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On the 22nd, at the Seoul OGN eStadium, the 23rd day of the 2018 LCK Spring Split took place. On the 1st series of the day, bbq Olivers took down Kingzone DragonX, the 1st placed team in the LCK standings, with a score of 2-1. Today, Trick held his own against Peanut in the jungle and played very proactively, cornering KZ.
The following is an interview with Trick.
You've ended your losing streak by defeating the team in 1st place. How do you feel?
The team atmosphere was turning bad due to the losing streak. I'm happy that we were able to beat KZ.
Were you pressured for having to play against KZ?
I had a good feeling while preparing for the series. I also felt that I was recovering from my slump, so there wasn't any pressure.
In game 1, despite having the advantage, you guys weren't able to snowball.
In terms of macro, Ghost and I had different ideas through shotcalling. Next time, we'll do our best to work together and snowball more quickly.
Why weren't you playing more recently?
I wanted a break because I've lost a lot of my confidence. So during the break, I invested more time into solo queue.
Unlike the 1st game, you guys lost helplessly in game 2. What was the problem?
Our champion picks were very passive. Crazy also had a hard time in the early-game, so it was very difficult.
The 3rd game was very long. A comeback could've happened at any time. What kind of feedback went back and forth between your teammates?
I had a feeling that we were going to win today. After our loss, we talked about our teamfighting.
Ever since the past, you've always played well against Peanut. What's your secret?
I don't know why, but against Peanut, I always hold up my own.
In the next patch, a large change will come to the junglers. What're your predictions?
The 'Tracker's Knife' was removed. I think everyone will build gold income items. I also think Lee Sin will be affected the most.
Out of 10, what score would you like to give yourself and your team?
My skillshots were off today, so I'll give myself a 7. As for my team, for having played confidently against a strong team, I'll give them an 8.
Any last words?
While taking a break, I heard words of encouragement from my former coaches and players from Europe. I want to thank them.
RELATED: BBQ Tempt: "If the president of BBQ Chicken visits our games more often, I think we'll win more" | 1,269,400 |
WARNING!: Before Execute following script take BACKUP
The following script is tested on Single WordPress Only.
$ wget https://gist.githubusercontent.com/MiteshShah/cd4d86cbdfa60a069aa9/raw/831d8d41f0411b97682649a57c119e137619a986/wp_update.sh $ sudo bash wp_update.sh Enter Web Root Path [ /var/www]: Enter Web Root Path [ htdocs]: Enter Web Root Path [ www-data]: Enter Web Root Path [ www-data]: WEB_ROOT = /var/www WEB_ROOT_PREFIX = htdocs WEB_ROOT_OWNER = www-data WEB_ROOT_GROUP = www-data PHP binary: /usr/bin/php5 PHP version: 5.6.10-1+deb.sury.org~trusty+1 php.ini used: /etc/php5/cli/php.ini WP-CLI root dir : phar://wp-cli.phar WP-CLI global config: WP-CLI project config: WP-CLI version: 0.19.2 Found wp-admin at /var/www/example.com/htdocs/wp-admin Updating to version 4.2.2 ( en_US )... Downloading update from https://downloads.wordpress.org/release/wordpress-4.2.2-new-bundled.zip... Unpacking the update... Success: WordPress updated successfully. Downloading update from https://downloads.wordpress.org/plugin/akismet.3.1.2.zip... Unpacking the update... Installing the latest version... Removing the old version of the plugin... Plugin updated successfully. Success: Translations updates are not needed for the 'English (US)' locale. Success: Updated 1/1 plugins. name old_version new_version status akismet 3.0.2 3.1.2 Updated Enabling Maintenance mode... Downloading update from https://downloads.wordpress.org/theme/twentyfourteen.1.4.zip... Unpacking the update... Installing the latest version... Removing the old version of the theme... Theme updated successfully. Downloading update from https://downloads.wordpress.org/theme/twentythirteen.1.5.zip... Unpacking the update... Installing the latest version... Removing the old version of the theme... Theme updated successfully. Downloading update from https://downloads.wordpress.org/theme/twentytwelve.1.7.zip... Unpacking the update... Installing the latest version... Removing the old version of the theme... Theme updated successfully. Disabling Maintenance mode... Success: Translations updates are not needed for the 'English (US)' locale. Success: Updated 3/3 themes. | 1,269,401 |
When you're an introvert, social situations can require a great amount of concentration and energy, which can make meeting new people more challenging. In a thread on Reddit, introverted people have been sharing the unconventional stories of how they met their romantic partners — and honestly, a few sound like the stuff of romantic comedies.
Take, for instance, this couple who were shy, but whose dogs weren't: "We met at the dog park. We had started talking more (our dogs were instantly best friends) and I kept thinking 'is it weird that we always leave at the same time? He's going to think I'm doing it on purpose,' so I started making sure I either left before him, or waited until after he left... Turns out, he was leaving at the same time as me on purpose. We're marred now, and our dogs are inseparable."
That's literally the plot of 101 Dalmations, is it not? Then there was this self-proclaimed nerd whose interests helped him find a girlfriend (aided by a third party facilitator): "The day I moved in with a roommate, he started dating a girl. When she saw a 3D printer in my bedroom she said 'oh! My super nerdy best friend would love to talk to you about 3D printing and other nerdy shit!'"
Having somebody play matchmaker is a common theme on the thread. After all, things get even harder if the person you're into is introverted or shy as well. Who makes the first move? A lot of the time, romance relied on the person in question having an understanding friend who helped introduce them or even set them up. "A mutual friend noticed how we are basically the same person and spent considerable effort in trying to convince us to talk to each other," recalls one person. "She was right!"
And perhaps unsurprisingly, a lot of introverted people have had remarkable success in finding someone who's right for them on the internet — particularly forums and online communities where they feel comfortable enough to be themselves and share the things they're passionate about.
"We're both gamers," says one such commenter. "We were part of the same guild in an MMORPG and us along with a few buddies struck a friendship that's been lasting for years now. The buddies kept poking us about maybe liking each other, we kept denying it. One day, a few years ago, out of nowhere, while we were completing a little level together, he asked me out. I was scared, reluctant, but I said yes. Few years later and he's my future hubby."
There are even Minecraft couples out there, and if that doesn't give you hope, I don't know what will.
Philip Ellis Philip Ellis is a freelance writer and journalist from the United Kingdom covering pop culture, relationships and LGBTQ+ issues.
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 | 1,269,402 |
! Soooo good!
Doesn’t this vegan chocolate banana bread by Monica from The Movement Menu look amazing? It’s a one bowl recipe that is super easy. And Monica decided to use sprouted oat flour and coconut sugar to make it healthier. Besides, it’s completely gluten-free.
8. Vegan Blueberry Crumb Banana Bread
This vegan blueberry crumb banana by Sara from Beaming Banana is full of juicy blueberries! Sara topped it with a blueberry banana crumb that makes it even more sweet and delicious!
9. Superfood Chunky Monkey Banana Bread
This chunky monkey banana bread by Carly from Fit Living Eats is not only super delicious but also pretty healthy. Carly decided to use nutritious ingredients for this gluten-free and vegan banana bread with superfoods.
This healthy banana bread by Jasmine and Chris from Sweet Simple Vegan is date-sweetened, oil-free, and gluten-free. It’s packed with only good stuff and it makes an awesome snack or breakfast.
Maybe this isn’t your typical banana bread, but doesn’t it look delicious? This chocolate banana babka by Alexandra from Occasionally Eggs is more like a sweet cake-like bread with yeast. Alexandra used mashed bananas as a sweetener. Therefore it’s pretty healthy!
This easy marbled banana bread by Bianca from Elephantastic Vegan is perfect for leftover ripe bananas. Even though Bianca used very basic ingredients, the marbled look makes this banana bread really special!
Doesn’t this vegan chocolate banana bread by Melanie from A Virtual Vegan look like a real treat? Because Melanie wanted to make a healthier version, she used whole-grain flour and and didn’t add any butter or oil. It turned out super moist and slightly fudgy!
This vegan banana bread with Walnuts by Marlena from Where You Get Your Protein is extremely popular on Pinterest. And with good reason – it’s made with only a few ingredients and is super easy to make. Besides, it’s delicious and perfect for leftover bananas!
If you’re a fan of chocolate and fruit, this vegan chocolate chip banana bread by Hannah from Domestic Gothess is perfect for you. Hannah topped her vegan banana bread off with a blueberry glaze and dried bananas. Maybe not your typical banana bread, but it looks soooo delicious!
I LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU GUYS!
I hope you like these vegan banana bread recipes as much as I do. There are so many different ways to make banana bread! What do you think is the best vegan banana bread?
If you give any of these recipes a try, I’d love to know what you think about it. Just leave me a comment below. Your comments really make my day!
You like my recipes and roundups and want to see more? Then follow me on Facebook, Instagram, or Pinterest!
Sina – xx | 1,269,403 |
Failed Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams will not run for the U.S. Senate to replace Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-GA), who announced Wednesday that he will retire from politics at the end of the year due to health issues.
Abrams “will not be a candidate herself” for the seat which Isakson is leaving but remains committed to “helping Democratic candidates win both Senate races next year,” a spokesperson for the progressive darling told NBC News. Abrams’ announcement comes after revealing in April that she will not challenge Sen. David Perdue (R-GA) for his seat in 2020.
“I will not be a candidate for the United States Senate,” she said at the time. “The fights to be waged require a deep commitment to the job, and I do not see the U.S. Senate as the best role for me in this battle for our nation’s future.”
Isakson said in a statement he underwent surgery to remove a growth on his kidney this week and is still recovering from a July fall, which fractured four ribs. The Georgia Republican also suffers from Parkinson’s disease.
“I am leaving a job I love because my health challenges are taking their toll on me, my family, and my staff,” Isakson said. “With the mounting health challenges I am facing, I have concluded that I will not be able to do the job over the long term in the manner the citizens of Georgia deserve. It goes against every fiber of my being to leave in the middle of my Senate term, but I know it’s the right thing to do on behalf of my state.”
Earlier this year, Abrams met with several top Democrats, including Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-NY), about a possible Senate run. Abrams has also toyed with a possible presidential campaign and has said it is possible she may mount a bid up until the fall despite missing two Democrat primary debates. Earlier this month, Abrams suggested she is “open” to being the running mate to “any” of the White House hopefuls running against President Donald Trump.
“I’ve just come to the decision that my best value add, the strongest contribution I can give to this primary, would be to make sure our nominee is coming into an environment where there’s strong voter protections in place,” Abrams told the New York Times.
“I would be honored to be considered by any nominee,” she added.
Despite losing her 2018 gubernatorial bid against Gov. Brian Kemp (R-GA), Abrams still refuses to concede the race, accusing her opponent of suppressing black voters to win — even though the state saw a double-digit black turnout surge compared to 2014. Abrams, who delivered the Democrat Party’s official response to President Donald Trump’s 2019 State of the Union address, recently launched Fair Fight Action, a group aimed at combatting voter suppression. | 1,269,404 |
House Democrats from both the Judiciary and Oversight committees on Thursday asked the Justice Department's Office of the Inspector General to investigate whether Attorney General Jeff Sessions Jefferson (Jeff) Beauregard SessionsRoy Moore sues Alabama over COVID-19 restrictions GOP set to release controversial Biden report Trump's policies on refugees are as simple as ABCs MORE violated the terms of his recusal when he participated in the dismissal of former FBI Director James Comey.
“The actions of [Sessions] in collaborating directly with President Trump to fire Director Comey reflect a lapse in judgment by our nation’s top law enforcement official and appear to violate multiple promises made by the Attorney General and his aides,” the lawmakers wrote in a letter to Inspector General Michael Horowitz.
“Since the Department has failed to respond to multiple previous inquiries on this matter — despite promising to do so — we now ask that your office investigate and report back to us with any findings and recommendations you determine are warranted.”
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Sessions, who in March recused himself from any investigations into the Trump campaign, has faced scrutiny for signing a recommendation that the president fire Comey.
Democrats have argued that Sessions’s participation in the dismissal was a violation of that recusal. Democrats from both committees have pushed the Justice Department for more information on the matter.
The White House formally declared at the time that the dismissal was related to Comey’s handling of the investigation into former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham ClintonBloomberg rolls out M ad buy to boost Biden in Florida Hillicon Valley: Productivity, fatigue, cybersecurity emerge as top concerns amid pandemic | Facebook critics launch alternative oversight board | Google to temporarily bar election ads after polls close Trump pledges to make Juneteenth a federal holiday, designate KKK a terrorist group in pitch to Black voters MORE’s private email server.
But the president at the time said that the decision was linked to the FBI’s investigation into alleged ties between his campaign and Russia.
“Regardless of which is true — that the President fired FBI Director Comey because of his investigation into the Clinton campaign or his investigation into the Trump campaign — both matters were supposed to be off limits for the Attorney General,” Democrats wrote.
According to the public statement Sessions gave in March, he stepped back from “any existing or future investigations of any matters related in any way to the campaigns for President of the United States,” citing conflict of interest arising from his role in the Trump campaign.
Sessions has defended his participation in Comey's dismissal, saying that his involvement was wholly appropriate in his capacity as the attorney general.
“It is absurd, frankly, to suggest that a recusal from a single specific investigation would render the attorney general unable to manage the leadership of the various Department of Justice law enforcement components that conduct thousands of investigations,” he said during testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee earlier this month.
That reasoning, Democrats wrote, was an apparent attempt to "dramatically narrow the scope" of his recusal. | 1,269,405 |
The European Union has strongly criticised a decision by Russia to ban 89 EU individuals from entering Russia as “totally arbitrary and unjustified”.
The Russian federation circulated a list of EU citizens whom it has prohibited from entering Russian territory, including government officials and other public figures, to a number of European embassies last week. No Irish individuals are included on the list, which appears to target individuals from countries who have taken a hard-line stance against Moscow since the eruption of tensions between Russia and the European Union over Ukraine.
Polish, British, Estonian and Sweden citizens top the list, which includes high-profile figures such as the leader of the British Liberal Democrats party Nick Clegg, former Belgian prime minister and leader of the liberal group Alde in the European Parliament, Guy Verhofstadt, and senior figures working for British intelligence services.
The list also includes MEPs from a number of countries who have been denied entry into Russia over the past few months.
In a statement, EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said that the EU considered the measure as “totally arbitrary and unjustified, especially in the absence of any further clarification and transparency.”
Noting that the so-called “stop list” includes a number of MEPs, head of the European Parliament Martin Schulz said that the decision to impose travels bans was “unacceptable”: “This further diminishes mutual trust and hampers any efforts for constructive dialogue to find a peaceful and lasting solution to the current geopolitical crisis.”
Russia and the European Union have been locked in a diplomatic stand-off since late 2013, after Ukraine declined to sign an association agreement with the European Union, sparking violent protests in the former Russian enclave and leading to the Russian annexation of Crimea and ongoing conflict in the eastern regions of Ukraine.
A Russian foreign ministry official said that the ban was a response to EU sanctions against Russia.
The EU is due to reassess sanctions imposed on Russian individuals and entities last year towards the end of this month amid mixed views from member states about the merits of maintaining them. Both the US and EU have imposed sanctions on certain Russian companies and individuals, including people close to the Kremlin, as a response to the Russian annexation of Crimea and continuing tension in eastern Ukraine.
Rebecca Harms, the co-president of the Green group in the European Parliament who was denied entry into Russia earlier this year and is included on the list, said the blacklist was a “heavy blow” for EU-Russia relations, even if its confirmation was not a surprise.
“The blacklist targets European politicians who have engaged in the promotion of human rights, democracy and the strengthening of civil society in Russia and those who have supported Ukraine. Vladimir Putin evidently interprets any honest criticism of his authoritarian course as a threat to his power.”
Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte said the blacklist was “not based on international law”, while German foreign minister Walter Steinmeier said the list was damaging for Ukraine peace efforts. | 1,269,406 |
This dash-cam footage is from a fully loaded semi, driving southbound on highway 41 near Little Chute, Wisconsin. As it is a very heavy vehicle, smart driver’s notice his slow speed and pass it around, using turn signals on and everything. As the truck goes through an overpass bridge, two black SUVs pass the heavy vehicle in the left lane.
Now, we all know what the left lane serves for. If you come across a slow-moving vehicle in front of you, use the left lane to pass it around and continue on your journey driving at the maximum speed allowed. The road in front of the semi, however, seems to be full of slower vehicles, so the first SUV probably wanted to pass them all before switching lanes, but the second SUV seems to have wanted to speed things up a bit. So they did what every respectable driver on this planet hates the most - they tailgated the car in front of them.
No one wants when people “breathe down their necks", or in this case, rear bumpers. That second SUV came pretty close to the one in front, so they got what they asked for. The first SUV slams on the breaks, causing the tailgater to lose control of their car in the middle of a highway and drive through the central barrier.
The rules on the road are there for all of us. We don’t think break-checking someone is a good idea, but the driver of a SUV with plates that say “PRINSES" sure got what she asked for.
While on the subject of terrible drivers that want to bypass the rules of traffic and semis, we just have to tell you what happens when you try the opposite of “PRINSES” here. We hope we don’t have to tell you how big semis can be. Given they have to haul enormous amount of freight, semis have moving power that can be difficult to stop at a moment's notice, so you would be smart to steer clear of their path if you find yourself near them on the freeway.
This driver, however, was "fortunate" enough to have the finger shown to him by the driver of that van, just before he tries to brake check the semi. If you ignore the rudeness, all you are left to judge upon is the guy's reasoning. What was he thinking? The finger was retrieved just before the semi's momentum nudged the driver into some sense and he slammed the gas pedal! Thank goodness for that dash cam.
This other driver had it much worse and that was purely out of negligence. A semi driver had the most unfortunate thing happen to them on the highway some 2 miles outside Lewisville. They are trying to over take a caravan in the middle lane, but a silver sedan from the far right lane tries to move to the far left lane on the highway, right in front of the heavy vehicle, cutting him off! The result is not at all pleasing.
This here is natural selection at it's finest! | 1,269,407 |
author: Timothy Healey
Solar power is already less-expensive than coal in some parts of the globe, according to Bloomberg.
Bloomberg further believes that solar could be cheaper than coal just about everywhere in less than 10 years.
Right now, countries such as Chile and the United Arab Emirates have worked out deals that result in a cost for solar power that's under three cents per kilowatt hour. That's half the average for the global cost of coal power.
Jordan, Mexico and Saudi Arabia are in the planning stages for tenders and auctions in 2017, which could drop the cost even further. A few energy companies, such as Enel SpA out of Italy and Ireland's Mainstream Renewable Power, which have European experience, are looking to expand to other global markets, especially as subsidies in Europe expire.
Overall, solar power prices are down 62 percent from 2009, as costs fall across the supply chain. That could make solar cheaper than coal by 2025.
According to Jenny Chase, head of solar analysis for New Energy Finance, the average one megawatt-plus ground-mounted solar system will cost 73 cents per watt by 2025. It stands at $1.14 now, so that would be a 36 percent fall.
"These are game-changing numbers, and it's becoming normal in more and more markets," Adnan Amin, International Renewable Energy Agency's director general, an Abu Dhabi-based intergovernmental group, told Bloomberg. "Every time you double capacity, you reduce the price by 20 percent."
For the automotive industry, this could mean cheaper energy for EVs and autonomous cars. Tesla CEO Elon Musk, for example, has a vision in which trucks, buses and car-sharing networks that use autonomous cars will all be solar powered. If the price of solar power continues to drop, that obviously becomes a more appealing possibility.
"Now that Tesla is ready to scale Powerwall and SolarCity is ready to provide highly differentiated solar, the time has come to bring them together," Musk wrote earlier this year.
"Both are in the early stages of development at Tesla and should be ready for unveiling next year," Musk wrote of trucks and buses. "We believe the Tesla Semi will deliver a substantial reduction in the cost of cargo transport, while increasing safety and making it really fun to operate."
Finally, he laid out this plan:
• Create stunning solar roofs with seamlessly integrated battery storage.
• Expand the electric vehicle product line to address all major segments.
• Develop a self-driving capability that is 10X safer than manual via massive fleet learning.
• Enable your car to make money for you when you aren't using it.
Musk's plan isn't the only example of how cheaper solar power could affect the automotive industry. Solar-powered chargers for EVs are already on the market; and with falling prices for solar power, they may become more attractive to EV drivers – particularly those who have chargers in their home. | 1,269,408 |
Maharashtra has also decided to book the perpetrators of violence under various sections related to attempt to... Read More
(This story originally appeared in on Aug 20, 2018)
MUMBAI: A delegation of multinational companies ( MNCs ) have put the Maharashtra government on notice and expressed their displeasure to the state government after the Maratha agitation in Aurangabad targeted these companies and raised questions about the state being a ‘stable investment destination’.
Last Monday, a few company representatives and a CII delegation met Maharashtra industries minister Subhash Desai and government officials and made known that such kind of violence within their factory premises was unacceptable.
“We have told them that the managements abroad were asking questions about the violence, they wanted us to convey to the state that their interests are not being protected,” said one of the company officials who was part of the delegation.
The delegation told the government that the top managements were worried about the safety of their employees and equipment. Canpac and Endress Hauser were among the companies in the delegation.
“Foreign as well as domestic companies have raised concerns on the violence to the government, such incidents hurt the investment climate in the state,” said Rishi Bagla, former CII Maharashtra council chairman and a member of the delegation that met Desai.
Government officials privately admitted that the sense they got from the meeting was that the scale of violence and the lack of police action to prevent the rioters had shaken up the companies, who would now be wary to invest further here.
“The companies will not shift immediately their operations from the state after the attack, but yes, there will be a rethink from companies on further expanding their units. This incident has damaged the state’s credibility. Violence like these creates an unhealthy investment climate,” said one official.
Another official added that the incident has undone years of hard work by the state to attract investments. “Whenever our chief minister went abroad, our pitch for getting investments was a skilled workforce and a peaceful state. We can’t blame the companies for being worried with what has happened now.”
In a damage control mode and to assuage the grievances of the companies, the state has conceded a number of demands like putting more CCTV cameras on roads and other public spaces and one more police station would be sanctioned for Walunj in Aurangabad.
The government has also decided to do away with a Development Control Rule that prohibited companies from building a wall higher than two metres.
“Due to the restriction, most of the rioters simply jumped over the wall and entered the company and vandalised property. The DC rule was meant so that workers could safety exit the company in case there is an accident. We are now going to allow companies to build a higher wall,” said a state government official.
Maharashtra has also decided to book the perpetrators of violence under various sections related to attempt to murder, dacoity and other serious crimes.
| 1,269,409 |
Who do Liverpool need to sign to retain the title? Keep up with all the Reds news with our free daily newsletter Sign up Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email
A paramedic has been banned from football matches for three years after making a Nazi salute towards a German police officer at Anfield, report the Liverpool Echo.
Jason Southall was today found guilty of making the offensive gesture as Liverpool hosted Aston Villa last September.
The 44-year-old was said to have made the salute twice, with police officers and a steward claiming they had witnessed his actions.
Southall, of Coppice Road in Walsall, was seen making the gesture at the police officer’s back. She was at the match on attachment to Merseyside Police but was in her German uniform, which had Polizei written on the back.
(Image: Getty)
He initially denied making the salute and then said: “How do you know it was towards the German police officer? I could have been doing it to someone in the crowd.”
Southall then refused to leave the ground and a woman, said to be Southall’s partner, began arguing with the officials and became aggressive and attacked a police officer.
The West Midlands Ambulance Service employee told police that he’d drunk about four or five pints of lager before the game but did not usually drink as he is a paramedic. He also admitted his job made him aware that racist behaviour was unacceptable - but the Aston Villa fan denied a charge of racially aggravated harassment.
He was found guilty at a hearing at Sefton magistrates’ court today however, and given a three year football banning order as well as a £500 fine.
The German police officer he made the gesture at is said to have considered Southall’s behaviour as highly offensive.
(Image: Action Images)
Angela Conlan, Senior Crown Prosecutor with Mersey-Cheshire Crown Prosecution Service, said: “Southall made a deeply offensive gesture to a German police officer just because he thought it was amusing.
“The Nazi salute is highly objectionable gesture that is reminiscent of some of the worst behaviour of the previous century.
“It was directed at a woman who wasn’t even born at the time of the last war, just because she is German.
“Southall is a paramedic and spends his working life presumably trying to help people. Why he chose this occasion to expose a different side of his character we may never know.
“What we do know is that his behaviour was offensive and completely out of place in a football game that many people had travelled several miles to enjoy.
“The Crown Prosecution Service hopes this case shows that racist behaviour will not be tolerated wherever it shows its ugly face and however the perpetrators might try to laugh it off as harmless.”
Liverpool v Aston Villa: September 13 | 1,269,410 |
I'm my own guy, I make my own decisions.' I made that same pitch in 2012. I don't think I said anything as stupid. He's going to build a wall along the border with Mexico. Muslims are going to be barred from entering the country! He's going to kill the families of terrorists! That is just whacked—just nuts. Holy cow! It's crazy!"
Ted Cruz, currently leading polls among Republicans in Iowa, is essentially acting as Trump-lite. "He wants to build this fence also," said Johnson. "Cruz is following Trump's lead on this whole deportation idea." Johnson also shrugs off Cruz as a "social conservative who believes in personal responsibility, except for certain areas [such as abortion]," where the state should be involved.
Johnson dismissed Marco Rubio as "the quintessential politician [who] will say whatever it takes to get elected." Johnson's terms as New Mexico's governor overlapped with those of Jeb Bush in Florida. He considers Jeb "a friend" and a "nice guy." But, Johnson said, "Are we really going to have a third Bush? How much of a change would that be?"
The appeal of Ben Carson, who has no political experience, leaves Johnson baffled. "This is where the political system is totally broken," he said. "Why give any attention to Ben Carson?"
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie "still wants to lock people up for using marijuana," said Johnson, who supports an end to federal prohibition. "He's such a law and order guy, such a prosecutor." Johnson said the Christie represents the sort of thinking that leads to "mandatory sentences" that have packed the nation's prisons and have given the government enormous power over criminal defendants, who feel a need to plea bargain to avoid onerous sentences even when they are innocent.
Former Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina is "really slick," says Johnson, and "not in a positive way." Many of the statements that she makes in a very convincing way during appearances, he said, turn out to be "kind of a stretch." Johnson pointed to Fiorina's invocation of her stepdaughter's death from an overdose. Lori Fiorina, he noted, had a long history of alcoholism and addiction to prescription drugs, yet Fiorina invokes her daughter's death "as if it gives her some unique perspective about marijuana."
When it comes Rand Paul, the libertarian-leaning senator from Kentucky, Johnson has some kind words. "He's the one I would vote for out of the current crop [if I had to]," Johnson told me. "But he is a social conservative and I'm not."
Johnson is at least the second person to throw his hat in the ring for the Libertarian Party presidential nomination. A few weeks ago, John McAfee, founder of the computer anti-virus program that bears his name, announced his bid. He spoke with Reason's Brian Doherty here.
Last July, Reason TV caught up with Johnson at FreedomFest, the annual gathering of libertarians held each summer in Las Vegas. Watch now: | 1,269,411 |
Skyline vapor
Background
A previously worked on the logo for the company skyline vapour in 2014. However I was not commissioned to do a branding. The following project is a proposal I created using the same logo. The purpose of this of this project is to practice Brand Identity design skills. The brand expressed proposed here is not representative of the real company.
Process
To begin with I created my own set of company attributes and a design brief in place of an actual client.
The company is an e-cigarette company aimed at the late teens to mid twenties demographic. The company wants to position itself as a lifestyle brand within the higher end e-cigarette market. The brand therefore needs to have prestige while still maintaining a strong personal connection with its customers.
My design process involved researching this demographic as well as other brands positioned toward it. Once I had feel for possible directions I could go I brainstormed words and ideas that would evidently define the brand and it’s relationship with it’s consumers. After narrowing down the results I came up with this:
Bold
inspiring
Aggressive
High end
Quality
Sophisticated
Youthful
Modern
Urban
I then used those words to create 3 different style sets that would condense the brand into two attributes. The other brand attributes listed above will still be factored into the design however they’ll be less prominent.
1. Bold Sophisticated -
2. Aggressive Modern -
3. Bold Youthful -
My initial idea was to decide on a single style set however I used a combination of 1 & 2. The previous list of words made it’s way into certain aspects of the brand as well.
Final product
Skyline vapor print documents
Skyline vapors print assets do not include any photography. They instead follow through with a clean minimal aesthetic.The print assets give you an idea of how the extra colours three colours make the brand a little more interesting. The patterns are directly influenced by urban city architecture and cityscapes. This is play on the skyline aspect of the name. It also ties into the overall urban theme of the brand. The business card moves slightly away from the minimal style and more towards a bold approach. The approach was chosen because the business card is much to closer to print advertising and therefore needed to be more engaging.
Skyline vapor print advertising
Skyline vapors print advertising puts a heavy emphasis on the lifestyle aspect of the brand. The imagery includes well dressed, but not overly sophisticated, people within the target demographic vaping. I aimed to find subjects with outfits that's very urban and trendy. I coupled this imagery with very bold and forward/aggressive slogans and words. I felt this captured the idea of a lifestyle brand as lifestyle brands tend to focus on motivating and inspiring consumers. The photograph based print ads do not include the distinct brand pattern however they're set in urban areas to fit urban theme.
Skyline vapor web presence | 1,269,412 |
Before continuing, I'll acknowledge that moods might seem like an unsophisticated subject for serious research. They strike at random and often pass in minutes. People typically shrug them off, along the lines of "oh I'm just in a bad mood," or "my boss is in a weird mood."
But the reason moods matter is precisely that they are so present. Since humans are terrible at thinking about the future, they make lots of decisions on the basis of how they feel, here and now, rather than how they're likely to feel in the future. New Years puts a person in a forward-thinking mood, which results in hundreds on a gym membership. Birthdays encourage thinking about today, which licenses indulgence.
Moods, despite their short lifespans, shape a person's attention, his entertainment, and his choices.
Negative moods can lead to a procrastination doom loop, in which an individual perpetually delays important tasks while waiting for an angel of inspiration to visit. Negative moods can lead to other doom loops, too. Optimistic and happy people are associated with higher incomes, more successful social interactions, and longer lives. Does the physical experience of happiness confer magical health benefits? Perhaps. But a popular explanation for the happy and successful is that positive moods can make the person exquisitely sensitive to rewards in an environment. A good mood heightens the benefits of going to the gym, eating raw kale, and doing favors for friends. A foul mood makes the individual exquisitely aware of all the downsides of these activities—the sweat, and bitterness, and the hours hauling couches up flights of stairs.
But there are some moderate upsides to bad moods: They heighten attention to detail. “If attention is like a spotlight, then a good mood will widen that spotlight, while a negative mood will focus it very tightly,” said Adam Anderson, assistant professor of psychology at the University of Toronto. If attention is a filter, good feelings widen the mouth, opening up to all sorts of stimuli, which helps with free association and creativity. But "that kind of broad or diffuse attention can be detrimental in situations that demand a laser-like focus,” Anderson said. Positive moods inspire faster and more creative thoughts, but fast thinking isn't always suitable for every task. For this reason, if a day includes both brainstorm sessions and Excel work, science would advise playing happy music before the group session and transitioning to a moodier fare for the detail-heavy work.
Moods can also determine the sort of products that a person finds interesting. A recent study in the Journal of Consumer Psychology investigated how happiness affects consumer choice. There are two main flavors of happiness, the researchers said: a present-based happiness, which feels like calmness, and a future-based happiness, which feels like excitement. These flavors evolve as a person ages. One study of 70,000 instances of happiness on blogs showed the meaning of happiness evolving over time from excitement when people are young to peacefulness when they old. | 1,269,413 |
Lady Gaga enables followers to embrace their awkwardness while deepening the perceived relationship they feel they have with the celebrity
COLUMBIA, Mo. – According to recent statistics, more than 175 million tweets are sent daily, and 11 accounts are created every second on Twitter. One celebrity who boasts the highest amount of global subscribers is singer Lady Gaga who enjoys more than 40 million Twitter followers. Now, University of Missouri communication researchers have found that online social media gives users an outlet to embrace their differences and provide emotional support to others while deepening perceived relationships they feel they have with celebrities.
“Our work tends to focus on studying audiences who are maligned or consider themselves awkward,” said Melissa Click, assistant professor of communication in the MU College of Arts & Science. “In our study of Lady Gaga followers, we found that she uses social media not for promotion but rather as a communication tool with her fans. She shares personal and ‘insider’ information through social media and develops feelings of intimacy with her followers. By revealing her embrace of her own differences and unusual behaviors she allows her followers to embrace their own differences.”
Click and her team found in some cases emotional support was a matter of life or death. Researchers interviewed several fans who identified as gay, who had eating disorders, who considered themselves different or who were taunted relentlessly. They reported that Gaga instilled strength in them through her acceptance of their differences, which gave them a reason to live. In addition, the social support network Lady Gaga fosters encourages her followers to be more charitable to each other, Click said. Often fans create support communities that allow her followers to encourage and inspire others in times of difficulty.
“We found that among the more salient themes that emerged from our research was that participants’ perceived relationships with Gaga affected how close they felt to her,” Click said. “They felt that she is the voice who celebrates their differences instead of mocking them, and this was a very positive thing.”
Researchers conducted one-on-one interviews with 45 self-identified “Little Monsters,” or followers of Lady Gaga, who ranged in ages from 14 to 53, were equally male and female and who equally identified as gay or straight. Using software including Skype and Google Chat to communicate with followers from the U.S., Australia, Europe, Asia and Africa, among others, researchers asked how social media impacted their interest in and relationship to Lady Gaga. Researchers also asked interviewees about their feelings toward Lady Gaga’s social activism.
The research, “Making monsters: Lady Gaga, fan identification, and social media,” was conducted by Click and graduate students, Hyunji Lee and Holly Willson Holladay, both in the Department of Communication. Their work was published in the journal Popular Music and Society, a peer-reviewed social scientific journal. Click and her team are working on a second piece that examines Lady Gaga’s political activism and how she encourages her Facebook and Twitter followers to be more active in the political system.
--30-- | 1,269,414 |
The global climate crisis is real. Canada is warming at twice the global rate. Recent polls show the majority of Canadians are very concerned about climate change, even while unsure of carbon pricing. But while evidence of climate change is becoming harder to deny, we are running out of time to make a just transition to a low-carbon economy.
Around the world this past year, millions of students have walked out of school and dozens of global cities have declared climate emergencies. The disproportionate impact upon racialized communities and Indigenous people is well-documented.
Meanwhile, the Trudeau government purchased and forced through the construction of a pipeline and Conservative provincial governments are systematically dismantling existing environmental protections. The ballot question this October is about whether we’ll have more of the same — or worse — or whether we’re ready for real change.
To those who say taking action could hurt the economy, the response is clear: there are no jobs on a dead planet. If humanity is to survive, we must challenge powerful corporate interests that relentlessly press governments around the world to expand fossil fuel extraction.
Worldwide, governments, companies, unions, and individuals are taking real steps toward environmental sustainability. Among many important examples, we’re seeing workers and communities adopting the concept of a “just transition.” This year, Canada’s Just Transition Task Force issued its report calling for a phase-out of coal while supporting affected workers and their communities.
There’s no doubt that changing our economy will take hard work, but we do have an important guiding precedent. Four decades ago, Canadian unions challenged the accepted norm of workplace accidents and deaths by building a health and safety movement. We had to confront employers and politicians, educate our members, build alliances, fight for regulations, and win laws for the implementation of workplace health and safety committees. We succeeded in dramatically reducing fatalities and occupational disease in Ontario.
We are ready to do it again, and the Labour Council’s document Greenprint for Greater Toronto maps a path forward.
Toronto’s labour movement is committed to help make the transition. Here are three steps that could help take our society closer to a sustainable future:
Mobilize a network of activists to take the issue of climate justice to every workplace and community, explaining how failing to act now means we’ll pay much more later.
Create joint environment committees in every major workplace to help guide the transition to low-carbon operations.
Partner with racial justice and environmental organizations to help deepen society’s commitment to equity, community benefits and good jobs for all.
We need to demand more of governments and political leaders, and to call out those who are taking us backwards. Our environment — and our livelihood — is at risk. Each individual and organization has a role to play. We are called upon to build a broad social movement to fight for climate justice.
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John Cartwright is President of the Toronto & York Region Labour Council.
Read more about: | 1,269,415 |
The United Nations has cut in half a cash grant for Afghan refugees in Pakistan to return to their country, according to officials.
The reduction - from $400 to $200 - comes as a voluntary repatriation operation is set to resume on Monday, with 16,000 people based in Pakistan's Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province registered to head home.
Under the UN refugee agency’s ( UNHCR ) scheme, as many as 370,000 registered Afghan refugees repatriated voluntarily in 2016, brining the total number of returnees to 4 milion since 2002, when the scheme began.
READ MORE: Afghan refugees return home amid Pakistan crackdown
The UNHCR last November said it would end cash support to returnees in mid-December - but the grant resumed on March 1.
Dunya Khan, a spokesperson for UNHCR in Islamabad, on Sunday said the cash cut was due to funding shortages.
"We could not sustain the amount of $400 for Afghans leaving Pakistan due to budget cuts, but the money they get will at least covers their transportation cost," Khan told Al Jazeera.
Despite the announced cuts, many Afghans continued registering - even as they expressed worries about what lies ahead for them.
"The amount before [the cut] at least helped us with our basic needs during our return to Afghanistan, but something is at least better than not having money at all,” said Ilyas, an Afghan refugee in Pakistan, who sells ice-cream in Peshawar city.
"An uncertain future awaits us," he told Al Jazeera.
READ MORE: Interactive - The refugee crisis beyond Europe
Pakistan hosts 1.3 million registered Afghan refugees, in addition to nearly a million unregistered Afghans, 600,000 of whom live in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa in the border with Afghanistan.
In 2014, after a Tehreek-e-Taliban-claimed school attack in Peshawar killed more than 143 people, including 132 children, the Pakistani government announced a decision to deport registered and unregistered Afghans on the grounds of national security, accusing some refugees of posing a threat.
Since then, incidents of police abuse, beatings and extortion against Afghans has reportedly skyrocketed, prompting many to return to war-torn Afghanistan, according to US-based rights group Human Rights Watch.
For decades, the Pakistan-Afghan border was open to cross from either side without requiring passport or visa.
Millions of Afghans used it to seek refuge from war and violence in their country, fleeing the Soviet invasion in 1979, the Taliban's excesses in the 1990s and the 2001 US-led invasion in 2001.
Pakistan temporarily sealed the Torkham and Chaman crossings on February 16, after a string of suicide attacks on Pakistani soil that killed at least 130 people, but the crossings were reopened last month.
Pakistan shares a mountainous 2,500km-long border with Afghanistan, which the latter disputes. Previous attempts to fence or formally demarcate the border have been met with resistance from Kabul. | 1,269,416 |
leafsprings with bolts in the lower control arms and a set of Ridetech shocks. They attached to the front leaf spring pockets, and to brackets that bolt to the original leaf spring mounts under the rear axle housing. The brackets were bolted in and welded to the frame rails to attach the Watts link. With two mounting points on the frame, and two on the axle, the Watts link keeps the “axle centered in the car at all times,” says Spence, and “mimics a swaybar somewhat.” With a more consistent feel and linearity at the edge of adhesion, Scott is comfortable challenging his own limits and seeing just how much the rears can handle past the corner apex.
They then mandrel-bent the oval exhaust to clear the new suspension, attached a set of Spintech mufflers, and funneled everything into discreet turndowns at the end.
Underneath the exhaust resides a stainless tank from Rick’s Tanks, which is designed to handle corrosive E85.
With greater acceleration and cornering forces in mind, V8 Speed & Resto wisely retrofitted the stoppers with a set of Baer six-piston disc brakes at each corner, housed within 17×10″ BOZE forged FE wheels. With drilled 13-inch rotors, a Hydratech hydroboost braking system, and sticky Goodyear F1 tires, it had the violent deceleration required of a Pro Touring car.
Finishing Touches
The interior was as streamlined and focused as the rest of the car. The custom dash, stocked with Speedhut Revolution gauges and covered in carbon fiber applique, looked stealthy enough to pass the muster of the layman, but sharp and purposeful enough to impress the hot rodder. To wow his younger family members and provide some sporty illumination, Scott’s gauges glow blue—which happens to match the car’s exterior nicely.
Arizen Racing seats with fabric match rear seats and Ringbrothers billet door seals complete the focused cabin, though the dash-mounted Firebird emblem is the cherry atop the sundae.
Once the air cleaner had been added and the ancillaries polished, the engine bay was spacious, clean, and stylish enough to host a banquet in. Simple effective, and impressive—just like the car and its athletic stance.
With those massive wheels just barely fitting within their wells, an immaculate paint job, the hint of serious performance shown in the Baer brakes, and 600 well-harnessed horsepower at the driver’s disposal, this Firebird was both a head turner and a corner carver.
The racey parts were well-chosen and integrated intelligently, and every aspect of performance—braking, accelerating, and cornering—is balanced with the others. To the delight of those involved, it’s been the result of a long, steady, incremental build; slowly transforming into a true sports car with timeless style. | 1,269,417 |
could punch harder and more precisely with conventional weapons. By the time the BUFF made its operational debut in
June 1955 as the B-52B, Boeing already had more advanced variants under development, including the C, D, E and F models that were to form the core of Strategic Air Command’s (SAC) nuclear bomber force through the early 1960s.
Beginning in 1958, nuclear-armed SAC B-52s flew “airborne alert” to ensure the safety of a response team in the event that the U.S. was caught off guard by enemy attack. BUFF crews remained aloft 24-7 on flights as long as 26 hours, supported by multiple aerial refuelings; similar flights occurred during the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis to prevent the escalation of the superpower stand-off.
It wasn’t until June 1965 that B-52s were first used as conventional bombers, during the Arc Light bombing campaign in Vietnam. Then, during Operation Linebacker II in December 1972, B-52s
delivered over 15,000 tons of bombs across 11 days; this intensive action, in addition to General William C. Westmoreland’s saturation strikes throughout the remainder of war, is credited with bringing the North Vietnamese to the negotiating table to end conflict.
By that point, longer-ranged and more powerful “second-generation” B-52Gs and B-52Hs had been operational for 11 years, adapted to utilize a wide variety of stand-off missiles as well as conventional bombs. Both munitions were employed by the B-52 during Operation Desert Storm in 1991, wherein BUFFs flew 1,741 sorties and delivered more than 27,000 tons of bombs.
B-52 crews finally stood down on September 27, 1991 after 36 years on nuclear alert, and by May 1992 all variants had been retired except for the B-52H, which remains in service. B-52Hs
participated in the opening strikes in Afghanistan in 2001 and Iraq in 2003 and continue to fly close-air support missions alongside the much younger B-1B Lancer and B-2 Spirit.
Altogether, 744 B-52s have been produced, and while the youngest B-52 in service was built in 1962, modernization continues today with the Combat Network Communications Technology (CONECT) upgrade, a digital architecture including
display screens, computer network servers and real-time beyond-line-of-sight communication links, allowing crews to stay connected to the world throughout their mission. CONECT upgrades to the remaining 76 B-52Hs are expected to be complete by 2020; later that decade, the newly outfitted BUFFs will fly alongside their eventual replacement: the Long-Range Strike-Bomber.
Up Next: History of the Jeep Willys
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 | 1,269,418 |
Is this really the end of passwords? Apple joins FIDO Alliance Watch Now
We all use passwords. We also all suck at using them. 81% of all hacking-based security breaches can be traced back to poor passwords. So, it is that the FIDO Alliance has been seeking to replace password-only logins with secure and fast login experiences across websites and apps using the emerging standard WebAuthn Their efforts have been supported by nearly all major technology and e-commerce companies with one major exception: Apple. Now, Apple has joined FIDO.
"Passwords are like the cockroaches of the internet and companies have been trying to kill them off for years," said Merritt Maxim, Forrester Research principal security analyst in a CNBC interview. WebAuth, is a specification written by the W3C and FIDO. Its application programming interface (API) allows servers to register and authenticate users using public key cryptography instead of a password.
But Apple has always stayed a step away from the FIDO Alliance's efforts to get rid of them. Recently, that's been changing.
In 2018, Apple's WebKit browser team added 'experimental support' for WebAuthn. By December 2019. Apple adds native support for FIDO-compliant security keys, like the YubiKey, using the WebAuthn standard over near-field communication (NFC), USB, or Lightning in iOS 13.3.
This works because WebAuthn enables users to register and authenticate on websites or mobile apps using a public key cryptographic "authenticator" instead of a password. This can be a hardware security key, like those from Yubico; a biometric ID derived from your PC or smartphone's fingerprint sensor, or a device-based authentication program.
Apple still trails other companies. Rolf Lindemann, co-chair of FIDO's Security Requirements Working Group, explained, "Currently, there is full FIDO support in three major platforms: Google Android and Chrome, Microsoft Windows and Edge, and Mozilla Firefox." While third-party security and authentication programs, such as the Nok Nok S3 Suite, supported WebAuthn logins on mobile Apps on iOS and Apple Watch Apps, "some organizations have been hesitant to deploy FIDO because there was no [major] public commitment from Apple to FIDO. Now with the addition of Apple, all major platform vendors in the FIDO Alliance prove that the world is finally ready for this technology."
Lindemann believes that now that Apple is getting a first-hand look into where FIDO is heading, it can help direct it. This will "result in support for passwordless authentication that best fits the Apple ecosystem."
Hopefully, now that Apple, a major player in the mobile space, has committed publicly to supporting FIDO and WebAuthn, we can finally start taking a step forward in putting passwords into the grave. Their day as a serious way of securing your information is long done.
Related Stories: | 1,269,419 |
Daniel Ricciardo says a lack of pressure to compete with team-mate Sebastian Vettel made his first Red Bull season “very easy”.
After Mark Webber retired at the end of 2013, his fellow Aussie Ricciardo would be called up by the Austrian outfit for 2014 and would make an immediate impact, qualifying P2 for the season-opening Australian GP and finishing there before his disqualification for a fuel flow breach.
His team-mate, Vettel, came into that season on a run of four-straight Drivers’ Championships, with four-consecutive Constructors’ titles to go with it – but 2014 marked the start of the turbo-hybrid era and a new dominator in the sport – Mercedes.
Ricciardo largely outperformed his decorated team-mate, claiming P3 in the Drivers’ Standings while Vettel, 71 points adrift and winless in that season, would sign a bumper deal to switch to Ferrari for 2015.
The 29-year-old reflects on the excitement he felt back then in what was his first opportunity to drive for a top team after stints with HRT and Toro Rosso, but also how eager he was to learn from the top dog in Formula 1.
“I remember that it was exciting. I had the chance to drive for a top team and compete with the then current and four-time F1 world champion,” Ricciardo told Motorsport-Total.
“If I could get close to Vettel, people would say ‘This Ricciardo is pretty good’, there was no real pressure, it was just an option for me. It was cool, it was good, I enjoyed it.
“Apart from the results, I wanted to learn from Seb, I know how meticulous he is and how much he invests in the sport, he lives and breathes Formula 1 and racing.
“I did not want to copy him, but to take some things from him that I found useful, but I wanted to retain my own style.”
Skip forward to 2019 and the roles have almost been reversed for Ricciardo who joined Renault after failing to see off Red Bull’s hot prospect Max Verstappen.
When Ricciardo was that protege looking to make a name for himself he knew that Vettel was “not always considered a good loser”, but says they had a good relationship.
“In a way, the year with Seb was very easy because, as I said, I had no pressure,” he explained.
“I would have expected that it affected Seb harder and he was not always considered a good loser, but we had a good relationship with a good level of respect.
“I looked up to Seb in many ways, he had achieved a lot, but I never thought he was better than me.”
Follow us on Twitter @Planet_F1 and like our Facebook page. | 1,269,420 |
08/01/18 — capitol
The tomcat server’s documentation suggests using a custom compiled manager daemon called jsvc from the commons-daemon project.
Most modern linux systems uses systemd to manage it’s server processes and it has roughly the same capabilities as jsvc and much more.
To run tomcat on my machines I use a simple systemd service file that starts the service as the tomcat user and sets some basic java settings.
[Unit] Description=Apache Tomcat Web Application Container After=syslog.target network.target [Service] Type=forking Environment=JAVA_HOME=/usr/lib/jvm/java-8-oracle/ Environment=CATALINA_PID=/opt/apache/apache-tomcat/temp/tomcat.pid Environment=CATALINA_HOME=/opt/apache/apache-tomcat Environment=CATALINA_BASE=/opt/apache/apache-tomcat Environment='CATALINA_OPTS=-Xms512M -Xmx1024M -server -XX:+UseParallelGC' Environment='JAVA_OPTS=-Djava.awt.headless=true -Djava.security.egd=file:/dev/./urandom' ExecStart=/opt/apache/apache-tomcat/bin/startup.sh ExecStop=/bin/kill -15 $MAINPID User=tomcat Group=tomcat UMask=0007 RestartSec=10 Restart=always [Install] WantedBy=multi-user.target
Binding to port 80 or 443
It’s also possible to give tomcat permission to bind to ports below 1024 without running it as root by adding this line in the [Service] section
AmbientCapabilities=CAP_NET_BIND_SERVICE
And also change the port="8080" or port="8443" setting in server.xml.
Limiting memory, cpu or I/O
Systemd gives you control over how much cpu, memory and I/O tomcat can use, which can be useful if you run multiple micro-services on the same server and want to isolate them from each other.
This setting for example limits the amount of cpu available to 20% of one processor:
CPUQuota=20%
All options are described in the manual here.
Systemd uses the cgroups system in the linux kernel in order to control resource usage.
Security capabilities
Systemd also have a lot of other capabilities to lock down the service and reduce the effects if your application gets hacked. You can
Isolating services from the network
Service-private /tmp
Making directories appear read-only or inaccessible to services
Taking away capabilities from services
Disallowing forking, limiting file creation for services
Controlling device node access of services
as explained here. | 1,269,421 |
is to strengthen the global response to the threat of climate change by keeping a global temperature rise this century well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase even further to 1.5 degrees Celsius. The Paris Agreement does not include international shipping, but IMO, as the regulatory body for the industry, is committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions from international shipping.
Full text of Initial IMO Strategy on reduction of GHG emissions from ships - download the submission to the Talanoa Dialogue here.
______
Background on IMO’s contribution to the global efforts to address climate change
IMO’s contribution to the global efforts to address climate change features prominently in IMO’s Strategic Plan.
In 2011, IMO became the first international body to adopt mandatory energy-efficiency measures for an entire industry sector with a suite of technical and operational requirements for new and existing vessels that entered into force in 2013. By 2025 new ships built will be 30% more energy efficient than those built in 2014.
The mandatory data collection system for fuel oil consumption of ships, which entered into force in March 2018, will provide robust data and information on which future decisions on additional measures, over and above those already adopted, can be made.
The mandatory data collection system is intended to be the first in a three-step approach in which analysis of the data collected will provide the basis for an objective, transparent and inclusive policy debate in the MEPC, under a roadmap (through to 2023) for developing a “Comprehensive IMO strategy on reduction of GHG emissions from ships”. The roadmap was agreed in 2016.
Support for implementation of IMO’s energy-efficiency measures is provided, in particular, through two major global projects executed by IMO:
• The Global Maritime Energy Efficiency Partnerships Project (GloMEEP Project) is aimed at supporting the uptake and implementation of energy efficiency measures for shipping, thereby reducing greenhouse gas emissions from shipping. The GloMEEP project was launched in 2015 in collaboration with the Global Environment Facility and the United Nations Development Programme. A "Global Industry Alliance to Support Low Carbon Shipping" (or GIA), launched in 2017 under the auspices of the GloMEEP Project, is identifying and developing solutions that can support overcoming barriers to the uptake of energy efficiency technologies and operational measures in the shipping sector. Website: http://glomeep.imo.org/
• The global maritime technology network (GMN) project, funded by the European Union, has established a network of five Maritime Technology Cooperation Centres (MTCCs) in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Latin America and the Pacific. Through collaboration and outreach activities at regional level, the MTCCs will focus their efforts during 2018 and beyond to help countries develop national maritime energy-efficiency policies and measures, promote the uptake of low-carbon technologies and operations in maritime transport and establish voluntary pilot data-collection and reporting systems. Website: http://gmn.imo.org/
___________ | 1,269,422 |
Nirmala Sitharaman (right) will present the Union Budget on July 5.
Highlights PM Modi spoke about boosting agriculture, exports, manufacturing
Said India needed to encourage research, tourism sectors
New government's first budget set to be presented on July 5
Agriculture, manufacturing and exports deserve significant attention, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Tuesday in his first speech in parliament after his re-election, days before his government will present the union budget for the financial year ending 2020.
"In the first three weeks, this government has taken a lot of important decisions. These decisions we have taken will benefit farmers, traders, youngsters and other sections of society," he said, speaking in parliament in response to the customary motion of thanks on the President's address.
"Agriculture is the backbone of our economy. But we have to leave our old ways and embrace things like micro-irrigation. We have to bring down inputs costs. We have to hold the hands of our farmers," he said.
"Why does the corporate world have no investment in agriculture? We have to inspire them, we have to create new policies for them. Making tractors is not enough. Food processing, warehouses, cold storage need corporate investment," PM Modi said.
Talking about the government's flagship manufacturing scheme, he said, "A lot of fun has been made of Make In India. But can someone deny that there should be Make In India in this country? We have 250 years of experience in making weapons. When it became independent, India had 18 ordnance factories. China has zero - no experience, no factories. Today, China exports arms and ammunition all over the world and we are the world's biggest importer. We have to bring our country out of this."
"We have to see how we can make India one of the top five economies in the world. How can India get ahead in exports, Make In India, startups, tourism," he added
Expressing an ambition to widen India's footprint in research and development, the PM spoke of a new motto: "Jai kisan (farmers), jai jawan (soldiers), jai vigyan (science) and now jai anusandhan (research)."
"Let it be our collective endeavour to make India a five trillion dollar economy," he said.
"We have to modernise the infrastructure in our country. Even Rs 100 lakh crore investment in infrastructure will be less. But we have to ahead with such vision... We have to increase the scale of skill development," he said.
PM Modi also spoke about water conservation and measures to increase availability of water. "Our motto should be water for every home... That is why we have formed the Jal Shakti Ministry," he said.
The first budget of PM Modi's new government will be presented in the parliament by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on July 5. On February 1, the government had presented an Interim budget for spending till the new government took charge after the general elections. | 1,269,423 |
Trump calls Pelosi 'third-rate politician' as Democrats walk out of meeting
Trump tweet about Pelosi Trump tweet about Pelosi Photo: Twitter.com Photo: Twitter.com Image 1 of / 5 Caption Close Trump calls Pelosi 'third-rate politician' as Democrats walk out of meeting 1 / 5 Back to Gallery
The first meeting between President Donald Trump and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi since the start of an impeachment inquiry ended quickly Wednesday, with the Democrats present walking out after the president allegedly called her a "third-rate politician."
With Pelosi standing next to him at a press conference, Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer said Trump used the insult. Pelosi said her response to Trump was, "I wish you were a politician, Mr President. Then you would know the art of the possible."
Pelosi added she thought Trump "had a meltdown, sad to say," and he was "very shaken up" by a House vote earlier in the day. A bipartisan resolution to condemn Trump for pulling troops out of northern Syria passed 354-60. The escalating conflict in Syria was the reason for the meeting between Trump and Democratic leaders.
Pelosi on Trump and the resolution condemning Trump's decision: "The size of the vote, more than 2 to 1 of the Republicans voted to oppose what the president did, probably got to the president because he was shaken up by it... What we witnessed... was a meltdown."
Via CBS pic.twitter.com/maDQkkZX4b — Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) October 16, 2019
Immediately after the meeting, Rep. Steny Hoyer told members of the press the president suggested Democrats might like ISIS because "some of ISIS are communist and you might be happy with that."
"This was not a dialogue, it was sort of a diatribe," Schumer added.
Pelosi said later she thought the president called her a "third-grade politician."
Trump tweeted several photos of a tense-looking meeting, one of them with Pelosi standing up and pointing her finger toward Trump while many others looked down or away. "Nervous Nancy's unhinged meltdown!" the tweet said.
Pelosi responded by making that photo her Twitter cover picture.
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy defended the president, saying of Pelosi, "To storm out of a meeting, which I've watched time before, during other crisis [sic], is really not – the ability of a speaker, or the style of how a Speaker should carry herself out."
Pelosi said the impeachment inquiry of Trump, which launched over allegations of pressuring Ukraine’s leader to investigate political rival Joe Biden, did not come up at Wednesday’s meeting.
The Washington Post reported that Trump told the Democrats, “I hate ISIS more than you” and repeatedly said “see you at the polls” before the leaders walked out.
Greg Keraghosian is an SFGATE homepage editor. Email: [email protected] | 1,269,424 |
The criminal life of a former police officer who recorded rap videos has come to light after she was convicted in court for failing to act honestly as a public sector employee.
Hayley May Greenwood faced the Adelaide Magistrates Court today where she was found guilty of withholding relevant information from her patrol partner when a suspect they were investigating was an associate of her drug-dealing partner.
Greenwood is already serving jail time after being arrested in 2015 during Operation Calypso and charged with abuse of public office, trafficking a controlled drug, aggravated theft and possessing a prohibited item.
The criminal life of a former police officer Hayley May Greenwood who recorded rap videos has come to light after she was convicted in court for failing to act honestly as a public sector employee
She was sentenced to four and a half years jail for the offences.
She faced the Adelaide Magistrates Court today after being charged for failing to act honestly and asked the court to show leniency.
Magistrate Brett Dixon said any leniency shown towards Greenwood would be 'inappropriate' The Advertiser reported.
'A conviction is a form of punishment and serves as a manner of communicating the public’s condemnation to others who may offend in a similar way,' he said.
He said the public had a right to know that Greenwood had been'marked' and to demand the 'utmost honesty and integrity from its law enforcement officers'.
Mr Dixon said behaviour such as Greenwood's needed to be dettered and had she not already been serving jail time he may have given her a good behaviour bond.
Instead he imposed a fine of $2100.
She faced the Adelaide Magistrates Court (pictured) today where she was found guilty of withholding relevant information from her patrol partner when a suspect they were investigating was an associate of her drug-dealing partner
Her hidden life all came to light when she inadvertently left her hand bag, which was packed with drug paraphernalia, on a busy city street.
Police combed through the evidence to help build their original case against Greenwood.
In the process of court proceedings it was also revealed that in addition to working as a drug-dealer and a police officer Greenwood was'moonlighting' as a prostitute at a brothel.
Mr Dixon granted an application by The Advertiser to lift a suppression order from Greenwood's initial hearing which had banned the exposure of Greenwood's third life as a 'prostitute'.
She went by the alias of 'Chase' when she would moonlight at a brothel in Findon with photos of her being posted to the businesses website.
She originally sought the suppression order when the Sunday Mail first reported on her 'third life', on the grounds that it was 'only an allegation', but when she made a submission for leniency last month her lawyers had to confirm the allegation.
During that trial she admitted to the court she had been involved in dealing more than 6.6g of methylamphetamine and $1000 cash while she was still employed as a police officer. | 1,269,425 |
Competitive HOTS and resolution
Hey guys, Zergling here. You can recognize me from Grandmaster level streams in HL, from the melee flex player from King's Gambit that lost in Game 7 vs No Tomorrow, or from people an active player in many HOTS streams. I have played since beta in this game and this open phase is the first phase that I actually tried to be competitive in this game.
I went through a few teams that didn't fit me till I came across King's Gambit that I turned around, with my partner in crime Diesel. I turned a team that wasn't relevant, 13th spot into securing 7th seed in Open Playoffs and off to win Playoffs with a 4-0 sweep. I put in a lot of work into the team in terms of shotcalling/drafting/rotations/mock drafts/preplanning. Unfortunate that King's Gambit was unable to close out the series vs NT and I reached out for tryouts. I got a few offers and tried out with multiple teams. I ended up on a team. I made it, I was ecstatic. My hard work I put in payed off! I was going to prove myself in the scene.
Turns out the worse can happen to some people who try the hardest. I won't mention any names or organizations involved, but some people felt I didn't deserve to be in HGC over other tryouts. They had grudges towards me and started rumors and accusations of who I am as a person and as a player. The organization that verbally welcomed me and agreed to have me on their team doesn't like drama. They knew I was innocent. I had a lot of people support me, but in the end it didn't matter. They didn't want to deal with this drama cause of one's word against mine and didn't want to have people question the organization. I've never felt so framed in my life of what I represent and who I am as a person. The disgusting acts of a few people in the competitive heroes scene that would do such things as to target me to not want me on a HGC roster is beyond me. Leaves a sour taste in my mouth.
I got shafted. I made it and then taken away too quickly. I opened a Christmas present with no present inside. All I have to say, is this isn't going to stop me. There is some people in the competitive HOTS scene that don't deserve to be involved or have an impact. It's unprofessional and opened my eyes to the shady people that gives the name NA deserves, NA LUL.
I just want to play the game and prove myself as a player. This only gives me more drive to prove to these people that I deserve a spot in a scene and they won't hold me back. This only makes me want HGC that much more. I want to thank everyone that helped me on shape me as a player that I am today and expect to see more of me of the future.
Reply · Report Post | 1,269,426 |
The impeachment inquiry of President Trump enters a new phase this week with open hearings before the House Intelligence Committee on Wednesday and Friday. Democrats are investigating whether the president betrayed his oath of office and placed his personal interests above national security through his communications with the Ukrainian president. Mr. Trump is the fourth U.S. president to face an impeachment inquiry.
How to watch the impeachment hearings this week
The House impeachment inquiry centers around a phone call Mr. Trump made to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on July 25, in which he urged Zelensky to investigate potential political opponent Joe Biden and his son, Hunter Biden, who sat on the board of Burisma, a Ukrainian natural gas company, while the elder Biden was vice president.
U.S. diplomats have testified before Congress behind closed doors that the president's political appointees and his personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, were attempting to trade a White House meeting for the public announcement of investigations into the Bidens and any role Ukraine had in election interference in the 2016 presidential election.
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Text messages exchanged by the diplomats and testimony by several administration officials also mentioned that the White House had paused U.S. military aid funding to Ukraine over the summer as leverage for the public announcement sought by Giuliani and others.
Who is Marie Yovanovitch?
Yovanovitch was a U.S. ambassador to Ukraine who was removed from her post in the spring. She said Giuliani worked to have her removed from her post because he believed she was standing in the way of investigations into 2016 election interference and the Bidens. Her testimony lays out the workings of the "irregular" backchannel of foreign policymaking led by Giuliani.
Who is Bill Taylor?
William Taylor is the top U.S. diplomat to Ukraine, the chargé d'affaires. In his closed-door testimony in October, he said U.S. aid to Ukraine had been explicitly tied to Ukraine's willingness to investigate Mr. Trump's political rivals. He also spoke of an "irregular channel" of policymaking including Giuliani, Energy Secretary Rick Perry, U.S. Ambassador to the E.U. Gordon Sondland and Kurt Volker, special envoy to Ukraine.
According to Taylor, there was a concerted effort by what he referred to as this "irregular, informal channel of U.S. policy-making" to pressure Ukraine to commit to opening investigations into unproven allegations of Ukrainian interference in the 2016 U.S. election, as well as into the gas company Burisma.
Who is George Kent?
George Kent is the deputy assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs, and he provided closed testimony echoing Taylor's statements to Congress. He said three officials had declared themselves in charge of Ukraine policy in May: Sondland, Volker and Perry.
Kent also said Giuliani had engaged in a "campaign of slander" with no basis in fact against U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch.
| 1,269,427 |
Since the end of the Little Ice Age, the ice fields of Patagonia and other parts of South America have been shrinking as global temperatures have increased. A number of studies have investigated these changes, which can affect the communities downstream that rely on the glaciers for a steady water supply.
“The focus is usually on the bigger ice fields, such as the Northern Patagonia ice field, the Southern Patagonia ice field, and on tropical glaciers,” said Mauri Pelto, a glaciologist at Nichols College. Many researchers focus on the larger ice fields because they have seen a larger mass loss.
But melting ice is not limited to the largest and most frequently studied ice fields. One example is Patagonia’s Sierra de Sangra—an icy stratovolcano spanning the border of Chile and Argentina, about 50 kilometers east of the Southern Patagonia ice field. The glaciers of Sierra de Sangra cover about 270 square kilometers of land (compared to 13220 square kilometers for the Southern Patagonia ice field).
Pelto decided to look at glaciers in Argentina “primarily because there is less information on them.” First he considered the areas most likely to show visual change, which often occurs in the vicinity of lakes; glaciers that terminate in water lose ice not only from their surface, but also through calving. By comparing imagery from Landsat satellites, he found that the glaciers of Sierra de Sangra are retreating.
The top image, acquired by the Thematic Mapper on Landsat 5, shows the glaciers of Sierra de Sangra on January 14, 1986. The second image, acquired by the Operational Land Imager (OLI) on Landsat 8 shows the area on January 14, 2015. Snow and ice are blue in these false-color images, which use different wavelengths to better differentiate areas of ice, rock, and vegetation. Turn on the image comparison tool to see the glaciers retreat.
“The glaciers are not as large as those of the bigger ice fields,” Pelto said. “Retreat is less in terms of distance, but not in terms of percent of glacier length.” Of the four glaciers that he examined, the southeast outlet glacier retreated the most—about 1200 meters (4,000 feet), or 25 percent of its length. The north outlet retreated by about 700 meters (20 percent); the south outlet by 700 meters (10 percent); and the east outlet by 300 meters (5 percent).
“The changes on the four glaciers in comparison to their overall length are equal to or larger than those of the Northern and Southern Patagonia ice fields,” Pelto said. For comparison, the San Quintin and Steffen glaciers of the Northern Patagonia ice field lost 7 and 12 percent of their lengths, respectively.
For more information about the area, read Pelto’s original blog post here.
NASA Earth Observatory images by Jesse Allen, using Landsat data from the U.S. Geological Survey. Caption by Kathryn Hansen. | 1,269,428 |
the near future isn’t likely.
Otherwise, the federal government could encourage states and localities to adopt choice policies, perhaps through grants. (There is, of course, a tension between the idea of the federal government intervening to encourage states and cities to adopt school vouchers programs and the idea that we need more local control of education, but Trump is not really the kind of policy detail guy who is bothered by this kind of thing.)
3) The Education Department: gone, except for "a little bit of tentacles"
On several occasions, Trump has said the federal Education Department should be either seriously cut back or completely eliminated.
"I may cut Department of Education," he said in October. "I believe Common Core is a very bad thing."
"The Department of Education is massive, and it can be largely eliminated," he told Sean Hannity in April. "Now, you maybe want to have a little bit of tentacles out there, make sure everything — but largely we can eliminate the Department of Education."
Admitting that "a little bit of tentacles" might be necessary is actually kinder than several of his Republican rivals were. Bashing the Education Department is a proud Republican tradition. Still, if Trump were to eliminate it, here’s how he might go about it.
4) We don’t win anymore (on education)
The final point Trump makes on education is that the US isn’t getting a good deal and isn’t winning anymore — that the nation spends too much money on education and doesn’t see results.
"We're No. 1 in terms of cost per pupil by a factor of, worldwide, by a factor of many. No. 2 is so far behind, forget it," Trump said at a rally in Tulsa in January. "So we're No. 1 in the world in terms of spending. We're number 28 in the world in terms of, where do we stand? We have Third World countries that are ahead of us."
This isn’t perfectly accurate, but for Trump, it’s pretty close.
In 2011, the most recent year with data available, Austria, Luxembourg, Norway, and Switzerland spent more money per pupil on education than the United States, but those countries aside, the US spent more than most of the developed world.
And on an international test of math skills, 15-year-olds in the US ranked somewhere between 23rd and 29th. (Though 27th, not 28th, is considered the best estimate, Trump is within the margin of error so he isn’t, technically speaking, wrong.)
These are pretty common talking points among both Republicans and Democrats. The difference is that they’re usually used in service of a larger argument about education and the economy, or to support broader education reforms. Trump, though, is just using education to fuel his argument that America is failing and needs him to make it great again.
Donald Trump hates lies, but can't tell the truth | 1,269,429 |
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It may or may not surprise you, but the top 10 most expensive cities in buy gas in North America are all in B.C.
According to statistics released and compiled by gasbuddy.com, all 10 communities are in the Lower Mainland.
The data, compiled on August 8, paints a rather depressing picture of how much it costs to drive a vehicle in B.C.
Coming in at number one was Delta, with prices at 143.6 a litre.
Co-founder of gasbuddy.com, Jason Toews, said these results do not surprise him at all. “I would have been surprised if B.C. wasn’t at the top of the list,” he said.
The results are compiled from data submitted by users of the website, sharing the price of gas in their communities. While some areas in the province may have higher gas prices, gasbuddy only tracks communities with more than five gas stations so as to look at the bigger picture around the country.
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Toews said the high gas taxes in Vancouver are what gives B.C. its high ranking. “They are high to begin with in Canada,” he said, “much higher than in the U.S.”
According to the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, taxes make up 29 per cent of the pump price for gasoline, and 23.5 per cent for diesel. Alberta has the lowest gas tax, along with the lowest pump price, and B.C. and Quebec have the highest pump prices.
Toews said when looking at the numbers of their website, it is often a battle between B.C. and Quebec. However, with an additional local tax in Greater Vancouver and Victoria, drivers in those areas are hit the hardest.
“Gas prices are always higher in the summer months,” he added. “All prices will shift lower, but B.C. will still be very high.”
Top 10 most expensive cities to buy gas in North America (based on August 8 numbers):
1. Delta – 143.6
2. Surrey – 143.5
3. Pitt Meadows – 143.3
4. North Vancouver – 143.1
5. Maple Ridge – 142.18
6. Burnaby – 142.12
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7. Vancouver – 142.06
8. New Westminster – 142
9. Richmond – 141.6
10. Coquitlam – 141.1
The cheapest place to buy gas in North America is Danville, VA, with a price of 83.7 a litre.
The cheapest place to buy gas in B.C. is Kamloops with a price of 123.2 a litre.
The cheapest town to buy gas in Canada is Spruce Grove, Alberta with a price of 109.6 a litre. | 1,269,430 |
If real estate mogul Donald Trump goes through with skipping Thursday's Republican debate, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz will likely benefit as the event's headliner. Cruz has continued to sit behind Trump in the national polls, and a strong showing could help bridge the gap. Amid the presidential buzz, however, it's easy to forget that Cruz — like some presidential candidates with both parties — is still a senator, first and foremost. Based on his Senate voting record, and overall impressions on Capitol Hill, his colleagues and pundits consider his tenure a mixed bag.
Since Cruz began his term as senator in 2013, and his lack of appearances have been in question. He has attended 17 of 50 public Armed Services Committee hearings, the second-worst record among senators in the group, and also missed 21 of 135 roll call votes in the first three months of 2015, which was the third-worst record in the span, according to Politico. In defense of his poor record, Cruz has attributed it to his presidential campaign, which has taken precedent.
"When you're putting together a campaign for president, like I've been, that entails a lot of time," Cruz said, according to the Huffington Post. "It's not like I've been at the beach sipping a piña colada."
Similarly, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio has been criticized for his Senate record, as he missed the second-most roll call votes during that time frame, Politico reported. As a result, the two senators have pointed to one another's poor attendance records as an indicator they might be the best fit for commander in chief, with Rubio saying Cruz has repeatedly voted against the Defense Authorization Act — a bill that's almost universally supported by GOP senators.
In fact, according to the Hill, Cruz has only had one bill passed by the House and the Senate, and signed into law by President Barack Obama, which was a legislation meant to prevent foreign U.N. representatives from entering America if there are any suspicions that they are terrorists or spies.
It's not just Cruz's lack of appearances that have irked his colleagues — many senators do not like his approach and polarizing persona on Capitol Hill. According to the Atlantic, this was exemplified in his retaliation of a bill from Utah Sen. Mike Lee, which would have given more flexibility in prison sentencing and prison rehabilitation programs.
"I for one, at a time when police officers across this country are under assault right now, being vilified right now, when we're seeing violent crime spiking in our cities across the country, I think it would be a serious mistake for the Senate to pass legislation providing for 7,082 criminals to be released early," Cruz said, according to the Atlantic.
It wasn't just the blatant and unexpected attack, but rather, that Lee might be his closest friend in the Senate. "Going into that hearing, we definitely thought it was in the realm of possibility he would come out against it, just not with that kind of colorful language," Conn Carroll, Lee's communication's director, said, according to the Atlantic.
Story continues | 1,269,431 |
How the right justifies cutting 1.3 million Americans — including 20,000 veterans — off emergency unemployment insurance
The economic case for emergency unemployment insurance is pretty simple.
When the long-term unemployment rate is high, offering unemployment benefits to those who have been out of work for six month puts money immediately back into the economy, as there is little-to-no chance the unemployed will save that money. This consumer demand helps create new jobs or, at least, keeps more people from being put out of work.
The argument against emergency unemployment insurance assumes that people do not want to work. They’re not taking jobs because they’re enjoying the cream of that sweet government teat. Cut them off and watch. They’ll get a job!
Rand Paul — the man who apologized to BP because the president was mean to them after they were responsible for the biggest oil spill in American history — said extending these benefits does a “disservice to these workers.”
The people who are being cut off of unemployment insurance this weekend don’t feel as if Senator Paul is doing them a favor. But trust him. Big government — informed by Austrian economics — will save them.
People receiving unemployment insurance must, by penalty of law, be looking for a job. There are two people looking for work for every available job. The long-term unemployment rate is double what it’s been at any point when we cut off emergency insurance. And Republicans seem to be arguing that forcing a 50-year unemployed accountant to take a job at McDonalds is good public policy.
Still Republicans have refused to extend the benefits. And they will continue to do so, unless the program is “paid for,” by starving some other program that helps the needy, as defense programs, no matter how wasteful, are off limits.
The easiest way to fund the $25 billion it would take to extend the program, Jon Lovett points out, is to end America’s welfare program for investors — the capital gains and dividend tax breaks that provide a $120 billion a year giveaway to those who make their money by playing with money.
Those who oppose paying the unemployed not to work seem to have no problem paying rich people not to work. The vast majority of the benefits of the capital gains and dividend tax breaks goes to the richest 1 percent.
If there’s a “moral hazard” in paying people to not to work, how about the moral hazard of subsidizing speculation and encouraging risky high-yield investment?
Inequality has skyrocketed as we’ve offered special tax treatment for investment income and the stock market is constantly hitting new highs even as millions are out of work.
But of course, everyone knows it was the unemployed who bundled trillions in crappy mortgages, sold them to suckers and crashed the global economy.
The least we can do is cut them from the meager sustenance we offer them at Christmas time.
[Image via James Lee | Flickr] | 1,269,432 |
on his way to track practice—but, she also told them that there was a third witness present. That third witness was “Takera” [which is not her real name, but the one that is used in Debbie's testimony].
According to Debbie, Takera asked Hae for a ride after school, but Hae turned her down, claiming that she couldn’t as she had to go pick up her cousin.
Takera’s name crops up several times throughout Debbie’s statement to police—there’s a second incident mentioned, where Debbie claims that she, Ayisha, Takera and her sister all went to talk with a crisis intervention team that was sent to the school following Hae’s murder.
Which begs the question—why the fuck wasn’t she contacted and interviewed…. by the police, the prosecution, the defense?!! Well, turns out, the first mention of Takera’s name occurs on page 31 of the police documentation for the case—and, the paperwork that was handed over to the defense team ends on page 30.
Finally, there’s the mystery of what happened to Hae’s pager. Police never pulled the records for her pager—which would seem to be the most basic of school boy errors when investigating a murder victim’s last movements and interactions. The pager has never been found, it was not with Hae when her body was discovered, nor at her home or in her car.
What happened to it? Did the person who murdered Hae contact her during the day, and then dispose of the pager after they killed her in order to hide their tracks?
So many goddamn unanswered questions!
Chaurdry concludes:
What we know now is that Hae’s day looked a lot different to what we thought it did. Although she had school, as everybody said, she certainly wasn’t doing her filming for channel 36 on Jan 13...that filming took place the same day she wrote that note to Don, which happened to be the same day she had a match. None of that happened on Jan 13…it all happened on Jan 5… Other things we know—that we’re pretty certain about— is that at some point during the day, Adnan asked Hae for a ride after school, she initially said yes, and then later, in front of a couple of different people, she said no, I cant give you that ride… so that takes us to Debbie and Tikarra—we’ve heard a lot from Debbie… her police statement, her testimony at two trials… but, we’ve never heard from TiKarra, none ever contacted her, not the police, the prosecution, the defense…but, she may have been one of the last people to see Hae alive…
So, where does Undisclosed go next? To pick apart the account of Jay’s day... of course. | 1,269,433 |
than best efforts), but for certain applications which are sensitive to latency (e.g. VOIP and video), they need a little help. If these strict net neutrality rules are put in place, it will likely deter the development of applications and content that require improved performance/prioritization/delivery.
The counter argument to this—the one put forward by advocates of an open Internet—is that scrapping net neutrality rules is precisely the move that would hamper innovation.
In a recent interview with Time, Sen. Franken noted that growing levels of consolidation have created a handful of powerful tech companies that could easily afford to pay whatever tolls ISPs throw at them—Google, for example, currently has over $57 billion of cash on hand. Smaller, upstart firms hoping to take on the big guys in the same space would have difficulty breaking into the market because they couldn’t afford the same fees.
Google could handle having to pay Comcast to ensure that YouTube videos load instantly, for instance. But for a less well-funded competitor—even one that offered a superior product—Comcast’s fees might be a deal-breaker.
So, how important is speedy delivery on the Internet? Well, the New York Times reported in 2012 that even a 250 millisecond delay in loading a website is enough for users to start abandoning it in droves.
Additionally, since the cable industry is one prone to creating natural monopolies, customers faced with declining speeds on certain sites often don’t have the ability to easily switch to a competitor that would otherwise offer a comparable level of service.
“The idea of net neutrality is not to have the government ‘regulate the internet,’” Franken said. “It’s to keep the internet open, so that we still have the innovation and investment we’ve had in the past.”
That both sides’ arguments revolve around promoting online innovation shows just how much every politician in America wants to be able to claim credit for allowing the next Google to sprout in his or her backyard. The best way to get there is, as always, subject to debate—and that debate is sure to go on indefinitely.
This legislation isn’t the first time that Cruz has protested the breadth of the FCC’s regulatory authority.
Last year, he single-handedly stalled the Senate’s confirmation of Tom Wheeler as the Commission’s chairman. Cruz’s put a hold on Wheeler’s confirmation vote because he didn’t want the FCC to have the ability to enforce the DISCLOSE Act, a bill that, if passed, would have required organizations that put out political ads to publicly identity their larger donors. Cruz eventually lifted his hold after meeting with Wheeler and learning that enforcing theoretical campaign finance laws was?not a priority” for the cable industry’s former chief lobbyist.
H/T Washington Examiner | Photo by Gage Skidmore/Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0) | 1,269,434 |
Former Metro Police Sheriff Bill Young says that poor training and a lack of discipline has led to a number of police shootings in Las Vegas that might have been prevented. And if he were still in charge, he says, he wouldn’t be afraid to take the police union on in court.
Those are strong words coming from anyone, especially Young, who was a lifelong police officer before serving as Metro’s sheriff from 2002-2006. Today, he works for Station Casinos and is a civilian for the first time in his professional life.
Young’s also has questions about the most recent Las Vegas Metro police shooting of Gulf War Veteran Stanley Gibson.
“It appears that this shooting has some problems," he says, one of which was that Gibson was unarmed when he was shot and killed. "My biggest concern at this point...were all the resources called into play that could've been?"
"Time is always on your side when you have a situation where you have an individual who is barricaded,” he says, adding that from reports, it appears Gibson was sitting in an unmoving vehicle when the shooting occurred. "From where I sit today, this doesn't seem to be the most prudent course of action.”
“I think the [Sheriff Doug Gillespie] needs to question why the officer had a long-gun or a rifle in this kind of situation," Young says, adding that rifles should only be used in specific situations. This, he says, was certainly not one of them.
Support comes from
Young says that part of the problem with Metro is the attitude of the police union. They view this situation as an “Us vs. Them” situation, and it’s not, he says.
“"I think that the police union looks at this from a completely different perspective,” Young says. “ I don't think they get it. I don't think they get this community.”
As a city employee, Young says, it’s any policeman’s job to be accountable to the public for his or her actions. "I think you owe them to answer questions about your performance at work."
Young added that the inquest system has been “blown up” by the union, and so will likely never be used again in Clark County.
So far this year, 12 people have died in police shootings. That’s 12 more than there ever should be, Young says.
“95 percent of our officers have never shot their weapon in the line of duty. They have the courage to stand in the line and not overreact,” he says, adding that the idea that all shootings are bad is as untrue as the fact that all shootings are good.
"The current sheriff is a good leader and he will respond to this,” Young says.
—Erin Dostal
_____________________________________________
GUEST
Bill Young, Metro Police Sheriff, 2002-2006 | 1,269,435 |
As a government contractor, you should already know about the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA). Basically, they provide supplies to all branches of the U.S. armed forces. They also handle excess supplies and their disposal. The branch that handles these tasks is a called the DLA Disposition Services which used to be called the Defense Reutilization and Marketing Office (DRMO).
What kind of opportunities are there for government contractors for this branch of the DLA?
That’s what this blog post is going to cover. We’ll go over:
The Functions of the DLA Disposition Services
Finding Contracting Opportunities
Working with the DLA in General
From DRMO to DLA Disposition Services
It all began back in 1972 when a congressional report recommended centralizing the disposal of Department of Defense (DoD) property. This was for the sake of better accountability thus, the Defense Supply Agency (now the DLA) created the Defense Property Disposal Service in Battle Creek, Michigan. In 1985, its name was changed to the Defense Reutilization and Marketing Service (DRMO), and then in 2010, it was given its current name. Currently, they have a presence in 16 foreign countries, two U.S. territories, and 41 states.
The DLA Disposition Services handles the DoD’s excess property with the taxpayer in mind. Whenever they can, they will try to reutilize items across different branches of the military and federal agencies. Sometimes they’ll donate their equipment to state and local governments as well as law enforcement agencies. Other times, they will auction off items to the public. They also perform recycling services and the disposal of hazardous materials.
Finding Opportunities
If you work in hazmat disposal, you will find plenty of opportunities with the DLA Disposition Services. However, like any other U.S. government office or agency, there’s a whole variety of products and services they need. In the past, they’ve issued solicitations for things such as equipment maintenance, fuel, and even sign language interpreters. If you are interested in finding opportunities with the DLA, you can find them right here.
Working With the DLA
In order to pick up these types of opportunities, you’re going to need to begin by doing two things. The first is registering in the System for Award Managment (SAM). Anyone wishing to work as a government contractor or get grants from the U.S. government has to be properly registered in this system. It is possible to get this registration done yourself, but for saving time and avoiding various fees, you can consult a third party government registration firm.
The second thing you need to take care of is getting registered in the DLA Internet Bid Board System (DIBBS). This is an online portal in which government contractors can submit quotes and proposals for DLA contracts. The process is fairly simple, but you need to be registered in SAM before you register on DIBBS. | 1,269,436 |
Global warming has the potential to "completely destabilize" the planet, cautioned a top military leader, as nations increasingly respond by erecting "walls and fences" rather than seek out a "global solution" to address the coming tide of climate refugees.
The stark warning came from Major General Munir Muniruzzaman, chairman of the Global Military Advisory Council On Climate Change (GMACCC), a panel of current and former military leaders who study the security implications of climate change, whose latest publication was presented earlier this week at the Hague Roundtable on Climate and Security in the Netherlands.
Among the group's findings, Muniruzzaman explained to the U.K.'s Independent, are that the risks of climate change are becoming "all-pervasive," with the impacts "becoming so severe they hold tremendous conflict potential."
As evidence, Muniruzzaman pointed to events, such as India and Pakistan's ongoing row over water rights and the drought and crop failures that helped fuel the Syrian civil war, as well as estimates that as many as 30 million Bangladeshis could lose their homes by 2050 as a result of sea level rise.
Painting the climate crisis as a global problem that warrants a global solution, Muniruzzaman admonished western governments that have responded to the current refugee crisis by erecting barriers, which he derided as "narrow nationalistic instincts," to restrict populations in need of food, water, and shelter.
"I'm very strongly of the opinion that walls are never a solution," he continued. "You cannot build walls to stop people when they want to go to safety."
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"What has become more difficult now is we have boxed ourselves into the Westphalian system of states," he said. "That is in conflict with nature, with the movement of people...we need to find a common ground."
"People have moved before. Environmental changes have forced people to relocate themselves historically," Muniruzzaman continued.
"We need leaders with vision...we have to have a global solution to the problem, this is a civilizational problem," he added. "If we want to solve [these problems] with narrow nationalistic instincts, we will be adding more problems, not solving them."
The comments were made just weeks before global leaders are set to meet at the United Nations climate summit in Marrakech, Morocco, where Muniruzzaman indicated he wanted to see more "action" from signatories in regards to pledges made under the Paris climate agreement.
"I would like to warn everybody we are way behind schedule to trying to find a solution to the problems we can see. In most cases we have been shying away from the problems we can absolutely identify and see," he said. "For a long time, we have been talking about the issues, but on the ground we don't see much action. As a soldier, I have a more action-orientated approach." | 1,269,437 |
D.C. Votes Overwhelmingly To Become 51st State
Enlarge this image toggle caption Susan Walsh/AP Susan Walsh/AP
Voters in the District of Columbia passed a measure on Tuesday in favor of petitioning Congress to become a state in the union.
79 percent of voters cast votes in favor of the ballot measure, which splits the district into a residential state with a small federal district in the middle of it for government buildings and monuments, as we have reported.
The newly approved measure had four parts:
agree that the District should be admitted to the Union as the State of New Columbia approve of a Constitution of the State of New Columbia to be adopted by the Council approve the State of New Columbia's boundaries agree that the State of New Columbia shall guarantee an elected representative form of government.
Now that it has passed, the petition will go to Congress, which has the power to permit or deny it. D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser told the Washington Post she would move quickly and deliver a petition for D.C. statehood to the president-elect and congressional leaders by Inauguration Day.
"This is what I've heard from D.C. residents all over the city.... They want to be treated like every American. They want two senators," Bowser told the Post. "We need equality, and the only way to get there is with statehood."
Residents of the District of Columbia currently do not have full voting rights. As NPR's Ken Rudin explained in a 2010 blog post:
"People who live in the nation's capital — at least most of them anyway — pay their taxes. But they don't have voting representation in Congress. They do get three electoral votes in the race for president. But there is nobody for them in the Senate, and in the House, there is a delegate who can vote in committee or on procedural matters that don't involve a final vote but cannot vote on the floor."
The proposed "State of New Columbia" would grant residents the right to full congressional representation under a new state Constitution that will be drawn up as a result of the referendum.
But the outcomes of the presidential and congressional races on Tuesday could affect whether Congress and the next president approve D.C.'s petition.
The Washington Post notes:
"Partisan politics have long made D.C. statehood a non-starter with Republicans in Congress.... Democrats outnumber Republicans in the District by a margin of more than 2 to 1. That means that if it were allowed to become a state, the District would probably elect two Democratic senators and a Democratic member of the House, improving odds for Democratic control of both chambers for decades to come."
In 2015, Trump said on NBC's Meet the Press that, when it came to the question of statehood, he would be in favor of "whatever's best for them," referring to the people of D.C.
"I would look at a number of things," he said. "And something would be done that everybody would be happy." | 1,269,438 |
broker exhibited a list of approximately 500 applications at present on file from responsible colored people looking for homes to purchase; and no matter how small a flat is, it is usually rented to from eight people and up [sic], who sleep in shifts. If a responsible mortgage corporation, building and loan or otherwise, composed of colored people could be established it would aid rehabilitation and the turnover of all properties.”
How much the HOLC maps contributed to these processes—segregation, urban flight, suburbanization—is an ongoing question for historians. Amy Hillier of the University of Pennsylvania has shown that C and D grades did not prevent loans; for instance, 60 percent of HOLC’s loans in Chicago went to C- and D-grade areas (though that is a lower percentage than the area of the city given those grades). Her research on Philadelphia found that “lenders did not categorically redline areas that HOLC colored red” in the city, though interest rates were higher (within a narrow range of four to six percent citywide). Hillier also questions whether the HOLC maps were a primary cause of housing discrimination, rather than part of a complex mix of cause and effect.
They may be as much or more an indicator of conditions as an influence on them. But even merely as indicators, the patterns are striking.
“Whether it’s slum clearance and public housing, or running HOLC or FHA, what they’re doing is institutionalizing, ratifying those local biases and local decisions about who gets capital [and] who should be homeowners, and then, with subsequent programs throughout the 20th century, there’s facilitation of and subsidies for suburban dispersal to the low-density fringe,” Winling says. “It’s definitely not deterministic. In some places, these central areas can still get some forms of capital. But, it’s basically placing the thumb on the scale in favor of movement out towards the suburbs for those of middle-class professional status and means.”
Winling hopes that the site will allow researchers to tease out more of the implications of HOLC’s maps to the development of the American city, especially ones that, unlike Chicago, have not been closely studied.
“Peoria versus Atlanta, versus Charlotte, versus a place like Portland, Oregon … there have not been significant studies of these places. History happened in these places too, and in some ways, the release of the archive is a way of engaging with the public—[giving] people resources to do some of this research on their own city,” Winling says. “One of the ironies of this program is that the Chicago concentric-zone model was, in some ways, imposed or used to frame the way that HOLC and FHA and midcentury social scientists thought about all cities. That model, for Chicago, doesn’t work; it obscures as much as it reveals for a lot of cities.”
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| 1,269,439 |
I’m perusing Public Policy Polling’s new data and I wish I could say I couldn’t believe what I saw on page 5, but I’d be lying. 30% of Republicans want to bomb the fictional city of Agrabah from Disney’s Aladdin. 57% aren’t sure if they want to bomb it:
In short, 30% of the GOP wants to bomb this terrorist:
These people want us to start a war they clearly know nothing about because they’re that fucking scared of brown people. Imagine for a moment that Agrabah was a real place with no ISIS presence and nothing but innocent people. 30% of Republicans would’ve just said to bomb it anyway and 57% wouldn’t be sure. They wouldn’t know anything about the politics, the economy, the geography, or even where it is on the planet. But it sounds all Muslim, and that’s good enough to think its hypothetical citizens deserve to die and their infrastructure should be crumbled by our hands (and that we should spend mountains of money that could be spent on building our own infrastructure or on education to do it).
America, a shining light of responsibility. The international “good guy with a gun.” And these rubes wonder why people from other nations don’t like us. You want to know how terrorist groups begin? Often it’s when innocent people are bombed thus creating resentment at America.
I can at least sympathize with the unsures. Maybe they haven’t seen Aladdin and assume Agrabah’s a real country they don’t know about. Ok.
And before any readers jump on our high horses, 19% of Democrats supported bombing Agrabah as well, with 46% unsure:
We asked the Agrabah question to Dem primary voters too. They oppose bombing ‘it’ 36/19, while GOP supports bombing ‘it’ 30/13 — PublicPolicyPolling (@ppppolls) December 18, 2015
You want to know the real biggest threat to America? It’s the same biggest threat to humanity: most people have what can only be described as shit for brains and are way more passionate about their opinions than they are about the research they put into those opinions.
And that sword cuts both ways. That’s why things don’t get better. That’s why our leaders are often dumb enough to ignore scientists on scientific matters to indulge their own layman’s opinion. And that’s why the populace doesn’t catch on or hold them accountable. The fact of the matter is there’s a lot of people out there who care way more about cultivating confidence in their opinions than accuracy. And on top of it, they’re afraid to say, “I don’t know.”
In short, this is why we can’t have nice things. | 1,269,440 |
As 2017 has come to an end it’s time to review what’s going on in downtown Clayton and what’s in the queue for 2018. Clayton may be a small city of just 16,500 residents condensed within a quaint 2.5 square miles but don’t let this those modest figures fool you. This county seat has more development going on per capita than anywhere in the midwest. Let’s begin:
The Ceylon
25 North Central Avenue
Status – Completed
Project Overview 6 stories
124k total sqft
121 units
30 alcove Units
38 one bedroom units
43 two bedroom units
1 guest suite
13k sqft retail
145 space detached garage
Two Twelve Clayton
212 S. Meramec
Status – Completed
Project Overview 376k total sqft
26 stories
250 units
20 studios
110 one bedroom
80 two bedroom
10 three bedroom
10k sqft retail
212 space attached garage
Chapman Plaza
Shaw Park
A beautifully manicured new entrance to Shaw Park. The $4 million project was made possible by the generous donations from the Chapman Family, the Clayton Century Foundation and Barry – Wehmiller. More info on Chapman Plaza in our previous story.
The Barton
8500 Maryland Ave
Status – Under Construction
Project Overview
5 stories
274k total sqft
229 units
141 one bedroom
74 two bedroom
14 three bedroom
5k sqft retail
352 space attached garage
Regions Bank
8321 Maryland Avenue
Status – Under Construction
Project Overview
2.7k sqft bank
3.5k sqft retail
Centene Phase 1
Phase 1 Hanley Tower, Parking Structure and Performing Arts Center
Project Overview
4.4mil sqft (all phases)
1.4mil sqft office
218k sqft residential
100k sqft auditorium
96k sqft retial
283k sqft mechanical
2.1mil sqft parking
St. Louis County Library Replacement
7821 Maryland Ave
Status – Under Construction
Shaw Park Apartmensts
8049 Forsyth
Status – Project pending final approvals
Project Overview
22 Stories
458k sqft
228 units
17 Studio
120 One bedroom
91 Two bedroom
8k sqft retail
324 space attached garage
Maryland School/Centene University
7501 Maryland Avenue
Status – Project pending final approvals
Project Overview
Rehab of former Maryland School
Centene University
Centene Children’s Center
Forsyth Point
8015 Forsth
Status – Conceptual
Project Overview | 1,269,441 |
First lady Melania Trump's spokeswoman pushed back on the assertion that she "believes her husband" about porn star Stormy Daniels's allegation of a 2006 affair.
Rudy Giuliani, President Donald Trump's outside attorney, suggested she took her husband's word on the matter.
"I don't believe Mrs. Trump has ever discussed her thoughts on anything with Mr. Giuliani," her spokeswoman said.
The spokeswoman for first lady Melania Trump pushed back Thursday on the assertion from President Donald Trump's outside attorney, Rudy Giuliani, that she "believes her husband" about porn star Stormy Daniels's allegation of a 2006 affair.
"I don't believe Mrs. Trump has ever discussed her thoughts on anything with Mr. Giuliani," her spokeswoman, Stephanie Grisham, told The New York Times. Reached by Business Insider, Grisham said she had nothing more to add.
On Wednesday, Giuliani said the first lady doesn't think the president had an affair with Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford. Giuliani, the former New York City mayor and US attorney, made the comment at the "Globes" Capital Market conference in Tel Aviv.
"She believes her husband, and she doesn't think it's true," Giuliani said.
Giuliani responded to Grisham's comment on Thursday evening, saying he "did not discuss" Daniels's allegation with the first lady.
"She shouldn’t ever be a witness" in any case involving the Daniels hush-money payment, Giuliani told Business Insider, adding that "it was my opinion" that Melania believes her husband.
"Because I believe the Daniels woman has changed her story at least three times and is not credible," Giuliani continued.
At the center of the controversy involving Daniels's allegation of an affair with the president is a $130,000 hush money payment Trump's longtime lawyer, Michael Cohen, facilitated to the porn star just weeks before the 2016 presidential election.
Cohen is now the focus of a criminal investigation in the Southern District of New York into whether he violated campaign-finance laws or committed bank fraud.
Daniels, meanwhile, is suing Cohen and Trump in California, seeking to void that nondisclosure agreement, and last month filed a motion to revive that lawsuit. On Wednesday, she filed a new lawsuit in California court alleging that he former attorney, Keith Davidson, who helped ink the hush money agreement, had betrayed her and became a "puppet" for Trump and Cohen while the attorney still represented her.
Cohen and the White House have denied that an affair took place. Trump has not spoken to whether or not he had the affair with Daniels, but did tweet last month that the allegation was "false" in a tweetstorm following Giuliani's revelation that he reimbursed Cohen for the hush-money payment. Cohen originally said he was not reimbursed.
"Rudy is making it up as he goes along," Michael Avenatti, Daniels's lawyer, tweeted along with the statement from Melania's spokeswoman. | 1,269,442 |
, VEB says that they met with Kushner in his capacity as a businessman from his company: The White House said Kushner was acting as a Trump adviser -- not as a private developer -- when he met with Gorkov. "He was a conduit and to -- to leaders and that's until we had a State Department, a functioning place for people to go," said White House press secretary Sean Spicer. VEB confirmed the meeting with Kushner in a statement to CNN, though described Kushner in his role as head of Kushner Companies, not as a representative of Trump. --The White House said Kushner was acting as a Trump adviser -- not as a private developer -- when he met with Gorkov. "He was a conduit and to -- to leaders and that's until we had a State Department, a functioning place for people to go," said White House press secretary Sean Spicer. VEB confirmed the meeting with Kushner in a statement to CNN, though described Kushner in his role as head of Kushner Companies, not as a representative of Trump. Read more.
March 29, 2017 -- Sources close to Kushner tell CNN his meetings with Gorkov and Kislyak were not about sanctions: When Kushner voluntarily appears before the Senate intelligence committee, he will describe his interactions with Russians during the transition as a point man "looking for the right person to engage with on Russia," and nothing more, according to a --When Kushner voluntarily appears before the Senate intelligence committee, he will describe his interactions with Russians during the transition as a point man "looking for the right person to engage with on Russia," and nothing more, according to a source familiar with what transpired. According to this source, neither of Kushner's meetings -- with the Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak and with Russian banker Sergey Gorkov -- were about sanctions, which Russian banks have been lobbying against since they were imposed in 2014.
May 25, 2017 -- Outlets report that Kushner is now a focus of the Russia investigation: The FBI's criminal probe of Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election is increasingly touching on the multiple roles of Kushner on both the Trump campaign and the Trump transition team. Points of focus that pertain to Kushner include: the Trump campaign's 2016 data analytics operation; his relationship with former national security adviser Michael Flynn; and Kushner's own contacts with Russians, according to US officials briefed on the probe. The FBI's criminal probe of Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election is increasingly touching on the multiple roles of Kushner on both the Trump campaign and the Trump transition team. Points of focus that pertain to Kushner include: the Trump campaign's 2016 data analytics operation; his relationship with former national security adviser Michael Flynn; and Kushner's own contacts with Russians, according to US officials briefed on the probe. Read the full story here
May 29, 2017 -- Reports emerge that the FBI is closely scrutinizing Kushner-Gorkov meeting: The FBI The FBI is scrutinizing the meetings Kushner held with Kislyak and a follow up meeting with Gorkov, said a US official. One element that is of interest to investigators is the different explanations that Gorkov's bank and the those around Kushner gave for the purpose of the meeting. | 1,269,443 |
BIRMINGHAM, AL (April 20, 2019) – Birmingham Legion FC battled Swope Park Rangers to a 0-0 draw at BBVA Compass Field on Saturday, April 20. Despite a majority of the possession, more total shots, and even the first nice weather day of the inaugural season, the ball simply never found the back of the net.
There was just one change to the Birmingham starting XI that won in Saint Louis last weekend. #16 Daigo Kobayashi got the nod in the midfield next to Mikey Lopez, and the team came out in a slightly shifted 4-2-3-1 formation after forward Brian Wright returned to MLS midweek. The change helped the flow of possession for Legion FC, but quality chances in front of goal dipped.
Swope Park stayed compact and organized at the back, especially as the game wore on, limiting Legion FC to just three shots on target, all in the first half. The defenders in black and gold also had a solid outing, lead from the back by goalkeeper Matt VanOekel’s six saves. Head Coach Tommy Soehn mentioned having consistent starters along the backline as being the key to the team earning its first shutout.
“They’ve been very consistent the last two games. You like to see that part of your group grow because that’s the part of the field that you send messages. With everything ahead of you, you can organize, and Matt [VanOekel]’s done a good job the last two games, with saves, but he’s also a calming force back there.”
VanOekel on feeling more comfortable each game playing behind that unchanged back four:
“The longer you play with guys, especially still as an expansion organization, we’re still getting to know everybody. Every single time you get to play with them you feel a little bit more comfortable. I understand what [#22] Mathieu [Laurent] is going to do, I know what [#3 Kyle] Fisher is going to do in these situations, so I feel like we play off of each other extremely well and it’s showed over the last three games.
I think it’s a step in the right direction, and we want to keep getting more and more shutouts. Shout out to those guys [#12 Eric Avila, Fisher, Laurent, #33 Kyle Culbertson] they were big today, and I don’t keep the ball out of the net without those guys working their butt off for 90’ minutes.”
Box Score:
1st Half 2nd Half BHM 0 0 SPR 0 0
Birmingham Legion FC will continue its inaugural season next weekend at home versus Loudoun United FC on Saturday, April 27 at 7:00PM CT at BBVA Compass Field. Tickets are available at bhmlegion.com/tickets or by calling the Legion FC Ticket Office at 205-600-4635. | 1,269,444 |
Just as I love reading cookbooks I also love going into grocery stores frozen sections and looking at their prepackaged meals for ideas. I recently found a package of Polenta Provencale with Peas and Spinach in a Spicy Cream Sauce. I took a picture of the ingredients which included creme fraiche and cheese and set out to make my own. Not sure what it should have tasted like but it turned out delicious. This is not a low-fat meal by any means but if you have friends that think they couldn’t live without dairy this dish might change their mind!
I had made extra so I would have left overs for lunch but Hubby wasn’t going to let that happen. He has been craving Alfredo sauce for a long time and this definitely filled that void. I had this butterfly pasta for a while that the Little Vegan had really wanted to use so I opted for that instead of the polenta.
Notes:
*The little vegan liked the blended raw portion of the sauce and ate it over her pasta.
*If you don’t want the spice leave out the cayenne.
*As is the spice was very mellow, adding flavor rather than bite. If you want more of a bite add more but I would recommend doing it a little at a time.
*I would recommend sticking with garlic powder rather than fresh garlic for its subtle flavor.
Ingredients:
2 cups heavy cashew cream
1 roma tomato
1 tbs miso
2 tbsp white balsamic vinegar
2 tbsp nutritional yeast
1/4 cup Braggs liquid aminos (tamari would work)
1 tbsp olive oil
1/4 cup diced sweet onion
1 carrot thinly sliced
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp basil
1/4 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/8 tsp or more of cayenne (optional)
1/2 cup diced red, yellow or orange bell pepper
1 cup frozen peas – defrosted
1 cup frozen spinach – defrosted
2 tbsp vegan butter
1 tbsp flour
1 lb pasta
Directions:
Put ingredients from cashew cream to Braggs in blender and blend until creamy. Set aside.
In a large frying pan saute onion, carrot, garlic, basil, thyme, salt and cayenne until carrot is tender and onion is translucent (about 10 minutes.)
Start water for pasta and cook once it is ready.
Add bell pepper, peas, spinach and butter to the onion mixture. Once butter has melted add flour and stir in gently as to not smash the peas. Cook for 10 minutes on medium-low. After 10 minutes reduce heat to low and add cashew cream mixture and stir gently until well blended. Once pasta is finished serve with sauce.
Like this recipe? Consider backing our Kickstarter. Click here. | 1,269,445 |
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan threatened Thursday that his country could “just open the gates and send 3.6 million Syrian refugees into Europe” if the European Union classifies his military’s ongoing assault on Syria as an “invasion”.
Erdogan, in a speech to ruling party officials in Ankara, also announced that Operation Peace Spring so far has killed more than 100 Kurdish fighters in northern Syria, whom Turkey views as terrorists allied with a Kurdish insurgency within its borders.
“Hey European Union, if you call this operation… an invasion, then we could just open the gates and send 3.6 million Syrian refugees into Europe,” the Middle East Eye quoted Erdogan as saying.
MORE THAN 150 KURDISH FIGHTERS REPORTED DEAD AS TURKISH TROOPS LAUNCH AIRSTRIKES ON SYRIA
But Thursday was not the first time Erdogan made this threat.
In early September, Erdogan told the same group of politicians that he would be forced to “open the gates” and allow a route for Syrian refugees to travel into Western Europe unless a deal was reached with the U.S. by the end of the month to help resettle some migrants in a so-called “safe zone” within Syria.
“We will be forced to open the gates,” Erdogan said at the time. “We cannot be forced to handle the burden alone.”
2 ISIS-LINKED BRITISH CAPTIVES IN SYRIA TAKEN INTO US CUSTODY, OFFICIALS SAY
More than half of Syria’s population has fled the country as a result of the conflict between President Bashar al-Assad's government and multiple opposing factions, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has reported. About 6.6 million refugees left Syria since 2011 — about half of whom settled in Turkey, which borders Syria from the north.
Yet the European Union said Thursday that the Turkish offensive in Kurdish-held areas of Syria is setting back any hope for progress toward ending the conflict.
"We believe that new armed hostilities would further undermine the stability of the whole region, would exacerbate civilian suffering, would provoke further displacements, would add another obstacle to the very difficult U.N.-led political process and would, that is also very important, threaten the progress that was achieved by the global coalition to defeat" ISIS, spokeswoman Maja Kocijancic said.
CLICK HERE FOR THE ALL-NEW FOXBUSINESS.COM
EU foreign ministers will discuss the crisis next Monday in Luxembourg before EU leaders pick it up again during their two-day summit meeting starting next Thursday.
The bloc released a statement Wednesday calling upon Turkey “to cease the unilateral military action.”
The Turkish invasion was launched three days after President Donald Trump opened the way by pulling American troops from their positions near the border alongside their Kurdish allies.
Fox News’ Danielle Wallace and the Associated Press contributed to this report. | 1,269,446 |
a complicated story, but in the hands of a good Media Relations Excretion it can be turned into a wonderful example of the company’s strengths. First, Care UK was paid £21.9 million over five years to do orthopaedic surgery – hip and knee replacements, that kind of thing – but you only did £15.1 million worth of work. (The local NHS Medical Director saw the trick, complaining: “The problem we have got is that they cherry-pick; they don’t take any patients with complicated conditions”. I guess the joke’s on him.) The NHS eventually realised it was getting a bad deal, and things weren’t looking good for Care UK. But then the NHS bought the treatment centre from you for £8.2 million, a lovely gesture. And finally the NHS signed a new 30 year contract to run the centre with… Care UK! (As an aside, it is important from a media management perspective not to spoil this tale of triumph-from-the-jaws-of-lucrative-defeat with any reference to the several lawsuits brought by local patients claiming that their surgery went wrong.)
As an example of what I could bring to the company I would like to propose a new corporate motto: ‘Care UK – Providing less, for more’. These words came to me when I was thinking about Manchester, where last year the NHS paid you £2.7 million for work that was never done at your Clinical Assessment and Treatment Centre. According to a parliamentary report, the services you provide up there are between 7 percent and 12 percent more expensive than equivalent services in local hospitals. Providing less for more – it’s a record that really ought to be publicised.
And Care UK should be proud of its talent for cost-cutting, like the plan to use more nurses and healthcare assistants in your GP surgeries because doctors are too expensive. Your managing director, Mark Hunt, describes this as “workforce efficiency on skill mix”. As a Meddling Relations Executive I would advise him to ditch the jargon and tell it as it is. Patients might get a worse service, but at least the company is making more money and that’s good for the economy. We’re all in this together, as someone once said, in jest. I’m convinced that if Care UK followed my strategy it would solve the serious problem of patients accidentally opposing the private take-over of GP surgeries through confusion and surfeit knowledge, like when those blasted Keep Our NHS Public campaigners scuppered the Care UK health centre in Euston by threatening court action.
Be bold. Be proud. Be shameless. That’s the approach I would bring to the job, and I hope you like my initial ideas. Please be sure to let me know when and where the interview will take place (the formalities must be gone through, I understand). I trust that I will hear from you soon.
Yours sincerely,
Alex Nunns | 1,269,447 |
You've probably read about antibiotic resistance at some point, but sometimes it's hard to stress just how important this issue is, especially when it feels like a far off problem.
So how about this – each year, over 23,000 Americans die because of bacteria that is resistant to antibiotics.
According to a new study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), last year, nationwide tests discovered 221 instances of 'unusual' germs - bugs resistant to all, or most antibiotics tested on it.
This is no longer a far-off problem – it's something hospitals are fighting right now.
"Unusual resistance germs, which are resistant to all or most antibiotics tested and are uncommon or carry special resistance genes, are constantly developing and spreading," the CDC team writes for their in-house journal, Vital Signs.
"Lab tests uncovered unusual resistance more than 200 times in 2017 in "nightmare bacteria" alone."
Nightmare bacteria are bacteria that are either nearly, or fully untreatable.
The study found that one in four samples sent into the lab for testing had bacteria with special genes that allowed them to spread resistance to other bacteria.
Not only that, but in facilities that had these bacteria with unusual genes, about 1 in 10 symptomless people who were screened had at least one resistant bug.
These people can pass on the resistant bacteria, effectively becoming a silent carrier of an illness.
"CDC's study found several dangerous pathogens, hiding in plain sight, that can cause infections that are difficult or impossible to treat," said CDC Principal Deputy Director Anne Schuchat.
So, what can we do? Many researchers are working on developing more antibiotics, or ways of stopping bacteria without antibiotics, but the CDC is urging hospitals and healthcare providers to stay on top of the problem as well.
"As fast as we have run to slow [antibiotic] resistance, some germs have outpaced us," Schuchat said to Kaiser Health News.
"We need to do more and we need to do it faster and earlier."
The paper recommends rapid identification of bacteria to check for resistance, completing infection control assessments, and testing those without symptoms who may also carry and spread the germs.
This is on top of the advice already provided by the CDC to do with correct use to antibiotics, both in prescribing, and taking them - for example, not using antibiotics when you have a viral infection like the common cold or the flu.
But there is some good news as well - the CDC lab network "is working at an absolutely high level of effectiveness," said William Schaffner, from the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine to Kaiser Health News.
"It's identifying problems with great precision and initiating the appropriate response with the local health department and hospital staff."
"That's the 'good news spin' bun around a scary hot dog," he added.
Let's just hope we find a better solution hot dog ASAP.
The research has been published in Vital Signs. | 1,269,448 |
Giulio Andreotti: Ex-Italian prime minister dies Published duration 6 May 2013
image copyright AP image caption Giulio Andreotti was known for his political cunning
Giulio Andreotti, one of the most prominent political figures of post-war Italy, has died aged 94.
Mr Andreotti was Italian prime minister seven times between 1972 and 1992. He led the Christian Democrat party, which dominated Italian politics for decades.
He was dogged in later years by allegations of corruption and Mafia links.
He died at home in Rome. He was reported to have suffered heart and respiratory problems in recent years.
Rome's Mayor, Gianni Alemanno, called Mr Andreotti "the most representative politician" in recent Italian history.
But others saw him as an arch political manipulator.
Another former Prime Minister, Massimo D'Alema, said he was "a highly disputed figure... for his conception of power".
Mr Andreotti entered the Italian parliament in 1946 and remained there for more than 60 years, before seeing out his days as a senator-for-life.
He had a reputation for cunning. He managed to find and meet the Pope as an eight-year-old after sneaking away from a Vatican tour group.
He later became one of the founding fathers of the post-war Italian republic, says the BBC's David Willey in Rome.
He was a junior minister at the age of 28, and went on to serve as either prime minister or a senior minister in the many frequently changing Christian Democratic coalitions that held power almost continuously between 1946 and 1992.
The party then lost power and collapsed.
'Kiss of honour'
He was strongly anti-communist, pro-American and supportive of Nato.
He was known as a pro-European who committed Italy to European integration and helped forge the way forward to a single currency.
He was one of the most prominent figures of the "years of lead" during the 1970s and 1980s, when hundreds of people were killed in political violence.
And he himself faced a string of allegations of links with corrupt financiers and top criminals.
He was accused by a supergrass of sharing a "kiss of honour" with the Mafia's "boss of bosses", Toto Riina, at a secret meeting in 1987.
And he was tried for allegedly ordering the murder of a journalist who had threatened to publish details of his alleged Mafia involvement.
His acquittal was subsequently overturned by an appeals court, which sentenced him to 24 years in prison - before that ruling, too, was overturned.
However, in 2004, Italy's top appeals court did uphold a verdict that he had "consciously and deliberately cultivated a stable relationship" with Mafia bosses.
But he was not formally convicted because the offence had lapsed under Italy's statute of limitations.
And he remained a senator and an influential political figure until his final years, not least because of his close ties with the Vatican. | 1,269,449 |
A new education policy to “correct” the education system, which follows a "colonial" mindset, will be brought out in December, Minister of State for Human Resource Development (Higher Education) Satya Pal Singh said today.
He said threadbare discussions were held on the new education policy, which is in its final stages.
"The NDA governments new education policy is in its final stages, and the same will be out in December. The policy envisages correcting the education system that has followed a colonial mindset," the minister of state for human resources said.
After Independence, most academicians, unfortunately, followed the footsteps of British and western scholars and "deliberately" denigrated Indian culture, he said.
The Minister said the biggest challenge facing the education system and government was how to "decolonise" the Indian mind, and added that the nation has to keep pace with the world in this field.
Some issues to be addressed are - improving the quality of education at the primary level, making higher education affordable and ensuring more people have access to education, he said after inaugurating the National Academic meet here.
Skill development was a significant area which the government has given a thrust. But more has to be done on this, Singh said.
To prevent an exodus of students moving abroad for education, he said higher education institutions matching the standards of centres of international excellence should be developed.
The MoS said accessibility to higher education in India was only 25.6 per cent while it was 86 per cent in the USA, 80 per cent in Germany and 60 per cent in China.
"The aim is to improve the higher education system in the country to make it available to more," he said.
Singh said the challenge before the government was to remove social and regional disparities in students having access to higher education and to make it affordable to all.
"In some places, access to higher education is as low as nine per cent, but in others, it is 60 per cent...higher education is very expensive and has to be made more affordable to all sections of the society," he said.
Singh pointed out that 50 per cent of the teacher's posts were lying vacant in universities.
Singh said though India produces 30,000 to 40,000 PhD holders every year, the nations contribution to the world economy was only 0.2 per cent and added that a lot of improvement has to be brought about in research and development in the country.
He said changes are necessary in the Right to Education Act as the act "lacked teeth".
"The Act provides the right to compulsory primary education. But what is the remedy if parents do not send their children to school? So many things have to be done to improve primary education in the country," he added.
The meet was organised by Bharatheeya Vichara Kendram as part of the navathi celebration of P Parameswaran, Sangh Parivar ideologue and director of the BVK. (PTI) | 1,269,450 |
is a real—not theoretical—problem,” and that banning ballot selfies is a narrowly tailored way to combat it. A ballot photo, he writes, “is unique in being able to prove how someone voted.” Hasen even speculates that the reason vote-buying is so rare is because of laws like New Hampshire’s. Quoting Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in a decidedly different context, Hasen proclaims that repealing ballot selfie bans because vote-buying doesn’t occur “is like throwing away your umbrella in a rainstorm because you are not getting wet.”
There are three problems with Hasen’s analysis. First, ballot selfies don’t irrefutably “prove how someone voted”; as election law attorney Daniel Horwitz has explained, voters using both paper and electronic ballots could almost always change their votes after snapping a photo. Second, the (still relatively rare) instances of voter fraud to which Hasen alludes likely would not have been foiled by a ballot selfie ban. Vote-buying almost always occurs through mail-in absentee ballots, not at the polls. Yet some ballot selfie bans only proscribe photographs inside the voting booth. And even broadly written bans would surely fail to stop absentee ballot–buying. If you’re selling a ballot that you fill out in the privacy of your home, you could easily prove your vote by other means—like showing it to a vote-buyer in person. (Why would you want to tout your purchased ballot on social media, anyway? That’s the least private way to prove how you voted.)
Third, and perhaps most importantly, Hasen doesn’t seem to recognize the immense value that young voters today place on ballot selfies. Millennials use ballot selfies to convey information about their political views and engage with their friends about elections, to broadcast their personal ideologies and share excitement about voting. (And they may foster more voting: One study suggests that Facebook users are more likely to vote when their friends reveal on social media that they have voted.) No matter how many states ban them, they will remain pervasive on Election Day, a key mode of political expression for the younger set. At this point, nothing short of a heavy-handed government crackdown can reverse that. The question, then, isn’t whether states should stop ballot selfies, because they can’t. The question is whether states should dangle the threat of prosecution over any voters who dare to share a picture of their ballots, chilling speech and stifling political passions.
James Madison never wrote anything about smartphones. But it’s not hard to guess where he would’ve come down on ballot selfie bans. The founding father may have called election regulation “a task of peculiar delicacy,” but his view on free speech was simpler: It shall not be abridged. For better or worse, ballot selfies have become a fundamental mode of political speech in America. The First Amendment is clear here: Let the voters Snapchat. | 1,269,451 |
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Charles Harden shared this post via CopBlock.org’s submit page.
A local police department responded “Rambo” style to an anonymous 911 service call where the caller did not assert a crime but, rather a suspicious person in the parking structure of a large mall. Five officers were dispatched to the scene and were informed that the person of interest was intoxicated. The police officers administered a DUI investigation that lasted 45 to 50 minutes and resulted in ZERO evidence of impairment after eight sobriety tests and blood analysis. The police continued with the DUI investigation despite having on-scene evidence that clearly showed the person of interest was not impaired.
At the mall and in the parking structure, my lifetime partner of twenty three years was parked in a slot preparing to enter her place of employment. A mall security guard blindly approached her vehicle and reached into her car and removed the keys from the ignition (engine running). The security guard immediately accused her of drinking and driving and told her that the police would soon arrive.
Five city police officers arrived on scene. The mall security guard communicated to the officers that my partner was “drunk” and demanded a sobriety check.
Eight individual sobriety tests were administered, not including a blood draw that occurred later at the hospital. The on-scene breath test resulted in a 0.00 BAC reading. The HGN test also showed no signs of impairment. Still not convinced of my partner’s sobriety, the security guard prodded the officers to continue with additional tests. The final test administered was a “sharpened” or “modified” version of the Romberg balance test (leg stand with arms extended out, head tilted back with eyes closed, and finger to nose on command). My partner was given instructions for the test that included the warning, “If you feel like you’re going to fall, let us know.” While performing this test, my partner fell back, striking her head on the pavement and was gravely injured (TBI).
She was transported from the scene to the hospital where she spent nine day in intensive care and was later diagnosed with an occipital skull fracture and bleeding in the brain. Toxicology analysis was negative for alcohol or drugs.
Several day later, the police reports were filed with the department. The police reports were riddled with inaccuracies, misrepresentations and outright fabrications. The officers went to great lengths to portray my partner as a suspect that displayed heavy signs of impairment during the investigation. One could argue that the officers operated in cover-up mode, particularly after my partner fell during their botched DUI investigation.
Tragically, my partner passed away recently while recovering from the brain injury she sustained on the day of the incident.
To make matters even worse, attorneys are reluctant to take cases involving law enforcement unless it is a clear cut case of police brutality. In my view, this is a terrible injustice…
Charles Harden | 1,269,452 |
The Hon Karen Andrews MP
Minister for Industry, Science and Technology, Parliament of Australia
Karen brings her experience in engineering, industrial relations and running her own business to her roles as a Cabinet Minister and Federal Member for McPherson.
Born and educated in Queensland, Karen’s aptitude for maths and science saw her break through stereotypes to pursue a career in engineering. As one of only two female graduates in Mechanical Engineering at QUT in 1983, Karen knows that it takes hard work and determination to succeed in sometimes difficult circumstances.
Karen has a history of breaking down barriers. She worked at power stations in Queensland, and in Victoria she became both the first female and the youngest plant engineer employed by a petrochemical company.
From there, Karen launched her own Human Resources and Industrial Relations Consultancy, where she gained first-hand experience of the pressures of owning and running a small business. She is a strong advocate for local businesses as the powerhouse of our local economy.
Karen’s commitment to serving the local community led to her decision to stand as the LNP candidate for McPherson and she was successful at the 2010 election. Karen was re-elected in 2013 and again in 2016 and 2019 to represent Southern Gold Coast residents in the Federal Parliament.
Delivering $1 billion in Federal Government funding to fix the M1, including widening the stretch from Varity Lakes to Tugun, is among Karen’s proudest achievements for the Southern Gold Coast. On top of this, Karen has been behind an increase in funding for local infrastructure, including hospitals and schools. She is also a champion for small business owners, the tourism industry and jobs creation.
Karen is humbled to be Queensland’s first-ever female Federal Cabinet Minister, having been sworn in as Minister for Industry, Science and Technology in the Morrison Government Cabinet in August 2018. She retained this vital portfolio following the Coalition’s 2019 election win.
In this role, Minister Andrews has done significant work to help Australian industry to flourish, with commitments including the $160 million Manufacturing Modernisation Fund. She has been a key driver of Women in STEM initiatives and has guided the Australian Space Agency through its highly successful first year, as it works to a goal of tripling the size of the sector to $12 billion and creating 20,000 new jobs by 2030.
Prior to this, Karen held a leadership position during 2013 and 2014 as Chair of the House of Representatives Joint Standing Committee on Public Works. She served in this capacity until December 2014, when she was appointed as Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Industry and Science.
Karen’s also served as Assistant Minister for Vocational Education & Skills and Assistant Minister for Science in the Turnbull Ministry, where she was one of the architects of the $1.1 billion National Innovation and Science Agenda.
A long-term resident of the Southern Gold Coast, Karen understands the challenges and pressures of raising a family. She is married with three daughters, all attending either high school or university. | 1,269,453 |
Almost half of all internet users are deliberately limiting their online activity due to concerns about cybersecurity, a US government survey has found.
41,000 households across America were involved in the wide-ranging survey, which was carried out in July 2015 by the US Department of Commerce's National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA).
45 per cent of those asked said their concerns about online privacy and security had made them refrain from certain online activities in the previous year, such as shopping, posting on social media or managing their finances.
The survey revealed that this lack of trust in cybersecurity measures may be taking its toll on the economy. 33 per cent of people worried about credit card fraud said they had avoided buying goods online in the previous year, while 35 per cent who cited identity theft as a concern had stopped using internet banking services, the survey revealed.
This mistrust has effects on the social side of the web, too. 19 per cent of respondents said they had avoided expressing controversial opinions on social media due to privacy concerns, a figure which rose to 26 per cent amongst people who had actually experienced a security breach.
Overall, identity theft was the biggest issue, with 63 per cent listing it as their greatest worry. 45 per cent were concered about banking fraud, while the next three biggest issues were online data collection, a loss of control over personal data, and surveillance by the government.
Female celebrities affected by 'The Fappening' hack Show all 5 1 /5 Female celebrities affected by 'The Fappening' hack Female celebrities affected by 'The Fappening' hack Jennifer Lawrence attends the 88th Annual Academy Awards at Hollywood & Highland Center on February 28, 2016 in Hollywood, California. Female celebrities affected by 'The Fappening' hack Ariane Grande < > at SiriusXM Studio on March 14, 2016 in New York City. Female celebrities affected by 'The Fappening' hack Victoria Justice attends Delta Air Lines Toasts GRAMMY Weekend with "Sites and Sounds," A Private Performance and Interactive Evening with GRAMMY Nominated Artist Leon Bridges, at NeueHouse Hollywood on February 12, 2016 in Los Angeles, California. Female celebrities affected by 'The Fappening' hack Kirsten Dunst attends the screening of "Midnight Special" during the 2016 SXSW Music, Film + Interactive Festival at Paramount Theatre on March 12, 2016 in Austin, Texas. Female celebrities affected by 'The Fappening' hack Kate Upton
It's unsurprising that internet users appear to have lost so much faith in the ability of internet providers and cybersecurity companies to keep them safe. The survey found that 19 per cent of respondents (representing almost 19 million households across the US), had been affected by an online security breach in the previous year.
In a blog post, NTIA analyst Rafi Goldberg said lawmakers urgently need to understand the scale of the public's mistrust of internet security.
"In addition to being a problem of great concern to many Americans," he wrote, "privacy and security issues may reduce economic activity and hamper the free exchange of ideas online." | 1,269,454 |
When we set out to do our water footprint for food calculator, we wanted to provide a tool that would allow viewers to understand the water costs of food in a consumer-friendly way. Hence, the plate idea was born.
Nuts aren't typically considered a side to a main meal, so we excluded them from the project. But California is the nation's top producer of several varieties of nuts, so we're breaking out the commercial water footprint for the top three categories where the state is the sole U.S. producer (at least 99%).
Water-use estimates can vary; this report is based on data published by the UNESCO U.S. Institute for Water Education for U.S. averages (full source is info available at the bottom).
Almonds
Almonds (shelled) are the third-most-valued commodity in California, and the No. 1 agricultural export from 2010 to 2012, according to the California Agricultural Statistics Review 2013-2014. In 2014, $6.5-billion-worth of almonds were produced on 860,000 acres, primarily in Fresno, Kern and Stanislaus counties. Top export markets included the European Union, China and Hong Kong, and Japan.
Walnuts
Walnuts were California's ninth-most-valued commodity and ranked fourth in exports from 2010 to 2012. In 2013, 290,000 acres produced $1.8-billion-worth of walnuts, according to the National Agricultural Statistics Service. San Joaquin, Butte and Stanislaus counties are the leading producers. Top export markets include China and Hong Kong, South Korea and the United Arab Emirates.
Pistachios
Pistachios were California's eleventh-most-valued commodity and fifth-highest export from 2010 to 2012. Kern County produces more than 40%. In 2014, 215,000 acres produced $1.3-billion-worth. Major export markets in 2012 included the European Union, China and Hong Kong, and India.
Nuts compared with meats
So how do nuts stack up to meats? When comparing the global average water footprints, nuts overall have a far lower water footprint when looking at per ton and calorie rates, especially when compared with beef, according to a report on the water footprint of animal products which you can download in full here.
"Replacing all meat by an equivalent amount of crop products such as pulses and nuts will result in a 30% reduction of the food-related water footprint of the average American citizen," water experts and authors of the report, Mesfin Mekonnen and Arjen Hoekstra say.
Source: M.M. Mekonnen and A.Y. Hoekstra (2010), "The Green, Blue and Grey Water Footprint of Crops and Derived Crop Products," and "The Green, Blue and Grey Water Footprint of Farm Animals and Animal Products," Value of Water Research Report Series No. 47 and 48, UNESCO-IHE, Delft, the Netherlands.
Follow @kyleykim on Twitter. | 1,269,455 |
It’s not a good time to be Richard Dawkins, for he alone, like the scapegoat of Leviticus, must bear the brunt of everyone’s hatred of atheism. (Sam Harris sometimes serves as a backup goat.) Even though Dawkins has never proclaimed himself as any kind of atheist “leader”—his eminence among nonbelievers is purely a byproduct of his books and talks—he is the poster child for atheism, and everyone who hates atheists, including some other atheists, comes down on him. I can't count all the poorly founded attacks on the man, but one has just appeared that takes the cake.
John Gray is an English writer, philosopher, and an atheist who has it in for New Atheists. (I’ve previously analyzed his missteps here, here, and here.) Gray seems to be one of those atheists who doesn’t like science, claims that its bad effects are as prominent as its good ones, and has a sneaking love of religion. But he's never been as nasty as he is in his latest article in The New Republic, “The Closed Mind of Richard Dawkins.” And it is nastiness with no apparent purpose other than to smear Dawkins, which Gray does by pretending to review Dawkins’s latest book: An Appetite for Wonder, the first volume of his autobiography.
It’s okay to slam a book if the ideas are bad, or its thesis is insupportable. I’m thinking here of the best critical review of a science book I’ve ever seen: Peter Medawar’s crushing review of Teilhard de Chardin’s The Phenomenon of Man, in which Medawar fatally demolishes de Chardin’s gaseous lucubrations. But you won’t find Teilhard’s intellectual weakness in Dawkins’s book. If you’ve read it, as I have, you’ll find it a fairly workmanlike autobiography, dwelling mostly on the details of Dawkins’s life. There are a few bits about atheism (mostly about how Dawkins lost his faith, which appears to be a gradual process involving his exposure to Darwinism), but most of it is of the “I did this and then went here” variety. The best bits, for me, are at the end when Dawkins starts talking about science—it ends when he publishes The Selfish Gene, for a second volume is in the offing—as science is what really gets Dawkins’s juices flowing, and he’s best when writing about that, or about atheism. One senses that he’s unenthusiastically recounting the details of his life as a kind of duty, perhaps goaded by an agent or publisher.
Nevertheless, John Gray uses this lean framework to attack Dawkins's character. Here are his tactics:
1. Interpret innocuous statements about evolution as evidence of Dawkins’s arrogance and smugness.
Gray writes: | 1,269,456 |
Virgil van Dijk took part in detailed talks with Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp over where he would fit into his team, as the level of unsanctioned contact between the Southampton defender and the Anfield is now uncovered exclusively by Yahoo Sport UK.
Southampton have reported Liverpool to the Premier League for illegally trying to entice van Dijk to Anfield, with the south coast club infuriated by the actions of the player’s agent and the clubs involved.
We have been told that Van Dijk:
Staged one-on-one talks with Liverpool and Klopp
Received video messages detailing how he would be used in the Reds team
Already finalised personal terms with Liverpool
Has now ‘kicked up a fuss’ in a bid to be sold by Southampton, even though he still has five years left on his current contact with the club.
We also understand that Manchester City, Chelsea and Liverpool have been in talks over a deal to sign van Dijk for several months, with sources close to Southampton telling Yahoo that the agent at the centre of the deal is eager to force through a move to Anfield as that will secure him the biggest personal pay-off.
Chelsea and City also remain keen to sign van Dijk, but the Saints are determined to hang on to their Dutch centre-back until what is described as ‘silly money’ is put on the table.
“The club had to take a stand this week as we have been aware of what has been going on for months and it has gone too far,” the source told us.
“Southampton have told the player that we don’t want to sell him this summer, but he thought he could kick up a big enough fuss that he would be sold for £50m.
“That is never happening and by holding talks with the player, sending him video clips of how he will fit into their team and doing this all without the permission of Southampton, there is no way he will be sold to Liverpool at this stage.
“Of course, every player has a price and if £100m or something close is put on the table, then it will be considered, but Southampton do not need to sell van Dijk this summer.”
READ MORE: AC Milan home in on Conti signing
READ MORE: Man Utd close on Morata and Belotti DOUBLE deal
Van Dijk has yet to make any public comment on what has become one of the most embarrassing transfer stories of recent years, with the 25-year-old defender now in an uncomfortable position less than a month before he is due to return to first team training with Southampton.
Meanwhile, Yahoo Sport UK understands that Southampton WILL dispense of the services of manager Claude Puel this summer.
Sources tell us that the search for the Frenchman’s successor are already ‘at an advanced stage’, with former Borussia Dortmund coach Thomas Tuchel among the leading contenders. | 1,269,457 |
NEW YORK (CBSNewsYork) – When it comes to auctions of municipal property, it appears you win some, you lose some.
Residents of an exclusive San Francisco neighborhood discovered their private street was purchased by out-of-towners, and next they could pay for parking in front of their own homes.
Presidio Terrace, a circular subdivision next to the Presidio Golf Course, was been sold at auction to a San Jose real estate couple Tina Lam and Michael Cheng for $90,100.
“I cannot afford a mansion here, but if I can own a street, I’m happy to own a street,” Lam told CBS SF. “First-generation immigrant here. I came here with just one suitcase.”
Thanks to 30 years of the homeowners association’s tax bill going to the wrong address, the street and sidewalks all wound up on the San Francisco Treasurer’s internet tax auction. The land had been flagged by the city for $994 in unpaid back taxes, penalties and interest.
“It’s very, very rare that anything that goes on the block is of real value,” said Amanda Fried of the San Francisco Treasurer’s office.
A similar case with a very different outcome happened in New York when Norma Parnell purchased a long, skinny piece of land in Far Rockaway through a municipal auction. The property had been listed as a “vacant lot” which Parnell won for $30,000.
Months later, she learned what New York City sold as a “vacant lot” was actually William Court, a 280 foot long street – technically a “privately owned access way.”
She said in 2010 the city offered to refund her $30,000, but she declined, because on her tax bill the city lists the property as “vacant land, zoned residential,” valued at $257,000.
“It’s been like hell, because I felt so stupid,” Parnell told CBS2.
Although she cannot build on the land, Parnell is still on the hook for about $1,000 per year in taxes.
In the San Francisco case, the auction winners may have a chance to make some revenue. When asked if the couple planned to charge residents for street parking, Lam said they were open to the possibly “because they are now parking on my land.”
Shocked Presidio Terrace homeowners are calling on the Board of Supervisors to negate the sale.
“Rich people don’t like to talk. They just want to use their money to sue everybody,” said Lam.
For her part, Lam was not concerned about the legitimacy of the deal.
“I’m pretty sure that the law is clear on my ownership, so I am comfortable that we will prevail,” she said. | 1,269,458 |
Cops in Alabama killed a slithering suspect when it took a bite out of one of their own this week.
Greenville Police Officer Marissa Morrison, a 28-year-old mother of three, parked her cruiser in a quiet scenic spot behind the Mac Crenshaw Memorial Airport toward the end of her overnight shift around 5:20 a.m. Monday to admire the gorgeous sunrise, AL.com reported.
Morrison, a two-year veteran and the department’s only female cop, got out of her patrol car to stretch her legs and take a snap of the sky, when a venomous timber rattlesnake suddenly latched onto her calf muscle, the outlet reported.
Morrison felt a sting — and once she heard the rattle, she knew what had happened.
“He was huge, and he gave me no warning,’’ she told the outlet. “I remember screaming and I ran away from him.”
She quickly got on her radio and issued an emergency alert.
“I know they heard the panic in my voice,’’ Morrison said. “Usually my radio traffic is pretty calm.”
Before long, her corporal, Jimmy Oliver, put her in his cruiser and rushed her to the hospital.
“I had started feeling lightheaded and I was shaking,’’ she told the outlet. “He just scooped me up and carried me inside.”
Morrison’s leg quickly swelled, and the bite span was 1½ inches wide.
After leaving Morrison at the hospital, her co-workers returned to the scene, where they killed the snake — which they discovered coiled up in the same spot and still rattling. Then they brought Morrison the rattle, the outlet reported.
The officer required 16 vials of antivenin at the hospital — but she still said it could have been worse.
“I’m 5 feet, 6 inches tall so I wasn’t that far from him,’’ she told the paper. “It could have bitten me in my arm, or somewhere else closer to my heart. I’m thankful it wasn’t.”
She credits her co-workers for doing “their best to get me to where I needed to be.”
“They did an outstanding job,” the officer added. “I’m so lucky and blessed to have them.”
It could be more than a month before Morrison is able to return to duty.
Timber rattlesnakes are typically at least 3 to 4½ feet long, according to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.
The venomous snakes have hollow fangs and a tiny rattle segment called a “button.”
Their venom is mainly used to immobilize prey, but a bite can be fatal to humans if left untreated. | 1,269,459 |
V models that bring timeless enjoyment anytime anywhere not bound to any current law, trends or restriction from the Big Brother yet affordable to build and usable by any people of various building and driving skills. If you're on FPVing BASHER ROCKSTA like the above good work, but if you're planning to use the same setup on other models car/trucks or boat thumbs up for the extra effort. I have to admit despite building and playing around with my both FPV/UAV aircraft sometimes we need to settle down with simple thing back the on ground and enjoy different perspective of FPV experience driving around at ground level, it can be intimidating yet curiosity can spark interest and adventurous way of exploring things around us. If you wanted to expand some creativity and extra realism in FPV why not try adding scale cockpit details like steering wheel, driver, passenger, dashboards, gauges/meters and position the camera at exact driver's POV (Point of View) aka helmet cam to simulate realistic driving...and yeah i did that one a lot so, you can browse my Youtube channel archives for realistic FPV driving reference. Soon you'll be ditching racing video games and go outdoors...you're into healthy life style soon being under the sun.
Extra note, if you setup on small 1/24 ROCKSTA BASHER as above it can be as usefull as:
Surveying drain pipes, roof, exploring outdoor or any narrow places.
Exploring the haunted attic, basement or or inside haunted houses.
Checking out your pets, bug hunting (strapped with aerosol can) or being super spy.
And lastly checking out your neighbors....in stealth mode. (Try it at your own risk, i didn't encourage you to do that.)
Alright guys and gals, have fun with your cheap affordable DIY FPV models. If you wanted to push FPV ambition to high level just go to my FPV section here, you'll be surfing the rainbow soon. If you need info or details just contact me or go to our dedicated builder forum as listed below. Btw i'll be building FPV War Tanks and....with BB's so stay tuned.
Videos/Medias
Here are some of my video and gallery related to the above topics:
Shopping list
Here i've listed some raw material, hardware and stuff where you can start building you own simple and cheap FPV platform. The list contain the above hardware and also include some compatible ones which you can pickup what suits best for your need and your budget.
** Take note the one with marked (*) is the default 'exact' hardware i use on my version 2 build/setup while the non ones are just compatibles.
Building threads/Referral
If you don't know where to begin with i recommend you to start reading some guides, wikis and building tips from popular on-line resources as listed below. You might find me wondering around some popular R/C and FPV forum below.
| 1,269,460 |
A Border Patrol agent in Arizona, who faces federal charges for allegedly hitting an undocumented immigrant with his truck, routinely used profanities and racist slurs to describe immigrants he apprehended at the border, according to federal court documents reported Sunday by the Arizona Daily Star.
Among a trove of text messages cited by prosecutors, Matthew Bowen called immigrants “disgusting subhuman shit unworthy of being kindling for a fire.” He also advocated for more violence toward migrants apprehended at the border, writing that President Donald Trump should “PLEASE let us take the gloves off.”
Last year, Bowen was charged with striking Antolin Lopez Aguilar, a 23-year-old undocumented immigrant from Guatemala, with his Border Patrol truck ― coming “within inches of running Lopez-Aguilar over,” according to a federal indictment.
Bowen was also charged with allegedly falsifying his report about the incident.
According to the Arizona Daily Star, Bowen’s other text messages cited in the court filings include exchanges in which he jokes about violence toward migrants apprehended for illegally crossing the border.
In one conversation, an unidentified person texted Bowen: “Did you gas hiscorpse (sic) or just use regular peanut oil while tazing?? For a frying effect.”
Bowen responded: “Guats are best made crispy, with olive oil from their native pais.” “Pais,” the Spanish word for “country,” is also “a derogatory term for Guatemalan citizens,” the Arizona Daily Star reported.
In several text messages, Bowen refers to the migrants as “tonks” or “toncs.” Some Border Patrol agents say that the term stands for “Territory of Origin Not Known” or “Temporarily Outside Native Country,” if officials cannot determine from what country the immigrant came, the Arizona Republic reported last year.
But others say that it’s a slur mimicking the sound of an apprehended migrant’s head being hit by a flashlight.
In other texts, Bowen also called undocumented immigrants “mindless murdering savages.”
Bowen’s lawyer Sean Chapman claimed that the denigrating language is “commonplace throughout the Border Patrol’s Tucson Sector, that it is part of the agency’s culture,” according to the court filings.
Officials for the Border Patrol did not immediately respond to a request for comment from HuffPost.
Border Patrol officials told the Arizona Daily Star that agents are “held to the highest standards, and any action of misconduct within our ranks will not be tolerated.” They did not respond to Chapman’s claim that Bowen’s use of offensive language was “commonplace” among his fellow agents.
Read the full report from the Arizona Daily Star here.
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This article originally appeared on HuffPost. | 1,269,461 |
Former chief minister of Maharashtra Narayan Rane has accepted BJP's offer of a Rajya Sabha berth from its quota. The BJP will support Rane's candidature.
Rane will meet Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadanvis later today.
Fadanvis along with BJP's national president Amit Shah proposed his name for the candidature.
Announcing his decision in Mumbai on Saturday Rane said, "I am thankful to Amit Shah and Devendra Fadnavis for this opportunity. Though I'm going to Delhi I will return to state politics at the appropriate time. I will campaign for the party that supported my candidature in 2019".
He will file the nomination papers on March 12 for elections due to be held on March 23.
Elections for 6 Rajya Sabha seats from the state will take place on 23rd March. Union Minister Prakash Jawadekar has already filed his nominations for one seat on Friday. The BJP is yet to announce it's third candidate. Speculations are ride that the BJP may field former Minister Eknath Khadse for the third seat.
A prominent Shiv Sena leader for the most part of his career, Rane was chief minister of Maharashtra in 1999. He was expelled from Shiv Sena in 2005 by then Sena Chief Bal Thackeray after he publically criticised the party. He joined Congress after his expulsion from Shiv Sena.
However, he was largely sidelined in the political tussle inside Congress. Although he got an influential portfolio of revenue minister in the Maharshtra government, his dream of becoming CM again seemed illusive by each passing day.
Despite his political influence in Maharashtra, he seemed unable to adapt to the so-called Congress-style of politics. It is said that his rivals within the Congress party actively worked to sideline him. Rane has been openly vocal about the current Maharashtra Congress chief Ashok Chavan's alleged plotting against him.
Rane held great influence in the Konkan region. However, over the years his lost grip over the region after Shiv Sena created bulwarks in his path. Shiv Sena's Vaibhav Naik defeated Rane in Maharashtra assembly election held in 2014.
Frustrated by continuous snubbing by the Congress, Rane left the party in 2017 in an attempt to join BJP. But due to fierce opposition by BJP-ally Shiv Sena, he was not inducted in BJP. He was told to form a new party and join NDA. Rane then floated Maharashtra Swabhiman party and declared support to NDA.
It seemed that former CM of Maharashtra was in for another snub session as the BJP did not show any sign to facilitate his active return to Maharashtra politics.
Rane is said to have been keen on staying in Maharashtra's political circles instead of entering the parliament. But given the past, it seems that the Rajya Sabha seat is currently his only ticket back to political prominence.
-with inputs from Sahil Joshi and Kamalesh Sutar | 1,269,462 |
city in the desert. And this way you can start from scratch.
But the problem is that doesn't necessarily solve all of the problems that plague Cairo in the first place. And actually, you find that the new capital is drawing resources from the existing capital, things like water and electricity, which sometimes the existing capital has issues with.
A woman walks past a campaign sign for Egyptian President and former Army general Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, one day before the presidential elections on March 25, 2018 in Cairo, Egypt. (Salah Malkawi/Getty Images)
BB: Well it sounds like some people have given up on Cairo altogether. The title of your article is 'Cairo has become ugly.' This is according to the spokesperson for the project in the desert. You live in Cairo. How ugly do you find it?
RM: I don't think it's ugly at all. I do think it's congested and I think that's a huge problem. But, you know, downtown Cairo has beautiful Belle Époque buildings that are sort of Italian-style with terraces built in the early 20th century. Nearby there's an area called Garden City, which has some rather beautiful crumbling old buildings that were built around that time as well. So there are many architecturally gorgeous things about Cairo, but you don't see those reflected in the new capital.
BB: If this is a massive development being funded by the Egyptian military, how suspicious are Egyptians about the possibility of fraud and corruption?
RM: I would hesitate to speak for the average Egyptian, but at the same time there is an enormous amount of trust in the military. It's very highly regarded institution. At the same time, we've seen over the past few years that there has been a growth of the military into other areas.
Egyptian drivers are stuck in congestion by the open air market of El Ataba in Cairo on March 23, 2018. (Fethi Belaid/AFP/Getty Images)
The military was already extremely prominent in the construction industry, and so they stand to potentially make some money out of the construction of buildings — whether or not people go to live in them. But I think for the average person, they're thinking more about how they can't afford to live in the new capital, and then perhaps a little bit about who stands to make money from it. And the organization that does stand to make money potentially is the Egyptian military.
BB: You mentioned congestion in Cairo. Can you imagine what the traffic will be like on the expressway to the new capital when it's finally open and operational?
RM: Really very bad. Optimistically two to three hours a day. And if you are government worker not making very much money, forced to take the micro bus, that's maybe six hours of your day getting to and from work.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity. To hear the full conversation with Ruth Michaelson, download our podcast or click the 'Listen' button at the top of this page. | 1,269,463 |
The advent of smartphones has opened up an entire new range of platforms for game development, particularly for independent game developers. The iPhone's App Store model has been enormously successful, with a recent estimate of $2.4 billion in annual sales.
From a developer's perspective, app stores have the incentive of a distribution channel with powerful search and marketing capabilities. They also provide an intermediary that handles the logistics of selling and downloading -- generally for a cut of 30%.
You've probably heard the Cinderella stories of developers like Steve Demeter, whose triangular variant on match-3 games, Trism, reportedly earned him $250,000 in just two months in the iPhone App Store. Take also Ethan Nicholas' iShoot, which reportedly earned $600,000 in a single month. With the gold rush mentality and the iPhone's undeniable success with the App Store, why would a game developer choose to make a game for any other smartphone platform?
About six months ago, I started developing games for Google's Android OS, somewhat by chance. A friend who works for Google gave me a G1 developer's phone as a gift. At that point, I hadn't even heard of Android. In the process of learning about the OS, I came across the Android SDK, and downloaded it to give it a spin. I was instantly hooked.
While iPhone apps are written in Objective C, the Android SDK uses relatively more programmer-friendly Java. The iPhone store charges developers $99 a year to distribute their apps, while Android has a one-time $25 fee for developers. And the review process for iPhone apps grows increasingly lengthy -- sometimes weeks or more -- and it's somewhat arcane. Android apps go live as soon as the developer hits the publish button. Google handles the review process post-hoc, and is much more lax in terms of content.
With the greater ease of producing and distributing apps through the Android Market, why aren't game developers large and small clambering to produce quality games for the system? There are a number of reasons, but number one is, of course, money.
Mobile ad company AdMob released its July 2009 report (pdf) which notes the following:
45 million estimated combined iPhone and iPod Touch users, compared to 3 million Android users
50% of iPhone users bought at least one paid app during a month period, compared to 19% of Android users
The estimated market value of the iPhone App Store is about $200M per month, compared to an estimate of about $5M per month for the Android Market
So a major part of the equation is pure size. But another factor is the population makeup of Android users and their perception of the platform. The iPhone user population is likely much more diverse, with a greater cross-section of users representing more diverse demographics, while the Android user population is still likely predominantly tech-centric early adopters. Since Android is an open-source system, the perception may also be that the software that runs it should follow the same model. Thus many users may be reticent to spend money on apps. | 1,269,464 |
There are people in this world who think hunters are the evilest things in the world. And yes, they actually use the word “things” in their minds. They don’t care if humans have hunted since the dawn of time, they want the practice to stop. Some of them aren’t even vegans; they just think we should all get our food wrapped in plastic from the grocery store.
Luckily, the Secretary of the Interior isn’t one of those people. He recently signed an order designed to protect big game corridors.
Before a crowd at the Western Hunting and Conservation Expo in Utah last week, U.S. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke signed an order to protect range routes for antelope, elk and mule deer. The annual expo, sponsored by Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife and the Mule Deer Foundation, saw Zinke ink Secretarial Order 3362 designed to improve habitat for big game in Western states along their winter range and migration corridors. Zinke said the action aims to make herds healthier for the benefit of hunters and wildlife watchers. “American hunters are the backbone of big game conservation efforts, and now working with state and private landowners, the Department will leverage its land management and scientific expertise to both study the migration habits of wildlife as well as identify ways to improve the habitat,” Zinke said in a statement. The order mandates that numerous federal agencies under Interior, such as the Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service, and Fish & Wildlife Service work with state conservation agencies to improve habitat for the iconic big game animals with priority given to 11 Western states. “For example, this can be done by working with ranchers to modify their fences, working with states to collaborate on sage brush restoration, or working with scientists to better understand migration routes,” Zinke said.
The Secretary is right. Hunters are almost universally motivated to protect game species. Most are more than happy to limit how many of an animal they can harvest, or completely forgo hunting a given species if it means more hunts in the future. It’s just how hunters are wired.
Sure, there are jerkwad exceptions. There are those who will take more game than they should, or will hunt out of season, or all different manner of jackwagon-ish behavior. Those are the exception, not the rule.
Zinke understands that, apparently.
By working with hunters, the Secretary shows his understanding that conservation efforts are a partnership.
Yes, hunters will benefit from this move, but so will the game species in question. That’s something even liberals should approve of. While they might not agree with hunting–and anti-hunting isn’t a universal position among liberals from my experience–they do like the idea of helping a species thrive. This helps several.
Of course, considering our current political climate, I firmly expect most liberals–even those who would have applauded such a measure under the Obama administration–to scream bloody murder over it.
Oh well. | 1,269,465 |
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Marcellus Shale natural gas production is rising even faster this year than energy experts had predicted, and that's having a national impact on energy.
Bentek, a Colorado company that analyzes energy trends, said 2013 production in Pennsylvania and West Virginia is up about 50 percent compared with last year. Figures for the pipelines that take gas out of the Marcellus show that in the first six months of the year, Pennsylvania produced about 1.5 trillion cubic feet of gas, with projections for a year-end total of about 3.2 trillion cubic feet.
That yearly number translates into the equivalent of about 550 million barrels of oil.
The official mid-2013 production figures for Pennsylvania and West Virginia haven't been released yet by those states, but Bentek's figures are considered very reliable by government and industry sources.
Marcellus production this year "has definitely outpaced our expectations," said Diana Oswald, a Bentek energy analyst, and it's changing long-established national energy trends.
Marcellus gas is "actually starting to displace" production from the Gulf of Mexico in places, Oswald said. For example, when serious shale drilling started in Pennsylvania in 2008, output barely registered on a national level, and most of the Northeast relied on natural gas that was being pumped from the Gulf of Mexico or from Canada through a network of pipelines.
Now, Marcellus gas is supplying the Pennsylvania and Northeast markets, and it's grown to be the nation's most productive gas field. Bentek expects a surplus will soon start flowing to the South and Midwest.
Tom Murphy, a director of the Penn State University Marcellus Center for Research & Outreach, said that while the number of drilling rigs operating in Pennsylvania has declined, companies have learned to drill more efficiently, "so fewer rigs are drilling more wells."
The Marcellus Shale is a gas-rich formation deep underground that extends across Pennsylvania, West Virginia, New York, Ohio and Maryland, but most of the production is in Pennsylvania and West Virginia.
Story continues
Production from West Virginia is also on track to increase by about 50 percent this year, according to Bentek. Ohio shale gas production is in its beginning stages but is expected to grow substantially in 2014 and 2015.
In 2011 and 2012, there was a highly publicized debate over the potential of the Marcellus Shale, with some contending the industry had exaggerated the numbers. But the actual production figures have mostly put that debate to rest.
Murphy believes there is still a backlog of about 2,000 wells that have already been drilled but aren't hooked up to pipelines for production yet. Others estimate the backlog at 1,000 wells, but in either case, it's adding to the production surge.
Kathryn Klaber, CEO of the Marcellus Shale Coalition, said in an email that the industry group expects "that activity will remain robust" since the necessary infrastructure is increasingly in place to process and move natural gas to market. | 1,269,466 |
Five teenage boys have been charged in connection with an alleged attack on a teenage girl in Brooklyn, New York, Thursday.
The New York Police Department (NYPD) said the five suspects, whose ages range from 14 to 17, turned themselves in to the 77th precinct, according to ABC 7.
“All five were charged as minors with robbery and assault. Their fate will be decided in Family Court,” the report stated.
Video footage of the incident showed one suspect running toward the 15-year-old girl and kicking her as she lay on the sidewalk. Moments later, several others ran up and also assaulted her.
When the group began to disperse, a man reached down and pulled off her tennis shoes, then walked away from the scene holding them as the other suspects followed.
Officials said the girl’s cell phone and debit card were also stolen. She was later transported to a hospital with bruising and swelling on her face but is expected to recover.
Friday, the NYPD tweeted the video and asked the public for help identifying the suspects:
🚨WANTED for ROBBERY/GANG ASSAULT: On 3/5, at approx 4:10 PM, in front of 216 Utica Ave in Brooklyn, a 15-year-old female was approached by a group of individuals & was punched & kicked to the ground & had her property removed. Any info call or DM @NYPDTips at 800-577-TIPS. pic.twitter.com/JjCCFbnhSJ — NYPD NEWS (@NYPDnews) March 6, 2020
In a media release Thursday, the department said the recent criminal justice reforms were the “significant reason” New York City has seen a rise in crime this year.
The release continued:
In the first 58 days of 2020, 482 individuals who had already been arrested for committing a serious (felony) crime such as robbery or burglary were rearrested for committing an additional 846 crimes. Thirty-five percent, or 299, were for arrests in the seven major crime categories – murder, rape, robbery, felony assault, burglary, grand larceny and grand larceny auto – that is nearly triple the amount of those crimes committed in the same 58 days in 2019. All of [sic] people were arrested for offenses that prior to Jan 1 and bail reform, could have landed them in jail.
At a town hall event in February, Mayor Bill de Blasio dismissed Queens residents’ concerns about the growing crime rate and accused them of “whipping up fear.”
“There are people and organizations in this city that are trying to tell you New York City is not safe, that are trying to tell you we are declining and we’re going back to the ’70s,” he told them.
“Listen, listen if you believe that, God bless you. Then that means you’re not interested in the facts,” de Blasio concluded. | 1,269,467 |
WASHINGTON– Texas Sen. Ted Cruz will announce Monday his plans to run for president, becoming the first high-profile Republican formally to enter the 2016 presidential contest.
Cruz has hinted openly at his intentions to seek the White House for months, and his intention to jump into the race was confirmed by a strategist for the first-term Republican senator, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity so as not to preclude the formal announcement.
While Cruz is the first Republican to declare his candidacy, he is sure to be followed by several big names in the GOP, including former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and two Senate colleagues, Kentucky’s Rand Paul and Florida’s Marco Rubio.
Details about Cruz’s Monday campaign launch were first reported by The Houston Chronicle.
Cruz, 44, has considerable appeal among the Republican Party’s base of conservative voters.
Following his election to the Senate in 2012, the former Texas solicitor general quickly established himself as an uncompromising conservative willing to take on Democrats and Republicans alike. Criticized by members of his own party at times, he won praise from tea party activists for leading the GOP’s push to shut down the federal government during an unsuccessful bid to block funding for President Barack Obama’s health care law.
One of the nation’s top college debaters while a student at Princeton University, Cruz continues to be a leading voice for the law’s repeal. He also promises to abolish the Internal Revenue Service, scrap the Education Department and curtail federal regulators, likening them to locusts.
Cruz has left little doubt about his 2016 intentions in recent weeks. He made his first trip to New Hampshire earlier this month to help lay the groundwork for a presidential campaign, having already begun to ramp up outreach to party activists and donors.
While in New Hampshire, Cruz told voters his daughter, Caroline, had given him permission to join the presidential race in the hopes that the family puppy would get to play on the White House lawn instead of near their Houston high-rise condo.
“If you win, that means Snowflake will finally get a backyard to pee in,” Cruz said his daughter told him.
Cruz is set to release a book this summer that he said would reflect themes of his White House campaign.
In a recent Associated Press interview, he said he wants to counter the “caricatures” of the right as “stupid,” `’evil” or “crazy.”
“The image created in the mainstream media does not comply with the facts,” he said.
The son of an American mother and Cuban-born father, Cruz would be the nation’s first Hispanic president. While born in Canada, two lawyers who represented presidents from both parties at the Supreme Court recently wrote in the Harvard Law Review that Cruz meets the constitutional standard to run.
Cruz would retain his Senate seat through early 2019 if he fails to win the presidency. | 1,269,468 |
A community center in Manzanita will hold a public vigil Wednesday night for the two children who were swept out to sea in the nearby Falcon Cove community.
The Hoffman Center for the Arts, 594 Laneda Ave., will host a Vigil of Compassion and Mourning from 5-6 p.m. Wednesday.
Lola Stiles, 7, died Saturday afternoon and her brother, William, 4, is still missing. Their father, Jeremy Stiles, 47, was recovering from hypothermia at Seaside Hospital, the family said in a statement Monday. They were walking on an off-beach trail when they were hit by a “sneaker wave,” family said. A GoFundMe has been created to help the family with funeral expenses, as well as grief and trauma support.
“We are heartbroken, we are truly heartbroken,” said Claudia Johnson, an officiant who will lead Wednesday’s vigil. Though the Stiles family was not from the close knit coastal community, the area was grieving.
“I went over to the (Manzanita) Deli, and people were standing in there crying,” Johnson said. “This could have been anybody. These were children.”
Johnson has lived on the Oregon Coast since the 1970s. She’s officiated local funerals and helped lead a series of talks at the Hoffman Center for the Arts on death and dying.
“The word got out very quickly that this had happened,” Johnson said. “We have friends that live in Falcon Cove, so they’re mourning in a particular, local kind of way. People are reaching out, asking what people know and what are we going to do?
“Well there’s nothing we can do, except be together.”
Since the vigil is inside, attendees are asked to use battery lit candles, flashlights or cell phones.
“Let us open our hearts together to recognize the loss of young lives, to mourn, and to acknowledge, through our compassion, the sorrows of the family and all of us affected by this tragedy,” reads an announcement for the event. “After a few brief words offered by a memorial celebrant, we will illuminate the darkened room with gentle light, gather in silence, and then raise the lights in conclusion.”
Within an hour of the vigil announcement, Johnson said she’d gotten four calls about it.
“Our people need a place to acknowledge what happened and grieve,” she said. “We’re all in it together. I don’t know how many people will show up to this, but I bet it’s going to fill the Hoffman Center.”
-- Samantha Swindler; [email protected]; @editorswindler
Subscribe to Oregonian/OregonLive newsletters and podcasts for the latest news and top stories. | 1,269,469 |
You know that feeling of sand between your toes? Simone Stevens never felt that.
Or the simple pleasure of a day at the beach? She never felt that, either.
Or the exhilaration of catching a wave? That was simply out of the question.
Simone has had cerebral palsy since she was a baby and despite living near the coast, she had never been to the beach in her 40 years on Earth.
It is one of those things that most people take for granted, but can be incredibly difficult — or even impossible — for people with a disability.
Thanks to a program by the Disabled Surfers Association of Australia (DSAA), the impossible dream has become a reality.
"I didn't know what to expect and I was nervous," Ms Stevens said.
Simone Stevens looks like a natural as she catches her first ever wave. ( ABC News: Cameron Best )
"Once I got out onto the beach, I was like, 'I don't know about this' and when I got my first wave it was like, 'Oh my goodness.'
"The wave really got me and I just couldn't believe it, it was just so exhilarating."
"I've never experienced anything like that in my life."
With the help of volunteers, Simone got her first taste of the beach at Ocean Grove on Victoria's Bellarine Peninsula.
She was helped from a special beach wheelchair onto a surfboard and carried into the surf, where she caught three waves.
And she loved it.
People with disabilities are getting the chance to go surfing, thanks to a fast-growing program. ( ABC News: Cameron Best )
"I love to be challenged and I don't like it when anyone tells me that I can't do it, because that makes me more determined to do it," she said.
"I think it'll be a yearly thing [for me].
"You've created a monster!"
The association has run surfing days for people of all levels of ability for more than three decades and the number of participants has grown substantially over the past few years, with more people experiencing surfing for the first time.
"The therapeutic value of the ocean cannot be underestimated and I've had first-hand experience of bodies changing right in front of me," DSAA founder Gary Blaschke said.
There are now 18 DSAA branches around the country, with three new branches starting up in the past 12 months as participant numbers keep growing.
The organisation receives no government funding, but recruits legions of local volunteers to help make the surfing days a reality.
Up to 25 volunteers are required to safely take each individual, in some cases with profound disabilities, into the ocean.
"If every single person with a disability wanted to go surfing, we'd be in trouble," Mr Blaschke said.
"We're changing people's lives and that, to me, is the reason why every one of our volunteers do what they do." | 1,269,470 |
America doesn’t know exactly what North Korea's nuclear capability is, but it is likely sufficient to kill millions of South Koreans or Japanese. That North Korea would be smashed in retaliation is no consolation. The fact is that there is nothing much America can do about Kim’s attempts to develop nuclear-tipped missiles, especially without China’s support. Even Trump, his brilliance notwithstanding, must realize that some problems just cannot be “solved.”
The litany of futile diplomatic overtures to curb North Korea’s nuclear ambitions reads like a history of failure. In 1994, President Bill Clinton promised aid to North Korea in exchange for a promise to freeze its nuclear program. In 2002, it became clear that the North Koreans had reneged on the deal. The thing is that Kim will not give up his nuclear arsenal, for it is all he has got. Without the bomb, North Korea would be no more than a small, impoverished dictatorship. With nuclear missiles, it can behave as a major power, or more importantly, hold other major powers at bay.
Clinton also once considered bombing North Korean nuclear installations, but, in the end, considered the risk too high. It would be even higher now. Not only are such installations now more dispersed throughout the country, making a clean hit very difficult, but the “collateral damage” inflicted by a cornered Northern regime would be horrendous: Seoul is a mere 35 miles from the North Korean border.
Empty threats from Washington are not just ineffectual; they play into the Korean dictator’s hands. Whether most North Koreans really worship the Kim dynasty as much as they seem to is hard to know, since most of “these gestures of idolatry” are coerced. But Korean nationalism can be very easily stirred up. One thing that holds North Koreans together is the fear, constantly stoked by the regime, of a wicked foreign attack.
China is the only power with any influence in North Korea, but the last thing Beijing wants is for its communist neighbor to collapse. The Kim regime may be annoying, but a united Korea filled with U.S. military bases would be worse, not to mention the potential refugee crisis on China’s borders.
Perhaps a cyber attack could disrupt the North Korean nuclear program, but it would not be enough to rid of the threat altogether. So there appears to be little choice but to live with North Korea as a nuclear power. Pressing the Chinese to force their ally to give up its nuclear arms is useless. The best that can be hoped for is that China makes sure the North Koreans don’t actually use them.
Cooperating with China in this matter should not be so difficult, for the dirty secret in Northeast Asia is that everyone would really prefer to maintain the status quo. South Koreans tell themselves that unification of the motherland is their highest goal, but not at any price. It would be wonderful, of course, if a bloodless revolution could unite the two Koreas in a peaceful liberal democracy, as happened in Germany. | 1,269,471 |
The price of oil has risen to a six-month high above $48 US a barrel due to a series of supply disruptions around the world.
After the worst of the Fort McMurray fire appeared to be over last week, bleak news returned on Monday as the fire that has moved away from more populated areas to the south appears to be taking aim at oilsands facilities to the north.
Syncrude says it has "about 100 employees remaining at our two sites to maintain the safety and stability of our operations, such as key utilities, until conditions allow for additional workers to safely return," a spokesperson said, adding that all other staff have been moved out to safety.
"Air quality at our operations for both Aurora and Mildred Lake, as well as camp facilities, are being measured regularly to ensure the safety of people in those areas."
Suncor has taken similar actions, which means between the two companies about 8,000 workers have been extracted from the area. And a camp run by TSX-listed Horizon North Logistics called Blacksand Executive has sustained "significant damage" the company said in a release.
Evacuations like that are knocking down oil output from Canada's oil patch, which is good news for crude prices.
The North American oil benchmark WTI traded hands as high at $48.60 US on Tuesday, it's highest level since last November, ultimately closed at $48.31 US, up 59 cents on the day.
Oil has been steadily climbing for two weeks as small outages in Nigeria, Venezuela and elsewhere have coupled with declining U.S. production, and Canadian oilsands output cut in half by wildfires in northeastern Alberta.
"I expect prices to take a shot at $50," said Carsten Fritsch, analyst at Commerzbank. "The outages in Canada and Nigeria alone are probably enough to leave the global oil market undersupplied at present."
"Globally, there are still a lot of supply disruptions and this comes on top of natural declines," said Olivier Jakob, oil analyst at Petromatrix. "It does bring forward the expected rebalancing in the second half."
The series of events prompted investment bank Goldman Sachs to reverse its earlier call for $20 a barrel oil, and now also thinks that crude will average $50 a barrel in the second half of this year.
"The oil market has gone from nearing storage saturation to being in deficit much earlier than we expected," the bank said, adding the world is consuming more oil every day than it produces for the first time since early 2015. That should help draw down record high oil stocks being kept in storage around the world.
That's good news for overleveraged oil companies that have been waiting for prices to recover for more than a year now. On Monday, Calgary-based Penn West warned it was in danger of defaulting on its loans as early as next month.
Get the latest breaking news on this story and others. Download the CBC News app for iOS and Android. | 1,269,472 |
ROSEMONT, Ill. - In a near repeat performance of his November 3rd masterpiece against the Grand Rapids Griffins, Kasimir Kaskisuo stopped all 32 shots from the defending Calder Cup champions on Saturday to propel the Chicago Wolves to a 2-0 victory from Allstate Arena.
Chicago protected a 1-0 lead from early in the second period until the home team added an empty netter with 16 seconds left in regulation. The win pushes the Wolves' winning streak to five games and to 14 games (12-0-1-1) without a loss in regulation overall.
MORE: Scoring summary
Grand Rapids, who had a five-game winning streak of their own coming into the game, fell back to.500 with a record of 16-16-1-4. The team is back in action on Monday at 8 p.m. against the Manitoba Moose.
At the 6:48 mark of the second period, the Wolves (18-12-5-2) lit up the lamp first with a goal from Paul Thompson. Dmitry Osipov collected the puck at the right point from Stefan Matteau and heaved it towards the net. Thompson was camped in front of the net with a defenseman draped all over him, but he still managed to get his stick on the puck which deflected over Jared Coreau's glove and into the net.
With eight minutes to go in the second frame, Kaskisuo made a critical glove save that stopped Matt Puempel from putting the Griffins on the board. Eric Tangradi brought the puck into the zone up the left board and made a nifty pass to Vili Saarijarvi in the left circle. The defenseman then made a crisp pass of his own through the slot to an open Puempel who shot it into the goaltender's glove.
Three minutes later the Griffins had another opportunity to tie the game when two skaters hit each post on consecutive shots. Dylan McIlrath flung the puck towards the net and it took a fortuitous bounce towards the crease where Ben Street was waiting. Street shot the puck between Kaskisuo's legs, but he only found the left pipe.
The rebound ricocheted directly to a streaking Puempel who hit the right pipe of a half-open net. The Essex, Ontario native was so sure that the puck was going in that he nearly raised his arms in triumph before realizing that the Griffins still had a zero on the scoreboard.
Grand Rapids outshot Chicago 32-29, but could never find the right shot to quiet the crowd. They were also held scoreless in their two power play opportunities.
Coreau, who also kept the Wolves from scoring on the power play, finished with 27 saves for the game.
Notes
In three home games against the Griffins, Paul Thompson has scored four goals for the Wolves...This was only the second game of the season series (6) that didn't produce a power play goal. | 1,269,473 |
The complaint asks the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, the government agency that oversees trade practices, to investigate ad blockers that offer “paid whitelisting,” – a service which charges advertisers to bypass ad-blocking software – along with services that substitute ad blockers’ own advertising for blocked ads or get around publishers’ subscription pages.
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The NAA complaint comes at a moment when the newspaper industry continues to struggle with dramatic changes that have eroded its business. Advertising revenues have dropped from roughly $50 billion a decade ago to less than half of that today, according to the NAA. Revenues from print advertising continue to slip as readers consume more news online, and digital advertising brings in far less revenue than print.
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Publishers increasingly feel they cannot afford to lose revenue from digital ads. They believe the industry’s future is dependent digital advertising – particularly the practice of showing tiny ads on smartphones, where the public is spending a growing share of its reading time.
But consumers often find those smartphone ads to be intrusive and pesky. Today users are blocking 11.7 percent of all ads, according to a recent survey by the ad-blocking company Optimal.com and Wells Fargo. The rise of ad-blockers is also tied to a 2015 decision by Apple to allow ad-blockers on iPhones and other company devices.
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In recent months, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post have experimented with messages that gently ask readers to turn off ad-blockers -- or to consider subscribing. The FTC complaint demonstrates a growing willingness by publishers, who in the past have minimized the issue, to be more aggressive.
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The U.S. Federal Trade Commission said it had no comment.
Ben Williams, head of operations and communications for popular ad-blocking software AdBlock Plus, owned by Eyeo GmbH - one of the companies mentioned in the NAA suit – said in an emailed statement that the NAA had misconstrued the services the company offers. The “only part of [NAA’s allegations] that resembles reality is the part about ad blocking being a statement of consumer dissatisfaction with an ad industry that has spied on them, deceived them and, most of all, annoyed them with intrusive ads for years.”
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William’s said the company only white-listed ads that adhered to specific criteria, including size requirements and not disrupting the reading experience. He disputed the allegation that Ad Block Plus offered a pay-to-play system where users weren’t told that ads they had paid to block were being let in for a fee. Users, he said, could block all ads if they chose to do so.
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Online advertising is part of the trade-off that defines much of the Web's economy. Much of what users do online is offered for "free" -- e-mail, social networks, web search -- only because companies can track the behavior of consumers and send them targeted ads. | 1,269,474 |
Many Linux programmers use Fedora, Red Hat's community Linux distribution for development. But Fedora has been far more than that lately. It's also become the testing ground for Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL). That means it comes in three different editions: Workstation, Server and Cloud
Fedora 25's new features and capabilities include:
The long-delayed official debut of the Wayland display server, Wayland, which has been in the lab since 2010, is finally ready for prime time. It's meant to replace the legacy X11 system. Wayland's goal has always been to provide a smoother, better user-interface experience.
Improved Flatpak support for developers. Flatpak is a new attempt to provide a universal Linux packaging system. It's meant to make it easier to install, update and remove programs
Replace Fedora distro ISO downloads with Fedora Media Writer. Instead of simply downloading an ISO, this multi-platform tool automatically downloads the installation ISO images and use them to create a bootable USB drive or DVD disc.
An SELinux Troubleshooter module for the Cockpit web browser system administrator tool. This will provide suggestions when an SELinux security denial is encountered. It's meant to enable sysadmins to avoid log checking and manual workarounds.
The replacement of Fedora Cloud with Fedora 25 Atomic Host. This will officially launch when Fedora 25 is generally available. Fedora 25 Atomic Host is tailored for running container-based workloads, on both the cloud or on bare metal.
Each edition of the new Fedora is based from a common set of base packages. The Fedora 25 Beta provides many minor bug fixes and tweaks to these underlying components. It also includes new and enhanced packages. The most important of these are:
Docker 1.12 for building and running containerized applications
Node.js 6.5, the latest version of the popular server-side JavaScript engine
Support for Rust, a faster and more stable system programming language
Multiple Python versions - 2.6, 2.7, 3.3, 3.4 and 3.5 - to help run test suites across several Python configurations, as well as PyPy, PyPy3 and Jython
The most interesting change, however, isn't in the beta. The Fedora Cloud is being replaced by Fedora 25 Atomic Host. This is a small footprint, purpose-built version of Fedora, which is designed expressly to run containerized workloads. It will include a base image for creating virtual machines; an Atomic Host image for creating hosts for container deployment; and a Docker image.
Put it all together and enterprises have a view of Red Hat Linux's future. Developers will finally get a chance to see what life is like with Wayland as their mainstay display server. If you want to try it for yourself, Fedora is ready for download.
Do keep in mind, it is a beta. There will be bugs. Still, it's a small price to pay to see tomorrow's Linux technologies today.
Related Stories: | 1,269,475 |
cowardice and dissent for defiance. And she is greedy. Greedy for power, for honor, for love.”
–Tyrion Lannister, A Dance with Dragons
Brienne
“I have to try to save her… or die in the attempt.”
–Brienne of Tarth, A Feast for Crows
In the novels, Brienne of Tarth is a powerful woman who bucks many of the social norms of Westeros to become a powerful warrior. Along with her great strength and skill at arms, Brienne shows heights of loyalty and honor displayed by few other characters. This led her first to protect Renly Baratheon and later search for Sansa Stark, but much like Eddard Stark, her personal honor can cause complications with less scrupulous players of the game of thrones.
The traits of a Brienne player tend to foster a defensive nature in melee gameplay, as well as being the most likely player type to favor a certain flavor or theme. Brienne players will often use cards like The Watcher on the Walls (No Middle Ground, 66) and Eddard Stark (Core Set, 144), offering a strong defense to dissuade other players from attacking them. On the plot front, Brienne players may favor cards like A Feast for Crows (Core Set, 2), which lets them use their defensive strength to convince the other players to send their challenges elsewhere. Then, the Brienne player can claim dominance with the extra strength that wasn’t committed to challenges.
Interestingly, the Brienne player also leans toward the Crown Regent title, but with different motivations than a Cersei player. Brienne players attempt to influence the state of the game through a defensive show of strength, hoping to deter incoming challenges without having to actively use resources to fend them off. The threat of activating the Crown Regent’s challenge redirection can frequently alter the decisions other players make without even actually using the Crown Regent’s power.
If you’re considering making deals or alliances with other players at the table, Brienne players are your best choice of ally. Their unflagging sense of honor means that they will almost always stick to both the letter and the spirit of the agreement, even when breaking such bonds may be the better tactical play. Brienne players do typically engage in table talk, but again, it is more defensive in nature as they attempt to persuade people not to act against them or to honor existing deals rather than interfering with other players. A Brienne player can be particularly vengeful if another player reneges on a deal, however.
“He said that all his other knights wanted things of him, castles or honors or riches, but all that Brienne wanted was to die for him.”
–Loras Tyrell, A Storm of Swords
Check back next week for the second part of Choose Your Title, in which Will Lentz will discuss the final two melee archetypes! | 1,269,476 |
s only just emerging.
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“The models don’t have technical challenges; they don’t run into engineering problems; the models don’t have cost overruns,” Peters said. “Everything works as it should work in the model.”
The bottom line, he and Anderson note in their paper, is that all these assumptions make for a huge gamble. If policymakers decide we’re going to meet our climate goals only with the aid of negative-emission technologies, and then these technologies fail us in the future, we will already be locked into a high-temperature climate scenario.
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In this light, the authors write, “negative-emission technologies should not form the basis of the mitigation agenda.” Indeed, they conclude, nations should proceed as though these technologies will fail, focusing instead on aggressive emissions-reduction policies for the present, such as the continued expansion of renewable energy sources.
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Other scientists agree. Daniel Kammen, an energy professor at the University of California in Berkeley and director of the Renewable and Appropriate Energy Laboratory, has published several recent papers on BECCS technology, and agrees that it is “nowhere near ready to be considered a component of a viable carbon reduction strategy.”
“The paper is right,” he continued in an emailed comment to The Washington Post. “A run to endorse BECCS as a key component of the needed 80 percent or greater decarbonization we need by 2050 is unproven, premature and potentially costly. It is worth research, but has a ways to go before it can enter the realm of a solutions science for climate change.”
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Herzog also agreed that “the focus of today should be on mitigation as opposed to worrying about negative emissions sometime in the future.” In the future, he said, as we approach the end of our decarbonization schemes, negative emissions could still have a place when it comes to offsetting carbon from those last activities it’s most difficult or most expensive to decarbonize.
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But Herzog added that, in his opinion, we’ve likely already overshot a 2-degree temperature threshold, to say nothing of the more ambitious 1.5-degree target described in the Paris climate agreement. At the very least, he noted, a reliance on renewables alone would be unlikely to get us there, if it were still possible. Indeed, multiple recent analyses have suggested that the combined pledges of individual countries participating in the Paris Agreement — very few of which have even considered negative emissions — still fall short of our temperature goals.
“I think what you’re going to see in the long run is a mix of technologies coming in to help solve the problem,” he said. “You need a mix of renewables, efficiency, nuclear, CCS, lifestyle changes — just a whole litany.”
Read more at Energy & Environment: | 1,269,477 |
Darren Tanke’s Gorgosaurus preparation: final roundup
I have been less than brilliant at cross-linking all the various Gorgosaurus posts that have been running now since December and finished yesterday with Darren’s final summary and update. It seemed sensible then to have a final little round-up on here back linking to all the previous posts and giving a central repository for everything up to this point.
I also want to use the opportunity to repost a few of my favourite images from the series which are scattered in below. Of course I also want to give huge thanks to Darren for all his work on this. I’d originally conceived of the series of being little more than some nice pictures shows the rock slowly clearing to reveal the underlying dinosaur with a few notes on what was going on. Darren obviously has gone way beyond this with a huge series of detailed posts and documenting every step of the process and every little trick and tip he has going. My thanks too, to the Royal Tyrell Museum for letting us do all of this and stick this, as yet undescribed, specimen all over the web.
Right, here we go:
Darren Tanke and Gorgosaurus
Pt. 1 Getting started
Pt. 2 Into the jacket
Pt. 3 The snout appears
Pt. 4 A maxilla
Pt. 5 Fixing the cracks
Pt. 6 A lucky break
Pt. 7 Safety first
Pt. 8 Removal and repair
Pt. 9 Epoxy and a foot is found
Gorgosaurus review and Q & A
Pt. 10 Filling the cracks and a foot uncovered
Pt. 11 A hands-free glue system
Pt. 12 Specimen preparation and planning
Pt. 13 Detailed work
Pt. 14 Until next year
Pt. 15 Finishing touches
Pt. 16 More cleaning
Pt. 17 Supporting the breaks
Pt. 18 That superb skull
Pt. 19 Preparing to mould
Pt. 20 Fixing undercuts, the final preparation
Pt. 21 The end
All photos here and in the series are owned by Darren Tanke and the Royal Tyrrell Museum.
Sometime after this roundup post originally appeared, Darren extended this series with some further work. These are linked to below so that the whole set can be accessed from this single post:
Pt. 22 Trenching
Pt. 23 Drilling
Pt. 24 Jacketing the skull
Pt. 25 Completing the skull jacket
Pt. 26 Numbers
Pt. 27 Adding burlap
Pt. 28 Replastering
Pt. 29 Block turning i
Pt. 30 Block turning ii
Pt. 31 Jacket removal i
Pt. 32 Jacket removal ii
Extra final bonus post. | 1,269,478 |
Conservatives attending yesterday’s meeting with Facebook executives to address charges that the company is biased against conservative topics have admitted they are prevented from quoting anyone at the meeting.
It’s well-known that you can’t get on to Facebook’s headquarters without signing an NDA agreement of some kind, but this news will bolster claims that the company is not being transparent in the way it has attempted to address the concerns of conservative users.
There have been mixed messages from attendees, with some happily admitting that the entire meeting was off-the-record, while others readily admitted that they agreed not to reveal the details of what was discussed.
CNN commentator S.E Cupp, for example, specifically denied signing an NDA:
Hi @Nero — Nope, no NDA. What are you curious about specifically? https://t.co/PoL8eDUj3b — S.E. Cupp (@secupp) May 19, 2016
Rob Bluey, editor-in-chief of the Daily Signal, also denied signing an NDA:
Nope, didn't sign an NDA. I've been candid about what transpired. — Rob Bluey (@RobertBluey) May 19, 2016
But Daily Caller editor-in-chief Tucker Carlson, speaking on The Kelly File, admitted that they were “bound by” something (he didn’t say what) that prevented them from “being specific about who said what.”
This was also confirmed by Glenn Beck, who recounted parts of the meeting on his talk radio show:
Now, no one can make direct quotes, that was deal going into the room, Facebook’s deal. You can’t quote us directly and nobody can quote us in the room. You can talk about what you felt and what you heard, but it’s your opinion; let’s not throw everybody under the bus. So – I think that’s good and I think that’s fair.
Media Research Centre President Brent Bozell also corroborated, telling FOX Business that he couldn’t discuss the details of who said what. (He also accused Breitbart of taking a “defeatist and angry” stance on the issue!)
“I’ve got to honor the ground rules that it was all off-the-record” said Bozell.
It’s nice that 16 conservatives have left Facebook’s headquarters so encouraged by Zuckerberg’s assurances. But what about the tens of millions of conservatives who didn’t attend the meeting? They’ll have to take the punditry at their word. And, in case anyone missed the GOP primaries, most conservative pundits don’t command a particularly high degree of trust at the moment.
You can follow Allum Bokhari on Twitter, add him on Facebook, and download Milo Alert! for Android to be kept up to date on his latest articles. | 1,269,479 |
," says Kinkle. "That's the only thing that's going to satisfy me."
And the double life that Danny C was leading was about to catch up to him. Kinkle and his team were asked to find a murderer who escaped from prison 27 years ago. They were looking for a killer named Edward Solly, who was serving time for murdering his girlfriend's 2-year-old son Christopher Welsh.
Solly was caught and sentenced to 15-20 years in a New Jersey prison. Later, he was transferred to a minimum-security facility, where he was allowed to go on furloughs to visit his elderly mother. After his third visit, Solly disappeared and was never seen again – at least not under that name.
Only his mother knew that Solly had taken the new name Danny C, and she wouldn't tell the police where her son was. But after she died, police talked to her husband, Harry.
"He says, ''Look, all I know is that he's a singer, and he goes by the name Danny, Danny C,'" says Kinkle, who was about to get the break of a lifetime when a routine Web search pulled up Danny C's Web site.
And there he was. Edward Solly, the fugitive Kinkle had been looking for, staring him right in the face. So the authorities went to pick him up in Florida, and they found him fishing on a pier behind his apartment building.
What was that moment like? "Devastating," says Solly. "Devastating because my world that I knew now had totally exploded."
Solly says he never meant to kill the child, but police say this was no accident. "I never had any violence on my record," says Solly. "I'm not known as a violent person."
His arrest was front-page news in Florida. Solly will most likely be behind bars until 2010 – and he won't be able to con any music fans for a while.
But he stills seems to be working on one of the people he duped – his girlfriend, Jessica Hart. "I've got quite a few here," says Hart, with piles of letters from Solly. "They are all sealed with a kiss. We started writing the middle of August, and we renewed our relationship, and it's probably better than it's ever been."
Hart, who believes Solly is not guilty, decided to marry her true love. But the real members of Sha Na Na are far less forgiving.
"As much as one is tempted to find humor in this, when it turns out that, that the person in question is a murderer," says Sha Na Na member Bauman. "And not only that, the murderer of a child. The humor really ends."
Because of good behavior and time served, Edward Solly was granted parole and released last August. He will be on parole until 2011. He is no longer with Jessica Hart, and is reportedly living in a welfare motel in New Jersey. | 1,269,480 |
The former command chief of the 12th Air Force — also known as Air Forces Southern — will face a court-martial in October, according to the Air Force.
Chief Master Sgt. Jose Barraza was removed from his position at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Arizona on Nov. 23 due to a "loss of confidence in his ability to carry out his duties," according to a news release from November.
He faced an Article 32 hearing in May as a result of charges stemming from an investigation by the Air Force Office of Special Investigations.
Chief Master Sgt. Jose Barraza was removed from his position as command chief of the 12th Air Force and Air Forces Southern on Nov. 23 due to a "loss of confidence in his ability to carry out his duties."
Photo Credit: Air Force
Barraza is charged with one specification of willfully disobeying an order, seven specifications of dereliction of duty, two specifications of making false official statements, two specifications of indecent recording and five specifications of obstruction of justice, according to his charge sheet.
The charge sheet stated that Barraza told special agents with the Air Force Office of Special Investigations that his relationship with someone whose name was redacted would be classified as professional, when in fact he had engaged in a sexual relationship with the person.
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With an intent to deceive, according to the charge sheet, Barraza said he would not sexually pursue someone in AFSOUTH.
He’s also being charged with influencing the person to conceal their sexual relationship from law enforcement by persuading her to delete text messages from her cellphone, according to the charge sheet.
Barraza also deleted contents from his cellphone to conceal evidence of the unprofessional relationship, according to the charge sheet. These contents included images and video of the "private area" of the woman without her consent.
The arraignment will be at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base on Aug. 29-30, and the trial will be Oct. 10-14, according to Air Combat Command.
Barraza joined the Air Force in 1989 and became AFSOUTH's top enlisted adviser in June 2015. A January 2014 Airman Magazine story, " Playing the Pawn," told the story of how Barraza rose from a gang member in Los Angeles to a leader in the Air Force.
The 12th Air Force reports to Air Combat Command and serves as the air component for U.S. Southern Command. It provides air and space support for the military in Central and South America and the Caribbean.
Charlsy Panzino covers the Guard and Reserve, training, technology, operations and features for Army Times and Air Force Times. Email her at [email protected].
| 1,269,481 |
Sarah Palin Endorses Donald Trump in Iowa With Raucous 20-Minute Speech Trump will officially announce Palin's endorsement tonight at a rally in Iowa.
-- Former Alaska governor Sarah Palin endorsed Donald Trump during a raucous speech at the presidential candidate's rally in Ames, Iowa Tuesday night.
Palin brought her folksy style to the stage, saying that Trump would "kick ISIS' a**" and saying that America should stop "pussy-footing around," eliciting cheers from the audience.
"When I heard she was going to endorse me I was so honored, you have no idea. I was so honored,” Trump said at his rally in Ames, Iowa.
Palin gave a ringing endorsement to the real estate mogul.
"He's perfectly positioned to let you make America great again. Are you ready for that, Iowa?” said Palin. “No more pussy-footing around.”
Palin spoke for nearly 20 minutes.
She hailed the fact that Trump’s experience was in the private sector rather than as a politician in Washington DC, and said she strongly believes Trump would be a commander in chief who will “kick ISIS’ a**.”
Palin will travel with Trump to two events tomorrow in Norwalk, Iowa and Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Monday night, Trump said he had a "big announcement" and that he would joined by a "very special guest,” but that was kept under wraps.
Palin's backing has the potential to be a big boost to Trump’s campaign in Iowa with its conservative electorate and critical evangelical Christian voting bloc. Texas Sen. Ted Cruz has been leading Trump in recent polls in the state.
Earlier, Cruz tweeted: “Regardless of what she does in 2016, I will always be a big fan,” of Palin.
Palin, the 2008 GOP vice presidential nominee, has long praised Trump.
In a Fox News interview last August, Palin commended Trump's immigration policy as "common sense” and, in a Facebook post in December, she praised Trump's proposed ban on Muslims entering the U.S.
Last year, in a Palin went so far as to call Trump a "hero."
"Trump is the candidate giving voice to untold millions of fed-up Americans witnessing a purposeful destruction of our economy and the equal opportunity for success that made America exceptional," she wrote on Facebook.
For his part, Trump has said he would “love” to have Palin in his administration. Palin told CNN she would love to be Trump's energy secretary. In 2011 the two appeared together at a New York City pizzeria when there was speculation Palin, herself, would run for president. At the time, Trump called Palin a “great woman” and a “good friend.”
And there are other connections too: Palin's former chief of staff, Michael Glassner, is currently Trump's national political director. | 1,269,482 |
By By Anne Sewell Feb 23, 2012 in Food Requests have been made under the Freedom of Information Act for President Obama to disclose discussions with Montanto-supporting lobbyists. Requests have been denied. Many farmers have been sued by the biotech giant for alleged “patent-infringement” caused by pollen from Monsanto’s GMO plants blowing over on to their fields and contaminating their crops. Many have lost the fight and also their farmlands to Monsanto. Corn Keith Weller As the class-action suit grows, PEER suspects that the White House refuses to comply with the FOIA request because Monsanto possibly has some very powerful friends on Pennsylvania Avenue. "We suspect the reason an industry lobbyist so cavalierly shared strategy is that the White House is part of that strategy," PEER staff counsel Kathryn Douglass tells the A former attorney for the US Department of Agriculture and lobbyist for Monsanto, Michael Taylor has been appointed to a federal role as Deputy Commissioner for foods at the FDA (United States Food and Drug Administration). Following this the FDA has refused consumer protection groups’ requests to label GMO products. PEER earlier fought a battle to keep genetically engineered crops from being planted in wildlife refuges and won. Public Employees for Environment Responsibility (PEER), a US-based non-profit group demands that the White House comply with a request for information that could link the Obama administration with lobbyists who are involved with the Monsanto corporation Monsanto is an agricultural biotech company which is endeavouring to take over the world food supply with its genetically modified seeds and its herbicides.Many farmers have been sued by the biotech giant for alleged “patent-infringement” caused by pollen from Monsanto’s GMO plants blowing over on to their fields and contaminating their crops. Many have lost the fight and also their farmlands to Monsanto.But 30 000 organic farmers across America are currently involved in a class-action suit to sue Monsanto to stop its war against independent growers, saying that they are not guilty of patent-infringement, but that Monsanto is guilty for contaminating their organic crops.As the class-action suit grows, PEER suspects that the White House refuses to comply with the FOIA request because Monsanto possibly has some very powerful friends on Pennsylvania Avenue."We suspect the reason an industry lobbyist so cavalierly shared strategy is that the White House is part of that strategy," PEER staff counsel Kathryn Douglass tells the Truthout website. "The White House's legal posture is as credible as claiming Coca Cola's secret formula was 'inadvertently' left in a duffel bag at the bus station."A former attorney for the US Department of Agriculture and lobbyist for Monsanto, Michael Taylor has been appointed to a federal role as Deputy Commissioner for foods at the FDA (United States Food and Drug Administration). Following this the FDA has refused consumer protection groups’ requests to label GMO products.PEER earlier fought a battle to keep genetically engineered crops from being planted in wildlife refuges and won. More about Monsanto, Gmo, Seeds, Farmers, Organic farming More news from Monsanto Gmo Seeds Farmers Organic farming | 1,269,483 |
Ricciardo joined Hulkenberg at Renault this season after a big-money move from Red Bull.
Hulkenberg, who holds the F1 record for most starts without a podium finish, will leave the team at the end of this year after Renault signed Esteban Ocon for 2020 instead.
Asked by Motorsport.com if he was surprised to see Hulkenberg go, Ricciardo said: "Yeah, I had no indication prior to this week that he was going to go.
"I'm not sure yet what his plan is. If he wants to keep racing in F1, I hope for him he finds something. He's been, I want to say, easy to work with. We kind of just did our thing.
"He's experienced, he's been around. It's kind of no-nonsense, 'we're here, we're going to race' and try to give the team as much info as possible.
"It's a relaxed approach with him and up until now it's been pretty effortless."
Ricciardo believes he can still learn from Hulkenberg before the end of the season and expects them to push one another "pretty hard" until then.
Hulkenberg arrived in F1 amid huge expectation after a stunning junior career that included back-to-back titles in European Formula 3 and GP2.
However, he has never found himself in race-winning machinery, and last year his seventh-place in the drivers' championship was his career-best F1 finish.
Haas represents arguably the most competitive, realistic option for Hulkenberg next season, but with only midfield opportunities available the 2015 Le Mans 24 Hours winner's nine-season spell in F1 risks ending without a single podium, let alone a victory.
Ricciardo said he expected a "top-tier driver" in Hulkenberg but also "he won everything as a junior but never had a top seat in F1, [so] probably a little bit of frustration, and a chip on his shoulder" as well.
"But in a way that was going to drive him to perform really well this year," Ricciardo said. "Now having me in the team, if he beats me, it's 'well, you know he's a race-winning driver'.
"So I thought he would bring his best this year and try to remind people what he feels he is capable of.
"The first few races I saw that and there was still quite a bit for me to learn and gel with the car.
"So, I wasn't surprised when he came out pretty quick in the first few and I was like 'ah, got a bit of work to do'. Then I started to gather momentum and it's gone back-and-forth since.
"But yeah, he's quick. As far as technique goes and that, some similarities to Max [Verstappen] in some areas." | 1,269,484 |
Written by By Hada Messia, Duarte Mendonca Amy Woodyatt, CNN Rome
Revered women's shoe designer Sergio Rossi has died of coronavirus complications at the age of 84, according to the Maurizio Bufalini Hospital in Cesena, in northern Italy
A source at the hospital, which is located in Italy's Emilia-Romagna region, confirmed Rossi's death to CNN on Saturday, but wouldn't disclose any further details regarding Rossi's stay at the hospital, his medical history or background, nor the exact date and time of his death.
More than 14,600 people have died of Covid-19 in Italy, according to figures from Johns Hopkins University -- the highest death count for any country. Italy, which is four weeks into a nationwide lockdown as part of attempts to curb the spread of Covid-19, has confirmed nearly 120,000 cases of the virus.
Renowned as a ground-breaking shoe designer, Rossi was popular among various high-end models and celebrities including Adriana Lima, Rihanna, Ariana Grande and Taylor Swift.
In a statement issued to Rossi's official Instagram account, Riccardo Sciutto, the CEO for Sergio Rossi Group, paid homage to Rossi.
Sergio Rossi shoes seen outside Elie Saab show during Paris Fashion Week, 2019. Credit: Claudio Lavenia/Getty Images
"Sergio Rossi was a master, and it is my great honor to have met him and gotten to present him the archive earlier this year. His vision and approach will remain our guide in the growth of the brand and the business," Sciutto said.
"He loved women and was able to capture a woman's femininity in a unique way, creating the perfect extension of a woman's leg through his shoes. Our long and glorious history started from his incredible vision and we'll remember his creativity forever," Sciutto added.
In March, Rossi's company announced on Instagram that it would be donating 100,000 Euros ($108,000) to finance the fight against coronavirus, while also pledging 100 percent of online sales to the cause.
Shoes are displayed in the Sergio Rossi stand at Pitti Immagine Uomo 97 in Florence, Italy, January 2020. Credit: Vittorio Zunino Celotto/Getty Images
"We want to be part of the rebirth of Italy, which is why Sergio Rossi chooses to take concrete action by supporting the hospital ASST Fatebenefratelli Sacco in Milan with a donation of €100,000 and by launching a challenge to all women who have loved wearing our collections over the years. From the 14th to the 20th of March, 100% of the proceeds made on SergioRossi.com will be donated to support the fight against Covid--19," the company said.
Rossi is survived by his son, Gianvito Rossi, who posted a tribute to his late father, calling him "Maestro" via the Instagram account of his own shoe brand. | 1,269,485 |
before coming to Fowlerville, so he knew what he was doing.
When the Glads showed up for their matches, the jaws began to drop when they saw all these big, beefy kids taking the court. High school tennis players are usually skinny. The Fowlerville tennis players all looked like … well, like football players.
“The Williamston coach told me that he had never had his hand squeezed so hard so many times when shaking hands,” Jonas said in 2004.
Not surprisingly, the Fowlerville tennis team lost every single dual meet that season. The football players were trying their best, but they didn’t record a single win.
Matt Lantz, though, was having a spectacular senior season, going 8-1 in regular-season matches. And because he was part of a recognized MHSAA team, he was able to play in the regional tournament – all while wearing a shirt that said “Fowlerville” on it.
Thanks to the sacrifices his football friends had made, Matt Lantz was in position to realize his dream – making it to the state tournament. In order to do so, he had to finish either first or second at regionals.
He ended up finishing first. With his Fowlerville teammates cheering him on, Lantz won the regional championship at No. 1 singles.
His dream had become a reality. He had made it to the state tournament.
Lantz had a great run at the state tourney, beating a kid from Coopersville and another kid from Allegan, both by scores of 6-1. 6-0. That landed him in the state quarterfinals, where he suffered a tough 6-1, 7-5 loss to a kid from Bloomfield Hills Andover who ended up winning the state title.
But no matter. Matt Lantz had made it all the way to the state quarterfinals – and he was able to compete for his own school, Fowlerville – all because of his friends.
That, my friends, is the very definition of sportsmanship. And that’s the best example I have that Fowlerville has always had great kids.
I did some checking, and I found out that Matt Lantz went on to play tennis at Spring Arbor University, where he ended up winning a school-record 140 matches. How about that?
He got his degree in communications and psychology at Spring Arbor, and followed that up with a master’s degree in counseling from Palm Beach Atlantic University.
These days, he works as a licensed professional counselor for an organization called Anchor of Hope in Holland, Mich., counseling teens and young adults. You can find his bio here.
I’m guessing that part of his job involves letting kids know that when things get tough in life, you can always count on your friends. He has a pretty good story to tell along those lines.
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Pink October is here, and it’s bringing people closer together
Pink October is the official breast cancer awareness month. It’s a very big deal and the month is filled with events hosted by organizations, companies and groups from all over the world and from all possible fields as well. The aim is to raise both funds and also knowledge about this potentially fatal disease. It’s a really worthwhile cause as money raised during this time is used to fund life-changing research and support services for those suffering from cancer.
The pink ribbon – the symbol of breast cancer awareness – is what gave the month its colorful name, and in many cases, the name is the game here: It’s all about pink things. From fun runs with pink shirts, to pink wristbands that you can buy to show support, the possibilities are endless and everyone gets involved. This is true even in the world of video games, where earlier this year, Overwatch creators Blizzard designed a pink skin for one of the game’s healer characters and made it available for purchase – the proceeds generated by sales went to help support a breast cancer charity.
Of course Blizzard was far from the only company to make this kind of effort – in fact, even us here at Esports.net sought the opportunity to chip in. Esports.net, forms part of Catena Media, and today, we’ve had the chance to raise awareness for this important health issue, while also having a little bit of fun. For this Pink October event, we’ve partnered with the Marigold Foundation (Malta) and all proceeds generated have been sent to this great organization.
The 19th of October… every October
On this day at our headquarters, the whole of Catena Media worked together to raise money to donate to the Marigold Foundation. Our efforts involved – of course – a lot of pink! Employees were invited to dress in their favourite pink clothes for the occasion, pink coffee was on offer as well as pink baked goods available in our bake-sale. Donation boxes lined the offices for this great cause. All of these and more were part of the programme.
Of course, it’s not just all about having fun and dressing in shades of pink – the point of breast cancer awareness month is to remind women – especially those in risk groups – to get themselves checked regularly, as early discovery is one of the best tools in combating the disease. It’s also not just the survivors of breast cancer that are affected. Family and friends are an incredible support network and money raised during this month also goes towards helping them better support and aid their loved ones.
Making a difference
There are plenty of ways you – or anyone – can make a difference this October! From getting yourself checked to reminding others, from donating to charity organisations to simply showing solidarity with Pink October. Unfortunately cancer touches most of our lives in some way or another, but there are countless great ways of showing your support for victims and survivors of breast cancer so don’t be afraid to get involved. | 1,269,487 |
The taxpayers in New Zealand are spending $103 million a year on intelligence as a kind of membership fee for the country to be part of the Five Eyes surveillance club together with the US, UK, Australia and Canada, a declassified report said.
The so-called ‘Murdoch Report’ from 2009 was made public on the request of the New Zealand Herald newspaper under the country’s Official Information Act.
The document, which was put together by former Zealand’s Secretary of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Simon Murdoch, reviewed the operations of the country’s spy agencies after 9/11 when their intelligence-sharing relations with the US were undergoing a major transformation.
The report indicated that – since September 11, 2001 – the New Zealand’s intelligence community had doubled in staff numbers and more than tripled in funding, reaching to $103 million.
According to Murdoch, this money should be viewed “in the context of the annual ‘subscription’ paid by New Zealand to belong to the 5-Eyes community whose annual capital investment and operating outlays would dwarf ours".
"It helps explain why the niche contributions that we can make to 5-Eyes burden sharing are so important and why agency heads strive to be responsive to partner demand," he added.
The issue of New Zealand Intelligence Corps (NZIC) working hard on behalf of its Five Eyes partners is raised in several places in the report.
New Zealand had to prove itself as a “niche contributor with capacity constraints, but some high quality competencies,” Murdoch said.
The document listed a range of security challenges faced by New Zealand, including cyber threats to IT infrastructure, "imported or homegrown Islamic militancy" as well as the spread of weapons of mass destruction.
Threats also included "trans-boundary criminality, civilizational friction, and resource rivalry and energy brinkmanship."
New Zealand Herald said that large sections of the report it received were blanked out, particularly, the areas, which appear to focus on the relationships with Five Eyes’ partners.
The country’s intelligence agencies have always tried to avoid disclosure of the contribution they make to the Five Eyes alliance.
However, there is speculation that New Zealand is involved in satellite interception due to its favorable geographical positioning in the Pacific Ocean.
The island state’s humble reputation is also believed to have been used as a staging point for electronic spying on countries that are less friendly towards the US or UK.
The Five Eyes alliance was formed after World War II so that the British Commonwealth and the US could share intelligence information on the Soviet Union and its allies.
The ‘Five Eyes’ term has its origins as a shorthand for the "AUS/CAN/NZ/UK/US EYES ONLY" classification level.
After 9/11, the alliance further expanded its surveillance capabilities, making monitoring the Internet one of its top priorities. | 1,269,488 |
Four concept stores across Calgary provide places to train staff, host media and begin conversations with communities
CALGARY, Aug. 15, 2018 /CNW/ - NewLeaf Cannabis has literally opened their doors to the communities they serve via four fully built-out concept retail store across Calgary, designed to train staff, engage the community and host media in advance of legalization in mid-October.
NewLeaf Cannabis is an Alberta-owned company of Calgary-based operators in the final stages of preparations before potentially opening 25+ high-quality locations across Alberta.
They are excited to help usher a new, more accurate cannabis narrative into the mainstream, and to this end, they are getting a head start wherever they can to ensure a proactive approach to an industry that will feature inevitable growing pains. Equipped with a comprehensive, custom-designed employee training program, a mandate of transparent communication and education-driven community engagement, NewLeaf welcomes the media and public to come and get a sneak peek.
NewLeaf CAO Angus Taylor, believes their approach to cannabis will attract the mainstream by capturing the ideal balance between shopping convenience and legal compliance.
"Our company is focused on earning the trust of the communities we serve, and that includes a level of proactive preparation, education and transparency that will help those who are uncomfortable with change, alleviate their concerns early."
As one of the first companies to apply for their cannabis retail licenses, and as a group that has been invested in the process of understanding the details and challenges surrounding legislation and legalization since the beginning, NewLeaf Cannabis' success to-date is a result of due-diligence and unmatched follow-through.
Test stores and ongoing research drove everything from the locations and employees they pursued, to the layout and designs of the stores; ensuring the same comforts, conveniences and service shoppers expect from their grocers, liquor stores or restaurants.
NewLeaf Cannabis' name speaks to 'turning over a new leaf'; changing any lingering, negative attitudes towards cannabis and its retailers with services focused on education, community outreach and appropriate-fit product recommendations.
Angus explains, "We are strong believers in the benefits offered by legal cannabis and are excited to help usher in this new age of acceptance and opportunity. We know there are a lot of questions out there — and we are committed to answering them.
As with anything new, there exists a period of cautious curiosity where newcomers look for ways to understand, evaluate and make informed decisions on whether to embrace or reject it. NewLeaf is advantageously positioned to provide that education and looks forward to working with Calgarians to understand, and address their needs — both now, and long into the future."
To download our media kit and image assets, please visit http://www.newleafcannabis.ca/media/
SOURCE NewLeaf Cannabis
For further information: To speak to a NewLeaf representative, to book an interview with Angus or tour of our stores, please contact Chad Hason at [email protected] | 1,269,489 |
President Donald Trump's presidential proclamation that will deny visas to immigrants who cannot prove they will obtain health insurance or can cover medical costs could exclude two-thirds of future immigrants, a new analysis found.
The proclamation is the latest and perhaps most significant action taken by the Trump administration to reduce legal immigration and may prove to be more restrictive than a separate, recent policy targeting legal immigrants who use public benefits. It will particularly affect lower-income immigrants.
Released quietly by the White House Friday evening, the proclamation will require immigrants to prove they will either obtain health insurance within 30 days of entering the country or prove they are able to cover "reasonably foreseeable" medical costs. Those who do not meet the requirement will be denied visas. Immigrants will also be denied a visa if they use the Affordable Care Act's subsidies to obtain insurance.
The rule may bar some 65% of would-be green card holders, an analysis by the nonprofit Migration Policy Institute found. The policy will not apply to asylum-seekers or temporary visas.
It will be a big barrier for immigrants who do not have a job offer that will provide health insurance or are not joining a spouse already in the U.S. who has health insurance they could join, says Julia Gelatt, a senior policy analyst at the Migration Policy Institute who conducted the analysis.
The health insurance system is difficult to navigate in a short period of time, Gelatt says, and individuals must make a certain amount of money to qualify for insurance through an ACA exchange without being eligible for subsidies.
The rule could create a de facto income test for immigrants and help achieve the Trump administration's long-term goal of shifting the legal immigration system to favor so-called merit-based immigration, rather than the immigration of those seeking to join family members who are already in the U.S.
Immigration Cartoons View All 171 Images
"It's consistent with this administration's push for so-called merit-based immigration to let in only people with high paying job offers and high educational achievement," Gelatt says. "This is perhaps the way to try to enact that type of policy without having a public debate or going through Congress."
The White House argues that uninsured immigrants create a financial burden on taxpayers and healthcare systems.
"Immigrants who enter this country should not further saddle our healthcare system, and subsequently American taxpayers, with higher costs," the proclamation says.
Immigration groups and advocacy organizations widely condemned the proclamation after it was issued.
The Trump administration has pushed for wholesale immigration reform aimed at decreasing family-based immigration and increasing merit-based immigration, but Congress has not acted on any such reform measures. Any bills aimed at reshuffling the legal immigration system would face almost impossible odds in the Democratic-controlled House.
In August, the administration finalized a new "public charge" policy that gives the government the authority to deny permanent legal status to immigrants who use public benefits like food or housing assistance, or those the government determines may be likely to use public benefits in the future. The policy is facing numerous court challenges. | 1,269,490 |
Researchers at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI) have developed a new generation of bioactive scaffolds that has shown to be capable of enhancing bone regeneration in laboratory settings. The new scaffolds were found to be able to increase stem cells’ bone repair capacity through the delivery of microRNA (micro-ribonucleic acids) molecules.
The delivery technology was developed from a combination of combination of nanoparticles and a collagen-based scaffold biomaterial, both designed for bone repair by the RCSI’s Tissue Engineering Research Group. The technology allows for delivery of a microRNA regulator, which increases a key regulator of bone regeneration.
Professor Fergal O’Brien, professor of bioengineering & regenerative medicine at RCSI and principal investigator on the project said: “While we are very excited by the enhanced capacity for bone repair that was demonstrated in this study, the platform biomaterials have potential for the regeneration of other degenerated or diseased tissues in the body as they can be tailored to deliver individual microRNA therapeutics.”
The possibilities of microRNAs emerge from their function in RNA silencing (the regulation of gene expression by RNAs that do not produce proteins) and post-transcriptional regulation of gene expression (the control of gene expression at the RNA level, between the transcription and translation of genes).
The delivery technology developed by the RCSI team has the potential to now act as a platform for the delivery of other distinct microRNAs that can be used in a multitude of therapeutic applications, well beyond bone.
Additionally, the technology could be used as a system for disease modelling and drug discovery, as well as drug transport and function studies.
The findings have so far shown enhanced capacity for bone formation by human stem cells in vitro. The possibilities, if we stretch them to include the other microRNAs that may be deliverable, seem to lead us closer to a near complete overhaul of how we currently approach aspects of healthcare.
While for now we are limited to accepting the degradation of cells and treating it only through regulation or replacement, this study may lead us to the ability to instead focus on regeneration.
Undoubtedly there will be complications in the furthering development of the technology, particularly given the complexity of other tissues as compared to bone, but the study stands as further proof of regenerative technologies becoming a healthcare standard in the near future.
If said technologies do indeed become standard, they may be able to drastically increase the average quality of life, with degenerative issues becoming easily countered. A further advantage of the method is that the healing is essentially natural; the technology acts as a boost to the body’s systems, rather than a replacement for them.
As of now, Professor O’Brien has received a ‘Proof of Concept’ grant from the European Research Council, to utilise the platform to focus on cartilage repair specifically. With the rapid advance of the science, however, it may not be long before we see many other tissues treatable. | 1,269,491 |
our historic public listing on the Toronto Stock Exchange and New York Stock Exchange to our continued international expansion, pride in advancing shareholder value through leadership is engrained in all we do at Canopy Growth. Canopy Growth has established partnerships with leading sector names including cannabis icon Snoop Dogg, breeding legends DNA Genetics and Green House seeds, Battelle, the world's largest nonprofit research and development organization, and Fortune 500 alcohol leader Constellation Brands, to name but a few. Canopy Growth operates ten licensed cannabis production sites with over 4.3 million square feet of production capacity, including over one million square feet of GMP certified production space. The Company operates Tweed retail stores in Newfoundland and Manitoba and has entered into supply agreements with every Canadian province and territory. For more information visit www.canopygrowth.com
Notice Regarding Forward Looking Statements
This news release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. Often, but not always, forward-looking statements and information can be identified by the use of words such as "plans", "expects" or "does not expect", "is expected", "estimates", "intends", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", or "believes", or variations of such words and phrases or state that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved. Forward-looking statements or information involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of Canopy Growth or its subsidiaries to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements or information contained in this news release. Examples of such statements include statements with respect to timelines for hiring and construction activities. Risks, uncertainties and other factors involved with forward-looking information could cause actual events, results, performance, prospects and opportunities to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information, including the Company's ability to satisfy provincial sales contracts or provinces purchasing all cannabis allocated to them, and such risks contained in the Company's annual information form dated June 27, 2018 and filed with Canadian securities regulators available on the Company's issuer profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. Although the Company believes that the assumptions and factors used in preparing the forward-looking information or forward-looking statements in this news release are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on such information and no assurance can be given that such events will occur in the disclosed time frames or at all. The forward-looking information and forward-looking statements included in this news release are made as of the date of this news release and the Company does not undertake an obligation to publicly update such forward-looking information or forward-looking information to reflect new information, subsequent events or otherwise unless required by applicable securities laws.
SOURCE Canopy Growth Corporation
Related Links
canopygrowth.com
| 1,269,492 |
to issue take-down notices for “abhorrent violent material”.
While an argument could be made that Australian citizens should be able to use their own judgment on what they do or don’t consume online, the algorithmic nature of social media platforms means sometimes being presented with content you don’t want to see, which starts playing before you have a chance to know what it is.
This happened in the case of the Christchurch massacre, with some Australians who watched footage in the wake of the attack anecdotally reporting that it simply “came up in (their) feed”.
The new laws have been used 18 times against 10 pieces of content so far with 70 per cent of them being taken down or hidden from the eyeballs of Australian netizens.
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media_camera Australia's eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant said the thresholds for take-down notices ‘must be clear and high’.
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The eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant said the notices aren’t issued lightly.
“Obviously, we have to be incredibly careful and use absolute discretion when issuing a notice with regard to abhorrent violent material,” Ms Grant told news.com.au.
“It’s not something that is done lightly and without proper processes that are compatible with Australia’s human rights obligations. The thresholds must be clear and high.
“But footage that a terrorist has harvested while murdering innocent people, urging others to commit terrorist acts or violence, is hardly the exercise of free speech without detrimental impacts to human life and dignity. This is propaganda intended to glorify crimes against humanity, to traumatise people, or to incite and encourage others to mimic those crimes,” she added.
Ms Grant said there was a need to balance the rights of the community with the reasonable expectation of what people want to see online.
“The community does value free speech, and we seek to balance these fundamental rights, but we think the community also doesn’t want the internet to be exploited for violence and terrorist propaganda of the most abhorrent kind. There has to be a line drawn where human dignity lies,” Ms Grant said.
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media_camera A mass shooter who terrorised Thailand for several hours posted updates to Facebook throughout. Picture: Facebook/AFP
Evidence of where that line lies has also emerged since the powers were introduced.
The recent livestreaming and Facebook posts of a Thai gunman who killed 29 people and injured 58 others wasn’t classified as “abhorrent violent material” because the shooter didn’t show any actual violence in the posts.
Facebook took the posts down under a separate company policy to remove content that praises, supports or represents mass shooters, without a take-down notice being issued.
Originally published as 20 year drag into ‘police state’ | 1,269,493 |
Armando Villa, 19, seen in a family photo, collapsed and died during a hike sponsored by a fraternity at CSUN.
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A day after the death of a California State University student was blamed on fraternity hazing by his family, the CSUN chapter of the Pi Kappa Phi fraternity he was involved with was suspended.
Armando Villa, 19, was hiking in the Angeles National Forest with three members and five associate members of the fraternity when he collapsed and lost consciousness, according to Pi Kappa Phi and the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.
Villa was taken to a local hospital where he was later pronounced dead, a Sheriff's Department news release stated.
The group had apparently run out of water, and his death was possibly the result of heat stroke, according to the department.
Villa's aunt, Maria Castenayda, said the teenager was pledging the CSUN chapter of Pi Kappa Phi, and that he and his friends were left on the trail without shoes or water and had to find their way out.
She blamed her nephew's death on hazing.
"No one should have to die because they want to join your group," Castenayda said. "They want to join, let them in."
She added that Villa had been contemplating leaving the fraternity.
The national fraternity announced on Thursday that it had interimly suspended the CSUN chapter
“Our thoughts and prayers go out to the family and friends of the student. Our deepest sympathy is with them during this time of loss,” Pi Kappa Phi Chief Executive Officer Mark E. Timmes said, according to the statement.
The fraternity also confirmed in the statement that Villa was an associate member, and that the hiking trip had been a new member activity.
Pi Kappa Phi said it was investigating the hazing allegation.
“Hazing has no place in our fraternity," Timmes said. “Should the student chapter or individual members be found in violation of Pi Kappa Phi’s standards of conduct through our discipline process, they will be held accountable by the national fraternity.”
The chapter had already been ordered by CSUN officials to “cease and desist all activities pending the outcome of the investigation.”
The fraternity was cooperating with the university's investigation, according to the Pi Kappa Phi statement.
Castenayda said she was hoping someone would provide answers to the family, but said that so far, no one had stepped forward.
Villa had just finished his first year at the university, and was getting ready to start to start classes again next month.
A Go Fund Me account had been set up for Armando Villa's parents to help cover his funeral costs.
KTLA's Kennedy Ryan and Kacey Montoya contributed to this report. | 1,269,494 |
Kevin Lee is a compilation of rarities. At just 21 years old, he is one of the youngest fighters on the UFC roster and the only one from Detroit, Michigan. Set to make his UFC debut on February 1st as part of the UFC 169 undercard, Lee is fully prepared to shake up one of the toughest and most talent-filled divisions in the world at 155 lbs. As you can image, Detroit isn't exactly a hot-bed for MMA. Kevin Lee's journey to the UFC was far from easy, and in speaking with Lee, we began to understand some of the obstacles he had to overcome along the way.
"The MMA scene in Detroit is practically nonexistent. There are gyms and events thrown in the greater Detroit area, but I am one of the very few professional MMA fighters that was born and raised in the city."
Beyond MMA, Lee describes growing up in Detroit as 'rough,' but credits his parents for keeping him out of trouble and making sure he had the best education possible.
"I was fortunate that I had two parents that woke up every morning and rode the buses with me from the inner city so that I could get a real education in a school in the suburbs. If not for my parents and the things they had to do, I would most likely be in jail or dead right now. Most of my friends that I grew up with just didn't make it, but that is just the sad reality."
Lee got his start in combat sports by joining the wrestling team in high school. He then went on to pursue MMA, using his strong wrestling base to control opponents and his improved striking, while separated and in the clinch, to pick his opponents apart on the feet. With an arsenal of submissions at his disposal as well, including a deadly guillotine choke, Kevin Lee is one of the most well-rounded prospects in the world. When asked if he believes he'll be named the UFC Lightweight Champion one day, he responded with confidence.
"Of course I do, if I didn't I wouldn't be here. I think I have the time, the skillset, and the focus to be champion. A lot of what this game comes down to is timing, the right matchups, and the fans. I'm just trying to put it all together at a time. I think I can fight any style of fighter out there. My focus is to be as well-rounded as possible and I only continue to add on to that."
Kevin Lee certainly has a bright future ahead of him and the right attitude to capitalize on every opportunity along the way. With an unblemished professional record of 7-0 (17-0 overall) and a plethora of finishes, those in the know are extremely excited to see what he can do on the big stage. And those who are unfamiliar with Lee likely won't be for long. Make sure you tune in on Super Bowl weekend for the prelims on FOX Sports 1 to catch the beginning of Kevin Lee's climb to the top. It should be a wild ride. | 1,269,495 |
The Maryland student who claimed he was his Class Valedictorian has told us what he’s going to do next – including “learn how to speed read” and then “speed read every single useful book on start-ups.”
Maryland dropout Gio Managadze published a viral LinkedIn post declaring why he was dropping out of school two weeks before gradation, rejecting his position as valedictorian. It quickly emerged the University of Maryland does not actually have a valedictorian position – they call it a Class Medalist – and this year it went to someone else.
Responding to our message from a couple days ago, Gio got in touch to describe why he did it and what he plans to do moving forward, including “learn how to speed read”, “” and “make bank.”
We have pasted his plans in full below:
Hi Harry,
This is Gio, the Ex-Valedictorian.
My entire mindset and reasons for dropping out – I have described in my letter.
Moving forward these are some of my plans (in no particular order)
1. Learn how to speed read. They taught me so many useless things in school but they never taught me how to speed read!?!?!?!? Why is that not the Day 1 lesson in high school. Think about it. Is that a joke? I’m going to learn how to speed read immediately.
2. Memorize Dale Carnegie’s HOW TO WIN FRIENDS AND INFLUENCE PEOPLE
3. Read Elon Musk’s biography and study his philosophies
4. Read Steve Job’s biography and study his philosophies
5. Read Endurance
6. Read Benjamin Franklin’s biography (one of the greatest diplomats the world has ever seen; very useful mindset for a CEO)
7. Study Zuckerberg and Facebook’s founding
8. Study Google’s founding
9. Study Richard Branson and other notable billionaires
10. Speed read every single useful book on start-ups and businesses and CEOs and billionaires
11. I will learn everything that an MBA entails (basics of business, economics, finance, marketing, value chain, etc) in a few months on my own
12. Find a problem in the world that I am very passionate about and start a company to solve it.
13. Potentially start an e-commence site to make revenue
14. Develop start-up ideas and reach out to investors to get funded
15. Make bank
My “marketing experiment” worked extremely well. Multiple investors already reached out to me. One guy even asked if he could write about me in his book.
Check out how many hits my article got.
Lemme know what else I can help with.
Best,
Gio
Good luck Gio! | 1,269,496 |
PHILADELPHIA -- A Philadelphia police inspector is facing charges he sexually assaulted three female officers, the latest development in a department plagued by sexual misconduct allegations that fueled the police commissioner's recent resignation.
A grand jury probe determined that Inspector Carl Holmes, 54, abused his power after mentoring female officers at the police academy and in other roles, District Attorney Larry Krasner's office announced.
The charges come two years after the city settled a female detective's sexual harassment lawsuit involving Holmes for $1.25 million.
"According to the presentment, Holmes' position as a high-ranking officer at PPD insulated him from any meaningful investigation; all three of the young female police officers were subjected to investigations by the Internal Affairs Division," the office said in a statement. "The grand jury alleges that PPD culture discourages reporting a fellow officer, especially a boss."
Holmes surrendered to police Thursday morning, was suspended and was expected to be arraigned later in the day. It was not clear if he had retained a lawyer.
Carol Tracy, executive director of the Women's Law Center, which has pushed to reform the way Philadelphia police classify and investigate sex assault cases, said the alleged crimes against the department's own officers amount to "institutional betrayal."
"Sexual assault and harassment are awful in any workplace, but its impact in law enforcement — like the military — can be far more severe because rank provides opportunity to retaliate," Tracy said. "That the police department protected and even promoted abusers in spite of credible complaints is inexcusable. Clearly the internal accountability system is broken and must be fixed."
City Controller Rebecca Rhynhart issued a scathing report last year that found sexual harassment policies in city government convoluted, inconsistent and ineffective. Mayor Jim Kenney updated city policies and promised improvements.
However, in August, he reluctantly accepted the resignation of popular Police Commissioner Richard Ross, conceding that he had not attacked the problem quickly enough.
Ross resigned amid allegations that he had failed to investigate Cpl. Audra McCowan's sexual harassment claims against another supervisor because he had once dated her. McCowan, a 15-year veteran, resigned this month rather than return from a stress-related medical leave, saying she felt ostracized and feared further retaliation.
She and a female colleague, who alleged unwanted touching, verbal harassment and efforts to tamper with pumped breast milk, have filed a federal lawsuit against the city. Their lawyer, Ian Bryson, said he hoped the arrest Thursday "is the mark of continued progress for women in the Philadelphia Police Department."?
Holmes has at least twice before been accused of sexual assault by female officers. Besides the woman involved in the 2017 settlement, another female officer has said publicly that Holmes sexually assaulted her in 2008. He has previously denied those allegations.
It was not known if the charges filed Thursday involve those same accusers.
Mike Neilon, a spokesman for the Philadelphia police union, said the union would not be providing Holmes with legal counsel. The union otherwise declined to comment. | 1,269,497 |
First female soldiers to graduate from Army Ranger School
Jim Michaels | USA TODAY
Show Caption Hide Caption First two women set to graduate from Army Ranger school The first two women to ever be admitted to the Army Ranger School are scheduled to graduate from the rigorous training program Friday, military sources said. Unlike the men though, the women still are unable to join the infantry or other combat jobs.
Corrections & clarifications: The initial headline on this story misstated the status of the two female soldiers who will graduate from Army Ranger School this week. They are not yet eligible to join the Ranger regiment.
WASHINGTON — Two female soldiers will graduate from the Army’s legendary Ranger School this week, the first women to complete the course since it was opened to them on an experimental basis this year, the U.S. Army said Monday evening.
The two were part of a group of 19 female soldiers who passed a rigorous screening process to begin the physically demanding course that had been closed to women since it opened more than six decades ago. Their names were not revealed.
The graduation on Friday will mark a key milestone on the military’s ongoing efforts to open front-line combat units to women. The military services have pledged to do so without compromising standards.
Students in the grueling two-month course are required to survive on little food and sleep despite demanding physical activity, including carrying more than 100 pounds of gear through mountains and swamps. It is considered the Army’s most physically challenging course.
The women started the regimen in April, but like many men they were required to retake a phase of the course if they didn’t pass on the first go.
Graduates get to wear the coveted Ranger tab, which signifies their completion of the Army’s premier small unit leadership course for the infantry and other front-line troops.
"Each Ranger School graduate has shown the physical and mental toughness to successfully lead organizations at any level," Army Secretary John McHugh said in a statement. "This course has proven that every soldier, regardless of gender, can achieve his or her full potential."
But the women will not be able to join the infantry or other so-called ground combat jobs, including the Ranger regiment, which remain closed to women, at least through this year.
Opening the course to women is part of an assessment that all services have been ordered to undertake to determine how best to open the infantry, special forces and other ground combat jobs by next year. The Pentagon has ordered that all occupations be open to women after this year.
The services can request a waiver from some jobs, but would need to provide an extensive justification for doing so.
The military services have been steadily opening jobs to women over recent years, but the infantry and special operations fields are the most physically demanding and require that troops live close together in often primitive field conditions.
"I promise you that the one thing we will not compromise on is standards," Gen. Martin Dempsey told a group of U.S. servicemen in Baghdad recently. | 1,269,498 |
SAN DIEGO (Reuters) - Did decorated U.S. Navy SEAL Chief Ed Gallagher murder a teenage Islamic State fighter or is he being framed by mutinying sailors he commanded and who are testifying against him?
Slideshow ( 10 images )
That is the question a seven-sailor jury must decide in Gallagher’s court martial, which began on Tuesday at the U.S. Naval Base in San Diego.
Prosecutors say Gallagher, 39, who began his 18-year career as a medic, briefly treated the young Islamic State fighter, then pulled out his knife and stabbed him in the neck several times.
Prosecutor Jeff Pietrzyk introduced a photo showing Gallagher holding the dead youth by the hair. “Then he celebrated that stabbing, celebrated the murder, when he took photos and performed his re-enlistment ceremony over that body,” Pietrzyk said.
Defense attorney Timothy Parlatore told the jury in his opening statement the prosecution cannot present a body or a crime scene and therefore no case.
“This is about a group of mutinous sailors and a sham investigation.”
Gallagher could face life in prison if convicted in the trial arising from his 2017 deployment to Mosul, Iraq.
The platoon leader is also charged with attempted murder in the wounding of two civilians - a schoolgirl and an elderly man - shot from a sniper’s perch in Iraq.
He maintains fellow SEAL team members in his platoon, who turned him in and are testifying against him under grants of immunity, are disgruntled subordinates who fabricated allegations to force him from command.
POSSIBLE PARDON
The court martial has drawn national attention - including that of President Donald Trump who said last month that he is considering pardons for a number of military service members accused of war crimes, and Gallagher’s case was believed to be one of those under review.
Gallagher, a career Navy officer, was on his eighth deployment, this time to Iraq where SEALs were training Iraqi military as they pushed Islamic State fighters out of Mosul in a fight that went block by block through the war ravaged city.
Iraqi forces came across the Islamic State fighter after he had been shot in the leg and was struggling to breathe during the fighting in Mosul. They tied him to the hood of a Humvee before driving two hours to their operating base, where he was placed on the ground and died 20 minutes later.
It was there, the prosecution says, that Gallagher stabbed the fighter to death. There’s no video from the helmet-cameras troops in the field wear, but some video was deleted, according to testimony from one of the prosecution’s witnesses, Lieutenant Thomas MacNeil. He was one of those in the group photo showing Gallagher holding the dead fighter up by hair.
“Is the photo (of the group with the dead youth) in
poor taste? Probably. Is it evidence of a murder? No,” Parlatore said. | 1,269,499 |
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