. She said she chose not to because talking about her son is difficult. | 1,267,410 |
What to Know The Nonhuman Rights Project, an animal welfare group, asks court to release imprisonment of an elephant at the Bronx Zoo
Happy the elephant was separated from the other two elephants in the zoo, after they fatally injured her mate
The zoo says that Happy is content, and if sent to another facility, she could suffer
An elephant named Happy who has lived mostly alone since her mate was fatally injured is being "unlawfully imprisoned" by a New York City zoo, according a legal petition filed Tuesday.
The Nonhuman Rights Project argued Happy, who has lived at the Bronx Zoo since 1977, has similar rights to a human being and should be relocated to a larger private sanctuary where she can socialize with other elephants and roam more freely.
"Our world-class experts say that, like all elephants, Happy is an autonomous being who evolved to walk 20 or more miles a day as a member of a multi-generational large social group," said Nonhuman Rights Project founder Steven Wise. "The entirety of the zoo's elephant exhibit provides far less than even 1 percent of the space she would roam in a single day in the wild."
The Nonhuman Rights Project filed its court petition in Orleans County because judges downstate have rejected previous lawsuits arguing that animals have similar legal rights as people.
Zoo officials say Happy appears to be content, is cared for by loving handlers and might suffer from a transfer to an unfamiliar facility.
"The Nonhuman Rights Project is exploiting the Bronx Zoo elephants to advance their own failing cause in the courts as they put forth ludicrous legal arguments and lies about our elephants, facilities and staff," said Bronx Zoo Director Jim Breheny.
Elephants are social animals, and for 25 years, Happy had been paired with another elephant named Grumpy. But in 2002, Grumpy was fatally injured in a confrontation with two other elephants at the zoo, Maxine and Patty. Happy was then paired with a new friend, Sammy, who died in 2006. After that, the Wildlife Conservation Society said it would no longer acquire new elephants.
Since then, Happy has been without a partner, and kept apart from Maxine and Patty due to concerns they won't get along.
Breheny said Happy doesn't share the same holding pens as the other elephants, but that she is in "tactile and auditory contact with them" and spends several hours a day interacting with keepers, according to a statement posted on the zoo's website in 2016.
"Happy is healthy and comfortable in the home she has known for nearly four decades. Our animal care professionals say she exhibits no signs of physiological or psychological stress with virtually no stereotypical behavior. We don't think moving Happy from familiar surroundings and the people to whom she is bonded is in her best interest," he wrote.
If Happy left the Bronx Zoo, there are several sanctuaries in the United States that accept elephants, including ones in Tennessee, Georgia and California. | 1,267,411 |
Exhibition Center and, with the right permits, at Logan International Airport.
As for the governor, his opposition to taxes and fees is slightly less than immutable.
In 2015, he signed a budget into law that included a small fee added in by the Legislature. It appended a $1 surcharge to fees for admission to, and parking in, the Douglas State Forest. At the time, his spokesman emphasized the governor did not propose the measure and adopted it at the request of local officials.
***
Here is a transcript of a portion of a Globe interview with Baker days before he was sworn into office in January 2015:
THE BOSTON GLOBE: “Is the ‘no new fees, no new taxes’ an irrevocable promise?”
CHARLIE BAKER: “Yeah.”
GLOBE: “Okay, so over the course of your time as governor, however long it may be, you will not raise taxes or fees?”
BAKER: “Yeah, that’s pretty much my message.”
GLOBE: “Pretty much or definitely?”
BAKER: “Pretty much. That’s not a lot of wiggle room there, Josh.”
GLOBE: “Okay, pretty much —”
BAKER: “I just have no idea how you guys will choose to interpret things down the road, so —”
GLOBE: “Well, how do you — how do you interpret it? What do you think that pledge means?”
BAKER: “Somebody offers a new service that’s never been offered before by government and attaches a fee to it, is that a new fee?”
GLOBE: “What do you think?”
BAKER: “I think no.”
GLOBE: “Okay. So when we say, ‘no new fees’ — when you say, ‘no new fees,’ you mean no additions to fees that are already in place?”
BAKER: “There we go. See, this is a terrible road to go down, isn’t it, [then-Communications Director] Tim [Buckley]? Yeah, right.”
GLOBE: “ ‘Pretty much.’ No new fees. Irrevocable pledge, ‘pretty much.’ ”
BAKER: “Yeah, right.”
Joshua Miller can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @jm_bos and subscribe to his weekday e-mail update on politics at bostonglobe.com/ politicalhappyhour | 1,267,412 |
SAN JOSE, Calif. – San Jose Earthquakes Homegrown goalkeeper JT Marcinkowski is among 24 players called by United States U-23 National Team head coach Jason Kreis for the United International Football Festival in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain. The U.S. will face Brazil on Thursday, Nov. 14 and then play Argentina or Chile in the final or third-place match of the four-team tournament on Sunday, Nov. 17.
Marcinkowski, 22, recently concluded his second season as a professional after signing a Homegrown Player contract with the Quakes in 2018 following three years at Georgetown University. He made 16 appearances on loan with the club’s USL affiliate Reno 1868 FC this year, making 63 saves and keeping four shutouts. Marcinkowski received USL Championship Team of the Week honors in Week 17, and was named USL Championship Player of the Week in Week 31.
Marcinkowski is one of only two players to feature in all U.S. U-23 matches this year.
U.S. U-23 Men’s National Team Roster by Position (Club; Hometown; U-23 Caps/Goals)
GOALKEEPERS (3): Matt Freese (Philadelphia Union; Wayne, Pa.; 2/0), JT Marcinkowski (San Jose Earthquakes; Alamo, Calif.; 4/0), Brady Scott (Köln/GER; Petaluma, Calif.; 0/0)
DEFENDERS (8): Cameron Carter-Vickers (Stoke City/ENG; Southend-On-Sea, England; 11/1); Kyle Duncan (New York Red Bulls; New York, N.Y.; 1/0), Justen Glad (Real Salt Lake; Tucson, Ariz.; 2/0), Aaron Herrera (Real Salt Lake; Las Cruces, N.M.; 2/0), Mark McKenzie (Philadelphia Union; Bear, Del.; 2/0), Chris Richards (Bayern Munich/GER; Birmingham, Ala.; 1/0), Antonee Robinson (Wigan Athletic; Liverpool, England; 2/0), Sam Vines (Colorado Rapids; Colorado Springs, Colo.; 1/0)
MIDFIELDERS (7): Brenden Aaronson (Philadelphia Union; Medford, N.J.; 1/0), Christian Cappis (Hobro/DEN; Katy, Texas; 1/0), Hassani Dotson (Minnesota United FC; Federal Way, Wash.; 2/0), Richard Ledezma (PSV Eindhoven/NED; Phoenix, Ariz.; 1/0), Alex Mendez (Ajax/NED; Los Angeles, Calif.; 2/0), Djordje Mihailovic (Chicago Fire; Lemont, Ill.; 4/0), James Sands (New York City FC; Rye, N.Y.; 0/0) | 1,267,413 |
The government has approved a plan that will remove many of the restrictions on growing medical marijuana and make it more readily available to over 23,000 patients in Israel.
According to the proposal, initiated by Health Minister Yaakov Litzman (United Torah Judaism), there will be no limit on the number of growers, there will be more doctors who can issue prescriptions, and cannabis will be available in pharmacies.
For patients being treated with cannabis the new plan is supposed to remove many obstacles. First, additional physicians will be trained and authorized to prescribe cannabis, shortening the waiting time to see a doctor. Second, pharmacies will be authorized to provide medical cannabis
to patients who present a prescription, as with any other medication. The pharmacies will have to meet the strict standards of the Internal Security Ministry, as will the transportation companies bringing the substance to the pharmacies.
An additional, if more cautious, piece of good news is the possibility of significantly eliminating some of the red tape by switching from a policy of permits to a policy of prescriptions. In other words, the patient will need only a medical prescription in order to receive medical marijuana, rather than requiring a permit from the Health Ministry.
Also according to the new plan, there will be no restriction on the number of growers, and anyone who meets the standards of proper manufacture for medications and food products can get a license to run a company for growing cannabis, manufacturing cannabis products or transporting cannabis and its by-products to pharmacies to be established throughout the country.
The program creates a separation among four stages in the process of producing medical cannabis: development, growing, manufacturing and marketing. Accordingly, the growing will take place only in designated nurseries that will operate separate from the farm, and will be used for this purpose only, and not for research. The cuttings from those nurseries will be transferred to the farm for the purpose of mass cultivation.
“The government decided today on an important reform, which I announced a few months ago,” said Litzman on Sunday. “The reform will do justice to thousands of patients who need medicinal cannabis for medical purposes only. There’s no reason why someone who needs cannabis for medical reasons should suffer and confront unnecessary red tape, and therefore the present situation must be changed.
“I’m opposed to legalization. Make no mistake: Along with the easing of restrictions for those in need of medical cannabis, we will increase supervision and prevent any possibility of it trickling out. And the police will handle that. Medical cannabis will reach those who need it from the pharmacy, like a medicine, like morphine and other drugs. We will increase the list of doctors who approve medical cannabis and we will make life easier for the patients who are suffering.”
Until now patients who require the substance must wait months for one of a small number of authorized physicians to recommend it, then apply for a permit from the Health Ministry and renew that permit every three to six months. | 1,267,414 |
New results of fossil analysis will help scientists to understand why the camels went extinct 13,000 years ago and to re-examine other species
This article is more than 5 years old
This article is more than 5 years old
Miners in north-western Canada have discovered ice age camel bones whose DNA is forcing scientists to redraw the family tree of the now-extinct species.
Grant Zazula, a paleontologist with the Yukon’s department of tourism and culture, said three fossils recovered from a gold mine in the Klondike in 2008 are the first western camel bones found in the territory or Alaska in decades.
Scientists had believed western camels that once lived in North America were related to llamas and alpacas common to South America, but they now have genetic proof that the animals are more closely tied to the camels inhabiting Asia and Arabia.
“For us, the gold is the fossils because it’s this incredible resource for understanding extinct and ancient animals of the ice age,” Zazula said.
Zazula said scientists can now begin to understand why the camels went extinct 13,000 years ago, at the end of the ice age.
New species of dinosaur, the regaliceratops, discovered in Canada Read more
For the past century, paleontologists have studied camels based on comparative anatomy, dividing bones and fossils into two main branches of animals found in Arabia, Africa and Asia, and llamas and alpacas found in South America, said Zazula.
He said paleontologists believed western camels were like “giant llamas” or “llamas on steroids”.
That theory began to change in 2008 when miners uncovered bones, preserved in the permafrost, while hydraulically stripping the earth, he said. The bones were so well preserved they still held DNA, unlike other mineralized fossils.
Zazula said he sent small pieces of the bone to geneticists at the University of California Santa Cruz who were assisted by a statistician and a geologist.
The results have been published in the journal Molecular Biology and Evolution.
A news release said the DNA indicates the western camels split off from the branch that includes modern camels about 10 million years ago. It notes most lived in southern areas of North America, but some made their way north during a relatively warm period of the last ice age about 100,000 years ago.
Zazula said the findings are going to make scientists re-examine other species, too.
“There’s something pretty spectacular about holding on to a bone that’s 100,000 years old that can tell us so much about the history of the past and the history of the land you live in,” he said. “I think that’s pretty spectacular.” | 1,267,415 |
Opera Singer Creates 'Dungeons & Dragons' Operatic Bard Subclass
An opera singer has created a unique Dungeons & Dragons bard subclass perfect for opera lovers.
Earlier this week, Hannah Rose and Kelli Butler released a new "College of the Opera" bard subclass to use in Dungeons & Dragons' Fifth Edition. The new bard subclass is now available on DMs Guild, an online marketplace run by Wizards of the Coast that allows developers to design and sell content using official D&D content.
Not only does the new subclass add several exciting new abilities for bards, it's also inspired by Butler's experiences as an experienced opera singer. In addition to playing Dungeons & Dragons on several streaming shows, Butler is also a professional opera singer, having performed for the New Rochelle Opera and the St. Petersburg Opera as a soprano singer.
Like other bard subclasses, a bard can choose to join the College of the Opera when the reach 3rd level. Upon becoming a member of the College of the Opera, bards learn four additional languages (a nod to how many operas are performed in foreign languages) and gain the ability to cast shatter as a bard spell...since opera singers can literally shatter glass with their voice.
At higher levels, a College of the Opera bard can use one of three arias that provide valuable benefits either in or out of combat. The Aria Cantabile gives allies temporary hit points when they hear a bard's song of rest, the Aria di Bravura gives an opponent disadvantage if they miss a bard with an attack, and the Aria Parlante gives bards advantage on Charisma checks.
The subclass's best features come at 14th level, when a bard can use its Supporting Cast ability to gain Bardic Inspiration whenever an ally uses a Bardic Inspiration die. In essence, this gives a bard an inspiration die for their own use whenever they grant a die to one of their allies. In addition, a bard can also use their singing ability to capture someone's soul at 14th level, granting them benefits when interacting with that person and also affecting their ability to be resurrected. While capturing a soul might seem devious, a bard can also use that ability to protect someone's soul from being devoured or stolen from other parties.
The "College of the Opera" is an extremely creative and fun bard subclass that should delight players who love playing as bards. In addition to providing bards with some clever new abilities, it's also a subclass that mixes in-combat abilities with some effects perfect for social encounters.
The new subclass can be purchased for $1.99 on the DMs Guild. You can check out Butler's opera work on her website and see Rose in action on the weekly Worlds Apart streaming show.
Disclosure: ComicBook is owned by CBS Interactive, a division of ViacomCBS. | 1,267,416 |
is an existing usage of the term Ocho. Do you know what this usage is? 3 Ochoes bounty to whoevere can provide the prior art.----------------
goku1997
Offline
Activity: 14
Merit: 0
NewbieActivity: 14Merit: 0 Re: [ANN] [OCHO] Bitcoin Ocho aka The Future [OCHO] December 13, 2016, 07:40:32 AM #31
HAHAHAHA U THOUGHT I FOURGOT AOBUT THE OCHO I AM BACK
Sorry, there were some issues today in my personal life I had a meltdown about not wanted to create value for the world. But I am back and ready to change the world because it is cool. Bitcoin Ocho will change the world.
Development UpdatE: We are penetration testing our new hash function, OCHO-256. Prelimminairy tests show it is secure, though we had to make a change from the gist we published last night because we saw it was accessed by a Chinese IP address. Those sneaks fuckers are probs tryna make ASICs. Here at Ocho we hate asic so much this time I wrote them in lowercase. don't worry brochos Bitcoin Ochoes will be super secure we changed OCHO-256 to be even better even though nobody thought it was possible
Release countdown: idk like 3 days i have a dinner tommorrow night and a job but the code it almost done my wife wonders why i am staying up so late
----------------
not brochos: Raxitto, raetsch
brochos: EVERYONE ELSE! +1, theboccet is a brocho. Please join our slack. https://bitcoinochoslackinviter.herokuapp.com/ HAHAHAHA U THOUGHT I FOURGOT AOBUT THE OCHO I AM BACKSorry, there were some issues today in my personal life I had a meltdown about not wanted to create value for the world. But I am back and ready to change the world because it is cool. Bitcoin Ocho will change the world.Development UpdatE: We are penetration testing our, OCHO-256. Prelimminairy tests show it is secure, though we had to make a change from the gist we published last night because we saw it was accessed by a Chinese IP address. Those sneaks fuckers are probs tryna make ASICs. Here at Ocho we hate asic so much this time I wrote them in lowercase. don't worry brochos Bitcoin Ochoes will be super secure we changed OCHO-256 to be even better even though nobody thought it was possibleRelease countdown: idk like 3 days i have a dinner tommorrow night and a job but the code it almost done my wife wonders why i am staying up so late---------------- | 1,267,417 |
Paris airport security went one step further than simply asking a security expert to power up her laptop - they requested she type in her password to decrypt her hard drive and log into the machine.
Katie Moussouris, chief policy officer at HackerOne, and best known as the woman behind Microsoft's Bug Bounty Program, was en route back to the US from the CCC hacking conference. She complied with the request in order not to miss her flight.
The computer never left her possession and the security agent never fully explained the request, according to Moussouris, and there's no question that HackerOne customers' vulnerability reports were exposed - no exploits were stored on the device.
Nonetheless, the incident at Charles de Gaulle airport has sparked a lively debate among privacy and security advocates. Moussouris has put together a blog post explaining her experience:
CDG airport personnel asked to search my bag, after I had cleared security, when I was about to board the flight. I had, in fact, already had my boarding pass checked by the gate attendant when a uniformed security agent diverted me to a small table, right before I was to enter the boarding tunnel. The security agent at the gate had me pull out my laptop, turn it on, and further asked me to type in my password, which decrypted the full disk encryption of the drive, even after she saw that it did boot up. It was clear there was a language barrier issue, but I was trying to show her that the login screen was there, the laptop did power up. I have had to power on my laptop and phone once before, in Brussels on my way back to the US, but I had never been required to unlock any devices, nor had I heard about friends having to do so - this was very unusual in my experience. When it was clear she wanted me to type in my password, I asked her why. The agent said it was "regulation", and so I complied so I would not miss my flight, or suffer other consequences, given that it was in the middle of boarding. She did not make me turn on or unlock my phone, and waved me through after she saw my desktop pop up with a browser window open to my Twitter feed on top. She didn't touch my laptop after I unlocked it, and none of my devices left my sight during the search.
Moussouris attributes the whole "unsettling" experience to an "Inspector Clouseau" type official exceeding her authority in checking that a computer was operational rather than anything more sinister.
However in a follow-up discussion privacy types said the incident illustrated the utility of guest accounts and hidden encrypted volumes in protecting sensitive data from the eyes of over-eager officialdom.
Anecdotal evidence suggests the requests to type in passwords are not unique to Paris airports or particular airlines.
HackerOne specialises in managing vulnerability coordination and bug bounty programs for its clients. ® | 1,267,418 |
Are you feeling scattered or unfocused? Adding a ritual or two to your day may be just the ticket to snap out of it.
“Rituals are habits that are part of our day-to-day activities that lead to desired outcomes,” says Melissa Gratias, who has a PhD in industrial and organizational psychology and is the vice president at Sandler Training. Gratias says she’s seen the professionals with whom she works helped these specific habits help people in a variety of ways.
Workplace wellness and positive psychology expert Michelle McQuaid says that rituals “shape the way our brains are feeling, thinking and acting.” Rituals signal to us that it’s time for a specific mindset or activity. They act as triggers to more effortlessly get us ready for what we need to do. Creating a morning strengths-focused ritual has changed the way she works, she says. In doing so, she incorporates her strengths, such as curiosity and gratitude, into her day, which makes her feel more rewarded overall. That may be reading something new for 10 minutes every morning or creating gratitude lists and thanking people. The key to the ritual is that it is rewarding and enriching, she says.
“Rituals and the way they make us feel, actually set our brains up for the day about whether we’re going to be in this more expanded thinking space or much more narrow thinking space and the consequences that can have on our performance,” McQuaid says.
Rituals can also frame your day, Gratias says. When you have that first-thing ritual of sitting with your coffee, reading, or meditating for 10 minutes, it can help you feel grounded and ready to tackle what’s ahead. Similarly, a closing ritual, where you close out the work you’re doing for the day, review what’s coming up, and get yourself organized for the following day helps you sharpen your focus on those specific areas. It makes it easier for many people to let go of the workday instead of bringing it home with them, since you’re receiving a clear signal that you’re done.
Recognize the components and rework your ritual in a satisfying way that becomes an effortless habit over time.
“It’s like the industrial age where people had time clocks. They would walk to the door, pick up their time card, insert it into the clock and hear the very satisfying ‘ching’ that was an audible and visual cue that the workday was over,” she says.
But rituals can—and should—be incorporated into your workday to address specific needs, too, says McQuaid. You can intentionally use rituals to improve performance. When you think about combining them as combinations of small habits, you can suddenly find ways to integrate the things you want to incorporate into your day, she says. | 1,267,419 |
Why 'Resident Evil' is embracing horror again
Brett Molina | USA TODAY
While explosive and action-packed, it was difficult calling the last two chapters of Capcom horror series Resident Evil scary.
The franchise's developers seek a different approach for Resident Evil 7 — available Tuesday for PC, Sony's PlayStation 4 and Microsoft's Xbox One — scaling back on the action and scope in favor of something more intimate, and potentially far more terrifying.
“We’ve been getting a lot of fan feedback over the years that people have wanted more survival horror from Resident Evil, said Resident Evil 7 producer Masachika Kawata. “So it was a good time to change things up.”
To intensify the fear, developers ditched protagonists with combat or military experience for an "everyman" in Ethan Winters, who travels to Louisiana after receiving an email from his wife missing for three years. Ethan eventually finds himself trapped in a mansion looking to escape.
The new game also introduces a fresh perspective, a big change for the horror franchise. The 2005 game Resident Evil 4 introduced a third-person view from over the main character's shoulder. That change in camera view turned Resident Evil 4 into one of the most influential games of its time, as other franchises including Xbox action series Gears of War and the Batman Arkham series adopted similar over-the-shoulder perspectives.
In Resident Evil 7, players soak up the terror through a first-person view. Combined with the choice to play in virtual reality, it offers an experience more “intimate and confined,” says Kawata.
“It eliminates that separation when you see something happening to the character,” he says. “You are the character, and you don’t have a choice but to look for yourself what’s around that next corner, or what will happen when you perform an action. Everything just becomes more in-your-face and personal.”
Resident Evil is the most popular franchise for Japan-based video game publisher Capcom, also behind the popular fighting game Street Fighter. Sales of Resident Evil have reached 71 million copies to date, and the series has even spawned its own wave of movies starring Milla Jovovich, including the latest flick Resident Evil: The Final Chapter out Friday.
As Resident Evil shifted away from pure horror to action, it ceded ground in the space to games such as Electronic Arts' Dead Space, which opted for more horrifying sequences. Last June, fans were buzzing during Sony's PlayStation media event at the Electronic Entertainment Expo when Capcom introduced a demo called “Kitchen,” a slice of the new Resident Evil, portraying a far more frightening experience.
“While the focus may be a lot more on horror, there is still action and familiar elements that fans will enjoy,” says Kawata.
Follow Brett Molina on Twitter: @brettmolina23. | 1,267,420 |
Date: Thu, 5 Nov 2015 12:59:21 -0800 From: Kees Cook <[email protected]> To: "[email protected]" <[email protected]> Cc: Solar Designer <[email protected]>, Greg KH <[email protected]>, Ben Hutchings <[email protected]>, Ard Biesheuvel <[email protected]>, James Morris <[email protected]> Subject: Kernel Self Protection Project I'm organizing a community of people to work on the various kernel self-protection technologies (most of which are found in PaX and Grsecurity). I'm building on the presentation I gave at Kernel Summit where I sought to convince the other upstream Linux kernel developers that security is more than fixing bugs, and that we need to bring in proactive defenses: http://lwn.net/Articles/662219/ This is especially highlighted by the Washington Post article today: http://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/business/2015/11/05/net-of-insecurity-the-kernel-of-the-argument/ Between the companies that recognize the critical nature of this work, and with Linux Foundation's Core Infrastructure Initiative happy to start funding specific work in this area, I think we can really make a dent. Let's start the work. I've built some wiki pages around my slides, where we can take notes, list examples, and coordinate: http://kernsec.org/wiki/index.php/Kernel_Self_Protection_Project For now, I'm going to focus on taking a look at the PAX_SIZE_OVERFLOW gcc plugin, which will also get us the gcc plugin infrastructure. Other people, please speak up on what you'd like to tackle. I recommend PAX_REFCOUNT, PAX_USERCOPY, and GRKERNSEC_KSTACKOVERFLOW for some non-plugin stuff to look at. Once we've got plugins, then we should look at PAX_MEMORY_STACKLEAK and PAX_CONSTIFY_PLUGIN. If you're feeling like disrupting people who depend on debugging, do GRKERNSEC_HIDESYM. If you're feeling especially bold, start on PAX_KERNEXEC and follow it up with PAX_MEMORY_UDEREF. Of course, there's plenty of other things, and tons I haven't listed in the wiki -- please add them and bring them up for discussion here. -Kees -- Kees Cook Chrome OS Security
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Confused about mailing lists and their use? Read about mailing lists on Wikipedia and check out these guidelines on proper formatting of your messages. | 1,267,421 |
Below are Fl0w3R's interview with us after the team's victory against Misfits today.
How does it feel to win the first match?
I was actually nervous because it has been a while since we played in a major event, and it feels awesome to have a good start. Our game was not perfect as we made some mistakes like going to far from our point when we were defending, but we managed to pull ourselves together and win the game after all.
What do you think about Misfits?
I thought they would abandon their triple DPS formation and go with triple tank. Contrary to what I thought, they actually managed to keep their original formation of triple DPS. It came to us as a surprise, but I think we dealt with it well enough.
LW had gone through roster changes recently prior to APEX. What do you think about that?
LW Blue is the team that is made to win, and I think it was a necessary measure to swap certain players. Both LW Blue and Red teammates are happy with that decision, and I feel the same.
Are you positive about LW Blue in Season 2 APEX?
I am expecting us to come first among others in the group. I feel confident, but I am also aware that there are many strong teams out there. We are very cautious about all the teams we will meet in the tournament.
What is the story behind your nickname change?
I was originally using the current nickname Fl0w3R, but the coach told me that I should come up with an alias with more impact. That's how I came up with the name nanohana. There still was varied opinion surrounding my nickname because some preferred nanohana while others preferred Fl0w3R. I personally prefer Fl0w3R.
Your next matchup is with Lunatic-Hai. How do you expect the match to turn out after zunba and WhoRU's recent arrival?
Lunatic-Hai can now come up with team compositions they could not come up with in the past. I think we should be careful about how flexible the team can be in terms of its strategy. We had won against them before, but I think we can never be too optimistic because you never know what a rebuilt team will be like. We will be very cautious.
Some of your friends from last season could not make it here. Did you have any chance to speak with them?
Kruise told me he wishes that I finish the season successfully and really supported me. I also talked a lot with TviQ whom I played against today. I have also talked with Surefour, but haven't really had much chance to play many games with him.
Any words to your fans?
It was a cold day today, and I am really grateful for everyone that watched our game today. | 1,267,422 |
locked memory overclocking on all Skylake mobile processors except Core i5 and Core i7 quad-core processors with a TDP of 45W or greater. We forgot about this when getting the parts for our NUC build, so save yourself a few bucks and get yourself the HyperX Impact DDR4 2133MHz dual channel kit in your choice of 8GB ($48.57), 16GB ($69.99) or 32GB ($169.99) capacities.
Building the NUC kit is simple as you just need a Philips screw driver to remove the bottom cover of the enclosure and then you pop in your DDR4 memory kit into the open slots and screw in the M.2 SSD that you purchased. After that you need to download and install the latest UEFI and then install the operating system of your choice.
There have been four BIOS/UEFI updates since the initial production version was released, so chances are you’ll need an update and we suggest performing one with the USB Flash drive method before installing the OS. Our retail model NUC Kit NUC6i5SYK came with BIOS version 0028 and we quickly updated that to BIOS version 0042 (latest) to ensure we had all the latest bug fixes and improvements. Intel offers five different ways to update the UEFI, so be sure to take a look here to find the latest UEFI version and the install method you prefer.
There are two USB 3.0 ports on the front with the yellow port being able to charge devices even if the NUC is turned off. You also have a 3.5mm headphone/microphone combo jack and a IR receiver port on the front panel. The power button is up top along with the hard drive activity light. You can replace this top cover with custom lids if you’d like. A company called GORITE sells different color lids for $9.75 and you can also expand the NUCs USB ports by adding a $19.75 cover that adds two additional USB 2.0 ports.
On the side of NUC there is a full sized SDXC memory card slot and a Kensington lock.
On the back of the NUC6i5SYK you have the power port, standard sized HDMI 1.4b port, Gigabit LAN Ethernet jack, two USB 3.0 headers and finally the DisplayPort 1.2 port for 4K panel support. It would have been nice to see Thunderbolt 3 or USB Type-C support on this model, but it looks like Intel is reserving those features for their highest end model, the NUC6I7KYK.
Here is a block diagram for how everything is connected to SoC on the NUC6i5SYK.
And of course a look at our completed build!
Now that we have a basic feel for the features and price of the NUC6I5SYK we can jump into benchmarking! | 1,267,423 |
Maintaining customer loyalty is one of the most important, yet most difficult, aspects of any business. But before you can maintain customer loyalty, you first have to understand how to create customer loyalty.
Take a look at our Customer Loyalty Infographic to get up to speed on how important loyalty is. Look closely at the statistics and you will realize that you can earn a lot of money by making customers loyal to your business. The numbers are staggering: a 5% increase in customer retention can increase profits by 125%.
So, where do you start when it comes to building a loyal customer base? A satisfied customer is easier to turn into a loyal one. There’s an old adage that says it’s cheaper to keep your current customers than gain new ones. That still rings true, maybe louder than ever today. Nearly every market is filled with competitive options where customers can spend their budgets. It’s essential that, once they’re in your door, you give them a reason to come back.
Remember your last bad shopping experience? Did you ever go back to that store? Same here. Do you know if that’s happening to your customers? Rolling out a customer satisfaction survey is the best way to get objective information about what your customers really think. Your customers may shed light on some hard truths about your business, but if you take the survey results to heart and make changes, you’ll be on your way to creating more loyal customers. Americans are 81% more likely to return to a store that provides great customer service.
Are your employees who interact with customers doing all they can to show that they care? Evaluate your employee engagement levels. Disengaged employees could be costing you customers. Think about a company like Zappos. They dedicate a month of training in customer service alone for new hires. What measures are you taking to perfect your customer service?
Follow up with customers after they make a purchase. Despite what you may think, most customers who are unhappy with your product or service won’t contact you to voice their displeasure. You can lose a customer, who may tell others about their bad experience, and you’ll never know it. Give your customers an easy way to express their concerns (or, hopefully, happiness) with their experience. Some companies, including Zappos, use their social media programs expressly for customer service issues. It’s a medium that customers already use, so it’s simple for them to shoot you a message. Just be sure you respond in a timely manner.
Customer loyalty cannot be manufactured, it must happen naturally. But, you can help foster it by following good business practices. If you continually give your customers reasons to return to your business, then they likely will. If you’re ready to start turning customers into loyal customers, contact NBRI. Simply fill out our contact form or give us a call at 800-756-6168. | 1,267,424 |
criticized his new national security advisor, telling Comey that he thought Flynn had serious judgment issues. “I did not comment at any point during this topic and there was no mention or acknowledgment of any FBI interest in or contact with General Flynn,” Comey wrote.
So, even in his private memos, Comey did not refer to the Flynn matter as an investigation. This again raises the question: Why didn’t Comey tell Trump about Flynn? He had just directed his agents to interview Flynn four days prior; how could this not be the one and only topic of conversation between the two? Clearly, Trump did not know about the Flynn interview since there is no indication he discussed it with Comey.
Flynn resigned on February 13. The next day, Trump and Comey met again, and this is when the president allegedly told Comey that Flynn “misled the Vice President but didn’t do anything wrong in the call.” He then said, “I hope you can see your way clear to letting this go, to letting Flynn go. I hope you can let this go.” It’s anyone’s guess what Trump meant. He could have been speaking in general terms, suggesting the agency should cease looking into whether Flynn lied to Pence or the public. (Neither is a crime.)
In congressional testimony in 2017, Yates, Comey, and Clapper repeatedly refused to answer questions about the Trump-Russia collusion scheme—the Flynn matter in particular—under the guise of “classified” protections. When asked several questions about the Flynn case by the Senate Judiciary Committee in May 2017, Yates would not answer. She declined to confirm whether there was a FISA warrant on Flynn. Comey also would not identify publicly which Trump campaign associates were under investigation during a number of congressional hearings last year. (It wasn’t until Trump’s tweet about Trump Tower being “wiretapped” that Comey revealed the counterintelligence probe to the House Intelligence Committee in March 2017.)
So how exactly did Trump obstruct justice when it appears that none of the top law enforcement or intelligence officials at the time alerted him that Flynn was under investigation? Isn’t it the duty of the head of national intelligence or the FBI to inform the incoming president that a close advisor—someone privy to classified information, who will help shape critical foreign policy—is under suspicion for cozying up to an international foe? Set aside the political chicanery: Did this potentially jeopardize national security?
Why all the secrecy?
There may have indeed been obstruction of justice related to the Flynn case. But it wasn’t because of Trump.
Content created by the Center for American Greatness, Inc. is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a significant audience. For licensing opportunities for our original content, please contact [email protected].
Photo credit: Olivier Douliery-Pool/Getty Images | 1,267,425 |
a political party, the Milli Muslim League, but the group later registered candidates under the name of an existing party, Allahu Akbar Tehreek, which now campaigns with Saeed’s image on its posters.
Saeed is accused of masterminding the 2008 attacks on India’s financial capital. The United States offers a $10 million reward for his conviction over the attacks, in which several Americans were killed. Saeed denies any involvement.
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Another party, the Sunni extremist Ahl-e-Sunnat Wal Jamaat (ASWJ), is also fielding dozens of candidates under a different name, even though it is banned as the political wing of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ), which has killed hundreds of minority Shi’ite Muslims. The party denies links with LeJ.
Last month, ASWJ leader Muhammad Ahmed Ludhianvi’s name was removed by a caretaker government from Pakistan’s terrorism watchlist, cementing his own candidacy.
A spokesman for the Election Commission of Pakistan, Altaf Khan, asked about the banned groups’ candidates, said no illegal group had been registered.
“If some political party is registered with us, and it has come through the (legal) process, what’s wrong in it?,” Khan said.
He added that the commission was investigating complaints of banned parties campaigning under different names.
A military spokesman declined to comment on religious parties. The army denies interfering in politics.
However, the military did propose “mainstreaming” militant-linked groups into politics in a 2016 National Security meeting, military and government sources have told Reuters. The plan was pitched as a way to reduce violence and extremism under the model of the Northern Ireland peace process.
Critics say the real goal is for new ultra-religious parties to cut into the conservative base of Sharif’s party and confer legitimacy to Islamist militants the army has long been accused of nurturing as proxies in its rivalry with India.
“They have to be taken care of,” political commentator Raza Rumi said of such groups. “So this election is a test case as to how far the goal of mainstreaming these groups can be achieved.”
Analysts say even with the increase in candidates, Islamists are unlikely to win more than a dozen or so seats in parliament.
But that might not be the point. Pakistani author and analyst Ayesha Siddiqa, a longtime critic of the military, believes the army, tired of civilian governments challenging its grip on foreign policy and large chunks of the economy, is seeking to weaken mainstream parties.
“The military wants to alter, engineer the national discourse,” Siddiqa said. “They want to build a new nationalism. They want a new identity, and that is Islamic identity.” | 1,267,426 |
The New York Times did pay former executive editor Jill Abramson a lower base salary than her male predecessors despite the newspaper’s insistence that Abramson’s compensation had been “comparable,” according to the New Yorker’s Ken Auletta.
Auletta, who first reported that Abramson had approached management about unequal compensation, published more details Thursday night about the pay gap between Abramson and her predecessors. Her starting salary was $84,000 less than what Bill Keller, whom she succeeded as executive editor, pulled in the same year. That pay disparty appears to have begun over a decade earlier, according to Auletta’s figures:
Let’s look at some numbers I’ve been given: As executive editor, Abramson’s starting salary in 2011 was $475,000, compared to Keller’s salary that year, $559,000. Her salary was raised to $503,000, and—only after she protested—was raised again to $525,000. She learned that her salary as managing editor, $398,000, was less than that of the male managing editor for news operations, John Geddes. She also learned that her salary as Washington bureau chief, from 2000 to 2003, was a hundred thousand dollars less than that of her successor in that position, Phil Taubman. (Murphy would say only that Abramson’s compensation was “broadly comparable” to that of Taubman and Geddes.)
The Times’ publisher, Arthur Sulzberger, Jr., sent a memo to staff Thursday that assured his decision to dismiss Abramson had nothing to do with pay. He also denied that Abramson had received unequal compensation for the same job as her male predecessors.
“It is simply not true that Jill’s compensation was significantly less than her predecessors. Her pay is comparable to that of earlier executive editors,” he wrote. “In fact, in 2013, her last full year in the role, her total compensation package was more than 10% higher than that of her predecessor, Bill Keller, in his last full year as Executive Editor, which was 2010. It was also higher than his total compensation in any previous year.”
It’s important to note that “total compensation” includes not just salary, but bonuses, stocks and other incentives — so it’s hard to tell exactly how Abramson’s and Keller’s total compensation was structured.
Auletta also reported that a spokeswoman for the Times, Eileen Murphy, conceded that Abramson’s decision to bring in a lawyer to raise her salary concerns to management was “a contributing factor” to her dismissal. Times reporter Ravi Somaiya contested that account, tweeting that Murphy said she was misquoted and never conceded that salary contributed to Abramson’s ouster. | 1,267,427 |
Zimbabwe army: PM Morgan Tsvangirai is security threat Published duration 23 June 2011
image caption Morgan Tsvangirai urged army chiefs to stay out of politics to allow a level playing field
A top army officer in Zimbabwe has accused Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai of being a security threat.
"He takes instructions from foreigners who seek to effect illegal regime change," Brig-Gen Douglas Nyikayaramba told the state-run Herald paper.
His comments come after Mr Tsvangirai urged military chiefs to remove their uniforms if they wanted to challenge him politically in forthcoming polls.
Mr Tsvangirai joined a unity government with President Robert Mugabe in 2009.
The coalition, which took power after disputed elections in 2008, has helped stabilise the economy and reduced political violence.
But the administration has been fraught with squabbles over introducing reforms.
Mr Mugabe and his Zanu-PF party have been pushing for polls this year, but human rights activists have been worried about reports of increased political harassment of his opponents.
The prime minister's party - the Movement for Democratic Change - wants security forces to stay out of politics and to not publicly support Mr Mugabe in the next election.
Many of Zimbabwe's security chiefs fought with President Mugabe during the 1970s guerrilla war against white minority rule and remain fiercely loyal to him.
The army was said to have been involved in systematic attacks on Mr Tsvangirai's supporters after he won the first round of the 2008 election.
According to the AFP news agency, Brig-Gen Nyikayaramba has recently been removed from the constitution-making body after saying Mr Mugabe should remain in power for life.
'Nonsense'
image caption Morgan Tsvangirai pulled out of the 2008 run-off vote against Robert Mugabe because of political violence
He repeated his view to the Herald: "President Mugabe will only leave office if he sees it fit or dies. No-one should be talking about his departure at the moment. We will die for him to make sure he remains in power.
Brig-Gen Nyikayaramba dismissed Mr Tsvangirai's comments at a rally over the weekend as "nonsense".
"Tsvangirai doesn't pose a political threat in any way in Zimbabwe, but is a major security threat," he said.
"We are dealing with a national security threat, which can only be dealt with by people in uniform.
"If it was a normal political environment, one would hope to retire at some point and join politics."
The MDC argues without a new constitution and electoral reforms, forthcoming polls would not be free and fair.
Mr Mugabe and his allies say Zimbabwe's economic problems are the result of a plot to oust him because of his policy of seizing white-owned land. | 1,267,428 |
The Dairy Farmers of Manitoba took exception to a fiery trade speech from U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday.
In a speech to factory workers in Wisconsin, Trump took aim at Canadian dairy regulations, saying that NAFTA trade rules between the U.S. and Canada are a "complete and total disaster" for the U.S.
The president specifically mentioned Canada's dairy supply management system, which he called a "one-sided deal" that doesn't let U.S. farmers compete fairly.
David Wiens, a third-generation dairy farmer near Grunthal, Man., and chair of the Dairy Farmers of Manitoba, said that the Canadian industry isn't responsible for issues south of the border.
"We have not contributed or created problems for them. I think they need to look within their own industry in terms of how they could better respond to the marketplace that they are in," said Wiens.
Dairy Farmers of Manitoba said there are approximately 45,000 milking cows in Manitoba. (CBC)
The Canadian policy allows the domestic dairy sector to respond to changes in the industry and gives farmers reliability in an otherwise unpredictable market, Wiens said.
"In Canada, supply management is literally about matching supply with demand, and for us that avoids over production and it reduces the impact of the devastating market fluctuations that we do see right around the world, including in the U.S." said Wiens.
The Dairy Farmers of Canada said Tuesday it was confident the federal government would continue to defend the dairy industry.
No udder way
Martha Hall Findlay, the president of the Canada West Foundation, has called for the dismantling of the current supply management system.
She said the system costs consumers more, prevents producers from tapping into foreign markets and the perception of unfair advantages in the domestic dairy market hinder Canada's ability to negotiate trade deals in other sectors.
"We go to the table with Donald Trump right now with one hand, one arm, tied behind our backs," said Hall Findlay.
Hall Findlay also said revisiting the current system now could be a win-win situation for Canada and that there are ways to move away from it with minimal impacts on producers.
"Nobody wants to hurt Canadian dairy farmers... It can be done over time, certainly in terms of compensation," she said.
A lot of criticisms the Canadian dairy industry faces come from people who do not fully understand all that supply management provides for farmers, Wiens said, adding farmers fully expect the Canadian government will continue to support the dairy industry.
"Simply put, the U.S., and for that matter, for the last couple of years, right around the world, there has been too much milk produced," he said.
"This oversupply in the U.S. is especially a challenge where there is a lack of processing capacity. All of those things come together to create very tough times." | 1,267,429 |
It seems free Joy-Con repairs and refunds for customers who already paid to have their faulty controllers fixed may be limited to the United States if previously reported internal documentation is anything to go by.
UK news website Metro reveals there has been "no change in policy" within the UK, with certain customer support staff located in Europe seemingly unaware of recent developments within the US.
Readers have sent us in chat transcripts showing Nintendo UK refusing to make repairs for free and a call ourselves to the support centre proved that no one there had been told to offer free repairs or refunds.
According to NintendoSoup, a Reddit user known as Toboid contacted Nintendo's customer help in the UK and asked if they were eligible for free Joy-Con repairs. This was the official response:
Unfortunately not... A statement was released by Nintendo of America acknowledging known issues with Nintendo Switch Joy-Con controllers. Our Nintendo UK process remains the same - to provide recommended troubleshooting
At this point in time, other branches of Nintendo located in different regions, may or may not follow through with free fixes. The situation is reportedly the same in France. However, in the same Reddit thread mentioned above, user flame03 from the Netherlands explained how they had spoken to Nintendo yesterday and begun the process to get their Joy-Con fixed:
I'm in the Netherlands (also EU) and I got my switch in May 2017. According to EU laws, beyond the 1 year factory warranty and beyond the 2 year store warranty. I chatted with Nintendo yesterday and they started the process to repair the joycons free of charge and no shipping costs.
They requested me to print out a shipping label and send the joycons in a box to them. (Pre paid shipping label).
The class action lawsuit was filed by the American law offices of Chimicles, Schwartz Kriner & Donaldson-Smith against Nintendo of America.
CSK&D has filed a class action lawsuit against Nintendo of America, Inc. (“Nintendo”) for claims relating to alleged defects in the Joy-Con controllers that are part of Nintendo Switch gaming consoles. The complaint, filed in the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington, alleges that the joysticks on Joy-Con controllers are defective, leading users to experience drift issues.
It remains unclear if the internal policy, reportedly revealed by Vice, will be rolled out to regions outside of America.
Customers will no longer be requested to provide proof of purchase for Joy-Con repairs. Additionally it is not necessary to confirm warranty status. If a customer requests a refund for a previously paid Joy-Con repair [...] confirm the prior repair and then issue a refund.
Metro noted how Nintendo's American branch had "failed to publicly acknowledge the change in policy", so it is believed there is a "possibility" that Europe and other regions have not yet got the memo.
What's your own experience been like so far? Leave a comment below. | 1,267,430 |
Attacker “appeared to be mentally disturbed” and has no links with organised groups, according to Ankara officials.
Police have shot and detained a knife-carrying Turkish man who tried to force his way into the Israeli embassy in Turkey’s capital Ankara.
The man, armed with a 30cm knife, ran towards the embassy shouting slogans and was shot in the leg, the governor’s office in Ankara said in a statement on Wednesday.
Officials said initial investigations showed that the man, identified as 41-year-old Osman Nuri Caliskan from the central Anatolian city of Konya, “appeared to be mentally disturbed” and had no record of links with any organised group.
OPINION: What the Israeli-Turkish reconciliation says about Gaza
“A man approached the embassy with a knife and was shot by a local guard. Everyone on our side is safe,” Emmanuel Nahshon, spokesman for the Israeli foreign ministry, said in a statement.
“The assailant was wounded in the foot. We don’t know if he was attacking police officers or the embassy itself.”
He added that the assailant only managed to reach the “outer perimeter” of the building, but said the incident was still being investigated.
READ MORE: Turkish aid flows into besieged Gaza Strip
Israel’s embassy in Ankara said in a statement that the suspect “tried to stab a Turkish police officer” in front of the mission.
“The embassy trusts the Turkish forces to control and investigate the incident,” it added.
Turkey’s NTV television said employees of the embassy took refuge in a shelter during the incident.
Caliskan was taken to Ankara’s Numune Training and Research Hospital, according to Turkey’s state-run Anadolu Agency.
Roads around the embassy were closed after the incident and specialist police officers were sent to the scene.
The Hurriyet daily reported that the attacker told police officers interrogating him at the hospital that he “did this to stop the bloodshed in the Middle East”.
READ MORE: Four held for alleged UK, German embassies plot in Turkey
Foreign missions in Turkey have been on a state of high alert following a spate of attacks across the country this year blamed on Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and Kurdish separatist groups.
The British embassy in Ankara was closed on Friday over security concerns.
Three months ago, Turkey and Israel signed a deal to restore their ties which hit an all-time low after the 2010 raid by Israeli commandos on a Gaza-bound Turkish aid ship that left 10 Turks dead.
Under the deal, the two countries are to begin the process of exchanging ambassadors to fully restore their diplomatic ties, although this has yet to formally take place. | 1,267,431 |
Kangaroos coach Mal Meninga has responded to scathing criticism from Andrew Johns and Brad Fittler following Australia’s shock loss to Tonga.
The former league greats accused Australia of disrespecting their opponents after suffering a historic 16-12 defeat in Auckland.
Meninga welcomed the passion but said the comments were an emotional response.
“I’m glad Freddy and Joey are emotional about it,” Meninga said.
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“Maybe in the light of day they might not have said what they said. They got emotional. It’s good to see the green and gold is important to them.
“It’s an emotional comment. They are entitled to those comments. We are bitterly disappointed with the result but not with the effort – just the way we executed. We weren’t composed enough.
“The team is hurting.”
Johns said the current crop of Kangaroos needed to have “a real hard look at themselves”.
Mal Meninga said the Australian side was hurting after the loss. Source: Getty Images
“It was the last game and I think they were thinking they would roll the sleeves up for 20 minutes and they would get the job done,” Johns said.
Fittler, meanwhile, claimed some players had let the jersey down and were simply waiting for the rugby league calendar to finish.
He predicted some axings by coach Mal Meninga for their poor showings.
“If Mal is fair dinkum, he is looking at that game thinking, ‘We might need a few new players here’, because I thought some of their efforts were terrible,” he said.
“They didn’t put their hands up in big moments and took really easy options and let each other down. They let Australia down. They let the jersey down. “
“They set a great standard down in Illawarra and they just didn’t back it up at all, so there is a good chance a few of these guys won’t be there next year.”
Fittler took particular aim at Daly Cherry-Evans and Latrell Mitchell, the latter of whom the NSW State of Origin coach dropped after game one this year.
“Daly Cherry-Evans wasn’t doing anything in attack,” Fittler said.
“He was giving no direction, but his defence was giving them so much trouble. He left poor Jack Wighton and a few of them stranded at different times.
“Latrell Mitchell came up with some bad errors and some really soft options.” | 1,267,432 |
showcase how a door is not always a door, the foundation is planning a fundraiser in May that will exhibit what local artisans can do with some of the items. They can connect buyers with local craftspeople interested in repurposing the items.
“Some purists are looking to replace a lock on a home, others are renovating to their own demands,” said John Cline, chair of the foundation’s warehouse committee.
Pieces in the warehouse sell for $15 to $1,500, Cline said. That $1,500 item was a staircase. Last year sales generated more than $6,000 in six months.
Cline said people can bring in items for donation (preferably at least 50 years old) or call Harrison Brothers to arrange for pickup when possible. Items there now came from around North Alabama and southern Tennessee.
Occasionally, you’ll find a treasure with a pedigree.
In a karmic twist, several things in the warehouse right now have labels saying they came from the White Street home of one of the Harrison brothers – real brothers who ran the circa-1897 hardware store upstairs.
It's new again
In another example of history coming full circle, developers of the $11.5 million Belk Hudson Lofts on Washington Street are incorporating items they found in the Harrison Brothers warehouse. Two walls of the 1920s-era Belk store will remain as part of the new building.
To pose for a Times photographer, Charlie and Sasha Sealy brought boxes of glass tiles to the construction site on a drizzly January morning. They were so enthusiastic that they offered to leave and get more warehouse items from their nearby home.
The Sealys’ purchases include a Harrison house transom window, a Celluloid Starch wooden box for under $50 and iron covers to a wood-burning stove. They used pieces from the warehouse to decorate Downtown 47’s Tinsel Trail Christmas tree display in Big Spring International Park.
Modern construction codes prohibit using some of the items for their original purpose in the new development, but decorative things such as tiles will become part of the 75-apartment complex opening in September or October.
“For old antique doors and windows it’s a great place,” said Charlie, who likes the idea that their project “incorporates the new and the old.”
“Include a piece of Huntsville history in your own home,” Sasha said.
THE DETAILS
What: Historic Huntsville Foundation Architectural Warehouse
Where: Basement of Harrison Brothers Hardware, 124 Southside Square
When: First and third Saturday of each month from 10 a.m. to noon
Information: For donations or to schedule an appointment at the warehouse another time, call 256-534-8376 or 256-533-5332 | 1,267,433 |
In January, when we exposed that up to 350,000 Twitter accounts could be fake, the social media world started to question its own reality. Now, a study from USC and Indiana University, that Twitter has roughly 48 million active bot accounts. That's 15% of reported active users that are not human at all...
Earlier this year, a computer scientist in London has stumbled upon massive networks of fake Twitter accounts - with the largest consisting of over 350,000 profiles - which may have been used to 'fake' numbers of followers, send spam, and boost interest in trending topics. On Twitter, bots are accounts that are run remotely by someone who automates the messages they send and activities they carry out.
Some people pay to get bots to follow their account or to dilute chatter about controversial subjects.
As The BBC reported, UK researchers accidentally uncovered the lurking networks while probing Twitter to see how people use it.
But now, as CNBC reports, a much bigger big chunk of those "likes," "retweets," and "followers" lighting up your Twitter account may not be coming from human hands.
Researchers at USC used more than one thousand features to identify bot accounts on Twitter, in categories including friends, tweet content and sentiment, and time between tweets. Using that framework, researchers wrote that "our estimates suggest that between 9% and 15% of active Twitter accounts are bots."
Since Twitter currently has 319 million monthly active users, that translates to nearly 48 million bot accounts, using USC's high-end estimate. The report goes on to say that complex bots could have shown up as humans in their model, "making even the 15% figure a conservative estimate." At 15 percent, the evaluation is far greater than Twitter's own estimates.
In a filing with the SEC last month, Twitter said that up to 8.5 percent of all active accounts contacted Twitter's servers "…without any discernable additional user-initiated action."
Since that equates to roughly 20 million more bot accounts than Twitter's own assessment, that could be an issue in light of analyst concerns about user growth. In a recent research report, Nomura Instinet analysts wrote that "Twitter's revenue growth has slowed to the mid-single digits, as the platform has struggled to attract new users over the past year…"
The research could be troubling news for Twitter, which has struggled to grow its user base in the face of growing competition from Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and others. But, of course, Twitter itself tried to spin this as a positive?
A Twitter spokesperson said that while bots often have negative connotations, "many bot accounts are extremely beneficial, like those that automatically alert people of natural disasters…or from customer service points of view."
The real concern, as Axios notes, is whether audience measurement companies should take bots into consideration as part of user traffic numbers, which affect advertising potential, if their behaviors mimic that of real human users. | 1,267,434 |
As I’ve discussed before, Namecoin is using Tor’s rbm-based build system for our various Go projects, such as ncdns and ncp11, in order to reduce the risk of supply-chain attacks. Namecoin’s relevant Git repository, ncdns-repro, is heavily based on a Tor repo, tor-browser-build. As we gained more experience with using rbm, it became more clear that even trivial deviations from upstream tor-browser-build can cause interoperability headaches. So, I’ve been bringing ncdns-repro more in line with tor-browser-build conventions. In particular, two noticeable changes have been made.
First off, rbm divides the build scripts into “projects”. For example, in Tor Browser, OpenSSL is a project, as is Tor, as is Firefox, as is GCC, etc. Projects can depend on each other (for example, Tor depends on OpenSSL, and OpenSSL, Tor, and Firefox all depend on GCC). When ncdns-repro was initially created, we didn’t really think much about the project names, and on a whim decided to the projects written in Go names that reflected their full package path. For example, the Go package golang.org/x/crypto was given an rbm project name of golang.org,x,crypto in ncdns-repro. In contrast, upstream tor-browser-build gives their Go-based projects abbreviated names, e.g. the aforementioned package was given an rbm project name of goxcrypto [1]. Unfortunately, we figured out via experience that this causes problems, especially when ncdns-repro pulls in data from tor-browser-build (or vice versa) as a Git submodule, because it means that if a project from one repo wants to pull in a project from another repo as a dependency, the project names will be inconsistent.
Second, ncdns-repro stored all of the Git hashes for its projects in a root-directory-level file called hashlist, whereas upstream tor-browser-build stores them in the configuration file in each project’s directory. The intent on our end was to make it easier to enumerate all of the Git hashes, but again, experience showed that this causes problems when Git submodules are used to let tor-browser-build and ncdns-repro share configuration data.
As of now, ncdns-repro uses the same project naming conventions as tor-browser-build, and no longer uses a hashlist file. This should improve interoperability of ncdns-repro with tor-browser-build going forward.
This work was funded by NLnet Foundation’s Internet Hardening Fund and Cyphrs.
[1] Insert snarky reference to Mark Karpeles here. | 1,267,435 |
Eat A Dick - Chocolate Gag Gift amazon.com $19.99 BUY NOW
Hi there! How've you been since we last spoke? Good? Good! Last I heard from you, you were extremely interested in chocolate buttholes, if I remember correctly. Ready for something new and exciting? Great! Dick at Your Door has chocolate, well, dicks, which means you have new and exciting options.
These dicks have been around for awhile, much like the buttholes had been when we blew those up a few months back. Though the site doesn't explicitly say they're for Valentine's Day, they first went viral around then. Broaden your horizons, though, and these dicks become perfect gifts for any birthday, bachelorette party, white elephant exchange, surprise for your enemies, and so much more!
You can explore your options, which are all vegan, here, but the reviews of a product are generally more telling than the sight of it, no? (That's not a euphemism about human reproductive parts, though I guess it works that way, too.) Anyway, the reviews are generally positive, assuming you like small things that taste good.
"Very, VERY detailed," one satisfied customer writes. "A beautiful product. However... it is so small lol. It's like four inches big. Five inches at most. It tastes okay. Not very flavorful. But again, the detail and quality is amazing."
From another: "The chocolate is on the bitter side, and it was much smaller than the picture makes it look. But all-in-all, I was very pleased."
Instagram reveals a buttload of happy customers, too:
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The dicks deliver within just a few days, so go ahead and order yours for an upcoming occasion now.
Dick at Your Door
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Tess Koman Senior Editor Tess Koman covers breaking (food) news, opinion pieces, and features on larger happenings in the food world.
This content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano.io | 1,267,436 |
leg shackles.
Rashan Charles: why family have come to reject inquest verdict Read more
Other uses of force included deploying a baton, incapacitant spray, Taser, and leg restraints. Police say they are looking at alternatives to restraint.
Lockwood told the Guardian: “The proportion of black people who died this year among those who had force used against them by police or others does raise questions. It is important that each death is thoroughly and independently investigated.
“In these cases, the use of force did not necessarily contribute to the death.”
In October, the government-commissioned report into deaths in custody showed a possible racial factor. The report, by Dame Elish Angiolini, said: “Deaths of people from BAME communities, in particular young black men, resonate with the black community’s experience of systemic racism, and reflect wider concerns about discriminatory over-policing, stop and search, and criminalisation.”
In 1998 there were 65 deaths in police custody, and broadly, the numbers have been reducing. The assistant chief constable, Nev Kemp, said: “It is important that we don’t jump to conclusions as the numbers of deaths following police contact are very small and do fluctuate year on year.
“We are working closely with an independent panel examining alternatives to using restraint. We strive to make custody as safe as possible for the hundreds of thousands of people every year who need to be detained and for our officers and staff dealing with them.”
The report reveals the first death linked to the use of spit or contamination hoods –pieces of mesh placed over suspects’ heads for fear their saliva could transmit diseases to officers they assault by spitting.
In one case a man arrested for domestic assault attacked officers and was carried to his cell with a hood placed over his head and in leg restraints. Shortly afterwards, with the restraints removed, he fell ill and later died. The investigation into his death continues.
The IOPC said it investigated 170 deaths after contact with police. It said: “Forty-five died following reports of a missing person and 43 related to concern about a person’s risk of self-harm, risk of suicide, or mental health. Twenty-one fatalities followed concern for welfare linked to domestic-related incidents – broadly the same proportion as last year.”
The IOPC added that 57 people killed themselves after arrest; half of those – 29 people – after arrest for alleged sexual offences. Twenty-five of those people were involved in alleged crimes against children.
Sarah Marsh contributed to this report
• This article was amended on 27 July 2018. An earlier version said that of the 23 people who died during or after police custody, 17 had been subjected to the use of force. Seventeen people were subjected to force, but not all were in custody when this happened. | 1,267,437 |
Twitter has permanently suspended the account of Jewish pro-Palestine activist Tony Greenstein over allegations of ‘hateful conduct’. Meanwhile, Twitter has apparently found antisemitic abuse by other users against Greenstein not to fall foul of its hateful conduct policy.
Greenstein has now shared his experience with The Canary.
Criticising Israel
Greenstein shared images of the tweets for which Twitter allegedly suspended his account with The Canary. The most contentious among them is one where he compared Israel’s blockade of the Gaza Strip to a WWII Jewish ghetto under Nazi occupation:
Marek Edelman, the leader Greenstein mentioned, wrote a letter in 2002. As Haaretz explained, “the letter is filled with hints of comparisons between the Palestinians’ fight and that of the ghetto residents”.
Not the first time
And this isn’t the first time Twitter has penalised Greenstein for posting content that is critical of Israel.
In February, his account was locked because his profile featured an image of Ahed Tamimi, the 17-year-old Palestinian girl imprisoned for slapping an Israeli soldier (who was outside her home in the occupied West Bank) after another Israeli soldier had shot her 15-year-old cousin in the face.
Twitter apparently made Greenstein’s removal of the photo a condition for unblocking his account:
And again in August, Twitter locked Greenstein’s account, he alleges, for offending a Zionist user. He went on to say:
For the past two years a link to my blog has been blocked as ‘spam’ by Twitter.
Double standards
Yet when it came to antisemitic abuse that Greenstein faced, including another user wishing his family had died in concentration camps, Twitter took no action:
Speaking to The Canary about the suspension of his account, Greenstein said:
Despite the publicity about alleged abuse of Zionists, it’s Jewish anti-Zionists who get the most abuse. We are called traitors, self-haters etc. Twitter has taken this to a new level. Someone wishing my family and I had perished in the Holocaust is not against their rules, but comparing the siege of Gaza to the Warsaw Ghetto is ‘hateful conduct’. Not surprisingly, Twitter has refused to defend their conduct.
When contacted for comment, a Twitter spokesperson told The Canary:
We don’t comment on individual accounts for privacy and security reasons. Our Hateful Conduct Policy can be read here.
Greenstein maintains that Twitter’s double standards on hateful conduct amount to censorship of pro-Palestinian voices. He has also documented his experience with Twitter, and his concerns about the controversial examples in the IHRA definition of antisemitism, on his blog.
And Twitter certainly has questions to answer.
Featured image via Pixabay/Tony Greenstein | 1,267,438 |
Scientists are using seawater bacteria to engineer compounds that could potentially become cost-effective, renewable alternatives to crude oil.
Current jet fuel is inefficient and expensive. This could be a cheaper, cleaner solution.
It's the largest source of water on the planet, but seawater is mostly unusable for human purposes. Now, researchers from the U.S. Navy and the University of Manchester in England are using bacteria that grows in seawater to engineer high value compounds that show potential as jet fuel.
Discovered in 1980, the Halomonas bacteria is most notable for being extremely salt-tolerant. Scientists at the Manchester Institute of Biotechnology (MIB), supported by the Navy's Office of Naval Research Global (ONR), reengineered the microbe's genome. The changes altered the Halomonas' metabolism, which in turn allowed for the creation of compounds that could become cost-effective, renewable alternatives to crude oil. Scientists refer to it as a "microbial chasis."
"Effective biofuels strategies require the economic production of fuels derived from a robust microbial host on a very large scale—usually cultivated on renewable waste biomass or industrial waste streams—but also with minimal downstream processing and avoids use of fresh water," says Nigel Scrutton of the MIB in a press statement. "With Halomonas these requirements can be met, so minimizing capital and operational costs in the production of these next generation biofuels."
The current generation of biofuels are based in agriculture, using corn and sugar beets. But with Halomonas-based fuel, the scientists say, that agriculture could be used for human consumption instead. And using crude oil is notoriously dirty. Even being able to partially add the altered bacteria to fuel could make for a far cleaner energy.
Current jet fuel is inefficient. "For example, if you think about rosehip oil extraction—you need to plant hundreds of acres of flowers and then collect the flowers, squeeze the oil from the rose petals to process minute amounts for making the fragrance," says Patrick Rose, science director for ONR Global in London, in the statement.
It's "economically very expensive, land and resource intensive, subject to the climate for harvesting, when those resources could instead be employed for more sustainable agriculture," Rose continues. "It is possible to replicate the exact same molecules we harvest from crops to make high value compounds by exploiting this biological process by taking the genes out of the plant and inserting the information into bacteria. With this engineering feat, there is no dependence on environmental factors and an increased level of reliability in the product."
Finding fuel for big things that move fast is often dirty and hard to come by. There's also a race for creating a cleaner type of rocket fuel.
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CHICAGO — Seventy-five groups are joining forces to call on Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot to end the city’s use of facial recognition technology.
The movement, Press Pause Chicago, is made of labor groups, community organizers, civil liberties organizations, and technologists.
They’re reacting to recent reports by the Chicago Sun-Times that said the city accessed inaccurate and racially-biased facial recognition technology for over a decade.
They say billions of images are being collected without people’s consent.
They also say the technology being used has a high percentage of false positives when monitoring people with darker colored skin.
“This technology is racially biased, and it is flawed,” said Muhammad Sankari from the Arab American Action Network.
The community groups are reaching out to city aldermen to get them behind a new ordinance.
They’re raising concerns of the police department’s use of facial recognition technology to spot criminals. Critics say it violates the civil rights of law abiding citizens.
The police department says it does not use the technology for surveillance.
“We strictly use these processes to solve crimes that have been reported, where we have evidence that gives us a person’s face, but not identity,” said Interim Police Superintendent Charlie Beck.
“We have a responsibility to use the best tools and technology to help safeguard Chicago but just as important is using that technology responsibly without infringing on people’s privacy of constitutional rights. We take that component very seriously,” said CPD Chief Communications Officer Anthony Guglielmi.
“This is a database in the hands of a private company,” said attorney Mike Kanovitz. “We, as citizens, have no control if we don’t resort to the courts to enforce that control over what becomes of this data.”
Clearview Ai, which is providing this technology, says it only searches for images that are already in the public domain, lawfully gathered from platforms like YouTube and Facebook.
But critics say the technology violates constitutional rights and the mayor campaigned on looking into this issue.
In a written statement Tuesday, Lightfoot says she promised to place a moratorium on the practice.
“If it was embedded in the city’s camera network and used for live or real-time surveillance purposes. The technology used by the Chicago Police Department is not connected to the city’s camera network and does not have or utilize any live or real time facial recognition technology.”
Press Pause Chicago is asking for the meeting with a mayor to discuss alternatives.
Mayor Lightfoot is in Washington, DC Tuesday to watch the State of the Union Address. | 1,267,440 |
to not advise the UK government to adopt the HPV vaccine for boys was changed to advise the introduction of that vaccine onto the UK vaccine schedule.
DAILY MAIL DOH ALTERS COMPUTER MODEL – APRIL 2018
TCF CELEBRATES VICTORY – JULY 2018
Let us be clear: no allegation of misconduct or fraud is inferred or stated here; in fact, this is how business appears to be done. But it begs an enormous question: is this right? Should individuals or companies that have benefited or may potentially benefit financially, e.g. from the sales of a vaccine, be allowed to form, fund or be part of pressure groups/committees or other organisations that can change policy in their favour? Especially when that will affect our children (or anyone for that matter) directly or indirectly by using their products?
Apparently, in the UK the answers is YES.
But should that remain the case? In fact, at least in relation to research, the recent European Parliament resolution of 19 April 2018 on vaccine hesitancy and the drop in vaccination rates in Europe (2017/2951(RSP)) proposed:
[T]hat researchers must declare any conflicts of interest; Proposes that researchers subject to a conflict of interest be excluded from evaluation panels; calls for the confidentiality of the deliberations of the EMA’s evaluation panel to be lifted; proposes that the scientific and clinical data which inform the conclusions of the panel, and whose anonymity is guaranteed in advance, be made public; recalls the importance of transparency in building and maintaining public trust in medicines.
We need to see that adopted across all spheres of influence, not just science.
Bias works on many levels; even the scientist who feels he is acting independently needs the rigor of the scientific method, statistics and peer review to ensure bias hasn’t crept into the process. And I’m sure that all those involved in the organisations we have discussed, similarly, may feel that no financial bias is at play here and they are working for what they feel is the common good. But unless potential conflicts of interest are removed and seen to be removed, how can the general public and those to be vaccinated be sure of that? I think the honest answer is – they can’t.
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Published to The Liberty Beacon from EuropeReloaded.com
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The Liberty Beacon Project is now expanding at a near exponential rate, and for this we are grateful and excited! But we must also be practical. For 7 years we have not asked for any donations, and have built this project with our own funds as we grew. We are now experiencing ever increasing growing pains due to the large number of websites and projects we represent. So we have just installed donation buttons on our main websites and ask that you consider this when you visit them. Nothing is too small. We thank you for all your support and your considerations … TLB
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Russia 'partially unblocks' Ukraine ports Published duration 4 December 2018 Related Topics Ukraine conflict
image copyright Reuters image caption File pic shows cargo ship sailing under Russian bridge across Kerch Strait
Ships have begun heading through the Kerch Strait again towards two key Ukrainian ports, a Ukrainian minister has said, nine days after Russia opened fire on three boats.
Mariupol and Berdyansk were "partially unblocked", said Volodymyr Omelyan.
Russia seized 24 Ukrainian sailors on 25 November in the first open clash between the two states since 2014.
The Ukrainians had initially headed towards Mariupol and were targeted in international waters.
How did crisis erupt?
Before the clash in the Black Sea, the government in Kiev had accused Russia of stopping cargo ships going to and from the two ports, which are in the Sea of Azov, shared by both states.
Earlier this year the Russian government opened a bridge across the Kerch Strait to Crimea, which Russia seized from Ukraine in 2014 and then annexed.
The Russians began inspecting ships and the Ukrainians accused them of imposing an economic blockade. After the clash, Kiev said no Ukrainian ships were allowed through.
Mr Omelyan, Ukraine's infrastructure minister, said on Tuesday that ships were "navigating through the Kerch Strait to and from Ukrainian ports". "They are stopped and inspected by Russia as before, but the traffic has been partially restored."
What does Russian move mean?
By Jonah Fisher, BBC Kiev correspondent
Legally a complete blockade on ships using Ukrainian ports was impossible to justify. So Russia appears to have gone back to the system it had in place before the Black Sea clash of 25 November.
It's what one Ukrainian official calls a "quiet" blockade.
That means some ships doing business with Ukraine are allowed through, but they face lengthy delays at the entrance to the strait.
image copyright EPA image caption Cargo traffic to and from Berdyansk has been reduced dramatically in recent weeks
Time is money for shipping companies, and an extra day at sea can cost up to $15,000 (£11,600; €13,150). So, visiting a Ukrainian Azov port remains a risky and potentially expensive undertaking.
It's unclear what would happen if Ukraine attempted to send its naval vessels through the strait again.
More from Jonah: Why Ukraine-Russia sea clash is fraught with risk
The Ukrainian minister said that 17 ships were queuing to enter the Sea of Azov and one was set to leave, while another nine ships were still in port.
There was no word from Russia about the movement of shipping through the strait. However, the development came as Nato foreign ministers met in Brussels to discuss the latest flare-up.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian media said violence had continued in eastern Ukraine, where pro-Russian separatists seized areas of two border regions in 2014. | 1,267,442 |
Twenty-three years after Nelson Mandela donned the Springboks jersey and cap to unite a nation, South Africa has a new hero.
Siya Kolisi was only four years old when the president walked on to Ellis Park to celebrate his country's victory at the 1995 Rugby World Cup final.
At that time the young boy was being raised by his grandmother in poverty in the township of Zwide in Port Elizabeth.
He never dreamed of being a rugby player and his main focus was finding food to survive. His grandmother died when he was 10 and his mother followed six years later.
Kolisi's potential at rugby emerged when he was awarded a place at a public school thanks to an outreach programme helping students from disadvantaged communities.
According to his boarding master at Grey High School, he could not speak a word of English but had "something special".
He represented his school and went on to play for Eastern Province, the Cape Town Stormers and the national under-20s side before winning his first cap in 2013.
Along the way he battled - like many others - against the assumption he was only earning his place because of the “quota” system which aims to make sure black players make up half of the Springbok team by the 2019 World Cup.
The decline in fortunes of the national team, and a recent run of bad results against Wales and Ireland, have led to calls for the quota to be dropped.
Nobody, however, has suggested that Kolisi was not in the team on merit.
Kolisi is inspiring more black players to take up the historically white-dominated sport (PA)
His appointment as captain by new coach Rassie Erasmus for the first Test against England was hailed as a landmark moment for a sport still haunted by its links to Apartheid.
Kolisi walked out on to Ellis Park on Saturday wearing the same number six jersey worn by Francois Pienaar and Nelson Mandela.
With the thrilling 42-39 victory over England, he is now inspiring more black players to take up the historically white-dominated sport and continue the work of Nelson Mandela.
"I don't see rugby as a job, I love doing what I do and I want to inspire as many people as I can especially those from the same background as me," Kolisi has told Rugby World.
"It's vital people are an example for younger kids, show them how you can make it in South Africa so they don't have to look elsewhere for role models, to America or other countries.
"No matter where you come from, if you put hard work in you can achieve. Kids in South Africa hopefully see people like me make it and give back to less fortunate people.”
The former Springbok winger Bryan Habana told the BBC: "It's a monumental moment for South African rugby, and a moment in South African history. | 1,267,443 |
I was browsing Twitter during Game 2 of the NBA Finals — doing anything possible to distract myself from, you know, the NBA Finals. This series is difficult for fans of competitive basketball, but it’s particularly tough for those of us that cheer for the Oklahoma City Thunder. The Warriors being MonStar-esque is one thing, but watching Kevin Durant personally destroy the Cavaliers is almost too much to stomach. I needed a hero to come distract me from the madness.
That’s when I stumbled across Brian Edwards.
Edwards, a Tulsa native, began popping up in tweets from Oracle Arena on Sunday night — and it was immediately clear he’s the hero OKC deserves, and also the one it needs right now. Along with wife Rebecca, the duo took in Game 2 while wearing full sets of Thunder armor. I had to learn a bit more about these wonderful human beings, so I tracked him down on Twitter and found him nice enough to answer some questions about what inspired this legendary act of Thunder fandom.
Meet your newest hero.
1. First and foremost — who are you, where are you from and what the heck were you doing in Oakland?
Brian and Rebecca Edwards from Broken Arrow, Oklahoma. I won tickets, hotel, and airfare playing the NBA InPlay app.
2. What made you decide the Russ jersey was appropriate? Were you nervous about the treatment you’d receive?
I debated all week long to family and friends about wearing either my [Thunder] Durant or Westbrook jersey. No, I haven’t burned my Durant jerseys. I had decided Durant, but my brother text me while I was in San Francisco and said I had better wear Westbrook. #whynot
3. How did Warriors fans react to the fashion statement? Did any one reaction stand out above the rest?
A few snickers and boos, but for the most part nobody said anything. Can’t blame a guy for wearing the 2017 MVP’s jersey. One guy in particular, @kingjamesofdfs had to take a picture and said that he had a lot of followers on Twitter. One fan where we were sitting was being obnoxious to a Cavs fan, so I think I made the right decision with the Westbrook jersey.
4. Your wife agreed that this was a good idea?
She is definitely the better half. She didn’t let me get too rowdy at all. We spent two days in San Francisco beforehand. It has been an amazing trip.
5. Worth it?
Absolutely. Free trip to California. Only wish it was OKC in the Finals. We had a blast. Thunder Up! So there you have it — today’s king of Thunder Nation. Shout out to Brian for being nice enough to answer some questions, and may he never have to pay for a beer at the ‘Peake ever again.
Author | 1,267,444 |
"My poor wife has resorted to using my TV family as our holiday card," Mark Consuelos said
Kelly Ripa has double the Christmas cards this year!
The Live with Kelly & Ryan host, 48, shared her family’s holiday greeting on Instagram Tuesday — and this year’s features husband Mark Consuelos‘ TV brood. “Tired of fighting with the kids over the holiday card photo? Problem solved! Thanks @camimendes @marisolnichols @instasuelos,” Ripa wrote along with a portrait of Consuelos and his Riverdale costars Marisol Nichols, who plays his wife Hermione Lodge, and Camila Mendes, who plays his daughter Veronica Lodge.
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Even more hilarious was the fine print on the holiday card.
“From our family to yours (No actual wives or children were used in this photo),” the description read on the Riverdale family photo.
And on the back of the card was a smiling family photo of Ripa and Consuelos with their three kids: sons Michael, 21, and Joaquin, 15, as well as 17-year-old daughter Lola. “Love, The Consuelos’ (ACTUAL FAMILY),” the description read.
Consuelos also shared the Christmas card on Instagram, writing, “My poor wife has resorted to using my TV family as our holiday card. Personally.. I think it’s her best work.”
Daughter Lola hilariously responded to her mother and father’s posts, simply commenting: “Wtf.”
Meanwhile, Mendes, 24, commented, “As your newly adopted daughter, I’m a little hurt that I wasn’t included in the ‘actually family’ photo,” while Nichols, 45, called Ripa a “genius.”
Ripa will soon be entering the Riverdale universe — and she could be disrupting her husband’s onscreen family dynamic.
Image zoom Kelly Ripa/Instagram
The mother of three recently filmed her cameo as Hiram Lodge’s alleged mistress Mrs. Mulwray. “It’s a family affair……..Hiram’s mistress. 23 years of auditioning for a role I was born to play. Coming soon to the @thecwriverdale,” Ripa wrote on Instagram.
She isn’t the first Consuelos family member to guest star. Their son Michael played the younger version of his father’s character for the season 3 special throwback episode.
Ripa previously revealed the couple’s kids enjoy watching their dad on the CW show, even if he isn’t like his character in real life. | 1,267,445 |
Blues fans have been poking a little fun at Doug Armstrong over the last few weeks, possibly as a bit of a nervous defense mechanism. Over a month ago now, Doug Armstrong stated that signing RFA Jaden Schwartz was the focus of the off-season. In the last month, Armstrong has re-signed Ken Hitchcock for a finale season, was spurned by assistant coaches Brad Shaw and Kirk Muller, rejected by potential assistant coach Scott Stevens, hired head-coach-in-waiting Mike Yeo, hired additional assistant coaches Rik Wilson and Steve Thomas, re-signed Kyle Brodziak, Dmitri Jaskin, and Scottie Upshall, appointed Jake Allen as the number one goalie by trading Brian Elliott and made qualifying offers to Magnus Paajarvi, Ty Rattie, and Anders Nilsson. The only thing he has done regarding Schwartz other than have discussions with his agent is to extend him a qualifying offer. He’s been busy over the last month but the jokes and all of the activity pokes fun at Schwartz being the focus of the off-season.According to various sources, one being Jeremy Rutherford ofstltoday.com, Schwartz is believed to be seeking a contract that will pay him over $6 million a year AAV, perhaps one that is just shy of Vladimir Tarasenko’s $7.5 million AAV deal. Unfortunately for Schwartz, the data suggests that he isn’t even a $6 million man before you even consider the Blues cap situation and his injury history.Based on Schwart’z ask, he would get a better contract than Blake Wheeler ($5.6 million AAV), Mats Zuccarello ($4.5 million AAV), and Filip Forsberg ($6 million AAV). Take a look at the player comparisons (based on contract year to contract year comparisons):WheelerZuccarelloForsbergHis ask is greater than the deals signed by Matt Duchene, Brad Marchand, James Neal and Max Pacioretty who both put up substantially better numbers before their contract extensions and more akin to Jeff Skinner. In reviewing the data, it seems pretty compelling that Schwartz should be in the low to mid $5 million range for a 5-6 year contract. Given the situation, I would have turned my attention to other things that needed accomplishment as well. Hopefully, the reports we have seen are mostly posturing and a low to mid $5 million deal will be reached though the Blues may not be that unhappy with a 1 year deal born out of arbitration.As a reminder, this isn’t the first time Schwartz and the Blues appear to have been significantly apart in contract talks. Reports in early September of 2014 suggested the two sides were far apart though they later agreed to a two year deal before the end of the month. How long this deal takes remains to be seen and likely hinges more on Schwartz bringing his contract expectations more in line with other players.It’s a great day for hockey. | 1,267,446 |
THE HISTORY OF APPLAUSE
Some have said that clapping is like high-fiving yourself in a positive response to something that someone else has done. Clapping is the most common sound that we, as humans, use without our voice chords. We do it as a social gesture to show approval and admiration in groups, crowds, or by ourselves, and more so in the setting of being presented with something like a show or performance. But what is the reason behind why we clap? Did you know that the average speed of our claps ranges from 2.5-5 claps per second? The meaning of clapping is recognized through every culture in the world, and is one of the most universal means of communication. Let’s take a look at the history of applause.
The action of clapping is actually a quite primitive one, initially being used in response to being aroused. In Western etiquette, a study has shown that the clap of an individual actually has very little to do with that individual’s personal opinion of the quality of the performance. It has more to do with the feeling of belonging in the group that someone has just experienced something with. Haven’t you ever heard someone say that they’re “just clapping to be polite”? Or when you applaud because everyone else is clapping, even if you’re not really sure what’s going on yourself? Don’t worry, we won’t tell anyone!
In comparison to vocalizing approval through speech, clapping is easier, louder, and more anonymous especially in crowds. You can’t tell much about a person through their clap, like whether they’re male or female, or where they’re from. Clapping is even considered more democratic, since stomping your feet can be too disruptive, and not everyone can snap their fingers. Taking it way back to 6th century BC, lawmaker Kleisthénes of Athens made it so that audiences would have to clap in approval of their leader, since there were too many people to meet individually. Through this came the “applause”, the unified voices of all these people in the form of clapping together in admiration. A few hundred years later, in the 4th century BC came the claquer. A claquer was a person who was hired by theaters and shows to clap, cry, or laugh at the right moments in order to influence the audience’s reactions. In the 4th century Athens, competition was fierce between comedians, and claquers became a common way to sway the decision of the judges and be awarded best performance. In the Roman Empire, the practice of using applause to influence was applied to politics, and claquers were found in both courts of law and private art demonstrations. Roman emperor Nero even established a school of applause with a claque of thousands of knights and soldiers following his concert tours! | 1,267,447 |
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My name is Jarrod Wirth Independent Candidate for the Brisbane City Council - Mayoral Election Please allow me to "Welcome, Welkom, Mire se vini, Welkomma, Ahlan Wa Sahlan, Bari galoust, Xos gelmissiniz, I bisimila, Akwaba, Ongi etorri, ščyra zaprašajem, Swagata, Amrehba sisswène, Ani kié, Dobro došli, Degemer mad, Kyo tzo pa eit, Huan ying, Benvinguts, Ulihelisdi, Bonavinuta, Vitame Vas, Velkommen, Bonvenon, Tere tulemast, Woezor, Bienvenue, Binvignut, Bin la v'nu, Kalos ilthate, Eguahé porá, Mikouabô, Bienvéni, E komo mai, Swaa-gat hai, Tos txais, üdvözlet, Selamat Datang, Velkomin, Cead Mile Failte, Benvenuto, Irasshai, Amrehva ysswène, Chum reap sour, Murakaza neza, Osay-o, Nodé, Bakherben, Bi xer hati, Gnindi ton hap, Gratus mihi venis, Laipni lūdzam, Benvegnûi, Boyeyi bolamu, Sveiki atvykę, Dobredojde, Tonga soa, Merħba, Kia Ora, Miawezon, Tavtai morilogtun, Namaste, Khosh âmadid, Muito Bem Vindo, Multumesc, Dobro pojalovat, Afio mai, Fàilte, Wauya, Wilujeng sumping, Mabuhay, Nal-varravu, Rahim itegez, Yindii ton rap, Malo e lelei, Kalosorisate, Hosgeldiniz, Akwaaba, Gazhasa oetiśkom, Laskavo prosymo, Tash-reef Laa-i-ye, Croeso", you to my personal website in just a number of the many languages that are spoken in the homes and family's living in Brisbane. Thankyou for taking the time to learn more about me with regard to making an informed decision on your vote for in this year's Brisbane City Council - Mayoral Election - Saturday, 19 March 2016. <====== Please click on any of the 8 ‘page’ links at the left of the webpage to view a further detail. | 1,267,448 |
CHESAPEAKE, Va. – As many schools move away from re-telling the traditional Thanksgiving story, parents and staff at StoneBridge School kicked off their very own Christian Heritage Day, an annual celebration that pays homage to the nation's first Pilgrims and the Native Americans who helped them.
This year, the entire campus transformed into Plymouth Plantation, the second English settlement in the New World. It's a big undertaking for this small private school that boasts just under 400 students from preschool through 12th grade.
"It gives the students an opportunity to go back in time and'mildly' experience what they've learned about early European exploration and settlement on the (North American) continent, "5th-grade teacher, Candice Square-Miles, explained.
Every year, preschool through 5th-grade students dress as Pilgrims and Native Americans — and an occasional turkey — while they learn more about what life would have been like for the country's early settlers.
In addition to learning the history, it's also a day to celebrate God as Provider.
Seeing God's providential hand in history is paramount at StoneBridge, especially as the traditional story of Thanksgiving grows increasingly controversial.
"Christian Heritage Day is important because we want our students to understand the biblical foundation of our country," 2nd-grade teacher Susan Byrum said. Byrum is a 15-year veteran at the school.
She explained how she loves to teach the children about the different ways God intervened on the Pilgrims' behalf and provided for them through various Native Americans.
In between "skinning" small animals and trying squirrel meat, students learn about the life of Squanto through a historical reenactment.
"Squanto served as a type of Joseph (biblical figure in Genesis) to Pilgrims," Byrum explained.
This historic member of the Patuxet tribe of Massachusetts helped facilitate peace between the English settlers and the surrounding native tribes. He is a central figure in the first Thanksgiving story.
"We celebrate our Christian heritage through the Pilgrim Story as we look back and think about all they did to plant a new way of life in the wilderness. I'm grateful for God's Hand of Providence in their miraculous story," Head of School, Kathy Rader, said.
The first winter after the Mayflower landed, more than half of the colonists died from disease, starvation, and frigid temperatures. Without the neighboring Wampanoags teaching the Pilgrims how to hunt and harvest shellfish, the remaining colonists would have died.
"As we celebrate Thanksgiving Day, let us all remember that God alone gives life, and God alone sustains us through His Spirit in times of plenty and hardship," Rader added.
StoneBridge School equips students to view history through a providential lens, to help them understand how God uses individuals and circumstances to transform a nation's character and advance His Kingdom. | 1,267,449 |
In a pre-Super Bowl interview on Sunday, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell refused to acknowledge that the game of football had any role in the brain injuries suffered by numerous players who are suing the league.
CBS host Bob Schieffer asked Goodell if he would let his son play football after President Barack Obama recently told The New Republic that he would have to "think long and hard" before letting his son play football.
"Absolutely," the NFL commissioner insisted. "I have twin daughters just like the president, and I'm concerned when they play any sport. The second-highest incidents of concussions is actually girls soccer. So what you have to do is to make sure the game is as safe as possible. In the NFL, we're changing the rules, we're making sure the equipment is the best possible equipment, we're investing in research to make sure we can address concussions, not just to make football safer at the NFL level, but all levels in other sports."
"Do you now acknowledge that there is a link between the game and these concussions?" Schieffer pressed, noting that widows of NFL players had urged him to ask the question.
"That's why we're investing in the research," Goodell replied without fully answering the question. "So that we can answer the question, what is the link? What causes some of the injuries that our players are still dealing with? And we take those issues very seriously."
"For years the league would not acknowledge, really, that there was a connection," Schieffer pointed out. "You now acknowledge that there is a connection?"
"Well, Bob, again, we're going to let the medical individuals make those points," Goodell dodged. "We're going to give them the money, advance that science. In the meantime, we have to do everything we can to advance the game and make sure it's safe."
In fact, studies have shown that contact sports like football are linked to concussions, and NFL players are at a higher risk for Alzheimer's, ALS, abnormal brain proteins and depression.
Last year, more than 2,000 former professional football players filed a lawsuit accusing the NFL concealing information about the link between concussions and long-term brain injuries. And the family of former linebacker Junior Seau is also suing the league, alleging that his suicide was linked to concussions sustained while playing the game.
But for his part, Goodell insisted on Sunday that his organization had no role in concealing the risks of concussions.
"In fact, we're all learning more about brain injuries, and the NFL has led the way," he declared. "We started a concussion committee back in the mid-90s with the players' association to study these issues and advance science. We're obviously now learning more and more, and we're investing more and more. And I think that's going to lead to answers, even outside of brain injury, even to brain disease." | 1,267,450 |
John Kasich. AP Photo/John Minchillo
John Kasich has a simple message for Republicans who are struggling with how to respond to the 2005 tape that leaked last week of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump boasting about using his celebrity status to grope women.
"Lead by example," he told Business Insider in a Thursday interview.
The Ohio governor and onetime 2016 presidential hopeful, who was the last Trump challenger to drop out of the GOP primary, released an extended response to the tape over the weekend. In that response, he said the tape was not "surprising to me or many others."
"Many people were angry and questioned why I would not endorse Donald Trump or attend the Republican convention," he said. "I've long had concerns with Donald Trump that go beyond his temperament."
He mentioned that the two had "substantive" policy differences on trade, Russia, and the budget, adding that Trump had not changed his "disqualifying" policy stances.
"I've also encouraged him to change his behavior for the better and offer a positive, inclusive vision for our country, but he has not," he said. "It's clear that he hasn't changed and has no interest in doing so. As a result, Donald Trump is a man I cannot and should not support."
Many Republicans had quickly condemned the leaked tape, in which Trump said he could "grab" women "by the p---y" because "when you're a star they let you do it."
Sens. John McCain of Arizona, Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire, Mike Crapo of Idaho, Cory Gardner of Colorado, and Rob Portman of Ohio all unendorsed the Manhattan billionaire, who has since had several women emerge to accuse him of making unwanted sexual advances on them. Trump has vehemently denied those claims.
Republican congressional leadership, including House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, condemned Trump's comments but did not unendorse the mogul, though Ryan said he would no longer campaign for the GOP nominee. Trump went on to rip Ryan and McCain in the coming days.
Others, such as Sens. John Thune of South Dakota and Deb Fischer of Nebraska, called for Trump to drop out of the race over the weekend but then clarified or shifted their positions to include support for Trump or potential for it.
During his Thursday interview, Kasich said his original statement says it all.
"I don't have any more words," he said. "I've tried to do the best I can to lead by my actions in an appropriate way without recrimination or anything like that, because I... I'm a very happy person. I don't think I need to say any more than what I've demonstrated."
"And my action over the weekend was not based on just this incident, which is terrible — it's been a whole consistent message of division and anger," he said. "And I don't support that." | 1,267,451 |
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Mercedes boss Toto Wolff has suggested the subject of top teams running third cars for junior drivers will be discussed at next week's Formula 1 Strategy Group meeting.
Wolff has been struggling to find seats for Esteban Ocon and F2 points leader George Russell, and has agreed to release current DTM driver Pascal Wehrlein, allowing the German to pursue a potential opportunity with Toro Rosso as a free agent. He sees third cars as the ideal compromise.
"I like the idea because the more cars we have in the field, and the more opportunity we give to young exciting drivers to fight in a competitive car against experienced drivers, it would create great stories," said Wolff.
"But we've had quite some push back for the idea, for reasons that I respect.
"That would mean there are three Mercedes and three Ferraris and three Red Bulls, and I respect that, if I would be involved in a smaller team, that would be an argument.
"Then the costs need to be looked at, whether it would be commercially viable to run a third car and have young drivers in that.
"I would just really enjoy it, have a third Mercedes and put Pascal in there or George or Esteban, and just see what they are able to do."
Although it's understood the subject is not currently on the agenda, Wolff expects it to be debated by the Strategy Group.
However, he acknowledged that tabled as a Mercedes idea, it might not get much support.
"I think we're going to discuss it next Wednesday again. I'm not the flavour of the month in F1 at the moment, so the ideas I bring up somehow end up in the bin.
"Better I'm not saying anything then someone else brings it up as the next great idea."
Asked by Autosport why Mercedes could consider finding a budget for a third car but would not for example pay the market rate for a seat at Williams to place one of its drivers, he said: "Because I think that a third car would be very easy to finance, even putting another brand on the car and giving it a completely different livery and a different story.
"It's easier to market a junior driver that drives in a Mercedes and a Ferrari, that is exciting."
Wolff said there were different ways of ensuring that third cars didn't interfere with the world championship.
"We've looked at various scenarios, you could even let them participate in the sessions and qualifying, but let them do their own race, if teams feel that meddling in the championship is not right, or don't make them score constructor points, just driver points.
"So there would be many fantastic and exciting ways to integrate them on the grid, but you have to respect that if some teams are not up for it, then it's difficult to implement it." | 1,267,452 |
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MSNBC host Chris Matthews “inappropriately flirted” with a much younger female guest on at least two occasions while she was getting made up to appear on his “Hardball” show, the woman wrote Friday.
Freelance journalist Laura Bassett, who previously wrote about the incidents in 2017 without naming Matthews, identified him in a column published by GQ.
“I was afraid to name him at the time for fear of retaliation from the network; I’m not anymore,” she wrote.
During one incident in 2016, Matthews — who’s married to Kathleen Matthews, a former Maryland Democratic Party chairwoman — allegedly “looked over at me in the makeup chair next to him and said, ‘Why haven’t I fallen in love with you yet?'” Bassett wrote.
“When I laughed nervously and said nothing, he followed up to the makeup artist. ‘Keep putting makeup on her, I’ll fall in love with her.'”
Another time, Bassett said, Matthews complimented her red dress and asked, “You going out tonight?”
When Bassett replied that she didn’t know, Matthews reportedly told the makeup artist, “Make sure you wipe this off her face after the show. We don’t make her up so some guy at a bar can look at her like this.”
Bassett said that although she’s “pretty sure that behavior doesn’t rise to the level of illegal sexual harassment…it undermined my ability to do my job well.”
Bassett, who uses a screenshot from an appearance on “Hardball” as her profile photo on Twitter, also said her interactions with Matthews made her “noticeably uncomfortable on air.”
Despite not naming Matthews in 2017, Bassett said that “dozens of people reached out to say they knew exactly who it was” because his off-camera behavior with guests is an “open secret.”
Matthews “often creeps up to the line of sexual harassment without actually crossing it, so that women can never feel that it’s worth jeopardizing their own careers to complain,” she added.
Bassett’s expose came just days after Matthews offered an on-air apology to Sen. Bernie Sanders for comparing the Democratic presidential candidate’s victory in the Nevada caucus to the Nazi invasion of France during World War II.
Sanders is Jewish and had relatives killed in the Holocaust.
A spokesperson for “Hardball” didn’t immediately return a request for comment. | 1,267,453 |
Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) said Tuesday that climate change poses an “immediate danger,” while decrying the lack of school teachers equipped to educate students concerning its perils.
Ms. Feinstein spoke as part of her push for the “Climate Change Education Act,” a bill that would allocate resources to prepare teachers to promote the climate change agenda in schools.
“Despite the immediate danger posed by climate change, many middle school and high school teachers lack the training to teach students about it,” Feinstein said in a tweet. “Our bill will create professional development grants for teachers to ensure students are getting the best education they can.”
Despite the immediate danger posed by climate change, many middle school and high school teachers lack the training to teach students about it. Our bill will create professional development grants for teachers to ensure students are getting the best education they can. pic.twitter.com/Fj4ZJReRA4 — Sen Dianne Feinstein (@SenFeinstein) February 19, 2019
The new legislation proposes to “increase the climate literacy of the United States by broadening the understanding of climate change, including possible long-term and short-term consequences and potential solutions.”
As a premise, the bill declares that the “evidence for human-induced climate change is overwhelming and undeniable” and that atmospheric carbon “can be significantly reduced through conservation, by shifting to renewable energy sources such as solar, wind, tidal, and geothermal, and by increasing the efficiency of buildings, including domiciles, and transportation.”
Neither of these assertions is self-evident or proven, but they are the basis for everything that follows in the proposed legislation.
“Providing clear information about climate change, in a variety of forms, can remove the fear and the sense of helplessness, and encourage individuals and communities to take action,” the bill continues, without explaining how teaching kids that climate change puts their families in “immediate danger” will help allay their fears.
The legislation seems aimed at defusing the broad skepticism toward climate change that currently reigns in the United States by indoctrinating children “with attitudes, skills, and knowledge about the climate that inform their actions.”
Curiously, in a Senate hearing last year Feinstein denounced the zealous Catholic faith of Amy Coney Barrett, a nominee for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, saying: “the dogma lives loudly within you. And that’s of concern when you come to big issues that large numbers of people have fought for for years in this country.”
In so doing, Ms. Feinstein provided a catchphrase that proves remarkably apt to describe her own ardent climate-change beliefs.
“The dogma lives loudly within you.”
Follow Thomas D. Williams on Twitter Follow @tdwilliamsrome | 1,267,454 |
Gossip Girl here, giving you the 411 on new information from some of New York’s most elite characters.
Chace Crawford recently sat down to speak to Digital Spy, and the actor (who is known for playing Nate Archibald in the popular CW series) told them that he would be more than happy to reprise his role as New York’s badboy.
“I don’t know what it would look like with us being in our 30s now, but I always say, because it was such a big part of my life, I’m open to anything,” Crawford told the publication.
Gossip Girl CW
“It would have to be really right, and really specific, and with TV and the golden age of the TV streaming service, maybe an eight-episode season.
“It would be very tough to get everybody on board I think because of their schedules, Penn, Leighton, Ed… They’re all doing really good TV shows. It would be hard I think [to get them all together]. The reboot might come in the form of new characters. I would absolutely cameo. I’d have to!”
Chace’s former co-star, Penn Badgely has current found success after his Lifetime series YOU appeared on Netflix six months ago, and left people hooked with his ‘stalkery/murder-obsessed character. Strangely enough, many people thought that his YOU character had similar undertones to his Gossip Girl counterpart, lonely boy Dan Humphrey.
YOU is currently in production for season two, and Penn recently spoke out about how much darker it is compared to the first season.
Discussing the �gruesome� sophomore season, Badgley told Entertainment Tonight (via The Hook), �There are some things I�ve done with prosthetic bodies in this (new) season that were kind of nauseating as I did them, I will say that.� While he doesn�t expand on what this means, it sounds like Joe is channelling some serious Hannibal Lecter vibes.
He then went on to explain the tough pill to swallow when Joe decided to spectacularly kill Elizabeth Lail�s Beck. Badgley added:
�There�s a revisitation of that with Joe in the second episode of the second season, where you get to see a bit more of the hard reality of what he did to her. Whereas you�re sort of, for better or worse, mercifully saved from seeing that in the first season.
�That always haunts me, thinking of Beck. It�s like, �You really did that in the first season, and we�re still going, and people really like this guy?!� That�s disturbing. In his mind, she�s not even dead.�
[Featured Image Credit: CW Gossip Girl] | 1,267,455 |
The kidnapping of Nicholas Tsouflidis, president of popular local breakfast chain Cora, was not connected to organized crime, police said on Friday.
In a statement, the SQ asked for the public's help tracing any witnesses to the kidnapping. Police believe that the motive for the crime was ransom or extortion.
"At the time of the event, at least two men reportedly arrived at the victim's residence in a blue sedan," they said. "The investigation suggests that the victim was abducted in order to obtain money in return and the kidnapping was not linked to organized crime."
Police say they are hoping someone in the area of Dagenais Blvd and Montee Champagnee in Laval near where he was found might have seen the vehicle, or that maybe someone knows who might have done this. The victim told police he did not know the men.
Anyone with information is asked to contact the SQ at 1-800-659-4264.
While the Surete du Quebec did not identify the kidnapped man, representatives of the chain confirmed it was Tsouflidis on Thursday. The night before at around 10:00 p.m., 44-year-old Tsouflidis was forcibly taken from his Mirabel home and was found, bound by duct tape, 18 kilometres away in Laval.
At around 6 a.m. that day, an unnamed witness phoned in to Montreal radio station 98.5 FM to report that a man, then unidentified, had been kidnapped and found wandering out from a roadside ditch, confused.
“I saw that he was bound with duct tape. He was very happy to see us—he kept repeating ‘I was kidnapped, I was kidnapped,’” the witness told 98.5 FM.
The investigation has been put in the hands of the Surete du Quebec, who said the man was taken to hospital as a preventive measure. They would not confirm the identity of the suspect, and would not shed light on the motive.
Tsouflidis is the youngest son of franchise founder Cora Tsouflidou, who opened the first “Chez Cora” snack bar in 1987. The chain now boasts 50 locations in Quebec, and more than 130 across Canada. Nicholas Tsouflidis took over as president in 2008 after holding numerous positions in the restaurant since its inception.
Lucie Normandin, vice-president of the Cora Group, said in an interview that it will be up to police to determine why Tsouflidis was kidnapped.
"Nicholas is fine," she said in an interview, adding she'd just spoken to him. "Like the news said, he was kidnapped and he was released. Someone found him."
Normandin said she had no idea why he would be kidnapped.
Friends said he is resting at home and too shaken up to speak with reporters.
With files from Sidhartha Banerjee of The Canadian Press | 1,267,456 |
As several American Indians looked on, the Colorado House on Monday approved a bill designed to eliminate public school mascots and names deemed offensive to Indians.
House Bill 1165 would create a subcommittee in the Colorado Commission of Indian Affairs to review the use of American Indian mascots. If the panel or a tribe approves a mascot, no further action is required, but without an OK, the school has two years to stop the use of the mascot or face a $25,000-a-month fine.
The Denver Post recently reported that in Lamar, the team name Savages is revered, including by those who claim American Indian ancestry.
Elicia Goodsoldier, a commissioner with the Denver American Indian Commission, opposes that mascot name. She earlier testified in committee that various studies show the use of Indian mascots has a negative psychological impact on American Indian students.
“The Native American youth are dying by suicide at a rate 400 percent greater than the national average,” she said in an interview on the House floor. ” A lot of it has to do with racism. It exists.”
Goodsoldier, whose mother is Navajo and Sioux, said the bill doesn’t outright ban mascots, but instead forces districts to talk to American Indians members about the use, setting up a dialogue she believes is helpful.
The bill is sponsored by two Democratic lawmakers, Reps. Joe Salazar of Thornton and Jovan Melton of Aurora.
Even if the Democratic-controlled House passes the bill on an official vote, which could come as early as Tuesday, it likely won’t survive the Republican-controlled Senate, according to some GOP members.
Several Republican lawmakers testified against the bill. Rep. Tim Dore, R-Elizabeth, has the Lamar Savages and Yuma Indians in his vast district. He said those school districts already struggle financially and would have to lay off teachers if fines were imposed.
Rep. Steve Humphrey, R-Severance, called the bill “wrong headed, overreaching and controversial.” He said he talked to the superintendent in Eaton, home of the Eaton Reds, who said it would cost $200,000 or more to replace uniforms, gym floors and such. The logo is a big-nosed Indian with his arms folded.
“That money’s not there,” he said.
Rep. Paul Lundeen, R-Monument, said the decision to ban a mascot should be made by local schools, not imposed by the state.
“They should be stamped down, snuffed down, eliminated by virtue of the elected individuals from those in the communities as opposed to being bossed around, if you will, by an appointed task force,” Lundeen said.
Lynn Bartels: 303-954-5327, [email protected] or twitter.com/lynn_bartels | 1,267,457 |
IBM is using the blockchain to speed up and simplify cross-border payments
The blockchain has long been seen as a method to quicken (and cheapen) cross-border payments, and now that movement — which includes a number of startups making moves privately — just got its highest profile advocate after IBM announced its own solution focused on banks.
The computing giant has teamed up with blockchain startup Stellar and payment company Kickex to launch a cross-border payment system for banks which uses the blockchain to “reduce the settlement time and lower the cost of completing global payments for businesses and consumers.”
Currently, international transactions take days, if not weeks, to be completed. Frustration with that has seen services like TransferWise rise, but, great as they are, they remain solutions for savvy consumers or small businesses rather than all.
A blockchain solution for banks addresses the root cause, and it could minimize the potential for errors thanks to the ledger-based system while also providing transparency and flexibility to banks.
In one example, IBM said its service could be used to connect a farmer in Samoa with a buyer based in Indonesia, while covering more than just the payment itself.
“The blockchain would be used to record the terms of the contract, manage trade documentation, allow the farmer to put up collateral, obtain letters of credit, and finalize transaction terms with immediate payment, conducting global trade with transparency and relative ease,” it said.
That’s the longer term objective but already the system is being used in 12 currency corridors between the Pacific Islands and Australia, New Zealand and the UK. It is tipped to handle 60 percent of cross-border payments from South Pacific’s retail industry within the next year and there are wider plans beyond that.
More than a dozen banks are part of the initial group working with the program, which has plans to expand into South America, Southeast Asia and other areas early next year.
“With the guidance of some of the world’s leading financial institutions, IBM is working to explore new ways to make payment networks more efficient and transparent so that banking can happen in real-time, even in the most remote parts of the world,” Bridget van Kralingen, Senior Vice President of IBM Industry Platforms, said in a statement.
The system runs on the IBM Blockchain Platform, which itself is based on the open source Hyperledger Fabric that powers IBM’s “Blockchain as a service” announced earlier this year. It is also a notable example of a private blockchain (IBM) working with a public blockchain (Stellar) since Stellar handles the actual settlement of transactions, as CoinDesk noted.
IBM recently partnered with Walmart and others to use the blockchain to improve food safety through increased transparency and traceability.
Note: Post updated to correct that IBM’s blockchain is public while Stellar’s is private. | 1,267,458 |
Recently, Aidan Woods, British security researcher has discovered a bug in Google login page. It allows malware attacks and affects all browsers as well as all operating systems. However, Google Security Team has made the decision not to register it as a security bug.
The issue enables the cunning attackers to insert compromised redirect destination after a click on the Sign In button. Furthermore, due to this currently exploitable bug, the attackers can automatically download files on the users’ computers.
Google uses the parameter “continue=/link/” in the login page. Its function is to guide Google server where to redirect the user once he passes through the authentication step. In his experiment, Adrian Woods ascertains that this parameter is vulnerable and can be easily abused. According to him even though the parameter is set to undergo a basic check if the redirect points to *.google.com/*, it could not verify the type of Google service that follows. This, in turn, may cause security issues.
Where Does the Danger of Malware Infection Lie?
Maybe you are wondering:
What could be the security issue regarding the fact that links to different Google services could pass the necessary check on the “continue” parameter implemented in the login process?
Well, let’s turn your attention to Google Drive and Google Docs services which URLs contain the strings drive.google.com and docs.google.com. And to be more concert *.google.com/*. Therefore an attacker could be discerning enough to upload malware to Google Drive or Google Docs account. What follows is to take the URL, go to the official Google login page and hide the link in the URL address. Afterward, they will probably try to mislead users by sending spear-phishing emails that contain their malicious link. Watch out carefully all received emails that provide an option to Google login URL.
“Always check the URL – before entering credentials – including at each stage of the login process.”
By accessing the misleading page, entering the login credentials, and pressing the Sign In button users become victims of cyber-attack. Actually, the click on the Sign In button leads to an automatic download of a malicious file on the PC. Less technical users might be tricked into installing malware on their computers by the smartly named exe files. Names for example:
Login_Challenge.exe
Two-Factor-Authentication.exe
Google’s Position on the Case
Adrian Woods has successfully contacted Google Security Team. He had opened several reports on the issue anyway all his reports were closed. On his site, he published the last report and it ends with this statement made by Google:
„Hey, Thanks for your bug report and research to keep our users secure! We’ve investigated your submission and made the decision not to track it as a security bug…“
He has also provided a video on the faulty login pages. | 1,267,459 |
not, a contract is a contract. I’ll grant your nonsense favor.”
Tears rolled from Subaru’s eyes to his cheeks. “Seriously?” he asked. “I can’t believe I’m crying because of a little girl…”
“Don’t call me a little girl! And, if you tell Bubby, you’ll regret it, I suppose! Hmph!”
Subaru couldn’t sleep, at all. He only kept on seeing nightmares. Nightmares of Rem trying to kill him, Emilia crying, Justice trying to get revenge on Rem. Even in his dreams, Subaru wasn’t able to do anything. He hated himself. He hated himself for being so useless that he couldn’t do anything.
During the end of the third day, he was sleeping. He continued to see the same nightmares that haunted him. Just as Rem was about to kill him, once again, he could feel someone hold both of his hands, causing his nightmare to get banished. He was soon woken up by a kick from Beatrice to his face.
She explained to him that it was the fourth day and let him stay at the Forbidden Library, for the time being. Subaru read countless fairy tails, but the one he was most interested in, was the one about the demons trying to take over the world. Soon, Beatrice stood up from her stool.
“Bubby is calling me. I don’t care if you stay here. You’ll be safe here, I suppose,” she stated, leaving the library. Subaru walked up to the doors and hesitantly opened them. Realizing it was morning, he fell onto his knees and began to laugh, claiming that it was “this easy.”
Author’s Comments
Ahhh, it’s me, Mugen. Once again, I am VERY sorry for this Chapter coming out late. I was deathly sick from last weekend to this one—I am not exaggerating—so I was not able to upload a Chapter. You guessed it, this Chapter was also supposed to be longer, but I wanted to get something out, so, I released what I already had written. I really need to fix up my uploading schedule, man.
I plan on giving you guys two Chapters on one day, just not this week though, as I will be extremely busy with finals. Speaking of finals, due to them, there is a high chance that I will not upload any Chapters this Friday, but, if I do, then expect that Chapter to be very rushed and short.
Anyways, I hope that Re:Hero can return to becoming a weekly release soon. That’s all I have to say, see you guys next Chapter!
Until Next Time!
— Mugen | 1,267,460 |
LinkedIn and Yelp have been hot stocks this year. But shares of both companies tumbled Wednesday on concerns about future earnings and worries that the stocks may be overvalued.
LinkedIn (LNKD) did beat earnings and sales forecasts for the third quarter. But the stock fell more than 6% after the social media company warned that sales for the fourth quarter would be below forecasts.
The company said it expected revenue of $415 to $420 million in the next quarter. Analysts had been expecting sales to reach $439 million. While LinkedIn may just be playing it safe with their outlook, the forecast alarmed investors who have gotten used to strong results every quarter from the company. Shares of LinkedIn have more than doubled this year.
The stock trades at a very high valuation of more than 100 times 2014 earnings estimates. By way of comparison, rival social media firm Facebook (FB), which will report earnings after the closing bell Wednesday, trades at 49 times 2014 earnings estimates. That is obviously expensive as well.
But analysts at Sterne Agee wrote in a report after LinkedIn's earnings that LinkedIn has a "significant premium" to its peers and that much of the enthusiasm about the company is already factored into LinkedIn's stock price.
LinkedIn does have a lot going for it. The company is profitable and growing rapidly. But some analysts worry that the company could stumble if the U.S. economy loses momentum. The company depends on advertising dollars as well as users willing to pay for premium services to help them find jobs and stay connected with other business professionals.
The same goes for Yelp Inc (YELP), a local business reviewing social site that could also suffer if nervous consumers are less willing to search for restaurants and local merchants.
But Yelp faces some problems that LinkedIn does not have to worry about. Shares of Yelp tumbled 6% after the company reported a wider-than-expected loss. The company also said it plans to sell more stock, which often worries shareholders since new shares dilute the value of their existing investment.
Yelp's stock has soared more than 240% this year despite concerns about growing competition from the likes of Facebook and Google (GOOG).
Nonetheless, Yelp is promising additions to its service to attract more users. Yelp recently purchased SeatMe, which will let people make reservations at businesses on the site. That's a feature offered by rival OpenTable (OPEN).
Yelp also announced an offering to let businesses serve customers online via "Yelp Platform."
Analysts at Jefferies are hopeful that the new features will make it easier for Yelp to generate more advertising revenue. The analysts wrote in a report that they are a "low cost way" for Yelp to make more money from its "large and growing traffic to its properties."
But investors learned the hard way Wednesday that when a stock price goes up as dramatically as LinkedIn and Yelp have, it's tough to live up to the considerable expectations and hype. | 1,267,461 |
About This Game Exiled Kingdoms is a single-player Action-RPG that allows you to roam freely through a unique world, full with surprises and adventure. It is an isometric game, inspired by the classics in many ways: a challenging environment to explore, choices with consequences, and a simple but versatile rulesystem enabling endless ways to develop your character. Each of your character stats will make a difference, and the world is highly reactive; new conversation options might be enabled with high intelligence, or vary depending of your standing with the many factions or your previous actions.
Explore a vast world: no one will point you to the best hidden secrets in the 135 areas. Talk to over 300 NPCs with unique dialogues, and solve 90 quests ranging from the "stereotypical" menial tasks in early levels, to epic-scale plots full with twists and hard choices. Customize your character with 70 skills and hundreds of different items. Overcome all kind of monsters and antagonists, choosing carefully the weapons or powers for each encounter if you want to have a chance. And return to the classical dungeon crawl, with traps and secret doors, and death awaiting the unwary adventurer behind every corner.
Exiled Kingdoms is a huge game, with content hand-crafted during 4 years of development and writing. It easily counts 120+ hours of gameplay for the average player, and much more taking into account replayability. Story introduction: A dark tale, and a brave new world
A century ago, the Andorian Empire was destroyed by a magical cataclysm that brought The Horrors into our world; humanity was nearly annihilated. Many thousand managed to escape sailing away to the Imperial Colony of Varannar: a savage island, dangerous and unexplored. Mistrust and blame made impossible to elect a new Emperor, and the four Exiled Kingdoms were proclaimed.
Nowadays, the ragtag kingdoms still struggle to survive in a harsh land, often waging war on each other and slowly declining into barbarism. Empire and the Horrors are, for many, just old legends and fairytales. But as a novice adventurer you rarely pay attention to such old stories; you're more concerned with your latest misfortunes and chronically empty purse.
But for once, luck seems to be on your side. A magical letter from New Garand materialized in your hands; it states that you are the sole beneficiary of a big inheritance. You don’t remember any relatives in the capital of the Kingdom of Varsilia, but certainly that won’t stop you from an opportunity like this! The road to New Garand will reveal many surprises, and will teach you that fairytales and legends can become, in fact, very real.
Note about assets: part of the art used in the game, trailer and screenshots is shared under different open licenses. You can check a full list at the Exiled Kingdoms website which includes all the details about license and the original authors. | 1,267,462 |
'Call to Meal' after cooking to get another Sim to eat with yours. Your Sim's Fun, Hunger, and Social needs will go up, while the Relationship bar should tick slowly right as you use the occasional Interaction.
Use Emotional Auras and Decor to Your Advantage
Looking to make a boyfriend or girlfriend? Use Flirty Paintings and invite over the Sim you want to woo. The game's Career Rewards offer many means of influencing your Sims' Emotions, but also those of your guest. Decor itself will help Sims to be Happy, which has a huge impact on how accepting they are of friendly or romantic advances. Decorate an area and use it for Socializing. This can have very powerful results.
Realize some Sims are Hard to Befriend
Some Sims just don't seem to want friends, and will reject almost any kind advance thrown at them. If you get in a situation where nothing seems to work, you'd be best moving on to another Sim just as you might in reality.
Raw Data
DarkWalker posted some scores for Mood, Relationship, and Charisma impacts on Socialization. What we can learn from this is how Charisma affects Funny, Romantic, and Mischievous Interactions' likelihood of success, and that positive and negative moods have predictable outcomes - making it easier or harder to make an interaction a'success'. Being Happy has the highest boost for Friendly interactions, Flirty Romance, and Confident for Funny. All the positive Emotions will boost these types of Interactions, and also give you more Social Interactions to use. Being Confident or Happy is great when you're shooting for Friends, but Energized won't hurt. Achieving each level of Relationship status with another Sim will also make Interactions more likely to succeed.
Cheat to Make Friends in Sims 4
The following Cheat will help your Sim to make Friends with any Sim that your Sim already knows. Open the Cheat Console and type:
modifyrelationship yoursim targetsim amount (anywhere from 1-100) Friendship_Main
modifyrelationship Alex Pinkman Mortimer Goth 90 Friendship_Main
So if your Sim's name was Alex Pinkman and the target was Mortimer Goth, you'd type:This would make Mortimer Goth a Best Friend for your Sim. You can modify any Sims' Friendship status this way.
Click here for detailed instructions on Relationship Cheats.
Relationships in The Sims 4
Friendships and Forming Relationships
Romance and Girlfriends/Boyfriends
Relationship Cheats
Woohoo
Weddings: Securing a Husband or Wife
Check Out My Youtube Channel!
We now have a Youtube Channel with over 50 guides in video format to go along with the huge site I've already created. Check it out and consider subscribing if you like my style. | 1,267,463 |
Steph Curry is now a 10-year NBA veteran. Don Nelson, who drafted him, is incredulous in the “time flies” manner of a father talking about a son.
“That is unbelievably scary,” said Nelson, speaking Wednesday on KNBR’s Tolbert & Lund show. “Here he’s an old veteran. Good grief. And he still looks like a kid.”
Curry’s first NBA season coincided with Nellie’s 47th and last. The likelihood of those two disparate figures sharing that adventure together?
“Oh, I never thought we’d get him. It took Minnesota taking three point guards ahead of him,” Nelson said, laughing.
The 2009 draft wasn’t that kooky, but it was close. Power forward Blake Griffin went to the Clippers at No. 1. Center Hasheem Thabeet went No. 2 to Memphis. James Harden was drafted No. 3 by Oklahoma City. Shooting guard Tyreke Evans went to Sacramento, then came the two-pack of Ricky Rubio and Jonny Flynn to Minnesota.
“I would have taken (Curry) second that year,” Nellie said. “I would’ve taken Griffin first, then I would have taken him above anybody in the draft.
“We were so happy to have him at Golden State. I’m just so proud we drafted him. He’s there and everything worked out just like we had hoped.”
Time out for a little-remembered bit of intrigue related to the 2009 draft and Curry’s role in it. Shortly after Nelson made the pick he celebrates today, came a rumor that Curry would be one of four or five Warriors traded to the Phoenix Suns for big man Amare Stoudemire. Even broaching such a transaction would have required the attention of the highest-ranking player personnel executive from both teams: Nelson for the Warriors, and the Suns general manager — a fellow named Steve Kerr.
At some point during the evening, Curry checked in on a conference call arranged by the Warriors PR staff. Apprised of the rumor, he said, “Hopefully I’ll to sleep tonight a Warrior.”
Now back to our story, in which Curry grows into a two-time MVP and Nelson is amazed but not necessarily surprised.
“When (he gets) a good look at one and he’s got time, he doesn’t make it as much as when guys are all over him,” Nelson said. “Moving to his left with the guy right on his shooting hand doesn’t even affect him. He’s just such an amazing player, so creative and such a wonderful guy.”
That’s something that Kerr and Nelson can agree on. | 1,267,464 |
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A lot can change in the world of crypto over a 48-hour period. The publication of new regulations in China, which will come into effect this February, marked the end of a long period of uncertainty in the world’s most populous country. And now, in the very same week, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has announced that crypto is a top priority this year.
In a document entitled “2019 Examination Priorities”, the Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations (OCIE) states that it will be investigating cryptocurrencies for the express purpose of understanding how investors can be protected.
The document reads,
“OCIE will take steps to identify market participants offering, selling, trading, and managing these products or considering or actively seeking to offer these products and then assess the extent of their activities. For firms actively engaged in the digital asset market, OCIE will conduct examinations focused on, among other things, portfolio management of digital assets, trading, the safety of client funds and assets, pricing of client portfolios, compliance, and internal controls.”
Under the current climate in the US, there is a great deal of uncertainty in the crypto and blockchain world. As yet, the SEC has not announced specific criteria or guidelines that anyone can really understand. This has led to a number of cease and desist orders, particularly in the volatile ICO market.
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However, the SEC has also taken aim at exchange-traded funds (ETFs), a potentially lucrative and successful vehicle for Bitcoin in particular. So far, all attempts at gaining approval for an ETF have been turned down, with several high-profile failures from the Winklevoss twins.
ETFs may be an issue that are up for review as well, as reports suggest that Japan is considering an ETF approval of its own. Although unconfirmed, such a move would be a massive head turner for investors in the US, and for the SEC, as major crypto-trading countries look to provide more clarification and a unified stance.
The SEC will also investigate cybersecurity in 2019, in a move to provide greater protection to financial markets. This will also impact the crypto sphere, along with a review of current anti-money laundering procedures that could inform a regulated crypto market.
The article states,
“OCIE will continue to prioritize cybersecurity in each of its five examination programs. Examinations will focus on, among other things, proper configuration of network storage devices, information security governance generally, and policies and procedures related to retail trading information security. Specific to investment advisers, OCIE will emphasize cybersecurity practices at investment advisers with multiple branch offices, including those that have recently merged with other investment advisers, and continue to focus on, among other areas, governance and risk assessment, access rights and controls, data loss prevention, vendor management, training, and incident response.”
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L-R) Patrick, aged 11, one-month-old David, Hannah, aged five and Desmond, aged three, outside their home. Vida took part in the Kosoto custom following David's birth where bark from a tree is taken, boiled in water and then poured over her to protect her from stomach problems in future pregnancies. Water Aid WaterAid photo series shows childbirth rituals from around the world In Ghana, Mary, 21 stands with her husband Sampson and two-year-old son Nathaniel. They performed the Nila tradition where a traditional herbalist makes a small cut on the baby’s cheek, thought to prevent the him from getting convulsions. Both parents also did the Nila tradition as infants. Water Aid
The figures showed the stillbirth rate reached a record low for the second year running in 2018, with 4.1 stillbirths per 1,000 total births.
There were 2,689 stillbirths in England and Wales in 2018 – a fall of 6.4 per cent from the previous year.
Population Matters director Robin Maynard says that fewer births and lower fertility are good for the UK.
He said: “People understand that a higher population means more pressure on the NHS and schools, more land being consumed for more housing that is more difficult for people to afford, more traffic and a lower quality of life.
“They recognise that it puts our environment under threat and compromises our ability to meet our climate change targets.”
For the first time since 1990, the percentage of live births in England and Wales to mothers born outside the UK decreased, from 28.4 per cent in 2017 to 28.2 per cent in 2018.
Kathryn Littleboy, of the ONS’s Vital Statistics Outputs Branch, said: “Our analysis of births in England and Wales in 2018 paints a picture of decreases and some record lows. The birth rate was the lowest ever recorded, when births are measured as a proportion of the total population.
First gene-edited babies reported in China
“The total fertility rate stood at 1.7 children per woman, lower than all years except 1977 and 1999 to 2002.
“The proportion of live births to non-UK mothers fell for the first time since 1990. The stillbirth rate reached the lowest level recorded for the second year running.
“There were 657,076 live births last year, the fewest since 2005 and a drop of almost 10 per cent since 2012.”
Clea Harmer, chief executive at stillbirth and neonatal death charity Sands, said: “This continuing downward trend in the deaths of babies before birth is very welcome but, until the figures can be seen alongside mortality rates for babies who die shortly after birth, it is too early to comment on whether we are on track to meet the English government’s ambition to halve deaths by 2025.” | 1,267,466 |
mystery. The root cause is obvious, and has been for years. Ben Bernanke and his crew created trillions and bailed out the wealthiest people in the world, while leaving everyone else hanging out to dry.
What’s so troubling is both NELP and the New York Times list pretty much every potential cause for income inequality except the most powerful and undemocratic “macro economic” force of all: Central Banking.
It would be truly comical if it weren’t so tragic. At the end of the day, it’s not that complicated at all. The answer is right in front of you:
Many other workers in some low-paid sectors are worse off than they were a couple of decades ago. While attending high school in the mid-1990s, Derrell Odom worked at KFC, earning $5.50 an hour. That’s the equivalent of $8.61 today. After two years of college, two military tours in Iraq and other jobs, he is back working as a cook at an Atlanta location of the fried chicken chain. Two decades after his first stint at KFC, his hourly pay now is only $7.25 an hour. That is barely enough to support himself, let alone his fiancée and two sons. “I have leadership skills and led missions in Iraq,” Mr. Odom said. “Right now, I’m trying to survive.”
Thank you for your service, soldier. Now get back to work. We’ve got some Wall Street bankers to bail out.
There you have it folks. An economy in which pundits and status quo elites continue to ceaselessly pat themselves on the back in their own echo chamber for an economic recovery from which only they benefit.
For more articles on the Oligarch Recovery, see:
The Oligarch Recovery – Low Income Americans Can’t Afford to Live in Any Metro Area
The Oligarch Recovery – Renting in America is Most Expensive Ever
Another Tale from the Oligarch Recovery – How a $1,500 Sofa Costs $4,150 When You’re Poor
Just Another Tale from the Oligarch Recovery – $100 Million Homes Being Built on Spec
The Face of the Oligarch Recovery – Luxury Skyscrapers Stay Empty as NYC Homeless Population Hits Record High
Use of Alternative Financial Services, Such as Payday Loans, Continues to Increase Despite the “Recovery”
Portrait of the American Oligarchy – The Very Troubling Income and Wealth Trends Since 1989
In Liberty,
Michael Krieger
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Hannah Brown was shining as bright as a mirrorball trophy at the 2019 CMA Awards!
The former Bachelorette, who is currently competing on season 28 of Dancing With the Stars, stepped out to the red carpet at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee, on Wednesday, turning heads in a look that topped ET's Best Dressed list.
The Tuscaloosa, Alabama, native wowed in a white gown by Atelier Zuhra that featured intricate detailing. She completed the classy look with shoes by Jimmy Choo, glam silver earrings and a bright red lip.
John Shearer/WireImage
The former pagean queen was joined on the red carpet with her pro partner, Alan Bersten, who looked dapper in a black suit with a striped button-down shirt.
John Shearer/WireImage
When ET spoke with Brown on the red carpet, she revealed that her stunning ensemble at the CMA Awards was actually inspired by the shiny DWTS trophy she hopes to win.
"I always get nervous because it's something that I have invested everything into at this point," she said of her time on the show and making it to next week's Semifinals with Bersten. "We were up at 6 a.m. rehearsing before this. So, it is something that's really been a special part of my journey and I would love to have that endgame be with a beautiful trophy in my hand."
"This is my way of manifesting it," she added of her dress choice. "Just wearing a mirrorball!"
A few hours before the awards show kicked off, Bersten said in his weekly guest blog for ET that he, too, would love to win his first-ever mirrorball trophy with Brown.
"I would love to win the mirrorball, but honestly, I just want Hannah to win it," he gushed. "I want Hannah to feel good about every performance and I want her to realize she is the reason we're even in the semifinals. Her hard work, dedication and amazing personality is why we're still here. I'm just so proud of her."
Hear more from #TeamAlanbamaHannah in the video below.
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you get a draftsman at half the price? The only job is to draft anyway.” And while it is a valid point for someone who is struggling to keep a business together, an architect only feels violated and humiliated, listening to such. Demand for trainees is also greater than that of graduate architects. Unlike an employee, a trainee comes with an expiry date, beyond which, the firm has no liabilities. And the dirt-cheap stipends for an internship is only an added benefit. For many offices, an internship is unpaid. For others, the stipend is meager, a namesake amount to barely disqualify the humiliating tag of an office using unpaid labor. Anything is preferable to hiring an architect. Things go a step further, and offices might hire the quacks to do their work!
The ultimate victim of the entire scenario is the younger pool of architects. Meager salaries and the burden of working in a highly unorganized sector with nominal work ethics has already taken a toll. The moral is at an all-time low, and many graduates are considering leaving the profession in search of better-paying alternatives. In any tier-one city in India, you will find architects living in shanty, unventilated, dark rooms, and sleeping on floor mattresses while they draft out five-star projects in offices.
"The authorities have maintained a categorical silence on the skyrocketing number of poor institutions in the country, and the extremely low standards of education as well"
This paired with an alarmingly high number of architecture colleges churning out semi-baked architects who are highly incompetent to take on their responsibilities have created a negative void in the supply-demand scale. Such graduates mostly know what they are worth, and accept work for any payment, making it harder for those who are well-trained and willing to make a mark. The authorities have maintained a categorical silence on the skyrocketing number of poor institutions in the country, and the extremely low standards of education as well. In an attempt to bring situations under control, a petition has been started to put the number of institutions under control in India. You can view it here.
"Architecture it seems is no longer the revered and honored profession it once used to be"
The two bodies involved with regulating the profession and the education, the Indian Institute of Architects, and the Council of Architecture, India have only been increasingly unable to tackle the situation and bring salaries and working conditions to an acceptable standard median. They have also been silent on these issues, and have, for many instances, tried to portray that situations are stable and improving when in reality, the journey is only downhill.
With no assurance of any positive move from the regulating bodies and/or the government, the future of fresh architects and current students in India continue to hang by the thin thread of uncertainty. Architecture it seems is no longer the revered and honored profession it once used to be.
The image used via Stock Image. | 1,267,469 |
US troops will not pull out from the northern Syrian city of Manbij, a top American general has said, rebuffing demands from Ankara to withdraw from the city and risking a potential confrontation between the two NATO allies.
General Joseph Votel, head of the United States Central Command, told CNN on Sunday that withdrawing US forces from the strategically important city is "not something we are looking into." His statement comes just a day after Turkey’s foreign minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu, demanded that the US pull out of Manbij and stop arming fighters from the People’s Protection Units (YPG), a Kurdish group that Ankara says has links to terrorism.
Turkish troops crossed into Syria last week in an attempt to drive US-backed Kurds out of Afrin. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has warned that the offensive, codenamed ‘Operation Olive Branch’, could soon target “terrorists” in Manbij, which is 100km east of Afrin.
Read more
“With the Olive Branch operation, we have once again thwarted the game of those sneaky forces whose interests in the region are different,” Erdogan said in a speech to provincial leaders in Ankara last week. “Starting in Manbij, we will continue to thwart their game.”
Colonel Ryan Dillon, spokesperson for the US-led coalition, told Kurdish media on Sunday that American forces would continue to support their Kurdish allies – despite Erdogan’s threats.
“Turkey knows where our forces are in Manbij, and what they are doing there, and why they are there –to prevent any kind of escalation between the groups who are in that area,” Dillon told Rudaw TV. “The Coalition will continue to support our Syrian Democratic Forces in the fight against ISIS [Islamic State/IS]. We have said this all along, and we have said this with the Kurdish elements of the SDF. We will provide them equipment as necessary to defeat Daesh [IS],” he added.
However, US National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster stated a day earlier that the United States would no longer provide weapons to YPG fighters or the Democratic Union Party (PYD) – sending mixed messages about Washington’s relationship with the Kurds.
The Turkish offensive has further strained the already contentious relationship between Washington and Ankara. A White House spokesman remarked last week that the operation “risks conflict between Turkish and American forces” in Syria.
The Afrin campaign follows Erdogan’s vow to “strangle” the new Border Security Force (BSF) in Syria. The US-led coalition announced in January that it would help create the 30,000-strong BSF, half of which would be comprised of the Kurdish-dominated SDF.
READ MORE: We come in peace, really: ‘Operation Olive Branch’ and other ridiculously named military campaigns | 1,267,470 |
George Clooney’s former “ER” star claimed the A-list star “helped blacklist” her from Hollywood after she reported being harassed on the set.
Vanessa Marquez, 48, who starred as Nurse Wendy Goldman on the long-running hospital drama for the first three seasons, tweeted Tuesday: “B.S. Clooney helped blacklist me when I spoke about harassment on ‘ER.’ ‘Women who don’t play the game lose career.’ I did.”
On Friday, Marquez continued her tweets claiming other “ER” stars were inappropriate to her on set.
“I’ve named them. P---y grabbers: Eriq La Salle, Terence Nightingall. Racial: Anthony Edwards, Noah Wyle and Julianna Margulies.”
GEORGE CLOONEY ‘HEARD RUMORS’ FOR YEARS ABOUT HARVEY WEINSTEIN’S ALLEGED ‘INDEFENSIBLE’ BEHAVIOR
Marquez elaborated on the alleged harassment after a Twitter user asked her to explain.
“Sexual (p---y grabbing) & racial. Mexican jokes EVERY day. Happened to all the women. They chose 2b victims. I fought!” Marquez tweeted.
Marquez tweeted she complained of the indecent behavior to John Wells, one of the show's executive producer.
“Wells was the boss & I 1st reported it to him. His 1st question: Did George do something to u?”
After her run on “ER,” Marquez briefly starred in “Malcolm & Eddie” in 1999.
WEINSTEIN SCANDAL – CAN DEMOCRATS AFFORD TO CUT HOLLYWOOD LOOSE?
Clooney, who starred on the hit medical drama from 1994 to 1999, released a statement addressing Marquez’s claims, US Weekly reported.
“I had no idea Vanessa was blacklisted,” Clooney said. “I take her at her word. I was not a writer or a producer or a director on that show. I had nothing to do with casting. I was an actor and only an actor. If she was told I was involved in any decision about her career then she was lied to. The fact that I couldn’t affect her career is only surpassed by the fact that I wouldn’t. “
The accusations followed Clooney slamming Harvey Weinstein this week for his alleged sexual misconduct on a number of women, saying the famed Hollywood producer’s behavior was “indefensible” and “disturbing on a whole lot of levels.” Clooney told the Daily Beast he heard rumors about Weinstein’s inappropriate behavior for years. | 1,267,471 |
With e-commerce players Flipkart Amazon India and the latest entrant Paytm Mall lining up with a grand firework display this week, it will be an early Diwali for online shoppers this year. Starting tomorrow, consumers will be spoilt for choice between dynamite deals and a cracker of a discount on each of these platforms.If Flipkart's Big Billion Day sale preview is anything to go by, deep discounts and exclusive deals on gadgets and large appliances are expected to be a big draw this year as well.The e-commerce major is promising a good bargain on Asus, Motorola and HTC budget smartphones as well as a massive discount and deal on Samsung Galaxy S7 and Redmi 4A. Additionally, it will be offering a launchpad for Lenovo K8 Plus and Panasonic Eluga Ray 700, among others.Calling it a ”big loot", Flipkart will be putting up television, refrigerators, split ACs and washing machines for a grand sale at up to 70% off. This will include hard-to-miss offers on 32-inch TVs, as well as Smart TVs and upto 40% off on Ultra HD 4K TVs. But, perhaps the biggest pull in this category will be up to Rs 70,000 off on big screen TVs.Fashion and lifestyle will a close second with "never-before offers on 500 plus brands" including Vans, Pepe, Fastrack and Lakme. On smaller electronic items, it will also be offering freebies on best-selling DSLR cameras, exchange offers on printers and no cost EMIs on Apple iPads.Flipkart's four-day festive sale will begin on September 20 as it prepares to engage in an online dual with its closest rival Amazon India, which is hosting its sale event from September 21.As is customary for its offers, the sale will start early for Amazon's Prime members, who will get a 12-hour window before the rest of the world gets access to its festive season buys.Promising 40,000 deals across four days, Amazon will be offering up to 70% off on home and kitchen items as well as on fashion products, which has mostly been Flipkart's mainstay up until now. Other offers in the offing include up to 40% and 60% off on mobile phones and electronic appliances, respectively.In addition to exclusive app-only deals, customers using Amazon Pay will also get 10% cashback up to Rs 500. Paytm will also be launching it first major sales event between September 20-23 through its e-commerce arm Paytm Mall.As per an earlier report, the digital payments player has earmarked Rs 501 crore as cashbacks during the sale, which will reportedly range from 15% to 100%. This includes up to Rs 10,000 and Rs 20,000 cashbacks on refrigerators and televisions, respectively.With top brands like Apple, Woodland, Sony, Fossil and Samsung across product categories on sale, shoppers will be spoilt for choice. | 1,267,472 |
Jessica Kourkounis via Getty Images When can we tell him he’s fired?
Oh, how the hypocritical tables have turned.
Just days after Donald Trump brushed off his 2005 brag about sexually assaulting women as nothing more than “locker room talk,” a 2010 episode of “Celebrity Apprentice” has resurfaced in which the Republican nominee fires a female contestant for exactly that.
The clip, which was tweeted out Monday from “The Daily Show” account, shows Trump dismissing professional wrestler Maria Kanellis after she said “crap” in his boardroom, a word much less obscene than the phrase “grab her by the p***y.”
Donald Trump in 2010: “This is my boardroom. It's not a locker room. Maria, you’re fired.” ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ pic.twitter.com/UlsP9Xjg7F — The Daily Show (@TheDailyShow) October 10, 2016
“The reason why I said you were so arrogant was because you came in our dressing room and you took a crap and left the stench in the room,” Kanellis says in the video, referencing an incident with her fellow contestant, chef Curtis Stone.
The reality TV host then comes to the defense of Stone, the man who allegedly entered the women’s dressing room uninvited, and criticized the wrestler for her language. Trump called Kanellis’ story “a little below the belt” and said her comments were “sort of gross” and “disgusting,” before delivering the final blow.
“This is my boardroom, it’s not a locker room,” Trump said. “Maria, you’re fired.”
Last week, the Washington Post published a 2005 audio recording in which Trump made lewd, degrading comments about women with then-“Access Hollywood” host Billy Bush. In the clip, Trump suggested grabbing women “by the pussy” and said he had forcibly kissed women without consent. The 70-year-old issued a non-apology for the disgusting comments during Sunday’s debate.
“This was locker room talk,” Trump said. “I am not proud of it. I apologized to my family and the American people. I am not proud of it. This is locker room talk.”
So, does Donald Trump believe he is above the standards by which he judges people below him? It would appear so.
Editor’s note: Donald Trump regularly incites political violence and is a serial liar, rampant xenophobe, racist, misogynist and birther who has repeatedly pledged to ban all Muslims — 1.6 billion members of an entire religion — from entering the U.S. | 1,267,473 |
Methods to Improve Your Golf Grip for Better Golf Swing
Posted on October 24, 2019
To achieve the perfect golf swing you need to have the right grip of your golf grips. The connection between the club and your hands will determine whether you will achieve a good swing or a poor swing. The better the grip over the golf club grips the more capable the golfer and the more chances to rule over the game.
Find a Texture that you are comfortable with
Finding the right texture is significantly crucial before you begin the game. Not every golf club grips are made from the same material and not every grip will suit your comfort. While some of the best golf grips will provide you with a firm and comfortable grip some may turn out to get slippery during the course of the game. Such grips will fail you and avert you from achieving a good swing even if your grip strength is excellent.
Exercises to strengthen your grip
Grip strength plays a vital role in golf. Those who have a stronger grip strength tend to be more comfortable with their grip and have better control over their swing and posture. A firm grip will allow more transfer of force through your wrists and hands while initiating a swing.
One of the best ways to strengthen your grip strength is through exercise. Exercise helps athletes improve their strength and overall performance in their game. If you are serious about your golf game than you should start considering improving your strength. You can start off with a simple hand exercise using a Hand Grip Strengthener. This exercise is as simple as squeezing the equipment repetitively. Continuous pressing of the equipment will help build up the strength in your forearm and wrist.
If you want to move forward to a higher level exercise to improve your grip strength then try rope climbing and deadlift with a double overhand grip. Both are a great way to strengthen your grip and improve your golf grips. Rope climbing will help build up your upper body, forearm, biceps, and strengthen your grip. On the other hand, the deadlift will help in taking out the tension in the biceps and elbow and then transfer the power to the shoulders and forearms while initiating a swing.
Improved your hand position & pressure
The perfect golf grip is not about strongest grip. You don’t want to grasp your golf grips too tight or too loose. If the grip is too light, you are going to lose control over the club and if the grip is too tight, you might strike the golf ball with the heel of your club instead of the face. This will cause inconsistent strikes and loss of control over the rest of the clubs. The trick to a perfect grip is to place your hands around the golf grip gripping gently but firmly and relax your arms. If you like you can waggle your club a little, this will help shake off the tension in the arms and wrists. Keep practicing until you master this trick. Give these golf grip tips a try and see yourself initiating better golf swings on the ground | 1,267,474 |
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton is scheduled to host a fundraiser this weekend with key members of a pro-Tehran lobbying outfit that is working to kill new anti-terrorism laws that would prevent Iranians from travelling to the United States without first obtaining a visa permit.
Clinton is scheduled to travel to Silicon Valley this weekend for three fundraisers with wealthy tech moguls, many of which have expressed skepticism about the candidate.
Clinton will participate in a Menlo Park fundraiser on Sunday hosted by Twitter executive Omid Kordestani and his wife Gisel Hiscock, as well as National Iranian American Council (NIAC) board member Lily Sarafan and Noosheen Hashemi, who serves on the board of the pro-Iran advocacy group Ploughshares, a major funder of pro-Iran efforts.
NIAC, an advocacy group formed by Iranian-Americans to work against the pro-Israel community, has long been accused of lobbying on Iran’s behalf against sanctions and other measures that could harm the Islamic Republic’s interest.
Ploughshares, which partners with NIAC, is joining the White House in efforts to pressure the Jewish community and others to back the recently implemented Iran nuclear agreement, the Free Beacon reported.
The organization has also spent millions to influence coverage of Iran and protect the Obama administration’s diplomatic relations with Iran.
NIAC has emerged a key pro-Iran player in the United States, working with the White House and liberal groups to spin the deal as a positive for U.S. national security.
The group is currently leading the charge to block recent counter-terrorism legislation that would require individuals who have travelled to Iran to obtain a visa before entering the United States.
Congress passed the legislation in response to recent disclosures exposing flaws in the U.S. visa waiver program, which eases travel to the U.S. with 38 partner countries.
Lawmakers said the legislation is meant to ensure that individuals with potential ties to terrorism will be detected before entering the United States.
The White House has threatened to waive these new anti-terror provisions pertaining to Iran in order to preserve diplomatic relations with the country. Secretary of State John Kerry wrote to Iranian leaders in January promising to block the new law.
NIAC is now spearheading an advocacy campaign aimed at petitioning lawmakers to reverse the counter-terror law.
Clinton’s efforts to raise money alongside these pro-Iran advocates drew criticism from opposition groups.
"This is why no one trusts Hillary Clinton," said Ian Prior, communications director for American Crossroads, a conservative advocacy group. "With fingers crossed behind her back, she tells voters she would be tough on Iran. Then she turns around and takes money from pro-Tehran lobbyists that pushed for the dangerous Iran nuclear deal that Hillary so vehemently supports."
Neither NIAC, nor Ploughshares, nor the Clinton campaign immediately returned a request for comment. | 1,267,475 |
You are here: Real Ghost Stories :: Haunted Places :: Interesting Visiting Nurse
Real Ghost Stories
While in the Hospital, after a serious surgery, I had some strange encounters. What I am writing about today, had an impact on me.
I was given a private room at my request. I have had other events in the past, and you do not want to disturb the other person right next to you, when you see something they do not, I have learned.
The Hospital is the largest in Western/central MA area, they have taken over or closed most smaller Hospitals in this area. While it is a bit of a trip, the value of good medicine makes it worth it. It seems to be under construction most of the time, for improvements.
My visit was a long one, but I was healing slowly. Sitting there just watching the people pass, was one form of entertainment. They usually kept my big door to the hall open. The Doctors, nurses, hospital workers and visitors walked the hallway. I began to see a woman that didn't fit in. She had a white outfit, white stockings, and had a cap tucked into her short hair, she would glance at me and smile. I know the CTN (Certified Technical Nurse) wore an outfit of maroon. The Registered Nurses wore dark blue. Doctors would pass by but they wore white coats, over normal clothes.
The floor plan was a large oval with rooms on one side and a large nursing station and supplies in the middle. All had been redone a few years ago. For exercise the nurse assigned to me, would walk me around the oval. On one of these walks we met the odd nurse head on. She and my nurse blended in a very fast blur, then separated, walking on. My nurse was speaking at that moment, and showed no indication of what had just happened, and I closed my mouth quickly. As the odd nurse was walking much faster then we were, we met her again, and smiling she stepped in front and the nurses collided again. She had a full smile on and was looking at me, as they blended (again). Like look at me, I am a little brat! She was in need of entertainment, if her curse was to walk that circle for ever.
A night or two later there was a mix of raised voices coming from the nursing station. They were arguing about supplies not where they belong or missing. There is ALWAYS one or more RNs sitting at the station. Just then the white nurse puts her head around the door of my room, and she is silently laughing uncontrollably. I realized she seldom had an audience and was making the most of it. She had a hand it the missing supplies. Perhaps if only to make me laugh.
It worked and I did laugh! Poor thing, I wonder how long she will be stuck in that walkway. What could she have done to be rewarded that kind of punishment. | 1,267,476 |
You hardly ever see that cabinet but, from now on, whenever you do I want you to remember that it’s filled with spare pet fish.
Stephanie quizzes DJ about cars and DJ gets all nervous because she’s learned jack shit. Rebecca Donaldson comes in to summon everyone for the family square dancing practice but she’s distracted by DJ’s boy problem. She explains to DJ that it’s fucking dumb as hell to lie about your interests and that she should just be honest with Bobby. Just then the phone rings and when DJ answers she tells Bobby, “look, I want to be honest with you. I think cars are boring and they cause pollution.” Bobby promptly hangs up on him and then DJ just reacts by telling Rebecca Donaldson that any guy who hangs up on her is probably not her type. How’s that for totally fucked up!??! If this had been last Season I think that Rebecca Donaldson would still have had the sense to point out to DJ that she was being a rude bitch and maybe dropped some knowledge about social tact. First the square dancing, now this… I guess since this is the last episode before the wedding they wanted to make Rebecca Donaldson as crazy as possible to finally fully initiate her into the full house.
Oh my god, you guys, the Tanner’s fucking square dance. I’ve seen so much at this point that I’m not even sure if I can call this an all-time low, but it’s certainly down there. At the same time, it’s pretty unsurprising if you think about it. Full House, at its essence, is pretty much a cruel stereotyped rendition of white people, so it only makes sense that the corniest, white-breadiest family of all time would eventually engage in the crackerest activity known to cracker ass crackers.
Once they’re done hoeing down, Rebecca Donaldson gets Jesse to admit that square dancing is fun after all and then they promote once again that the wedding episode’s next week.
Michelle breaks up the square dancing party by frantically shouting about there being something wrong with the new fish. The family runs to investigate and discovers that the fish has given birth. Michelle is commended for alerting the family and they explain to her that they’re gonna put the mom fish in her own bowl, followed by an extended shot of them doing so. What’s that all about? Is that something that you’re supposed to do when a fish has babies that I don’t know about, like she’s gonna eat them or something? It just seems like a really unnecessary detail to me.
Anyway, Danny tells Michelle that she can keep all the baby fish in her room and then the family calls her a hero and actually applaud her. What? She didn’t even do anything! | 1,267,477 |
Former President Barack Obama lent a helping hand at a food bank in Chicago on Tuesday.
Wearing a Chicago White Sox hat and latex gloves, Obama assisted volunteers at the Greater Chicago Food Depository to prepare food that will be distributed to those in need for Thanksgiving.
“You guys are doing such a great job helping out,” Obama told one young volunteer, who beamed with pride during her encounter with the former POTUS. “I’m really proud of you.”
Check out the video here:
Thank you to @BarackObama and @ObamaFoundation for joining our volunteers today at the Food Depository. We believe no one should go hungry, especially this time of year, and that’s why we’re working to address the root causes of hunger in Chicago and Cook County. pic.twitter.com/d6YfBjvJl2 — Chicago’s Food Bank (@FoodDepository) November 20, 2018
The nonprofit organization tweeted its thanks to Obama for swinging by.
“We believe no one should go hungry, especially this time of year, and that’s why we’re working to address the root causes of hunger in Chicago and Cook County,” it wrote.
Obama, in turn, thanked the volunteers on Twitter:
Thanks to the Chicago @FoodDepository team for all you do and to the volunteers who are doing great work and let me crash today. Happy Thanksgiving, everybody! https://t.co/r4QeBeCoT1 — Barack Obama (@BarackObama) November 21, 2018
The Obama Foundation also tweeted video of his visit:
The Greater Chicago @FoodDepository is a local non-profit organization that provides nourishing food for those in need. This Thanksgiving week, @BarackObama stopped by to give back. pic.twitter.com/I5ce5ypvEG — The Obama Foundation (@ObamaFoundation) November 21, 2018
President Donald Trump, meanwhile, flew to his private Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida, where he is scheduled to remain until Sunday.
Obama visited and volunteered at food banks multiple times during his presidency, and was often joined by wife Michelle and daughters Malia and Sasha.
WHITE HOUSE POOL (ISP POOL IMAGES) via Getty Images The Obamas packed and distributed bags of food at the Capital Area Food Bank in Washington, DC, in 2013.
MANDEL NGAN via Getty Images The Obamas distributed food at the Capitol Area Food Bank in Washington, DC, in 2012.
Pool via Getty Images The Obamas handed out food packages at the Capital Area Food Bank in 2011.
John Gress via Getty Images As president-elect in 2008, Obama and his family gave away care packages at a food bank in Chicago. | 1,267,478 |
Very R.I.P., we'll miss it. It has changed and is no longer the way it was; people there now go to different restaurants and wear different clothes and live in different buildings than they used to, ergo, it died.
Many people have noticed this, but almost all of them have missed the most important point, which is that while Uptown is now dead, I, personally, am as interesting as ever.
The thing about Uptown is that it is not how it used to be, as we all know. It was previously different--the restaurants, the bars, the shops. You used to be able to rent a movie at the Video Update at Dupont and Lake Street, or buy a video game from the Gamestop by Stella's.
Now, in Uptown, people "Netflix & Chill" or buy a video game from the Gamestop by the T-Mobile store. Me? I don't do those things. I am a little cooler, a little more refined.
The people in Uptown (less interesting than me) live differently than they used to, before Uptown died. They live in apartment buildings, some of which are new. I have never before lived in an apartment building that was ever new -- they have always been old, since they were first built. That's a flattering detail about myself that I'll just toss out there.
Does it make me more interesting? I'd like to think so.
The bars, too. I don't like the bars, and there's a good reason there are no bars elsewhere in the city -- they're loud, and the people at them drink. Uptown had never had bars before its untimely death at the hands of the new arrivals. I stopped going to bars when Uptown first got its first bar; previously I used to but now do not. I'm working on some projects instead -- really neat ones you might not quite get.
The businesses in Uptown are pretty lame too. The chain stores that it never ever had before, and that I definitely do not patronize -- remember, I am more interesting than that -- just make it so dull and dead. It's almost like a mall. I wouldn't be surprised if someone built an indoor mall in Uptown, just like in the suburbs. [Rolls eyes.]
Please keep in mind that while Uptown is dead, as you knew and we have discussed here, I am straight thriving. Anything else you have heard about me, from my sister, or whoever, it's just not true.
Please like. Please retweet. Please share.
Please help me acquire an incredibly small amount of social capital, as I have done the thing that is required of me, by making insanely boring comments about Uptown, which is now dead.
This post appeared originally on Nick Magrino's personal blog. | 1,267,479 |
Transcript for What to expect from Trump, Putin meeting
Let's talk more with our Martha Raddatz and the editor in chief of "The daily beast." John avlon. Welcome to you both. No set agenda for this meeting. No specific briefing for the president. But what would constitute a successful meeting for the white house? Reporter: I think a successful meeting would be they establish a good working relationship with president trump clearly laying out the grievances the U.S. Has with Russia. You heard some of those in his speech yesterday about Ukraine and the support of the Assad regime in Syria and that Putin gets the message that trump is not his friend and that he will remain tough. As for bringing up the hacking, there are certainly those who do not think the meeting will be a success unless he brings it up, George. And, John, the president, tough talk in his speech yesterday but in that press conference he seemed to take the Putin line on hacking. And this is the dichotomy of Donald Trump, right. Scripted Donald Trump was very tough on Russia yesterday in a very well written speech standing up for western values but in private and at press conferences he tends to freelance and fall in line with the Putin line and that's going to be the real challenge. In private does he take that tough line? Is he consistent about standing up to Syria? Does he bring up Russian hacking or does he default to what we've heard since the campaign. We saw him freelance with the Russian foreign minister. That talk of hacking came to the consternation of American intelligence officials. It sure did. I can't stress enough how astonishing it was to hear a president cast doubt on his own intelligence agencies. Imagine Vladimir Putin saying the same things about his own intelligence agencies while at those meetings. This just does not happen. It's humiliating for these American professionals, yes, they have made mistakes but work every day to help make the country safe and president trump, of course, seems to believe them when he wants to. He had no problem firing those cruise missiles at Syria based on intelligence, nor did he seem to have any doubts about north Korea launching what his intelligence agencies told him was an icbm, George. John, on the broader agenda, the president lined up against most of the g20 issues on climb and trade. Right. Yes, and, look, that's inevitable because the president has committed to his domestic base these things that are broadly unpopular within the international community. That's fine. Es he try to bridge it? In other ways? Does he try to keep American leadership paramount? Right now America can pursue an America first agenda but needs to show that doesn't mean America alone and right now that confidence isn't there. He needs to be leader of the free world and assert that kind of leadership but leading from behind doesn't work if you keep avoiding these international agreements. John avlon, Martha Raddatz, thanks very much.
This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate. | 1,267,480 |
IKEA Lack Stereo System – Full Range Speakers and Integrated Amplifier
After the round IKEA Salad Bowl Speakers, here are the slim IKEA full range LACK speakers, built using two 110 cm shelves from the LACK family.
Integrated amp and its power supply are made from LACK shelves too.
To make the speakers, you need:
2 IKEA Lack shelves – 110 cm
2 small full range speakers, less than 5 cm large
4 binding posts
4 plexiglass bars – 25 cm each. I used those with squared section, 2 x 2 cm
2 woodden bars – 4.5 cm large, 2 m long, 2.5 cm thick
a foam or polystyrene sheet – 4.5 cm thick ( you can take thicker sheets, then cut a slice )
copper wires
4 long screws for the feet and screws to connect the drivers
little adhesive bumpers
To make the integrated amp, you need:
an amplifier board, whatever you like but no more than 4 cm high
a Switching Mode power supply, no more than 4 cm high ( you can also use an external one, like the wallwarts )
2 IKEA LACK shelves – 30 cm
1 switch, wires, connectors: 2 RCA, 4 binding posts, 4 banana plugs, 1 stereo potentiometer 20 Kohm
Steps:
1. Dig the shelf. It’s enough to take off the first piece of plywood ( less than 1 inch ) by making 4 holes with a drill at the corners of the rectangle you want to take off, then cut from one hole to the other with a handsaw.
2. Take out the folded paper that fills the inside, it’s easy using the handsaw.
3. Connect by screws the PSU and amp to a wooden board, with some holes on bottom to let cooling air to go around. If you are interested in using more powerful stuffs, then it’s better to use an aluminum sheet, better for cooling and thinner than wood, so the useful space is larger
4. Connect the base and the connector strip using a piece of L aluminum profile
5. Put wires and a LED with a R ( 820 ohm if with 12V PSU )
Tips:
1. While working, protect the edges of the shelf with paper tape, to avoid hurts and dents
2. Mind the height: the base board + the components must be less than 4.3 cm ( 1.7 “ )
If you are interested in more information about the speakers, there’s a step by step building manual here.
More pictures about the amp ( and its evolution in time ) here.
~ Hacked by Luca Pessina – Monza, Italy | 1,267,481 |
A team of Indian astronomers has discovered an extremely large supercluster of galaxies -- as big as 20 million billion suns -- which they have named Saraswati, Pune-based Inter University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA) said today.
This is one of the largest known structures in the neighbourhood of the universe, 4,000 million light-years away from Earth and roughly more than 10 billion years old, IUCAA said.
Its mass extends over the scale of 600 million light years, it said.
Scientists of this institute were also involved in the path-breaking discovery of gravitational waves last year.
The supercluster was discovered by Shishir Sankhyayan, a PhD student at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER), Pune, Pratik Dabhade, IUCAA research fellow, Joe Jacob of the Newman College, Kerala, and Prakash Sarkar of the National Institute of Technology, Jamshedpur.
Their findings were published in the latest issue of The Astrophysical Journal, the premier research journal of the American Astronomical Society.
"Superclusters are the largest coherent structures in the cosmic web. They are a chain of galaxies and galaxy clusters, bound by gravity, often stretching to several hundred times the size of clusters of galaxies, consisting of tens of thousands of galaxies," the IUCAA said in a statement.
Sankhyayan said this "newly-discovered Saraswati supercluster" extends over a scale of 600 million light-years and may contain the mass equivalent of over 20 million billion suns.
A cluster could roughly have galaxies ranging from 1000 to 10,000. A supercluster could have clusters ranging from 40 to 43, he added.
"Our own galaxy is part of a supercluster called the Laniakea supercluster," the IUCAA said.
Joydeep Bagchi from IUCAA, the lead author of the paper in the journal, and co-author Sankhyayan said they were "astonished to spot this giant wall-like supercluster of galaxies", visible in a large spectroscopic survey of distant galaxies, known as the Sloan Digital Sky Survey.
Sankhyayan said the data was then analysed, following which the discovery was made.
"This supercluster is clearly embedded in a large network of cosmic filaments traced by clusters and large voids," Bagchi said.
He said previously "only a few comparatively large superclusters" had been reported, such as the Shapley Concentration or the Sloan Great Wall in the nearby universe.
"The Saraswati supercluster is far more distant," Bagchi said.
The two hoped that the work would help shed light on "perplexing questions" like how such matter-density clusters had been formed billions of years ago. | 1,267,482 |
parents often interferes with their pursuit of romance and marriage.
The Big Issue survey found that nearly 80 percent of those living with their parents are pessimistic about their prospects for marriage, with some convinced they are “incapable” of getting married and others content to remain single.
Sato, for one, at 37, agrees that living with his parents makes it difficult to find a girlfriend. Potential partners found with a matchmaking agency gave him the cold shoulder the moment they learned he was living at home — which they seem to take as a sign that he is either a slacker sponging off his parents or weirdly intimate with them, he said.
Japan lags behind other industrialized nations in helping its impoverished youths become independent, said Yosuke Hirayama, a professor of housing policy studies in Kobe University who played a lead role in the Big Issue survey.
“The thing about Japan’s housing policy is that it only caters to middle-income families, while there is almost nothing to help low-income young adults make a living by themselves,” he said.
For example, Japan is one of the few OECD countries where the central government doesn’t offer the poor housing benefits, he said. Furthermore, studies show that compared with such Western countries as the U.K., France, Netherlands and Sweden, the availability of public housing in Japan is abysmally low, he said.
To top it off, young singles used to be screened out when applying for public housing. This changed when the law was revised in 2011, but in practice some local municipalities still adhere to the old policies and eject singletons during the application process. Those who get priority are those deemed to have dire need, such as the elderly, disabled, crime victims and people fleeing abusive spouses.
Hirayama explains that the government’s lack of aid toward young singles has been based on the premise that they are well paid and don’t need benefits.
When the economy was booming, it was easy for university graduates to get a full-time job. Under the seniority system, their salary would basically increase automatically every year and marriage would be viable. Sooner or later, they would create another middle-income household.
Now that economic growth has plateaued, Hirayama says such life cycles have become a thing of the past, with an estimated 36.6 percent of those under 35 now plagued by hiseiki, or irregular employment.
“Parental homes can’t remain their safety net indefinitely,” Inaba from Moyai said.
“As the parents get older, their economic situation will become tougher and there eventually comes a time when they can no longer afford to accommodate their adult children. The government needs to reform its housing policies drastically so the young can become more self-sufficient.”
KEYWORDS Welfare, poverty, homeless, youths | 1,267,483 |
It’s among the biggest trade shows in America focused on outdoors gear. The twice-annual Outdoor Retailer show in Salt Lake City is a must-attend for most brands.
This year, Patagonia is pulling out of OR. In a statement today, the company said it would withdraw from the Outdoor Retailer show in response to a move made last week by Utah Gov. Gary Herbert.
Herbert signed a resolution last Friday urging the Trump administration to rescind the Bears Ears National Monument. (See our article on Bears Ears.)
Patagonia stated the move made it “clear that [Herbert] and other Utah elected officials do not support public lands conservation.”
Outdoor Industry Issues Ultimatum To Utah Governor Members of the Outdoor Industry Association united today in a strong rebuke of Utah Gov. Gary Herbert. Read more…
The press release noted that the state of Utah also does not “value the economic benefits — $12 billion in consumer spending and 122,000 jobs — that the outdoor recreation industry brings” to the state.
Patagonia Pulls Out From ‘OR Show’
Rose Marcario, president and CEO of Patagonia, was quoted in the press release: “Because of the hostile environment they have created and their blatant disregard for Bears Ears National Monument and other public lands, the backbone of our business, Patagonia will no longer attend the Outdoor Retailer show in Utah.”
Marcario noted Patagonia is “confident other outdoor manufacturers and retailers will join” in the retreat from Outdoor Retailer.
She pressed for the trade show to find a new home in a state that “values our industry and promotes public lands conservation.”
Yvon Chouinard On Utah
Last month, Patagonia’s founder Yvon Chouinard wrote about the issue in an article, “The Outdoor Industry Loves Utah; Does Utah Love the Outdoor Industry?”
He suggested Gov. Herbert direct his attorney general to support the Bears Ears National Monument and stop the transfer of public lands away from the federal government to the state.
Bears Ears Designated As National Monument President Barack Obama today declared a 1.35 million acre swath of iconic Utah desert wilderness as the new Bears Ears National Monument. Read more…
It appears the move last week was the final straw. The company pulling out from Outdoor Retailer is big news, as the trade show is anchored on large brands like Patagonia.
Chouinard’s essay said, “We love Utah, but Patagonia’s choice to return for future shows will depend on the Governor’s actions.”
–See Yvon Chouinard’s full article, “The Outdoor Industry Loves Utah; Does Utah Love the Outdoor Industry?” | 1,267,484 |
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump Donald John TrumpOmar fires back at Trump over rally remarks: 'This is my country' Pelosi: Trump hurrying to fill SCOTUS seat so he can repeal ObamaCare Trump mocks Biden appearance, mask use ahead of first debate MORE reportedly offered New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) the vice presidential spot, but then took it back, the New York Post reported Sunday.
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The publication said the GOP nominee hadn't decided whom he was going to choose as his running mate with a week left before the Republican National Convention in July.
He had narrowed the choice to Christie, former Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) and Indiana Gov. Mike Pence Michael (Mike) Richard PenceButtigieg stands in as Pence for Harris's debate practice Trump argues full Supreme Court needed to settle potential election disputes Pence adviser knocks ex-staffer who criticized Trump on COVID-19 MORE (R).
The GOP nominee's advisers and members of his family reportedly wanted Trump to choose Pence as his running mate — the decision he ultimately ended up making.
On July 12, the New Jersey governor contacted Trump to try to win the spot, according to the Post.
“Trump cares about who’s the most loyal and who kisses his a-- the most, not who’s the most qualified and what’s the best political decision,” a source close to the campaign told the New York Post.
“If it was up to him, it would have been Christie.”
A second source told the publication that Christie thinks "he deserves it and he earned it."
Christie “said all the BS that Trump likes to hear, and Trump said, ‘Yeah, sure I’m giving it to you,' " the second source told the newspaper.
Then Trump's campaign chairman at the time, Paul Manafort, arranged for the GOP nominee to meet with Pence in Indianapolis on July 13. He then told Trump his plane was having mechanical problems so the GOP nominee had to stay in town another night.
Pence used the time to try to win the spot, while Trump's advisers warned the issues Christie would bring with the Bridgegate controversy would destroy the GOP nominee's presidential campaign.
“Trump had wanted Christie but Bridgegate would have been the biggest national story,” a third Trump source said. “He’d lose the advantage of not being corrupt.”
Trump then decided to give Pence the position and told the New Jersey governor it would "tear my family apart if I gave you VP," a source told the newspaper.
After the vice presidential announcement, Christie said in an interview on MSNBC: “If you’re a competitive person, like I am, and you’re used to winning, like I am — again, you don’t like coming in second, ever,” Christie said. | 1,267,485 |
lein (2004) placed respondents into one of two dependent variable groups based on educational attainment, those who had earned a four-year college degree and those who had not. Religious variable groupings were as follows: Pentecostal Protestant, fundamentalist Protestant, evangelical Protestant, mainline Protestant, liberal Protestant, other Protestant, Catholic, Jewish, and non-religious.
A logistic regression was used to predict the likelihood of earning a four-year or higher degree as a function of religious affiliation (Beyerlein, 2004). Background and demographic information was included in the model to improve its fit. Using evangelical Protestants as the reference category, Pentecostal Protestants were 5.1 times less likely and fundamentalist Protestants were 2.3 times less likely to earn college degrees. Catholic and non-religious respondents were 2.6 and 1.7 times less likely, respectively, to earn a four-year degree. Jewish people were 1.6 times more likely to earn a college degree, and those classified as other Protestant were 2.7 times less likely to complete college. “Other Protestant” was not a homogenous group though because it was simply composed of the more than 35% of Protestant respondents who did not choose a specific affiliation. Mainline and liberal Protestants did not show a significant difference from evangelicals in likelihood of obtaining a four-year degree. Beyerlein (2004) theorized that Pentecostal and fundamentalist Protestants were less likely to get a college degree because of the “cultural tradition of defensive separatism” (p. 514) present in these religions, but not found in evangelical Protestantism.
Summary / TL;DR
As detailed above, early studies analyzing religious belief and educational attainment showed that greater church attendance often correlates with obtaining a slightly higher level of education, although later studies found the opposite. When religious devotees are identified as fundamentalist or liberal, however, amount of church attendance becomes less significant and level of fundamentalism becomes the major determinant of educational attainment. Commitment to religious fundamentalism and attainment of higher education appear to be almost mutually exclusive. Fundamentalists are less likely to enroll in college preparatory classes than are their liberal counterparts, and they typically terminate their educational pursuits at a lower level. In addition, religious beliefs tend to become slightly more liberal during college. The literature appears to support the idea that people who hold fundamentalist religious beliefs are at an educational disadvantage.
But, what does this mean about overall intelligence? As we will see in the next few posts, this relationship is much less clear-cut. My next post will focus on the relationship between religious beliefs of scientists, who would be generally assumed to be highly intelligent. Follow-ups will examine the relationship between directly measured intelligence and religous beliefs, as well as a summary of the total literature and a map for where to go next.
(Many thanks to Julie White for allow the adaptation of her thesis – which I supervised – into this series. For a list of cited works, please contact me.) | 1,267,486 |
We’ve already had two big events like this so far this year, now forecasts show a clear pattern of a heavily moisture laden “atmospheric river” taking aim directly onto the Oroville Dam watershed over the next week. Accumulated precipitation forecasts show that the Lake Orovile watershed will score a direct hit with the maximum amount of precipitation over the next 10 days (see graphic near bottom of this article).
Above: Computer forecast models indicate a powerful jet stream will continuously pound California over the next ten days and bring copious amounts of moisture from off of the Pacific Ocean into the state. This 10-day loop of predicted upper-level winds at 250 mb are in 6-hour increments from today until Thursday, February 23rd; maps courtesy tropicaltidbits.com, NOAA/EMC (GFS)
Meteorologist Paul Dorian of Vencore Weather writes:
There have been many occasions in the past in which floods have followed droughts in California and this recent time period is yet another example. In California, incredible amounts of rain have piled up in recent weeks across low-lying areas of the state, mountains of snow have accumulated in the higher elevations of the Sierra Nevada Mountains – and more is on the way. After a couple days with a break in the action, another storm is likely to arrive in northern California by later Wednesday and continue into Thursday and then a second storm looks like it will slam the entire state by early this weekend.
After a lengthy drought, California has been battered by potentially record-setting rain, with the Northern California region getting 228 per cent more than its normal rainfall for this time of year. The average annual rainfall of about 50 inches had already been overtaken with 68 inches in 2017 alone and another 6+ inches is possible over the next week-to-ten days. The latest computer model forecast of upper-level winds for the next ten days (Monday, 2/13 to Thursday, 2/23) does not hold out much hope for any significant drying in California. Powerful winds in the upper atmosphere (at 250 mb) will continuously pound California and bring copious amounts of moisture from the Pacific Ocean into the state. The total precipitation forecast map by NOAA for the next 7 days indicates more significant rainfall (and snowfall) is likely throughout the state.
More here: https://www.vencoreweather.com/blog/2017/2/13/1025-am-california-has-a-brief-break-before-getting-pounded-again
The long-term forecast has rainfall totals withing the watershed that are showing the exact spot where Lake Oroville watershed is located will get 11.62 inches of rain over the next 10 days, the most accumulated rainfall in the entire western USA:
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This is an archived article and the information in the article may be outdated. Please look at the time stamp on the story to see when it was last updated.
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WELLSTON, MO (KTVI) - A Normandy High School junior is facing child pornography charges, accused of recording a sexual act between two minors on his cell phone.
Wellston police say three students skipped class, and met in a downstairs hallway, away from the classrooms. That’s when 17-year-old Martez Young-Caldwell allegedly encouraged a 15-year-old girl and 16-year-old boy to engage in a sexual act.
Wellston Police Chief G. Thomas Walker says Young-Caldwell recorded a video of the sexual act on his cell phone, and then turned the camera around to show his own face: “It’s just the best evidence you can have; a picture of him, filming, and showing himself on the film.”
Walker says the incident happened June 3rd. Within a day, Normandy security confiscated the 17-year-olds phone for evidence. Young-Caldwell admitted what he did to investigators, although Walker says he didn’t seem to understand its severity, or the child pornography charges he’d face.
The Wellston chief explains, “In his thinking, 15, 16, 17, they’re all the same, and I think right now we’re living in a culture where everybody wants to put everything on YouTube, and you just can’t do that. And this was a situation where it obviously was a clear-cut violation of the law.”
At 17, Young-Caldwell can be tried as an adult. He is now being held on a $25,000 bond, charged with Promoting Child Pornography in the 2nd Degree.
“The people involved were not the only ones that saw it and that would constitute the promoting of child pornography, by showing it to someone else,” explains Walker, “The word got around to security, and they immediately investigated.”
While Young-Caldwell remains in jail, Normandy School District Spokesperson Daphne Dorsey says it’s unclear whether the other students involved will be disciplined. She explains, “We are reviewing the alleged incident. Disciplinary action will be based on our policies and procedures.”
Normandy’s school year ends on June 12th. Next year, the Wellston police chief says his officers will have an increased presence on campus, to prevent violence, and incidents like this, from interfering with learning.
You can follow Rebecca Roberts on Twitter and Facebook:
On Twitter@rrobertstv
On Facebook@rrobertstv
Email: [email protected] | 1,267,488 |
had issued a subpoena to former national security adviser Michael Flynn for documents related to that investigation.
Flynn resigned from the Trump White House after news reports on potentially illegal contacts with the Russian ambassador to the United States, which acting attorney general Sally Yates warned might make Flynn susceptible to blackmail. He also has faced scrutiny for payments he received from Russian-backed entities, including the RT television network.
The bureau’s probe, the only one that could produce criminal charges, is separate from the committee’s, and lawmakers on both sides of the aisle feared that it might be upended now that Comey is gone. Many have called for a special counsel to be appointed; Rep. Mike Coffman (R-Colo.) became the latest to do so, in a statement issued Thursday. McCabe asserted that the bureau’s independence had not been compromised.
“Do you need somebody to take this away from you and somebody else to do it?” Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) asked.
“No, sir,” McCabe responded.
McCabe did not definitively resolve a dispute over whether Comey asked Rosenstein for more resources for the Russia investigation last week, although he asserted that the bureau had “resourced that investigation adequately.” Democrats have said that Comey informed lawmakers of such a request, but the Justice Department has denied that one was made.
McCabe said he was “not aware of that request, and it’s not consistent with my understanding of how we request additional resources.”
As the deputy director of the FBI, McCabe would have been intimately involved in the Russia investigation even before Comey’s firing. He was notably at the center of a February incident in which the White House reportedly enlisted senior members of the intelligence community and Congress in efforts to counter news reports about Trump associates’ ties to Russia.
CNN reported at the time that the FBI had refused administration requests to knock down media reports on the subject, and the administration fired back with a claim that McCabe had pulled aside White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus to tell him a New York Times story was “B.S.”
McCabe was also at the center of a controversy in the Clinton email investigation — the case that administration officials have pointed to as Trump’s basis for firing Comey. The Justice Department inspector general is investigating whether McCabe should have been recused from the case because his wife ran for a Virginia Senate seat and took money from the political action committee of Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D), a Clinton ally.
The FBI asserted at the time that McCabe had checked with ethics officials and followed agency protocols. He also was not yet deputy director when his wife was recruited to run.
Amber Phillips contributed to this report.
Read more:
Comey’s removal sparks fears about future of Russia probe
The events leading up to Comey’s firing | 1,267,489 |
Fox News reporter John Roberts on Monday referred to Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham ClintonJeff Flake: Republicans'should hold the same position' on SCOTUS vacancy as 2016 Momentum growing among Republicans for Supreme Court vote before Election Day Warning signs flash for Lindsey Graham in South Carolina MORE as a "shadow president," arguing she is one of President Trump's most prominent critics and that her statements carry weight.
The comments came during a Twitter exchange with former Obama administration aide Tommy Vietor, in which Vietor said asking Trump to comment on Clinton's remarks about the NFL is "stupid" and a "wasted opportunity" to question the president about the real issues.
Roberts fired back, saying he had already asked two policy questions.
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"I assume asking @HillaryClinton to comment on Trump/NFL was similarly stupidly clickbait-ish?" Roberts tweeted.
"I must have missed the part where Hillary Clinton was President and not just the permanent Fox News boogieman," Vietor replied.
Vietor said Fox News has given Trump enough free PR, adding that the network should cover the fact that Trump is "sabotaging the health care exchanges and allowing Puerto Rico to suffer."
He said Clinton, the 2016 Democratic presidential nominee, can weigh in on any issue she wants, but it "doesn't mean it's worth asking Trump at a rare news conference."
"Fox News is an alternate reality where Tucker [Carlson] and [Sean] Hannity function as an extension of the press office. It's a joke," Vietor tweeted.
"We'll have to agree to disagree. As long as HRC operates as a'shadow President', what she says carries relevance and weight," Roberts said.
We'll have to agree to disagree. As long as HRC operates as a "shadow President", what she says carries relevance and weight. — John Roberts (@johnrobertsFox) October 16, 2017
Roberts elaborated on his claim, saying he doesn't think Clinton has created "some sort of shadowy presidency."
"I was merely using a British parliamentary term used to designate the opposition critic as a metaphor," he tweeted.
In the British Parliament, the so-called Shadow Cabinet is a team appointed by the opposition party's leader to present a formal alternative to the party in power.
"HRC has become one of @realDonaldTrump ‘s most prominent critics. As the former standard-bearer of the Democratic Party (and winner of the popular vote), her statements carry weight — and therefore are both newsworthy, and worthy of asking the President for his reaction."
During a press conference Monday, Trump was asked about Clinton's comments on players who kneel in protest during the national anthem.
“Well — that’s why she lost the election. I mean, honestly, it’s that thinking — that is the reason she lost the election,” Trump responded. | 1,267,490 |
A police corporal in Denver has been suspended for making a crude comment about a woman’s breasts – and trying to set up a date with her daughter, city documents show.
Cpl. Adolph Chavez, a veteran officer of 24 years, made “inappropriate remarks” to a woman who was arrested in June and then tried to start a romantic relationship with her adult daughter, whom he called a “babe” while setting up a time for the woman to retrieve her mother’s forgotten cellphone, the Denver Post reports.
“An officer of Corporal Chavez’s experience and rank should be familiar with the concepts of professionalism and conflicts of interest,” a Denver Department of Public Safety official wrote in a letter obtained by the newspaper through a records request.
Chavez had been training a police recruit when they picked up a woman arrested by other officers and transported her to a police station. Along the way, the woman asked Chavez to call her daughter to tell her what transpired, the newspaper reports.
The corporal then asked the woman while inside a police station processing room if she had anything in her bra.
“Nope, nothing that isn’t supposed to be in there,” the woman replied, according to the letter.
“But boobs?” Chavez said.
“Yeah,” the woman giggled.
The corporal later realized that the woman forgot her cellphone in the back of his police cruiser, so he called her daughter to set up a time for her to pick it up. But Chavez forgot to bring the device to the station’s front desk and texted the woman’s daughter to say he was sorry, the newspaper reports.
After the woman’s daughter replied to thank Chavez, the corporal took the conversation in another direction, according to the disciplinary letter.
“I will make it up,” Chavez texted the woman’s daughter. “I’m sorry babe. I got busy and totally forgot.”
The couple then kept texting and swapped photos until the corporal asked the woman on a date one day after she picked up her mother’s phone. The woman appeared to be interested until Chavez told her he wasn’t separated from his wife, prompting her to end the conversation, the newspaper reports.
Chavez will now serve a three-day suspension – the maximum penalty allowed – for violating his oath to serve with “honesty, zeal, courage, discretion, fidelity and sound judgment,” according to the disciplinary letter.
Chavez declined to comment when reached by The Post early Thursday, including whether he’s still married to Paula Plato, a woman who identifies herself as his spouse on Facebook. The couple appears to have two children together, previous posts indicate.
A message seeking comment from Denver police was not immediately returned. | 1,267,491 |
Image copyright Reuters Image caption Made in Germany - but now with Chinese investment
Germany says it will remain "watchful" of Chinese carmaker Geely after it became the biggest investor in Mercedes-Benz owner Daimler.
The German government warned the deal should not be used as a "gateway" for Chinese industrial policy interests.
Geely, which has bought a 9.7% stake, says it hopes to co-operate with the German car giant on electric cars.
The Chinese firm already fully-owns Sweden's Volvo and black cab maker London Taxi Company.
Geely's $9bn (£6.4bn) investment has raised some concerns that the Chinese firm will seek access to technology and innovation in exchange for the deal.
The German government said it would not block the investment, but Economy Minister Brigitte Zypries said it must "keep an especially watchful eye".
Germany is "an open economy that welcomes investments, as long as they happen in line with the market", she told the German newspaper Handelsblatt.
Too much influence?
Nevertheless, Germany's openness should "not be used as a gateway for other states' industrial policy interests," she said.
It comes amid concern that Chinese firms could gain too much influence in European economies via foreign investments. Some also complain that the EU is much more open to investment from abroad than Beijing allows on its territory.
Image copyright AFP Image caption Geely cars are largely unknown outside of China
China is widely considered the most important future market for global car manufacturers.
In a statement by Geely, Mr Li said he wanted to "accompany Daimler on its way to becoming the world's leading electro-mobility provider", and was looking for a long-term commitment.
Describing what he called a "strategic vision", he argued that "invaders from outside" the traditional car sector, meant firms needed to co-operate through partnerships and alliances.
Traditional carmakers are increasingly facing competition from newcomers from the technology sector, including Tesla and the Google-associated Waymo.
Daimler invests in China
Also over the weekend, Daimler announced a $1.9bn investment into a partnership with another Chinese auto firm, BAIC.
The money will go into modernising a BAIC plant to build Mercedes cars including electric vehicles, the two companies said.
Daimler and BAIC are already co-operating in the Chinese market, where foreign production is often only permitted through partnerships with Chinese firms.
Last week, fellow German carmaker BMW announced a deal with Chinese manufacturer Great Wall Motor to build electric-powered Mini cars in China for the local market.
The Chinese government has said 20% of cars sold by 2025 should be electric or rechargeable-hybrid vehicles - a target that is spurring many global carmakers to raise their investment in China. | 1,267,492 |
have when you're going to No. 1. There's so much programming. I guess the thing is, would you rather be on a streaming service no one is watching but you would be a big fish? Or would you rather try to swim with the biggest [fish] in the ocean, and if you stay afloat then you're golden?" he says. "I'm not too afraid at this point. I want the show to work obviously, and I don't want to get lost, but they have a plan. And their model seems to work. Since we're a topical show, we're an anomaly on their network, so I don't know. I guess that means we can be promoted every week."
Inevitably helping with said promotion will be the show's Soup-style focus on booking fellow celebs to join in the snark. Episode one alone boasts a slew of notable guests, with Kevin Hart, Paul Reiser, Luke Cage star Mike Colter (seen above), Fuller House's Jodie Sweetin and McHale's former Community co-stars Alison Brie and Jim Rash (also seen above) all scheduled to appear. As for future guest stars, McHale names David Oyelowo ("It turns out he's really funny") as well as members of the Stranger Things cast, though it sounds like his former Community co-star-turned-Atlanta Emmy winner Donald Glover probably won't be making an appearance. "Yeah, I'm sure he's going to have a lot of time to swing by and tell some jokes with me," says McHale of the multihyphenate. "He's coming out in Star Wars, and I now have two cameras instead of one."
Despite its focus on being a pop culture catch-all, the series won't be extending its reach to the political sphere. While commenting on the reality-show-like Trump White House has paid dividends for late-night hosts like Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Kimmel and John Oliver, McHale acknowledges it's neither his brand nor his strong suit.
"On The Soup, we were never a political show," he says. "We were always about covering the coverage. So, if there was something going on in the news, and everyone was talking about it, we would always say, 'This was how this was presented' and we make a joke about it. But me, I'm not smart enough to give a searing political indictment."
McHale also seems to understand that in 2018, the market for political comedy is saturated, and that perhaps the escapism The Soup provided for so many years is the savviest approach.
"Trump takes up 90 percent of news and entertainment now," he says. "And we want people to know that there are a lot of bad and silly reality shows out there that need to be made fun of," he says.
The Joel McHale Show With Joel McHale premieres Sunday, Feb. 18 on Netflix. | 1,267,493 |
Sick of engaging from the sidelines, Ms. Gera abandoned two decades of climbing the American academic and professional ladder, and set off on a drastic career change.
In 2010, Ms. Gera enrolled in Delhi University’s law program. There, she met Isha Khandelwal, 24, who also had redirected her trajectory from studying computer programming to studying human rights law in the capital. Together, and with the help of Ms. Bharadwaj, they founded a private legal aid group, operating on a shoestring budget comprising scholarships, donations, and personal savings.
Legal aid for adivasis is hard to come by. Article 39a in India’s Constitution mandates free legal representation for a huge percentage of the population. Still, more than two-thirds of inmates in Indian prisons — more than 265,000 people — are awaiting trial, according to the latest figures from the National Crimes Records Bureau. The situation is still more dire for the mostly adivasi defendants of southern Chhattisgarh, where both the Naxalites and the state’s armed forces have been accused of countless extrajudicial killings and the razing of entire villages, contributing to an entrenched security mentality.
“Don’t get me wrong,” Ms. Gera said. “We’re not saying that Naxalite attacks don’t happen. But when it comes down to it, most of these cases are completely baseless.”
In July 2013, Ms. Gera and Ms. Khandelwal, together with another recent graduate, Parijata Bharadwaj, 25, who is no relation to Sudha, moved to Jagdalpur and founded the Jagdalpur Legal Aid Group, leaving behind fretful friends and families in cities far removed from the conflict. A year and a half later, the three are now four — joined by Guneet Kaur, 24, a recent law degree graduate from the University of California at Berkeley. The team of young lawyers is now known by a nickname reminiscent of a made-for-TV drama: JagLAG.
They live together, sharing spartan quarters in the office-cum-apartment. Mealtime conversations revolve around the dozens of cases they are juggling. There are no weekends, and trips home are few and far between.
Ms. Gera goes almost every week to the district court in a nearby town called Dantewada. On a recent morning, in an empty hallway of the court, she took a black sports coat out of her backpack, unfolded it, put it on, and affixed a white advocate’s collar around her neck. In a country where court complexes are ordinarily filled with commotion, this one was a scene of relative serenity. Barely a handful of people milled about. Lawyers and judges sat on plastic chairs in the courtyard, sipping tea in the winter sun. | 1,267,494 |
Reviews, News, CPU, GPU, Articles, Columns, Other "or" search relation. 5G, Accessory, AMD, Android, Apple, ARM, Audio, Bay Trail, Business, Cannon Lake, Charts, Chinese Tech, Chromebook, Coffee Lake, Comet Lake, Console, Convertible / 2-in-1, Cryptocurrency, Cyberlaw, Deal, Desktop, Fail, Foldable, Gadget, Galaxy Note, Galaxy S, Gamecheck, Gaming, Geforce, Google Nexus / Pixel, How To, Ice Lake, Internet of Things (IoT), iOS, iPad Pro, iPhone, Kaby Lake, Lakefield, Laptop, Launch, Linux / Unix, MacBook, Mini PC, Monitor, MSI, OnePlus, Opinion, Phablet, Project Athena, Renoir, Review Snippet, Rocket Lake, Rumor, Ryzen (Zen), Security, Smart Home, Smartphone, Smartwatch, Software, Storage, Tablet, ThinkPad, Thunderbolt, Tiger Lake, Touchscreen, Ultrabook, Virtual Reality (VR) / Augmented Reality (AR), Wearable, Whiskey Lake, Windows, Workstation, XPS, Zen 3 (Vermeer) Ticker
Revenue between 2016 (pre-Ryzen) and 2019 increased from US$4.3 billion to US$6.7 billion, and operating margin followed suit by increasing from 1% to 12% over the same time frame (31% to 43% gross). Perhaps the most telling sign of improvement is the change in cash and debt levels. AMD moved from US$1.3 billion cash and US$1.8 billion debt in 2016 to US$1.5 billion cash and US$600 million debt in 2019, with almost all that improvement happening during 2019.
While it would be easy to take a PC-enthusiasts perspective and assume that consumer parts have driven this growth, the most substantial growth area has been with datacentre products, and this trend is predicted to continue. General PC products are the second-highest area of growth, with high-end gaming products only expected to have a small revenue uptick over the next few years. This reflects the appeal of AMD's high core-count EPYC processors, with impressive performance and comparatively affordable pricing. EPYC is used in large datacentres owned by Microsoft, Google, Amazon, and more. Google's largest cloud data centre uses EPYC 2, and the Archer2 supercomputer will use around 12,000 of these CPUs
The Bulldozer microarchitecture (and derivatives) used through most of the 2010s was leading AMD towards progressively worse results each year. This was despite having the exclusive contract to provide the APUs for both the Xbox One and Playstation 4 and having decent sales in the low-to-mid-range dGPU market. It is good to see AMD's position strengthening because of the carry-over effect that competition has on prices and generational improvements. | 1,267,495 |
gUJsWA
Suzuki Akifumi (12 East ; 5-2) – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8wj7e1LfNU
Toranofuji Keita (8 West ; 5-2) – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJX8E5jJtQc
Burinosato Tsuyoshi (12 West ; 4-3) – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqovRtQKqho
Ryuko Ryuko (15 West ; 6-1) – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BcGQjkgxfSQ
Hatsu Basho 2017 (Jonokuchi 17 West)
Tatsunofuji Masaru (22 East ; 2-5) – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-Jpg6zBebY
Karutaki Kazuki (17 East ; 6-1) – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RtaIH95hJkE
Noborifuji Daiki (23 East ; 2-5) – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZkJKkwb3yY
Wakayama Satoshi (16 West ; 6-1) – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=He-_q3xfuFY
Ryuki Takamori (15 East ; 4-2-1) – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwvzAGF1RF8
Kenshin Shohei (13 West ; 5-2) – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPMhuAT0h4U
Shimakaze Hisa (18 East ; 4-3) – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkUBQyy7Yno
Kyūshū Basho 2016 (Mae-zumo)
Teruju Ryota (Mae-zumo ; 2-3) – (Cannot Locate ; email [email protected] if found)
Hikarifuji Wataru (Mae-zumo ; 0-1) – (Cannot Locate ; email [email protected] if found)
Noborifuji Daiki (Mae-zumo ; 0-1) – (Cannot Locate ; email [email protected] if found)
Note: Most video links found on the amazing website Sumo Reference (http://sumodb.sumogames.de/Rikishi.aspx?r=12359). | 1,267,496 |
The vice chief of the Australian Defence Force has promised sweeping changes to ensure the safety of cadets after formally apologising to victims of child sex abuse within the organisation.
A mountain of inconsistent and incomplete policies around ADF cadet safety has created confusion and exposed children to harm, Vice Admiral Raymond Griggs says.
Giving evidence at the Royal Commission into Institutional Child Sexual Abuse on Thursday, Vice Adml Griggs said that both people and systems had let cadets down and placed others at risk.
"Your stories are changing the ADF and they have strengthened the resolve of the senior leadership of the ADF to stamp out abuse in all its forms, and in particular, child sexual abuse," Vice Adml Griggs said directly to victims and their families present.
"No one who pulls on the uniform of this country and no child who is under our care should ever have had happen to them what happened to you."
Over the past two weeks in Sydney, the commission has been told of humiliation and abuse endured by cadets, and brick walls faced in seeking redress and reparations.
It has also heard of attitudes towards policies and procedures ranging from ignorance to confusion or blatant disregard.
Vice Adml Griggs said the stories of victims were "tragic and transformational" and would help drive organisational change at the ADF.
Policies would be clarified and leadership structures tightened from July 1, he said.
"My interpretation of post-tomorrow is that we will be able to condense, streamline and thin out a lot of that policy which leads in my view, to confusion, which creates space and opportunity and increases risk," he said.
Also foreshadowed were much broader child safety reforms within the force to iron out inconsistencies across army, navy and air force cadet programs.
It had proved hard to shift attitudes among disparate groups of civilian cadet volunteers, who often held vastly different views of what constituted acceptable behaviour, Vice Adml Griggs said.
The close proximity in age between cadet trainees and instructors also poses a significant concern, with those involved often experiencing their sexually transformative years.
Vice Adml Griggs said enforcing periods of separation once trainees had graduated, or introducing probations for new instructors were two options being considered to mitigate any risks.
"It is a risk factor that I don't think is properly addressed at the moment," he said.
Age of consent laws across states and territories must also be harmonised to eliminate confusion, he said.
"I don't think we can stress how important (this is)... I mean, it's critical."
Vice Adml Griggs sought to drive home the force's zero-tolerance approach to demeaning "hazing" rituals.
"Anything that damages people physically, sexually, psychologically is simply not acceptable," he said.
The hearing has been adjourned while final submissions are finalised. | 1,267,497 |
Free-agent quarterback Colin Kaepernick, about to enter a third consecutive autumn of NFL unemployment, revealed that a specific police shooting led to his activism.
In an interview with online magazine Paper, Kaepernick said his protests were a response to a deadly December 2015 confrontation between San Francisco police officers and Mario Woods, 26, in the city's Bayview neighborhood.
Woods, a suspect in a stabbing attack, died after being shot 20 times after he allegedly refused police orders to drop his knife. Woods' family sued the city in a lawsuit that was settled for $400,000.
Kaepernick, who at the time played for the San Francisco 49ers, said that after the shooting he and his longtime girlfriend, Nessa Diab, devised a plan that included the launching of a Know Your Rights Camp for youth.
"The discussion happened shortly after the execution of Mario Woods," Kaepernick told Paper in a story posted Tuesday morning.
Kaepernick's kneeling during the national anthem at games during the 2016 season prompted some other NFL players to follow suit and set off a heated national debate over the appropriateness of such demonstrations during the anthem.
The quarterback has previously offered a more general explanation that his silent protests were against racism and police brutality.
Demonstrators outside a crowded police commission hearing inside City Hall on Dec. 9, 2015, in San Francisco. Marcio Jose Sanchez / AP file
In the 50 years since the struggles of the Black Panther movement, "what has changed?" Kaepernick told Paper.
"Oscar Grant, Rekia Boyd, Michael Brown, Tamir Rice," he said, ticking off names of people killed by police in recent years. "Laquan McDonald, Sandra Bland, Freddie Gray. The Panthers' demands are still alive today because the police are still killing us today."
Kaepernick became a free agent in March 2017 and hasn't played pro football since. He sued the NFL for allegedly colluding to keep him out of the league, a claim settled out of court earlier this year.
The NFL last week announced that it is teaming up with Jay-Z to address issues brought to light by social activists.
The announcement drew some criticism, including from Diab, who accused Jay-Z of helping an organization that had blackballed Kaepernick.
“I don’t mind you doing a business deal — but I do mind you wrapping it in social justice when you’re working with an organization that denies someone an opportunity," she said on Hot 97 radio station last week.
Jay-Z said at the news conference announcing the initiative, “We forget that Colin’s whole thing was to bring attention to social injustice.”
"This is the next thing," he said, "because there are two parts to the protest — you go out and protest, and the company and individual says: ‘I hear you. What do we do next?’” | 1,267,498 |
on the headphones and strap to the ears of prisoners who are handcuffed behind their backs and sit naked in jail cells while they are forced to endure this madness. I’d rather blow my fucking brains out, and if I ever did managed to get out, I’d be running off to join the nearest terrorist cell in order to extract my revenge.
Have a listen this rubbish (CLICK BELOW) if you can stand it for more than a few seconds:
.
.
I know what you’re thinking. You want to go after my music. You want to blast away at me. Go ahead, fuckers. See if you can top what I like at the conclusion of this article. You’re drawing so fucking dead you should even be in my game.
So, what constitutes real music? Here’s a list of things I believe to be essential.
REAL MUSIC DEFINED BY NOLAN DALLA:
(1) Real music is created by humans, not by a machine or a computer.
(2) Real music has structure and consistency.
(3) Real music elicits real emotions — of love, loss, anger, fear, happiness, hope, inspiration, or anything related to the gambit of being human.
(4) Real music requires talent.
(5) Real music requires instruments and/or voices.
(6) Real music should be cross generational.
(7) Real music shouldn’t need gadgets or special effects to be enjoyed.
Here and now, I’ll leave you with a video clip of real music (CLICK BELOW). When one of those fucking machines creates a sound that can somehow match this magical majesty, then give me a call. Until then, don’t label what you listen to as “music.” It’s not music. It’s garbage.
.
Writer’s Note: I wrote this over-the-top satirical outrage back in 2013, not expecting it to become the third-highest rated post at my website, with more than 100,000 page views. Had I know that trolling could generate such high traffic, I probably would have utilized the tactic more often. That said, I’ve come to modify my position somewhat on modern music. There’s an astonishing array of excellent high-tech, computer generate sound that’s as profoundly creative as anything ever written and recorded. I continue to express some bewilderment at what masquerades as “popular music” today. Much of it is garbage. However, I wish to amend my previous remarks and withdraw the blanket condemnation of anything enjoyed by listeners under the age of 25. Now, please continue to post the often hilariously hateful comments below. Regards.
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