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I recently had to remove a number of type synonyms from the GHC code base which were along the lines of type CmmActuals = [CmmActual]. The process made me wonder a little about when type synonyms are appropriate for Haskell code. The Wikibooks article says type synonyms are “for making the roles of types clearer or providing an alias to, for instance, a complicated list or tuple type” and Learn You a Haskell says they “make more sense to someone reading our code and documentation.” But under what circumstances is this actually true?
Let's try dividing the following use-cases of type synonyms:
They can give extra semantic content, for example DateString is more informative than String about its contents, though they are the same.
is more informative than about its contents, though they are the same. They can abbreviate long constructed types, for example TcSigFun might abbreviate Name -> Maybe TcSigInfo.
The first is an example of code reader benefit: types with extra semantic information make it easier to see what a function is doing; the second is example of coder writer benefit: abbreviations of long types make writing type signatures more pleasurable. Sometimes a type synonym can give both benefits.
The downside of type signatures is their opacity of implementation. Seeing a value with type Address, I do not know if this is an algebraic data type or a type synonym, where as if it were a String I would know immediately what functions I could use on it. The type synonym adds an extra layer of indirection to figuring out how to manipulate the value: thus, it is a downside for the writer. It is true that algebraic data types and newtypes also add a layer of indirection, but they also bring to the table extra type safety that type synonyms don’t. (Furthermore, an algebraic data type is usually marvelously self documenting, as each of its constructors gets its own name).
I think my taste in the matter is as follows:
Don’t use type synonyms if are not going to give any extra semantic information beyond the structure of the type.
Synonyms for atomic types can be used freely, if the correspondence is unique. If you have many synonyms referring to the same atomic type, consider newtypes.
Synonyms for non-function compound types should be used sparingly. They should not leak out of module boundaries, and are candidates for promotion into algebraic data-types.
Synonyms for function compound types are mostly OK (since conversion into an ADT doesn’t buy you much, and they are unlikely to get mixed up), but make sure they are documented properly.
Prefer to keep type synonyms inside module boundaries, un-exported. (Though, I know a few cases where I”ve broken this rule.)
How do you feel about type synonyms? | 1,268,100 |
to reach out to her about the series, including a fellow worker where Olsen volunteers, who found the series allowed her to better understand the depression of someone she loved.
“Just [the] thought of her sharing that with me, it broke my heart on a personal level because we did try very hard to capture what depression feels like in that very monotonous way,” Olsen said. “That’s what makes it so fucking demoralizing as an illness, because it eats at you in the simplest of ways that if you don’t understand it or you haven’t experienced it, it’s almost hard to wrap your head around.”
“It’s things like that, beyond just the grief,” she continued. “I’m just really proud of we were able to handle certain topics and subjects and in a way that was relatable to a really specific, authentic experience that people have.”
That feeling of connection, of empathy, of community, served as something of a theme throughout show’s creation and extending even to where the series landed for distribution. While a brand new streaming content provider wouldn’t necessarily be everyone’s first choice when it comes to launching a passion project, Olsen even feels like that may have been kismet, in its own way.
For the uninitiated, to watch “Sorry For Your Loss” on Facebook Watch is to see comments people have left on each episode displayed nearby. Time and again, the featured comment comes from someone still processing their own grief and who has since incorporated the show into their process.
“Just watched all 6 episodes non stop. My 7 month old baby son is sleeping so I have the chance. I just got through the 6 month mark of my husband’s death. He was 32. Cancer. I’m a 32 year old single mom and widow now. How did this happen?”
“I work in a Bereavement Center and truly appreciate how you show what it’s really like to grieve: messy, a wide range of emotions, no time line, and different for everyone.”
“My wife asked me to get groceries by myself late that night, so I wouldn’t be there when it happened.”
Facebook Watch
Though she hasn’t seen the comments herself —having not watched the show on Facebook proper — some of them had been sent to her by fellow producers, while others that were read to her were a surprise. As gutting as some of the messages are, they all seem to support the hopes that Olsen had for the series. “It ended up being this lovely community, and place, and resource for people to bond, and connect and share,” she said.
Sign Up: Stay on top of the latest breaking film and TV news! Sign up for our Email Newsletters here. | 1,268,101 |
From: Darren D. MacDonald, thenorthbaybay.ca
TORONTO – Ontarians looking to enjoy sex without breaking the bank will be happy to learn that Loblaws has launched its own brand of “No Name®” condoms.
In a press release on Tuesday, Loblaws Co. announced its new Ontario-crafted “Canadian-Style” condoms. The heavily discounted prophylactics will come in packs of 32, branded with the No Name® distinctive yellow and black look.
“We know that Canadians have ‘the sex,'” says Ian Gordon, senior Vice President of No Name®. “We have for decades, and for decades we here at No Name® have watched as other brands have tightly wrapped up the market.”
“Well, that ends today. Today, we are entering the market hard, fast, and hot!”
Packs containing 32 No Name® brand condoms will sell for just for $5, which is “considerably lower than competing brands.”
15 Cents Per Condom
While Ontarians of the past might have been put off by such a low price for an item that most consider so important, the penny-pinching Ontarian of today will likely accept it with open arms.
“I look forward to it!” reads one online comment. “I’m a man that wants to date a lot, but the cost of condoms has always set me back. The regular condoms would costs me 31 cents per sexing session. Now with these No Name® condoms, it’s down to 15 cents per third date!”
“I know what I’ll be thinking of next time I do it: Doug Ford. Thanks for making this happen!”
“Sure they’re cheap,” reads another comment. “And they may not be the best quality, but I have been buying No Name® products my whole life. If they were that bad I would be dead and not just horribly sick.”
The Next Level
“I know sometimes people get uneasy with the No Name® brand,” says Vice President Gordon. “But I can assure you all the materials are safe for human contact. We just want to give our customers the best price, and we do that by not cutting ALL of the corners… just some of them.”
“But I ask: why stop at condoms? Why not No Name® Pregnancy Tests? Why not No Name® Personal Lubricant? Why not No Name® Birth Control? Let us into your hearts and bodies, Ontario, because we want to take our relationship to the next level.”
Frugal North Bay shoppers may want to keep an eye open in the upcoming months for the inevitable No Frills “Jim Ordered Too Many Condoms” sale. | 1,268,102 |
Raikkonen, who turns 39 next month, qualified on pole for last weekend’s Italian Grand Prix but was denied a first win of the season by Hamilton.
Suggestions over the Monza weekend indicated Ferrari’s new hierarchy has committed to honouring the late Sergio Marchionne’s wish to promote Leclerc from Sauber for 2019.
And there has since been strong speculation that Leclerc's Ferrari move will be made official as early as Thursday.
Asked after the Italian GP if he would miss Raikkonen, Hamilton said: “I think it’s always a difficult question to say if you miss someone. I think the sport would naturally miss him, yeah.
“I made it no secret that before I even got to Formula 1, when I was playing the PlayStation I was always Kimi in the McLaren, imagining that was me.
“Then I remember the first car I drove at McLaren, which was Kimi’s set-up and the suspension that he would use.
“It was an amazing experience and it was cool because I think our driving style was kind of similar, which meant that I ended up being quite comfortable with the set-up that he used back then.
“He’s had an incredible career and it’s been a real honour to race against a great Finn such as him.
“He looks like he’s just ice-cold. He’s just got plenty of years left in him. He’s not seeming to age.”
Raikkonen has started 284 grands prix but has not added to his 20 victories since rejoining Ferrari in 2014.
He is third in this year’s championship, 62 points behind team-mate Sebastian Vettel in second, with nine podiums from 14 races – and second place in Italy was his 100th in F1.
Ross Brawn, F1’s sporting chief, said: “I don’t know what Kimi’s short-term plans are, whether he’ll stay at Ferrari, join another team or leave Formula 1 altogether.
“But I do think that during his interview by his former teammate Felipe Massa [on the podium after the race], he became quite emotional watching the huge sea of fans flocking across the track to stand under the podium and chant his name.
“Since I returned to Formula 1 last year, I’ve noticed how Kimi has lightened up.
“It can be spotted in a host of little things, such as spending a bit more time signing autographs or smiling for cameras that in the past would usually have only elicited a scowl.
“This year, he is certainly driving better than at any time since he returned to Ferrari and maybe another chance [to win] will come along soon.” | 1,268,103 |
latter having far superior numbers off Tillman, made Gibbons look brilliant. Travis persevered through a foul-filled nine-pitch at-bat, then belted a 2-2 pitch over the wall straightaway, ushering Kevin Pillar across the plate ahead of him. The Jays were up 4-3.
Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...
The lead hardly lasted the blink of an eye.
In the bottom of the second, Pedro Alvarez lashed a single to the left of Travis on the shift, scooted to second on a wild pitch that glanced off Martin’s mitt and scored the tying run on a single by Ryan Flaherty. A three-run fourth cracked the game open for the Orioles, and the two home runs Tillman surrendered had no lingering impact..
Bye-bye Stroman, after a mere 3 2/3 innings, battered for seven runs on 10 hits, including one home run, with two wild pitches tossed into the mix.
Speculating he might be over-analyzing his string of poor outings, Stroman will try not to dwell on this game when he wakes up Monday morning — a much needed day off for the Jays before resuming their labours at home against Arizona Tuesday.
“I’m just gonna try to get away from it for this off-day, just really enjoy it,” Stroman said. “I don’t carry these starts into the next day.’’
Joe Biagini, bringing up the early-innings relief rear, fared no better than Stroman, giving up a run on four hits and managing just one out before he was yanked. Gibbons then rampaged through his bullpen, calling upon Gavin Floyd, Chad Girodo, Jesse Chavez and Drew Storen.
Toronto got two runs back in the seventh, off doubles from Tulowitzki and Travis and a Baltimore error. The Orioles countered with three in the seventh, including a two-run shot from Jonathan Schoop off Chavez.
Bottom line: The hits just kept coming.
In winning the rubber match, the Orioles made out just fine without Manny Machado in the lineup. The much-beloved Machado formally dropped an appeal of his four-game suspension, handed down for charging the mound after being hit in the back by a 99 m.p.h. fastball from Kansas City pitcher Yordano Ventura on June 7.
The suspension also meant Machado’s consecutive streak of 229 games was strangled in baseball’s disciplinary Star Chamber.
It had been the longest active stretch in baseball.
Final word, a reassuring one, from Stroman: “I’ll be fine. I know the type of individual I am. This is a bump in the road and I know I’m going to be stronger from it in the future.”
Read more about: | 1,268,104 |
It's all about Nancy.
As polls opened in Ohio on Tuesday, President Donald Trump delivered a salvo against the Democratic candidate in the state's closely watched special election in the 12th Congressional District, Danny O'Connor, accusing him of being "controlled" by House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi — a frequent target of Republicans and a figure even Democrats have run from.
“Ohio, vote today for Troy Balderson for Congress. His opponent, controlled by Nancy Pelosi, is weak on Crime, the Border, Military, Vets, your 2nd Amendment — and will end your Tax Cuts,” Trump tweeted. “Troy will be a great Congressman.”
Ohio, vote today for Troy Balderson for Congress. His opponent, controlled by Nancy Pelosi, is weak on Crime, the Border, Military, Vets, your 2nd Amendment - and will end your Tax Cuts. Troy will be a great Congressman. #MAGA — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 7, 2018
Trump’s post was less notable for his endorsement of Balderson, a Republican state representative — the president had already endorsed him and even campaigned for him over the weekend in Ohio — and more significant for his derision of Pelosi, a Democrat from California, signaling that vulnerable Republicans will continue to use her to try to diminish their opponents as the nation heads into the midterms.
Amid a robust Republican attack effort and citing a need for a change in leadership, an increasing number of Democratic congressional candidates have bailed on Pelosi in recent months as they try to inoculate themselves against Republican attacks.
Republicans' goal in singling out Pelosi has been to mobilize the GOP base as well as to try to convince swing voters that the Democratic candidate in any given race — no matter how much they profess independence — will ultimately empower the San Francisco liberal who leads her party in the House.
O'Connor, asked Tuesday morning about Trump's campaign appearance and tweeting, said he wasn't focused on the president.
"We are not focused on people coming in from Washington, D.C., for a couple hours, folks who aren’t invested in our community," he told NBC News. "We’re focused on our community first."
Ohio's 12th Congressional District tilts to the right — the GOP has held the seat for 35 years and Trump won the district by 11 percentage points in the 2016 presidential — but Republicans face overwhelming Democratic enthusiasm there.
O'Connor, the Franklin County recorder, however, has stumbled in trying to separate himself from Pelosi, who is unpopular in the district and has been featured in GOP attack ads.
He initially said he would not vote for Pelosi to be his party's leader if he is elected to the next Congress, but when MSNBC host Chris Matthews pressed him in an interview on the subject, O'Connor eventually said he would vote for Pelosi if she were the only option available to giving Democrats the House speakership — prompting Republicans to pounce. | 1,268,105 |
Apr 25th, 2019
Apr 25th, 2019
Jason Taumalolo is still on track for an early return to the NRL from a knee injury but it just won't be this Friday against Canterbury.
The North Queensland powerhouse was ruled out by coach Paul Green on Thursday after the captain's run, with his comeback game now expected against Gold Coast on May 3.
The Cowboys (2-4) snapped a three-game losing streak without Taumalolo in Auckland last weekend but Green is wary of the Bulldogs, who he says are travelling better than their 1-5 record suggests.
Taumalolo was initially forecast to miss between six to 10 weeks when he hurt his knee against the Broncos in round two.
While Green said he was just short of the mark this week, a return against the Titans would mean he would only miss five games in a massive boost for the Townsville club.
"Having another couple of days would've been good," Green said.
"But he's a fair bit short of the initial time that they thought it would take (to recover).
"He took part in it (the captain's run), he's not too far away."
Taumalolo was set for a shock return but he needs more time (Getty)
Green said the week had revolved around recovery after a hard-fought win over the Warriors went some way to correcting a season that was starting to slip away.
He said Michael Morgan's timely reminder of his class would serve them well at ANZ Stadium.
"He doesn't have to prove it, he's done it plenty of times in the past," Green said of Morgan's late-game poise.
"It's just good for everyone to get that control back in our game, a good reminder for everyone what we can do."
The Bulldogs have gone close in losses to South Sydney and Melbourne but been blown away by the Warriors, Parramatta and St George Illawarra.
Long-term ankle injuries to Keiran Foran and Dylan Napa haven't helped Canterbury but Green said there was no reason for complacency in prop John Asiata's 100th NRL game.
"They've played some good footy; they're probably a better team than where they sit on the ladder," he said.
"It's important we don't start looking at the ladder and thinking we're going to be in for an easy game."
STATS THAT MATTER
* North Queensland have failed to score more than 17 points in their past five games.
* Canterbury have conceded the most points per game this season (26), followed by the Cowboys (23.5), while the Bulldogs also rank last in tackle busts and points scored (11.7).
* Canterbury have never made the finals after starting the season with one win from seven games.
- AAP
©AAP2019 | 1,268,106 |
There's something new coming for the X-Men and Inhumans after the pair of superpowered species go to war this fall. Marvel Comics didn't (and won't for awhile) say much about the nature of X-Men/Inhumans: ResurrXion just yet, but they revealed this banner and the name at the Diamond Retailer Summit held yesterday in Baltimore. All Marvel said about it at the event, was that "ResurrXion" follows "Death of X" and "Inhumans vs. X-Men."
So, does that mean "ResurrXion" is also an event comic? Not necessarily. While there are plenty of X-Men characters currently in need of a return from the dead, like Wolverine, Professor Xavier, adult Cyclops, and the adult Jean Grey, it could also be referring to the comic book line itself. After "Death of X" reveals how the Inhumans' terrigen mist cloud started killing mutants and led to the death of Cyclops, and "Inhumans vs. X-Men" pits the two races against each other, it does seem like a good time for a fresh start.
In the past, the X-Men line, as well as Marvel Comics as a whole, has received many rebrandings and refreshes. Things like "Counter X," "Revolution," and "ReGenesis" helped fans know that these are all stories starting from a similar place, giving them a ground-level to start from for new readers. They also tend to theme the stories across different books together, without necessarily being a true crossover - something else X-fans know plenty about. In the nineties, you could barely read an X-Men book for 4 issues without running into a "story continued in the pages of..." leading you to another book in the line. At Marvel Comics as a whole, we've seen the "Heroic Age," the "Marvel NOW!" initiatives, the "All-New, All-Different" all cross into the X-Men lineup as well.
(Photo: Marvel Comics)
With the Inhumans being included in this "ResurrXion," that also points to it being more line-wide than just a specific character returning. What could be interesting here is a true merger of the lines. We've seen that happen a bit already, with characters like Beast going over to work with and alongside the Inhumans, and even an Inhumans title rebranded as "Uncanny," a term typically reserved for Marvel's mutants. A further merger between the two, showing them co-eXisting and working toward a common goal would be an interesting turn after a couple of years of conflict that leads to a literal race war.
We should learn more about "ResurrXion" soon, perhaps as early as New York Comic Con, right around the corner in October, though Marvel may wait until after the other two Inhumans and X-Men stories are complete to go forward. | 1,268,107 |
the car it was good fun. People like René Arnoux or Tambay were good fun. A lot of them are legends and they have had their moment in the spotlight.” adds Simon “They know they are very capable, so it was less of an issue. They wouldn’t have got where they did if that entered into their head. They would always believe ‘I could beat the best, I could beat whoever.’ It was more the series that needed to grow its reputation a little bit more. It was something that came and went. But if it had stayed more, I’m sure you’d see more guys coming in - people like Alain Prost, Damon Hill and others, but when it’s a little bit flaky, I can understand why they didn’t want to get involved.”
”I pretty much raced against all of them at some stage” says Stefan “I must have, because we raced against each other in IndyCar just prior to [GP Masters]. I have known some of them from Formula 3 days, Formula 2, Formula 1, you know. It wasn’t so much the admiration or that I wanted to measure myself [against them]. It was the great cars and it sounded like a very fun championship, so why not?”
[image source]
“I think that anybody who was involved in that looks back with fond memories.” says Simon. “It was an incredible amount of work to get to that stage, but it was very fulfilling and enjoyable - same for the drivers. They might not have got out of it what they wanted, but I’m sure they enjoyed it again. It gave them a fix they hadn’t had for a while. I’d do it again, because I believe in the concept. Especially now, ten years on, we got a lot more drivers, who would be nice to see back again in cars competing against one another, but it’s still a difficult thing to pull off financially.”
“Had they had the funding required and the ability to sustain, I think it would have been huge, no question about it. We would have been able to do something that was quite entertaining and most importantly highly competitive.” concludes Stefan Johansson.
[image source]
With only three races completed, the Grand Prix Masters folded in late 2006. The drivers went on with their lives, while Delta Motorsport is still very much active in a number of racing series - including LMP2 -, and with their increasing know-how on developing electric and hybrid solutions for road cars, they have an edge to step up to LMP1 or over to Formula E.
The reintroduction of a similar concept as a support series to Formula 1 has been widely disputed with the recent talks of revamping the race weekends. It yet has to be seen whether it comes to fruition. | 1,268,108 |
was not for their offence, shooting twice the league average, the team would have likely been eliminated.
In this round we can expect Berube’s save percentage to regress upwards, while seeing their shooting percentage regress downwards. The advantage still leans towards Jacob Markstrom and the Utica Comets, and as we all know, a hot goaltender is the great equalizer in the playoffs.
Special
Teams
Special teams are a bit of a mixed bag. The Comets power-play has been awful throughout the regular season but the Manchester Monarchs were the best in the league. The penalty kill was the opposite with the Comets being one of the best while Manchester dropping down to the middle of the pack.
In these playoffs the Comets have been the better team at both the powerplay and the penalty kill. We can expect the Comets to improve in this facet given how low the variance in the success has been. This could be an area the Comets can exploit to help ensure their first victory.
How They
Got Here
The
Manchester Monarchs have not had the most difficult time reaching the
final. Because they were the top ranked
possession team, in a league of tighter parity, it was easy to dominate all
their opponents to the top. No series
went more than five games. Their top end
talent has been shooting in the mid-teens and was able to overcome their woeful
goaltending. Despite being able to score as much as they have, they could be due for some regression and their goaltending is suspect.
Likely
Outcome
The AHL’s Calder Cup final is one of the most difficult to try and predict who the better team is. This round could not have featured a better match up with the #1 and #2 teams, in the points standings and possession standings, facing off against each other.
On one hand you have the Manchester Monarchs, a team who is the best in the league, the best possession team and lead by a very strong offence.
But if there is any team that could beat them, it is the Utica Comets. The Comets boast the better goaltending tandem, are the next best 5-on-5 team in the league, and they look like they may have an edge in special teams.
Unfortunately the prediction for this series is boring. With two strong teams, this series looks like the winner will be decided on the outcome of a goaltending tandem. Can Markstrom continue to play as strong as he has? Will Berube continue to be as mediocre as he has?
If not…
REMINDER: YOU CAN WATCH ALL UTICA COMETS CALDER CUP FINALS GAMES FOR FREE ON AHL LIVE (CLICK HERE) BY REGISTERING AN ACCOUNT AND ENTERING THE PROMO CODE: CALDERCUP
| 1,268,109 |
Hey gang!
After a brief hiatus (cough21 monthscough) we're releasing brand new Rock Band DLC tomorrow! New tracks from Arctic Monkeys, Avenged Sevenfold, and Foo Fighters will hit Xbox 360 and PS3 on Tuesday 1/13. Check out the full press release below for additional details, and we'll update this thread with answers to frequently asked questions as the week goes on.
We've missed rocking with all of you. :)
-HMXhenry
On Tuesday, January 13th, new music from Arctic Monkeys, Avenged Sevenfold, and Foo Fighters will hit the Rock Band Music Store!
“R U Mine?” marks the first appearance of the Grammy Award winning Arctic Monkeys on the Rock Band platform. From 2013’s critically acclaimed album AM, “R U Mine?” – with its driving riffs, syncopated rock beats, and memorable hook – is perfect for Artic Monkeys’ Rock Band debut.
One of the most fan requested artists, Avenged Sevenfold, makes their return to Rock Band with “Shepherd Of Fire.” The track comes from the band’s sixth studio record, 2013’s Billboard chart-topping Hail to the King.
Foo Fighters’ “Something From Nothing” from the band’s latest, 2014’s Sonic Highways, will also be available for download. Heard in the opening sequence of the hit HBO music documentary series Sonic Highways, directed by Foo Fighters’ frontman Dave Grohl, “Something From Nothing” topped the charts when it was released last October.
Available on Xbox 360 and PlayStation®3 system (January 13th, 2015):
Arctic Monkeys – “R U Mine?”
Avenged Sevenfold – “Shepherd Of Fire”
Foo Fighters – “Something From Nothing”
Price: $1.99 USD, £.99 UK, €1.49 EU per song
(These tracks will be available in Europe on PlayStation®3 system January 21)
Dates for Rock Band game tracks are tentative and subject to change.
Rock Band 3 is available for Xbox 360, PlayStation®3 system, Wii™ and Nintendo DS™. Xbox 360, PlayStation®3 system and Wii™ versions support downloadable content.
The Rock Band Music Store allows players to preview and purchase downloadable individual music tracks and packs from the vast selection of offerings available to date without ever leaving the game as they build their own custom Rock Band library. The complete list of tracks can be found at http://www.harmonixmusic.com/games/rock-band/legacy-songs/. Additionally, players on the Xbox 360 can browse and purchase tracks in the standalone "Rock Band Music Store" application within their Xbox 360 dashboard, or they can be purchased online at Xbox.com. | 1,268,110 |
Ushuaia, Argentina, is many things to the growing number of people who live there: the southernmost city in the world, the gateway to Antarctica, and a gorgeous home along a rocky coast. For NASA, the city’s southerly location makes it an ideal place to stage science flights to Antarctica.
The flights are part of Operation IceBridge, NASA’s longest-running mission to map polar ice (now in its ninth year in the Southern Hemisphere). For the first time, flights over the icy continent are being staged from Ushuaia, instead of Punta Arenas, Chile. Read more about this campaign on our blog.
The Operational Land Imager (OLI) on Landsat 8 captured this image of Ushuaia on March 28, 2017. Located at the tip of South America, it is the capital city of Tierra del Fuego province. Port Williams lies across the channel from Ushuaia, but the village is too small to be visible in this natural-color image.
Ushuaia (click to hear the pronunciation) is located about 250 kilometers (150 miles) southeast of Punta Arenas. The city’s proximity to the Antarctic Peninsula means that IceBridge scientists gain an hour of extra flight time over science targets. That’s important because the P-3 aircraft being flown during this campaign has a shorter range than the DC-8 aircraft flown during previous campaigns. The map below represents how flights from Ushuaia might cross the Southern Ocean to observe the Antarctic Peninsula and its surrounding seas and ice.
Science flights began on October 29, and the spring weather in Ushuaia has been relatively mild for the first few weeks of the campaign. But as the locals say, you can get four seasons in any given day here. Strong winds, cold temperatures, and heavy rain are not out of the question. Living or visiting here means you should be ready for any kind of weather at all times.
The extent of the urban area visible in the satellite image shows that, indeed, the city covers a sizeable area for such a remote part of the world (23 square kilometers). Census information from 2010 reported the population in Ushuaia to be 56,956—almost double the population in 1991. Still, that’s just a small fraction of the country’s total population of more than 40 million people, most of whom live in Buenos Aires province.
Ushuaia’s port is partially used for industry; container ships dock here, and cargo boxes are stacked in tidy, colorful rows along the shore. Tourism is also important: People come from around the world to hike in Tierra del Fuego National Park, ski in the mountains, cruise to see penguins on Martillo Island, or catch a cruise ship to Antarctica.
NASA Earth Observatory image and map by Jesse Allen, using Landsat data from the U.S. Geological Survey. Story by Kathryn Hansen. | 1,268,111 |
they haven’t yet been truly stress-tested by a large number of games. We’re aiming to support all the major vendors and drivers, but it’s too early to say we won’t run into any blocking issues.: 2016 was an absolute knock-out year for Linux ports from Feral Interactive! 2017 has started off really nicely, is the rest of 2017 likely to be just as exciting?: We hope so!: I should get back to work then…: Be honest, how many of those delicious cupcakes sent by the community did you hoard for yourself? Or is there a different treat that has your heart?: Edwin ate all of them himself. I’m a tricolore salad kind of person myself so I didn’t mind.: You’re not blaming me, Marc! I was having a day off when they arrived. As for who ate them I seem to recall Marc’s face in the photographs. ;) I even have evidence! https://twitter.com/feralgames/status/791601845147959296 : Shh… huge thanks to Michael for sending them, though!: Any last thoughts on Mesa, Linux or porting in general you would like to share with us?: We’ve mentioned before that we’ve handed out keys to particularly active Mesa developers to help them develop new features, fix bugs, and also to thank them for their hard work making the drivers better for everyone.We’re keen to extend this to the Mesa community in a more formal manner starting today. So if you’re a Mesa contributor this next bit should (hopefully) be pretty exciting!If you have 25 commits or more to Mesa (including DRI-type stuff in the kernel) in the past five years, please drop us an email at. Put 'Steam' in the subject and tell us your freedesktop username and Steam username.Once we verify your account details, we will send you a special Steam Key granting you access to every game Feral has released for Linux on Steam. This will automatically be updated to add support for new games as they are released!You have all made Mesa better for everyone and we hope you enjoying playing our games, which were only made possible through your hard work on the drivers. Additionally, having access to all our games should hopefully make your future work on Mesa easier as you’ll have over 20 applications to use as test cases. :)Thanks for having us, fellow penguins. We’ll waddle off now.I would like to thankandfor doing the interview with myself and BTRE.The work Feral Interactive put into helping Linux become a gaming platform is quite incredible. Thanks to Feral we have some really high quality popular games on Linux and it looks like this is going to continue! I personally consider Feral Interactive to be one of our biggest champions next to Valve for pushing Linux forward so much.Thanks as well to the Mesa team, for their constant effort in improving Linux GPU drivers. | 1,268,112 |
HAMBURG (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia’s main state wheat buying agency has told grains exporters it will no longer buy Canadian wheat and barley in its international tenders, European traders said on Tuesday, as a diplomatic dispute between the two countries escalates.
FILE PHOTO: Tara Giles operates a combine as she harvests wheat on a 160-acre field located south of High River, Alberta, September 28, 2013. REUTERS/Mike Sturk/File Photo
Traders said they had received an official notice from the Saudi Grains Organization (SAGO) about its decision.
Canada on Monday refused to back down in its defense of human rights after Saudi Arabia froze new trade and investment and expelled the Canadian ambassador in retaliation for Ottawa’s call to free arrested Saudi civil society activists.
“As of Tuesday August 7, 2018, Saudi Grains Organization (SAGO) can no longer accept milling wheat or feed barley cargoes of Canadian origin to be supplied,” a copy of the notice seen by Reuters said.
One European trader said it was not clear if the decision involved only new purchases or delivery of previously agreed contracts. “But I would not deliver Canadian grains to Saudi Arabia now, even on previous contracts,” the trader added.
Another trader said: “This is to me clearly part of the diplomatic dispute between Saudi Arabia and Canada, there is no other reason.”
Winnipeg-based grain trader G3 said it was continuing with business as normal. G3 is a partnership of Saudi Arabian agriculture company SALIC and U.S. grain handler Bunge Ltd BG.N.
The SAGO agency generally specifies that wheat purchased at international tenders must be sourced from the European Union, North America, South America or Australia.
In SAGO’s last purchase of 625,000 tonnes of wheat in an international tender on July 16, Canada was seen as a possible supplier.
Analysts said the Middle East had been importing less wheat from Canada and the United States in recent years due to higher shipping costs, while China has become a bigger barley buyer.
“There will be plenty of opportunities for Canada to sell barley and wheat elsewhere,” said Chuck Penner, analyst with LeftField Commodity Research, based in Winnipeg.
According to Statistics Canada, the Canadian government’s statistics agency, total Canadian wheat sales to Saudi Arabia excluding durum were 66,000 tonnes in 2017 and 68,250 tonnes in 2016. Canadian barley sales totaled 132,000 tonnes in 2017.
But given tightening global grain supplies due to weather problems in Russia, Europe and Australia, Canada might have been poised to win more Saudi barley business.
“This year could have been a year where we could have seen some (Canadian) barley trade there in October-November,” said Jerry Klassen, manager at trading house GAP SA Grains and Products in Winnipeg. | 1,268,113 |
of food outdoors, but you can have a year-round garden indoor no matter the weather is outdoors.
LED grow lights for plants can provide some or all of the light that plants need to grow and produce food. Reduce your grocery bill and eat healthier with this idea for creating a year-round garden.
20- Battery Powered LED Grow Lights
This battery-powered LED grow light can supplement the natural light a house plant receives to keep the plant healthy.
Easy to build and to install on a planter, create this LED grow light cheaply and quickly with these instructions.
21- Hanging Lantern Grow Lights
These free plans show you how to take ready-made components and create attractive and functional LED grow lights for your plants.
The ready-made components make this a fast and simple DIY project and the design is attractive enough to use in any room of your home for growing plants.
22- Adjustable DIY LED Grow Lights
Use these free plans to build grow light panels with LED lighting that can be adjusted to meet your plant needs.
Whether you need lighting for seed starting in spring or for year-round indoor gardening, this design can be adjusted to meet the need. These LED light panels are easy and cheap to build, plus they are highly efficient.
23- Marijuana DIY Grow Lights
This detailed building LED lighting guide will enable you to build a diy LED grow lights as big or as small as you need for growing your own medical marijuana.
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This simple design is easy for first-time DIYers to master with ease. These hanging DIY LED grow lights can be created in a customized size to fit your space. Easy and cheap to assemble, long-lasting and cheap to use.
25- LED COB Grow Light
It’s easy to give plants the light they need to grow with these efficient LED COB lights. Easy and inexpensive to build, these DIY LED grow lights provide plenty of light for plants to be grown indoor year-round.
These easy to follow directions will show you how to build this efficient indoor garden lighting system that is easy to customize to meet your needs.
26- DIY LED Tank Lighting
This YouTube video will show you how to build a LED lighting system for tank planting. This is an ideal way to recycle an old fish tank and use it to grow fresh herbs and other small plants indoors.
The LED growing lights are inexpensive to buy and use, and the lighting panel is easy to build. Planted tanks are also a great way to start seeds and propagate plants, and this YouTube video takes you through each step of the DIY LED lighting project.
27 -Design DIY Grow Lights Under 145 USD
This detailed design for food or cannabis grow lights is easy to build and has a minimal cost when you think outside the box for places to purchase LED lights. Ebay is a good resource for purchasing cheap lights and other building materials. | 1,268,114 |
HUMAN rights groups are calling for international observers to be allowed into Indonesia's restive Papua province to monitor the trial of five activists facing life in prison for raising a pro-independence flag.
The five men, who were charged with treason after a rally in the Papuan capital Jayapura in October at which the Morning Star flag was raised, were indicted on Monday.
They could be sentenced to life in prison if convicted of treason for raising the flag, a symbol of Papuan independence, which is illegal in Indonesia.
The Melbourne-based Human Rights Law Centre (HRLC) called on Australia today to raise the matter with Indonesian authorities, as well as to deploy embassy staff to monitor the trial, which is set to resume next Wednesday.
Foreign journalists and non-government organisations, including human rights groups, are banned by the Indonesian government from travelling to Papua.
Australia's silence on human rights abuses in the region had once again been put in the spotlight, the HRLC said.
The group's spokesman, Tom Clarke, said the fundamental rights of all persons to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly were protected by the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which Indonesia ratified in 2006.
"These fundamental human rights must be recognised and respected by Indonesia. The exercise of such democratic rights and freedoms must be protected by law, not criminalised."
The comments came after the United States called on Tuesday for the Indonesian government to ensure the men were afforded legal safeguards that provided for a fair trial.
"We urge the Indonesian authorities to ensure due process and procedural safeguards in accordance with Indonesian law and Indonesia's international legal obligations for all persons indicted," a State Department spokesperson said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The five men - Forkorus Yaboisembut, Edison Waromi, August Makbrowen Senay, Dominikus Sorabut and Selpius Bobii - were arrested after the pro-independence rally on October 19.
At least three people were killed and scores more injured when Indonesian security forces stormed the rally after the raising of the Morning Star flag.
As many as 300 people were arrested, while video footage broadcast on Australian television also showed police and military personnel beating unarmed protesters, including children.
Human Rights Watch has also condemned the trial of the five men and called for all charges to be dropped.
Indonesia has been battling a long-running but low-level insurgency since its takeover of Papua in 1969.
But the province has been racked in the past six months by its worst violence in years.
More than 40 people have been killed since the beginning of July, according to figures from Indonesia's Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence.
The journalist who recorded the footage of the aftermath of the rally and the military crackdown on October 19 was arrested and interrogated, but later released.
Originally published as Australia urged to take action on Papua | 1,268,115 |
The City of Winnipeg tabled the 2018 preliminary budget with some very bad news for transit riders. Riders will be paying 25 cents more next year for worse service than what we’re getting now. The budget goes to vote December 12, 2017.
The bad
Fares are increasing by 25 cents in 2018
Service will be reduced on 22 routes
The good
The city is investing in safety improvements
The city has covered some costs associated with the shortfall from the province, but not nearly all
Why is this happening?
Both the province and the city bear responsibility for the situation facing transit riders. The funding shortfall we are experiencing this year is due to the provincial government ending legislation that required them to split the government contribution to public transit with any Manitoba municipality running a transit service.
The city has responded with a larger than usual increase, but hardly enough to prevent transit from falling deeper into a cycle of decline.
While the city has been put in a tough position, it has long neglected public transit in Winnipeg. Between 2005 and 2015, Winnipeg’s contribution to transit kept pace with inflation and city growth but no more. Meanwhile, over roughly that same period, per capita ridership rose by 22%. That means that transit demand increasingly outstripped the resources being put into the system.
If transit ridership grew in proportion with city growth, transit would be working as well as it did in 2005. But it didn’t– ridership grew faster and the city did not keep up with funding. The result was overcrowding, unreliability and pass-ups.
Transit did such a good job at making do with what they had they won an award from the Ontario Municipal Benchmarking Initiative for running the best service with the least funding.
Riders and City Hall faced a rude awakening when the 2015 transit catastrophe hit – transit was unable to run enough buses to maintain its schedule, forcing riders to face greater unreliability and longer waits for buses. In the last two years, the city has increased funding for purchasing buses, but has done little to catch up with funding service.
In June 2017, Winnipeggers named transit as a top priority for the 2018 budget.
During the 2014 civic election, then-candidate Brian Bowman promised to spend what amounted to billions on building out Winnipeg’s rapid transit network. To close out his term admitting defeat on just regular transit service –even as the city’s own budget consultation found Winnipeggers see transit as a priority– is shocking.
Functional Transit Winnipeg has been demanding improved funding for service every year since 2014. It is hard to understand the reason why mayor and council repeatedly refuses to take the opportunity to make our transit network the envy of North America.
We are now working with a coalition of several Winnipeg groups and individual citizens to fight these cuts.
Email your city councillor and MLA here to let them know we need more –not less– transit funding. | 1,268,116 |
BUDAPEST (Reuters) - Around 2,000 Hungarians protested in Budapest on Saturday against the closure of the country’s leading leftist newspaper Nepszabadsag, saying press freedom was under threat.
Owner Mediaworks said on Saturday it had suspended the newspaper and its employees after the publication piled up significant losses despite cost cuts. It said it would revamp the organization.
But civil rights groups said the newspaper had been shut down because it had published stories critical of right-wing Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s government and called for the demonstration in front of the parliament building.
“Today one of the last opposition newspapers was simply silenced,” the civil rights groups said on Facebook.
The radical nationalist Jobbik opposition party blamed Orban for the closure, saying his Fidesz party wanted to control the entire Hungarian media.
“Sudden closure of Nepszabadsag sets a worrying precedent. I stand in solidarity with Hungarians protesting today,” European Parliament President Martin Schulz tweeted.
Fidesz said it regarded the closure as a “reasonable business decision” by the publisher.
Mediaworks, owned by Austrian firm Vienna Capital Partners, said it was working on a new business model for Nepszabadsag (People’s Freedom), which has been in publication since November 1956.
“In order to achieve and concentrate fully on this priority task, all operations of Nepszabadsag (including print and online) will as of today be suspended until the new form is decided and can be implemented,” it said on the paper’s website nol.hu.
Employees, who received letters on Saturday informing them of Mediawork’s decision, said the closure had come as a shock, and editor Andras Muranyi told ATV that talks with the company were under way.
“Our first thought is that this is a coup. We will soon come back with more,” Nepszabadsag said in an editorial on its Facebook page.
In its final edition on Saturday, the newspaper reported the latest in its articles on a minister in Orban’s government using a helicopter to fly to a wedding.
“I don’t usually attend demonstrations because my blood pressure goes up but now I felt I had to come.. It is a shameful thing that has been done here,” Erzsebet Kovacs, one of the demonstrators, said.
“The free media is being suffocated,” another demonstrator Tamas Waldmann said.
Some protesters burned copies of the pro-government daily Magyar Idok at the rally, website Index.hu reported.
Government spokesman Zoltan Kovacs said the government did not deal with developments in the media industry. “In Hungary press freedom is doing well,” he added. | 1,268,117 |
texture pipeline is now totally automated which is pretty handy for a single developer. The tool itself took just two days. It also discovered some no longer used materials, and removed all unused bitmaps from the game.
OpenGL Changes
The changes to support DXT files in the game were very minor. Anywhere I used glTexImage* I added support for glCompressedTexImage* and used the correct data type (GL_COMPRESSED_RGBA_S3TC_DXT1_EXT etc.) The only other change was to check for the GL_EXT_texture_compression_s3tc extension which is now required to run the game (it is one of the best supported OpenGL extensions.)
DDS Don't Do Gamma
Shortly after I had all of this working, I realized that the lighting on the terrain was wrong. This quickly led me to remember that my normal maps are linear (gamma 1.0) unlike most of Miranda's other textures which are sRGB (gamma 2.2.) Well, DDS files don't really handle Gamma. After a few hours digging through the source code of various DDS compression tools and much googling, I learned that newer DX10 formatted DDS files have some limited linear support, but nothing that would help me. I had modified my DDS routines to support DX10 formatted DDS files and added a DDS writer, then I discovered that nobody seems to support DX10 DDS files - so debugging them was a huge pain. I realized I was wasting my time trying to get DDS working, and went ahead and created the new Lair Texture format (.ltx - and yes I know that's the same extension as LaTex, but just try to find an unused file extension nowadays!) That worked really well..ltx files are perfectly formatted for the game, support gamma, load super-fast, and with compression they brought the texture disk size down even further. The only downside is that Windows Preview can no longer display them. I'm still using Compressonator to do DXT compression, but as soon as it generates a new DDS file, I read that in and write out a new.ltx file with the correct gamma setting.
Results
The game looks more or less exactly like it did before, but now the textures take only 37MB of disk space instead of 252MB and my plans for upgrading Miranda's art are now possible. I added support for all the fancy anisotropic texture filtering modes to give players with powerful graphics cards the option of better looking graphics. I also got a big GPU memory savings by changing any bitmaps which didn't use alpha to be 24-bit. 24-bit bitmap support came late to the Lair Engine so most textures were loaded as 32-bit even though they didn't use alpha. The other big effort on this upgrade was modifying the Lair Engine's internal bitmap code to support DXT data, 3D bitmaps and MIP Maps. | 1,268,118 |
Spotify users are threatening to boycott the service if it does not remove content produced by Infowars, a nationally known trove of conspiracy theorists, which resulted in a two-part meltdown from Alex Jones that contained a multitude of passions including despair, rage, and unfettered pity.
Yesterday, Jones spent a good chunk of time broadcasting on his Infowars network complaining about the fact that we noticed his network’s shows on Spotify, despite the fact that the content of the programs clearly violates Spotify’s own rules for content hosting, and that some users have decided to boycott the platform until his shows are removed. In two separate broadcasts, Jones responds to those boycotts by threatening to shut down his show, insulting his fan base and crying for the camera.
“I’ve run my course, not with the censorship and the attacks, but I just belong to some other age, I guess. Because there isn’t any immediacy, there isn’t any concern. There’s just kind of jellyfish brain where initiatives mean nothing. We have total illegal censorship going on. We have them bragging about it. We have them dead to rights. No one will attack,” Jones said.
Jones then lashed out against his fan base for not activating to undermine his detractors.
“I’m not that damn smart. You know how easy this is? Jesus! But no one wants to do it,” Jones yelled, at one point flying out of his seat. “No one has the instinct or the will to execute anything real. They only execute failure over and over and over again. Begetting the failure, begetting it, as the public begins to look like servile hippopotamuses, lobotomized … And then I just come to the realization [that] out of trillions of worlds, we’re going to probably die. Everything we did as species, all of our beauty and all of our goodness, will just fail and we’re going to go down the tubes because a bunch of inbred child molesters in Hollywood had some psychotic dream that they wanted to kill everybody.”
Jones took to the air later that afternoon to elaborate on the Spotify boycotts more directly and he briefly working himself up into tears.
“You’ve betrayed your birthright to your family, to everything people did for you, you piss on it and you shit on it and you think you’re strong because you did something bad, and then you sit there when we’re two inches away from collapsing like Venezuela—there will be death in the streets, millions [will] starve to death, it’ll never be on the news—and you’ll be so stupid you’ll never even know how you shit on everything good, how you crapped all over your birthright when it was handed to you on a golden platter,” a choked-up Jones said. | 1,268,119 |
Angstrom Iron Supplement Unlike most iron supplements, Angstrom Iron is bowel friendly. Because it is cell ready, most of the iron is absorbed in the mouth and on the way down, bypassing the need for digestion. It is 99.9% absorbed by the body. Other iron supplements cause constipation. Angstrom iron does not slow the bowel function. Tablets and capsules may be absorbed up to 5% of their iron content before causing constipation. That is why Angstrom Iron is The Best Iron Supplement!
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The Mineral Iron is a co-factor to oxygen as they work hand in hand. Iron is responsible for attracting oxygen to the body and carrying oxygen to all systems, tissues, and organs. Iron combines with other nutrients to produce vital blood proteins and is involved in food metabolism. Without iron, the body cannot survive long since the metabolism would decrease and atrophy. Iron functions in the body: Ensures oxygenation of blood, Converts hematin to carry oxygen to cells, Improves circulation, Augments tissue oxidation, Attracts oxygen to the body.
Iron is one of the most recognized minerals in society, especially among women as they lose large amounts of iron in their body during menstruation and child birth. Iron deficiency is one of the most common deficiencies in the world and is a common condition among men as well as women. "There's no doubt that many of us can use more iron than we're getting. Roughly 20 percent of Americans are deficient in this mineral." 51
"The three to five grams of iron in the body are found primarily as a component of hemoglobin and myoglobin, which are oxygen carrying and releasing substances." 52 Iron acts as an astringent on tissues because of its counteractive effects. Iron combines with other nutrients to produce vital blood proteins and is involved in food metabolism. Iron together with oxygen raises metabolism, promotes ambition and reasoning ability.Iron cannot do these functions without Copper. Lucky for us, most people have sufficient copper.
"I just wanted to say THANK YOU once again for this product. I had blood work done in November and was told that I was borderline anemic. I had been taking an iron tablet for about a year, obviously without success. My physician was concerned about the diagnosis so she ordered more tests. I am happy to report that two months later I'm no longer listed as being anemic. I could have never managed such great feedback without this product. It has made such a difference in my health. I would happily recommend it to anyone with iron deficiencies!" Angela R., WA
Customers say: | 1,268,120 |
I’ve been thinking about the film a lot ever since I saw it back in August. The film continues to have this kind of relevancy throughout this year. I was especially thinking about it after what happened in Pittsburgh. It sort of directly relates to your character as well, as a Jewish character in the movie and then what happened there. Can you talk about the film in the context of that and the fact that there’s still this continuous hatred and violence toward people just based on their religion and their race?
AD: Yeah, it’s hard to say the thing that accurately, in the 20 minutes that we have or however long this is, that summarizes how absurd it all is. Beyond absurd. How damaging it is. How disheartening it is. All of it. Obviously Spike’s movie is very good about starting it with “Birth of a Nation” and ending it with where we are now and how much this has been a part of the conversation in this country for so long and whatever I can say about it is minimal compared to the atmosphere in the country, everyone’s collective hatred about… I shouldn’t say hatred, but how just upsetting it is. I will say the good thing to take away is the communal sense after, the sense of community, of people coming together afterwards and what better way to do that over… That’s a great thing about filmmaking or creating anything as a group of people is it’s a collective group of strangers that are forced to be intimate with each other. They’re forced to lay everything out on the table in a short amount of time in service of something that’s bigger than one person. That’s why I feel like storytelling, there’s no data of how it is, but the communal part of it is a good takeaway. It’s kind of a rambling answer ‘cause I don’t really have anything concrete to explain it or where to go from there, I guess.
GD: It’s a hard thing to boil down to a soundbite, but I guess walking away from the movie, having seen it a couple of times now, maybe an odd thing to say considering how the film ends, but I do walk away with it with a slight sense of hope because at least we’re having these conversations and we seem to be having them more seriously now than we have in a long time.
AD: I feel like there’s hope in identifying things. Maybe this is a better answer of what I’m trying to say, is what’s the role of movies in this. There’s always something empowering about a group of people saying, “Oh, that’s it.” That can’t be minimized.
GD: Well it’s a really great movie. Thank you so much for taking the time.
AD: Thank you so much. | 1,268,121 |
Twenty-five years ago today, the World Wide Web announced that it was for everybody. On April 30, 1993, the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) put the web into the public domain a decision that has fundamentally altered the past quarter-century.
While the proto-internet dates back to the 1960s, the World Wide Web as we know it had been invented four year earlier in 1989 by CERN employee Tim Berners-Lee. The internet at that point was growing in popularity among academic circles but still had limited mainstream utility. Scientists Robert Kahn and Vinton Cerf had developed Transmission Control Protocol and Internet Protocol (TCP/IP), which allowed for easier transfer of information. But there was the fundamental problem of how to organize all that information.
In the late 80s, Berners-Lee suggested a web-like system of mangement, tied together by a series of what he called hyperlinks. In a proposal, Berners-Lee asked CERN management to "imagine, then, the references in this document all being associated with the network address of the thing to which they referred, so that while reading this document you could skip to them with a click of the mouse."
Four years later, the project was still growing. In January 1993, the first major web browser, known as MOSAIC, was released by the National Center for Supercomputing Applications at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champagne. While there was a free version of MOSAIC, for-profit software companies purchased nonexclusive licenses to sell and support it. Licensing MOSAIC at the time cost $100,000 plus $5 each for any number of copies.
CERN’s official document stating that the Web is public domain CERN
The World Wide Web was made public domain only a few months after MOSAIC was released. On the organization's website, it describes the decision thusly:
CERN made the next release available with an open license, as a more sure way to maximize its dissemination. Through these actions, making the software required to run a web server freely available, along with a basic browser and a library of code, the web was allowed to flourish.
The tension between each the routes of CERN and MOSAIC, the choice between a Wild West and high profit, has cropped up again and again in the history of the web.
Making the web public domain opened it up to anyone who had a computer. Berners-Lee's vision of a web opened entirely by its users may feel like a pipe dream these days, but it was an undeniable success. The choice for public domain put a foot down for users, as opposed to corporations, and the web has wrestled with the choice ever since.
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 | 1,268,122 |
President Trump Donald John TrumpFederal prosecutor speaks out, says Barr 'has brought shame' on Justice Dept. Former Pence aide: White House staffers discussed Trump refusing to leave office Progressive group buys domain name of Trump's No. 1 Supreme Court pick MORE sent mixed signals Wednesday about enhanced background checks for gun purchasers, telling reporters he has an “appetite” for screening measures while also insisting that the U.S. already has strong rules in place.
“I have an appetite for background checks,” Trump said. “We have a lot of background checks right now.”
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Trump added it was important for lawmakers to fix the “weak” areas in the current system. He also repeated his assertion that gun violence is a mental health issue.
The president's remarks came a day after he appeared to back off a previous push for enhanced background checks, just hours after speaking with Wayne LaPierre, head of the National Rifle Association (NRA).
Trump confirmed Wednesday that he spoke with LaPierre the previous day but denied reports that he told the CEO that universal background checks were off the table.
“No, I didn’t say anything about that. We had a great talk with Wayne yesterday. We just talked about concepts,” Trump told reporters at the White House before departing for a speech at the AMVETs convention in Kentucky.
“We have background checks, but there are loopholes in the background checks, and that’s what I spoke to the NRA about yesterday," Trump said. "They want to get rid of the loopholes as well as I do. At the same time, I don’t want to take away people’s Second Amendment rights."
Trump went on to say that he wants people who are mentally stable to be able to “easily” obtain guns, but indicated that people who are mentally ill should be prevented from doing so.
“There are things we can do, but we already have very serious background checks,” Trump said. “We also have to remember, the gun doesn’t pull the trigger.”
Democrats renewed a push for universal background checks following a pair of mass shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, earlier this month. Trump indicated shortly after the shootings that he was supportive of enhanced background check legislation. He has since backtracked following conversations with GOP lawmakers and the NRA.
The NRA is publicly opposed to background checks and other legislative proposals that have been floated in the wake of the shootings.
Trump also doubled down on his Tuesday remarks by repeating an oft-used NRA argument that warns of a “slippery slope” when it comes to gun control legislation.
“All of a sudden, nobody has any legal protections,” Trump told reporters when asked about the remark Wednesday. “We have a Second Amendment and our Second Amendment will remain strong.” | 1,268,123 |
Weddings are joyous occasions that everyone looks forward to attending. It is a time to make merry, celebrate the couple, link up with old friends and get to know new people as well. Fashion statements are also made in the wedding from the dress code of the guests, to the bridal party and ultimately the bride’s gown along with the groom’s attire. As the couple, as much as the day is in your honor, it is essential to prioritize the guests who have made the time and effort to be there on your special day. In this post we discuss the best ways to ensure that the guests are pleased and enjoying themselves.
Try to stick to timelines.
There is nothing as frustrating to guests as when the program is not followed. It makes them feel like their time and presence is taken for granted. Do your best to adhere to the timelines your party planner has set, and this will go a long way to keeping the mood light and festive.
Choose thoughtful wedding favors.
Wedding favors show your guests that you acknowledge and appreciate their presence. There is no formula as to what should be chosen as a wedding favor. You can gift anything you feel your guests can relate to; personalized wedding favors for your guests are getting popular these days.
Wedding favors are an essential part of the wedding because you will not have the time to acknowledge each person at your wedding personally. A wedding favour is a wonderful way to show them your appreciation. You can also explore these wedding favor ideas.
Provide refreshments as they wait.
The refreshments come in to play when the guests are waiting for your bridal team to arrive and the ceremony to begin. Your invites can get to mingle while munching away on drinks and snacks and this helps to pass the time and also keep the atmosphere pleasant.
Issue transportation.
If the venue of the wedding ceremony and the venue of the reception are far apart, you can provide transport to the guests so that they do not feel inconvenienced to get to the reception. The aim is for the guests to enjoy both the ceremony and the reception, not to remember how much of a hustle it was to move around.
Place thank you notes on the tables.
The notes are an excellent surprise for the guests and give a personal touch to the occasion. They also contribute to the deco of the wedding, making it look classy as well as elegant. The note can contain a short message from you thanking the guests for their presence.
Give realistic accommodation recommendations.
If the wedding is in a remote area where the guests will be required to stay in hotels, it is vital to provide good suggestions on where to stay. You should plan on where they can be comfortably accommodated and if it is in motels or hotels, make sure that the prices are pocket-friendly and convenient for the guests.
All these tips are guaranteed to enrich the experience of all the people who will attend your wedding! | 1,268,124 |
Fire Doors, Fire Rated Screens & Intumescent Products
Fire Doors:
Fire resisting doors are an integral part of the building's fabric. When fitted correctly they can not only preserve part of the building should a fire break out, but also save lives, by stopping the spread of fire and smoke.
It is the absolute duty of the responsible person for that building to maintain, repair, replace and have the buildings fire doors inspected every 6 months, and to the criteria required by the current fire door regulations and fire escape regulations.
Overlooking this incredibly important aspect of managing the premises could result in serious consequences for the responsible person whose job is to oversee the project management and maintenance of the premises, for the business/building owner, not to mention the occupants of the building.
Have your fire doors inspected on time. Be safe, be compliant!
The hardware to be used on fire doors must be fitted in accordance with the current EN regulations for that specific hardware, and in addition, must be fire tested, Certifire approved and CE Marked.
How Our Experienced Fire Door Fitters Can Help
We supply and install wooden fire doors in most finishes including formica, laminated, spray booth finish, plywood faced and hand painted finishes in any RAL or British Standard colour.
Formica and laminated finished timber fire doors are also available in many effects, such as wood grain, metallic, mirror and a range of colourful designs.
We also install steel fire resisting doors in a range of colours, finishes and veneers, which offer the building greater fire resistance and security.
Get your fire doors assessed and if required, updated!
Be safe, be compliant!
We are here to assist you.
Fixed fire rated screens
A fire screen is used to allow visibility, light and create a secure area whilst having no doorway for access. The screen is acting as a partition and may fully fully or part glazed.
The partitioning screen (in most cases) will have to be fire resisting due to it's location within the building.
We install fire screens with required fire rating to many buildings, purpose made by our joinery manufacturer.
The glass type for our partition fire rated screens can be selected from our extensive glazing brochure. There is a vast range to choose from, to suit your requirements, and fire rated, too.
The intumescent products we install on site are
Hinge pads, wraps and jackets to door hardware products.
Intumescent strips of many variations, applicable to the fire rating of the door set.
Intumescent mastic.
Rockwool.
Door edge guards.
Vent and grille blocks.
| 1,268,125 |
Watt: The project has had some pretty vocal opponents.: some environmentalists, some members of the delta's congressional delegation. But why did a huge farm irrigation district, Westlands, pull its support when its customer were supposed to benefit from it?
Rogers: It's a great question, you know, environmentalists have been against this thing all along. They argue that if you build these giant tunnels, it'll make it easier for big corporate interests in the Central Valley and Los Angeles to take northern California's water.
But some of those farmers in the Westlands Water District near Fresno, their board voted recently, 7-to-1, to pull out of this plan. They were supposed to pay three billion of the 17 billion-dollar cost. They decided not to because, number one, it was a huge amount of money and it was going to raise what they paid for water. Number two, they weren't being guaranteed by the Brown administration they were going to get any more water.
That no-vote sent shock waves across the California water world because it meant the other agencies that might want to participate were going to have to pay a lot more.
Watt: So the Metropolitan Water District in L.A. has a big vote coming up on October 10. What do you think is going to happen?
Rogers: Some of the folks down there on that board have been raising questions about the cost. I think if I had to handicap it, I'd say that there's probably about a 75 percent chance that they'll vote for it. So that'll be a big win for Governor Brown, but that doesn't mean the project is done because there are other water agencies, like the Santa Clara Valley Water District in San Jose that still have yet to vote.
Brian Watt: So, where does this leave the project now? State water agencies and other big supporters say it's far from dead.
Rogers: It's just fascinating. I think there have already been more than a dozen lawsuits filed against this project and even if water agencies approve it, it's probably going to be held up in court for years. The Santa Clara Valley Water District is sort of wobbling. I think they may want a smaller project. So, it's still hardly a sure thing. Jerry Brown leaves office in 15 months and his successors -- his likely successors -- are not huge supporters of this. They're not opponents, but they're not embracing it the way Brown does. So, I think in the next few weeks we're really going to see whether or not this thing has a chance of being built or whether the final stake is driven through its heart.
Watt: What does Governor Brown think of this?
Rogers: You know, it's worth remembering that Governor Brown has two giant legacy construction projects: high speed rail and this tunnels project. His dad built a lot of big things around California when he was governor in the '60s and this is Brown's attempt to do that. | 1,268,126 |
Dave Prowse: Star Wars hopefuls should drop Bristolian accent Published duration 6 November 2013
image caption Dave Prowse played Darth Vader in the first three Star wars films
The actor who played Darth Vader in the original Star Wars films says hopefuls from Bristol auditioning for the new film should "disguise their accents".
Dave Prowse starred in episodes four to six but his Bristolian accent was later dubbed over by James Earl Jones.
He told people going to Bristol for the open casting sessions for Star Wars: Episode VII to be "very, very serious about the whole thing".
"You can't go 'oo-aar my dear here's my lightsaber," he said.
According to a casting notice, film-maker Disney wants to fill two roles for the new film.
The company is looking for a "street smart and strong" orphaned girl in her late teens and a "smart capable" man in his late teens or early 20s.
'Chewbacca or Darth Vader'
Bristol will host the first auditions for the film on 9 November at the Arnolfini.
Prowse, who is 6ft 6ins (1.96m) tall, said it was an "honour" for the city.
He said those attending "will need to be very, very serious about the whole thing as it will change their lives, as it did for me."
Prowse was born in Bristol in 1935 and attended Bristol Grammar School.
image caption Dave Prowse was born in Bristol in 1935 and attended Bristol Grammar School
Before entering the acting profession he was a successful bodybuilder and weightlifter.
The actor's early screen roles included parts in a number of Hammer horror films and Doctor Who.
He also played the Green Cross Code man in television road safety commercials for 13 years.
When Prowse attended his own audition for Star Wars in 1976, nobody knew what a massive success it would turn out to be.
Director George Lucas offered Prowse either the part of Chewbacca or Darth Vader.
Prowse chose the role of the latter and told Lucas "everyone remembers the villain, George".
'So much interest'
Prowse went on to play the bodily form of Darth Vader in the original Star Wars trilogy.
Of the open casting session method being used by Disney, he said: "It's an interesting way to go about it.
"There is a fantastic amount of talent out there just waiting to be discovered, and there is so much interest in Star Wars."
Although he now lives in Croydon in Surrey, Prowse said he regularly returns to Bristol to see family in Filton, and is "very proud" of his roots.
He said if the forthcoming film receives a premiere in Bristol he would "be there like a shot". | 1,268,127 |
Sam Cobb was surprised to see so many people lined up for a hearing at the International Trade Commission in Washington on the morning of Monday, Aug. 20. The chief executive of Real Wood Floors, Cobb was a veteran of such proceedings, which were usually sleepy affairs, populated by white-shoe attorneys fighting over arcane legal definitions. For this hearing, though, the line stretched out the door and onto the sidewalk along E Street, where the people waiting to get in were surrounded by a scrum of television cameramen. In the preceding weeks, the Trump administration had floated a proposal to place punitive import tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese goods, and the politics of global trade had suddenly burst into the headlines.
In the packed hearing room, Cobb listened as dozens of witnesses detailed how tariffs on Chinese-made bicycles and tires and fruit juice — and the reciprocal taxes that would inevitably be imposed on American exports to China in response — would lead to higher prices and lost jobs in the United States. This was part of a series of public hearings to address a proposed Section 301 tariff list, named after the provision of the Trade Act of 1974 that permits the United States to impose tariffs on other nations in response to unfair trade practices — in this case, the administration claimed, the Chinese theft of intellectual property. The proposed tariffs would hit businesses from virtually every industry, including many that had little to do with intellectual property.
For Cobb and the 247 employees of Real Wood’s affiliated companies, the stakes were high. Their business is exporting hardwood from the forests of southern Missouri to their partners in China, who mill it into veneer, laminate it to a plywood subsurface and finish it into designer flooring. The partners then ship the engineered hardwood back to Real Wood, which sells it to high-end builders from coast to coast — an ocean-spanning supply chain that nevertheless keeps costs down. The simple possibility of tariffs had killed virtually all the company’s orders for engineered hardwood from China. Real Wood was already paying an anti-dumping duty of as much as 25 percent on much of the flooring it imported from that country, a tariff that the International Trade Commission had levied on a number of Chinese flooring companies whose prices it deemed to be below market value. The Trump administration’s proposal called for an additional 10 percent tariff, with the threat of a further 15 percent in 2019, which Cobb claimed would force Real Wood to make large price increases and would hamstring the whole industry.
Cobb, 42, a genial, bearlike, bearded father of seven, stayed up late the night before the hearing, rehearsing his performance in the mirror of his hotel room, cutting it in half to make sure it stayed within the strict time limit. He was dressed sharp for the event, in a three-piece suit, with a pocket square and nonprescription eyeglasses to make him look smart, or so he hoped. He purchased the entire outfit in China while on one of his countless trips there. | 1,268,128 |
Legislation that would allow Congress to obtain President Trump's state tax returns is almost a reality, now that the New York State Assembly and Senate passed bills that would allow them to do so.
The legislation would lift an existing state restriction on revealing an individual's tax returns. It says the state Commissioner of Taxation and Finance shall release those returns if requested by the House Ways and Means Committee, Finance Committee, or Joint Committee on Taxation.
DEM WANTS TRUMP OFFICIALS JAILED FOR NOT TURNING OVER TAX RETURNS
Earlier versions of bills in the New York State Senate and Assembly allowed for the request of any New Yorker's tax returns, but on Wednesday, amendments passed that narrowed the scope to tax returns of certain officials including the president, vice president, members of Congress representing New York, and others.
If Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo signs the bill into law, Congress would be able to request someone's individual's tax returns from any year, as well as business tax returns for entities in which they have at least a ten percent voting share.
While it does not mention Trump or anyone else specifically, the legislation would make his tax returns, as well as the Trump Organization's returns, up for grabs. Cuomo said in the past that he would support a bill like this as long as it applies to everyone, but he will look over the details before making a final decision.
When it first when through the state Senate, New York Republican Party Chairman Ed Cox slammed the bill, describing it as an illegal bill of attainder, meaning it improperly singles out an individual for punishment.
"The Democratic legislature and Governor Cuomo are suffering from Trump Derangement Syndrome and playing politics at the expense of doing the people’s business," he said in a statement to Fox News.
Democrats, including the bill's sponsor, State Sen. Brad Hoylman, and House Judiciary Committee Leader Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., specifically mentioned Trump in reference to the legislation. Nadler called it "a workaround to a White House that continues to obstruct and stonewall the legitimate oversight work of Congress."
Democratic Rep. Lloyd Doggett of Texas said Tuesday that Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig should be jailed or fined for resisting congressional subpoenas for President Trump’s tax returns.
NEW YORK DEMS TAKE HEAT FOR BILL PRYING LOOSE TRUMP'S TAX RETURNS
The original version of the bill drafted earlier said that the chair of the requesting committee must certify that the request is for a legitimate legislative purpose.
When Mnuchin denied a request for Trump’s federal tax returns, he said the request failed to meet that standard. The amendment that passed Wednesday removed that language, instead saying that it is "related to, and in furtherance of, a legitimate task of the Congress."
Fox News' Brooke Singman and the Associated Press contributed to this report. | 1,268,129 |
Getty Images
Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence can’t play in the NFL until at least 2021.
But he’d potentially have an option to become a pro a year earlier if he wanted.
XFL commissioner Oliver Luck has openly suggested the upstart league, which will begin play in 2020, could become a safe haven for players who don’t want to spend three years in college for whatever reason.
Lawrence, a true freshman, has to stay in school another two years (or at least not join the NFL) because of the collectively bargained deal between the NFL and NFLPA which creates a de facto free farm system, and provides colleges with a pool of cheap labor. Players have to be three years out of high school to be eligible for the NFL Draft.
During a December podcast interview with with Brian Berger of the Sports Business Radio Road Show, Luck said flatly: “We’re not subject to that.”
“Theoretically we could take a player right out of high school. I doubt we’ll do that,” Luck said, noting the difference in physical development between an 18-year-old and the 24-to-25-year-old fringe NFLers they plan to build their base from.
“But I wouldn’t rule it out,” Luck said. “Nor would I rule out taking a player who played a year of college football and let’s say isn’t eligible academically, which happens. Or a player who is two years out of college, and is transferring, and would have to sit out a year. A lot of guys don’t want to.... We are in that position to be able to take players who wouldn’t be eligible to play in the NFL....
“But that’s an option that we have and we’re going to look at it long and hard. There are a lot off very good college players after a year or two who may not want to play that third year of college football, may need to earn a little money, support the family. That’s not uncommon as well.”
Luck has said the league will pay salaries in the $250,000-$300,000 range for top players (i.e. quarterbacks) for what could be a five-month commitment. That’s an alternative for a player who doesn’t want to develop his skills for room and board and the opportunity to take classes which fit into his football schedule.
College players can also take out “loss of value” insurance policies to protect themselves against an injury which would affect their draft stock.
There’s no indication that Lawrence is anything but happy with his Clemson experience and wants to stay. But if he decides he’d rather get paid while developing, it sounds like there’s a league that would be happy to let him. | 1,268,130 |
From Viking silver to Roman bronze, amateur treasure hunters in Europe locate all kinds of buried treasures with their metal detectors. Now, a new hoard is making headlines: As the ChronicleLive reports, the caretaker of a primary school in Northumberland, England used his own electronic device to find a stash of Medieval-era silver coins buried underneath the school's playground.
The discovery occurred at Warkworth Church of England Primary School, in the tiny village of Warkworth. The school sits near a well-preserved medieval castle, which was once owned by the House of Percy, a powerful noble family.
"The collection was found in the playground by the caretaker who had asked to metal detect and was granted permission," Fred Wyrley-Birch, director of Newcastle auctioneers Anderson & Garland, who will auction off some of the coins, told Mental Floss. "The hoard was then declared a treasure trove, and was valued and authenticated by The British Museum."
The cache consists of 128 silver coins forged during the 15th and early 16th centuries, a period of transition in England from the Medieval era to the Renaissance era. It includes groat and half-groat coins, which date back to the reigns of monarchs King Edward IV and King Henry VII, and nine coins from the 1460s associated with Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy. Together, they're worth £11,000 (nearly $15,000 US).
Theories abound as to why the coins were buried: The presence of a large medieval castle just up the hill has prompted Wyrley-Birch to concoct "a romantic tale" of a "large tax bill on its way to the local sheriff, which never made it to its intended destination."
Meanwhile, Andrew Agate, a local finds liaison officer for the Portable Antiquities Scheme, to which discoveries of treasures are reported, proposed to ChronicleLive that "the owner may have felt in danger during turbulent times of Scottish incursions," he said. "The intention would have been to retrieve them, but for some reason, this never happened."
The British Museum didn't opt to purchase the silver currency, so the primary school caretaker and the landowner, the Diocese of Newcastle, agreed to split the buried treasure. On Wednesday, September 13, Anderson & Garland will sell 66 coins at auction, all of which belong to the Diocese.
"The collection is a rare opportunity to buy interesting coins that have been underground for 500 years," Wyrley-Birch says. "Most types of treasure troves are kept for the nation and placed in a museum, but for unknown reasons, this one has been given back."
You can check out some of the coins for sale below:
Courtesy of Anderson & Garland Fine Art Auctioneers
Courtesy of Anderson & Garland Fine Art Auctioneers
Courtesy of Anderson & Garland Fine Art Auctioneers
Courtesy of Anderson & Garland Fine Art Auctioneers
[h/t ChronicleLive] | 1,268,131 |
Remember the scene in “Anchorman” when Brian shows off his Sex Panther cologne to Ron Burgundy and tells him, “60 percent of the time, it works every time?” Do you remember that?
Well, this right here from Tito Ortiz, talking about how often he’s training for his expected trilogy fight with Chuck Liddell, is basically that – but on a whole new level (via Twitter):
“I train six days, actually six days a week. Five days a week, I’ll train three days a week. One of those days I will train two days of the week. So, six days a week I will be training.”
Pretty sure this is as simple as the UFC Hall of Famer forgetting to swap in the word “times” for “days,” but still everyone on Twitter was pretty baffled and relentless with jokes.
@Anmmafan @jasdhillon24 he me when I tell a girl I love her but I need some time to do me but while I’m doing me don’t do someone else cuz I love her
This video got my ears bleeding & making me feel stupid. Is this guy for real?
Wtf? In one day he’ll train two days a week? And Tito ain’t even on drugs.
is it really a good idea to again fight the guy that caused you this much brain damage 🤣🤣
Is he joking or is his whole brain made out of CTE?
Today on MMAjunkie Radio, UFC lightweight Kevin Lee tried to get Liddell in on the fun, but “The Iceman” apparently hasn’t seen the video – or wasn’t in the mood to joke.
Here’s how that went:
Lee: Getting ready for the fight, are you training six times a week for three days a week out of two days a week, or are you training six days a week, two days a week, and then, only on certain days of the week, you’re doing three days?
Liddell: I typically go a few days on, one day with an active rest day, where I do some little stuff, and then I go two more days, and take one day off.
Lee: (smiling): I love it.
Liddell: So five days hard, one day moderate, or light, and then one day off.
Lee: Can we get the drums? Because the joke fell totally flat.
The Blue Corner is MMAjunkie’s blog space. We don’t take it overly seriously, and neither should you. If you come complaining to us that something you read here is not hard-hitting news, expect to have the previous sentence repeated in ALL CAPS. | 1,268,132 |
Grab your gavel. The case is closed. Or so said Donald Trump in a tweet last night, ahead of today’s G7 summit in France, explaining what gives him power to order US companies to “start looking for an alternative to China,” as he did yesterday in an earlier tweet.
For all of the Fake News Reporters that don’t have a clue as to what the law is relative to Presidential powers, China, etc., try looking at the Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977. Case closed! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 24, 2019
The law he cites is designed for pariah states, not trade partners. US Code Title 50, chapter 35, addresses “war and national defense” and it “may only be exercised to deal with an unusual and extraordinary threat with respect to which a national emergency has been declared.” The law also provides that the president must consult with Congress “in every possible instance…before exercising any of the authorities granted by this chapter and shall consult regularly with the Congress so long as such authorities are exercised.”
In other words, the case isn’t quite closed for at least a couple of reasons. First, Trump would have to consult with Congress, which he doesn’t appear to have done, and representatives may not see the need for declaring a national emergency. While the president has made it clear that he believes in expansive executive powers, it’s not yet evident that Trump can be the plaintiff, prosecutor, judge, and jury when deciding legal issues with severe economic and geopolitical implications.
Second, if the president wasn’t so quick to tweet national policy, the situation wouldn’t be so severe, giving rise to the question—is he the national emergency? Yesterday, for example, Trump fired off a series of tweets announcing that he was hiking tariffs on Chinese products (even after his aides had just saved Christmas from the president’s policies by delaying increases to ensure a merry American holiday).
Then, the White House issued an official statement that read like the tweets cobbled together. It said the same things, with the same dramatic capitalizations, including accusing China and other countries of hundreds of billions of dollars worth of trade and intellectual property theft.
The president is in France today for the meeting with leaders of G7 countries, some of which are already suffering economically from the effect of Trump’s trade war on the global economy. The German economy, for example, appears to be headed toward a recession and analysts say the trade war isn’t helping.
Today, European Council president Donald Tusk, attending the G7 meeting as well, said at a news conference that escalating trade tensions could lead to a global recession: “For me it’s absolutely clear that if someone, for example…the United States and president Trump, uses tariffs and taxation as a political instrument…this confrontation can be really risky for the whole world.” | 1,268,133 |
We’ve all heard about it, or if you haven’t, you’re hearing about it now, but a massive section of the north Bow River Pathway (BRP) is closed. The closure extends from 29th St. NW to 14th St. NW, and is the result of a combination of waterworks, pathway rehabilitation, and the Crowchild Tr. upgrades.
The City of Calgary recently released a map of how cyclists and pedestrians can get around the construction:
The city map suggests a couple of options:
From the downtown side, cross the river via 14 St, and access Broadview road, either by the underpass, just north of Memorial, or via the community entrance, NW of Memorial Dr. The road is a community road and has low traffic, but no bike lanes. From the south BRP, cross the Crowchild Tr. bridge and head towards downtown. A bridge across Memorial Dr. will help you access a new pathway to Kensington Rd. Again, community roads with low traffic but no bike lanes will help you connect to 29 St. and the remainder of the BRP from Crowchild Tr. Please note, at Kensington Rd. cyclists should WALK across the crosswalks due to the speed of exiting traffic from Crowchild Tr.
What we want to tell you, and what the city does not mention, is that a couple other alternatives exist if you are travelling from further afield and wish to avoid the mayhem completely:
From Edworthy Park, a bridge exists to access the south BRP, visible on this map. This pathway will take you to both 14 St. to cross back to the north portion of the BRP, or it will allow you to access downtown. This pathway however, is in poor condition, and is VERY bumpy. Alternatively, as per our own map here, you can travel on a painted bike lane from 10th St. NW to 5th Ave. NW, all the way to 29 St. From 29 St, you can easily access the remainder of the BRP, or NW Calgary. Though crossing Crowchild Tr. at this location on the road can be a bit hairy, it is doable, and lanes exist on both sides of the intersection (circled in green). Additionally, on the west side of the intersection, a pathway to the north will take you to a green space through Parkdale, for those willing to do a hill-climb and avoid traffic in the neighbourhood. The trails through the greenspace are unpaved (as per dotted black line), but will allow you to access pathway and bikeway connections at the Foothills Hospital. A bikeway adjacent to 10 St. NW exists closer to the LRT, and is well marked, with direct access to a bridge across Memorial Dr. and the river. Ultimately, these two detours may be more attractive to those looking to avoid crossing Crowchild Tr. by foot at Kensington Rd. or for those looking to avoid the mess completely. | 1,268,134 |
Balochistan, May 19 (ANI): Majeed Brigade, an elite unit of the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) on Sunday in a video threatened Chinese President Xi Jinping and Pakistan to withdraw their projects immediately from Balochistan.
"President Xi Jinping, you still have time to quit Balochistan or you will witness a retaliation from Baloch sons and daughters that you will never forget," a BLA commander said in the video.
"China you came here without our consent supported our enemies, helped Pakistani military in wiping our villages. But now it's our turn," he added.
The video was released only eight days after four members of Baloch Liberation Army's Majeed Brigade stormed a five-star hotel in Gwadar and battled Pakistani commandos for 26 hours.
The deadly attack on May 11 at the luxury hotel in Gwadar has intensified security concerns around Beijing's major development drive in Pakistan, including a strategic deep-sea port.
In the video, the BLA commander was seen surrounded by heavily armed persons wearing the same camouflage uniform as members of Majeed Brigade, also known as self-sacrificing squad of the BLA, guarded him.
He said, "BLA is telling you that your China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) will fail miserably on the Baloch land."
The commander claimed that a special unit has been formed in Majeed Brigade to particularly "attack Chinese officials and installations in Balochistan."
In reference to the attack on Pearl Continental, the commander said, "The motive of our attack was to inflict heavy losses upon both Pakistan and China."
"It was a simple and clear message to China and Pakistan to withdraw immediately from Balochistan. This warning to China and Pakistan was also given by our leader Gen Aslam Baloch. But China failed to pay heed.
"We once again make it clear that Gwadar and the rest of Balochistan belong to Balochistan. It is our duty to protect our land and our sea," he added.
The Brigade further noted that the attack on Pearl Continental hotel was "a part of our Operation Zir Pahazag". "This is a continuous operation that has been initiated to safeguard the Baloch Sea from China, Pakistan and other foreign powers," the commander said.
In one of the most direct and daring threats to China, the BLA commander says that Balochistan will be a graveyard for Chinese "expansionist motives".
BLA commander concludes his video by saying "General Aslam Baloch's mission will continue".
General Aslam Baloch, the slain BLA leader and founder of Majeed Brigade, is widely credited for the organisation's recent transformation, which has seen an unprecedented increase in its attacks.
The China-Pakistan economic corridor has China investing over USD 60 billion. The corridor reaches out from Xinjiang to Gwadar port in Pakistan's Balochistan province. (ANI) | 1,268,135 |
public IP available for free (you will get the few bytes that will be used in a cloud storage nearly for free). And as already mentioned for UDP the best choice is PING.
Security
The first thing to take into account is that by default, most communication in our clusters is unencrypted. This is especially bad when our load balancer redirects request over the internet to another server farm or if replication traffic traverses insecure networks. You need to secure GossipRouters or “known hosts” for TCPPING so that only authorized members can join your cluster. One option is to encapsulate your whole infrastructure into a VPN. On first glance it may be an easier solution to add AUTH and/or ENCRYPT to your JGroups stack. AUTH will keep unauthorized hosts out of your JGroups communication and ENCRYPT will render the traffic unreadable for attackers. But at least AUTH is not a state of the art implementation and is by now vulnerable to replay attacks. So it seems more secure to leave AUTH/ENCRYPT behind and get back to the VPN solution. This will also put the cryptography computations on hardware optimized for that purpose. Note that often VPNs do not support multicasts over the tunnel. So to get through the VPN tunnel you may need to use a GossipRouter (i.e. use TUNNEL as transport).
Note that if you leave JGroups unsecured, an attacker can read and even modify your Infinispan caches. A GossipRouter as well as a “known host” is a very good target for a DOS attack. The GossipRouter could be an even better target than any known host because if you use TUNNEL and there is only one GossipRouter, an attacker will, by killing it, provoke a fatal split-brain situation for the whole cluster. So your GossipRouter as well as any host running TCPPING should be well secured against DOS attacks (i. e. only allowing traffic from specific origins, incoming traffic limits, maybe deep packet inspection).
Summary
Don’t forget that, if there are IP multicasts available, there can be no better performance than with UDP and if there are no IP multicasts available the best advice is to use what you already have, e. g. a database or a (cloud-) storage. GossipRouters should in most cases be your last consideration, which does not mean they are bad.
Even if there are many interesting topics uncovered, this is likely to be the last post of this series about clustering the EAP 6 or AS 7. Thank you very much for your feedback on the last posts! If there are any questions or comments on this post feel free to leave a comment or write an e-mail to
heinz.wilming (at) akquinet.de
immanuel.sims (at) akquinet.de | 1,268,136 |
Data mining is introduced through Rattle in the new book, Data Mining with Rattle and R: The Art of Excavating Data for Knowledge Discovery (Use R), published 2011 by Springer-Verlag (DOI: 10.1007/978-1-4419-9890-3).
An extended in-progress version of the book (consisting of early drafts for the chapters published as above) is freely available as an open source book, The Data Mining Desktop Survival Guide (ISBN 0-9757109-2-3) The books simply explain the otherwise complex algorithms and concepts of data mining, with examples to illustrate each algorithm using the statistical language R. The book is being written by Dr Graham Williams, based on his 20 years research and consulting experience in machine learning and data mining.
Books on my Bookshelf Include:
A literate, agile, approach to data mining projects means the data miner's toolbox will include R and LaTeX (for using Sweave).
Other Resources
Using R for Data Mining
The open source statistical programming language R (based on S) is in daily use in academia and in business and government. We use R for data mining within the Australian Taxation Office. Rattle is used by those wishing to interact with R through a GUI.
R is memory based so that on 32bit CPUs you are limited to smaller datasets (perhaps 50,000 up to 100,000, depending on what you are doing). Deploying R on 64bit multiple CPU (AMD64) servers running GNU/Linux with 32GB of main memory provides a powerful platform for data mining.
R is open source, thus providing assurance that there will always be the opportunity to fix and tune things that suit our specific needs, rather than rely on having to convince a vendor to fix or tune their product to suit our needs.
Also, by being open source, we can be sure that the code will always be available, unlike some of the data mining products that have disappearded (e.g., IBM's Intelligent Miner).
Open standards are important for users, but vendors resist them for obvious reasons, and would prefer to lock you in to their products. A number of commercial tools claim support of, for example, the open standard PMML for interoperability (sharing models between applications). But the support is patchy and not worth the effort. We have started a PMML effort in R to attempt to address the desire for interoperability.
Specific commercial statistical products are excellent in handling very large datasets. But they are limited in the analytic algorithms they provide. Commercial vendors, naturally, need to be convinced of the usefulness of implementing new algorithms. On the other hand, a vast selection has been available for deployment in R for a long time.
Copyright © 2006-2014 Togaware Pty Ltd
This site is hosted in the cloud by Web Faction.
Last Modified 2014-04-09 06:11:23 gjw | 1,268,137 |
Former Blink-182 singer Tom DeLonge’s UFO research group has reportedly signed a contract with the United States Army to research and develop futuristic technology in areas including “active camouflage.”
Vice News reports that former Blink-182 singer Tom DeLonge’s UFO research organization has signed a contract with the United States Army. The group, called To The Stars Academy, has reportedly signed a deal with the U.S. Army to help the military study and develop advanced materials aimed at producing “active camouflage, beamed energy propulsion, and quantum communication” to be used in military vehicles.
To the Stars joined the Army’s Combat Capabilities Development Command on October 17 and will officially be working with the U.S. military to develop futuristic tech. To the Stars is most notable for the group’s various claims about UFO’s, including its alleged acquisition of “exotic” materials that are said to be from another planet and a recent video acquired from the Navy that supposedly shows a UFO flying in front of jet fighters.
The military is reportedly interested in studying the following areas with Delonge’s organization, according to Vice News:
inertial mass reduction (a type of far-future propulsion)
mechanical/structural meta materials
electromagnetic meta material wave guides
quantum physics
active camouflage
quantum communications
beamed energy propulsion
To The Stars’ contract with the military doesn’t specifically mention the “exotic” metals that the group has recently obtained, but does mention that U.S. Army will be using government labs to study “meta materials.” The contract states:
Government shall: Perform assessments, testing, and characterization of Collaborator-provided technologies. The Government is interested in a variety of the Collaborator’s technologies, such as, but not limited to inertial mass reduction, mechanical/structural meta materials, electromagnetic meta material wave guides, quantum physics, quantum communications, and beamed energy propulsion.
The contract lasts for five years and the U.S. Army is not paying To The Stars Academy anything directly, but is instead agreeing to collaborate with the group on research and has committed to spend $750,000 on that work.
Dr. Joseph Cannon, Deputy Product Manager of Science and Technology in the Vehicle Protection Systems Division of the GVSC, stated in the press release that “our partnership with TTSA serves as an exciting, non-traditional source for novel materials and transformational technologies to enhance our military ground system capabilities. At the Army’s Ground Vehicle Systems Center, we look forward to this partnership and the potential technical innovations forthcoming.”
Read more at VICE News here.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan or email him at [email protected] | 1,268,138 |
A neat finish from Charalambos Lykogiannis ensured ten-man Greece were rewarded for a heroic rearguard effort as they edged out England in extra time to reach the UEFA European Under-19 Championship final.
Runners-up to Spain in 2007, Greece shaded a first half played in torrential rain and took the lead in the 38th minute when Mavroudis Bougaidis headed in from a corner. Before the break the balance tipped England's way as Greece goalkeeper Stefanos Kapino was sent off for bringing down Benik Afobe, but Sokratis Dioudis came on to save Robert Hall's penalty.
Afobe headed a 56th-minute equaliser yet Greece refused to buckle and, three minutes into the second additional period, gained what proved to be a decisive advantage thanks to Lykogiannis' composed strike.
The skies opened shortly before kick-off in Tallinn but it was a less eventful opening on the pitch, with clear chances at a premium. Although England had more of the ball, Sam Johnstone was the busier goalkeeper, diving to tip away Lykogiannis' header and then denying Giorgos Katidis with his feet after the ball had fallen for the Greece captain at the far post.
The England No1 was in action again just past the half-hour, tipping over Giannis Gianniotas' swerving shot – but from the resulting corner Greece took the lead, Bougaidis rising highest to head in Kostas Stafylidis' delivery. England came close to responding immediately, as Kapino saved from Saido Berahino and, instinctively, Thomas Thorpe.
On the stroke of half-time England had an even better chance when Hall's pass split the Greece defence for the onrushing Afobe, who was fouled by Kapino. The goalkeeper was shown a red card, meaning Dioudis came off the bench. His first action was to dive to his left to block Hall's spot kick.
Greece were pushed back from the first whistle of the second half, however, although they were close to doubling their lead when Stafylidis' inswinging free-kick was saved by right foot of Johnstone. That proved pivotal as, less than a minute later, Hall escaped down the left and sent in a cross that Afobe headed beyond Dioudis.
England continued to largely pin their opponents back, Berahino brilliantly denied by the substitute keeper, who then stretched to tip over long-range efforts from Ross Barkley and replacement Nathan Redmond to ensure the game would require an additional 30 minutes.
Greece had shown their threat on the counterattack, however, and in the 108th minute took what proved to be a decisive lead. Lykogiannis beat Thorpe to Nathaniel Chalobah's short header and then showed great presence of mind to lift the ball over the advancing Johnstone and spark wild Greece celebrations. | 1,268,139 |
NEW DELHI: Adani Enterprises has inked a pact to buy out Linc Energy's royalty rights from the Carmichael coal project for AUD 155 million, the Australian firm today said.Australian government last month had cleared the proposed Carmichael coal mine project of the Indian conglomerate Adani in the Galilee Basin in central Queensland."Linc Energy is pleased to announce that it has entered into a binding option deed with Adani Group for the transfer of Linc Energy's benefits in and obligations under the Carmichael Royalty Deed to Adani. The option exercise consideration under the option deed is AUD 155 million," Linc Energy said in a statement.Linc Energy said Adani will pay to it "AUD 155 million consideration in two instalments: AUD 90 million in cash within five days of the exercise of the option and the balance AUD 65 million in cash on or before 12 months from the date of the signing of the deed of the assignment and assumption."No immediate comment from Adani officials could be received on the deal.Linc said option is expected to be exercised "between 60 and 65 days from the date of this announcement."The company said it considers the transaction to be of benefit to its shareholders given the current market condition and the projected time to first production from the Carmichael mines CEO and MD of Linc Energy, Peter Bond said,"Linc Energy has number of very good quality assets, the sale of Adani royalty for AUD 155 mn is a great example of one of these. And though I would have liked to keep this asset for the longer term it makes sense to start to cash up our balance sheet and commence to drop out the debt and focus on our world class assets."Bond said, "In addition the reality is the price of steaming coal has nearly halved since we sold the Carmichael coal asset to Adani four years ago and the risk of holding the royalty long term verses what we can do with the cash today does not add up for us."He added that the company is simply selling its non core good assets and cashing up so that it can focus on great core assets.Australia's Environment Minister Greg Hunt had last month had announced clearance to the Adani's Carmichael Coal Mine and Rail Infrastructure project, subject to 36 strict conditions.Hailing the decision, Adani Chairman, Gautam Adani said: "We welcome the Minister's approval of the Carmichael Mine and Rail project, which takes us another step closer to delivering our multi-billion dollar mine, rail and port development".The project, which was proposed and advanced under the previous state and federal ALP Governments, is estimated to have a resource value of USD 5 billion per annum over 60 years.At full export capacity, the project is expected to contribute almost USD 930 million to the Mackay region's gross regional product and USD 2.97 billion to the Queensland economy each year for the next 60 years.Shares of Adani Enterprises closed at Rs 478.20 apiece, down 0.99 per cent from their previous close on BSE. | 1,268,140 |
Concacaf to Host Record Number of Teams in November for Its Redesigned Under-20 Championship
Thirty-four member associations to compete for the regional title and the four available spots in the FIFA U-20 World Cup Poland 2019
Miami (Friday, June 8, 2018) – The Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football (Concacaf) today announced the details for the new 2018 Concacaf Under-20 Championship. The redesigned, centralized thirty-four-member association competition will be the largest Concacaf Under-20 tournament ever.
The men’s youth championship, to be hosted at the world-renowned IMG Academy campus in Bradenton, Florida, will take place November 1-21, 2018. These dates include the November FIFA match window, meaning teams will be able to compete with their best players for the Confederation’s title.
“The record response from the participating member associations in the centralized and expanded Concacaf Under-20 tournament is a testament to their belief that consistent access to quality competition truly drives development and growth of the game in our region” said Concacaf General Secretary Philippe Moggio. “We are very excited to showcase our region’s next generation of stars at the IMG Academy.”
“We are pleased that Concacaf has once again selected our campus as host to one of its premier events,” said IMG Academy Co-Managing Director Chip McCarthy. “We pride ourselves on providing a tremendous platform for competition at the highest level and look forward to hosting some of the region’s top talent here in Bradenton.”
Unlike the previous format, which included regional qualifiers in the Caribbean and Central America and one final Championship, the new centralized competition ensures that all teams have the opportunity to play more top-level football matches in a single location. Over the course of twenty-three-days, players, coaches, team administrators and referees will additionally have access to Concacaf development programs.
The competition will be composed of three rounds. For the first-round group phase, the thirty-four participating teams will be divided into six groups. After round robin play, the six group winners will advance to the qualification stage. For the qualification stage, the six remaining teams will be separated in two groups of three. After round robin play, the two group winners plus the second-place finishers will qualify for the FIFA U-20 World Cup. Additionally, the two groups winners will advance to the tournament’s final to determine the regional champion.
The complete list of participating associations, as well as the first-round match schedule will be announced at a later date.
In the previous edition of the Concacaf Under-20 Championship played in Costa Rica in 2017, the United States won its first ever title at this level, with a 5-3 win in penalties, over Honduras in the final. | 1,268,141 |
Star Transport Fired Truckers for Refusing to Transport Alcohol, Federal Agency Charged
CHICAGO - A federal jury in Peoria, Ill., has awarded $240,000 to two Somalian-American Muslims who were fired from their jobs as truck drivers at Star Transport, an over-the-road trucking company, when they refused to transport alcohol because it violated their religious beliefs, according to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), which brought the case. The trial started on Oct. 19, and the jury returned its verdict the next day after 45 minutes of deliberation.
Judge James E. Shadid, the chief judge of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of Illinois, found in favor of EEOC after Star Transport admitted liability in March 2015. The resulting trial was to determine compensatory and punitive damages and back pay. The jury awarded Mahad Abass Mohamed and Abdkiarim Hassan Bulshale $20,000 each in compensatory damages and $100,000 each in punitive damages. Judge Shadid awarded each approximately $1,500 in back pay.
EEOC alleged that in 2009, Star Transport fired Mohamed and Bulshale after they were required to transport alcohol. Both men told Star Transport that they believed doing so would violate their religious beliefs under Islamic law.
EEOC also alleged that Star Transport could have but failed to accommodate the truckers' religious beliefs, as required by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. EEOC filed suit (EEOC v. Star Transport, Inc., No. 13-cv-1240) in U.S. District Court for the Central District of Illinois in Peoria in May 2013.
"EEOC is proud to support the rights of workers to equal treatment in the workplace without having to sacrifice their religious beliefs or practices," said EEOC General Counsel David Lopez. "This is fundamental to the American principles of religious freedom and tolerance."
The case was litigated by EEOC Trial Attorneys Aaron DeCamp and June Calhoun and Supervisory Trial Attorney Diane Smason.
Calhoun said, "This is an awesome outcome. Star Transport failed to provide any discrimination training to its human resources personnel, which led to catastrophic results for these employees. They suffered real injustice that needed to be addressed. By this verdict, the jury remedied the injustice by sending clear messages to Star Transport and other employers that they will be held accountable for their unlawful employment practices. Moreover, they signaled to Mr. Mohamed and Mr. Bulshale that religious freedom is a right for all Americans."
Smason stated, "We are pleased that the jury recognized that these - and all - employees are entitled to observe and practice their faith, no matter what that might be."
Bulshale commented, "This case makes me proud to be American."
EEOC enforces federal laws prohibiting employment discrimination. Further information about EEOC is available on its website, www.eeoc.gov. | 1,268,142 |
A United Nations panel of experts has uncovered fragments of British-made laser guidance missile systems at an air raid site in Yemen in a strike that it concluded breached international humanitarian law.
The attacks took place in September 2016, a month after the then foreign secretary Boris Johnson said he was content to allow the export of weapons systems to Saudi Arabia in the expectation they would be used in Yemen.
A guidance unit for a “high explosive” bomb – stamped with the name of a Brighton based company, EDO MBM Technology Ltd – were found at the site in the Yemen capital Sana’a after four bombs were dropped on the site at 12.45am on 13 September.
Missile parts from the same British factory – ultimately owned by the US arms supplier L3 Harris – were also found by the UN experts at the Alsonidar complex following a second air strike nine days later, where a water pump factory and a former tube maker were located.
Though the UK has licensed at least £4.7bn of exports to Saudi Arabia since the country became embroiled in the war in Yemen, the UN documentation demonstrates that British technology has been deployed in a conflict where the Saudi-led coalition has been repeatedly accused of indiscriminate bombing.
British arms sales to Saudi Arabia of equipment that could be deployed in Yemen were held to be unlawful in June by the court of appeal in London, because ministers had failed to conduct a proper impact assessment of the bombing on civilians.
Dr Anna Stavrianakis, a senior lecturer in international relations at the University of Sussex, said the UN report showed that such an assessment could have taken place. “This revelation is a damning indictment of a policy that is reckless in its disregard for civilian harm.”
At the time, a spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition said that warplanes had hit the Alsonidar plant because it “is now becoming a military manufacturing unit specialised in producing pipes Houthis use to assemble local-made missiles.”
But reporting to the UN security council, the panel concluded “there is insufficient evidence to demonstrate that the factory complex had become a legitimate military objective” because there was no evidence that any hardware was manufactured on the site.
The tube maker on the site had not been operational since 2014, and the panel said the only mitigating factor was that there were no casualties in the bombing because the attacks took place shortly after midnight.
The UN accounts were made publicly available in January 2018, following the panel investigation, though they had remained largely unnoticed.
Ministers have said they would appeal the ruling in the upreme court but the former international trade secretary, Liam Fox, told parliament that arms exports to Saudi Arabia would be suspended pending an official review.
“The government’s emphasis on the diplomatic, strategic and economic benefits of arms sales are ringing increasingly hollow,” Stavrianakis said. “Its commitment to international law is repeatedly revealed to be superficial.” | 1,268,143 |
's petition is through a new U.S. final assembly line."
The key to new U.S. orders for the C Series now sits in Brookley Field, a vast former air force base next to Mobile Bay on the southern outskirts of Mobile.
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By building the C Series at Airbus's manufacturing site in Mobile, the aircraft will become a domestic product that is not subject to import duties, Bombardier says. The company plans to spend $300-million (U.S.) to set up the assembly operations, and adds that most of the parts to be assembled there will be made in the United States.
The exact mix will be a balancing act. Too little U.S. work content and the company might not be able to dodge U.S. tariff barriers on the plane; too much and Quebec taxpayers who have provided public aid to Bombardier can complain they are subsidizing jobs in Alabama.
"We expect that with the building of a U.S. assembly plant, the whole trade dispute will be irrelevant," National Bank analyst Cameron Doerksen said in a note.
Bombardier's biggest U.S. C Series order is from Delta Air Lines, which ordered 75 planes in a deal that cemented the aircraft's market viability.
Bombardier says plans to assemble the C Series in Mobile are progressing steadily. But when The Globe and Mail toured the site last month, Airbus said no details had yet been worked out.
"The deal's not done yet … so we're in a holding pattern," said Kristi Tucker, Airbus Americas communications director. "We can't talk about details. We don't have them yet."
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The Airbus assembly line gives some idea of how it might look. The pieces of the plane arrive partly assembled – the forward fuselage in Saint-Nazaire, France; the central fuselage in Hamburg; the wings in Broughton, Wales – and are fitted together in a massive hangar.
At the first station, the fuselage, still in two pieces, is fitted with galleys and washrooms. Moved by crane to a second station, the two parts are riveted together. At a third, the wings and landing gear are attached, and electric wiring is added to the cockpit. Then, workers roll it by hand to the fourth station, where the tailplane is added, while overhead bins, panels and seat tracks are fitted inside the cabin. At a final stop, the engines are installed.
For Ms. Tucker, a native of neighbouring Georgia who speaks with a southern drawl, it's a point of pride that Airbus has shown "the naysayers" the region can build technologically advanced machines.
"'Dumb hicks down in Alabama can't build airplanes,'" Ms. Tucker paraphrases the criticisms when Airbus set up in Mobile.
"There's unfortunately a stereotype about the South, which is so untrue." | 1,268,144 |
. One very crafty hacker at ReclaimPrivacy has put together a settings-scanning bookmarklet that shows what you're sharing beyond your social circle, and offers links and automatic fixes for those settings. Another coder, Ka-Ping Yee, offers a site that shows what the public web can see on Facebook, some of which you can then remove. They're both excellent eye-openers, both for your own account and for friends who refuse to consider what's being shown out there. (Original posts: ReclaimPrivacy bookmarklet, Facebook public).
3. Run Your Browser Through a Proxy
It's not something you'll want to do all the time, but once in a while, you might want to hide your online tracks. To do so, you can use the go-to web randomization tool, TOR, which has tools available for nearly every OS and browser. For a DIY solution that can work from any browser, we've detailed installing the free PHProxy tool on your home computer or hosted web space to get around restrictions and slightly disguise your tracks. You could also run a proxy through Google's App Engine, and go the full-tilt geek route of encrypting your browsing with an SSH SOCKS proxy. Any way you choose, it's a smart skill to have handy for dodgy connections and restrictive networks.
2. Better Protect Your Mint.com or Other Financial Accounts
The thing that makes Mint.com such a convenient one-stop shop for financial data and budgeting also makes it a gold mine for anyone looking to learn more about you, or know which accounts they could try to jump into. Security professional Jason Owens provides some smart tips on better protecting your Mint.com account that can apply to any site where you manage your financials. Key among them—don't use your regular email address. Set up a new email address you don't tell anyone about as your login/password verification address. You can forward its mail to your main email, sure, but if someone compromises your email, don't make it too too easy for them to get a hold on your finances.
1. Stay Available on Facebook Without Really Being In It
You might have considered quitting Facebook, but stopped short because it's how a few far-flung friends and relatives stay in touch, or a place those without your email address can ping you. We can understand, and, luckily, have a halfway solution to recommend. Quit Facebook without really quitting, as Whitson did. Create a new account, linked to a different email, and set it up so that your old friends are still there, but Facebook, even at its most Draconian, can't really reveal all that much about you, and your friends can't really overshare without your permission.
What steps have you taken recently to bolster your own web or desktop privacy? What would you like to fix, but need some pointers on doing so? Let's hash it all out in the comments.
| 1,268,145 |
“The alleged creator of the flyers said they weren’t meant to be ‘anti-Muslim,’ but designed to ‘shock and anger people’ by using the Japanese internment as a cautionary tale.”
It worked: people are indeed shocked and angered, but not, at least from the looks of this story, over the prospect of the internment of Muslims, but apparently over the fact that this fellow was so insensitive as to remind these snowflakes of a traumatic historical event.
In any case, the key point here is that absolutely no one in or around the Trump administration is proposing or contemplating proposing the internment of Muslims. This is hysterical fearmongering designed to prevent the President from taking the legal and reasonable actions he actually has proposed in order to protect Americans from jihad violence.
“Muslim Internment Style Posters Found on UCSD Campus,” by Dave Summers and Jaspreet Kaur, NBC San Diego, March 1, 2017 (thanks to CJ):
Students were outraged Wednesday after several posters were placed on the UC San Diego campus suggesting internment for Muslims. NBC 7 received information from someone claiming responsibilty who admitted the posters were meant to shock and anger residents. NBC 7’s Dave Summers reports. It called for the evacuation of members of the Islamic faith living in San Diego County. In part, the poster read: “All Muslim persons, both alien and non-alien, will be evacuated from the above disignated [sic] area by 12:00 o’clock noon Wednesday, April 8, 2017. No Muslim person will be permitted to enter or leave the above discribed area after 8:00 a.m., Thursday, April 2, 2017, without obtaining special persmission [sic] from the Provost Marshal at the Civil Control Station…” NBC 7 received an email from a person who claimed responsibility for the flyers. The alleged creator of the flyers said they weren’t meant to be “anti-Muslim,” but designed to “shock and anger people” by using the Japanese internment as a cautionary tale. “The posters were meant to mimic the internment posters because I wanted to shock/anger people and to show them what could happen if they didn’t do anything to stop it. It was a warning presented as a possible future,” the email read…. Students who spoke to NBC 7 Wednesday evening said they were outraged at the flyers and the tone it took about the Japanese internment. “To mock it and to make fun of it or to even take it seriously is messed up. It’s just wrong,” student Kra Bars said. “It should be taken seriously because this is not a joke,” freshman Silvina Rodriguez said. “It’s not right. They shouldn’t be allowed to do any of this,” Argo Hall resident Rosa Moreno said….
Not allowed. | 1,268,146 |
MANILA (Reuters) - (Attention to strong language in paragraphs five and six.)
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte delivers a speech during their joint press statement with Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (not pictured) at Abe's official residence in Tokyo, Japan May 31, 2019. Kazuhiro Nogi /Pool via Reuters
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has threatened opponents with prison if they try to impeach him, the latest in what a top U.N. official and an Asian lawmakers’ group this week called a pattern of persecution and assaults on free speech.
Duterte vented his anger late on Thursday amid intense media scrutiny and accusations that he is siding with China over a June 9 sinking of a Filipino fishing boat by a Chinese vessel, which happened inside Manila’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).
The maverick leader has echoed Beijing’s line that it was an accident, not an intentional ramming, and shrugged off the presence of Chinese fishermen inside the Philippine EEZ, saying he would allow it out of friendship.
Some high-profile critics, among them a top judge and a former foreign minister, have called that a breach of the constitution, or worthy of his impeachment.
“Me? Will be impeached? I will jail them all,” Duterte told reporters. “Try to do it and I will do it. Son of a bitch.”
He added: “I am challenging you to do it. You really want to force my hand into it? Okay. You sons of bitches, do it. Yes. File it.”
A report on Tuesday by the ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights chided the Duterte administration for what it said were threats and aggressive rhetoric and trumped-up criminal charges against opponents that amounted to “deliberate effort to muzzle critics and weaken checks and balances.”
U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet on Monday said there was a “very real risk of violence” for Filipinos who speak out, noting threats were publicly made by state officials.
While Duterte’s popularity and mandate have been bolstered by a recent midterm election, the sinking incident has put the domestic spotlight on cracks that are appearing in his much-trumpeted foreign policy of non-confrontation with China in return for economic incentives.
Some analysts say China’s offers of high-interest infrastructure loans and promises of massive investments have won Duterte’s acquiescence, but with much of that yet to materialize and China further militarizing its artificial islands and strengthening its fishing militia, Duterte risks looking like he is being duped.
Asked on Friday about threats to jail opponents, presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo said Duterte was merely upset that people could not see he had the country’s interests at heart.
“He cannot understand why people are against his policy,” Panelo told reporters. | 1,268,147 |
A health worker checks a blood sample for malaria in the only hospital in Pailin in western Cambodia January 28, 2010.
A health worker checks a blood sample for malaria in the only hospital in Pailin in western Cambodia January 28, 2010. Reuters/Damir Sagolj
Australian scientists at the QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute in Brisbane will step up the development of new drugs to fight malaria with the support of a $10 million investment.
The landmark funding for malaria drug development was announced by Trade and Investment Minister Andrew Robb and Premier of Queensland Annastacia Palaszczuk as part of the Northern Australia Investment Forum.
Investment in treatments for diseases such as dengue fever and malaria was a major development focus for the region, Robb said during the forum. “The economic burden of malaria alone reaches into the hundreds of millions of dollars each year and the human cost, of course, can be much greater,” according to Robb.
Robb said that Australian researchers and biotechnology companies can play a major role in solving health issues across the tropical zone, given the country’s expertise in managing tropical diseases in the north.
The investment from Geneva-based Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV) was a boost to the team which is developing and testing new malaria medicines at a lower cost, Palaszczuk said.
She added that the work of the researchers, led by Professor James McCarthy at the QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, will have social and economic benefits not only for Australia and the Asia-Pacific region but also worldwide. The MMV support will enable testing of candidate antimalarial drugs in healthy volunteers injected with a small number of malaria parasites, without putting them at risk.
In another step toward combating malaria, Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop announced in a press release that Australia and China are working together in an on-the-ground health project in Papua New Guinea. The innovative cooperation project, the first for the Asia-Pacific region, brings together the three countries to tackle the disease.
Australia will contribute $4 million over three years for the program, while China will provide technical expertise as well as an in-kind contribution over three years to fund the ground-breaking project. It comes on the heels of the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding on Development Cooperation between Australia and China in 2013 to enable practical collaboration on development issues in the Asia-Pacific region.
According to Bishop’s statement, nearly 95 percent of the PNG population lives in areas of high risk for malaria. This often affects the most vulnerable and represents a major health and economic burden, which profoundly affects the country’s development.
The project complements the Australian aid program’s focus on strengthening PNG’s health systems by improving the capacity of key PNG medical institutions to correctly diagnose and treat malaria.
Contact the writer at [email protected] or tell us what you think below. | 1,268,148 |
Researchers at Columbia University were able to grow fully functional lungs in mouse embryos using transplanted stem cells. The findings suggest that it may be ultimately possible to use the technique to grow human lungs in animals for patients who need transplants and to study new lung treatments.
The paper was published online in the journal Nature Medicine.
“Millions of people worldwide who suffer from incurable lung diseases die without treatment due to the limited supply of donor lungs for transplantation,” said co-senior author Wellington V. Cardoso, MD, PhD, professor of medicine and of genetics & development at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons. “Our study shows that it may eventually be possible to develop new strategies for generating human lungs in animals for transplantation as an alternative to waiting for donor lungs.”
Researchers have dedicated major efforts to bioengineer lungs by growing stem cells on synthetic scaffolds or in lungs that have been stripped of their original cells. Though substantial progress has been made, researchers have been unable to generate a fully functional lung capable of maintaining survival in animal models??? Or capable of keeping an animal alive?.
“We thought it might be simpler to grow new lungs in a developing animal, so that we could take advantage of the animal’s natural signals for lung development,” says first author Munemasa Mori, MD, PhD, instructor of medicine at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons.
The researchers’ first challenge was to create tissue culture conditions that would allow the donor stem cells to expand proliferate and maintain their ability to transform into many different cell types.
Next, the researchers implanted these stem cells in two types of engineered mouse embryos. One type lacked the stem cells that develop into mature lung cells and another could not produce enough of the cells to make a lung. This procedure created a “chimeric” embryo that was a mix of donor and host cells.
The implanted stem cells outcompeted the host cells for growth-promoting molecules present in the embryo, leading to the formation of functional lungs that allowed the mice to live well into adulthood. A variety of lung function tests confirmed that the “chimeric” lungs worked as well as normal mouse lungs, with no signs of rejection.
“The stem cells were implanted before the embryos’ immunological system was turned on, which may explain why the organs were not rejected,” says Mori, who will later test his approach in larger animals and in interspecies organ transplants.
“Many of the signals for lung development are conserved across species, from frogs to mice to humans, so the idea of using animals to grow human lungs is not out of the question,” Cardoso says.
The research was performed in collaboration with Hiromitsu Nakauchi, PhD, a professor at Stanford University School of Medicine and the University of Tokyo, a co-senior author of the paper. | 1,268,149 |
A downtown microbrewery has sought the protection of Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization to stave off eviction from the space it has leased the past five years.
Tow Yard Brewing LLC filed Jan. 17 to reorganize its assets after Judd Investments Two LLC, the landlord of the building at 502 S. Madison Ave. that Tow Yard occupies, sought to evict the brewery.
Judd Investments brought its emergency petition for eviction on Jan. 3, and a hearing on the petition was set for Jan. 17 in Marion Superior Court. The judge vacated the hearing once Tow Yard filed for Chapter 11.
Tow Yard’s bankruptcy filing lists a $250,000 loan from BMO Harris Bank as debt and estimated assets of less than $50,000.
Michael Einterz, the Zionsville attorney representing Tow Yard’s landlord, said the microbrewery’s lease expires at the end of February. Negotiations that began late last year to re-sign Tow Yard had “fallen on deaf ears,” Einterz said, prompting Judd Investments to seek the eviction.
“It was more pre-emptive,” he said. “We kind of had to force the issue.”
Judd’s court petition for eviction says a new tenant is set to take possession of the property on Feb. 28, requiring Tow Yard to vacate, or be ejected, from the premises no later than Feb. 10.
Einterz, though, said Judd is still negotiating with the prospective tenant and will have a better idea in mid-February whether Tow Yard will remain or be replaced.
Tow Yard owes a small amount in overdue rent, he said.
“In the scheme of things, that’s not the sole motivator,” Einterz said. “That’s an added fact to where we are in the circumstances of the lease.”
Tow Yard signed a five-year lease on March 1, 2013, and pays $5,000 per month, according to court filings. The lease rate now is “below market” for that area of downtown and would be increased under a new agreement, Einterz said.
KC Cohen, the lawyer representing Tow Yard, said the brewery's owner, Shawn Cannon, wants to continue to operate in the building, but there's a dispute over whether the business properly exercised a five-year option that would begin at the end of February.
The contract doesn’t have terms for the option, Cohen said, acknowledging that the existing lease is "way below market" rate.
Cannon also is a co-owner of the Salt on Mass restaurant at 505 Massachusetts Ave. in the Millikan on Mass apartment project.
Tow Yard is located in the former Chateau Thomas Winery building at the south end of downtown, across from the Rolls-Royce Meridian Center. | 1,268,150 |
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A lack of balance was a key factor as McLaren failed to get one of its cars into the final phase of Formula 1 qualifying for the first time in four races at Hockenheim.
Both Jenson Button and Fernando qualified inside the top 10 in Hungary last weekend, with Alonso making Q3 at Silverstone and Button at the Red Bull Ring.
That form prompted Williams technical chief Pat Symonds to recently suggest McLaren was now in the fight to be F1's fourth quickest team behind Mercedes, Red Bull and Ferrari.
But with Button qualifying 12th and Alonso 14th for the German Grand Prix, it is the first time since the Baku race in June that a McLaren has not featured in Q3.
"We couldn't find the right balance properly, we have struggled all weekend so far," racing director Eric Boullier explained.
"With our pace, a couple of tenths [of a second] is four or five positions, and we couldn't develop a proper lap and exploit the full potential of the car.
"It's a sign of the progress we've been making recently that we're disappointed that neither driver was able to make it into Q3 this afternoon."
Button felt the time lost after sustaining an eye injury in second practice did not help his cause, which was compounded by a brake-component assembly problem in Saturday morning's third practice session.
"Obviously yesterday I stepped out of the car early because of my eye, and this morning I had a couple of problems which meant I just did two laps on the softs, and I didn't run the super-soft," he said.
"So it was all a bit unknown going into qualifying, and it still wasn't that great.
"P12 is okay, but I'm still not there with the balance of the car.
"It's about having time with the car, which I've missed, and it's always tricky around a place like this if you've not had any mileage
"It's not so bad being 12th, but if you look at it, even if we'd got everything together, to beat the Williams and get into the top 10 was going to be very tricky."
Alonso believes the nature of circuit played against McLaren-Honda, while he also conceded to making errors throughout the qualifying session.
"We know in qualifying some of our opponents turn the engine up a little bit, and we lose some performance compared to practice mainly," assessed Alonso.
"Compared to one week ago [in Hungary] we are less competitive, and the track is not the best for our package.
"We know that when people turned the engine up in Budapest the difference was one or two tenths, and here it is even more.
"I also didn't have a clean lap, I had mistakes on all my laps, so definitely I think there is more pace to come in the race." | 1,268,151 |
Medical marijuana patients scored a tentative win on Wednesday when the Texas Senate passed a revised version of a house bill that would add several qualifying health conditions to the state’s requirements for access to medical cannabis.
Now individuals with all forms of epilepsy, seizure disorders, multiple sclerosis, spasticity, ALS, terminal cancer, autism, and incurable neurodegenerative diseases would be able to access to the medicine with a doctor’s approval under House Bill 3703. Previously, the state’s Compassionate Use Program only allowed people with severe forms of epilepsy to access the drug. For all medical marijuana patients, the legislation cuts the requirement of two licensed neurologists for entry to the program in half.
“This bill is about compassion,” commented Senator and emergency room doctor Donna Campbell, who sponsored the bill at the Senate level and who made clear during floor discussion of the legislation that she is not in favor of legalizing recreational marijuana. “For patients participating in the [Compassionate Use Program], they have had a remarkable and life-altering change because of this. That’s compassion.”
To many marijuana advocacy groups’ surprise, the Senate passed the bill unanimously — but not without making some significant changes to its scope. The new version of the bill maintains a restrictive.5 percent cap on THC levels in medical marijuana products, in addition to its smoking ban, and gets rid of a provision for the establishment of a research program that would investigate the medical efficacy of cannabis.
Not all marijuana legislation has been so lucky in the Texas Senate as of late. In April, a House-approved bill to partially decriminalize small-scale cannabis possession was pronounced dead by Senate President Dan Patrick — though the city of Dallas has recently taken its own step to overhaul its legal system in terms of how it deals with such crimes.
HB 1325, which would authorize hemp farming, is currently being revised by the Senate after being passed in the House last month. The Senate has been quite vocal about opposing any steps towards the legalization of recreational marijuana in the state.
Campbell’s revision of the medical marijuana expansion bill also eliminates PTSD as a qualifying condition for the Compassionate Use Program based on her assertions that the scientific data to back up its use in such treatment is lacking. The change was questioned on the Senate floor, but ultimately was not seen by a roadblock by the senators that voted for the legislation.
“I hope — I hope — that we can get the definitive research necessary to be able to include PTSD, traumatic brain injury and those other illnesses that are very difficult to measure,” said Campbell, despite having cut out one such potential program for such research in her draft of the bill.
Now, the legislation goes back to the House five days before its session adjourns. Representatives will have to decide whether they want to negotiate the Senate’s changes in a conference committee, or accept its revisions.
| 1,268,152 |
coach back the coach quickly informed the recruit the initial call had been a mistake and ended the conversation.
Outcome: UK prohibited the coach from making any telephone contact with the recruit for 14 days and the entire staff from making calls to the recruit for 60 days. Rules education on phone calls was provided to the entire coaching staff. The SEC and NCAA did not impose any additional penalties.
► Violation: The mother of a UK gymnast used her daughter’s name and image to promote a product marketed to improve facial complexion created by her employer in a Facebook post. The mother reported she had not received any direct compensation for the post, and the gymnast said she had given her mother permission to post the testimonial because she thought it was allowed since they were not paid for it.
Outcome: UK "rendered" the gymnast ineligible for competition and contacted the athlete and her mother to inform them of the violation and instruct them to remove all endorsements of the product. A rules education session was provided to the gymnast and her mother. The SEC and NCAA did not impose any additional penalties.
Track and field
► Violation: Head coach Edrick Floreal mistakenly sent an automatic text message reply of “Sorry, I can’t talk right now” when he was unable to answer a call from a recruit during a meeting.
Outcome: UK prohibited the coach from making telephone contact with the recruit for 14 days following the violation, prohibited the track and field program from making calls, sending recruiting materials or electronic transmissions to the recruit for 30 days and issued a letter of admonishment to the coach. The SEC and NCAA did not impose any additional penalties.
Swimming
► Violation: An assistant coach accidentally texted a class of 2020 recruit prior to Sept. 1 of his junior year because there was a prospect with the same name in the system who was eligible to text. The staff was not recruiting the prospect contacted.
Outcome: UK prohibited the assistant from making telephone contact with any recruit for 14 days. The entire staff was prohibited from calling the involved recruit or sending him recruiting materials or electronic transmissions for 30 days. The SEC and NCAA did not impose any additional penalties.
► Violation: An assistant coach made a phone call to a recruit in the same week another assistant had already contacted the recruit by phone because she had failed to use the recruiting application that would have alerted here another staffer had already called the recruit that week. A rule allowing phone calls at coaches’ discretion that would have made the second call legal had been passed but would not be implemented for another eight days after the violation.
Outcome: UK prohibited any staff member from making or receiving calls and sending electronic correspondence to the involved prospect for two weeks and conducted a rules education session with the staff. The SEC and NCAA did not issue and additional penalties.
Email Jon Hale at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @JonHale_CJ. | 1,268,153 |
Mother of youngest Sandy Hook victim gives interview Veronique Pozner, whose son was killed in the shootings, offers a wrenching interview to the Jewish Daily Forward
Since Noah Pozner, 6, was shot dead by a semiautomatic rifle in Sandy Hook Elementary School, his mother Veronique has had persistent nightmares of running through abandoned building desperately looking for her son.
In an interview with the Jewish Daily Forward, Veronique Pozner shares this alongside other intimate and painful details about her mourning, her son and his relationship with his twin and other siblings.
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The six-year-old -- the first Sandy Hook student to be buried because of a Jewish tradition to conduct funerals swiftly -- is described as energetic and academically gifted:
He already knew how to read; he had a vocabulary well beyond his years, using words like “DNA” and “dynamic.” “He excelled academically,” says [his half-sister] Danielle. “His teachers said he was really, really, smart.” He was on a constant path of discovery. “It was always, ‘How does this work? Why does this happen?’ He wanted to understand cause and effect,” says Veronique. Noah also wondered about God, asking his mother, “If God exists then who created God?”
Pozner also recalls the gut-wrenching trauma of learning about her son's death as she waited with other Sandy Hook parents and children in a nearby firehouse:
For hours, she sat in the firehouse, waiting. Her stomach clenched; she vomited in the bathroom. When she came out there was pizza and donuts, but she couldn’t eat. Soon, nuns, priests, ministers and a rabbi arrived. “When I saw all those clergy people I knew in my gut of guts and my heart of hearts that they were dead,” she recalls. “I knew there was absolutely no way they would dispatch this multi-denominational fan of clergy people were it not the case that the news would be absolutely catastrophic.” Finally, an official announcement was made: 20 child fatalities. “That is when, for me, my whole world shifted on its axis,” she says. “It was like you are sitting in a room, and everything, including you, is turned upside down and you are sitting on the ceiling instead of the floor. You have this surreal sense of void, like all the air has been sucked out of the room.” Veronique wanted to place a blanket on Noah. “They told us, ‘No, it is a crime scene.’ They would not let us go.”
And in a harrowing description of Noah's corpse laid to rest, some idea is given of the damage the assault weapon wrought on his young body:
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(Reuters) - Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Chief Executive Len Schleifer on Monday ripped into Amgen Inc for its insistence on blocking sales of a rival Regeneron cholesterol drug while the appeals process in a patent infringement case plays out.
An Amgen sign is seen at the company's office in South San Francisco, California October 21, 2013. REUTERS/Robert Galbraith
A federal judge last week handed Regeneron and its partner Sanofi a stunning setback by banning sales of their LDL-lowering medicine Praluent, finding it infringed patents held by Amgen on its Repatha cholesterol drug.
Regeneron and Sanofi were given 30 days before the ban takes effect to give them time to appeal. That was extended to 45 days on Monday.
Speaking at the annual JP Morgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco, Schleifer said Amgen had refused a request to delay any ban of Praluent sales until the appeal is heard, even though the judge in her ruling had said competition among the two drugs was in the public interest.
“If they really cared about patients they wouldn’t rip this drug from patients,” the outspoken Schleifer said.
“To say that you cannot wait, is that putting patients first? It’s no small wonder that our industry isn’t beloved,” he continued.
“If this industry is to survive, we have got to do the right thing by patients... and still adequately reward our investors,” Schleifer said.
Earlier at the conference, Amgen CEO Robert Bradway reiterated that his company intended to defend its patents. He declined to say whether Amgen would consider a settlement in the case.
Sanofi and Regeneron had no right to sell Praluent, Amgen said in an emailed statement.
Amgen also said the companies were afforded a full and fair opportunity to challenge the validity of Amgen’s patents at trial and the jury determined Amgen’s patents to be valid.
The expensive injectable drugs from both companies dramatically lower “bad” LDL cholesterol by blocking a protein called PCSK9. Both companies are expecting data this year that is likely to show that the drugs also cut the risk of heart attacks and deaths.
Amgen’s Bradway said he does not expect that data to be added to the Repatha label until 2018, and Amgen would not be allowed to promote those heart benefits until they are in the label.
Without proof that the drugs prevent heart attacks, health insurers have been denying payment for three quarters of Repatha prescriptions written, Amgen said.
The drug had just $40 million in third quarter sales. Amgen said if all Repatha prescriptions written had been filled it would be well on its way to being a $1 billion drug.
Regeneron has run into similar resistance to Praluent with insurers refusing to pay for it. | 1,268,155 |
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MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow ended 2009 by promising to do more of the same kind of show in 2010. Maddow admitted that her show has found its niche, which is shedding light on the money and power relationships that make the right wing tick. Check out the video.
Here is the video:
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Maddow not only provided the traditional yearend clip segment, but also tied it together with a little history lesson that went back to the John Birch Society. Her point was the right’s 2009 tactics are nothing new, “These tactics don`t go away. The fringe doesn`t go away in American politics. American politics have always run all the way through the margins, right to the edge of the page and beyond. We always have been like that as a country. And bully for us.”
She continued, 2009 proved that as the Republican Party sought its path out of the political wilderness, the Republican Party was going to look to the right-wing fringe for help. And we decided on this show to help America take a good look at that fringe.”
Maddow promised more of the same for 2010, “I`m proud of the investigatory work that we have done on this show and the great producers and staff here who work their butts off that allow us to do it. In 2010, we`re going to keep shining a light on the preposterousness in our political mix because we think it`s the right thing to do for the country. And because it`s really, really fun. We hope you`ll keep enjoying it, too.”
I think Maddow was being a bit modest about her show. Her program has not only found a niche, but it has become the only program in primetime cable news that attempts to educate its viewers on the nuances and relationships between wealth, ideology, power, and politics. Maddow and her staff have discovered a way of accomplishing their mission, while still entertaining their viewers.
Many people who don’t watch MSNBC lump Maddow and Keith Olbermann together, but the difference between the two shows is night and day. Olbermann is content to bluster, bellow, and entertain. Olbermann spends more time mocking the right wing and their media than he does on issues and politics, unless he is offering his opinions on issues and politics.
Olbermann is entertaining, but I wish MSNBC would follow the path that Maddow is laying out. The network is chalked full of hosts who opine and yell. (Matthews, Schultz, Olbermann to name three). It would be great to have more programming on cable news in general that assumes a lower key while attempting to inform, not just entertain. Information and entertainment are not mutually exclusive.
H/T: Crooks and Liars | 1,268,156 |
india
Updated: Dec 13, 2018 09:35 IST
He was a theatre artist and had even done a brief role in a Bollywood movie. That was before he disappeared along with another boy in August.
Saqib Bilal and another boy, a Class 9 student from Hajin Bandipora, were killed along with a Pakistani Lashkar-e-Taiba militant in an 18-hour gun battle with security forces in Mujgund on the outskirts of Srinagar on December 9.
Both the boys had left their homes on August 31 and Bilal’s family is at a loss to understand why he joined militancy. They looked everywhere and his mother even brought an amulet from a faith healer for her son’s safety.
“For more than a month, we went to places to find them. Ultimately, we realised the unthinkable,” Asim Aijaz, Bilal’s maternal uncle, said.
“He had an interest in engineering. We could never understand why he joined. In fact, he left home on the day to buy some groceries. People had seen the two boys riding behind a third person on a bike,” Aijaz said.
Bilal had cleared his Class 10 with a distinction and was studying physics, chemistry and maths in Class 11. He was a football aficionado and had even played taekwondo and kabaddi. The other boy belonged to a poor family and Saqib came from a well to do farming family.
Bilal’s family said he had an interest in acting and had done a small role in Vishal Bhardwaj’s movie Haider.
“He was in his sixth class when he appeared for two brief shots in Haider which have appeared in the film. In one of the shots he appeared as a ‘chocolate boy’ and in another, he acted of surviving a violent incident in a bus,” Aijaz said.
The uncle said the boy was a theatre artist as well.
“Before his Haider stint, he appeared in a stage show ‘Weath chi Yeahi (This is the river)’ at Tagore Hall in which he was the protagonist. He managed to get an award and even went to Odisha to repeat the performance,” Aijaz said.
Police officials said the two teenagers joined militants immediately after they disappeared.
The only reason Bilal’s family could find was an encounter between militants and security forces a day before their disappearance in Hajin. “Some militants had been killed and people went to see the ruined place,” Asim said.
The death of the two boys has triggered anger and grief in Kashmir. People not only questioned the militants for allowing minors in their ranks but have also castigated the security forces for going for the kill when minors were involved. | 1,268,157 |
New Clinical Trial Will Attempt to Bring Dead Humans Back to Life
In this study, twenty patients who are declared braindead (which is considered clinical death, so long as the patient is only kept alive through life support), will be subjected to a series of treatments, including the injection of brain stem cells and peptides into the brain. The researchers hypothesize that the stem cells will take their cue from surrounding cells and differentiate into fully functional brain cells, a process that has been seen in other animals, such as salamanders that regrow limbs.
We hope to see results within the first two to three months." "This represents the first trial of its kind and another step towards the eventual reversal of death in our lifetime," Dr Ira Pastor, the CEO of Bioquark, told The Telegraph. "To undertake such a complex initiative, we are combining biologic regenerative medicine tools with other existing medical devices typically used for stimulation of the central nervous system, in patients with other severe disorders of consciousness.We hope to see results within the first two to three months."
"It is a long term vision of ours that a full recovery in such patients is a possibility, although that is not the focus of this first study – but it is a bridge to that eventuality."
"Through our study, we will gain unique insights into the state of human brain death, which will have important connections to future therapeutic development for other severe disorders of consciousness, such as coma, and the vegetative and minimally conscious states, as well as a range of degenerative CNS conditions, including Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease," said Dr Sergei Paylian, Founder, President, and Chief Science Officer of Bioquark.
Could we regenerate brains in clinically dead patients? A health watchdog organization has approved a new trial that will attempt to revive technically dead humans using their own stem cells.The trial will be run by biotech company Bioquark, which is primarily focused on developing "combinatorial biologics" that get to the heart of disease reversal rather than just treating the symptoms. They believe that stem cells can be used as a kind of "reset button" for the body, erasing cell damage and stimulating tissue regeneration. They claim that their research could potentially lead to "complex tissue and organ regeneration, disease reversion, and even biological age reversal."The first stage, since it has such a small and non-random sample size, will just be a proof-of-concept. The cocktail of stem cells and peptides will be administered bi-weekly over the course of six weeks.Some scientists are already expressing doubt that this could lead to anything resembling a genuine recovery for braindead patients, as studies have shown that humans' capacity for regeneration is somewhat limited. However, even if the regeneration aspect of the project isn't quite successful, the study will still shed light on the process of brain death, and possibly spur innovation in the treatment of debilitating neurological diseases.Editor's note: updated on 07/25/2019 w/ video. | 1,268,158 |
used to have feeder routes to Jackson Park, Englewood, Normal Park, and Kenwood, plus a loop that went around the Stockyards. The Metropolitan, now the Blue Line, fanned out into Douglas Park, Congress, Humboldt Park, and Logan Square. Even the Lake Street ‘L’, now the western Green Line, had ground-level branches for a few years in Oak Park.
Transit systems can be built in straighter lines. Look at the Washington, D.C., Metro; most of its lines are underground and plenty straight, with frequent intersections that permit transfers. But it’s also one of the most expensive infrastructure projects in American history. It took longer to build and cost more than the Hoover Dam.
The Chicago area may have gotten a less ideal system, but we got one we could afford.
The CTA does try to remedy these kinks when it can. They smoothed out some sharp curves on the Green Line at Harrison and Wabash in the early 2000s, but that’s not cheap. Garfield says that’s partly because of the way the city has evolved.
“Just as a vine grows on a building or on a tree and just forms itself around the metaphorically immovable force, so does urban development sort of wrap itself around the train,” he says.
So those kinks in your morning commute? They probably aren’t going anywhere. But at least now you’ve got some history to think about on your way to work.
About our questioner
RC Jones is an advertising copywriter who lives in Ravenswood. You may be familiar with some of his work; he’s the twisted mind behind Slightly Insulting Chicago Posters (http://slightlyinsultingchicagoposters.tumblr.com/).
RC is happy to know that there’s a reason behind his kinked-up commute, and it’s not just train operators trying to make sure he always arrives at work with a little coffee spilled on his shirt. “I can give the Brown Line more credit now that I know its twists and turns are not completely arbitrary,” he says.
He plans on passing on this knowledge. “I can’t wait to ride the train with my 7-year-old and tell him all about these,” he says. “Man, he’s gonna be so bored with these. ‘Please, no more train facts, dad!’”
Correction: An earlier version of this story suggested that a political deal involving U.S. President Ronald Reagan resulted in federal funds being found for construction of the CTA Orange Line. Those funds (as well as state dollars) had already been lined up; the deal involved a waiver of a federal requirement that Chicago set aside money for cost overruns. | 1,268,159 |
Through documentary footage “Hamilton’s Pharmacopeia” tries to expand viewers’ knowledge of drugs and temper a subject that can be romanticized. Episodes run as shorts or sometimes as multipart serials, chronicling Mr. Morris’s travels, obsessions and encounters with figures on the fringe of culture. Unlike his father, who has an understated off-screen presence, Mr. Morris is in front of the camera as interviewer and host. His narration is filled with monologues on sub-subcultures and scientific evidence.
His work is driven by research, not by aesthetics or any filmic lineage. In most episodes the stories that emerge feel exploratory, with failures and complications incorporated, not hidden, in the final edit. Mr. Morris spent several miserable nights in a Brazilian village waiting for a frog that didn’t arrive and in Reykjavik discovering that the liberty cap mushrooms he planned to ingest were out of season. It’s a raw, earnest approach used across much of Vice’s programming, including the widely viewed series, “The Vice Guide to Travel.”
Until now psychedelics have been his focus on the show, but Mr. Morris said he was interested in the spectrum of substances, from stimulants to dissociatives. In high school, after receiving a diagnosis of attention deficit disorder, he began a course of Ritalin and for the last four years he has regularly swallowed a cocktail of pramiracetam and centrophenoxine, two nootropics, or “smart drugs.” Mr. Morris said he felt they aided him in reading and memorization, the reasons some students “stack” them for off-label use. “Some critics feel these nootropic substances pose a bioethical problem regarding the fairness of cognitive enhancement,” Mr. Morris said. “I think we should be so lucky as to face such a problem.”
Coming episodes of Mr. Morris’s show will depart from drugs entirely, widening the purview to include all the ways people alter consciousness — “a fundamental human desire,” as Mr. Morris put it. One will profile a controversial Peruvian psychosurgeon who conducts bilateral cingulotomies, a lobotomy alternative, to treat cocaine addiction; another will survey sensory deprivation tanks and was filmed with the help of the comic Joe Rogan, who is a proponent of their use.
Mr. Morris isn’t stepping away from substances entirely. He’s at work on a book about clandestine chemists and hosts monthly drug-related film screenings at the Spectacle theater in Williamsburg. But discussing his own use has become tiresome and irrelevant for him. When asked about it, he sighed. People who dismiss synthetic chemicals don’t understand that life itself is built on chemicals, he said. “It’s basic neuroscience. I don’t think anyone would deny that.” | 1,268,160 |
I’m so excited to share this Athens travel guide with you – it’s been in the works since this past Fall after a day trip visit chocked full of good food, drinks, and fun explorations. I’ve been visiting Athens for years now – my husband went to OU – and the quaint southern Ohio college town holds a lot of fun memories.
Start the day at Court Street Diner: An Athens staple for cheap, good food. Breakfast includes, but is definitely not limited to, french toast, eggs, bacon, hash browns, and a breakfast quesadilla. Oh, and coffee.
After breakfast, shop for a bit at Artifacts Gallery and figleaf on Court Street. Stop in a few OU shops and antique stores. Buy an OU shirt at College Book Store. Oh and if you feel like hopping in your car – venture to East State Street to take in the Athens Farmer’s Market. Shop the market every Wednesday and Saturday from 9-Noon, year-round. Grab a sweet treat at Village Bakery + Cafe.
Get back to uptown Athens. Just off of Court Street on West Washington is the coolest, hippest coffee shop in Athens: Donkey Coffee and Espresso. You can get some really good coffee here.
Hungry for lunch? Athens has options. At great prices. Burrito Buggy and/or Goodfella’s will not disappoint for quick + easy meal.
Walk off your lunch on the Ohio University Campus, see a flick at the historic Athena Theater, bike the Hockhocking Adena Bikeway, rock climb at OU’s Ping Center, or jump in your car for a quick trip to visit The Ridges, a historic institution that is now part of Ohio University’s campus but was once was a mental health hospital.
Explore the trails around The Ridges and you’ll find a beautiful old cemetery where the patients of the hospital were laid to rest.
Dinnertime! Check out Casa Nueva, a local favorite. After dinner, hang out at Jackie O’s Pub and Brewery, Red Brick, or Courtside. Do the “Shuffle” – hitting up all of Athen’s bars (good luck!).
Looking for a place to stay? Bodhi Tree Guesthouse, the Ohio University Inn, or Burr Oak State Park Lodge are all worth checking into.
The next morning, take in some other area attractions: Canoe/kayak at Strouds Run State Park, Lake Hope, or Burr Oak Lake, take a train ride on the Hocking Valley Scenic Railway, shop in Nelsonville, or hike nearby Hocking Hills State Park.
Athens is only an hour’s drive, southeast from Columbus. You can find more information on Athen’s tourism site. Have any other suggestions of where to go while in Athens? Leave a comment on this post! | 1,268,161 |
A highly disciplined, tight network of family and friends helped a Spring Valley man run a major drug-trafficking operation out of a room at the Days Inn in Nanuet, according to Rockland County District Attorney Thomas P. Zugibe.
Charges against 30 people, several of them related and many of them career criminals, include the first use in Rockland County of New York state's new "kingpin statute," which is designed to increase the penalties for major narcotics traffickers or managers of drug trafficking organizations. The bust came after a five-month investigation that involved the police departments of Spring Valley, Ramapo, Clarkstown, Orangetown and Suffern as well as New York State Police, Rockland County agencies, the New York Organized Crime Strike Force Group Z-52, the New York Drug Enforcement Tactical Diversion Squad (TDS) and the Department of Homeland Security.
Here's the DA's full statement: Rockland County District Attorney Thomas P. Zugibe today announced the filing of criminal charges against 30 individuals, including a Spring Valley man serving lifetime parole for attempted murder and other career criminals, following a five month investigation into large-scale narcotics trafficking that originated from a guest room at the Days Inn motel on Route 59 in Nanuet.
The defendants - who range in age from 23 to 61 - are charged with selling crack and powdered cocaine and heroin to customers in and around Rockland County. According to the charges, members and associates of the organization conspired to distribute more than $500,000 in illegal drugs each year. "This long-term investigation, which involved court-authorized wiretaps, physical surveillance and the execution of search warrants, underscores the continuing commitment by my office and our local police departments to keep drugs off of our streets," said District Attorney Zugibe. "Drugs and guns are a deadly combination. We will continue to employ aggressive and innovative tactics to track down and prosecute dangerous drug dealers and other violent criminals who seek to terrorize our communities."
District Attorney Zugibe said that the investigation, known as "Operation Money Mike," began in June 2015 after the Rockland County Drug Task Force and the Village of Spring Valley Police Department learned that various illegal drugs were allegedly available for sale via a disciplined network of drug dealers based at the Days Inn, 367 West Route 59, Nanuet.
In response, Drug Task Force and Spring Valley detectives made numerous undercover narcotics buys and conducted extensive physical surveillance, which enabled investigators to obtain court authorization for search warrants of several distribution locations, including Room 322 at the Days Inn, occupied by Michael McMullin (DOB 05/22/66) and Jacqueline Mack (DOB 10/26/67).
It is alleged that Michael McMullin was at the nexus of the distribution ring, and that several of his family members and friends helped him flood the streets of Rockland County with cocaine and heroin. According to the charges, the defendants referred to heroin as "dog food" and "hush puppies." | 1,268,162 |
more likely to seek the loans and dollars they need from banks in Japan and China, which in turn may require some degree of ownership in the rail line.
In addition, while Texas faces far fewer technical and cost obstacles, its system isn’t without controversy, most notably objections that the developers can use eminent domain to compel the sale of property along the path of the tracks if property owners don’t want to sell.
A series of bills put forth by rail opponents in the last Texas legislative session intended to curtail the project failed, “and that was essentially their last gasp,” Jones said.
Doubts remain
But like the doubts of whether California might stop its rail project in its tracks if the costs keep elevating, some doubt whether the Texas investment group can muster sufficient private equity to build the line.
“Texas is purely hypothetical at this point. It can’t be said they’ve done anything,” said Thompson, noting that the $75 million-plus dollars the investors reportedly have collected so far is a long way from $12-$15 billion.
“You have to take it all with a grain of salt until the money’s on the line,” he said, adding, “Nobody has yet put a huge amount of money on the line betting on the demand from Houston to Dallas.”
And as far as Thompson knows, Texas Central’s plan is unprecedented, as “I don’t know of any high-speed rail systems anywhere that were not built with public money.”
Investment will come
In fact, he said California’s plan of building a system entirely with public money and then bringing in investors to buy concession rights is more common, with systems in Britain and Argentina as examples.
And once California reaches the point that it wants to field offers, there likely will be interested investors, said Mike Bennon, managing director of the Stanford Global Project Center, a division of the university that researches innovation in infrastructure development and investment.
“California High-Speed rail is going to be so big that there is going to be some public involvement. You’re not going to do just a procurement for all the stations and all of the train management from the private sector, but you could see some of those cost packaged as an investment opportunity, possibly through a public-private partnership,” he explained.
“To attract investors, California should package elements of high-speed rail as investment opportunities that investors could bid on or make proposals for.”
Thompson agreed there likely would be interest in state-offered investment packages, but only if they’re offered on reasonable terms.
But all of that is contingent on California completing the entire rail line or at least the Valley-to-Valley portion, “and the other is it has to operate and show some reasonable demand,” he advised. | 1,268,163 |
Two attacks in Quetta, which saw at least 24 people killed, has sent Pakistan into a state of grief and shock and raised fears of renewed tension in Balochistan's capital city.
National newspapers on Sunday carried headlines decrying the two deadly blasts, the first of which happened on a bus near the campus of the Sardar Bahadur Khan Women's University with a bomb hidden in the vehicle, killing at least 14 female students.
The second blast struck the casualty ward of the Bolan Medical Complex, where the wounded were taken, and a gun-battle continued in the aftermath. At least eight unidentified gunmen were reported to have taken positions in the hospital, and killed at least four security personnel who were attempting to resecure the facility and four nurses, local officials said.
Quetta's Deputy Commissioner, Abdul Mansoor Khan, was also among those killed on Saturday.
The banned Lashkar-i-Jhangvi, which has links with al-Qaeda, has claimed responsibility for the attacks. Reports said a female suicide bomber carried out the first attack.
"Killing hope and history," The Express Tribune said, "14 girls, deputy commissioner among 25 killed," said Dawn.
"Across the country, there is shock as well as grief," said Al Jazeera's Kamal Hyder, reporting from Islamabad.
Three-day mourning
Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, the country's interior minister, said the hospital siege and ended with security forces freeing 35 people trapped inside the building and killing four of the attackers. One of the attackers was also arrested.
Zubair Mahmood, the city police chief, said the bomb on the bus exploded after students had boarded and the bus was leaving the university, which is the only school solely for women in the province.
Another police official, Fayyaz Sumbal, added that the bus caught fire after the explosion and many students were critically wounded.
"As casualties were being brought to the hospital, terrorists had taken position inside the hospital building," Khan told reporters. "They opened fire on on administration and police officials who arrived at the hospital. One suicide bomber blew himself up in the hospital."
Pakistani security forces surrounded the hospital and carried out an operation to clear it once the gunmen had taken over.
“Four female nurses were killed in firing,” said Riaz Louise, the President of Balochistan Nursing Federation, announcing a three-day mourning, according to the Dawn newspaper.
Quetta is the capital city of Balochistan province, and regularly witnesses violence on a large scale.
Earlier on Saturday in the town of Ziarat - some 120km from Quetta - a rocket attack by unknown attackers killed a policeman and gutted a historic summer retreat used by Pakistan's founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah.
Since the start of the year, more than 300 people have been killed in attacks by sectarian, ethnic and anti-state groups in Quetta. | 1,268,164 |
' representative said no such proposal had been received.
THE LATEST ON THE LOCKOUT:
• Sept. 13: Without Osmo Vanska, some say Minnesota Orchestra could lose its way
Without a successful resolution, internationally acclaimed Music Director Osmo Vanska may soon resign. The question of whether Vanska stays or leaves has become a central concern in the contract dispute and almost year-long lockout of musicians by orchestra management. Without him, many say, the orchestra could lose its way. (MPR News)
• Sept. 12: A new Orchestra Hall is ready -- and waiting
Orchestra officials took media on a tour Thursday morning to show off the results of the year-long $52 million renovation project. (MPR News)
• Sept. 11: Rep. Ellison urges Minn. Orchestra to accept mediator's plan
U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison today called upon the board of the Minnesota Orchestra to accept a proposal put forward by former U.S. Sen. George Mitchell, who is acting as a mediator in the ongoing dispute with musicians. The deal included ending the 11-month long lockout and having musicians return to work for two months under the terms of their old contract while talks continued towards finding a new contract. (MPR News)
• MnOrch Musicians reveal counterproposal; management critical of request for higher pay
The musicians are trying to take the steam out of management protests that musicians have not put forward a counterproposal to the contract orchestra officials offered in April, 2012. (MPR News)
• Sept. 10: Vanska eases deadline in orchestra contract talks
In a letter in May, Minnesota Orchestra Music Director Osmo Vanska set a Sept. 9 deadline for a start of rehearsals for both a recording session for a new disc and to prepare for November concerts at Carnegie Hall. Calling on management and musicians to resolve the ongoing contract dispute, Vanska said if the orchestra was not prepared for the Carnegie concerts he would be forced to resign. The recording session has now been postponed until the spring, and in a written statement presented to a Minnesota Orchestra Board meeting, Vanska said rehearsals need to begin in the week of Sept. 30 for the Carnegie shows. Orchestra President and CEO Michael Henson says that, for logistical reasons, this means there needs to be an agreement with musicians by Sept. 15. (MPR News)
• Sept: 5: In Minn. Orchestra dispute, both sides say 'ball is in their court'
The offer was for two months of play and talk — that is, an end to the lockout that allows the musicians work under the terms of the old contract while talks continued to try to reach a new contract. However, under the offer, if there was no agreement after two months, a two-year contract would go into effect that would include a 25-percent pay cut. (MPR News) | 1,268,165 |
In the famous words of Jackie Gleason, "How sweet it is."
The chairman of the MFCR (Mississippi Federation of College Republicans), Evan Alvarez, has opted not only to leave his position as College GOP Chairman this week, but he is joining the Republican party's arch enemy - the Democrats. In a publicly released letter, Alvarez outlines the reasons behind his decision:
I over the last 48 hours or so, I have been in deep thought about the future of MFCR and of the Republican Party. I have come to the conclusion that I no longer want to be the leader of the Mississippi Federation of College Republicans. I refuse to simply let people break the rules and think they don't have to answer for their actions, admit they were wrong, or even apologize. When I ran for Chairman in the spring, I ran to be Chairman of the Mississippi Federation of College REPUBLICANS, not the Mississippi Federation of College "Tea Partiers". Also, I believe that the Republican Party has allowed these groups of extremist to have too much of a voice and because of that, the platform of the Republican Party has shifted too far to the right in my opinion. For example, the drastic cuts on needed federal funding that these groups of Republican extremists support would leave society weak and crippled. Secondly, their far right stance on immigration is not only ignorant, but it is cruel. After all our country is a nation of immigrants and should welcome immigrants from every country. My father was an immigrant from Cuba and came to America in 1959 because of the freedom that this nation offers. This freedom should be available to each and every individual that wants to come work hard and pursue his or her goals in America. Finally, I believe the Republican Party has not done enough to put a stop to the hatred and cruel words and actions of the far right extremist in the party. The Republican Party consistently says they are trying to appeal to minorities, but this will never happen when we allow members of party to say cruel and ignorant things about Women, African Americans, Hispanics, and other minorities in our country. I simply cannot be apart of organization that have members who support these far right extremist views, much less be the Chairman of the organization. So in conclusion, I, Evan Alvarez, am hereby resigning my position as Chairman of the Mississippi Federation of College Republicans, as well as my membership at the Mississippi State Chapter of MFCR. This change is effective immediately!
1. How many more college students will follow the lead of Alvarez? 2. How many Republicans out there secretly agree with Alvarez but are afraid to speak out? 3. How many Republicans does it take to change a light bulb? Answer: "They wouldn’t try. They prefer to just sit in the dark and complain that someone else isn’t changing it." (Ironically, the joke was found in TownHall.com - a staunch Republican media rag.)
Spoken like a true Democrat. Now my questions are:For full story visit the Clarion-Ledger. | 1,268,166 |
ORLANDO (Reuters) - More than 1,000 migratory bottlenose dolphins have died from a measles-like virus along the U.S. Eastern Seaboard in 2013 and the epidemic shows no sign of abating, a marine biologist said on Monday.
The death toll exceeds the 740 dolphins killed during the last big outbreak of the then-unknown virus in 1987-88.
"It is having a significant impact and that is something we're monitoring closely," said Erin Fougeres, a marine mammal biologist for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
An estimated 39,206 bottlenose dolphins populated the eastern seaboard, to a depth of 25 feet, from New Jersey to Central Florida in 2010, according to the latest NOAA census.
Scientists are trying to determine why the morbillivirus resurged this year. The dolphins, which migrate south for the winter, have been stranded or found dead on beaches from New York toFlorida since June, Fougeres said.
An unknown number of affected dolphins likely died offshore as well, she said.
A record number of manatees have also died in Florida waters this year, mostly from a toxic algae bloom in the Gulf of Mexico, according to the state's Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
The commission's research institute said it documented 803 manatee deaths in state waters between January 1 and December 13, the most for any year since record-keeping began in 1974.
The morbillivirus virus outbreaks could be natural and simply cyclical, said Fougeres.
"The last occurrence of this was about 25 years ago and the animals that survived that would have natural antibodies. But as those animals slowly die out and new animals are not exposed, they may not have that immunity," Fougeres said.
But other as-yet unproven theories related to global warming or pollution also are being investigated, she noted. "There could be underlying causes that made them more susceptible this year versus other years."
Scientists in the late-1980s estimated that the morbillivirus wiped out 50 percent of the coastal migratory dolphins. As a result the bottlenose dolphin was designated as "depleted" under the federal Marine Mammal Protection Act, a status it retains today.
Since then, scientists have learned more about dolphin populations, and believe the morbillivirus is endemic in the marine environment where other deep-sea species such as pilot whales may be symptom-free carriers, Fougeres said.
Fougeres said something in the environment might have caused dolphins to interact more closely with the whales recently.
An unrelated study released last week by NOAA showed that some dolphins in the Gulf of Mexico are gravely ill from injuries consistent with petroleum hydrocarbon exposure. The study looked at dolphin from Louisiana's Barataria Bay heavily impacted by British Petroleum's Deepwater Horizon spill in 2010.
(Editing by David Adams and Richard Chang) | 1,268,167 |
20% off tuition discounts for the following six-day courses at the following event: SANS Network Security 2014 in Las Vegas, NV October 20th – 25th, 2014
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If you are interested, contact @Steph3nSims at [email protected]. The codes for the discount will be provided to you and will go to the first five individuals who redeem them upon registration. They cannot be held for use at a further date as management of such is not possible or fair to those ready to register. Once five uses have been made, the coupon codes will no longer work.
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From basic computer security books to highly-advanced hacking eBooks, Syngress brings you high-quality, practical information to help you stay ahead of the competition. Syngress is offering 30% off plus free shipping on all Computer Security titles using coupon CMM314 (Discount applies to list price and cannot be combined with other promotions.) This coupon is valid until the end of april 2014.
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Your name here?
Feeling left out? Are you a publisher, trainer, vendor or conference organizer? Do you want to join in and support this initiative? Simply prepare a discount code CORELAN2014 and contact me with details about the discount (product, discount %) at ( peter [dot] ve [at] corelan [dot] be ) so I can add your name to this list. Thanks in advance!
All images and logo’s are used with permission. All product names are trademarks of their respective owners.
© 2014, Corelan Team (corelanc0d3r). All rights reserved. | 1,268,168 |
Apple launched their new iPhone this week. Actually, they launched two versions, the iPhone 6 and the iPhone 6 Plus. Immediately, Android manufacturers and fans made it clear that Apple was a little late to the game, and now, the self proclaimed Android ‘flagship killer’ has taken their shot, here is the photo that OnePlus put together.
“Hey Apple, welcome to the “PLUS” family!”
We’ve already taken a quick look at the new iPhone 6 models vs the best of Android, revealing that the LG G3 and the OnePlus One share the same display size as the iPhone 6 Plus at 5.5-inches. What better to work from for comparison then.
The OnePlus One has been available for some months now, but still feels like it is in the midst of rolling out, what with it’s invite system and social media campaigns. The iPhone 6 is announced and should start shipping to users in the coming weeks. Let’s see what similarities there are between these two devices.
iPhone 6 Plus vs OnePlus One
Apple iPhone 6 Plus OnePlus One Display 5.5-inch 1920x1080 LCD 5.5-inch 1920x1080 LCD Processor and RAM A8, 1400MHz, Dual-core with 1GB of RAM Snapdragon 801, 2500MHz, Quad-core with 3GB of RAM Camera 8MP with OIS 13MP Battery 2915mAh 3100mAh
We’ve seen these sorts of comparisons before, usually pitting the OnePlus One against the flagship Android devices that it was designed to compete with. As we walk through one spec after the next, similarities present themselves. As they should, considering the exact same parts were used to produce the One and many Android flagships.
Apple, on the other hand, uses different parts than many Android devices. While we’ll have to wait to see the iPhone in action, as their 64-bit architecture and OS optimization promises to produce the same, or better, overall performance than typical Android powered devices with quad-core processors and 2 or 3GB of RAM.
Let’s close out with the clincher that has been true in almost every OnePlus One comparison, storage space and price.
iPhone 6 Plus vs OnePlus One Price
Apple iPhone 6 Plus OnePlus One 16GB $299 with carrier contract, $749 without contract $299 no contract 64GB $399 with contract, $849 without contract $349 no contract 128GB $499 with contract, $949 without contract n/a
Apple will offer the iPhone 6 models with 16GB, 64GB and 128GB version and the OnePlus One is also available with 64GB for $349. The kicker here is the need for a contract to get the iPhone.
There you have it, OnePlus is happy to welcome, or mock, Apple for finally making it to the “Plus” game. What do you think, which Plus is the better phone? | 1,268,169 |
Birmingham Airport and HS2 are in discussions over plans that could see a terminal built directly into the new interchange station on the outskirts of the city.
The airport’s head of planning, development and infrastructure Robert Eaton said it was currently in discussions with HS2 over a number of options for its 2030 masterplan, and one of those being closely considered would see an airport terminal built within the station.
Speaking at NCE’s Airport design and development event on Thursday, Mr Eaton said: “One option is to provide facilities in the HS2 terminal such as bag drop and things like that and we have asked HS2 to factor that into their design.
“But we could also take that a step further and build the whole terminal over there, so you step off the HS2 train and you are in the terminal.
“We are looking at that at the moment; it could be a single terminal or a dual terminal, we are looking at all those options.”
The revelations come ahead of Birmingham publishing a masterplan that will outline the airport’s development pipeline for the coming decade. The masterplan is expected to be published later this year.
Birmingham is currently the only airport set to be directly connected to HS2 after plans to add a spur line to Heathrow from phase one of the high-speed route were dropped in 2015.
As part of the plan, Birmingham has already proposed the construction of a “people mover” linking the station directly to the airport, which is just over 2 km away from the interchange station.
Current estimates from the airport predict that it could take around 25 minutes to travel from Birmingham Interchange to the airport, despite it only taking 31 minutes to get to Birmingham Interchange from Old Oak Common in west London.
Mr Eaton said construction of the ”people mover” could begin in the next few years as part of plans reduce the time travelling between airport and station, stating that a decision on what option will be included in the masterplan could be finalised in the coming months.
Last month, HS2 launched bidding for the multi-million-pound contracts for the design of its four rail stations.
Firms are currently bidding for the £23m design contract for the HS2 Birmingham Interchange station, as well as the £30m Birmingham Curzon Street deal.
Also up for grabs are the £70m Old Oak Common station design and the £98m design for redeveloping Euston station.
Birmingham is currently embarking on a £100m improvement plan at the airport which will include upgrading baggage systems and the creation of two new car parks.
Mr Eaton said the airport was currently looking at how the capital works could be delivered and said that a framework system of procurement was probably the most likely route, with procurement possibly starting as early as the end of this year.
HS2 declined to comment due to purdah restrictions.
| 1,268,170 |
Online education provider Udacity has partnered with AT&T to create a new type of college degree, the “nanodegree.” The vocationally focused nanodegree is designed to be a lifelong learning portfolio that would be widely recognized by the tech industry and far cheaper to obtain.
Since last year, Udacity, other online education providers, and Internet billionaires have promised to overhaul the clunky path to a diploma.
“We need to take what now exists as a dumb, static document and turn it into a richer, updateable, more connected record of a person’s skills, expertise, and experience,” wrote Linkedin co-founder Reid Hoffman.
Last year, on stage with California Lt. Governor Gavin Newsom, Udacity founder Sebastian Thrun announced a new consortium of businesses, the Open Education Alliance, that would agree to recognize an industry-focused skills credential. The nanodegree is the first product of that promise, together with many of the original partners, from AT&T to Autodesk.
“It’s a failure of the community college system, the California state system, and the University of California system that that announcement was made,” said Newsom, who believes California education should do more to address the widening skills gap.
Details about nanodegrees are still forthcoming, but Udacity stated, “It should take a working student about six to12 months to complete without having to take time off.” Continuing, the blog explains, “Our early nanodegrees will prepare you for a job as a front-end web developer, back-end web developer, iOS mobile developer, Android mobile developer, or data analyst. The first nanodegree will start this fall.”
Other online education providers, such as Coursera, are designing their own certifications, which take about the same amount of time, depending on the course of study.
So, how’s the quality of the degree compared to a traditional diploma? To test this out, I’ve been taking the data science track at both Coursera and Udacity and comparing it to the master’s in mathematical behavioral sciences I got from UC Irvine.
On many levels, data science at Udacity and Coursera are superior. It’s completely up-to-date with the latest software, it’s problem-based, much (much) cheaper, and more flexible.
Don’t get me wrong: my master’s was fantastic for helping me think theoretically about data science and how to carefully determine cause and effect.
But it left me lacking the raw coding skills necessary to download a dataset and get through an actual project. For many data science jobs, the ability to run basic regressions and determine patterns in big datasets is more than sufficient.
You can learn more about the program on Udacity’s blog. | 1,268,171 |
Once upon a time, many years ago, I had just moved to the lowlands and was taking my newly purchased bike for a ride around the big city of Amsterdam. Overwhelmed, I happened to accidentally, but fairly dramatically, cut-off another Dutch cyclist. The man was furious, stopped his bike, and began to curse and yell loudly at me in Dutch. Not speaking any Dutch at this point, it sounded mostly like a mass of angry guttural sounds, but one word in his tirade jumped out at me…SYPHILIS! WTF?!? Was he talking to me? Did he just tell me I had syphilis?!? Huh?? What?!?
I got back on my bike, confused, and headed to work. Over lunch of karne melk and sandwiches with hagelslag I told my Dutch colleague the story. He stared at me blankly and said “You made him angry so he wished syphilis on you”.
Dutch people swear with diseases. Often with old dreaded diseases from the past. In fact, they go so far as to make angry bold statements wishing these diseases upon you or cursing you with a particular deadly ailment. The more serious the disease in question, the more seriously you have clearly angered them. If you are going to live in the Netherlands for any amount of time, you had better brush up on your knowledge of rare diseases from years gone by. Typhoid, tuberculosis, cholera, small pox, the plague and more modernly, the Big C (kanker), are all bound to rear their ugly heads. Perhaps with that lot of dreaded diseases, a curse of syphilis wasn’t so harsh…
This “swearing-by-disease” is in fact a unique Dutch trait. No other language has similar curses. It’s odd and it’s strange, and quite frankly pretty darn harsh (“I hope you get smallpox and die” – certainly doesn’t beat around the bush, does it?!?)
Of course Dutch people also have an array of other dirty swear words comparable to other languages. You have your trusty standards like klootzak (scrotum), pisvlek (piss stain) and godverdomme (god damn), but nothing is quite as shocking as “Sterf aan kanker!” (Literally: Die of cancer).
Now, now, don’t get me wrong. It’s not like Dutch people go around all day randomly telling people to drop dead of a certain ailment. But, if you are lucky unlucky enough to be witness to a serious argument you may happen to hear some 16th century diseases make there way into the fight! Now go, [email protected]#-off and catch herpes! 😉
Ever wondered how Dutch YOU are? Take our fun quiz!! www.HowDutchAreYou.com | 1,268,172 |
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Taken on Jul. 9-11, 2019 the cool video in this post features a TF-104G belonging to Starfighters Aerospace flown by Piercarlo Ciacchi intercepting Gulfstream G650ER during World Record Flight “One More Orbit” from the Kennedy Space Center and back through the poles.
According to Starfighters’ website, the company operates the world’s only fleet of flight-ready F-104 supersonic aircraft. Based at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center and operating under authorization from the Federal Aviation Administration, these aircraft are available to government and commercial customers for a variety of missions.
“The F-104 is a remarkable aerial platform, capable of putting research projects into microgravity, high altitude, high speed, and high G environments. The jets can mimic the ascent, descent and flight profiles of spaceflight vehicles and high performance military aircraft, and — according to NASA estimates — can provide between 60-90 seconds of microgravity during parabolic maneuvers,” Starfighters website explains.
On Jul. 11, 2019, a Starfighters’ TF-104, intercepted a Qatar Executive Gulfstream G650ER ultra long-range business jet registration A7-GCD involved in “One More Orbit” the Round-the-World record breaking flight over Palm Beach International Airport and escorted it to the Kennedy Space Center to landing at the end of the record flight.
The F-104 was piloted by Piercarlo Ciacchi, Director of Flight Operations at Starfighters and a friend of The Aviationist. “Piero” is a former Italian Air Force pilot who flew multiple fighter jet types, including the Lockheed F104, the F-16AF and the MB.339A/PAN with the Frecce Tricolori aerobatic display team, where he served for +7 years. In 2003, this Author had the pleasure to fly in an MB.339A during an air-to-air photo-shooting of four F-104S/ASA-M jets, one of those was piloted by “Piero”.
On Jul. 11, he filmed the interception of the G650ER piloted by Action Aviation Chairman Hamish Harding and former International Space Station Commander Col. Terry Virts at the end of their record breaking flight over the North and South poles and also the formation flight conducted on the following day as a celebration of the new world record (final flight time 46:40:22)
Starfighters’ fleet features some of the latest production F-104 jets, obtained from Italian Air Force along with an inventory of spare parts and support equipment.
The Italian-made F-104S is the most capable model, able to achieve sustained speeds of MACH 2.2 in both level and climbing flight profiles, and altitudes in excess of 100,000 feet. | 1,268,173 |
Tony Kiss
[email protected]
Two established Asheville breweries are coming together as the Thirsty Monk pub chain buys French Broad Brewery near Biltmore Village.
It's the first combination of Asheville breweries in the history of local craft brewing, which dates to 1994. The French Broad brand and brewery will continue.
The deal should close this summer, said Thirsty Monk founder and owner Barry Bialik. Thirsty Monk brews at Open Brewing on Hendersonville Road, which is also owned by Bialik. It has been making Belgian-style beers sold at the three Monk pubs in Asheville.
French Broad, which dates to 1997, has been owned by Andy Dahm. French Broad is best known for such beers as Gateway Kolsch IPA and 13 Rebels ESB. Its beers are sold in bottles and cans and distributed across North and South Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama and Louisiana.
The buyout will let Thirsty Monk expand its brewing production while continuing the French Broad beers, Bialik said.
Major brewery buyouts and combinations have been in the news this year, in particular the planned merger of AB-InBev, maker of Budweiser beers, and SABMiller, which produces Bud's longtime rival Miller. AB-InBev has also been acquiring U.S. craft brewers.
"This is the Asheville way to do it," Bialik said. "We are both strong Asheville brands."
French Broad has five full-time employees and six part-timers, and Bialik plans to keep them on the job. Thirsty Monk has one brewing employee, Norm Penn, Bialik said.
Thirsty Monk has long planned to open a bigger brewery, possibly at its warehouse site at 92 Thompson St. near Biltmore Village.
"It made sense to look at different options," he said. "We reached out to French Broad to see if they would be interested. Their production has been about 3,000 barrels. They were the right size [for Thirsty Monk's needs]. This way, we can build smarter. We will (eventually) need more capacity than what is at French Broad."
Dahm declined to comment on the French Broad sale other than to say: "I am sure that Barry will do a good job."
Kendra Penland, director of the Asheville Brewers Alliance nonprofit trade group, said, "We are excited to see the spirit of collaboration between member breweries."
Thirsty Monk and French Broad will pour their beers at the Monk's Not So Big BIG Beer Festival June 1 at the Thompson Street Monk warehouse.
There are 24 breweries open in Asheville and Buncombe County with more than 50 around the mountains. The biggest area breweries are New Belgium in West Asheville, Sierra Nevada in Mills River and Oskar Blues in Brevard, The Asheville area is recognized as the nation's East Coast craft beer capital. | 1,268,174 |
The 2022 Commonwealth Games was to be the first time the event has been held in Africa
The 2022 Commonwealth Games will no longer be held in Durban, South Africa.
David Grevemberg, chief executive of the Commonwealth Games Federation, said the city did not meet the criteria set by his organisation, and the search for a new host city had already begun.
Durban was awarded the Games in September 2015 and was due to be the first African city to host the event, which was first held in 1930.
Liverpool and Birmingham have expressed interest in staging the 2022 edition.
The Commonwealth Games are held every four years and feature athletes from more than 50 countries, mostly former British colonies.
Last month, South Africa's sports minister Fikile Mbalula indicated Durban may not be able to host the 2022 event because of financial constraints.
"We gave it our best shot but we can't go beyond. If the country says we don't have this money, we can't," he said.
Grevemberg said: "We are disappointed but it does not diminish our commitment to the African continent.
"We have had to postpone these ambitions to a later time. We all share disappointment that this ambition needs to be postponed right now.
"We remain committed to the inspiring potential of a Games in the continent."
Grevemberg said the South African government had never signed off on the decision for Durban to host the Games.
"We have a host city contract," he said. "It was signed by all parties on the day except for the South African government.
"We have engaged with the government to really try to work with their current circumstances but also uphold the commitments that were outlined in their bid. They were unable to do that at this time and we have had to look after the citizens and communities that our events serve."
Grevemberg said an announcement on a new host city would be made by the end of the year.
"Discussions with a number of interested parties are under way," he said. "I am confident an alternative host city will be found and that we will have an inspirational Games for the athletes and fans across the Commonwealth."
A spokesperson for Liverpool City Council said: "We had heard rumours that Durban might be unable to deliver the Commonwealth Games in 2022 and have already indicated to the government that we are very willing to host them instead."
Birmingham had already expressed an interest in hosting the 2026 Games.
Councillor Ian Ward, deputy leader of the city council, said: "We are aware of the decision from the Commonwealth Games Federation to seek a new host for the 2022 Games.
"Here in Birmingham we are already in the advanced stages of producing a detailed feasibility study on what would be needed for a truly memorable Games in the city.
"That is due to be completed in the coming weeks and we are in close contact with the government about the developing situation." | 1,268,175 |
is to include Murtaja’s killing in a prosecution it is launching against Israel at the International Criminal Court (ICC).
After initially refusing, the authorities announced on April 7 they would investigate Murtaja’s death. But this is unlikely to produce anything other than a whitewash.
The protests have seen some 2,870 people injured between March 30 and April 11. So great has been the scale of the casualties that the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has expressed its concern. It has questioned Gaza’s capacity to handle thousands of wounded in the light of the 12-year blockade of Gaza by Israel and latterly by Egypt.
OCHA said, “Gaza’s health sector has struggled to cope with the mass influx of casualties, due to years of blockade, internal divide and a chronic energy crisis, which have left essential services in Gaza barely able to function.” It added, “The large number of casualties among unarmed demonstrators, including a high percentage of demonstrators hit by live ammunition, has raised concerns about excessive use of force.”
Israel has aggravated the suffering of the Palestinians, refusing the injured permission to leave the Gaza Strip for treatment in Egypt or elsewhere, leaving two young Palestinians in danger of losing their legs. Israel has all but admitted to denying medical treatment as a form of punishment, in a response to a court petition on behalf of the injured.
According to Ha’aretz, Israel had refused requests for an exit permit for those injured despite their medical conditions meeting all the necessary criteria. “The main consideration for the refusal stems from the fact that their medical condition is a function of their participation in the disturbances.”
The human rights group Adalah, which had petitioned the Israeli government on behalf of the Palestinians, said, “The wilful act of denying urgent medical care, in these circumstances, may constitute cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment and/or torture under the UN Convention Against Torture, ratified by Israel.”
Within Israel, this onslaught has not gone unopposed. There was a small but significant protest in Sderot—the city most affected by the homemade rockets fired from Gaza—denouncing the IDF’s actions there and calling for an end to the Israeli military blockade of Gaza.
In the West Bank, where the Palestinian Authority’s security forces act as subcontractors for the Israeli army, demonstrations in solidarity with Gaza have been few and small.
In the wider Arab region, the March of Return is getting short shrift from the state and corporate-controlled media allied with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. They are determined to secure US intervention against the Assad regime in Syria as part of a broader offensive against Iran. The protests are receiving only slightly more coverage on Al Jazeera, which is controlled by Qatar, supports Hamas in Gaza and is closer to Iran.
Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. | 1,268,176 |
(Reuters) - Kroger Co KR.N on Thursday raised the lower-end of its full-year earnings forecast and posted a better-than-expected quarterly profit, as investments in online and delivery services paid off, sending its shares up as much as 13 percent.
Under its “Restock Kroger” program, the supermarket chain has been cutting prices and experimenting with new ways of selling products, while also shutting underperforming stores and shifting away from areas where it does not have a strong presence.
The U.S. grocery industry, dominated by Walmart Inc WMT.N and Kroger, has been fearful that Amazon.com Inc AMZN.O would apply its current distribution strategy at Whole Foods, transforming existing stores into a grocery delivery network.
In response, Kroger has been expanding home delivery, curbside pickup and self-checkout services, apart from investing heavily in technology such as its recent deal with Ocado OCDO.L to speed up its delivery operations with the construction of robotically operated warehouses.
Some of these initiatives helped drive a 66 percent rise in online sales in the first quarter.
“The result suggests that Kroger’s investment in lower prices and its push on digital are both paying dividends,” GlobalData Retail Managing Director Neil Saunders said.
Kroger shares touched a near four-month high of $29.50 and clocked their best intraday day performance in 24 years.
The company raised the lower end of its adjusted profit forecast to a range of $2.00 to $2.15 per share from $1.95 to $2.15 per share, previously.
It also projected identical sales growth - excluding fuel but reflecting sales from specialty pharmacy and home delivery services - to rise in the range of 2 percent to 2.5 percent.
Gross margin slipped to 21.8 percent from 22.1 percent, but MoffettNathanson analyst Michael Montani commended the company for managing margins well in a very competitive grocery market.
Net earnings rose to $2.03 billion, or $2.37 per share, in the quarter from $303 million, or 32 cents per share, a year earlier, helped by the sale of nearly 800 of its convenience stores to EG Group for $2.15 billion.
Same-store sales, excluding fuel, rose 1.4 percent in the quarter.
“This print was better than feared with comparable-store sales probably slightly above buy side expectations and management’s tone about Restock Kroger quite positive,” J.P. Morgan analysts wrote in a note.
Excluding one-time items, Kroger earned 73 cents per share, 10 cents above analysts’ estimate.
Total sales rose 3.4 percent to $37.53 billion, while analysts’ were expecting revenue of $37.31 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. | 1,268,177 |
Earlier this year, Toyota created the gorgeous FT-1 for "Vision Gran Turismo," an ongoing series of concept cars designed by real-world car companies and design studios in collaboration with Sony's Polyphony Digital for the release of Gran Turismo 6. The high-performance sports car was widely believed to be a teaser for a reboot of the Supra, a legendary franchise for Toyota that last saw production in 2002.
Those rumors are louder than ever this week now that Toyota has revealed a second version of the FT-1 that it describes as a more "sophisticated" and "premium" take on the original, painted in a dark silver in place of the bright, sporty red seen before. Both versions look fantastic.
While there's no word on production, the new FT-1 will be available as an in-game download in Gran Turismo 6 next month, along with a high-performance track model called the FT-1 Vision GT seen in the video below. If Toyota doesn't find a way to produce the FT-1 as a real vehicle, it'll be missing a big opportunity to inject emotional design into a brand best known for its practicality.
Grid View
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GENEVA (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia’s secretive hearings for 11 suspects accused in the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi violate international law and should be open to the public and trial observers, a U.N. human rights expert said on Thursday.
Slideshow ( 3 images )
Agnes Callamard, the U.N. special rapporteur on extrajudicial executions who is leading an international inquiry into Khashoggi’s murder at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul last October, denounced what she called the lack of transparency of the kingdom’s investigation and legal proceedings.
She called on Saudi authorities to reveal the defendants’ names, the charges and the fate of 10 others initially arrested.
“The current proceedings contravene international human rights law according to which the right to a fair trial involves the right to a public hearing,” Callamard said in a statement.
“The government of Saudi Arabia is grievously mistaken if it believes that these proceedings, as currently constituted, will satisfy the international community, either in terms of procedural fairness under international standards or in terms of the validity of their conclusions,” she said.
The U.N. human rights office and International Bar Association have requested access to the court, she added.
The Saudi public prosecutor indicted 11 unidentified suspects in November, including five who could face the death penalty on charges of ordering and committing the crime.
The CIA and some Western countries believe Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler, ordered the killing, which Saudi officials deny.
Saud al-Qahtani, a top aide to Prince Mohammed fired over the killing, is not among the 11 suspects on trial at hearings in Riyadh despite Saudi pledges to bring those responsible to justice, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters on Sunday.
Senior Saudi officials were “criminally responsible” if they failed to investigate and prosecute those responsible for killing the Washington Post columnist, Callamard said.
Referring to diplomats from world powers on the U.N. Security Council who have attended some hearings, she warned: “They risk being participants in a potential miscarriage of justice, possibly complicit should it be shown that the trials are marred by violations of human rights law”.
Louis Charbonneau, U.N. director at Human Rights Watch, said the Saudi criminal justice system has “an abysmal record”, marked by defendants being held for long periods without charge or trial, and often denied lawyers.
Charbonneau added that Saudi authorities should open the Khashoggi murder trial to U.N. observers, international activists and media, and countries whose diplomats observe the trial should speak out publicly.
“We can’t enable the Saudi government to turn it into a kangaroo court that conveniently finds a bunch of people guilty while whitewashing the possible responsibility of top Saudi officials,” he said. | 1,268,179 |
In the realm of state government, the Republican Party is wiping the floor with the Democrats. The 2016 elections are remembered for the presidential race, but they also gave the GOP control of sixty-eight state legislative chambers to the Democrats’ thirty-one. Amazingly, the lives of almost half of the national population came under the sway of a Republican trifecta—that is, a state government with all three branches controlled by the GOP. Even after the 2018 Blue Wave, the score was 61–37, Republican to Democrat.
What’s salient here is that Republican dominance represents an extraordinary political overperformance. Republican state governments strongly align themselves with the national party leadership—and by conventional measures, and certainly by comparison with the Clinton and Obama administrations, the national GOP has long been a disaster. Every Republican administration from Reagan onward has crashed the economy and exploded deficits. (Trump has already achieved the latter.) Their track record on health care is one of failure. Their handling of national security has been catastrophic (see the September 11 attacks, the rise of ISIS, Trump-Russia, climate change). Their criminality and corruption is scandalous: fraud, perjury, bribery, Boland Amendment violations during the Iran–contra affair, obstruction of justice, tax evasion, theft, and misuse of public funds are just some of the crimes committed by Republican administration officials and operatives—and that’s without counting those chalked up under Nixon and Trump.
And it’s not as if red-state governments have been better. For at least a quarter-century, GDP growth in blue states has exceeded that in red states. Living standards—educational attainment, household income, life expectancy, tax equity—tend to be distinctly higher in blue states. These disparities are mitigated by what economists call “fiscal flows”—blue staters subsidizing red staters in the form of federal taxes. When states go all-in on Republican economic strategies, not even fiscal flows can avert disaster, as the fates of Kansas and Oklahoma have revealed. Some red states even reject fiscal flows: fourteen have refused the Affordable Care Act’s expansion of Medicaid, with predictable consequences. If you wanted to tank the country, or part of it, your best bet would be to get Republicans to run things.
So why do they keep winning state races? To put it another way, why do Democrats—the party of prosperity—keep losing to them? Can this be changed? How much does it matter?
Meaghan Winter’s All Politics Is Local: Why Progressives Must Fight for the States looks into these questions with remarkable clarity and tenacity. She closely inspects liberal grassroots activism in three states—Missouri, Colorado, and Florida—that “are not places where it is inevitable that right-wing politicians will control the narrative and agenda. Nor are they places where a progressive movement is easy to assemble.” Her method was to visit these regions repeatedly over a period of years; to intimately acquaint herself with… | 1,268,180 |
it such a catch being engaged to Florence Craye as the casual observer might imagine? Wasn't there something in what Jeeves had said about her character? I began to realise that my ideal wife was something quite different, something a lot more clinging and drooping and prattling, and what not.
I had got as far as this in thinking the thing out when that "Types of Ethical Theory" caught my eye. I opened it, and I give you my honest word this was what hit me:
Of the two antithetic terms in the Greek philosophy one only
was real and self-subsisting; and that one was Ideal Thought as
opposed to that which it has to penetrate and mould. The other,
corresponding to our Nature, was in itself phenomenal, unreal,
without any permanent footing, having no predicates that held
true for two moments together, in short, redeemed from negation
only by including indwelling realities appearing through.
Well--I mean to say--what? And Nietzsche, from all accounts, a lot worse than that!
"Jeeves," I said, when he came in with my morning tea, "I've been thinking it over. You're engaged again."
"Thank you, sir."
I sucked down a cheerful mouthful. A great respect for this bloke's judgment began to soak through me.
"Oh, Jeeves," I said; "about that check suit."
"Yes, sir?"
"Is it really a frost?"
"A trifle too bizarre, sir, in my opinion."
"But lots of fellows have asked me who my tailor is."
"Doubtless in order to avoid him, sir."
"He's supposed to be one of the best men in London."
"I am saying nothing against his moral character, sir."
I hesitated a bit. I had a feeling that I was passing into this chappie's clutches, and that if I gave in now I should become just like poor old Aubrey Fothergill, unable to call my soul my own. On the other hand, this was obviously a cove of rare intelligence, and it would be a comfort in a lot of ways to have him doing the thinking for me. I made up my mind.
"All right, Jeeves," I said. "You know! Give the bally thing away to somebody!"
He looked down at me like a father gazing tenderly at the wayward child.
"Thank you, sir. I gave it to the under-gardener last night. A little more tea, sir?"
10
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Add Jeeves Takes Charge to your own personal library. to your own personal library. | 1,268,181 |
Is that an oar in your pocket, or are you just happy to win the bronze? U.S. rower denies he had erection during medal ceremony
Henrik Rummel won the bronze medal with his American teammates during Saturday's coxless four event
Appeared on Reddit to deny that he had erection
Video posted to YouTube appears to show look of embarrassment on Rummel's face
He may have won an Olympic medal, but this red-faced rower will go down in history for sporting some serious wood.
Henrik Rummel, 24, won the bronze medal in the coxless four event on Saturday along with his three American teammates.
But at the medal ceremony, it appeared that something else wished to stand up and celebrate with the Americans, as what looked like an erection bulged out of Rummel's incredibly tight shorts.
Whatever floats your boat: Henrik Rummel, second from left, stands proud with his teammates after the took the bronze medal in the coxless four competition on Saturday
Who wears short shorts? Rummel denied that he had an erection in the post-race photos
While such a thing may have gone largely unnoticed in an Olympiad packed with events, submissions to websites like Reddit and YouTube won't let Rummel forget it.
A post on Reddit, entitled 'One US rower was particularly excited by his bronze medal' has collected nearly 1,000 comments.
One of them is from the rower in question, who wholeheartedly denied that he had an erection during the medal ceremony.
Posting as Rummelator, Rummel posted: 'This is me and I swear it's not erect! I don't know why it ended up in that position but there you go.'
Consulting your redditor: Rummel later appeared on the site to dismiss claims that he had an erection in the photo
Another Reddit user called him out and demanded proof, which Rummel provided, thanks to the photo-sharing site Imgur, which showed him holding a slip of paper that said 'Rummelator' on it.
A video posted to YouTube, entitled 'Giant Rowing Bulge!' appears to show Rummel looking down awkwardly moments after receiving the medal.
'He's got a place to hang his medal,' one commenter quipped.
Another said: ‘Can't think of a more inappropriate time and place to have an erection.'
Proof: Rummel also posted this photo to show that he was the now-infamous rower
The U.S. crew of Rummel, Glenn Ochal, Charles Cole and Scott Gault was America's first medal in the event since the Barcelona Games in 1992.
Great Britain successfully defended its Olympic rowing title at Dorney Lake on Saturday.
Australia, which finished a half-length behind, took silver. | 1,268,182 |
As the business and political elite met at the World Economic Forum in Davos this week, there was much talk of rising inequality, and many references to the "wealthiest 1%". The phrase conjures up images of billionaires living on private islands - but is that who the 1% really are?
A report by the charity Oxfam released to coincide with the Davos gathering caused a stir by predicting that the wealthiest 1% will soon own more than the rest of the world's population.
It drew on research from the bank Credit Suisse, which estimated total global household wealth in 2014 at $263tn (£175tn).
That's wealth, not income. It is calculated as assets minus debt.
Obviously billionaires like Bill Gates, Warren Buffett and Mark Zuckerberg are part of the 1%. But who else is? According to Credit Suisse, another 47m adults - everyone with wealth of $798,000 (£530,000) or more.
That includes many people in rich countries who may not regard themselves as particularly wealthy, but who simply own their house outright or have paid off a significant chunk off their mortgage.
Among them are:
18m people in the US - the country with more members of the 1% than any other
3.5m people in France
2.9m people in the UK
2.8m in Germany
Germany has the biggest economy in Europe. The reason it has fewer wealthy people - by Credit Suisse's measure - is that it has lower levels of home ownership.
There are two Asian countries with more than a million people in the top 1%:
4m in Japan
1.6m in China
The country with the largest proportion of its population in the 1% per capita is Switzerland. One in 10 Swiss residents - 800,000 out of 8m - have assets worth more than $798,000.
But Credit Suisse's report doesn't tell the whole story.
It doesn't take into account how much it costs to buy goods in each country, for example. Half a million pounds might buy a one-bedroom flat in central London, but in other countries it could buy a mansion.
It also doesn't take into account income. As a result, many well-paid young people in Western countries may fall into the bottom 50% of wealth - either because they still have student debt to pay off, or because they know how to live well, and spend all their income.
If entry into the 1% does not guarantee a jet-set lifestyle, this is even truer when it comes to the cut-off point for the wealthiest 10% - for this you only need $77,000 (£50,000) of assets.
And the figure required to be in the top half of the world's wealthiest is just $3,650 (£2,400).
Subscribe to the BBC News Magazine's email newsletter to get articles sent to your inbox. | 1,268,183 |
Sixty percent of Americans believe the Republican Party is too eager to shield the wealthy from tax increases, and nearly as many — 57 percent — think the GOP should undergo major repairs before the 2016 presidential election.
That number, derived from a Bloomberg National Poll released Wednesday, includes more than one-third of Republicans and 60 percent of political independents.
Asked who among the current roster of potential GOP White House hopefuls could rescue the party, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie won a narrow majority: 51 percent said he represents either an “excellent” or a “good” fit for a Republican Party that needs a better strategy for winning.
Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan, the Republicans’ vice presidential nominee this year, was a distant second, earning the support of one-third of those polled. Florida Sen. Marco Rubio was close behind Ryan, with 31 percent.
Christie was the only current or former governor to score better than 30 percent. That’s the number of respondents who rated 2012 Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney as “excellent” or “good.” But Romney’s negative responses far outnumbered his positive ones: 43 percent saw him as unfavorable, a number no one else in the survey matched.
House Speaker John Boehner’s numbers are similarly upside-down, with 34 percent of respondents seeing him in a favorable light during the fiscal cliff negotiations with the White House. Thirty-seven percent oppose him.
Just 27 percent of those polled saw former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush favorably as a leader who could help the GOP. Current Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal placed last, with 24 percent. (RELATED: Jindal proposes future for the Republican Party that leads through education)
The other takeaway from the periodic poll of 1,000 adults is that Republicans’ political sacred cows may be softening in the face of a tough electoral loss in November.
Just 43 percent of Republicans polled said they could not vote for a presidential candidate who supports legalizing same-sex marriage. Only 40 percent found pro-abortion-rights candidates competely unacceptable.
And more than one-third of Republicans and independents combined said they could support candidates who endorsed amnesty or another path to legal status for illegal immigrants living in the United States.
Overall, 50 percent of the poll respondents said they have a favorable view of the Democratic Party. While that number is not a glowing mandate, it’s the highest rating for Democrats since June, and represents a 12-point lead over Republicans’ 38 percent showing. The Bloomberg poll hasn’t found as unfavorable a view of the GOP since September 2011.
The Iowa-based Selzer & Co. conducted the Bloomberg poll Dec. 7-10. Selzer sampled 1,000 adults — not necessarily all registered or “likely” voters. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points. Data about the number of Democrats, Republicans and independents Selzer sampled was not available. | 1,268,184 |
personal judgment – it operates all the time without our notice and so represents a barrier to self awareness. Spiritual instruction and meditation lead us inward to confront these unconscious aspects of ourselves and by changing them our assignation of meaning to significance clarifies and our mundane experience becomes guided by an intuitive sense that there are spiritual agencies in the universe.
The dualism of the sign and the cord can therefore be seen as relating to the back of the head, the connection to the personal unconscious, a ‘slippery fish’ that brings vacillation and dilemma because there is the task of navigating ones own judgments to identify how the unconscious might be shaping the manifestations in our world. Thus it is often vital for Pisces to enter into the imaginary worlds and experience their reality in activities like meditation, daydreaming, the arts, music, poetry and other metaphysical pursuits. In his book ‘The Inner Sky’ astrologer Steven Forrest puts it this way –
“What we take to be the world is an electrochemical phenomenon occurring in the folds and creases of our brains. Only a play of images. Only a dream. Pisces observes the mind observing the world. The objective universe evaporates. All that remains is a vast network of subjective reactions. All that remains is a dream.”
The Piscean path leads into this dream world and so must evolve a means to navigate it and, when necessary, keep it at bay so that it can be objectively perceived. In order to do this Pisces must know its own inner world almost like a fish knows its environment, in a way which is supersensitive and highly evolved. Without this inner knowledge of its own astral nature Pisces is extremely vulnerable to being shaped by external factors rather than being the shaper of material forms, which is its ultimate purpose.
In the Tree of Life we see that Pisces is placed on the path which terminates the pillar of Form in Malkuth, meaning that it is the ultimate passage through which physical world happenings are shaped. The magician will clearly understand this as being analogous to the way in which the mind and the imagination, once brought under control and the unconscious elements are transformed or purged, can be employed to guide specific forms of significance into material manifestation in the now moment. Pisces therefore has a mystical and magical connection to mental mastery of the physical plane, which is why it is often associated with meditation and practices such as yoga.
Yet the deeper magic lies in that cord which binds all of life together as a knot in the heart of the astral realm from which all life emerges. The physical and the astral realm are inseparable. The greatest magic of Pisces only emerges when the soul embraces this reality wholeheartedly and lives life as an expression of this truth, with thanks for its immensely bountiful mystery. Then, the heart is touched by Divine Providence and its yearning for spiritual enlightenment becomes a yearning to share it. The eye sees the angel in the marble and both yearns and knows how to set it free. | 1,268,185 |
Updated, 4:30 p.m. EDT
WILMINGTON, Del. — Delaware lawmakers introduced a bill Thursday that would legalize same-sex marriage in the state, with plans to have it signed into law by the end of June.
The legislation, which the governor has pledged to sign if passed by lawmakers, was filed a little more than a year after Delaware first began recognizing same-sex civil unions.
Critics of the civil union legislation warned at the time that it was simply a precursor to same-sex marriage in Delaware, which could soon join nine other states that have legalized gay marriage.
Gov. Jack Markell and Attorney General Beau Biden, both Democrats, joined lawmakers and other proponents Thursday to express their support of the bill.
“The department I run, the Department of Justice, is fully committed to correcting an injustice,” Biden said.
The governor said the bill is about the most basic of individual rights, “the pursuit of happiness.”
“It’s time that we do the right thing,” Markell said.
The bill has more than 20 co-sponsors, including one Republican, Rep. Michael Ramone of Newark. It will be heard by the House Administration Committee, chaired by Democratic Majority Leader Valerie Longhurst, on Wednesday.
“This bill is about the most fundamental of American freedoms, the freedom to marry the person you love,” said Lisa Goodman, president of Equality Delaware, a gay rights organization that took the lead in crafting both the civil union and same-sex marriage bills.
As written, the new law would take effect July 1 if it passes the Democrat-controlled legislature.
No new civil unions would be performed after July 1, and couples in civil unions could convert their civil unions to marriages before July 2014 by applying for a marriage license to county clerks of the peace. On July 1, 2014, all remaining civil unions not subject to proceedings for dissolution, annulment or legal separation would automatica lly convert to marriages.
The legislation also states that same-sex unions established in other states will be treated the same as marriages under Delaware law.
In a nod to religious freedom, the bill states that no cleric or minister of a religious denomination would be required to perform or solemnize any marriage that does not conform to his or her religious beliefs.
Still, opposition to legalizing gay marriage in the state remains.
“Marriage serves a purpose and is based on the truth that men and women are complementary, the biological fact that reproduction depends on a man and a woman, and the reality that children need a mother and a father,” Nicole Theis, executive director of the Delaware Family Policy Council, said in a statement. The conservative group is opposed to both same-sex civil unions and gay marriage.
© 2013, Associated Press, All Rights Reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. | 1,268,186 |
In the comments below there was a question as to why outcomes for offspring from parents can vary a great deal even without regression toward the mean. First, about regression. It’s a confusing and misunderstood concept. There is a general statistical phenomenon here, but let’s focus on genetics. Often in the comments of this weblog I’ll get the rhetorical question which has the general form of “but what about regression toward the mean?” Usually this is a good clue that the person has no idea what they are talking about. What about regression toward the mean? It’s not a magical force which shifts populations back toward a set point in an orthogenetic fashion. Basically when you select an individual based on their traits, and infer about the likely character of their offspring, you can predict the expected impact of genes on the outcome. The phenotype is an intelligible signal of the nature of genes in a heritable trait, and genes are predictably transmitted to offspring. In contrast there is an “environmental”* component which you don’t understand, can’t control, and can’t account for. This component is often not transmitted across the generations, so fluke contingencies which lead to individuals who are sharply deviated from the average of a population are not replicated in subsequent generations, and individuals are expected to be more typical. A perfectly heritable trait would not regress at all on the population level.
But you can predict only so much from heritability. The above plot is from John Hawks’ anthropology class. You see that the regression line is 0.72, so the heritability as inferred from these data is such. That means that 72% of the variance in the phenotype, height, can be accounted for by variance in genes. That’s a population wide statistic. That doesn’t mean that height is “72% genetic” on the individual level. That’s not even wrong. Since heritability is a population wide measure, so you need to be judicious when inferring toward individuals.
Yet still tall parents tend to have tall children. If two tall parents had hundreds of children, then you could make some inferences about the average height of the children using the breeder’s equation. But observe that there’s still noise in the prediction. There’s going to be a distribution of outcomes. Height in the developed world is 80 to 90 percent heritable, but the correlation in heights between siblings is on the order of 0.5. Similarly, IQ is on the order of 50 percent heritable, but the correlation between siblings is on the order of 0.5. Presumably segregation and recombination are working in a fashion to mix and match the genomes of individuals so that even heritable polygenic traits aren’t quite as predictable as you’d think.
* Before someone points it out, I am aware this component often collapses non-additive genetic variance, such as epistasis. | 1,268,187 |
A new map of the night sky has been published and hundreds of thousands of previously undiscovered galaxies are on it. The 300,000 new galaxies were discovered as part of a study involving 200 scientists from 18 countries, using a Low-Frequency Array (LOFAR) telescope in the Netherlands.
The telescope can detect light sources that optical instruments cannot see. Using the device, scientists were able to spot hundreds of thousands of light sources thought to be galaxies, which were once too faint to been detected from Earth. The discovery is shedding new light – literally – on the universe.
"This is a new window on the universe," Cyril Tasse, an astronomer at the Paris Observatory who was involved in the project, told the AFP news agency. "When we saw the first images we were like, 'What is this?!' It didn't look anything at all like what we are used to seeing." A series of papers on the findings are published in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics.
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The LOFAR telescope works by pick up traces, or "jets," of ancient radiation produced when galaxies merge. These jets can extend over millions of light years.
"LOFAR has a remarkable sensitivity and that allows us to see that these jets are present in all of the most massive galaxies, which means that their black holes never stop eating," said Philip Best, a professor of extragalactic astrophysics at the University of Edinburgh.
Black holes have a gravitational pull so strong that no matter can escape them. The new observations will allow scientists to compare black holes over time to see how they develop.
The known Universe just got a lot bigger: A new map of the night sky using the Low Frequency Array @LOFAR telescope charts hundreds of thousands of previously unknown galaxies https://t.co/uJ3uNP4sAB pic.twitter.com/FAPn20fMtN — AFP news agency (@AFP) February 19, 2019
Big sky survey by @LOFAR has detected hundreds of thousands of previously undetected galaxies, shedding new light on black holes & how clusters of galaxies evolve. The first 26 articles have just been published in @AandA_journal https://t.co/CjsG9silrJ pic.twitter.com/9qWvGLV3tK — Low Frequency Array (@LOFAR) February 19, 2019
Using information from NASA's Hubble space telescope, scientists believe there are more than 100 billion galaxies in the universe. However, many may be too old and too far away to be observed using traditional detection techniques.
The LOFAR telescope, which is made up of a network of radio antenna located across seven European countries, has helped scientists chart just just 2 percent of the sky so far. The team plans to create high-resolution images of the entire northern sky, which they say will reveal up to 15 million previously undetected radio sources. | 1,268,188 |
Republican Robb Ryerse has one clear advantage over Steve Womack – he doesn’t have a perpetual scowl on his face. Aside from that, though, Ryerse might seem to offer Republicans a clear choice in 2018’s primary.
True, Womack has certain advantages. He has loads and loads of money at his disposal, and the endorsement of scads of right-wing groups.
But Ryerse, who seems a throwback to a time when members of Congress didn’t act like the feces throwing denizens of a primate cage, may have a chance to reach out to Republicans who have have tired of a man who seems to serve as nothing more than a rubber stamp for Donald Trump and the GOP leadership.
Though Robb Ryerse is a Republican, and has no plans to change party affiliation, his platform may well appeal to many Democrats.
Ryerse is part of the “New Congress” movement, a Bernie Sanders inspired effort which aspires to change the nation’s political climate. Both Republicans and Democrats are part of the movement.
I don’t know for certain, but I imagine it isn’t simply the two main parties who may find such individuals running under the New Congress flag. Thus far, Ryerse is the only New Congress candidate running in Arkansas, but it’s early days yet.
His platform, as opposed to that of the Scowling One, seems to be taking care of human beings, from stewardship of the environment to health care to a whole host of other issues.
I’d like to see a debate between Ryerse and The Scowling One; I have no doubt that Womack would be scowling even more by the end of the evening.
For more information on Robb Ryerse:
https://brandnewcongress.org/Robb-Ryerse
No matter who you support, register to vote!
******
Today’s Soundtrack
Today’s blog was written along to the soundtrack from “Shall We Dance?” The Pussycat Doll’s version of “Sway” may be even better than Dean Martin’s. Well, both are good.
But shall we? Shall we dance?
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Now on YouTube: Robb Ryerse
My interview with Robb Ryerse.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ElfVbN2VLQ
“On the Air with Richard S. Drake” celebrates 26 years on the air in 2017.
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Quote of the Day
I’m of a fearsome mind to throw my arms around every living librarian who crosses my path, on behalf of the souls they never knew they saved. – Barbara Kingsolver
[email protected] | 1,268,189 |
utilities that would be costly to move are also unknown factors.
Option five would replace the highways with low-speed six-lane boulevards at street level. The boulevard option is cheaper than others, at an estimated $500 to $900 million to construct over four years. But, drivers would face more of a delay during peak traffic hours — 40 percent more in the mornings and 145 percent more at night — due to slower speeds.
A boulevard would accommodate a maximum of 50,000 cars daily, which is fewer than one-third of the average number of cars that go through that area. For perspective, about 38,000 cars travel on West Street and Washington Street daily, and 23,000 on Meridian Street at 38th Street.
With an overflow of anywhere from 59,000 to 111,000 cars daily, those drivers would flood Downtown streets, looking for an alternative route.
"The majority of that traffic would still have to get here somehow," Gillette said. "You're creating a difficult barrier to get through."
Option six is a combination of options four and five: Creating the same six-lane boulevards as option five to replace I-65 and I-70, and moving the highways underground at the north and south splits.
This option would cost $3.3 billion to $5.5 billion and take 10 years to construct. It would improve morning traffic delays by 9 percent, and decrease evening delays by 3 percent.
Option seven was created by a group of engineers thinking of all possible ideas, Gillette said. When the highways were built more than half a century ago, there was an intention to connect the west side of the Downtown inner loop where West Street is. This option would close that loop by building a tunnel under West Street, and through to the south split, while rebuilding the north side of the loop and West Street as six-lane boulevards.
The final option would could an estimated $1.6 to $2.6 billion and take seven years to construct, and cause a 23 to 24 percent delay in traffic during peak morning and evening times.
The seven options serve as potential long-term concepts for the entire Downtown interstate system, Gillette said, but don't replace the immediate need to replace the north split.
"We're looking at this as a way to inform what we do. Is there anything we found here that would tell us to do something different?" she said. "We've got to move forward with the north split project, but we're not eliminating any of these for the future."
INDOT will open the process to the public for feedback until June 7, then develop a detailed proposal which will begin to incorporate design elements. Construction wouldn't begin until at least 2020, she said.
"We're still very early in the process," she said.
Call IndyStar reporter Amy Bartner at (317) 444-6752. Follow her on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. | 1,268,190 |
As voters headed to the polls to decide the next president on Tuesday, the Trump campaign and its top surrogates have conspicuously sought to set expectations lower than their candidate himself has — and lower than outright victory. Heck, even Trump himself seems to be lowering the bar.
In a morning appearance on "Fox & Friends," Trump said he would win in Iowa and also, he "thinks," Ohio and New Hampshire. Beyond that, though, the usual Trump bluster about winning everything was gone. He said he thought he would do well in states like Florida, Michigan and Wisconsin, but he didn't promise victory in the kinds of states that he needs to actually win the presidency.
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"We're going to win a lot of states. I mean, who knows what happens ultimately," he said.
Then he quickly checked himself: "We're going to win."
His campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway, also seemed to begin the process of offering excuses for his likely loss — pointing, as expected, to the lack of unity and support from the GOP establishment. Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) said Tuesday that he had voted for independent Evan McMullin rather than Trump, and George W. Bush also reportedly abstained from voting for president.
Conway told MSNBC that Trump "didn’t have the full support of the Republican infrastructure" and that it would be "really too bad” if Trump lost because Bush and former GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney didn't support him.
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(She followed that up with a tweet explaining she wasn't blaming the RNC, but rather other establishment Republicans.)
Earlier in the day on Fox News, Republican National Committee spokesman Sean Spicer seemed to suggest that success would be judged not by victory overall, but by winning states that President Obama won in 2008 and 2012 and doing better than John McCain and Mitt Romney.
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"We are going to have more electoral votes tonight than we’ve had in the last two cycles, and I think that’s an important thing to note for all of the media, mainstream media narrative," Spicer said. "We will do very, very well tonight. We will bring millions of people into this process, and I think we’ll see a resounding victory in more and more states that Obama carried twice.”
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And deputy Trump campaign manager David Bossie appeared on MSNBC and seemed to admit to the narrow path to victory that his candidate faces. He said the path requires winning North Carolina, Iowa, Florida and Ohio, but seemed to acknowledge the next state wasn't quite so obvious. "And then we start looking at their map," Bossie said.
Lowering expectations is a time-honored tradition in politics — especially among surrogates and operatives who know they'll be judged based on the perceived success of their campaigns. So this could simply be a bunch of Trump surrogates looking out for their political futures. | 1,268,191 |
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Hundreds of millions of people tune in every year for a live extravaganza of multi-cultural entertainment – the Eurovision Song Contest.
Countries from all over Europe – and some from outside Europe – send a song and performer to entertain a worldwide audience.
The contest is hosted by the country that won competition the year before.
The 2015 show will be held in Austria on Saturday 23 May after their entry Conchita won.
When did it start?
Eurovision started in 1956 when just seven countries took part. In 2008 there were a record 43 countries.
The contest was created by the European Broadcasting Union – an organisation of TV companies in and around Europe.
The idea originally came from an Italian song contest and it was also a chance to test out early live TV technology.
How does it work?
Many countries hold a national competition to select their entry. In the UK the BBC chooses an act to send.
Most competitors then sing in a semi-final to win a place in the grand final – but some countries go straight into the final.
Last year’s winner always gets a place in the final – along with the UK, France, Germany, Spain and Italy. They give the most money to the EBU and get a guaranteed place.
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Toyota just placed a big bet on autonomous vehicles.
The automaker announced on Monday that it is investing $500 million in Uber and working more closely with the company to accelerate the development and deployment of self-driving vehicles. Uber plans to retrofit Toyota Sienna minivans with its autonomous technology and begin real-world testing in 2021.
The deal gives Toyota a key partner in a field that is growing rapidly, and comes on the same day that four of the automaker's suppliers announced a partnership to develop some of the software underpinning autonomous vehicles.
"This agreement and investment marks an important milestone in our transformation to a mobility company," Shigeki Tomoyama, the president of Toyota Connected Company, said in a statement.
Automakers and tech companies continue scrambling to position themselves for a future in which car ownership gives way to mobility as a service. That's led to a growing number of partnerships as companies like Toyota realize they don't know much about ridesharing and companies like Uber discover that building cars is hard.
Other tech and auto companies have forged similar arrangements. Waymo, for example, buys vehicles from Chrysler and Jaguar Land Rover.
"We're seeing marriages of companies of complementary abilities," said Brian Collie of Boston Consulting Group. "Partnerships are quite necessary and create value toward bringing mobility as a service to the market faster."
Uber leads the world in ridesharing, which gives it an edge in finding an audience for autonomous vehicles. Uber could create a ready market for Toyota self-driving cars through its app, which is used by millions of people.
Monday's announcement builds on an existing partnership. During the International Consumer Electronics Show in January, the two companies announced e-Palette, an autonomous vehicle concept that could be used for everything from pizza delivery to ridesharing.
Toyota's latest infusion of cash provides Uber with an unreserved endorsement of a self-driving car program rocked by a lawsuit from Google and the death of a pedestrian in Arizona in March. Uber shuttered its research and development efforts in Arizona in May, and only recently returned to the streets of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It still has not started testing its cars again in autonomous mode.
Related: How free self-driving car rides could change everything
This isn't Toyota's first move into the space. In 2015, it said it would invest $1 billion in the Toyota Research Institute artificial intelligence lab. Institute CEO Gill Pratt said in a statement Monday that the Uber partnership would accelerate efforts to deliver autonomous technology.
Toyota's financial investment will also prove useful given the high costs of running a self-driving car program. Engineers who specialize in the technology are rare and command salaries of several hundred thousand dollars a year. Maintaining a large fleet of test vehicles brings additional costs.
In May, SoftBank invested $2.25 billion in Cruise, the self-driving startup of General Motors. That just goes to show that even the biggest companies need partners. | 1,268,193 |
In August last McDonald’s chose a leading IT services provider to run their Point-of-Sales signboards, for a period of five years across Ireland and UK. And recent pics, such as these, show why there is so much talk about the role Ubuntu plays in signage technology all over the world.
Some of the leading professional signage service providers look towards Ubuntu because of two aspects- one it’s open source lineage and second to provide razor-sharp technical precision in running these new-age, digital message and advertising boards.
Ubuntu has been running not just personal Desktops but Business comps, Notebooks but Digital Signage Players as well. This is because, Ubuntu is developed to run on X86 CPU and ARM CPUs. Ubuntu OS can be developed to run dedicated Digital Signage Player as well. Now available as apps it would include a remote console and moves the process of digital sign as software as a service on your personal digital devices or company signages. This in turn has opened up scope of collaboration as well as movement of content on server-side.
The most recent update to open source digital signage solutions is the recent MediaSignage Free Digial Signage Player now available on Amazon. This app is available for the Android Mobile version as well and makes for some stunning performance on tablets as well as phones.
The bane in digital signage industry is to pay licensing fees to proprietary software. Despite expensive annual or use-based subscriptions, typically proprietary software does deliver below par. One the huge risk potential these software run in terms of security breaches. Additionally, most of the leading proprietary digital signage software requires greater hardware capacity and power. To business this implication is enormous as they will have to invest in expensive hardware to support their all-season signage.
Digital Signage environment has adopted Ubuntu (and Debian in some cases) to establish online (iP-based) scenarios. Secure, high-reliability and flexibility that Canonical brings with Ubuntu to develop Digital Signage applications has proved that this open source solution is the better option.
Developers and professionals have found Linux and its family- be it Debian or Ubuntu – ideal drivers to work in the static environment of digital signage. Combining Ubuntu software with VNC and Flash in Firefox has proved to offer stable and dedicated service.
Ubuntu has proved to be the first choice for digital signage adoption not just because of its open source and free software moorings, but its great technical aspect of being able to customize a digital signage application to fit the business, organization or educational application.
Additionally, the huge development community support works to a great advantage in the emerging usage of Ubuntu for digital signage. Most of the leading providers offer choice that allows for integration with external applications.
Now, its McDonald’s and most trams across Europe slowing moving towards Ubuntu-based signage. The increasing adoption of this method of display is because it offers: price comfort, technology comfort and effortless upgrades, plus a great developer community to backup. | 1,268,194 |
A judge has temporarily lifted the ban on Rafiki to allow it to be entered for an Oscar
This article is more than 2 years old
This article is more than 2 years old
Rafiki, an acclaimed film portraying a lesbian romance that was, until Friday, banned in its home country Kenya, showed on Sunday to a cheering full house audience in Nairobi.
Nairobi residents will be able to watch Rafiki during daytime-only screenings at the Prestige Cinema in the capital for a week after a judge on Friday temporarily lifted a ban on the film, making it eligible to be entered for an Oscar. Rafiki means “friend” in Swahili.
To qualify as Kenya’s entry in the best foreign language film category at the 2019 Academy Awards, Rafiki had to be released in the east African country.
Kenya briefly lifts ban on gay film to allow for Oscar submission Read more
The court ruling delighted the film-makers but angered the Kenya Film Classification Board, which banned the movie in April on the grounds that it promotes homosexuality, which is a criminal offence under a colonial-era law.
In May, Rafiki premiered at Cannes, the first Kenyan film to be selected by the prestigious festival. Critics hailed it as a “sweet” romance about two young women who live in the same Nairobi housing estate.
After Friday’s court decision on Friday, the Kenyan censor said it still considered Rafiki morally subversive.
That did not stop young Kenyans from turning out on Sunday afternoon to view the film, which the cinema showed on an additional screen after more than 450 people arrived.
Vicky, a Nairobi photographer, came with her braided hair wrapped in a rainbow coloured scarf and said she was part of the LGBT community though declined to give her surname.
“This week means so much to so many people,” she said. “People can see themselves on screen and they can know that it is OK to express themselves in that way,” she said.
As Rafiki played and the audience in the two packed theatres cheered and clapped, Vicky said she could relate to many of the film’s topics, and with the two lesbian protagonists struggling with homophobia among their friends, family, and church.
Kenyan rights activists are fighting to decriminalise gay sex, a step taken in India earlier this month, raising hopes among gay rights proponents in African countries.
However, Vicky said that once the screening was over and she left the cinema, she would not dare wearing her rainbow scarf.
“This feels like a safe space. But the second I leave this [cinema], I don’t want anyone to see my face like that. Not because I’m scared that I am not a normal person, but because I am scared of expressing myself that way. So much judgment comes with it.” | 1,268,195 |
also couldn’t get enough of the show, which I had no problem with. It goes without saying that my favorite ones were where Pinkie stole the spotlight.
It was a little awkward, watching the show with what I knew, but I just imagined that I was relieving memories of a happy day with friends. I imagined that Pinkie was out there, somewhere, having fun with the rest of the ponies. I hoped that she could focus on having fun and not on the past, that she could look back on our day together and remember a fun day, not a sad one. I knew that if I let myself become lost thinking about her, then I would relapse back into my old self. I knew that she could do it, but I couldn’t help but worry.
I no longer questioned the events of that day. When I had finally composed myself and drove home, I was still unsure of the legitimacy of everything, at least I was until I found the mementos that Pinkie had left behind. The empty beer bottle and mug on the counter, the cupcake tray that still had black embers in the molds, and the hole in my bedroom. I realized that these couldn’t have been the result of my imagination, but the results of a day with Pinkie Pie. And even if these physical objects weren’t still here, the emotions of that day were as real as anything I had been through before. I still didn’t understand how everything happened, but I knew that they did happen.
On the day I met Shannon, we had gone to the store, and I bought my first and last piece of pony merchandise. A small figure of a pink pony now stood on my desk, flanked by a beer bottle and a muffin tray. Shannon had asked me about the hole in the ceiling, and I had just told her that it was here when I moved in and had been too lazy to fix it. When asked about the tray and bottle, I merely told her they had sentimental value, and she dropped the subject. Now anytime I felt depressed, I could look at Pinkie and smile, ready for the day ahead.
At the beginning of that day, I asked myself why Pinkie, out of all the people that she could have landed with, landed with me. It wasn’t until the end that I realized the question didn’t matter. What did matter was how lucky I was to have spent a day with her. I didn’t deserve to, but it still happened. She had dragged me out of the darkness and into the sunshine, teaching me that reality was what you made of it and that a smile could go a long way.
For that, I’ll be eternally grateful to her. Because of her, I could live a happy life again.
Because of her, I baked a batch of cupcakes every week.
Reality Check
Written by ObeySaturnGod | 1,268,196 |
is no longer accepted by a majority. By assumption of connectivity, if any beaker learns a proposal then all beakers will eventually learn it.
Linearizability. If a proposal A is accepted, then any conflicting proposal B that is accepted after A will be learned after A. Proof. Because A was accepted before B, the majority that accepted A before B will vote for A before B. Because messages are delivered in order, A will be learned before B.
Commutativity. Let R denote the repairs for an accepted proposal A. Any accepted proposal B that conflicts with A + R but not A commutes with A + R. Proof. Because B conflicts with A + R but not A, B must read a key k that is read by A. By linearizability, B must read the latest version of k because B is accepted. Suppose that B is committed first. Because B reads and does not write k, A + R can still be committed. Suppose that A + R is committed first. Because A + R writes the latest version of k and B reads the latest version, B can still be committed.
Consistency. If a proposal A is accepted, it can be committed. Proof. Suppose there exists a transaction that cannot be committed. Then, the transaction must read a key for which there exists a newer version. This implies that there exists a proposal B that was accepted after but learned before A that changes a key k that is read by A. By linearizability, B cannot conflict with A. Therefore, B must repair k. By commutativity, A may still be committed.
Reconfiguration
Each beaker is required to be connected to a majority of non-faulty peers in order to guarantee correctness. However, this correctness condition is only valid when the cluster is static. In practical systems, beakers may join or leave the cluster arbitrarily as the cluster grows or shrinks in size. In this section, we describe how fresh beakers are bootstrapped when they join an existing cluster. When a fresh beaker joins a cluster, its database is initially empty. In order to guarantee correctness, its database must be immediately populated with the latest revision of every key-value pair. Otherwise, if N -+ 1 fresh beakers join a cluster of size N it is possible for a quorum to consist entirely of fresh beakers.
A naive solution might be for the fresh beaker to propose a read-only transaction that depends on the initial revision of every key-value pair in the database and conflicts with every other proposal. Then, the fresh beaker would automatically repair itself in the process of committing this transaction. However, this is infeasible in practical systems because databases may contain arbitrarily many key-value pairs. This approach would inevitably saturate the network because for a database of size D such a proposal consumes D * (3 * N / 2 + N * N) in bandwidth. Furthermore, it prevents any proposals from being accepted in the interim. | 1,268,197 |
The Midwest has been underwater for the past week, and it is only expected to get worse as the spring rains continue and the snow melts. The damage caused has been some of the worst yet due to the levees breaking, causing breaches everywhere.
The levees are so full of holes that they are being referred to as “swiss cheese,” which only demonstrates the severity of the infrastructure failure. More than 60 levees were breached or overtopped in the Midwest in March, and hundreds of miles of levees were damaged.
The levees have aged, are subject to muddled regulations and were not designed to handle the amount of river water that has risen in the last decade.
One big problem is how poorly the infrastructure has been kept up. The American Society of Civil Engineers gave the country’s levee system a D grade in 2017 and suggested $80 billion in investment over the next 10 years.
The infrastructure in our country requires immediate attention and fixing because issues like this levee crisis were preventable had they been fixed in the way that was recommended. And fixing the infrastructure may only be a band-aid if we do not address the perilous environmental situation that has been created in part by climate change.
Due to the warmer atmosphere created by global warming, there is more precipitation being held in the air, which, therefore, causes wetter rainstorms. This is contributing to the intense flooding that has only gotten worse this past decade.
We can try and fix the levees as much as we want, and that should be something the government focuses on as people continue to file for bankruptcy. But if we do not accept that global warming is a contributing factor and start taking drastic measures, then fixing the levees will mean nothing.
The country will only be wasting money on fixing infrastructure if the threat of climate change is not properly addressed and dealt with. With the way this administration has been handling the floods, I do not see it being dealt with any time soon.
Another consequence of the floods is the Native Americans who have suffered the most during these floods have not been receiving nearly enough attention nor help. Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota has been nearly cut off from the outside world due to the dangerous flood waters.
The government should be sending much more help than they are because people are running out of food, and 8,000 residents ran out of water earlier last month.
While many people are being affected negatively by these floods, the Native Americans are not receiving the proper aid and emergency relief that the other people suffering are receiving. Many of the people on the Pine Ridge reservation live in poverty, and rates of teen suicide and alcoholism are high.
Everyone needs immediate help and relief equally, and beyond that, climate change must be acknowledged as one of the causes of this severe flooding in the Midwest. The government needs to make serious improvements to the infrastructure of this country, but they must also work toward reversing climate change at the same time.
| 1,268,198 |
Earlier this week, a report by The Korea Herald suggested that Samsung Electronics could be returning as a supplier for the so-called A12 chip in 2018's line of iPhones, after being removed from the A-series chip supply chain in 2016 and 2017, years in which Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company took on all of the orders. Now, industry observers reported upon by DigiTimes are predicting that TSMC is "still likely" to retain its title as the sole manufacturer of A-series chips in 2018.
In today's report, TSMC's integrated fan-out wafer-level packaging technology -- which the supplier uses in its 7-nanometer FinFET chip fabrication -- is looked at as largely superior to any progress made by Samsung in the same field. Samsung is said to be "aggressively vying" for A-series orders from Apple ahead of 2018, but DigiTimes' sources state that even the company's close ties to OLED might not be enough for Apple to add Samsung as a secondary A-series supplier for the reported three iPhones launching in fall 2018.
It is unlikely Samsung will be able to regain application processors orders for Apple's iPhone, as TSMC's in-house developed InFO wafer-level packaging will make the Taiwan-based foundry's 7nm FinFET technology more competitive than Samsung's, said the observers. Samsung has grabbed Apple's A9 chip orders for the new 9.7-inch iPads introduced earlier in 2017, the observers claimed. TSMC, which is already the sole supplier of Apple's 10nm A11 chips for the upcoming iPhones, will still likely obtain all of the next-generation A-series chip orders for Apple's 2018 series of iPhones with its 7nm FinFET process, the observers said. TSMC's innovation in backend packaging plays a key role in securing exclusive orders for Apple's processors for the upcoming iPhones, the observers noted.
In Tuesday's report, it was rumored that Samsung Electronics co-CEO Kwon Oh-hyun already made a deal with Apple concerning 2018 iPhone chip production during a visit to Cupertino last month. Otherwise, The Korea Herald's report was light on details, with no clear indication on exactly how many orders Samsung might have gained from such a deal besides believing the company would "share some parts" of A-series chip production with TSMC.
If Apple kept TSMC as the sole A-series manufacturer in 2018, it would mark the third year in a row that the supplier created iPhone chips alone, following the A10 in the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus, and the A11 in the upcoming "iPhone 8," "iPhone 7s," and "iPhone 7s Plus." Otherwise, a return to dual-sourced A-series chips in 2018 would be the first time Apple made that move since 2015, when both Samsung and TSMC supplied the A9 chip in the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus, which frustrated some users when TSMC's technology was discovered to boast marginally better battery life. | 1,268,199 |
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