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It was Christmas Eve and Santa would soon be on his way to deliver presents to our home. We didn’t have a chimney, so I never knew how he was able to get into our house. Did he use the front door, or was he able to magically appear in our living room? Santa had always been such a mystery.
That day had been long for all of us. My siblings and I were on Christmas break from school, so we spent the days at the convenience store that our parents owned. It was like a second home to us, so we didn’t mind. Plus, there were always interesting people to watch and fascinating things to do.
On that particular evening, my parents were in an unusual rush to get home. I didn’t think much about it, assuming that they were just excited about Christmas. We pulled up in our driveway, and my stepfather requested that we all remain in the car until he returned.
He got out and went around to the back to unload items from the trunk. Meanwhile, our mother successfully distracted us from seeing what he was carrying.
Being only seven years old at the time, I was not a very good listener. Plus, his odd behavior piqued my curiosity, so after a couple of minutes I jumped out of the car and ran inside to see what was going on.
Swinging the front door open, I saw my stepfather standing next to the back sliding glass door. Hearing the door open, he quickly turned to look at me with a mixed expression of surprise and concern on his face. Then without hesitation, he pulled the back door open a few inches and immediately closed it again.
Confused, I stared at him wondering, “What are you doing?”, but didn’t say a word.
“Look! Santa came! He used the back door!” he exclaimed.
I was never shy to speak my mind, “No he didn’t. That was you! You’re Santa.”
As of that day, even though my stepfather tried so hard to convince me that Santa really came, the magical Santa Claus would never return. Regardless, it made for a great memory that always brings a smile to my face and there were still presents under the tree!
“Typing my heart out” for Nano Poblano/NaBloPoMo. This post is for today’s writing prompt: favorite holiday memory.
| 2,100 |
Xiaomi Copies Ethereum Blockchain Game Cryptokitties With The Launch Of CryptoBunnies
Chinese electronics manufacturer Xiaomi has announced the launch of a blockchain game called Cryptobunnies which seems like a rip off of the Ethereum blockchain game called KryptoKitties which introduced the idea of digital pets.
The new service is called Jiami Tu which translated to English means CryptoBunnies. The service will allow the company’s users who have Xiaomi accounts to adopt digital bunnies that exist on a blockchain system which stores every transaction detail related to each adoption. It is currently not clear whether the Chinese manufacturer is using a public or private blockchain to operate the game. However, it did reveal that the game will facilitate built-in scarcity meaning there will be a specific number as well as different designs for the bunnies.
The Chinese firm announced that it will initially provide a limited number of digital bunnies on a daily basis as per the service agreement. Xiaomi will issue the undisclosed number of cryptobunnies from 11:00 a.m. Beijing time. The launch of the new service seems to have attracted a lot of fans because all the CryptoBunnies that were issued on the first day of the launch were adopted within an hour. The company was also keen to point out that the new platform would not allow cryptocurrency or fiat currency trading and any fundraising activities.
Xiaomi's announcement about no support for cryptocurrency-related activities reiterates the recent ban on cryptocurrency exchanges, mining, ICOs, and trading. Despite the strict measures against anything to do with cryptocurrencies by Chinese regulators, the country is proving that Blockchain technology can still be used in other ways. It also highlights the growing interest in the creation of blockchain applications by Chinese firms.
CryptoBunnies and CryptoKitties are great examples of how emerging technologies such as blockchain to boost user engagement. Xiaomi is also not the only Chinese company that is adopting this trend. Chinese search giant, Baidu launched a crypto dog adoption service last month. Xiaomi is now a member of the Linux Foundation which is backed by a blockchain hyperledger consortium. It joined the foundation so that it can boost its internet solutions through blockchain technology.
Xiaomi’s interest in blockchain technology is also interesting and it leaves a lot of questions as to what the company is planning for the future. The Chinese tech giant has earned global recognition courtesy of its high-quality electronics especially its handset division. It has thus established itself as one of the technology juggernauts making an impact on a global scale. | 2,101 |
EIS Live2D
This plugin allows the developer to use Live2D models in their RPGMakerMV game. It also allows developers to create add ons or their own classes using this plugin as a base.
Disclaimer: this plugin is still a work in progress and more features will be added with suggestions.
If you have any suggestions, send them to me on Twitter @EISKino.
Attention
Because of the SDK policy of Live2D Inc., SDK file has been removed from the package, so you have to download and import it by yourself to your js/libs folder. The plugin will do the rest of the work.
Version 1.0.0
For more information on Live2D licensing: http://www.live2d.com/en/products/releaselicense
Features
Live2D Model Support
Motion Support
Move Models
Show/Hide Models
Attach event listeners to models via JavaScript
Model ViewPoint (direction model is looking)
Model Scaling
Plugin Commands
Script Calls (finer grained control)
And more to come!
Tutorials
Tutorial Links: http://www.live2d.com/en/external-links
Download
Download “Live2D” EISLive2D.js – Downloaded 863 times –
Download “Live2D Libs” libs.zip – Downloaded 1379 times –
Model Library: http://library.live2d.com/
Sample Models: http://docs.live2d.com/en/cubism-editor-manual/sample-model/
Instructions
Download both the libs and Live2D plugin. Place all the libs in your js/libs folder. Place the plugin in your js/plugins folder. Create a folder/directory in your project’s folder called live2D. Place any assets/models in the live2D folder. In the plugin parameters write the path to the model.json file in the model path. Repeat 5 and 6 for any new assets you wish to add to your game.
Setup
Adding new models with RPGMakerMV 1.5 Plugin Manager parameters.
Adding the values to a single model.
In-Game Examples
Spread the word! Twitter
Facebook
Reddit
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| 2,102 |
Nearly half would vote to leave while only 37% would vote to stay, though the picture changes if membership is renegotiated
British people would vote to leave the European Union by a large margin under the current terms of membership, according to a new Opinium/Observer poll.
But David Cameron could turn public opinion round and keep the UK in the EU if he is able to negotiate new and improved terms of membership, the survey suggests.
Opinium found a total of 48% would definitely or probably vote to leave under present rules, while 37% said they would definitely or probably vote to stay in.
However the poll suggests the tide could be turned if David Cameron, who has promised to hold an in/out referendum by the end of 2017 if the Conservatives win the next election, does manage to secure a favourable renegotiation of terms.
In that event, 42% say they would either definitely or probably vote to stay in, against 36% who would probably or definitely vote to leave. There is widespread scepticism, however, over Cameron's ability to achieve a satisfactory renegotiation. Only 18% (including 34% of Conservatives) think he will win the necessary concessions.
The findings underline the risk that Cameron faces. If he puts a vote to the British people having gained only minimal concessions, voters may oppose his party's policy of remaining in the EU and vote to leave. In this scenario his authority would be damaged to the point where many would question his ability to remain prime minister.
With Cameron facing an EU summit this week, at which his attempts to block federalist Jean-Claude Juncker from becoming the next president of the European Commision are likely to fail, voters were also asked if the appoinment of the former Luxembourg prime minister to the top Brussels job would affect their decision in the planned 2017 referendum.
Some 27% said it would have some sort of effect, while 43% said it would not and 28% did not know.
After a difficult week for Labour leader Ed Miliband, there is some relief as Labour's poll lead holds steady over the Tories at four percentage points. Labour is unchanged on 35%, the Conservatives are also unchanged on 31%, Ukip is down two points to 17% and the Lib Dems are up one point on 7%.
Intention of voters in 2015 UK general election. Photograph: Guardian
But Miliband's personal ratings remain poor with only 23% approving of the way he is leading Labour and 49% disapproving. David Cameron fares better with 37% approving and 47% disapproving. | 2,103 |
ova, Jimmy Iovine and guest)
Testing the waters: Ivanka and Wendi Deng on the yacht Friday afternoon off the coast of Croatia
Chance encounter: It was recently revealed that Deng brought Ivanka and Kushner together after a brief split early in their relationship
Rave: Ivanka recently posted a photo of Deng from her recent Vogue profile while expressing what a inspiring woman she is
Back on board: Deng's ex-husband Rupert Murdoch is a big supporter of The Donald
Chatting away: Ivanka and Deng spent the weekend together on the boat after flying in last week
Setting sail: A look at The Rising Sun at night posted to Instagram by Geffen last month
The group is not spending all their time on the yacht however, and on Friday were seen touring Dubrovnik.
Ivanka was seen in one photo chatting with Grazer as Deng and Kushner looked on, with Grazer's wife Veronica glued to her phone.
In another photo, Grazer can be seen snapping a picture of Ivanka and Kushner on a cell phone.
Ivanka's relaxing European vacation will sadly soon be coming to an end, and on Tuesday Grazer and his wife posted photos as they flew back home to Los Angeles.
'Taking off from the teeny town of Split, Croatia with our spirited pilot,' wrote Geffen on a photo of himself with his arm around the pilot.
One day prior he also posted a photo of himself and Geffen on the yacht at sundown.
On Monday, Ivanka and her husband took some time away from the group with the 35-year-old businesswoman posting a photo of their morning hike together in Hvar.
Chatting it up: Ivanka talks with Brian Grazer while Kushner and Deng look on Friday afternnon (above)
Say cheese: Grazer snaps a photo of Ivanka and Kushner was they tour Dubrovnik on Friday
Happy guy: Grazer posted a photo of himself and Geffen on Monday (left) as well as one after he went paddleboarding with his wife Veronica (right)
Rare sighting: Geffen was not only able to get a photo of DiCaprio on his yacht earlier this year, he also posted it on Instagram for all the world to see
Hillary fan: Disney CEO Bob Iger enjoys some time on the Rising Sun last year
Getting the in: Geffen is close friends with supermodel Karlie Kloss (above on his yacht in June) who dates Jared's brother Joshua | 2,104 |
, water towers were to the Israeli imagination what skyscrapers are to Americans: symbols of modernity and progress. The water tower as icon of progress now seems quaint: Israel, after all, is today a hub of hi-tech innovation. But during the early period of Zionist settlement, water towers were austere symbols of the modern Jewish triumph over the harsh elements encountered by the first pioneers who returned to the land.
Today, the water towers that still dot the Israeli landscape serve two functions. They are war memorials, from Israel's War of Independence; and they stand as reminders of a more innocent age, when Zionist commitment was seemingly all-pervasive. The real-life water tower at Kibbutz Negba, an agricultural settlement founded in Israel's south in 1939, is one of the most iconic of these structures. In 1948, the kibbutz was the scene of intense Israeli-Egyptian fighting that badly damaged the water tower. In 1949 the kibbutz, after debating whether or not to repair the structure, decided to make minor repairs that would prevent its collapse but preserve its character as a war memorial.
Blum decided to paint the water tower in 1948, a year before the kibbutz's decision. Like many of his countrymen, he instinctively responded to the force of the tower's image. While Blum was always sensitive to light, in this painting light becomes a primal force more fundamental than the water whose vessel, the tower, has been destroyed. Light reflects, amid the ruin, a new-born existence. Destruction has seldom appeared so life-giving.
One can only speculate about whether the peace at the center of Blum's vision was earned, at least in part, through his pain at the loss of a brother and a son to war—and whether the stoicism in his vision reflected the ethos of first-generation Israelis, shot through with a commitment to order and the active life amid monumental sacrifice. Whatever the source, elite critics misinterpreted Blum's calm and stoic sense, manifest in his restrained portrayal of cosmic harmonies, as overly technical and conservative. But in the larger Israeli audience Blum touched a deep chord.
Blum's perspective is, of course, far away from the emotionally confessional tenor of our times, not to mention the uber-urban geometric space of Manhattan, where his exhibition is now being shown. Going against the grain of its place and time, however, only makes The Land of Light and Promise doubly enriching.
COMMENTS
Comments are closed for this article. | 2,105 |
Adapting to climate change has reached the political agenda in most European countries, according to the most comprehensive analysis of adaptation in Europe published to date. Extreme weather events and EU policies were the most common reasons for beginning to address adaptation. The Finnish Environment Institute took part in preparing the report with the experts from the EEA, the Austrian Environment Agency, Alterra (Netherlands), CMCC (Italy) and UKCIP (UK).
Climate change adaptation is an issue on the political agenda in more than three quarters of countries, according to the survey.
"This is a dramatic increase from 2005, when Finland was the first country in Europe to launch a national adaptation strategy" says Dr Mikael Hildén, Director of the Climate Change Programme in SYKE.
Almost all countries stated that extreme weather events have triggered adaptation responses. The second most cited reason for developing national adaptation policies was European Union policies integrating climate change adaptation, followed by damage costs and scientific research.
Most countries identified barriers to taking action – more than three quarters of countries cited a lack of resources such as time, money or technologies as a barrier. 'Uncertainties about the extent of future climate change' and 'unclear responsibilities' were both seen as barriers by a large number of countries.
Despite these difficulties, half the countries reported a high or very high willingness to develop policies and to adapt at the national level. Willingness to adapt may be linked to a growing awareness of climate change, which has increased over the last five years in two thirds of the countries covered, according to respondents.
Despite a widespread awareness among politicians – 21 countries have National Adaptation Strategies – concrete action is still at an early stage in many European countries. So far 13 countries are already implementing adaptation policies, according to the survey. Finland has progressed to a second generation of its national adaptation strategy, the government is expected to approve the new strategy in October 2014. Providing information was the most commonly-mentioned type of adaptation policy instrument, while water management was the most commonly prioritised sector for adaptation.
Several countries have already put in place schemes to monitor, evaluate or report on their progress, while more than half are planning or working on such a scheme, the survey shows.
Explore further Managing coasts under threat from climate change and sea-level rise
More information: "National adaptation policy processes in European countries—2014" is available online: "National adaptation policy processes in European countries—2014" is available online: www.eea.europa.eu/publications … ion-policy-processes | 2,106 |
Representative Rahm Emanuel, left, President-elect Barack Obama’s chief of staff, called the president of an Arab-American group today to apologize for comments his father made to an Israeli newspaper.
In the remarks, Benjamin Emanuel discussed the potential impact of his son’s new position on U.S.-Israeli relations.
“Obviously he’ll influence the president to be pro-Israel. Why wouldn’t he? What is he, an Arab? He’s not going to be mopping floors at the White House,” the elder Mr. Emanuel told the Israeli daily Ma’ariv, according to English-language reports in The Jerusalem Post and The Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
Calling the comment an “unacceptable smear,” the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee had sent the younger Emanuel a letter (copied to Mr. Obama) calling on him to “disavow and repudiate these remarks publicly.”
“All we ask is to be treated in the same way as any other ethnic, racial or minority group,” said Kareem Shora, the A.D.C.’s executive director. “We’re not treating it as simply an Arab-American issue, we’re trying to treat it as an American issue.”
That led to Rahm Emanuel’s apology today.
“Today, Representative Emanuel called Mary Rose Oakar, president of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, apologized on behalf of his family and offered to meet with representatives of the Arab-American community at an appropriate time in the future,” said Nick Papas, a spokesman for the congressman.
Before Mr. Emanuel made his apology, Mr. Shora said the structure of the elder Mr. Emanuel’s remarks made their meaning clear. “The sequence of the statement was very important,” he said, adding that the ‘Arab’ line “was not separated in any way” from the ‘mopping’ line. He said there would be public outcry if “Arab” had been replaced with the name of any other ethnic group.
Benjamin Emanuel is not yet available for comment, according to an associate at the office of Ari Emanuel, a Hollywood agent and the congressman’s brother, to whom a message on the father’s answering machine referred press calls. Mr. Obama’s campaign declined to address the issue. | 2,107 |
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Former Williamson County District Attorney Ken Anderson was released on $7,500 bail for charges relating to violating state law and acting in contempt of court by lying to a trial judge. Anderson, who is now a state judge, purportedly lied to a trial judge in a murder case decades ago in order to secure a conviction. The convicted man, Michael Morton, served almost 25 years in prison before being exonerated. Anderson had intentionally concealed two items of evidence that would have helped prove Mr. Morton’s innocence.
District Judge Louis Sterns said of Anderson, “This court cannot think of a more intentionally harmful act than a prosecutor’s conscious choice to hide mitigating evidence so as to create an uneven playing field for a defendant facing a murder charge and a life sentence,”and ruled that there was probable cause to support the charges against Anderson.
Prior to issuing his ruling, Sturns apologized to Mr. Morton on behalf of the state’s judges, which hardly makes up for the 25 years of life Mr. Morton lost as the result of wrongful incarceration. Sturns also issued a show-cause order demanding Anderson to appear in court for a criminal contempt citation. Anderson could face a $500 fine and 6 months in prison if convicted.
Anderson will appeal on statute of limitations grounds (more here).
While it is horrifying enough that this kind of thing even occurred, equally concerning is the fact that a dishonest, immoral, and power hungry prosecutor eventually became a state judge. Decades passed before anyone discovered the gravity of his past actions and pursued punitive measures. One can only imagine how many other innocent people he was convicted, and what other misdeeds Anderson has engaged in as both prosecutor, and now a judge.
Of course, it may also be entirely due to happenstance that he was ever caught in the first place, and it is very possible there are prosecutors and/or judges like him in court systems all over the country who do the exact same thing, repeatedly, and get away with it.
Such is the inherent problem of perpetuating a justice system wherein people lack choices. The system as is is one in which people are forced to fund the “justice” system even when the judges are corrupt, the prosecutors are liars, and completely innocent people rot away most of their lives in prison.
It is no surprise that when people have no alternative, and must fund the current system, that the employees within are not responsive to consumer demands. | 2,108 |
A physician turned "Islamic doctor" in Iran says dropping bitter gourd oil in ears in the morning before going out will prevent infection with coronavirus (COVID-19). Two more drops at night will even prevent those who have been infected from transmitting it to others, he claims.
Many Iranians believe in traditional medical treatments and Islamic medicine, which under the pressure of the coronavirus epidemic, can lead people to waste time and resources on exotic treatments.
Another "Islamic doctor", a cleric named Abbas Tabrizian who gained notoriety in January for burning Harrison's Manual of Medicine, a standard textbook in Iranian universities, recently prescribed inserting a cotton ball dipped in violet oil in anus before going to sleep to ward off coronavirus.
In a video published on his website, Hossein Ravazadeh, known as "the Father of Islamic Medicine in Iran" says only one drop of bitter watermelon (citrullus colocynthis) oil in each ear will prevent "all obnoxious creatures" from entering the body. "If people already have been infected with coronavirus, it will be helpful to use the ear drop at night, too," he says in the video. Moreover, using the ear drop twice everyday will also prevent contagiousness of the disease, he claims.
In Iran where traditional apothecaries are found in every corner both the dried, apple-sized fruit and its oil are easily available.
Bitter watermelon (also known as bitter gourd, bitter apple, vine of Sodom and bitter cucumber) is a viny desert plant native to the Mediterranean Basin and Asia. The plant bears small hard fruit with a bitter pulp and seeds. Bitter watermelon has been used in traditional medicine in many countries for centuries as a laxative, diuretic or for insect bites. The plant can also induce miscarriages in women.
The son of Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi-Shahroudi, once named as a possible successor to Khamenei, in December said his father died because he trusted "Islamic medicine" and the so-called "Islamic doctors".
He did not name the "Islamic doctor" responsible for his father's treatment for an undeclared illness. The son of another high-ranking cleric, Ayatollah Haeri-Shirazi, recently disclosed that his late father who was suffering from cancer had taken the advice of Hashemi-Shahroudi and trusted none other than the "Islamic doctor" nowadays prescribing bitter watermelon oil for prevention and treatment of coronavirus. | 2,109 |
Karen Pence Karen Sue PenceThe Hill's 12:30 Report - Presented by Facebook - Biden, Pence elbow bump at NYC Sept. 11 ceremony The Hill's Morning Report - Sponsored by National Industries for the Blind - Trump seeks to flip 'Rage' narrative; Dems block COVID-19 bill Pentagon, Trump, Biden to mark 9/11 anniversary MORE, the wife of Vice President Pence, said Tuesday that people “shouldn’t be attacked for what your religious beliefs are,” responding to recent comments from South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg Pete ButtigiegButtigieg stands in as Pence for Harris's debate practice Hillicon Valley: FBI, DHS warn that foreign hackers will likely spread disinformation around election results | Social media platforms put muscle into National Voter Registration Day | Trump to meet with Republican state officials on tech liability shield Facebook takes down Chinese network targeting Philippines, Southeast Asia and the US MORE.
Buttigieg, a 2020 Democratic presidential candidate, is openly gay and on Sunday slammed the vice president for opposing same-sex marriage, saying his marriage to his husband has brought him “closer to God.”
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"Speaking only for myself, I can tell you that if me being gay was a choice, it was a choice that was made far, far above my pay grade," Buttigieg said.
"And that’s the thing I wish the Mike Pences of the world would understand," he continued. "If you’ve got a problem with who I am, your problem is not with me. Your quarrel, sir, is with my creator."
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Karen Pence, speaking Tuesday on The Brian Kilmeade Show on Fox Radio to promote a book she wrote with her daughter, took issue with Buttigieg’s remarks, though also noting the mayor and her husband “have always had a great relationship.”
“I think in our country we need to understand you shouldn’t be attacked for what your religious beliefs are and I think kids need to learn that at a young age that this is OK, what faith people have; we don’t attack them for their faith,” she said.
Buttigieg has also said the idea that God wanted Pence to be vice president gives God “very little credit.”
Karen Pence also said in the radio interview that Buttigieg’s comments about her husband are helping the 2020 Democratic candidate “get some notoriety.” | 2,110 |
A Florida man says his life “flashed” before his eyes after a venomous cottonmouth snake bit him on the foot, leaving his leg in “throbbing pain” last week.
The snake, also known as a water moccasin, had been concealed when it struck the victim just outside his home on July 4, Pembroke Pines Police said.
MASSIVE 16-FOOT PYTHON WITH NEST OF 50 EGGS REMOVED FROM FLORIDA EVERGLADES
“It was just a shock,” 19-year-old Zamar Miller told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. “I ran back inside and then my life just flashed through my head. I didn’t know what was next.”
Four officers responded to the home in the Cobblestone community and captured the snake as it hid beneath a garden hose cabinet reel. Police said they took photos of the snake so paramedics could identify the species and treat the victim with the correct anti-venom. The snake was later safely released in a remote area of the wetlands.
Miller was released from the hospital Monday night and has been using a walker to keep the weight off his "swollen" foot until he makes a full recovery, the Sun-Sentinel reported.
GIANT BULLSNAKE FOUND IN MINNESOTA HOME'S BATHTUB, OFFICIALS SAY
Police used the incident to remind residents that the area is in the middle of “Snake Bite Season,” which runs from April through October. They advised caution when walking in tall grass and moving outdoor objects.
Medical assistance should be sought immediately for a snake bite. The affected area should be immobilized and kept lower than your heart, officials said. It’s important to take a picture of the reptile or memorize its appearance to help doctors identify the species and anti-venom for treatment.
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There are 44 species of native snakes in the state, but only six are venomous, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC). The venomous snakes are the eastern coral snake, the southern copperhead, the cottonmouth, the eastern diamondback rattlesnake, the timber rattlesnake and the dusky pygmy rattlesnake.
The FWC says that even the venomous species don’t usually pose a threat unless stepped on or provoked. | 2,111 |
Image : NBC
Much of the action in this year’s Indianapolis 500 has been on pit road, with drivers spinning at the entrance, sliding through their pit boxes, hitting each other and, in Jordan King’s particularly bad case, striking a crew member. The crew member was carried off pit lane, and later taken to a local hospital.
The incident occurred when King, an Indy 500 rookie wrapped in the livery of sponsorship enigma Rich Energy, came for a pit stop around lap 70 of 200. King cut left into his box late, appearing to strike his tire changer as they waited to the driver’s right of where the car would have stopped in the box.
The changer, identified to Jalopnik by IndyCar as Chris Minot, grabbed his knee and fell over as tires bounced around him—only to be carried off of pit lane as the crew finished the stop and the race stayed green. (NBC showed multiple replays of the incident, but Jalopnik won’t include any here since the extent of Minot’s injuries aren’t public. The hit can be seen here.)
An IndyCar spokesperson told Jalopnik that after Minot was carried off of pit lane, he was taken to the infield care center for an initial evaluation and to be stabilized. He was then taken to a local hospital and trauma center for “further evaluation and definitive care of non-life threatening injuries,” but the IndyCar representative said there were currently no further details on specific injuries.
King was later penalized for hitting a crew member, receiving a drive-through penalty around 10 laps later. There was confusion on the NBC broadcast as to whether Minot was struck by King’s race car or one of the tires lined up beside him before the hit, and the rep said due to unclear replays, IndyCar doesn’t have a definitive answer either. The series trying to learn more, they said.
King continued on in the race after the hit and the penalty, and ran three laps down in 29th as of lap 175.
Update: Tuesday, May 28, 2019 at 8:24 a.m. ET: Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, the team King ran the Indy 500 and finished 24th for, tweeted on Monday that Minot had been released from the hospital. The team didn’t give any details on his condition or injuries, but said in the tweet that its “ team members are [ its] most important asset.” | 2,112 |
� in April 2015.
Kerry was ready to take a risk on Nusra Front and its allies becoming unstoppable in order to jump-start his strategy of diplomatic pressure on Assad. But Kerry overplayed his hand. The Assad regime and Iran feared that the newly strengthened military force under Nusra Front control might break through to take over the Alawite stronghold of Latakia province. They prevailed on Russian President Vladimir Putin to intervene with Russian airpower. As the Russian campaign of airstrikes began to push back the extremist-led military forces and even threaten their lines of supply, Kerry’s strategy to pressure the Assad regime to make a major diplomatic concession became irrelevant.
Kerry’s demands for US cruise missile strikes became even more insistent. Without them, he argued, he couldn’t get the Russians to cooperate with his peace negotiations plan. Goldberg quotes a “senior administration official” as saying, “Kerry’s looking like a chump with the Russians, because he has no leverage.”
Obama, who had already succumbed in 2014 to domestic political pressure to begin bombing the Islamic State, saw no reason to get into even deeper war in Syria in support of Kerry’s plan – especially under the new circumstances. Assad was not likely to step down, and in case, the war would only end if Nusra Front and its Salafist-jihadi allies were no longer able to get the heavy weapons they need to fight the regime.
The real origin of the present Syrian peace negotiations is thus Kerry’s ambition to pursue the illusory aim of winning a diplomatic victory in Syria by much greater pressure on the Assad regime. Ironically, in setting in motion the military build-up of an al-Qaeda-dominated armed opposition, Kerry sowed the seeds of the military reversal that ensured the failure of his endeavour. As a result he became the rather pathetic figure shown in Goldberg’s account pleading in vain for yet another US war in Syria.
- Gareth Porter is an independent investigative journalist and winner of the 2012 Gellhorn Prize for journalism. He is the author of the newly published Manufactured Crisis: The Untold Story of the Iran Nuclear Scare.
The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Eye.
Photo: US Secretary of State John Kerry (L) watches as US President Barack Obama speaks following a meeting with the National Security Council (NSC) on 25 February, 2016 at the State Department in Washington, DC (AFP). | 2,113 |
Cristiano Ronaldo, who turns 29 on 5th February, will be at the top of his game for at least six more seasons, according to António Gaspar, the physiotherapist for Portugal's national side, who believes the player is currently at his "peak" in terms of fitness.
"If he wants, Cristiano still has many years ahead of him. He could play at the top level until he's 34 or 35 without any major complications", Gaspar predicts.
The acclaimed physiotherapist, who has been working with Portugal's national squad since 2003, highlighted the player's intense focus on training, an absence of serious injuries and his "mental capacity to excel and do better" as factors that could help prolong his time in elite-level football.
"I'm saying 34 or 35 because that's a reasonable milestone, and I'm only not saying longer because there may come a time when he himself will want to do other things. But that's a personal matter. What is clear is that, if he wishes, he could have an impressively long career as he has the capacity and characteristics for it", he said.
Gaspar feels that an extraordinary genetic advantage, coupled with a strong work ethic, have made the Madrid player "the phenomenon of nature" he is today. "I think, for those who know him well, he is better now than two, three or four years ago... He's at his peak right now. I am certain that he will be able to stay that way or he may get even better", the FPF physiotherapist thinks.
Outstanding speed, endurance, flexibility, reflexes and agility are unusual qualities in a player of the Madeiran star's stature, 1.89 metres tall and weighing 85 kilos, measurements more fitting of a player who relies on power over and above anything else. "His development process was well balanced. I remember him eleven years ago and it's been a progressive development. He has improved technically, in his flexibility, in his working capacity. Not only in his strength", said the physio.
Gaspar listed one of Ronaldo's top qualities as "not suffering from abrupt drops in physical performance", being able to maintain high energy levels for 90 minutes without major fluctuations.
He believes that the player's fitness training has also helped to prevent serious injury. "His level of self-expectation is so high that he makes sure everything is working at its best. Those are factors that reduce the chances of injury, although all athletes are susceptible to them", he concluded. | 2,114 |
A new tablet called the Spark is on the way. At first glance it looks like most of the cheap Chinese tablets we’ve seen in the past few years, but the Spark won’t run Google Android. Instead it will run an open source Linux-based operating system with the KDE Plasma Active interface running on top.
KDE Plasma Active team member Aaron Seigo unveiled the tablet on his website this weekend. It features a 1 GHz AMLogic CPU with Mali 400 graphics and a 7 inch capacitive multitouch display. The tablet has 512MB of RAM, 4GB of storage and a microSD card slot.
The Spark is expected to ship “soon” and it will sell for about €200, or just under $265 US.
Update: The Spark is expected to ship in May, 2012. Pre-orders will begin in early February.
It’s certainly not the most powerful tablet to hit the scene. We’ve seen plenty of devices with more memory or storage or faster processors. But the tablet’s software is what sets it apart.
While Google tends to release the source code for most new versions of Android, the software is developed behind closed doors and released to the public only after Google decides it’s ready. Google doesn’t accept community contributions to the code and the company didn’t release the source for Android 3.0 until Android 4.0 was already ready to go.
KDE Plasma Active is a community driven free software platform. For folks that aren’t interested in developing software, the development team is working to make the tablet as usable as possible. There will be a content store that allows users to download free or paid apps as well as digital books from Project Gutenberg.
Primarily though, I expect the Spark tablet and future devices based on this platform to appeal primarily to open source and free software enthusiasts — at least initially.
The Plasma Active development team has been working on tablet-friendly software for a while. We got a first look at a touch-friendly version of the software last April, and by October the team was showing off a pretty functional demo of Plasma Active on tablet hardware.
Thanks DDevine!
Update: Post updated to reflect the fact that Google did release the source code for Android 3.0, but not until Android 4.0 was also available.
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The group “One Million Moms” — and its 46,000 members — is once again taking aim at retailer JC Penney, this time for featuring a lesbian couple in its Spring catalog.
The “moms” are infuriated over this feature appearing on pages 10 and 11 of its catalog, under the title “Freedom of Expression,” that depicts “Wendi and her partner Maggie and daughters;” in the photo, both women are wearing wedding bands.
Click on image to enlarge.
This is not OMM’s first tangle with JC Penney.
Earlier this year, One Million Moms, “a project of the American Family Association (AFA)” — an organization designated as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) — launched a public campaign demanding that the retailer fire spokesperson Ellen DeGeneres because she’s gay.
JC Penney officials dismissed the group’s demands, and stood firmly behind DeGeneres. Eventually, OMM abandoned its campaign against JC Penney, because, said its Director Monica Cole, “other issues require her group’s attention, so OMM is moving on.”
The group is now calling on its members to harass JC Penney store managers because corporate officials have given them the proverbial finger:
Last time OMM contacted JC Penney store managers, we were brushed off. Some even experienced in person the store manager saying “Thank you” and walking off while their customer and our concerned members were in mid-sentence. OMM has been told that JCP corporate office told store managers to say “Thank you” and then walk away. If they want our business, then we will not be ignored! […] Since the corporate office doesn’t consider your call important, please call, or visit, your local store manager.
OMM normally prepares a pre-written letter for its members to send directly from its website, but has since discovered that JC Penney has blocked incoming emails originating from One Million Moms’ server.
In addition to its failed campaign against Ellen Degeneres, the anti-gay OMM has recently targeted Toys R Us for selling the Archie Comic edition that featured the wedding of its gay character, Keven Keller, on the cover — the campaign against Archie led to the comic selling out within days.
Last month, OMM targeted apparel retailer Urban Outfitters over a photo in its April catalog of two women kissing. | 2,116 |
wasn’t kidding.
UCLA authored its third consecutive authoritative victory on Saturday, thumping Colorado 31-14. The Bruins are 4-5 and could squiggle their way into a bowl game with remaining games at Utah, at USC and a home game with Cal. Even more improbably, the Utah game on Nov. 16 would allow the Bruins to control their fate in the Pac-12 South. They are tied with USC for second place in the Pac-12 South, as both are 4-2.
After starting the season 0-3 and getting thumped by Oregon State, that’s not a scenario anyone could have envisioned.
No Baby Bruin has grown up more than quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson, who threw for 226 yards and two touchdowns to continue a strong developmental curve in his sophomore season. Joshua Kelley also ran for 126 yards for UCLA.
After an early season of UCLA’s losses being a major story, now we’ll be fixated on where the Baby Bruins will finish.
ONE WEEK TO BAMA-LSU
After a generally benign week, the eyes of the sport will immediately shift to Tuscaloosa. That’s where LSU will play at Alabama in a game that should add another classic No. 1 vs. No. 2 battle to the series’ rich history.
The dominant story there remains the health of Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, who is recovering from an ankle procedure and is expected to be a game-time decision. His foil will be LSU’s Joe Burrow, who has stunningly emerged as the Heisman frontrunner in the suddenly high-octane LSU offense.
We’ll dive into this game more as the week goes on. But the widespread expectation is that this will be something resembling a shootout, as both programs are being carried by dominant skill instead of the suffocating defenses that long defined this rivalry.
The biggest question coming out of that game will be whether the loser can still be in the playoff mix. SEC commissioner Greg Sankey should be rooting for the LSU loss if he wants two teams in the CFP. The Tigers would project as having the best one-loss résumé of any team in the country. Unless Minnesota or Baylor wins out, there will be a one-loss team in the playoff. The conversation from that LSU-Bama game will quickly shift toward one-loss credentials, and Alabama’s less than impressive collection of victories could theoretically make them vulnerable.
More from Yahoo Sports: | 2,117 |
Ultimately the creator was won over by the possibility of doing more than writing and animation.
Four months after WarnerMedia's company-wide pact with J.J. Abrams, NBCUniversal also has leveraged its multiple outlets to land Seth MacFarlane.
The creator of multibillion-dollar franchise Family Guy left his decades-long home at 20th Century Fox TV on Jan. 10 for what sources say is a five-year, $200 million overall TV deal. Under the pact, MacFarlane will create new content for the company's entire portfolio — and have the ability to sell to outside buyers like Netflix — while maintaining his status as a free agent on the film side.
The MacFarlane deal is NBCU's biggest since the overalls market exploded in late 2017 (although Dick Wolf will soon easily top it) and offers the prolific producer and The Orville star — who is expected to continue acting — freedom to create what sources describe as a varied slate that includes musicals, political dramas, historical anthologies and animated shows. MacFarlane (Joy Fehily, Jackoway Austen) already has multiple projects in the works for NBCU, and he is particularly interested in developing for ratings-challenged basic cabler Syfy.
"What is exciting about working with a multifaceted talent like Seth is that we as a studio can give him the latitude to create across both internal and external platforms," says Dawn Olmstead, president of cable- and streaming-focused Universal Content Studios, who played a key role in the deal. "Seth's scope and desire is impressive. He and [production company Fuzzy Door topper] Erica Huggins want to create for broadcast, cable and streaming. It's going to be a very busy and fruitful partnership."
NBCU emerged on top following a yearlong process that saw MacFarlane meet with Amazon, Apple, Netflix, Warners, Sony, ViacomCBS and Disney, the latter of which involved multiple talks with longtime friend and former 20th TV head Dana Walden.
The process, which one source compared to feeling "like a school tour," boiled down to Disney and NBCU. MacFarlane will remain in business with Walden and continue work on Fox's Family Guy, Hulu's The Orville and TBS' American Dad, but ultimately, sources familiar with the deal say, he was won over by the possibility of doing more than writing and animation.
This story first appeared in the Jan. 16 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe. | 2,118 |
After a video shows her telling people to keep PM in mind
The ruling Congress in Madhya Pradesh lashed out at Governor Anandiben Patel on Sunday after a video where she is purportedly seen telling a group of people to keep Prime Minister Narendra Modi in mind went viral.
Ms. Patel, a former Gujarat Chief Minister, was acting as if she was still a worker of the Bharatiya Janata Party and not a Governor, the Congress alleged.
Rewa visit
The video was apparently shot during Ms. Patel’s visit to a solar power plant at Gudh in Rewa district on Saturday. During an informal chat with a group of local people, the Governor was heard saying, “This is an excellent project. It will benefit you all.”
When a person said they were happy to meet her face-to-face, Ms. Patel said, “Aisa (mauka) kai (baar) aayega. Modi sahab par dhyan rakho.” (Such occasions will come often. Keep paying attention to Modi sahab.)
After the video circulated on social media, State Congress’ media cell head Shobha Oza alleged that Ms. Patel was behaving as if she was still a BJP worker.
“If she wanted to work like a BJP worker, she should resign and fight Lok Sabha elections,” Ms. Oza said.
“Earlier too she was seen advising BJP workers at Satna airport about how to win votes. During her address in the Assembly, she did not read the point about farm loan waiver (announced by the newly elected Congress government) and read a BJP slogan which was not part of the written speech. She should resign immediately,” Ms. Oza demanded.
The BJP defended Ms. Patel. “The Governor told people to keep paying attention to Modi. What is wrong with that? Narendra Modi is the Prime Minister of the country. He is PM to every citizen. She meant to say help implement and reap benefits of schemes launched by Modi like Clean India, Ujjwala, Ayushman Bharat, etc,” said Bhopal MP and BJP leader Alok Sanjar.
‘Political gimmick’
“Such accusations (by the Congress) are just a political gimmick,” he added.
“The BJP never disrespected the Governor appointed during the UPA government. The Congress should also learn to respect the Governor,” he added. | 2,119 |
Microsoft has finally let loose the chains on Windows 10 Mobile build 10536, and the list of improvements features an updated photos app, one-handed mode for all devices, and much more.
Here's a rundown of the list, provided by Windows Insider chief Gabriel Aul:
Insider Hub is now included again!
Mobile hotspot functionality has been fixed.
Voice input has been updated to add support for Japanese and >- English (India) speech recognition.
Single hop updates are again available from Windows Phone 8.1 to Windows 10 Mobile Insider Preview for all devices.
Two-factor authentication is fixed when setting up a device for both text and phone authentication.
Start screen will successfully load instead of failing with "Loading …" displayed in a loop until device was rebooted. (We are still tracking down an issue were it may show "Loading …" for a few seconds.)
Quite Hours\Do Not Disturb has been fixed.
Delay in showing date and time on Lock screen has been improved. -Pinch and zoom in Maps now works as expected.
In addition to the above improvements, Aul noted some bigger changes in this build, including:
Updated Photos app: The Photos app has been updated to include features you have been asking for to help you do more with your photos. This update introduces a folder view that makes it easy for you to see your OneDrive and PC folders in the Photos app. On your phone, you can also see folders on your SD card. This update also brings faster photo viewing and context menus. Specifically, for phones, zoom and panning is faster, and we've introduced favorites. Make sure you're running the latest version of the Photos app from the Store to see all these improvements on your phone (version 15.9). One-handed mode: When we introduced one-handed mode for larger phones, we heard feedback saying many Insiders would like it even on smaller devices. In this build, we have also enabled the ability to use one-handed mode on all phones which can be enabled by pressing and holding the Start button. When you do this, your screen will slide down so you can reach items at the top of your screen. Share your feedback: Also as we have previously announced on the Windows Insider Preview build 10527 for PC, you can now share your feedback submitted through the Windows Feedback app.
All-in-all, this is a pretty solid update. If you haven't yet, you can go ahead and check for the update now.
Source: Microsoft | 2,120 |
PokerStars' Days Numbered in Australia?
November 17, 2016 Mo Nuwwarah
Updated gambling laws may force the world's largest online poker operator out of the Australian market, radically altering the online gaming landscape Down Under, Poker Industry Pro reported ($).
Australia has up until now operated as something of a "gray market" for operators, neither expressly illegal nor legal, but new legislation may change that. Last week, an amendment was introduced ($) in the Australian parliament to the Interactive Gambling Act of 2011 that would essentially crackdown on unlicensed gaming, Pro reported.
“The government is committed to taking tougher action against illegal offshore wagering providers and this bill does exactly that,” an Australian official said.
PokerStars seems to be leaning toward pulling out of the market, which has a population of about 24 million, if the legislation does go through.
“In Australia, we currently offer poker and are reviewing the applicability of proposed legislation to player-vs-player games of skill,” Amaya CFO Daniel Sebag said during an earnings call. “At this time, it would appear likely that if the legislation passes, we would block players from Australia.”
The first steps of an exit have already been taken. Earlier this year, PokerStars announced it would no longer be sponsoring the popular Aussie Millions tournament series, scheduled to take place in January.
Operating in direct defiance of legislation would put PokerStars at risk of losing licenses in other jurisdictions. In the wake of Amaya's takeover, the company has spent millions on lobbying to try to forge a path for a regulated return to the U.S. market. Progress has been slow, but a foothold was finally established earlier this year in New Jersey.
Amaya also recently announced plans to launch in the newly regulated Portugal market.
The company is clearly charting a future into regulated waters, so remaining in operation in Australia if the legislation passes would run counter to these plans. Could PokerStars obtain a license?
It's not likely, according to Pro.
"Obtaining licensing in Australia for most online gaming operations is not possible," one of the reports reads. "The IGA allows for limited forms of sports betting and lotteries, but prohibits everything else, including online poker and casino games."
Still, Australian poker players shouldn't lose all hope.
"At this stage it is unclear whether Labor or crossbench senators will support the bill to allow it to pass the Senate," The Guardian reported. | 2,121 |
THURSDAY, Nov. 5, 2015 (HealthDay News) -- Many people who've been told they're allergic to penicillin may be able to safely take the drug, a small study suggests.
Most people who believe they are allergic to penicillin have been told so by a doctor after having a reaction to the antibiotic. Most never take penicillin again, even if they are never tested for the allergy, the researchers said.
The researchers examined the medical records of 15 people who tested negative for penicillin allergy after being told they were allergic. They were then treated with intravenous penicillin multiple times.
The study was to be presented Thursday at the annual meeting of the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, in San Antonio.
"Of the patients whose records we examined, there were no adverse drug reactions or evidence of recurrence of their penicillin allergy," study author and allergist Dr. David Khan said in a college news release. "There is often thought to be a higher risk in patients who get intravenous penicillin, but we did not find this to be the case."
Previous reported reactions included rash, hives and swollen lips, Khan said. But the study found none of those reactions after allergy testing and treatment with multiple courses of intravenous penicillins.
About 10 percent of Americans believe they are allergic to penicillin. As a result, they're prescribed more risky and expensive antibiotics, according to the news release.
"Recent research has shown that patients who are labeled penicillin-allergic and take other antibiotics are more likely to have poor outcomes, such as development of colitis, longer hospital stays and greater numbers of antibiotic-resistant infections," allergist Dr. Roland Solensky said in the news release.
Khan said patients who've been told they're allergic to penicillin should get tested to be sure.
"An allergist will work with you to find out if you're truly allergic to penicillin, and to determine what your options are for treatment if you are. If you're not, you'll be able to use medications that are safer, often more effective and less expensive," he explained.
Research presented at meetings has not been subject to the same scrutiny as published studies and is typically considered preliminary.
-- Robert Preidt
Copyright © 2015 HealthDay. All rights reserved.
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‘Giant serpent’ invades island near Phuket
PHUKET: Mysterious giant tracks appeared overnight on Friday (December 14) on Koh Mai Pai (Bamboo Island, just north of Phi Phi), emerging from the forest, going through the local school and then into the sea, leaving students, parents and teachers worrying that they were made by some enormous serpent.
By Nattha Thepbamrung
Tuesday 18 December 2012, 11:52AM
The monster serpent - if that is indeed what made the tracks - is estimated to be at least 15m long.
Villagers look at the tracks, which were roped off so that they could be examined by experts.
The tracks consisted of a long line of pairs of circles, each circle 20 centimetres in diameter. Local experts estimated that the serpent that made the tracks must be at least 15 metres long.
Pannee Atwaree, a teacher at the school, said that the islanders’ fear was ratcheted up by theories that the appearance of the tracks might be an omen of the great disaster some have been predicting for next Friday (December 21) when the Mayan calendar – and possibiy the world – comes to an end.
Mrs Panee alerted Damrong Sinto, President of the Koh Panyee Tambon Administration Organization (OrBorTor), who went to inspect the tracks, which emerged from the forested hill in front of the school, then wound through the school entrance, across the playing field, through the open ground floor of the school and out into the back, before disappearing into the waters of Phang Nga Bay.
Baan Koh Mai Pai village chief Anan Sansamuth noted that the night before they saw the trace, the sea level was very high. Around 11pm he heard some ducks quacking frantically, but though nothing of it.
He said some goats and ducks on the island had disappeared recently but villagers had thought they were eaten by a python – many years ago an eight-metre python weighing 70 kilos was caught on the island.
After surveyed the tracks, Mr Damrong ordered Mr Anan to run the island’s electricity generator all night and to prepare implements for catching or at least defending against the supposed serpent.
Mr Damrong and Koh Panyee OrBorTor officers, along with Bamboo Island civil defence volunteers, have also established a 24-hour watch until the mysterious animal is found. – Source: Siang Tai | 2,123 |
Sydney Australia Wins Gay World Pride 2023
Bring out the dancing queens, Sydney has won the rights to WorldPride in 2023 becoming the first city in the southern hemisphere to ever host the major international LGBTQI event. Congratulations Sydney this is going to be an event not to be missed.
What’s all the fuss about? World pride is a global event that unites LGBTIQ and Pride communities from across the globe bringing them all under one banner to one location and in 2023 that place is going to be Sydney.
2023 is also a major milestone year, it is Australia’s 50th Anniversary of the first Gay Pride Week. We also celebrate our 45th Anniversary Mardi Gras Parade and the 5th Anniversary of Marriage Equality so the celebrations are going to be colourful and wild!
Gay World Pride is our opportunity to show our appreciation to those who have gone before us to blaze a trail of freedom that we often take for granted. That night in 1978 when a few hundred people gathered for a street party in Darlinghurst Sydney that ended with 53 arrests and violent police beatings. That night was to be dubbed “Sydney’s Stonewall”
I am so excited and proud of where our country has come in the space of a few decades, there is still much to do at home and globally to make our world a safer more inclusive place of love for all. Together, we will stand in pride given the opportunity to listen and learn from some of the most isolated LGBTIQ+ communities in the world. Many of our closest neighbouring countries do not have the same level of equality and human rights as we do. We will celebrate our victories as one and inspire the lives of the free to be who we are into the future on a global scale.
It is a time to become futurists joining arms with our brothers and sisters still struggling for basic freedoms and human rights. This is a time where all Australians can stand up and show our compassion and make love infectious.
We must come together as a truly global movement to stand together united in the pursuit of equality for all of us, everywhere. Paul Savage – Regional Director Interpride
Book your hotels, pull up a piece of floor or make contact with that “friend” you only ever talk to when you need a place to stay in Sydney and do it now! Predictions are the event will pack Sydney to the brim with over a million global visitors, bearing their own unique colour of the flag that is the symbol of our unified global pride. | 2,124 |
ilantro and mint. Cu and Porter, who just got back from a trip to Vietnam to visit Cu’s relatives, say that although mint isn’t customary in Southern California bánh mì, it’s common in Vietnam, as is Vietnamese coriander (rau ram).
Slivered carrots and daikon, quick-pickled in brine for less than an hour, are a standard component in bánh mì, although Cu saw them replaced with fresh green papaya while in Vietnam. (“We saw cilantro once in Da Nang,” says Cu, of the fresh herb so prevalent in Southern California bánh mì.)
A few more sprigs of cilantro, stems and all, then a dash of soy sauce and you’re done.
As Cu talks, Porter has been busy brewing Vietnamese coffee on the other side of the kitchen, using one of the metal coffee filters the couple has stacked by their Breville espresso maker.
A few tablespoons of coffee (Cafe du Monde, a New Orleans brand made with chicory, is popular in the Vietnamese community; Porter also likes to use Ethiopian beans or an espresso blend) go into the little filters, which go for about $4 at an Asian grocery store. The coffee is then brewed straight into a glass filled with a pour of sweetened condensed milk, where the coffee drips to form a gorgeous layer of black over the pale ivory of the milk.
For hot coffee (café sua nóng), Porter nests the glass into a tumbler filled with hot water to maintain the temperature, then stirs the milk and coffee. For iced coffee (café sua dá), he mixes the drink, then pours it over ice.
A glass of milky coffee, a sardine bánh mì, the crusty baguette loaded with cilantro, chiles and fresh mint from their garden. Can you make it differently? Of course, says Cu. Bánh mì is post-colonial comfort food: The sandwiches are by their very nature adaptive, changing with the territory, reflecting seasonal ingredients and taking on the personality of whoever makes them.
“I would never diss what your mom makes,” Cu says. “My mom doesn’t make it the way I do either.”
Scattergood is a Times staff writer.
[email protected] | 2,125 |
Call it an ineffective observation, but many of us will point to mathematics as our least favorite subject. There is something in the world of constants and variables that intimidates us. Then again, we cannot scoff at the fact that nearly everything is subject to statistical inquiry.
In B2B telemarketing, businesses depend on mathematical functions to gauge the success of their CRM and lead prospecting activities. It is impossible to know what individual decision-makers want or whether one’s marketing investments are producing as expected, which explains the reason to use marketing metrics.
Lead generation telemarketing is influenced by several factors. And ignoring such factors is considered counterproductive. Anyway, how can you improve your marketing efforts or feed your pipeline with high quality B2B sales leads without taking into account such metrics as buyer preference and ROI?
Like it or not, you would need to assess critical marketing metrics. These variables after all can determine where you are in realizing your lead generation and appointment setting goals.
Conversion rates. Taking into account the conversion of B2B leads into prospects and prospects into sales, a business is able to provide itself a clear description of its current strategies. A drop in conversions may call for improvement in your marketing structure, particularly the way one’s telemarketing staff responds to audience needs. An increase meanwhile suggests simple maintenance or further improvement.
Call volume. How often do your telemarketers contact leads? Or in another case, how many calls should your telemarketers make in a day? Call volume is important in that it shows lead generation productivity. Of course, high call volumes indicate high traffic of B2B leads which can be qualified for the sales team to engage.
ROI. Another important metric to take note is ROI. Setting up a lead generation telemarketing campaign entails a lot of effort and expenses. It is thus vital to track whether your investments are efficiently returning to your coffers. Poor ROI obviously indicates a waste of resources, thus necessitating improvements in your telemarketing activities.
Lead quality. Always consider the pertinent data of each lead that comes your way. Do they fit snuggly with your audience profile? Do they belong to the industry that makes the most use of your products and services? How many wrong numbers were dialed? Taking into account these questions can aid in motivating your lead generation team to focus on quality and not solely on quantity.
These are the top metrics to observe in lead generation telemarketing. And learning to love them unconditionally can put your campaign on a winning streak. | 2,126 |
he didn't know anything was wrong when he began receiving 60 percent disability benefits from the Department of Veterans Affairs and 40 percent from the Ohio State National Guard.
He learned in a Sept. 15 letter from the Guard that he could not receive disability benefits from both the Ohio Guard and the VA.
"The way the policy is written, if one is more than the other, you only get the larger one; you can't get both," Sowers said. "When I out-processed, I was never told that I could not receive both VA and DoD retirement."
Sowers said he thought the VA and Guard were supposed to stay in contact with each other to avoid these types of mistakes.
Threatening to charge 15 percent interest if it's not paid back by Nov. 1 is also unnecessary, said Sowers, who plans to apply for a waiver.
"I find this situation hard to believe, but I understand completely because it happens all the time," he said. "When they owe you money, they take their time. When they want your money, they want it now or you will pay the consequences."
No Quick Fix
As for Priestley and other California Guard members, Pentagon and Guard officials have said there is no quick fix to the problem because current laws and regulations don't authorize them to grant a blanket waiver.
A team led by Peter Levine, Carter's senior personnel official, will create a new process by Jan. 1 "that ensures the fair and equitable treatment of our service members and the rapid resolution of these cases," with the goal of concluding the work by July 1.
Priestley filed an appeal against the bonus recoup order in late September, but hasn't received a response yet.
"It's horrible, said Priestley, 48 and a father of five. "I can't see how a decade can go by and these people get blindsided with these notifications. I feel bad for these people that have already paid it back. They've had to refinance their homes. I can't afford to pay $14,000 back.
"I don't know what will come of this for us all. I mean, I hope that it does get waived for everybody, but it is something else. And it is too much to ask people to do after they have given their time."
-- Brendan McGarry contributed to this story.
-- Matthew Cox can be reached at [email protected].
Related Video:
National Guard in Iraq -- 2004 | 2,127 |
and other maintainance to wp-cron.php.
PS: W3 Total cache can also use disk-caching on top of the additional features it offers, but I figured It’d be nice to show how much memcache can help even with every user visit being sent to the PHP backend.
The Method of Testing
Testing was done very simply with an application called Siege. Each scenario was tested separately, so that the environment conditions they were in were as close as possible (it would be kind of silly to try to run a test on all three at the same time if they were on the same physical server despite being in separate VPS containers).
Each scenario was hit with a surge of connections, ranging from 5 concurrent browsers, to 150 concurrent browser. Each Siege test was run for 5 minutes, with a pause of 4 minutes in between. Meaning starting from 5 concurrent browsers, it would run for 5 minutes hitting up the destination as much as possible, then pause for 4 minutes before trying again with 10, then 20, then 30 then 40 concurrent browsers and so forth.
An example of the command would be:
seige -c# -t5M -b http://destination
Where # is the number of concurrent browsers to use, and b sets it in benchmark mode, allowing no delays between connection attempts. This is not very realistic in terms of actual internet traffic which tends to have some delay, and connections occur at random intervals rather than all-out-slashdotting/digg (which is still technically random, but just more intense). The idea here is to illustrate just how much load WordPress could theoretically take under a large amount of traffic.
The “attacking” server was another VPS, so some of these numbers would rarely be possible in the real world. Normally most users on shared or VPS hosting don’t normally have access to higher than a 10mbit uplink, let alone the next-to-nothing latency you get between two VPSes on the same box, so essentially we’re breaking it down to where the webserver, PHP and database server become the main bottleneck.
Also keep in mind, the test does not attempt to download anything other than the front page html, meaning additional requests for images, css, js were not retrieved. Just simply the download of the front page, which is far less than what a normal browser would download off a typical blog.
On the following pages are all the pretty graphs and numbers between each scenario. | 2,128 |
Evan's book reviews by Evan Leybourn on
Lean edition
I read a lot - not all of it related to agile or business management, but enough. Below are some of the important books that have shaped my thinking (and writing). Not all of them a great (as you can see from my ranking), but they all contain some interesting ideas. This group of reviews will focus on those books that relate to lean practices.
5/5
An old book, but still a must read for any business leader. The machine that changed the world must be read by any business leader interested in efficiency or process improvement. It is a very accessible book, even for readers outside the automotive industry.
4/5
While this book may be several decades old, and the Japanese miracle no longer as relevant as once it was, it is by no means out of date. This book will provide you with a practical understanding of continuous improvement and how that relates to corporate performance and leadership. I would recommend this book for beginners and anyone wanting a refresh on Kaizen
4/5
I read this book when I was first learning about lean production. At the time I found it to be a great resource to understand many of the concepts and techniques that underpin this. As the title suggests, it is a simplified overview, and probably too simple for anyone who has move than a couple of years experience in lean production.
3/5
The concepts on planning, control and breakthrough, as defined in “Juran Institute’s Six Sigma Breakthrough and Beyond” are clear and simple guidelines for good business management. This book isn’t an introduction to Six Sigma, and definately requires a firm understanding of the core principles and practices before you open the cover. If you already do Six Sigma, I’d recommend this as further reading, if not, you could do better elsewhere.
4/5
Understanding TPS, and the subsequent evolution into lean manufacturing, is critical to any business leader. This work is seminal in the field, and should be considered compulsory reading. I’d also recommend that anyone interested in the history of TPS also read “The Machine that Changed the World”. My only criticism of this book, and the only reason it doesn’t get 5 stars, is that it doesn’t provide a lot of depth, nor much in the way of practical advice, on lean manufacturing. Although, in the books defense, that’s not what it is trying to do. | 2,129 |
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which chose not to accept corporate donations and successfully relied on the common man for funding its campaign in the Delhi Assembly polls, is likely to chase big-ticket donations for financing its ambitions on the level.
According to a member of AAP's executive committee (NEC) who did not wish to be named, for the Lok Sabha elections, which could be advanced to April this year, the party has set an initial target of raising Rs 200 crore - 10 times its Rs 20-crore budget for the Delhi election. It has estimated an expenditure of Rs 1 crore per Lok Sabha seat.
Since the Assembly election that catapulted AAP to power in the country's capital, the party has received Rs 5.8 crore through online donations, at an average of Rs 20-25 lakh a day. Though the average single-day donation now is higher than it was before AAP formed the government in Delhi, the party believes that the funds raised from personal donations by April would not be enough to contest the general elections on a large scale.
"At the moment, we are getting Rs 20-25 lakh in donations every day. But this is not enough. We will have to increase that many times over and are designing a funding structure," Pankaj Gupta, AAP's secretary, told Business Standard.
The party will soon set up a team of around 500 members to increase funding. The target donor this time might not be the common man alone; corporate people could also be approached - not the corporate entities but, as the party insists, the people in their personal capacity.
This time, according to a party member, AAP is looking for "big-ticket donations" and its team for this purpose will hold one-on-one discussions with the people they think can contribute Rs 50 lakh or more - a likely focus shift from the common man to rich donors.
These representatives, spread across the country, will also seek donations from outside India. The party gets around 25 per cent of its funding from abroad.
AAP sounds confident about this strategy. "We will soon get those donations and we have some big names that are willing to contribute," said the party member.
The party's state-level teams have also been sounded to form donation-specific teams. At present, AAP has units in 20 states.
The party's campaign around the turn of the year, under which it urged its supporters to donate Rs 2,014, was received very well and AAP raised that sum from a little more than 5,000 people. | 2,130 |
For example, the A.N.E.S. asked people if they favored or opposed the legality of abortion if staying pregnant would cause a woman to die. Across the parties, overwhelming majorities (nearly 70 percent of Republicans and 80 percent of Democrats) agreed that abortion should be legal in this situation.
Another question was whether abortion should be legal if the child were not going to be the sex the woman wanted it to be. Across the parties there was a clear pattern: Hardly anyone in the United States (only 5 percent of Republicans and 10 percent of Democrats) believed abortion should be legal in this case.
The legality of choosing to end a pregnancy after a rape was also supported by a majority of voters on both sides. And having an abortion for financial considerations found less than majority support across both parties.
It appears as if the giant party difference in support for abortion under any and all conditions is an artifact of the way the typical abortion survey question is constructed. Most respondents are not thinking about any or all possible circumstances when they answer the question; after all, you cannot think of a circumstance that you don’t know is even possible or likely. But when the A.N.E.S. provided these circumstances to people specifically, like an abortion for a woman who wanted a boy but found out she was having a girl, hardly anyone thought it should be legal to behave this way.
The data permit an even closer look at the 57 percent of Democrats who responded that abortion should “always be legal.” Clearly, some of them changed their minds when posed the question about a baby’s sex leading to an abortion. Among these “always legal” Democrats, 65 percent subsequently responded that abortion should not be legal if the woman does not like the sex of the child. Similarly, 23 percent would not support legal abortion in situations of financial hardship.
The same patterns can be found among Republicans who said that abortion should “never be legal” — 22 percent of them would support legal abortion if carrying the baby to term could result in a woman’s loss of life, for example.
Many people may find the points of agreement across party lines on the topic of legal abortion surprising. The data show that in some circumstances in which a woman may choose to end a pregnancy, majorities of Americans — Democrats and Republicans — are on the same side, sometimes supporting the legality of the procedure and sometimes not.
Focusing on the exact details of abortion decisions may reveal more about when Americans agree on this difficult issue than when they disagree. | 2,131 |
In a move that all but shouts the volatility facing Tokyo investment in a post-Brexit UK, Japan is said to be initiating informal talks prior to London’s split from the European Union.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, responding to internal pressure from the well-heeled Tokyo investment community, is said to be testing the waters for informal talks prior to the UK Brexit, as a means to soften a potential blow to the Japanese economy, according to a report from The Guardian.
By engaging in unofficial bilateral talks prior to Britain leaving the EU, Abe is attempting to calms the fears of the Japanese business and investment architecture, according to unnamed sources cited by the Nikkei business newspaper.
As part of the EU directorate, official negotiations between the UK and other countries cannot begin until Brexit is complete. Abe, however, seeks to provide assurances "at a time when Japan desires a stronger bond between our two island and maritime democracies," according to the unnamed Tokyo official, who is said to be aware of Abe's intent.
The unnamed source claimed that the Japanese prime minister understands that the terms of the final Brexit deal are "beyond the reach of the Japanese government," according to The Guardian.
Japanese banks in the UK with staff and operations in London are primarily worried about losing the so-called EU-passport that permits financial institutions to conduct business throughout Europe with limited regulation.
Some 1000 Japan-based companies do business in the UK, employing an estimated 140,000 people, according to the Guardian. At least $50 billion has been invested in the UK by Japan, by the most conservative estimates.
Recently, Japan-owned Daiwa Securities, headquartered in London, announced that they would open a subsidiary company in Frankfurt, Germany, as a hedge against needing to move quickly in the event of a hard Brexit.
Tokyo's largest brokerage firm, Nomura Securities, has reportedly planned to move to Frankfurt post-Brexit, although it will keep most of its staff in London.
"Of course the main drawback of Brexit for Japanese financial institutions is the issue of the [EU passport], so it would be natural for them to shift to Frankfurt, Amsterdam or Dublin," stated Takashi Miwa, Nomura's chief economist in Japan.
Banks and financial institutions in Tokyo are expected to make similar moves.
"There are growing voices within Japanese business and industry calling on the government to ensure minimal disruption to bilateral economic ties," said Osamu Tanaka, chief economist with Tokyo's Dai-Ichi Life Research Institute, cited by The Guardian. | 2,132 |
highly secret Order of Saint Hubertus. As is being reported, initially in the Washington Post with broader allegations made on the InfoWars website, tying the Hubertus Order to Bohemian Grove antics, long subject to speculation in the alternative media.
We became aware of the case in August 2015 when we were shown correspondence between Allen and representatives of the Keshe Foundation. Allen ran several popular websites on alternative energy and was a popular speaker, often appearing on the Coast to Coast radio show with Detroit native, George Noory.
Increasingly it became obvious that Allen had been using these venues for sexual trafficking of children. It wasn’t hard to figure out, he did it openly spoke of it constantly (as seen in the YouTube above) and lived as though he were above the law. Over the next few months, particularly when confronted by Iranian born physicist MT Keshe, who ordered Allen and those around him banned from all Keshe forums, Allen openly flaunted his criminal activities.
What made this particularly insidious is that it was obvious not only that Allen was not acting alone but that he had broad support not only in his home state of Utah, where he was able to avoid prosecution, but in Belgium as well. There, Allen and associates Hans Bracquene, Dirk Laureyssens and Ad Van den Elshout moved against the Keshe group, securing against Keshe’s wishes technologies with defense related applications and passing them on to MI 5 in Britain.
When Keshe moved against this group and tried to secure his patents, he found himself being chased down the highway, shots fired, his car run off the road. Police arrested and soon “misplaced” the culprits, and soon thereafter, representatives of Belgium’s “royals” told Keshe to leave Belgium or be buried there.
On the European end of the FBI investigation, the trail, all of which is easily followed by the “breadcrumbs” Sterling David Allen has left, leads to the highest and most powerful of the scientific communities where blackmail, kidnapping and torture, threats against families and in particular, threats against children, have placed members of secret societies in positions of power at universities, think tanks, police and counter-terrorism agencies and even the European Space
Agency.
More to come…
Gordon Duff is an accredited diplomat and is generally accepted as one of the top global intelligence specialists. He manages the world’s largest private intelligence organization and regularly consults with governments challenged by security issues.
Source: Veterans Today | 2,133 |
TORONTO – Foreign-language films are often overshadowed at the star-studded Toronto International Film Festival, but a new competitive program will try rectify that, says festival boss Piers Handling.
The long-running film showcase is setting up a new sidebar called Platform, which will highlight high-quality international cinema and give the next generation of filmmakers a chance to increase their global profile.
A three-person international jury will award a $25,000 prize to the best of the bunch.
“Platform is a real serious attempt on our part to elevate some of the most important international auteurs, people who are probably in mid-career — who made two, three films, are well-known perhaps amongst the festival circuit in Europe, Latin America, Asia — but haven’t quite arrived in North America in the same way,” Handling said Thursday when reached by phone at the Cannes Film Festival.
The juried program will be comprised of up to 12 films by international filmmakers.
That means the program will likely focus on foreign-language films, said Handling. If any English-language features make the cut they’d likely be drawn from small independent cinema rather than the Oscar-baiting fare of TIFF’s higher-profile gala and special presentations sections, he said.
The addition is part of a bid to refresh the TIFF lineup as it marks its 40th anniversary this September.
Last month, organizers announced that a new TV program called Primetime will feature international television content. The lineup will include public screenings and Q&A sessions with show creators.
Handling said he and his team of festival programmers will spend much of the coming months on the hunt for potential festival breakouts.
“We’ve got the next two months to really shape this program. We’re going to be doing a lot of travelling … right after Cannes to see the new films, the films that are not here that were not ready for Cannes, films that are ready for us in the fall,” he said.
He had no predictions for what could be featured in the Platform section.
“At this stage in the game we haven’t invited one film into the program. We’ll see what’s out there and I think we’ll probably announce this program fairly late. It won’t happen until late July or early August.”
The 40th Toronto International Film Festival runs Sept. 10 to Sept. 20. | 2,134 |
, his lawyer, The Sun reporter and his lawyer were in glass-fronted room. Translation and voice transcript had arrived and all this was made clear to Peacock,” says the researcher who the documentary says wants to remain anonymous.
The person identified as researcher further says that he met Peacock in 2013 in central London. “We discussed Munawar and his match-fixing activities. Peacock was very clear who Munawar was and also his activities, which was of absolute pertinent interest to him.”
The match in question had thrown a lot of controversies even back in 2010. Ijaz Butt, the then chairman of Pakistan cricket board, had accused England’s players of being “paid enormous amount of money” to lose the third ODI. “There is loud and clear talk in the bookies circle that some English players were paid enormous amounts of money to lose the match,” Butt had said. “No wonder there was total collapse of the English side. We won the match and we are under suspicion. England lost, their players should be investigated.”
Next day, during training session, when Wahab Riaz, Pakistan’s fast bowler, walked past Jonathan Trott, England batsman, more trouble erupted as revealed in Trott’s autobiography. Trott asked Riaz, “You going to accuse us of match-fixing again?” and Riaz was supposed to have said, “Your mum knows all about match fixing.” Trott hurled his pads at Riaz and held him by the throat, and had to be separated by the batting coach Graham Gooch.
The documentary lists 14 other matches (15 in all) that is allegedly spot fixed. Some of it have come under the scanner before. Like the Australia vs Zimbabwe ODI in the 2011 World Cup.
Australia had won it but Press Trust of India had reported that ICC was looking at the slow start made by Australia after winning toss. Brad Haddin and Shane Watson, the openers, had scored only 28 in the first 10 overs and later, Haddin refuted the reports. “It’s quite a laughable story. It’s a joke. We just got off the mark a bit slowly,” Haddin had said then.
📣 The Indian Express is now on Telegram. Click here to join our channel (@indianexpress) and stay updated with the latest headlines
For all the latest Sports News, download Indian Express App. | 2,135 |
Have You Ever Heard of Slime You Can Pop?
Today The Wild Adventure Girls are going to create some crackly slimy fun and show you how to make your very own Bubble Wrap Slime!
What is Bubble Wrap Slime? Think of a super stretchy, crackly slime that sounds just like bubble wrap when you push or squeeze it.
Bubble Wrap Slime Pulling Apart
Cool! So, How Do I Make It? This is where the slimy fun begins! Now it's time to mix a bit of science with poppy slime making coolness. To make your own Bubble Wrap Slime we will need to combine a few fun ingredients...
Making Bubble Wrap Slime
Let's get started with what you need for your own “Bubble Wrap Slime Recipe”!! Clear Elmer's Glue. Baking Soda.
Contact Lens Solution (this will activate your glue and turn it into gooey slime). Clear Decorative Fillers. (Can also be known at "Decorative Beads." We purchased ours at Michael's).
A bowl for mixing.
Now, let's get mixing! The first thing we are going to do is take our clear Elmer's Glue and pour it into a bowl. Next, we are going to add a little bit of baking soda. This is going to help create the perfect texture of slime. Now, get ready to activate your slime! You're going to add your contact lenses solution and mix until your glue turn into a slime masterpiece. We recommend adding a little at a time and to keep adding a mixing until you can work your slime with your hands.
The Wild Adventure Girls Making Slime
Are you ready to make some slime poppin' magic?! Sweet, let's keep going! Now that your slime is ready to go, it's time to get that slime crack-a-lackin'! Your going to want to take your decorative discs and mix them into your slime.
Wait, do you hear that popping? We do to! Congratulations, you have just made bubble wrap slime! So now that you know how it works, come join the fun at home and laugh along while The Wild Adventure Girls make Bubble Wrap Slime epicness!
Will Angelina, Scarlett and Annabella's hands become so tired from popping their bubble wrap slime that they will no longer be able to make another slime again? Tune is to see what happens when The Wild Adventure girls explore the world of science and slime!
Connect to Facebook | 2,136 |
NBC anchor Brian Williams apologized on Wednesday for falsely claiming his helicopter was downed by an RPG during the 2003 invasion of Iraq, and now many are actively fact-checking other extraordinary claims from over the years, including a notable one regarding Hurricane Katrina.On Wednesday's "Nightly News," Williams publicly apologized for his "bungled attempt" at thanking soldiers for protecting him in Iraq."I made a mistake in recalling the events of 12 years ago," he said. "I want to apologize."Under heavy scrutiny less than 24 hours after Williams' admission are his tales from Hurricane Katrina.In one story, he claims he saw a body float by his hotel room window in New Orleans. In another, he claims his five-star hotel was overrun with gangs while he was sick with floodwater dysentery, and was rescued from a stairwell by a police officer.Williams recounted the first story about the floating corpse in a 2006 interview with former Disney CEO Michael Eisner, The New Orleans Advocate reported.
"When you look out of your hotel room window in the French Quarter, and watch a man float by face-down, when you see bodies that you last saw in Banda Aceh, Indonesia, and swore to yourself that you would never see in your country..." Williams said, recounting the 2005 hurricane. "These are Americans. These are my brothers and sisters and one of them was floating by."The likelihood that a body would be "floating by" in the French Quarter neighborhood is highly unlikely, as several news outlets noted that there was no flooding there — it sits at one of the highest elevations in the city. The New York Times reported just days after the storm that, "the Quarter's elegant 150-year-old buildings look relatively unruffled, except for some loosened bricks, having been spared the worst of Hurricane Katrina's winds and sitting high enough to have avoided the flooding."Another blogger noticed a story Williams told not long after the storm."My week — two weeks there — was not helped by the fact that I accidentally ingested some of the floodwater. I became very sick with dysentery. Our hotel was overrun with gangs," Williams said in an interview with Tom Brokaw. "I was rescued from the stairwell of a five-star hotel in New Orleans by a young police officer. We are friends to this day."Williams doesn't appear to have told the story ever again, but did say in a subsequent Dateline special that the police in New Orleans used the Sheraton hotel as a staging ground for their operations, and that they allowed his film crew to film outside. | 2,137 |
On Monday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports,” Representative Ryan Costello (R-PA) stated the GOP is experiencing “shrinkage” among suburban voters and that if the GOP struggles in 2018, more GOP members of Congress will “realize that just standing in line behind Trump — or not speaking out…is not going to be sustainable for our party.”
Costello said he thinks Republicans can hold the House, but if they do so, “it will be because a lot of Republican incumbent members have won by a point or two, rather than winning by eight or ten or 12 points.”
He continued, “We are experiencing — I probably shouldn’t use the word shrinkage, but we are, in terms of suburban voters feeling that the party is not speaking to some of the suburban issues, quality of life issues, and that Trump has very much created a more caustic political environment. Whether it’s solely attributable to him or not doesn’t really matter. Because in the minds of many voters, that’s what they feel.”
Costello further stated, “[A]s a party, we are going to have to be much more forceful in what our policy prerogatives are. Because as the party continues to be more and more defined by Trump, especially when he wades into primaries and the Trump-backed candidate wins. That is not a recipe for long-term success as a political party. It’s just simply not. And in the suburbs, you are seeing the real acceleration of independents move to Democrats, either voting or in party registration. That’s happened in southeastern Pennsylvania. It continues to spread westward. And beyond that, I think that, as a party, if we lose our identity, free market, limited government, that is not a — we’re not going to grow the party.”
He concluded, “I think for a lot of members, after November, if there is — if we are not successful in November, the ways we’ve enjoyed in the past several cycles, if this is anything remotely like 2010, I think you’ll see a lot more members realize that just standing in line behind Trump — or not speaking out is probably the better way to put it, is not going to be sustainable for our party.”
(h/t Grabien)
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett | 2,138 |
Don't you wish Litecoin (LTC) had a medium that it could use to buy common goods? Gyft currently has over 200 retailers (1) that can easily be accessed by the Bitcoin (BTC) market to do just this. A friend of mine contacted the marketing department of Gyft today to see if they were thinking about accepting LTC anytime in the foreseeable future. He received a response stating that at the current level of demand for LTC, they would start thinking about accepting LTC in Spring of 2014 at the earliest but if demand rises significantly, this time frame could hopefully be pushed up.
When Gyft started to accept BTC on May 9, 2013 (2), BTC had a market cap of around 1.33 Billion USD (3). As of now, LTC has a market cap of around 222 Million USD (4). Gyft must have starting thinking about accepting BTC before this 1.33 Billion USD mark and LTC already has the market cap of what BTC did back in early February of 2013 (3) and by accepting LTC, Gyft could easily push LTC's market cap to what BTC's was when Gyft began accepting BTC.
This petition was created to show Gyft the rising demand in finding a medium to use LTC to purchase goods in the world around us. Hopefully with enough signatures we can help push up the time frame that Gyft will begin to start thinking about accepting LTC and everyone involved will be part of this movement! LTC is a huge part in the evolution of currency and the sooner we can easily use them at the local Target or Starbucks, the better of a foundation we can begin to build for the future.
If you wish to contact Gyft directly, you can contact them at [email protected] to leave feedback.
Please forward this to as many people as possible!
Thank you for your time,
Devin
Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with Gyft and I have made a personal investment in Litecoin
References:
(1) http://www.gyft.com/bitcoin/
(2) http://techcrunch.com/2013/05/09/mobile-gift-card-app-gyft-partners-with-bitpay-to-start-accepting-bitcoin-payments-on-its-android-app/
(3) http://blockchain.info/charts/market-cap
(4) http://block-explorer.com/charts | 2,139 |
a non-insulin-dependent diabetic population.9 To date, however, very few studies or cases have been documented or published with respect to therapeutic fasting as a cure for T2D, reversing it completely and eliminating the use of insulin. We were unable to locate a single case study published in the last 30 years. In our study all three patients eliminated the need for insulin by initiating a therapeutic fasting regimen. All three patients succeeded within a month and one in as little as 5 days. Further, all patients improved in multiple other clinically significant health outcome measures, such as HbA1C, body mass index and waist circumference. This reduction in risk factors will likely reduce the risk for further complications. A study by Wing et al 10 found that modest weight losses of 5%–10% have been associated with significant improvements in cardiovascular disease risk factors (ie, decreased HbA1C levels, reduced blood pressure, increase in HDL cholesterol, decreased plasma triglycerides) in patients with T2D. Risk factor reduction was even greater with losses of 10%–15% of body weight. In our present study, all three patients experienced weight loss of 10% or more. Educating patients on the benefits of fasting in the management of T2D may aid in the remission of the disease and curtail the use of pharmacological interventions. A systematic review suggested that patients with T2D who have a baseline HbA1C of greater than 8% may achieve better glycaemic control when given individual education rather than usual care.11 Additionally, patients should be educated about and encouraged to follow an appropriate treatment plan tailored to them. Adherence to a fasting diet should continue to be stressed throughout treatment, because these lifestyle measures and modifications can have a large impact on the degree of diabetic control that patients can achieve, as seen with this case series. This is further emphasised by a study by Morrison et al,12 who found that more frequent visits with a primary care provider led to markedly rapid reductions in serum glucose, HbA1C and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels. In our study patients followed up with the treating physician on average every 2 weeks. Learning points Medically supervised, therapeutic fasting regimens can help reverse type 2 diabetes (T2D) and minimise the use of pharmacological and possibly surgical interventions in patients with T2D.
Therapeutic fasting is an underutilised dietary intervention that can provide superior blood glucose reduction compared with standard pharmacological agents.
Fasting is a practical dietary strategy.
With proper education and support, we found compliance to be good. | 2,140 |
BARRACUDA WIN 6TH IN A ROW BEHIND GROSENICK'S 38 SAVES
San Jose, CA - With first place on the line, the San Jose Barracuda (25-11-1-3) earned their sixth-straight win by topping the San Diego Gulls (24-12-2-2), 2-1, at SAP Center on Wednesday night. San Jose's win snapped San Diego's winning streak at six games and their franchise long 12-game point.
In the first period, Adam Helewka (11) intercepted a pass in the defensive zone, raced down the ice and beat Jhonas Enroth short side on a two-on-one at 13:58. Troy Grosenick made all 11 saves he faced, and the Barracuda skated out to the opening-frame lead.
Nikita Jevpalovs (7) waited just one minute and 29 seconds to extend San Jose's lead to two as he backhanded a loose puck in the slot past Enroth. Grosenick continued his strong play and held onto his shutout through 40 minutes.
In the third, the Barracuda jumped onto their first power play of the night, but Chris Wagner (8) jammed a loose puck past Grosenick during a mad scramble in the crease at 12:26. Despite getting outshot 15-to-6 in the final period, San Jose held on for the win, 2-1.
Grosenick (15-8-2) earned his sixth-straight victory by making 38 saves on 39 shots while Enroth (10-2-0) suffered his first loss as a Gull' after allowing two goals on 28 shots.
THREE STARS
1. Troy Grosenick (SJ: 39 saves)
2. Nikita Jevpalovs (1+0=1)
3. Adam Helewka (SJ: 1+0=1)
BOX SCORE
The Barracuda jump back on the road to take on the Bakersfield Condors on Saturday, Feb. 11 at 6 p.m. before turning around the following night on Sunday, Feb. 12 to take on the Ontario Reign at SAP Center for California Republic Jersey night. Tickets are still available and can be purchased at SJBarracuda.com/tickets or by calling 408.999.5757.
| 2,141 |
Candler and her mother now stay in a transitional home in north Long Beach, which they found after their time was up at the shelter. The two cram into a room smaller than most walk-in closets. She sleeps on the top bunk for $250, her mother on the bottom for $300. A third roommate lives an arm’s width away.
Candler squeezes in three jobs between classes to support herself and her mother, who’s been out of work since she had surgery to replace a femur with a metal rod and was put on disability because of an adrenal gland hemorrhage.
The bills add up. The beds eat up one whole paycheck, and $187 a month in food stamps stretches only so far. Then there’s about $4,000 a semester for tuition and books, and doctor visits that Candler insists on attending so she understands which medicines to give her mother. Not to mention phone bills and the Wi-Fi, which Candler finally sprung for because her late commutes home from the library worried her mother.
See the most-read stories this hour »
When it gets too overwhelming, she thinks about how much easier it would be to make ends meet if she dropped out and got a full-time job.
“You are not giving that up, this is your dream,” her mother says, reminding her of her journey from community college to Long Beach, where she is studying to be a history teacher.
“Mom,” she says, “ you need to be taken care of.”
One recent morning, Candler helped her mother out of the bottom bunk, selected an outfit from one of five storage bags stacked in the corner, then took two buses to get to campus, where she clocked a full morning of work before heading to her three-hour history class — an intensive summer course that counts toward both her major and the teaching credential program.
“I’m this close to graduating,” she said. “I‘m not going to let anything stop me.”
Follow me on Twitter @RosannaXia for more higher education news.
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‘The cheapest buzz you can get on skid row’: Officials try to stop homeless from smoking spice after dozens sickened
L.A. City Council asks Gov. Brown to declare homelessness a statewide emergency
Is the shift to permanent housing making L.A.'s homelessness problem even worse? | 2,142 |
Powell says Fed has room to cut, may have kept policy too tight
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell suggested that the central bank has room to ease as the tie between the inflation and jobless rates has broken down.
“The relationship between unemployment and inflation became weak” about twenty years ago, Powell told the Senate Banking Committee Thursday. “It’s become weaker and weaker and weaker.”
The Fed chief stressed at his second day of congressional testimony that the U.S. economy is “in a very good place.” He said the central bank wants “to use our tools to keep it there,” and offset weakness stemming from a global slump in manufacturing and business confidence linked to trade tensions.
“He sent a pretty straightforward signal that they intend to lower interest rates,’’ said Ward McCarthy, chief financial economist at Jefferies LLC.
Neutral Rate
Powell told Senators that the so-called “neutral rate,” or policy rate that keeps the economy on an even keel, is lower than past estimates have put it -- meaning monetary policy has been too restrictive.
“We’re learning that interest rates -- that the neutral interest rate -- is lower than we had thought and I think we’re learning that the natural rate of unemployment is lower than we thought,” he said. “So monetary policy hasn’t been as accommodative as we had thought.”
Federal Reserve officials in fact marked down their estimate of the longer-run policy rate to 2.5 per cent in June, from 2.8 per cent in March.
Investors fully expect a quarter-point cut at the Fed’s July 30-31 gathering, according to pricing in interest-rate futures, though odds were dialed back a bit after a stronger-than-expected U.S. inflation report earlier on Thursday.
At the hearing, Powell received bipartisan support for his independence at a time when the Trump administration is openly attacking the policies of the Federal Reserve. Powell deflected a question about whether this complicated policy making.
Trump discussed firing Powell in late 2018 and asked White House lawyers earlier this year to explore options for removing him as Fed chairman, Bloomberg has reported. When answering a similar question Wednesday during his testimony before the House Financial Services Committee, Powell said he wouldn’t leave even if Trump tries to fire him.
--With assistance from Christopher Condon, Katia Dmitrieva and Ryan Haar. | 2,143 |
If you needed evidence that government praying is all about promoting Christianity, just look at what’s happening in Pittsylvania County in Virginia.
A full recap is here but a quick summary will work: In 2012, the county’s Board of Supervisors began each meeting with a prayer to Jesus Christ. And it wasn’t citizens saying the prayers, but the Supervisors themselves, which clearly violated the law.
A judge eventually ruled against the County, saying the officials were violating the Establishment Clause. The Supervisors weren’t happy with that, so they filed an appeal… which they also lost.
When all was said and done, the County ultimately owed the ACLU north of $75,000 in legal fees.
This week, the Swansonville Pentecostal Holiness Church thanked the County for fighting what the rest of us knew was always a losing battle by presenting officials with a check for $2,000:
The church’s executive council voted in August to give the money to the county, [Rev. Mike] Hearp said. The money came from member contributions and the church’s treasury, he said. “The idea was brought up to show our support for the board of supervisors and also appreciation and support for their standing on the issue of prayer,” Hearp said. … Praying in Jesus’ name is “such a vital issue,” Hearp said. He has words of encouragement for the board and its supporters during the case. “There will be another day, another judge and a different verdict because God will have the final say in all affairs,” Hearp said.
The County officials were more than happy to take the money:
Board Chairwoman Brenda Bowman said she was pleased with the church’s contribution. “I swelled with pride knowing that a church would come out and offer support to us like that,” Bowman said. “I’m just real glad that he stepped forward to offer to do that and challenge other churches, and I hope other churches will follow suit.”
That says it all, doesn’t it? A Christian church gives a large donation to the local government to thank them for fighting for Christian prayers at meetings.
That’s precisely why government shouldn’t be in the religion business. They’re elected to do the work of all the people, not just the Christian majority.
(Image via Shutterstock. Thanks to Scott for the link)
| 2,144 |
Queens of the Stone Age recruit Mark Ronson to stop them becoming a 'parody'
Bang Showbiz
30 July 2017
Queens of the Stone Age wanted Mark Ronson to stop them becoming a "parody", and they recruited the music producer to help them find a fresh new sound
Queens of the Stone Age wanted Mark Ronson to stop them becoming a "parody".
The 'No-One Knows' rockers brought in the 'Uptown Funk' hitmaker to produce their new album 'Villains' because they thought he could help them find a fresh take on their classic sound.
Frontman Josh Homme explained to MOJO magazine: "If you're lucky enough to have found a sound for yourself that's individual, you need to be careful by the time you have seven records, you could easily become a parody or a cartoon character.
"Not everyone is blessed enough to be AC/DC or the Ramones. It was time to look hard at what was important about how we sound.
"In the beginning, I thought if all else fails Ronson could just serve as a talisman to remind me to be modern, our way."
And Josh admitted he relished the idea that working with the producer would "confuse and dismay" people.
Explaining how the collaboration came about, he said: "I knew him casually and I knew he was a fan of the band.
"If nothing else, I thought, 'This will confuse and dismay people'.
"My son was really into the song 'Uptown Funk', it's so tight and vacuous and beat-centric. I thought, 'Man, that could be a really good idea'."
Before working on 'Villain', Josh produced Iggy Pop's latest LP 'Post-Pop Depression' and one of the tracks on his own new record was originally intended for the veteran rocker's album.
He explained:" 'Feet Don't Fail Me' was one of the songs we began to work on for the Iggy record.
"We just felt we had enough songs in enough time, it didn't ever get fully formed.
"In fact, Iggy wrote the lyrics, 'Feet don't fail me now'. So I said, 'Is it cool I use that song and take that lyric?' He was like, 'Go for broke'.
"So, in that respect, there is a baton passed from the Iggy record to this." | 2,145 |
Nearly 150 Central American migrants packed into a tractor trailer and bound for the United States were rescued in the Mexican Gulf state of Veracruz after being abandoned by smugglers, Mexican authorities said Sunday.
The case comes a week after a truck ferrying scores of Mexican and Central American migrants without sufficient water and ventilation was found in Texas. Ten migrants died in that case.
The 147 people rescued in Veracruz — whose ranks included 48 minors, including 14 unaccompanied by adults — had been left without food and water and were found on Saturday in a rural zone of the municipality of Ozuluama, the Mexican National Institute of Migration said in a statement.
Traffickers had directed the migrants to exit from a truck into which they had been packed in overcrowded conditions lacking ventilation, authorities said. They were told to hide in the underbrush and await the return of the smugglers, who never came back.
Mexican authorities provided medical care to the migrants, some of whom were dehydrated, officials said. None required hospitalization and all were taken to an immigration facility in Veracruz while officials attempted to clarify their status in Mexico.
They included citizens of Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador and Nicaragua, authorities said.
The migrants abandoned in Veracruz were likely following the same well-transited route as those who perished in Texas.
Central Americans destined for the United States regularly make their way via trucks, trains, buses and other vehicles to the U.S.-Mexico border area, seeking to cross illicitly into the United States. Texas’ Rio Grande Valley, adjacent to Mexico’s Tamaulipas state, is a favored crossing zone. Many Mexican migrants take the same route.
Organized criminal gangs, including the ultra-violent Zetas cartel, control the trafficking corridors, charging migrants thousands of dollars each for the trip north, officials say. Smugglers often abandon their human cargoes en route.
Traffickers also seek to recruit some migrants for criminal activity and sometimes kill their charges for refusing to enlist or for being unable to pay smuggling fees, according to law enforcement officials.
In 2010, Mexican authorities discovered the bodies of 72 migrants, mostly Central Americans, on a ranch in Tamaulipas. All had been killed execution-style, Mexican police said. Authorities blamed the deaths on the Zetas.
Cecilia Sanchez of The Times’ Mexico City bureau contributed.
[email protected]
twitter: @mcdneville | 2,146 |
Vice-Chancellor, aims to encourage original thinking and influence public policy.
The initiative allows future leaders in the public and not-for-profit sector to work closely with academics on pressing policy issues to influence their sector and wider society.
Professor Crook said: “I am delighted to see how the Crook Fellowships have achieved what I wanted to see when we set these up. They are helping to build strong collaborations between academic colleagues and Crook Fellows working in the policy and practice communities.
“The fundamental aim is to help make the world a better place through rigorous research on difficult policy challenges. These reports show what we can do through building strong links between academics and policy makers.”
Read the report
Additional information The University of Sheffield With almost 29,000 of the brightest students from over 140 countries, learning alongside over 1,200 of the best academics from across the globe, the University of Sheffield is one of the world’s leading universities. A member of the UK’s prestigious Russell Group of leading research-led institutions, Sheffield offers world-class teaching and research excellence across a wide range of disciplines. Unified by the power of discovery and understanding, staff and students at the university are committed to finding new ways to transform the world we live in. Sheffield is the only university to feature in The Sunday Times 100 Best Not-For-Profit Organisations to Work For 2018 and for the last eight years has been ranked in the top five UK universities for Student Satisfaction by Times Higher Education. Sheffield has six Nobel Prize winners among former staff and students and its alumni go on to hold positions of great responsibility and influence all over the world, making significant contributions in their chosen fields. Global research partners and clients include Boeing, Rolls-Royce, Unilever, AstraZeneca, Glaxo SmithKline, Siemens and Airbus, as well as many UK and overseas government agencies and charitable foundations. About Gingerbread Gingerbread is the leading charity working with single parent families. Our mission is to champion and enable single parent families to live secure, happy and fulfilling lives. Since 1918 we’ve been supporting, advising and campaigning with single parents to help them meet their family’s needs and achieve their goals. We want to create a world in which diverse families can thrive. We won’t stop working until we achieve this vision. Whatever success means for a single parent – a healthy family, a flexible job, stable finances or a chance to study – we work with them to make it happen. History of Gingerbread
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Yes, you read the title correctly. It’s too bad the inversion and air pollution that has choked most of Northern Utah for the past month has finally cleared out – the day before the Utah Legislative Session begins.
Utah’s brief 45-day legislative session leaves room for only the most pressing of issues (in the minds of legislators) to see the light of day and become law. But while the smog and pollution reaches horrendous levels in Northern Utah almost every year, it is typically gone by the end of January when the Legislature meets, when lawmakers may be forced to finally address the issue, and memories of the “chewable air” seems to fade away quickly. With the storm that blew through Saturday night and cleared the air, this year, it seems, will be no exception.
During the 2012 legislative session, lawmakers on Utah’s Capitol Hill addressed the issue of air quality for the first time – after an effort spearhead by Representative Patrice Arent (D, Millcreek) led to the creation of a 2-year task force that will review public and private sector efforts to improve air quality and suggest changes to improve air quality. It’s a start, but several legislators who were supportive of the measure were heard around the Hill muttering about how much further the bill could have gone if only the smog had stuck around during the session.
During the months of December and January, Utah frequently holds the dubious honor of being ranked the #1 Worst Air in the Country, and the 2012-2013 winter season was worse than most. The pollution got so thick this past month that a group of 60 doctors, party of the organization Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment, delivered a petition to Governor Herbert requesting he declare a public health emergency.
“[W]e know from thousands of medical studies that people are dying in our community right now because of the air pollution and its role in triggering strokes, heart attacks, congestive heart failure, fatal arrhythmias, lung diseases and infections and infant mortality.”
(emphasis ours)
Some Utah lawmakers are still hoping to address air quality this year (Representative Joel Briscoe tells us he has a bill coming), but with clear skies over the Utah Capitol, it’s unlikely anything will come of it. It’s really too bad the “chewable air” didn’t stick around another few weeks, we might have finally seen some action taken.
On the plus side… at least we can breathe again. | 2,148 |
. But a trial like this could lay bare some of the deepest divisions in American politics in a fashion never before witnessed. Democrats may relish the opportunity to query President Trump and Mulvaney. Republicans would be ecstatic to hear from the Bidens. But such a tableau is so extraordinary no one can gauge what this means for either party – especially in an election year.
And, imagine the impact such a scenario could have on Biden. And we haven’t even discussed the Democratic senators running for president and what this means for them – especially if the trial plays out in January and February. That’s primetime for these senators to be barnstorming through Iowa and sipping cups of joe at diners in New Hampshire. A trial will tether these presidential hopefuls to their desks in the Senate chamber. It’s unclear how Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., Kamala Harris, D-Calif., Cory Booker, D-N.J., Michael Bennet, D-Colo., Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., will handle such a bizarre campaign challenge. But watch for one factor: if one of these senators bolts the Senate to campaign, it’s likely they all bolt.
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That said, their votes could be needed before a final judgment. Roberts doesn’t have to rule on every motion and question. Senate impeachment rules give the chief justice the option to “submit any such question to a vote of the members of the Senate.”
Republicans think a drawn-out process helps the president because it ties up the Senate and keeps Democrats off the campaign trial. A few GOPers also think that stretching things out shows the public what a political misstep it was for House Democrats to even impeach the president, triggering a Senate trial. Meantime, some Democrats believe an elongated process boosts their case – revealing alleged deep corruption in the Trump administration.
Also remember, we are operating in the era of Trump. That tells us two things: First, whatever conventions held before are out the door. Secondly, President Trump typically benefits from chaos. The crazier things are, the better it is for President Trump.
Trump always craves the spotlight. He did so on “The Apprentice.” In the defunct USFL. With New Jersey casinos. Golf courses in Scotland. His run for the Oval Office.
A Senate trial will be the biggest stage yet – and the most unpredictable. | 2,149 |
to the Horgan reign and though the league campaign petered out, with too many draws and not enough goals, the memorable cup run to the semi-final, where they were beaten by St Pat’s in Dublin created a real feel good factor around the club.
The signing of Frenchman, Wilfried Tagbo had the fans eagerly anticipating the start of the new season, but it was the capture of Keating on loan once again and the re-signing of net-minder Ciaran Gallagher that sparked the unusual sense of optimism in the Finn Valley area. Raymond Foy and Tony McNamee also came on board and all of a sudden, it was clear that Ollie had assembled a squad capable of challenging for promotion.
With just eight games to go, Harps are sitting at the top of the league, but with Wexford Youths hot on their heals, with a game in hand. UCD and Shelbourne are also vying for promotion and the last eight games are going to be the most important games of Horgan’s managerial career.
Four of these games are at home, with the final game of the season likely to be a crunch tie for the club, as they host Wexford Youths. But surely it is time the Donegal public started to take an interest in the fortunes of the county’s only senior club. The club is stuck in a vicious cycle; without the crowds, they cannot afford to sign big name players and without the big name players, they can’t get the crowds.
It is inexplicable that people from Donegal will travel to England and Scotland every Saturday to watch Premier League teams in action but won’t make the short trip to cheer on local players playing for a local team. The board of Finn Harps have worked valiantly to ensure that senior football stays in Donegal but at times they must feel like they are pushing back the tide, when they see the takings from the gate.
With eight games to go and a chance that League of Ireland Premier Division Football could be on our door step next year, everyone in the county should be making the effort to go along and get behind the team. It is only with the support of the people of Donegal that Finn Harps can reach its potential and become a powerhouse of Irish football.
The county got behind the great Jim McGuinness, who led us to glory, now it’s time to give Ollie the credit he deserves and get behind him and his men for the final push towards promotion. | 2,150 |
China is threatening to retaliate to Trump's proposed new tariffs.
It doesn't want a trade war, a government official said, but will respond if it's harmed economically.
The tariffs have prompted a wave of condemnation and threats of retaliation around the world, from the EU to Canada.
Trump is on the verge of starting a trade war — and China isn't taking it lying down.
China's National People's Congress spokesperson Zhang Yesui has threatened to retaliate to the US president's proposed new tariffs on steel and aluminium, according to reports by the BBC, Voice of America, and elsewhere.
China doesn't want a trade war, the politician said — but it will respond in kind if Trump's tariffs harm it economically.
Yesui said: "China does not want a trade war with the Untied States, but we will absolutely not sit idly by and watch as China’s interests are damaged.
"If policies are made on the basis of mistaken judgments or assumptions, it will damage bilateral relations and bring about consequences that neither country wants to see."
The US president announced last week that he plans to introduce 25% tariffs on steel imports and 10% tariffs on aluminum imports. His remarks sparked immediate upheaval in US markets, and a chorus of condemnation around the world from countries concerned about the economic impact of a trade war.
The European Union has said it plans to apply 25% tariffs on $3.5 billion of US imports to the continent in response to "rebalance" trade. European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker said last Thursday that Trump's proposed tariffs are "a blatant intervention to protect US domestic industry and not to be based on any national security justification. Protectionism cannot be the answer to our common problem in the steel sector."
Canada has also warned of countermeasures, with foreign minister Chrystia Freeland saying: "It is entirely inappropriate to view any trade with Canada as a national security threat to the United States... Should restrictions be imposed on Canadian steel and aluminium products, Canada will take responsive measures to defend its trade interests and workers."
On Friday, Trump defended the proposed tariffs, arguing that in certain circumstances, "trade wars are good."
"When a country (USA) is losing many billions of dollars on trade with virtually every country it does business with, trade wars are good, and easy to win," he said. "Example, when we are down $100 billion with a certain country and they get cute, don't trade anymore-we win big. It's easy!" | 2,151 |
the brain injury. These studies demonstrate the potential of transplanted NSCs in augmenting neurogenesis to produce neurons that integrate into different brain regions during aging and neurodegeneration. However, the specific impact of stem cell transplantation on endogenous NSC populations is less well understood but may contribute significantly to overall cognitive benefits.
Some studies suggest that transplanted stem cells may impact endogenous neurogenic mechanisms. Blurton-Jones et al. found that the ability of transplanted NSCs to differentiate into neuronal lineages and integrate into the hippocampus, as well as the improvement in cognitive function in mice, was due to the elevated expression of BDNF mediated through NSCs transplantation [213]. Interestingly, other studies in rodents reported that mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) transplantation induced neurogenesis in the hippocampus [214] and improved cognitive functions [215, 216]. In vitro studies revealed that MSCs express BDNF, NGF, and IGF-1, which could potentially mediate neurogenesis in the hippocampus [217, 218]. Tfilin et al. reported that in vivo injection of MSCs in the brain ventricles of rats resulted in an increase in the hippocampal neurogenesis, which was mediated through an elevation of BDNF expression in the hippocampus [218]. Additionally, Yang and colleagues have investigated the beneficial effects of MSCs transplantation towards neurogenesis and cognitive function [215] and they reported that alternatively-activated microglia were significantly increased after MSCs transplantation in mice [215]. This state of microglial activation resulted in elevated levels of the anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-4 and decreased levels of the pro-inflammatory cytokines, including IL-1β and TNF-α [215]. This alteration in the neuro-inflammation following MSCs transplantation may promote the potentiation of neurogenesis following MSC transplantation. Furthermore, Oh et al. showed that intravenous injection of MSCs in mice induced neurogenesis that was due to the upregulation of Wnt/β-catenin signaling [214]. Taken altogether, these studies highlight the potential of translating stem cells for cognitive benfefits in aging and neurodegeneration. Currently, there are seven ongoing clinical trials investigating the safety and the efficacy of MSCs therapy in humans [219]. The majority of trials have adopted intravenous delivery for stem cell administration as this is much less invasive than intracranial injections [219]. The completion of these clinical studies will help address the potential of stem cell therapy in humans. | 2,152 |
The father of a missing hiker last seen at the Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona says his son texted him telling him "he needed to be back with Mother Earth."
Drake Kramer, 21, of San Antonio, was last seen Sunday morning checking out of the Bright Angel Lodge, officials said.
His father, Robbin Kramer, said his son told him Monday that "he was at the Grand Canyon and he needed to be back with Mother Earth and set his soul free. At that point we really started getting worried and started calling and trying to get people to look for him."
The family reported Drake Kramer missing on Monday, and search efforts and a missing person investigation are now under way.
"He posted on his Facebook when he was out here with his aunt last time: 'Wish I could stay.' And he had other posts about... places he'd like to see, like the Redwood Forest, before he dies," Robbin Kramer said.
"We're focusing on the positive by trying to believe that him saying he needed to be with Mother Earth and set his soul free that he was talking about being out in nature and being one with nature," he said.
Drake Kramer loves to be outdoors and camp, his father said, but he's not sure if his son took appropriate hiking equipment with him.
"He was on the road to be a geologist so he could be out in nature where he loves to be," Robbin Kramer said.
Drake Kramer drove out west on I-10, according to his father.
"There had to be people that saw him when he filled up for gas. We'd really like to know if anyone saw him purchase any of the appropriate equipment with cash," Robbin Kramer said. "If anyone along the way saw him, heard anything, any information would be great."
Kirby-Lynn Shedlowski with the Grand Canyon National Park told ABC News, "We don't know what his plans were. He may be hiking, we just don't know."
"Nobody is sure where he is, what he's doing, if he's OK," Robbin Kramer said. "So many people that love him and are worried about him. Everyone is just on the edge of their seat."
Drake Kramer is described as having brown hair and blue eyes. He is 5 feet 7 inches tall and 140 pounds, officials say. Anyone with information can call the National Park Service Silent Witness Line at 928-638-7840. | 2,153 |
Activists in the UK are mobilizing against the Cameron government’s proposed diversion of foreign aid to build a new prison in Jamaica, and open a transatlantic export trade in inmates.
A public meeting to discuss opposition to the plan will be held Thursday, November 5, from 7:00 – 8:30 PM (SOAS Russell Square campus, room 583, London WC1H 0XG: map here). On Friday, November 6, there will be a 10 AM demo in front of the Jamaican High Commission (1 Prince Consort Road, London SW7 2BZ: map here), to kick off a London day of action against the prison-industrial complex.
This is all part of a November 2-8 week of actions across the UK, aimed particularly at Cameron’s plan to build a new super-prison in North Wales that would be the second largest in Europe.
Prisoner transfers — forced deportations of convicts — are a point where paranoias over crime and paranoias over migration meet. With Europe and North America more and more dominated by prisons and barbed-wire border fences, this intersection is ominous. Luke de Noronha writes movingly about some of his experiences with Jamaicans deported so far:
Many of the deported persons I have met lived in the UK for over ten years, built lives for themselves, started families, picked up regional British accents, and began to call the UK home. When they are forcibly returned, many land with a few tenuous family links at best, some with none at all. Some have to be housed in homeless shelters … As one young man told me, he has only taken two flights in his life. The first, a flight to England to join his mother, aged 15. The second, and perhaps his final: a flight to Jamaica, in which he was restrained in handcuffs on a chartered plane from the UK, in November 2014. With tens of other black men, handcuffed to their seats, escorted by security agents, he was flown, against his will, to a country in which he had no support or resources. If this image does not feel uncomfortable, then we really are in a place where historical amnesia rules. A place where wrenching somebody from their home is a matter of justice for the “British tax-payer,” where bodies and lives are forcibly transported to honour racially inscribed citizenship policies, and where, ultimately, deportations are celebrated while reparations are ridiculed.
You can read more here — or, of course, on this blog. | 2,154 |
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Oceanic crust from the Panorama district in the Pilbara Craton of Western Australia is a time capsule of early Earth.Planet Observer/Universal Images Group via Getty
Early Earth might have been covered with ocean and almost devoid of land. Researchers examined the ratio of oxygen isotopes in a 3.2-billion-year-old slab of the planet’s crust that is exposed in Western Australia. High levels of oxygen-18 in the oldest rock suggest that continents (which absorb that isotope) might not have emerged until between 3 billion and 2.5 billion years ago.
The Guardian | 5 min read
Reference: Nature Geoscience paper
Features & opinion
“Someone I admire retracted a very important paper when I was a young scientist,” says Nobel-prizewinning chemist Frances Arnold, who retracted a paper in January. “I wanted to pay that lesson forward.” Arnold and three other senior scientists share what they learnt from the experience of retracting flawed papers.
Nature Index | 4 min read
When ecologist Matthias Rillig welcomed artist Karine Bonneval into his lab, he saw some benefits he had not expected. In the end, a new research question was born, which resulted in a paper listing Bonneval as a co-author. Rillig offers his advice for scientists on how to make the most of an artist-in-residence.
Nature | 8 min read
Reference: Soil Systems paper
News & views
Around one-third of the global human population is infected with the single-celled organism Toxoplasma gondii, which in some cases causes the incurable disease toxoplasmosis. Researchers have found a single gene that controls the conversion of the parasite into a form that chronically infects the human brain. Targeting the gene, BFD1, shows real potential for making progress in the development of drugs or vaccines, writes biochemist Eva-Maria Frickel.
Nature | 6 min read
Reference: Cell paper
Image of the week
In a 340-litre aquarium, researchers smashed vortices of coloured fluid together to study turbulence. They discovered a cascading cycle of propagating, ever-smaller vortices — “a Russian nesting doll of disorder”. (Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences press release) | 2,155 |
”
The migrants were registered and then put on buses to “welcome centers,” where, in theory, they can apply for asylum in France. Most of these centers are far from the coast and the ports leading to Britain.
The Calais camp — which had as many as 9,000 people at its height — has long sparked outrage in both France, still reeling from the recent attacks, and post-Brexit Britain, where anti-immigrant sentiment has soared in the wake of the country’s June referendum to exit the European Union.
In France, it has become a major campaign issue before next year’s presidential election.
Seeking a second term, President François Hollande ordered the demolition of the camp with hopes of projecting an image of strength despite immense unpopularity at home. Challenger Alain Juppé, the conservative front-
runner, said last week that the Franco-British border should be moved back to southern England, ending a 2003 agreement that has trapped migrants who wish to enter Britain on the shores of northern France.
“We can’t tolerate what is going on in Calais,” Juppé told reporters. “The image is disastrous for our country, and there are also extremely serious economic and security consequences for the people of Calais.”
After a long campaign led by humanitarian organizations, the British government began accepting child refugees from Calais last week. Most arrived in south London to be reunited with family members already in Britain. On Saturday, the first group of unaccompanied children without family in Britain crossed the channel.
Remaining unaccompanied minors will be temporarily housed in shipping containers on the outskirts of the Jungle until their claims are processed.
Well into Monday evening, migrant men poured out of the Calais camp’s main entrance, dragging suitcases down rocky and muddy pathways to the registration center. Few seemed to harbor any sentimental feelings about a place that had claimed months of their lives.
“I’m glad they’re closing the camp,” said Sahil, the Afghan migrant, gesturing at the Jungle behind him. “It’s animals in there. People don’t live like humans.”
Read more:
French truck drivers call for dismantling the Jungle migrant camp
Britain to start taking children from Calais camp
France and Britain just beat Donald Trump to building a border wall
Today’s coverage from Post correspondents around the world
Like Washington Post World on Facebook and stay updated on foreign news | 2,156 |
Getty Images
Seahawks coach Pete Carroll accidentally wandered into quicksand on Monday during a radio appearance, admitting that cornerback Richard Sherman played for much of the year with an MCL injury to his knee that never was disclosed. At his end-of-season press conference conducted later in the day, Carroll admitted to the violation.
“I didn’t realize that we hadn’t even revealed it,” Carroll told reporters, via the transcript generated by the team. “I don’t even remember what game it was, it was somewhere in the middle, he was fine about it, he didn’t miss anything. Same with Russell [Wilson], he was fine about it. I don’t know how they do that, but they did.”
Carroll seems to believe that, because Sherman never missed practice or game time due to the injury, the injury didn’t need to be disclosed.
“He never missed anything, just like Russell [Wilson], Russell never missed anything and Tyler [Lockett], they all had it during the course of the season and they just made it through it,” Carroll said, overlooking the fact that Russell’s MCL injury was properly disclosed. “They never complained, they didn’t want to miss a practice and they basically didn’t miss anything but they were legit, it was legit injury, it showed up and the whole thing. That’s a challenge for anyone. Guys over the league are going through the same thing, our guys just happen to be doing it as well.”
None of this changes the fact that the Seahawks failed to disclose the injury.
“I’m feeling like I screwed that up with not telling you that,” Carroll eventually conceded. “He was OK, so I don’t know, he never missed anything I guess is probably why.”
Still, that’s not the standard. Plenty of players who never miss practice or games nevertheless are disclosed on the injury report. While the league rarely slaps a team for violating the rules, the league rarely has such clear evidence of a violation fall into its lap.
Coupled with a pair of offseason workout violations from the past three offseason, the NFL could be inclined to take potentially significant action against a team that has developed a pattern of breaking the rules. Or, perhaps more accurately given the prevalence of cheating in the NFL, that the Seahawks have developed a pattern of getting caught. | 2,157 |
WILMINGTON, Del (Reuters) - U.S. gunmaker Remington Outdoor Co Inc won court approval on Tuesday to borrow an interim $75 million to sustain its business during its Chapter 11 bankruptcy, which will allow the company to carry out a $775 million debt-cutting deal.
FILE PHOTO: A man walks with his Remington 870 Express 12 gauge shotgun during a pro-gun and Second Amendment protest outside the Arizona State Capitol in Phoenix, Arizona, U.S., January 19, 2013. REUTERS/Joshua Lott/File Photo
Remington filed for bankruptcy on Sunday, a day after hundreds of thousands of Americans took to the streets to demand tougher gun laws to prevent school shootings like the one in Parkland, Florida in February that left 17 dead.
The Madison, North Carolina-based gunmaker was nearly out of cash when it filed for bankruptcy, prompting it to seek fresh financing from its lenders.
U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Brendan Shannon in Wilmington, Delaware said he was convinced the financing was necessary to avoid irreparable harm to the company and its creditors.
“A lack of disruption is key to preserving value,” he said in approving the loan.
Remington said its bankruptcy will not impact its customers, suppliers or unsecured creditors, which would include those pursuing lawsuits. Families who lost loved ones in the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting in Connecticut have been trying to hold the company liable because one of its assault rifles was used in the attack.
Little was said at the hearing about the student-led push for increased gun control. One of Remington’s lawyers, Tyson Lomazow, briefly mentioned that the company was “operating in a difficult political climate” during his arguments in support of the company’s request for fresh financing.
Remington is borrowing the money from its current lenders.
Sources told Reuters the banks were providing the loans to prevent the company from going out of business, leaving the banks with large losses and potentially spawning litigation.
Banks often sell loans as a borrower heads into bankruptcy. Sources told Reuters the hedge funds that usually buy such loans were reluctant given the pressure on the industry from gun control advocates after the Florida school shooting, and because the prices offered were not attractive.
Firearms makers have been stuck with a glut of weapons after the election of U.S. President Donald Trump, who says he is a strong advocate of gun ownership. Fears of restrictions on gun ownership tends to boost U.S. sales of weapons. | 2,158 |
A Senate Democrat on Friday criticized Vice President Mike Pence's office for not sharing information about the vice president's recent trip to Ireland, during which he stayed at a golf resort owned by the president's company.
Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., the ranking member of the Senate's Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, reached out to Pence's office on Sept. 5 asking for specific information on the costs of the vice president's stay at Trump International Golf Club in Doonbeg, Ireland, including comparable rates for hotels nearby and across the country in Dublin, where Pence held meetings with Irish officials and business leaders.
In response, Pence's deputy chief of staff and counsel Matthew Morgan replied on Oct. 1 by enclosing a letter Pence's office sent on Sept. 19 to House Oversight Committee Chairman Elijah Cummings, who had also requested information about Pence's trip. That letter argued that commuting across the country to stay at Trump's Doonbeg resort made sense in light of last-minute changes to Pence's schedule and meetings the vice president held nearby. Morgan noted the State Department had approved of the lodgings, and said that the State Department, Department of Defense, and U.S. Secret Service may have the documentation sought by Cummings.
Peters responded Friday in a letter to Pence first obtained by ABC News, writing that the vice president's office's reply "failed to provide any information responsive to my request" -- specifically "any documents, travel vouchers, or cost information."
"This betrays either a contempt for or a lack of understanding of the serious concerns related to your decision to spend taxpayer dollars to patronize properties owned by President Trump," Peters wrote. He requested Pence share that information by Oct. 21.
In early September, the vice president held official meetings with Irish leaders in the nation's capital, Dublin, but flew back and forth across the country in Air Force Two to spend nights in the small village of Doonbeg, where his cousin runs a bar and his great-grandmother grew up. In Shannon, about an hour from Doonbeg, Pence met with Ireland's minister of foreign affairs and trade, as well as U.S. Customs and Border Protection staff.
A spokeswoman for Pence, Katie Waldman, told ABC News that Pence's office had voluntarily responded despite having "no obligation to do so."
"We have answered his question as to where the documentation may be found and it is up to the Senator and his staff to work with the Committee Chair to appropriately make requests for such information," Waldman said. | 2,159 |
A 3km protection zone has been placed around a Welsh village after a backyard flock of chickens and ducks was found to have avian flu.
The birds were infected by avian influenza H5N8, which has previously been discovered on a turkey farm in Lincolnshire and a wild duck in Llanelli, south Wales.
Christianne Glossop, the chief veterinary officer for Wales, said the small flock at a property in the village of Pontyberem, Carmarthenshire, had been culled.
Restrictions were already in place to try to stop the spread of avian flu across mainland Britain, with keepers ranging from large-scale farmers to those with a few chickens or ducks in their garden instructed to keep them away from wild birds.
The imposition of a protection zone around Pontyberem means keepers will additionally have to keep records of visitors and of the movement of all poultry and eggs. A 10km surveillance zone has also been introduced.
Glossop said: “It is extremely important that birdkeepers practise the very highest levels of biosecurity. Even when birds are housed there remains a risk of infection and keepers of poultry and other captive birds should ensure every effort is made to prevent contact with wild birds. The movement of poultry should be minimised, and clothing and equipment should always be disinfected.”
She added: “If you are concerned about the health of your birds you should seek advice from your veterinary surgeon. If you suspect that your birds are showing signs of the disease, you should immediately report it to your local animal and plant health agency office.”
The Welsh government’s cabinet secretary for the environment and rural affairs, Lesley Griffiths, said: “This case of avian influenza H5N8 in a backyard flock near Pontyberem in Carmarthenshire follows the findings of infection in wild birds and a confirmed case in Lincolnshire.
“It serves to reinforce the need for all birdkeepers, particularly backyard flock keepers, to adhere to the requirements set out in the prevention zone, remain vigilant for signs of disease and practise good biosecurity at all times.”
The Welsh government said the advice from Public Health Wales (PHW) was that the risk to public health from the virus was very low and the Food Standards Agency had made clear that avian flu did not pose a food safety risk for UK consumers. It said thoroughly cooked poultry and poultry products, including eggs, were safe to eat. | 2,160 |
yet.
Why is this taking so long then?
That’s the question at this point. The parties can’t really be battling too much over money – Bouma’s agent has no real ammunition on that front, aside from maybe blocked shot and PK ice time. I doubt the team is worried about his arbitration rights next year either – Bouma’s not a threat to get a big arb award.
I assume the sticking point is length of contract, though it’s difficult to guess which side is arguing for term. Personally I’d be pressing for a one-way deal at 3+ years if I was Bouma’s agent. A glance at the Flames organizational depth is enough to convince anyone there is going to be a lot of competition for support role roster spots over the next few years. Beyond offensive guys like John Gaudreau, Markus Granlund and Emile Poirier, there is also “two way” players including Corban Knight, Max Rienhart, Bill Arnold, Kenny Agostino and Ben Hanowski who could make a case to usurp Bouma should he get injured or falter. To say nothing of DEL recruit David Wolf, who is also a tough guy with better hands than your average fighter (hopefully).
As his agent then, I’d be looking for a firm commitment from the team for my client. Particularly since he can’t exactly drive for a big payday and that isn’t likely to change dramatically in the short-term.
That’s mere speculation however.
Conclusion
Bouma’s an interesting player. I like him and think it’s possible he could carve out a niche as a defensive specialist given his frame, attitude and skating ability. That said, he still has a lot to prove at this level and he’s going have to fend off a lot of strong competition for a bottom-6 roster spot over the next couple of years.
I’ve been asked if fans should worry about a lack of a deal for Bouma this late in the off-season. The obvious answer is no: whatever the contentious issues between the player and org, they are unlikely to be dire or drastic. Sometimes these negotiations happen to drag into the dog days of summer and are lengthened by external forces like vacations and a lack of urgency. A lot of Flames kids have been inked in late August, early September over the years to no ill-effect.
| 2,161 |
It is always positive to see blockchain companies being labeled as a “top fintech company”. A new list of 50 top fintech businesses, released by KPMG, mentions OnChain. This particular company offers enterprise-grade multisignature Bitcoin wallet API services. An innovative solution, as they secure Bitcoins on behalf of some of the world’s leading cryptocurrency enterprises.
Bitcoin and OnChain Are A Part of Fintech
Bitcoin and Fintech are two peas in the same pod. Financial technology encompasses everything, from apps to artificial intelligence, and also cryptocurrency. With such a large focus on blockchain technology and distributed ledgers, the worlds of Bitcoin and fintech collide at regular intervals.
It is not entirely surprising to see a Bitcoin and blockchain company mentioned in KPMG’s top 50 Fintech list. Although the majority of startups and businesses have little or nothing to do with these two technologies, OnChain was not overlooked either. Security is an integral part of Fintech innovation moving forward.
What OnChain does is offer a simple web API to secure Bitcoin funds storage. By using multisignature solutions, no one individual can send funds without the permission of other key owners. So far, the company claims to serve over 100,000 Bitcoin wallets, representing millions of dollars in transaction volumes. They also offer access to various hosted blockchain API’s through their Gem solution.
The fact that KPMG China acknowledges this company in the first place is another validation of Bitcoin and blockchain technology. At the same time, it goes to show the Fintech sector goes well beyond traditional finance. Leveraging new technologies to provide a better financial ecosystem is what all of these 50 companies are focusing on.
KPMG China Partner Raymond Cheong stated:
“The future of consumer finance hinges on the ability of Fintech companies to leverage big data through customer profiling technology. This allows companies to provide more personalised credit services, improve scenario-specific services, and expand the pool of customers with access to better financial services to those that might traditionally have been excluded.”
With the current focus on collaboration between financial institutions and Fintech companies, an exciting future awaits. It is not unlikely banks will work together with OnChain at some point. Some experts even predict European banks will start offering Bitcoin accounts very soon. If that were to be the case, secure solutions such as the one provided by OnChain are well worth looking into.
Source: KPMG
Header image courtesy of Shutterstock | 2,162 |
Almost eighteen months ago, on the 18th of October 2007, Canonical announced the release of Ubuntu 7.10, codename Gutsy Gibbon. Many important features and updates made Ubuntu fans all over the world extremely happy and eager to upgrade. The default desktop environment for Ubuntu (GNOME) reached then a very important milestone: 2.20, bringing a huge list of changes.
Ubuntu 7.10 (Gutsy Gibbon) was the first Ubuntu operating system to include Compiz 3D effects enabled by default. Tracker replaced Beagle as the desktop search tool of choice. Also, the Ubuntu restricted extras package was included, enabling users to install almost all proprietary codecs on their system with just a few clicks. Not only that, but the Adobe Flash Player 9 could be installed just as easily, allowing the increasing number of flash-based websites to display better. Of course, new wallpapers, redesigned Boot Splash and fresh login screen themes were part of Gutsy's menu. Also newly introduced, the Fast user switching function gained many supporters. The monitor and video card configuration got a lot easier with Ubuntu 7.10's new Graphical configuration tool and printers were automatically detected and installed.
It was undoubtedly an awesome release, allowing many to make the switch from other operating systems and plunge into the Linux experience without any regret. But as we all know, all good things eventually come to an end, so here we are today, announcing the end of life for Ubuntu 7.10 (Gutsy Gibbon) on April 18th, 2009. This means that starting with April 18th, Canonical will stop "feeding" its Ubuntu 7.10 operating system with security/critical fixes and software updates! Those of you who still use Gutsy and want to upgrade will have to do that incrementally, from Ubuntu 7.10 to Ubuntu 8.04 LTS and from Ubuntu 8.04 LTS to Ubuntu 8.10. Or wait for Ubuntu 9.04 (Jaunty Jackalope) and do a clean install with the new EXT4 filesystem.
What is Ubuntu? Ubuntu is an open-source piece of software, 100% FREE to download and use. Users are free to customize or alter the included software in order to meet their needs. Since its launch in October 2004, Ubuntu has become one of the most highly regarded Linux distributions with millions of users in homes, businesses, schools and governments around the globe. To learn more about the upcoming features in Ubuntu 9.04, take a look at our detailed "What You Should Expect from Ubuntu 9.04" article! | 2,163 |
White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham Stephanie GrishamIvana Trump on Melania as first lady: 'She's very quiet, and she really doesn't go to too many places' The Hill's 12:30 Report: Trump uses White House as campaign backdrop Coronavirus tests not required for all Melania Trump speech attendees: report MORE called out CNN over a graphic the network aired that appears to mislabel Alabama as Mississippi, based on a screenshot that Grisham tweeted, as President Trump Donald John TrumpFederal prosecutor speaks out, says Barr 'has brought shame' on Justice Dept. Former Pence aide: White House staffers discussed Trump refusing to leave office Progressive group buys domain name of Trump's No. 1 Supreme Court pick MORE faces ongoing criticism for doubling down on his claim that Hurricane Dorian originally posed a threat to Alabama.
Hi @CNN, I know you guys are busy analyzing lines on a map, but perhaps you use your time to study up on U.S. geography? pic.twitter.com/kVgifHfPK4 — Stephanie Grisham (@PressSec) September 5, 2019
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The image was shown in reference to a report on Dorian's progress as it works its way up the eastern U.S. coast, showing parts of Georgia in a state of emergency. As of early Thursday afternoon, Dorian, which has again been downgraded to a Category 2 storm, was hammering the Carolinas.
CNN responded later Thursday, saying the error was corrected in seconds and it was acknowledging the mistake.
"You all should try it sometime," the network tweeted from its public relations account.
Thanks, Stephanie. Yes, we made a mistake (which we fixed in less than 30 seconds). And now we are admitting it. You all should try it sometime. — CNN Communications (@CNNPR) September 5, 2019
Trump has repeatedly insisted that originally “certain models strongly suggested” Dorian would pass over Florida before hitting Alabama, though this was not the prediction offered by the National Hurricane Center.
Trump dug in on his claim in a series of tweets Thursday, a day after he displayed a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration chart in the Oval Office that appeared to be doctored with a black marker. Trump told reporters he did not know anything about the changed map.
The National Weather Service in Birmingham tweeted Sunday, shortly after Trump first said the storm would hit Alabama, that the state will “NOT see any impacts from Dorian.”
—Updated at 1:21 p.m. | 2,164 |
Many chronically depressed and treatment-resistant patients experience immediate relief from symptoms after taking small amounts of the drug ketamine. For a decade, scientists have been trying to explain the observation first made at Yale University.
Today, current evidence suggests that the pediatric anesthetic helps regenerate synaptic connections between brain cells damaged by stress and depression, according to a review of scientific research written by Yale School of Medicine researchers and published in the Oct. 5 issue of the journal Science.
Ketamine works on an entirely different type of neurotransmitter system than current antidepressants, which can take months to improve symptoms of depression and do not work at all for one out of every three patients. Understanding how ketamine works in the brain could lead to the development of an entirely new class of antidepressants, offering relief for tens of millions of people suffering from chronic depression.
“The rapid therapeutic response of ketamine in treatment-resistant patients is the biggest breakthrough in depression research in a half century,” said Ronald Duman, the Elizabeth Mears and House Jameson Professor of Psychiatry and Professor of Neurobiology.
Duman and George K. Aghajanian, also professor of psychiatry at Yale, are co-authors of the review.
Understanding how ketamine works is crucial because of the drug’s limitations. The improvement in symptoms, which are evident just hours after ketamine is administered, lasts only a week to 10 days. In large doses, ketamine can cause short-term symptoms of psychosis and is abused as the party drug “Special K.”
In their research, Duman and others show that in a series of steps ketamine triggers release of neurotransmitter glutamate, which in turn stimulates growth of synapses. Research at Yale has shown that damage of these synaptic connections caused by chronic stress is rapidly reversed by a single dose of ketamine.
The original link between ketamine and relief of depression was made at the Connecticut Mental Health Center in New Haven by John Krystal, chair of the department of psychiatry at Yale, and Dennis Charney, now dean of Mt. Sinai School of Medicine, who helped launch clinical trials of ketamine while at the National Institute of Mental Health.
Efforts to develop drugs that replicate the effects of ketamine have produced some promising results, but they do not act as quickly as ketamine. Researchers are investigating alternatives they hope can duplicate the efficacy and rapid response of ketamine.
Watch a video of Professor Duman delivering an April 2011 lecture on the use of ketamine to treat depression below:
(Image via Shutterstock) | 2,165 |
outside in the parking lot, including some that bent when they fell to the ground.
One of the teenagers, a boy who is a sophomore in high school, injured his back and suffered a concussion, according to Hite. It wasn't immediately clear if he was the same person Hutchinson said was injured.
Tamerra Hite, Jacob's mother, said the group was looking out for each other in what was potentially a life-threatening situation.
"Kids were running back toward the tornado to help the other kids that were falling behind," she said. "That's what stood out in my mind."
Sherry Holman said her son, Cade, covered a younger boy with his body as the tornado approached.
"He kind of laid on top of him because (the younger boy) was being blown away," Holman said. "They were all grabbing onto trees, holding on (for) dear life."
Other parts of northern Utah suffered significant damage in Thursday's fast-moving storm front. Golf ball-size hail was reported on Antelope Island, causing some facility closures there.
In Layton, the National Weather Service said large trees had fallen at the intersection of Main Street and Antelope Drive. Large trees were also destroyed in South Ogden.
Giant storage tank rolling down Main Street near Home Depot. Be careful out there! pic.twitter.com/L0DnQjxX6S — Layton Police (@laytonpolice) September 22, 2016
Looking ahead
KSL-TV meteorologist Kevin Eubank said the storm moved rapidly through northern Utah, causing heavy precipitation and rapid drops in temperature, but another part of the same system was expected to affect Duchesne County and the Wasatch Front overnight. Up to an inch in rain was still expected in Roosevelt, he said.
As much as an inch of rain was expected Friday morning in valleys along the Wasatch Front, in addition to snow in the mountain ranges, Eubank said. The storm was also expected to be powerful in the northwestern part of the state overnight and into the morning hours.
By Saturday, Utahns can expect mostly clear weather throughout the state, Eubank said, although there will be a noticeable dip in temperatures.
Related
Excessive rain creates flooding issues in eastern, southern Utah Widespread rain in eastern and southern Utah has led to rising waterways and creating flooding throughout the area.
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Photos | 2,166 |
in and also had a bit of money to spend on Fabbrini and loanees? Some would say we have overachieved, others would say that the team could’ve done much better. It seems we have seen progression early on but, more recently, results haven’t been good enough and the team have dipped significantly.
Losing Demarai Gray in January hit us very hard and people underestimated the influence he had on games in that first half of the season. Either way, it has been a season (so far) with some great moments such as Fulham and Derby away. Then there have been extremely disappointing times where we have failed to win in games when we really should’ve done. Blues wouldn’t be Blues if we didn’t make things difficult for ourselves so cue the seven match winning streak we now go on to sneak a play-off spot. Could you imagine?
For now though, let’s just try and win as many games as possible from now until the end of the season and go into the next with confidence and belief that we can push on. Rowett will have completed practically two seasons in charge by the end of this current one and they have both been solid and got us back where we want to be, fighting nearer the top end of the table.
Next season has to be the one where we push on further, add to the squad players who Rowett will know he needs for us to win those games which we failed in this season. No doubt there will be more talk about Rowett’s future but for the future of the club and his managerial career, Birmingham City is where he needs to be. It could turn into an exciting campaign with the likes of Villa, Burton and Walsall all veering towards Championship football so we must go again.
My one last thought, though, it that I am so glad we are competing again at the top end rather than the bottom of the table after the near disaster of 2013/14. This season is tailing off after it looked for so long like something could be made of it. That is my one regret. I believed that the players had it in them to keep going right until the end, I guess I was wrong. It’s frustrating as we fought so hard to get ourselves into an excellent position. Yes, it was a long shot but this is turning out to be a season of what could have been.
*Article also featured on http://www.birmingham.vitalfootball.co.uk* | 2,167 |
OSLO (Reuters) - Large storms like the blizzard that battered New England this week may become more severe but less frequent as the Earth’s climate changes, scientists said on Thursday.
A pedestrian walks in the middle of the street following a winter blizzard in Boston, Massachusetts January 28, 2015. REUTERS/Brian Snyder
The Canadian-led study noted that warmer air can hold more moisture, meaning more fuel for rain, hail or snow, and found knock-on effects on how the atmosphere generates storms.
“In a future climate, the global atmospheric circulation might comprise highly energetic storms,” they wrote in the journal Science.
At the same time, “fewer numbers of such events” may occur, they said. More evaporation and precipitation of water are likely to use up more energy in the atmosphere, contributing to reduce the intensity of winds around the world.
The report looks at how the atmosphere works as a heat engine, shifting heat from the sun from the tropics towards the poles. It is part of the effort to pin down the probable affects of climate change to help everyone from farmers to city planners cope with the shifts.
“This is about the large-scale storms... like the storm in the northeast of the United States,” lead author Frederic Laliberte of the University of Toronto in Canada told Reuters of the findings, which also involved other experts in Britain and Sweden. “More moisture creates very strong storms.”
The blizzard that struck Boston and the rest of New England on Tuesday left some 4.5 million people grappling with as much as three feet (1 meter) of snow and coastal flooding. It spared New York City, which had braced for a major storm.
In 2013, a U.N. report by leading climate scientists found that heavy downpours and days with extreme heat and cold had become more frequent. It linked the shift to man-made emissions of greenhouse gases.
Richard Allan, a professor of climate science at the University of Reading who was not involved in Thursday’s study, said it gave a new perspective into how the atmosphere acts as a heat engine.
More powerful but less frequent storms would be “more bad than good” overall, he said. “The intensity of the rainfall can do damage to crops. And a lack of rainfall over extended periods can also do damage.”
Governments will meet in Paris in late 2015 to work out a global deal to limit rising emissions of greenhouse gases. | 2,168 |
LONDON — President Donald Trump and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson are seeking to make a symbolic show of unity on the world stage at their first meeting later this month by announcing progress in bilateral trade negotiations ahead of the United Kingdom’s planned exit from the European Union in October, a senior U.S. official said Tuesday.
The U.S. and the U.K. are trying to make headway on trade pacts in the next few months, with hopes of signing an agreement that takes effect the day Britain exits the E.U., the official said. That could take the shape of a series of small trade agreements on individual sectors, such as manufacturing, or a short-term broader deal, with the goal of a permanent comprehensive one to follow, the official said.
Aides to Trump and Johnson are laying the groundwork for an announcement on the issue when they meet on the sidelines of the G-7 summit in France in two weeks. Such a statement could outline a road map for negotiations and how the two countries envision their future trade ties, the official said.
The timing of it — during the G-7 and at their first meeting — would be intended to demonstrate a united front between the U.S. and the U.K as Trump and Johnson gather with European leaders, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron.
Johnson, who was elected prime minister last month, has promised that the U.K. will leave the E.U. by Oct. 31. The deadline has set off a scramble within the Trump administration to prepare for the move on a multitude of fronts, including security and trade.
National Security adviser John Bolton was in London on Monday and Tuesday for discussions with British officials about what Brexit means for trade and security ties between the two allies. Bolton met with U.K. Trade Secretary Liz Truss on Tuesday to discuss a possible road map.
The British government has been more cautious about characterizing talks with U.S. officials on trade, pointing to E.U. rules that preclude members from signing bilateral trade agreements while part of the European bloc.
But the senior Trump administration official dismissed those rules and took a different view, saying the U.S. would not be in violation by negotiating or signing a trade agreement with the U.K. because everyone knows they’re leaving the E.U.
The official added that the U.S. and the U.K. could reach an agreement on trade that takes effect Nov. 1, and that the Johnson administration is open to the idea. | 2,169 |
Turkish officials launched a furious attack against Iceland on Sunday, claiming the national football team was given “disrespectful” treatment at Reykjavik airport with “racist”, “rude”, and “offensive” service allegedly meted out by local immigration officers.
Turkish players waited several hours in lengthy passport control lines on Sunday night and faced intensive security checks, according to reports from the players published by Turkish media.
Presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin took to Twitter to show his anger, slamming the “disrespect” against the national team as “unacceptable”.
“Our state and our people stand by the national team, which will give the best response on the field,” he said.
The team are in the country for a Euro 2020 qualifying fixture, which they will play on Tuesday night. Players and coaching staff were also underwhelmed by their welcome.
#BREAKING: Turkish national team is not allowed to enter Iceland! Turkish national team player Burak Yilmaz says they were not allowed to enter Iceland and they have been waiting at the airport for 3 hours for no reason.pic.twitter.com/M7VZ6hGhyh — EHA News (@eha_news) June 9, 2019
The foreign ministry issued a diplomatic protest note to Iceland via the Norwegian embassy, the private NTV broadcaster reported.
There was no immediate explanation for the delay at passport control.
“We have been waiting for three hours. They took everyone’s bags,” Turkey midfielder Emre Belozoglu tweeted from the airport at the height of the altercation.
“What they have done is disrespectful.”
While speaking to media on his way out, TRT World reports Turkish captain Emre Belozoglu met a man who held a brush as a makeshift microphone.
An Icelandic person showed a toilet brush to Turkish National football team captain Emre Belözoğlu in order to provoke him at the airport before National game. Please prepare news for this international scandal! @TheSun @SPORTBILD @Gazzetta_it @lequipe
pic.twitter.com/2UtVGBiX21 — Yunus Tekin (@yunus34_ist) June 9, 2019
Belozoglu told local media, “We were searched more than once which was unnecessary, and we were told to wait until now.”
AFP contributed to this story | 2,170 |
2019-09-06T12:51:05+00:00
2019-09-06T12:51:05+00:00
2019-09-07T18:08:44+00:00.
The soon-to-be teammate in Chicago will have the face each other in a crucial FIBA World Cup duel between Brazil and the Czech Republic
By Aris Barkas/ [email protected]
SHENZΗEN – With a win over the Czech Republic the veterans of Brazil will be able to think about next summer and the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Meanwhile, the Czechs after pushing Turkey our of the second round don’t have anything to be fearful of.
And in the middle of this game, two Chicago Bulls players will be opponents. On one side, Czech leader Tomas Satoransky is the de facto best player of his team. And on the other hand, big man Cristiano Felicio is a solid unit under the basket.
Whoever wins will make a step towards the quarterfinals, who in Brazil’s case may be enough even for a ticket to Rio. And on a personal level, the winner gets bragging rights for the upcoming season in Chicago.
Felicio, however, had only good things to say about Satoransky, who is also expected to have a crucial role in Chicago.
“He is a player we need, he is going to bring a lot of energy and a lot of experience, and that for sure is going to help us,” he explained. “Yes, we need a guy with his playmaking ability, his court vision. He can take a lot of shots too, and in the day he will not be able to pass, he will be able to finish. It will be a great addition for us”.
Satoransky has the same role in the Czech national team, and that’s why he is a critical target in tomorrow’s game for Felicio and his teammates. “We think he is the heart of the team, most of the plays go through him, and if we cover him well, tomorrow we will have the chance to win the game. We have to forget our good results in the first round, starting tomorrow we have to play hard”, the Brazilian center said.
Photo Credit: FIBA.BASKETBALL
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Stanley Kubricks 2001: A Space Odyssey has won the first place in a list of the 50 greatest psychedelic videos of all time. The last half hour of the movie is what earned it its top slot. It's an intense visual experience that people would drop acid to watch in theaters, and be led through "inner hallucinatory terrains all the way to the cosmic embryo of humanity."
The top 10 includes two videos from the infamous Beatles Yellow Submarine video, the famous ayahuasca trip scene from French spaghetti western Bluberry, as well as a Louis Vitton commercial by Japanese pop artist Takashi Murakami that combines psychedelia and consumerism, and a music video by after-effects artist Cyriak, a popular YouTuber known for his disturbingly entertaining short videos.
The list of 50 greatest psychedelic videos was published by the Daily Psychedelic Video, a website dedicated to exploring psychotropic aesthetics and making them easily accessible to psychonauts for its two year anniversary.
Founded in April 2010, the DPV features daily posts of psychedelic videos curated by a team of 6 psychedelic video aficionados. With a database of 700 categorized videos encompassing dozens of hours of the entheogenic experience, it is the largest psychedelic video bank in history.
The list, which was published on the 26th of April 2012, is apparently the first list of top psychedelic video to ever be published. The reason for this is obvious when one ponders the senselessness of creating such a list before the arrival of YouTube and other video sharing sites.
Elected by the editors of the DPV from a list of around 650 videos, the top 50 videos feature videos by established artists such as MGMT, Chemical Brothers and OK GO alongside user uploaded content by independent psychedelic media artists, works by the pioneers of psychedelic videos, and more esoteric materials such as 1970s Russian psychedelic videos and 1980s Hungarian psychedelia.
To watch the list, please visit the links:
The Greatest 50 Psychedelic Videos No. 50-26: http://dailypsychedelicvideo.com/2012/04/25/the-greatest-50-psychedelic-videos-no-50-26
The Greatest 50 Psychedelic Videos No. 25-1: http://dailypsychedelicvideo.com/2012/04/26/the-top-25-psychedelic-videos-of-all-time
Image by release the anima by 1illuminati courtesy of a Creative Commons license. | 2,172 |
A state of drought has been declared in the Waikato.
The Minister for Primary Industries Nathan Guy said a medium-scale drought had officially been declared for Waikato, Bay of Plenty, South Auckland and Hawkes Bay.
It has been more than a month since the Waikato recorded any beneficial rainfall, according to the MetService.
The declaration means that extra Government funding will be available to Rural Support Trusts.
Rural assistance payments will also be available from Work and Income through the Ministry of Social Development.
These are equivalent to the unemployment benefit and are available to rural people in extreme hardship, the minister said.
The official declaration of drought in the region offers a psychological prop rather than practical support for the average dairy farmer, says Federated Farmers Waikato president James Houghton.
"It gives farmers recognition of what they are dealing with, (Financial) assistance is not the main thrust. It provides resources to those who are really desperate...but it is not really designed for the average farmer."
The overnight surge in world dairy prices on Fonterra's Global Dairy Trade auction was little comfort, Houghton said.
Most of this season's production was already sold.
While economists are picking the 10.4 per cent hike in average world dairy prices overnight will lift this season's payout forecast, many contract milkers such as sharemilkers had already been forced to dry off and would have no income for the next two months until the new season gets under way, Houghton said.
Waikato dairy farmers had already lost $1.20-1.30/kg milksolids in payout this season to drought, he said.
Fonterra disappointed many in the sector last month by holding its milk payout forecast for the season at $5.50/kg, despite a string of small increases on recent GDT auctions.
Houghton said the overnight GDT result, which economists predict will continue as Oceania milk supply shrinks and demand for protein endures, would be more useful to next season's payout prospects. The new season starts officially on June 1, though new milk does not really start flowing until August.
Houghton also noted that in the devastating 2008 Waikato drought, many other dairying regions were not also affected, as is the case this year with most of the North Island dry.
"It just means less options for farmers." | 2,173 |
With Sony’s PS4 censorship policy in play for all upcoming games releasing both in the East and the West, gamers have become terribly paranoid of what might happen to some highly anticipated games like Catherine: Full Body. Well, Studio Zero responded to multiple questions asking about whether or not the game would succumb to the censorship policies in place on the PS4.
Gematsu is reporting that after multiple gamers began pestering Studio Zero about the changes, they finally answered, stating…
“I will report this here for everyone. “There are no mysterious lights in Catherine: Full Body. (We went as far as we could go without the light shining.) To everyone worried about that, we love you. (We received about 10 more of the same question.)”
This was after the company got pelted via Twitter with questions about whether or not Studio Zero would have to add those giant strobe lights to their game the way some developers have done, such as what happened with Nora to Oujo to Noraneko Heart HD. However, Studio Zero didn’t say if they would have to censor the game in other ways, such as adding a bunch of steam to the CG images or cinematics, which is what happened with Furya Corporation’s Yuragi-sou no Yuuna-san on the PS4.
Others were more blunt, asking if there would be any regulations in place for the content of Catherine: Full Body that would cause the game on the PS4 to miss out on content that was already available in the PS3 version, however Studio Zero didn’t address those comments.
When it comes to the censorship policies, gamers are no longer playing around, but developers aren’t directly allowed to say if their game is censored. They can, however, broadcast that the game has been “changed”, which is what we’ve seen from a number of developers, such as Idea Factory International, who made it known that several CG images would be changed for the PS4 versions of DateA Live: Rio Reincarnation and Dragon Star Varnir.
Given that Catherine was all about sex, romance, (in)fidelity, and relationships, it will be interesting to see how Studio Zero navigates Sony’s new censorship policies to keep the game intact when it releases on PS4 and PS Vita on February 14th, 2019 in Japan, and later on when it launches in the West (assuming it doesn’t get blocked from release like what happened with Omega Labyrinth Z). | 2,174 |
Five people were shot dead in a gunfight with Mexican police in the Sonora beach resort of Puerto Peñasco, or Rocky Point, early Wednesday.
Five people were shot dead in a gunfight with Mexican police in the Sonora beach resort of Puerto Peñasco, or Rocky Point, early Wednesday.
Sonora Attorney General Carlos Navarro said the gunfight took place in a tourist zone called Sandy Beach. It’s a popular destination for Arizona travelers, and it has left some American visitors afraid to stay.
Steve Heisler was sleeping when he woke to helicopters firing at people on the ground.
"It was a full military assault," Heisler said. "Those guys were on a mission and serious about who they were going after."
Heisler lives near Sandy Beach with his wife. They had been thinking of leaving Rocky Point, and Wednesday's shooting "certianly puts us over the top," he said.
Sonora state police said the gunmen had fired at federal police in the city and a car chase began sometime late Tuesday night.
Mexican officials have not identified the dead. But Mexican press accounts report that among those killed was an enforcer for the Sinaloa Cartel named Macho Prieto. He’s been named in various grisly murders in Mexico's cartel battles.
Rocky Point has seen very little of the organized crime violence that has dominated the news in Mexico for much of the past decade, but this is the third gun fight in the beach town in less than a month. Two weeks ago, a young man fired on police after officers tried to pull him over. He was found carrying four rifles and body armor.
The U.S. State Department has issued travel warnings for travel toward Rocky Point for two years.
The U.S. Consul went to its social media accounts to warn people early Wednesday morning to stay indoors until the gunfire subsided. By Wednesday afternoon the consul was advising people to stay indoors if they hear gunfire.
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To view PDF documents, Download Acrobat Reader. | 2,175 |
, investigate and prosecute this kind of serious organised crime.’
As of 11:00 today, the following actions and results have been reported:
NETHERLANDS: 5 arrests. Seizures of almost 4 000 kg of cocaine and 140 kg XTC pills. Dutch investigators from FIOD and the Dutch police have also helped to search in Italy and Germany.
Fiscal, Information and Investigation Service (FIOD)
Police National Unit, Dutch National Prosecution Service
Authorities involved:
ITALY: The main focus has been in the regions of Calabria and Catanzaro in southern Italy. There have been 41 arrests.
Office of the Public Prosecutor of Reggio Calabria
Central Operative Service of the State Police (SCO)
State Police Investigative Department of Reggio Calabria
Central Service of Investigation of the Guardia di Finanza (SCICO)
Police Command for financial investigation of Guardia di Finanza (Valutaria GdF)
Operational anti-drug department of the Guardia di Finanza of Reggio Calabria (GOA)
Authorities involved:
GERMANY: The main focus has been in the western parts of the Nordrhein-Westfalen region due to its proximity to the ARA harbours. There have been 15 arrests (+ 6 in a related operation).
Authorities involved
Staatsanwaltschaft Duisburg
Bundeskriminalamt (BKA)
There has also been close cooperation with other German organised crime investigations, with the Organised Crime Units of the Landeskriminalamt NRW, the Police in Cologne as well as the Offices of the Public Prosecutor in Cologne and Aachen, where coordinated arrests and searches have been executed today.
BELGIUM: The main focus has been in Maasmechelen in Limburg. There have been 4 arrests (+ 10 in a related operation).
Authorities involved
Public Prosecutor’s Office Limburg
Federal Judicial Police, Limburg
Local Police of Lanaken-Maasmechelen, Limburg
LUXEMBOURG: Two suspects have been arrested and the national investigation is ongoing.
Authorities involved
Police Lëtzebuerg
Parquet de Luxembourg
Cabinet d‘instruction Luxembourg
Eurojust Q&A (DE, EN, FR, IT and NL): | 2,176 |
The AFC East has been selected at random to receive an international player next season as part of the NFL's International Player Pathway initiative, according to an NFL press release earlier today.
Seven overseas players have been selected for this year's program and will be attending their pro day today. At the conclusion of training camp, each team in the AFC East will be allocated one of these players, provided they don't get signed to a free agent contract in the meantime.
That player will then be carried as an exempted 11th member of the practice squad but will be ineligible to be activated to the main roster until the following year.
Since the program began in 2017, there have been some minor success stories with three graduates of the program currently on NFL rosters. Eagles tackle Jordan Mailata was carried on the active roster all last season, although he didn't play. Bengals tight end Mortiz Böhringer, a former sixth round pick, spent last year on the Bengals practice squad before signing a futures deal at the end of the year. The biggest success has been Efe Obada, who became the first player from this program to make a 53-man roster last season with the Panthers. He ended up with eight tackles, two sacks and an NFL defensive player of the week award.
The most famous name from this year's group is a former international rugby star. 27-year old speedy former England and British and Irish Lions winger Christian Wade has been working out as a running back and kick returner.
Wade (#14 in black) shows his elusiveness here:
Australia's Valentine Holmes is younger at 23 and he's also a former rugby international - this time in rugby league rather than rugby union, which is a lower profile game but closer to NFL rules than union is.
Holmes is listed as a running back/receiver/returner but can also play some defense:
The other five players in this year's program are:
DAVID BADA, Defensive End, (Germany), Age: 23
MOUBARAK DJERI, Defensive Tackle, (Germany), Age: 22
JAKOB JOHNSON, Fullback, (Germany), Age: 24
DURVAL NETO, Defensive Tackle, (Brazil), Age: 25
MAXIMO SANCHEZ, Linebacker, (Mexico), Age: 25
It will be interesting to see who the Jets end up with and whether any of this group can emulate the success and ongoing potential of the three players named earlier. | 2,177 |
When Michael Phelps, Chad Le Clos and Laszlo Cseh tied for silver it was the first ever three-way tie in Olympic history. The previous evening saw Simone Manuel tied for gold with Canadian Penny Oleksiak in the 100m freestyle. Timothy Burke posted on Deadspin why he believes that Engineering can explain why there are so many ties in swimming?
He explains that while other sports have increased the precision of recording times using more modern timing systems, which are capable of measuring down to the millionth of a second, FINA, the world swimming governing body, has refused to increase its timing precision by adding thousandths-of-seconds.
To understand why we have to look at the tolerances involved in engineering a 50m Olympic pool. FINA dimension regulations for pools allow a comparatively large tolerance of 3cm for each lane.
The current world record for the men’s 50m is 20.91 seconds. This would mean if we were to time to a thousandth-of-a-second we would cover 2.39 millimetres of travel.
While timing to that precision is possible it would be completely impossible to guarantee the winning swimmer didn’t have a thousandth-of-a-second-shorter course to swim. In fact, a very worse case scenario could see their lane 3cm longer or shorter than their competitors, a whole order of magnitude higher than the millimetres of travel being timed.
Worse still it isn’t just a matter of cost for constructing the pools to tighter tolerances; the actual length of the pool will change depending on the water temperature, ambient temperature, and even if there people in the pool itself. This is why swimming relies on timing of only a hundredth of a second, making the changes of a tie much higher than other sports.
Other sports are not subjected to this problem; both Speed Skating and course—bobsled uses thousandths of a second.
However, it is possible a similar argument for fairness could be made if you were to consider the speed of sound vs. the distance between competitors for sports relying on a shot from a starting pistol.
For instance, the distance between competitors in speed-skating is ~16m, meaning there would be a delaying in hearing the sound around 0.05 seconds between competitors.
All this means; while a three-way tie may seem statistically improbable it is simply down to the way swimming is timed and the interesting tolerances involved in construction of pools that make them more common. | 2,178 |
For Oct 26–28th event Street Superior, VeChain will be showcased with influential Singapore sneaker artist — SBTG (Short for SABOTAGE) in an initial limited edition collection of sneakers integrating smart chips and blockchain technology. This technical implementation will enable consumers to verify the Authenticity and Proof of Origin of SBTG shoe lines.
As the only technology partner for the Street Superior brand showcasing, VeChain will be front and center for the entire crowd throughout the event. Upon entry, every event ongoer will walk through a time capsule showcasing SBTG’s work over the past 15 years.
20 different pairs of shoes will be staggered and the final shoe will be “SBTG x VECHAIN” collection which is known as the shoe of the future.
This collaboration exhibits how the implemented solution can be applied to independently created authentic goods and collectibles.
VeChain’s NFC Chip is embedded in the “SBTG x VECHAIN” collection
Both parties see the need to create awareness for blockchain & VeChain’s anti-counterfeit solutions within the sneaker community and other collectible industries across Singapore. By protecting a local artist’s works and adding value to his Limited Edition collection this technology will allow implementing parties to take advantage of streamlined mobile applications, implementation standards, and easy to use hardware to verify the authenticity of their craft. By collaborating with SBTG, associated sneaker labels are also creating awareness of our solutions and seeking further means of implementation across their lines.
For this line of shoes, the consumer will scan the shoe and see photos of the shoes being sewn with the NFC chips and a video with a private message from SBTG all stored on the immutable VeChainThor Blockchain.
Moreover, VeChain will is supporting SBTG & Singapore Tourism Board on 10–11th November in Jakarta where SBTG will showcase 11 pairs of Adidas sneakers with VeChain’s chips embedded inside to prove its origin — Singapore.
To see more information on SBTG’s previous work: https://hypebeast.com/tags/sbtg
SBTG’s official website :
http://www.sbtgsurplus.com/
Along with the verification information and pictures, the following video introduction is seen when scanning the shoe within the VeChain Pro App.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/fljvt36enbpd8js/Vechain%203.mp4?dl=0 | 2,179 |
“Is It True?” New Era, Feb. 1999, 44
I was born a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I went to my meetings every Sunday and tried to keep the commandments. I went to seminary all four years and did as much missionary work as I could. But it wasn’t until I went away to college that I decided I really wanted to gain a testimony of my own.
I had already read the Book of Mormon several times, both with my family and on my own. Every time I read it, I would pray to know if the words I received were true. I never felt like I received a firm answer to those prayers, and over time I grew more and more discouraged. I was afraid that not receiving that witness meant that the Church wasn’t true.
But I was determined to try again. I began reading the Book of Mormon again, studying and pondering it as I had never done before. Near the end of the fall semester at college, I finished the Book of Mormon. I sat on my bed and thought a lot about how I should go about asking again. Tears flowed down my cheeks as the fear of not being answered crept over me. I prayed to Heavenly Father and told Him how I was on my own now and needed a witness that the Book of Mormon was true. At the end of my prayer I waited and waited, but once again, no answer came. I felt a deep weakening in my heart, and I cried because once again my prayers seemed to have failed.
The next morning I attended my religion class. My teacher began to talk about prayer. In the course of his lecture he said, “Don’t ask the Lord a question you already know the answer to.” I immediately felt the Spirit, and three words entered my mind, “You already know.” I realized that I already knew that the Church and the Book of Mormon were true. My mind filled with thoughts of how I knew it was true. I thought about the joy the gospel had brought into my life. I thought of the peace and happiness that I always felt when I was living the commandments. I thought of the many times I had felt the Spirit.
Now if I get discouraged as I work to build a testimony of my own, I remember the joy the gospel has brought me throughout my life. I remember the times I have felt the Spirit. And I don’t discount the subtle reassurances I have felt of the gospel’s truth. | 2,180 |
(Image credit: Wright Studio/Shutterstock)
Russia's attempts to censor and surveil its citizens by cracking down on Internet services is extending into the VPN realm. Russian news agency Interfax recently reported that Roskomnadzor, the country's media and communications regulator, plans to block access to nine VPN services "within a month" for failing to comply with its demands.
Roskomnadzor reportedly told 10 popular VPN providers in March that it would block them from Russia unless they started to follow local regulations. That would require the services to prevent their users from accessing the Russian government's list of banned websites, effectively removing one of the easiest ways to bypass the country's internet censorship. Only one of the providers--Kaspersky Secure Connection--agreed to the regulator's demands.
The other providers contacted by Roskomnadzor include popular services like OpenVPN, NordVPN, four others with VPN in their names, IPVanish, TorGuard and Hide My Ass. Most were explicit in their refusal to comply with the regulator's demands, assuring their users that they weren't interested in perpetuating the Russian government's censorship. TorGuard wiped its servers in Moscow and St. Petersburg to reassure its users.
We don't yet know how successful Roskomnadzor will be in blocking access to these services. Most aren't located in Russia, which limits its ability to force the companies to do anything. But that doesn't mean it won't try, as it proved in April 2018, when it banned millions of IP addresses to stop banned services from using "domain fronting" to evade its censors, (which helped lead Google and Amazon to ban domain fronting on their platforms).
Russia has made it clear that it doesn't plan to ease the pressure on tech companies that limit its ability to control what its citizens access online. It asked Apple to block Telegram from the App Store in June 2018, for example, and recently pressured Facebook to store information on Russian users inside the country. Regulators were also believed to be working with Google to remove links to banned websites and services from its search results.
Soon Kaspersky Secure Connection may be the only major VPN service Russians can legally use. That's probably not a good look for the Moscow-headquartered cybersecurity firm, which moved from Russia to Switzerland to ease international concerns about its connections to the Kremlin. Nine of its counterparts refused to compromise their commitment to fighting censorship. What does Kaspersky being the outlier imply about the vendor and how it views its customers? | 2,181 |
MP Carolyn Harris 'warned about homophobic slurs to aide' Published duration 25 July 2018
image caption Swansea East MP Carolyn Harris says she does not recall using the word "dyke"
The deputy leader of Welsh Labour was warned about making comments regarding a colleague's sexuality by a former MP, a court has heard.
Cardiff Crown Court was told Swansea East MP Carolyn Harris would "comment and joke" about aide Jenny Lee Clarke's sexuality when they worked together.
She was spoken to for her behaviour by Sian James, the court heard.
Ms Clarke, 42, of Penllergaer, Swansea, is accused of increasing her wages by £2,000 but denies fraud and forgery.
Mrs Harris, 57, was warned about her behaviour by her predecessor as Swansea East MP Mrs James, the court heard.
'Office banter'
A jury was told Mrs Harris pulled Ms Clarke's hair when the two women worked together at the constituency office before Mrs Harris became an MP.
Mrs Harris also called Ms Clarke, who was Mrs Harris' office manager, a "dyke" and frequently made comments about her choice of clothes and hairstyles, the court heard.
Mrs Harris later defended the comments as "office banter" - but the jury was told she was warned she could face disciplinary action if more complaints were made.
Mrs James, who stood down as Swansea East MP in 2015, told the court how Ms Clarke came to her with concerns about how Mrs Harris treated her during work hours.
"It was to do with Clarke's sexuality," said Mrs James, adding: "She was starting to feel these comments had gone beyond banter and were causing her concern."
image copyright Wales News Service image caption Jenny Lee Clarke denies carrying out the fraud in 2015
Mrs James said she had taken an "informal route" of speaking to Mrs Harris and Ms Clarke about what was expected in an office environment.
She warned if the issue was raised again she would take "disciplinary action".
Giving evidence, Mrs Harris told the court she was "no homophobe".
Mrs James said concerns were again raised about Mrs Harris' behaviour after she replaced her as MP in the 2015 General Election.
Ms Clarke is accused of forging Mrs Harris' signature after she was elected, to give herself a £2,000-a-year pay rise and lower her working hours.
Ms Clarke acknowledged she had signed a document that amended the form, but said Mrs Harris had "given me her authorisation". | 2,182 |
THIS JUST IN: We’re getting those final four words!
Sources confirm that Netflix has closed a deal with Warner Bros. for a limited-series revival of Gilmore Girls penned by series creator Amy Sherman-Palladino and exec producer Daniel Palladino.
Although negotiations with the cast are only now beginning, I’m told all of the major players — most notably Lauren Graham, Alexis Bledel, Kelly Bishop and Scott Patterson — are expected back for the continuation. Additionally, per multiple insiders, the revival will consist of four 90-minute episodes/mini-movies.
Reps for Warner Bros. and Netflix declined to comment for this story.
And I repeat: This is not a drill.
The deal allows Sherman-Palladino — who left the original series prior to the final season amid a contract dispute with Warner Bros. — to conclude Gilmore Girls as she always intended, right through to those elusive final four words.
AS-P addressed the possibility of a revival over the summer when she reunited with the show’s cast at the ATX TV Festival. “It would have to be the right everything — the right format, the right timing,” she said. “If it ever happened, I promise we’ll do it correctly.”
When I interviewed AS-P in 2009 at Entertainment Weekly, she conceded that the events of the show’s final seventh season didn’t match up with the end game she envisioned for Lorelai, Rory & Co. “I haven’t [actually] seen the last season,” she said at the time, “but I heard about it from other people.”
Even back then, AS-P remained hopeful that she would get to conclude the Gilmore story on her terms, via a limited series or movie. “The beauty of Gilmore, and the beauty of family-relationship shows, is you never really run out of story,” she said. “You’re going to battle your family until you’re all in the ground. Those things never resolve, doesn’t matter how much therapy you get. Ten years later, there’s still going to be [material] there to mine and to delve into.”
Gilmore Girls premiered on the now-defunct WB network in 2000, before transferring to spinoff net The CW in 2006 for its final season.
Did I mention that this isn’t a drill? | 2,183 |
It just feels so good! Yes, it’s that glorious sensation you experience when eagerly opening that pristine door for the very first time as your nose is gleefully engulfed with those joyous automotive wofts associated with that new car interior. The exciting mood continues as you place your eagerly awaiting bottom into that virgin seat with the knowledge that you are indeed the first. You run your hands in a circular motion, anticlockwise, then clockwise, as you gingerly grip the steering wheel with each of your probing fingers where you slowly discover every notch and groove. Out on the road, you smile with snug satisfaction as all parts of the car work in harmonious unison as you carefully navigate the surrounding traffic with a self-imposed mode of cautious stealth. The feeling lasts for an unmeasured while, and then without notice, unfortunately, stops. You have now reached the stage of habitual blaséness where that initial feeling of excitement has regrettably diminished into nothingness. It’s now just a car.
Many an innovative organisation initially commence their operations with that “new car feeling”, but alas, over time, and particularly with success, that blasé nonchalant state gradually permeates throughout the structure leading to creative stagnation. So, what’s the solution?
Think of that car again, but this time focus on all the scheduled, and the occasional unplanned maintenance that is required to keep it humming in a state of perpetual driving bliss. This can take the form of mechanical, structural or aesthetic adjustments, all are required, and need ongoing investment, otherwise it ends up doomed on the scrap heap soon to be forgotten.
Innovation needs ongoing investment to stimulate and maintain the creative machinations of the business. All departments working in the organisation need to finely tuned, continually aligned, and supplemented with that combustible spark of ideation, otherwise it will slowly come to a resistant state of undesirable lethargy. However, sometimes an organisation needs to trade in the old ways of doing business and upgrade to a newer and more inspirational model. If so, don’t be scared to let your employees experience that wonderful new car smell, particularly as some of the newer ones may have never savoured that joy, and those longer serving ones, well, they may need a strong nasal refresher!
So if you want to maintain that ongoing pleasant innovation woft in your business, make sure you keep it well maintained and stimulated, otherwise, you might as well get a horse and get used to a slower, and rather more odorous form of reduced creativity. | 2,184 |
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Hollywood train wreck Charlie Sheen was caught on video smoking crack and performing oral sex on another man in 2011, the same year he was diagnosed with HIV, according to an online report Monday.
The former “Two and a Half Men” star smoked a crack pipe before grinning for the camera and then pleasuring his male lover, said the website RadarOnline, claiming it viewed a bootleg copy of the tape.
The video had been part of a $20 million lawsuit against Sheen alleging he gave his sex partner herpes, the site said. The lawsuit was eventually settled out of court for millions of dollars, according to Radar.
An attorney involved in the lawsuit, Keith Davidson, disputed Radar’s claim that the “alleged video” had anything “to do with the above referenced lawsuit which was filed and subsequently dismissed more than five years ago.
“Though there was video evidence involved in the aforementioned case, that video evidence did not come close to portraying what you have described,” Davidson said in a statement.
“Furthermore, there was but one copy of that case related video evidence. That sole copy of the video evidence was irretrievably destroyed.”
The website quotes from the “J. Roe v. John Doe” lawsuit saying an “A-List celebrity,’’ identified by sources as Sheen, “entered into a nefarious plot designed to lure Plaintiff into his luxurious hotel room to serve his prurient desires.”
Sheen allegedly told the man he had “no venereal diseases,’’ and the pair then watched porn and engaged in “mutual oral copulation, mutual self-gratification, rubbing and massaging each other, play-wrestling, licking and (unprotected) intercourse.”
Sheen was given the original video and two other sex tapes involving himself as part of the settlement and ordered them destroyed, Radar said. Radar said it saw a bootleg copy made off the original.
Sheen had met the man in Vegas in April 2011.
The “Wall Street” actor has said he only found out he was HIV-positive sometime after early May of the same year.
Sheen speaks out on the “Today” show: | 2,185 |
How Google Is Disciplining Global Digital Advertising
Alphabet is planning to add an integrated ad filter to its Chrome browser next year. It is rather ironic since Google is the biggest beneficiary of the booming internet/digital advertising industry. Google’s web and mobile advertising business was worth more than $79 billion last year. Read more.
Dynavax & the FDA: A Game of Cat and Mouse
Dynavax is in an intriguing position and investors need to take advantage of the opportunity. Their main product, Heplisav-B, has been tested and found to be more effective than its closest competitor. They have a finished product that is ready to sell to the public. Read more.
Why AMD Is Losing The Cryptocurrency Race
There are now faster ways to mine Bitcoin than using AMD chips. AMD is consistently behind Intel when it comes to innovation. Ryzen may be a little stronger than Intel’s processor, but Intel is the company behind the main ideas. Although cheaper, Ryzen uses relatively antiquated technology. Read more.
How Chaos Mapping Models Are Dominating Markets
As a chaotic system, the stock market contains patterns that can be analyzed with models. We use advanced algorithms to make predictions about the stock market. By incorporating machine learning we can continually refine this process. However, reading the chaos maps is not always that simple. As a chaotic system, the stock market contains patterns that can be analyzed with models. We use advanced algorithms to make predictions about the stock market. By incorporating machine learning we can continually refine this process. However, reading the chaos maps is not always that simple. Read More.
Evolving Portfolios Are Returning Almost Triple
In the following article we present an analysis of a series of trading strategies directly adoptable by I Know First clients which have led to generous returns over the period of August 2015 to April 2017. The strategies follow the package “European Stocks” and use a constantly updating weight system. In the following article we present an analysis of a series of trading strategies directly adoptable by I Know First clients which have led to generous returns over the period of August 2015 to April 2017. The strategies follow the package “European Stocks” and use a constantly updating weight system. Read More.
You might also be interested in: DRYS Stock: A Disastrous Descent to Rock Bottom
AB Inbev: A Very Strong Dividend History Points to a Buy
Amazon & Nokia: An Unlikely Partnership | 2,186 |
This article is more than 2 years old
This article is more than 2 years old
The government should expand the number of countries whose citizens are eligible to apply for a working holiday visa to the UK, a Conservative thinktank has said.
The tier-5 youth mobility visa allows people aged 18-30 to live, work or study in the UK for two years. It is open only to applicants from Australia, Canada, Japan, Monaco, New Zealand, Hong Kong, South Korea and Taiwan.
Bright Blue, the liberal conservative thinktank, said Theresa May’s immigration policies undermined her vision of a “global Britain”, and an expansion of the programme would help achieve this goal.
The government’s “hostile environment” immigration policies, introduced by May when she was home secretary, are under scrutiny in the wake of the Windrush scandal. It has faced calls to liberalise immigration policy following the damaging revelations.
Ryan Shorthouse, Bright Blue’s director, said: “One of the best ways of achieving a ‘global Britain’ is by enabling talented people from around the world to live, work, invest and study in this country. And, of course, for Britons to be able to do the same in other countries. This two-way migration strengthens Britain’s economic prosperity and cultural influence.”
The thinktank said the visa should be rebranded as the “citizens of the world visa programme”, in reference to May’s 2016 conference speech, which included the much-derided line: “If you believe you are a citizen of the world, you are a citizen of nowhere.”
Bright Blue said the youth mobility visa should be expanded to include Commonwealth countries that met basic human rights conditions, including the abolition of the death penalty, the decriminalisation of homosexuality, and women having access to contraception services.
The visas are offered on a reciprocal basis, meaning that the same number of visas are available each year for UK citizens to live, work or study in the partner country. Applicants must prove they have sufficient funding to support themselves in the UK, including £1,890 in savings.
In 2018, there was a cap of 34,000 places for the Australia-UK programme, but 1,000 each for Japan, Monaco, Taiwan, South Korea and Hong Kong.
Bright Blue is hosting a conference on Tuesday, Fighting for Freedom?, which will include a keynote speech from the minister for human rights, Phillip Lee. | 2,187 |
are still a threat to put up a lot of points.
Week 6: @ Arizona Loss 21-17
On Monday Night Football, the Jets will give the Cardinals all they can handle, but ultimately come up short. However, they do prove they can hang with the NFL’s elite.
Week 7: vs Baltimore Win 28-14
After a tough first six weeks, I like the Jets to easily get past the Ravens in their first home game since Week 4.
Week 8: @ Cleveland Win 24-3
Maybe I’m not expecting a good showing from RGIII or maybe I’m still mad the Cavaliers won the NBA Finals. You decide.
Week 9: @ Miami Win 17-13
The Jets are always good for playing down to their competition a couple times a year. I’ll be optimistic and say despite that, they still grind out a win.
Week 10: vs Los Angeles Loss 14-3
Aaron Donald is a baaaaaad man. Despite LA’s poor offense, their defense will find them ways to win games.
Week 12: vs New England Loss 28-21
The Patriots will be feeling good after harpooning the 49ers the previous week, while the Jets come out flat after their bye. However, don’t be fooled, the game will still be close.
Week 13: vs Indianapolis Win 20-10
Andrew Luck’s offensive line might be worse than Russell Wilson’s. The D-line will be licking their chops.
Week 14: @ San Francisco Win 27-14
Not even Chip Kelly can help the 49ers. A better question would be if Colin Kaepernick is still sitting down for the national anthem?
Week 15: vs Miami Win 24-10
Sorry, Miami. You’ll be contemplating your draft strategy at this point in the season.
Week 16: @ New England Win 21-20
That’s right, Mando. The Jets will march into Foxboro and have Tom Brady hitting the ground more times than a kid learning how to ride a bike.
Week 17: vs Buffalo Loss 17-7
This time around, Rex Ryan’s Week 17 win isn’t enough to keep the Jets out of the playoffs. Wild card spot secured baby!
Projected Record: 10-6
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Communities Secretary Sajid Javid today (21 June 2017) announced that the government has secured the first tranche of permanent new homes to rehouse local residents affected by the fire at Grenfell Tower.
The 68 flats are all newly built social housing and form part of the Kensington Row development in Kensington and Chelsea.
Work is ongoing to identify the needs of those affected who have lost their homes and match them to suitable housing. The expectation is that these new properties will be offered as one of the options to permanently rehouse residents from Grenfell Tower.
The increase to local social housing is a significant step towards meeting the government’s commitment that every family from Grenfell Tower will be rehoused in the local area.
Communities Secretary Sajid Javid said:
The residents of Grenfell Tower have been through some of the most harrowing and traumatic experiences imaginable and it is our duty to support them. Our priority is to get everyone who has lost their home permanently rehoused locally as soon as possible, so that they can begin to rebuild their lives. The government will continue to do everything we can as fast as we can to support those affected by this terrible tragedy.
More than 110 housing needs assessments have been completed to date and offers will then be made to families and this process will continue until every family has been housed.
Extra construction staff have been committed by the developer St Edward and working hour restrictions will be relaxed so work can continue around the clock to fast-track completion of the development to meet the increased demand in the area following the fire at Grenfell Tower. The government has also provided additional funding to fit out the flats to ensure they are ready for people to move in to sooner.
The new permanent housing is expected to be completed by the end of July. The Department for Communities and Local Government has also already committed to finding suitable accommodation in the local area for victims who lost their homes within a maximum of 3 weeks.
Each home will be fully furnished and completed to a high specification and St Edward will provide liaison staff for each block so that residents are fully supported in settling in to their new homes. This will be in addition to the ongoing range of support being provided to those affected by the tragedy.
The homes will be a mix of 1,2 and 3 bedroom flats across 2 blocks.
Further information
The homes will be purchased and managed by City of London Corporation, with allocations delegated to Kensington and Chelsea Council.
St Edward is a joint venture between the Berkeley Group and Prudential. | 2,189 |
[Update: YouTube has restored the video, and it is once again viewable. Note that neither YouTube nor It Gets Better responded to our request for comment. Readers in the comments below noted that videos automatically get pulled on YouTube if enough complaints are registered, where it is then reviewed by YouTube staff. Whatever the case, it is once against available. - Editor]
YouTube has pulled a video made by Apple employees for the “It Gets Better” project, replacing it with a still image that said the video violated “YouTube’s policy on depiction of harmful activities.” The video included testimonials and stories from gay, lesbian, and transgender Apple employees with the theme that though they were bullied when they were young, things got better, which is what the It Gets Better project is about.
It’s not yet clear how the stories told in the video violate YouTube’s policies on depicting harmful activities. YouTube’s community guideline tips offer some very general suggestions on the kinds of videos that might be rejected, including categories labeled “Sex and Nudity,” “Hate Speech,” “Shocking and Disgusting,” “Dangerous Illegal Acts,” “Children,” “Copyright,” “Privacy,” “Harrassment,” “Impersonation,” and “Threats.”
Those categories don’t, however, offer many specifics on what its users can and can’t post. In that way, they’re similar to Apple’s own App Store approval guidelines.
The video made by Apple employees is similar to many other videos that It Gets Better has posted to YouTube, and a random check of on the project’s video page didn’t find any other videos that have been pulled.
One difference between the Apple employee video and some of the others we watched, however, is that the Apple employee video includes detailed stories of harassment perpetrated upon them in their youth, as well as accounts of contemplated and attempted suicide. It could be that those accounts caused this video to be pulled.
As it is, neither YouTube nor It Gets Better has yet responsded to our request for comment.
The still image on shown on any third party site that had embedded the video
The still on YouTube’s own site. The blue text is a link to YouTube’s guidelines on what it’s permissibile to post. | 2,190 |
That’s the equivalent of investing in China and Brazil, offsetting their investments here with our investments there. Or the RMB and reals could be used to buy Chinese and Brazilian goods. It has to be one or the other.
Conclusion #3: Overall trade deficits (and currency movements) reflect a balance between the buying and selling of goods, on the one hand, and financial transactions, on the other.
If countries are going to invest in the United States on net (equivalently, if the United States is going to borrow…) then there will be an offsetting trade deficit. This is an accounting balance that has to hold, not an economic theory.
A quick corollary to this is that if President-elect Trump were successful in balancing US trade with the rest of the world, the United States would have to stop its borrowing very quickly. In 2015, that would have meant closing a gap of about $463bn.
Ok, you say. Nice simple toy models. But what about the real world? If we export more, don’t we get more jobs?
The graph shows a measure of the trade deficit (blue) and the unemployment rate (green) for the United States from 1992-2016. The vertical gray bars show recessions. If trade deficits moved in step with unemployment, we would expect these two lines to move in tandem, rising and falling together. Instead, there is a slight negative correlation.
So why might this be? How do we explain a period like the 1990s when the trade deficit was rising and the unemployment rate was falling? When the economy is booming, interest rates tend to be high, there are attractive investment opportunities, and foreign money comes flowing in. What’s more, prosperous Americans spend more on everything, including imports. All of that drives the trade deficit up, even as the unemployment rate is falling.
One final note on this graph: trade deficits here (as a share of GDP), go up and go down. Yet as of the early 1990s, US average tariffs were about 3 percent. They are currently about 1.4 percent. Thus, all this movement in the trade deficit occurred in the absence of big tariff cuts, strong evidence that it’s not trade policy but rather macroeconomic variables (growth rates, interest rates) driving trade deficits.
Either way you cut it – theoretically or empirically – trade deficits provide a poor guide to trade policy. Yet their appeal as a scorecard persists. That’s why trade economists roll their eyes. | 2,191 |
STAFF at the pharmacy which refused to give an EpiPen to the mother of a school girl who died after suffering an allergic reaction have received death threats and verbal abuse, a fitness to practise inquiry has heard.
The inquiry is examining an allegation of poor professional performance against pharmacist David Murphy.
It is alleged Mr Murphy failed to respond adequately when he declined to give Caroline Sloan an Epipen, used to treat people suffering from anaphylactic shock, because she did not have a prescription.
Emma Sloan, who was aged 14 at the time, died tragically after she ate a sauce containing peanuts at a Chinese restaurant in December 2013.
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In its second day, the Pharmaceutical Society inquiry this morning heard from Rachel Horan who was working at the Hamilton Long Pharmacy on O’Connell Street when Emma Sloan’s mother Caroline entered the store seeking an EpiPen.
She said Ms Sloan did not appear "stressed or agitated" and left the shop calmly after she was told the pharmacy could not dispense an EpiPen without prescription.
She gave evidence that she didn't realise the EpiPen was intended for use on for a child and thought the person who was suffering the attack was not outside the pharmacy but in a restaurant somewhere nearby.
Ms Horan also told the inquiry she heard pharmacist David Murphy advise Ms Sloan to call an ambulance.
Asked how the incident had affected those working in the pharmacy, she agreed there had been “untoward incidents” which had “affected us all” including Mr Murphy.
“We got some not very nice phone calls,” she said, and referenced one occasion where, not Mr Murphy, but “another pharmacist answered the phone and he was told he was going to be slaughtered”.
She said there had been other incidents of persistent phone calls to the pharmacy where the caller would hang up when the phone was answered as well as verbal abuse from people outside the pharmacy.
A security guard at the pharmacy who also gave evidence said gardaí had given advice to staff for their own safety.
Earlier Caroline Sloan said she recalled informing staff in the pharmacy the EpiPen was needed for her daughter who was suffering an allergic reaction. She said Mr Murphy couldn't dispense the EpiPen without prescription and said he advised her to to go hospital.
She said her family's life "is on hold" since the tragic death almost two years ago.
The inquiry continues.
Online Editors | 2,192 |
on the deficits the United States will abide. That would put pressure on these trading partners to increase imports, reduce exports or pay fines that can serve as de facto tariffs.
Second, the proposed plan details steps to enforce labor rights, human rights, and consumer and environmental protections. It would also protect countries’ right to promulgate higher standards, if desired. It would require that trade accords secure affordable access to essential medicines, which would curb drug companies’ efforts to extend patent protections.
Third, the progressive plan mandates that trade accords respect “nationhood rights.” To do this, it would repeal the Investor State Dispute Settlement system, which would force global investors to rely on national legal systems. If global corporations are concerned about corrupt local systems, they can self-insure or invest elsewhere. It would also expand and defend “Buy America” government procurement policies. Taxpayers should be able to demand that their taxes go to support jobs in America — not jobs across the world.
Fourth, the plan would work to accomplish in fact what free traders argue for in theory: That the winners from global trade compensate the losers. Displaced American workers would gain assistance under an expanded Trade Adjustment Assistance Act; they would receive extended unemployment benefits and wage insurance if they were forced to take lower-paying jobs. New initiatives would provide targeted assistance to communities hit by plant closings. In Denmark and Germany, where workers earn higher wages than in the United States, far more resources are devoted to sophisticated training and placement programs to ensure that workers are not victimized by the trading system.
More balanced trade would also benefit from a clear industrial strategy, one focused on capturing the lead in inventing, building and marketing the essential products of the green industrial revolution, which has already begun to sweep the world.
Proponents of Washington’s current system paint the choice as one between free trade and protectionism. But current trade accords aren’t creating free trade; they are enforcing selective protection for special interests. Ruinous U.S. deficits aren’t an inevitable result of globalization, but the intended result of corporate trade and tax policies.
Sanders and Trump have helped expose the folly of America’s current course. Our trading policies are classic examples of rules rigged to benefit the few. Economists increasingly accept that they contribute directly to our increasingly extreme inequality, as workers lose ground and CEOs clean up. The Congressional Progressive Caucus proposal shows that sensible alternatives are possible.
America’s current plight is a question of politics and power, not fate. | 2,193 |
If a trade war with China escalates, David Dollar, a Brookings Institution fellow and former U.S. Treasury envoy to Beijing, said the American farm sector could be hit hardest. | Getty Images POLITICO Money Podcast How a Trump trade war with China could whack the U.S.
Subscribe to POLITICO Money on Apple Podcasts here. | Subscribe via Stitcher here.
President Donald Trump’s plan to slap as much as $60 billion in tariffs on imported Chinese goods could eventually trigger a trade war that slams American farmers, according to a leading expert on the U.S.-China relationship.
David Dollar, a Brookings Institution fellow and former U.S. Treasury envoy to Beijing, said in the latest POLITICO Money podcast that Trump misunderstands the nature of the U.S. trade relationship with China — and that a trade war could badly damage the American economy.
“I think the argument that we are losing out to China — that they are cheating everywhere — I think that’s overblown,” he said. “The administration focuses a lot on the imbalance in the relationship, and that’s not really a very useful metric. The trade balance is largely a macroeconomic variable. In the case of the U.S., we don’t save enough, so as a result we run a trade deficit.”
If a trade war with China escalates, Dollar said, the American farm sector could be hit hardest.
“What you would find in a serious trade war is much reduced demand, including for U.S. agricultural products,” he said. “Farm prices would fall and maybe even collapse. You could definitely see the economy going into recession if the trade war were serious enough.”
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Celeste Drake, trade and globalization policy specialist at the AFL-CIO, argues on the podcast that fears of a trade war are overblown and that tariffs are a useful weapon against China.
“We think that trade enforcement is always a good idea,” she said. “If you are going to have rules to try to establish a level playing field on trade, then they are not rules at all if you don’t enforce them.” | 2,194 |
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The FIA has contacted Formula 1 drivers to select the permanent race numbers they will carry from next year.
AUTOSPORT understands that the FIA has requested all drivers to nominate their preferred number, along with a second and third choice, to be lodged before Christmas.
This will allow the numbers, which will be carried by drivers for the rest of their grand prix careers and will range from 2-99 with number one reserved for the world champion, to be allocated at the start of next year
Although Article 19.1 of the sporting regulations as published suggests that a random ballot would be used to allocate the numbers, FIA media delegate Matteo Bonciani has confirmed to AUTOSPORT that the method originally announced on Monday would be used.
This involved each driver having their choice based on championship order, meaning that if two or more drivers request the same number, the one placed higher in the 2013 standings will be granted it.
Stats: F1's most successful numbers
The FIA is also keen to ensure that the choice of number is made by the driver, rather than the team that employs him, which is why they are being contacted directly.
The regulation states: "Prior to the start of the 2014 World Championship season race numbers will be permanently allocated to drivers by ballot, such numbers must then be used by that driver during every Formula 1 championship event he takes part in throughout his career."
"Any new drivers, either at the start of or during a season, will also be allocated a permanent number in the same way.
"The only exception to this allocation process will be for the reigning world champion who will have the option to use the number one.
"The number that was previously allocated to him will be reserved for him in subsequent seasons if he does not retain the title of world champion."
Few drivers have as yet commented on their preferred numbers, although at an event for IWC watches Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg stated that he has requested six, five and nine in that order of preference - six being the number father Keke carried to the 1982 world championship.
Force India's Sergio Perez said his first choice will be #11, which he carried in karting and in his first season in GP2.
The sporting regulations have also been modified to ensure that number visibility is improved.
Drivers will now have to carry the race number not only on the front of the car in a way that must be "clearly visible" but also on their crash helmet for the first time. | 2,195 |
On the issue of a rigged election, Wallace wanted to know if Trump would accept the result. “I will look at it at the time,” Trump said. Besides the millions of people registered to vote who should not be there, he said, and “media corruption,” his opponent “should not be allowed to run, based on what she did with the emails.”
Trump told the audience that generals faced jail time for similar offenses. He also charged that “what FBI and Department of Justice did is disgraceful,” citing the meeting in the airplane before the statement of FBI boss James Comey, who has a record with the Clintons. He found no cause to press charges.
If anyone watching the debate wanted further reading, they could consult David Horowitz, who called Comey’s action the most breathtaking political fix in American history. The day of the second debate, former U.S. Attorney Joseph DiGenova weighed in on C-SPAN.
“It is very clear that from the moment he [Comey] took control of this investigation,” DiGenova said, “he decided that he was not going to recommend the prosecution of the first female nominee of a major party for president of the United States. The FBI director made a political decision. He did not make a law enforcement decision.”
Meanwhile, on the subject of Aleppo, moderator Chris Wallace charged that Donald Trump had “said things that were not true.” At no point in the debate did Wallace note that Hillary Clinton had said things that were not true, on any subject at any time. It was 20 years ago that New York Times columnist William Safire, in an essay titled “Blizzard of Lies,” called the First Lady a “congenital liar.”
It was well into the debate before Wallace raised the issue of the Clinton Foundation and conflicts of interest. The moderator did not get into specifics and let the Democrat rail on about the great things she believed the foundation had done.
“I’ve been privileged to see presidency up close,” Hillary Clinton said in her closing statement. She was now “reaching out to all,” and standing up to powerful interests and corporations.
Donald Trump also stayed on message in his closing statement: “We cannot take four more years of Barack Obama and that’s what you get with her.”
On November 8, the voters will decide if that’s what they get. | 2,196 |
Bush Administration, who, at the end of the day will these masters of the universe be taking orders from? And whose friends, business associates, and allies will stand to benefit from their deal making?
But there is more. The current secretary of the Treasury will soon be gone, replaced by the appointee of a new Administration, run either by McCain or by Obama. The next President-- and the next Secretary of the Treasury-- will face the very same temptations. If you think that the current Administration will behave itself appropriately-- a dubious proposition given its history-- do you have any guarantee that the next Administration will be equally well behaved? (As one commentator pointed out below, the Democrats have their share of friends and allies on Wall Street too. And don't even get me started about a McCain Administration advised by Phil Gramm.) We set a dangerous precedent by handing more and more unreviewable power to the president to nationalize large aspects of our economy and run them without effective oversight.
One would have thought that conservative, free market Republicans, of all people, would have warned us of the dangers of state planning and state control of the economy. Certainly they have spared no opportunity to denounce reform of our health care system as socialism. These accusations seem to be stilled, however, when the issue is bailing out the Republican Party's friends on Wall Street, while enlisting many of these friends in running the new state corporate enterprise, and selling the assets back to the same group later on.
It is a bit like the privatization of the old Soviet Bloc. Faced with crisis, the old communists became the new capitalists; they made the most of changed conditions by buying up old state businesses and running them as capitalist oligarchs. In America we see the same logic in reverse: Faced with a crisis of their own making, the old capitalists become the new communists.
It is not enough, however, to revel in the irony or the hypocrisy of the Administration's current plans. Two things are central: one is solving the financial crisis, and the other is doing so in a way that preserves constitutional values of oversight, checks and balances, and accountability to the rule of law. The government must have the power to act, but only the powers it actually needs, and not those it would enjoy having for the foreseeable future. It must be able to make decisions, but not without any accountability or oversight. That is what the debate is and should be about, and even though it nominally concerns the passage of an emergency measure, it is ultimately a debate of constitutional proportions.
| 2,197 |
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved a new treatment for adult patients who have hormone receptor, or HR positive, human epidermal growth factor receptor 2, or HER2, negative advanced or metastatic breast cancer. Photo by chuck stock/Shutterstock
Sept. 29 (UPI) -- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration Thursday approved Verzenio to treat adult patients with HR-positive and HER2-negative metastatic breast cancer.
Breast cancer is the most common form of cancer in the United States, with approximately 252,710 women diagnosed this year, according to the National Institutes of Health. The NIH estimates that 40,610 people will die of breast cancer.
Verzenio, or abemaciclib, was approved to treat hormone-receptor-positive, or HR-positive, and human-epidermal-growth-factor-receptor 2-negative, or HER2-negative, advanced or metastatic breast cancer that progresses after endocrine therapy.
Roughly 72 percent of patients with breast cancer have HR-positive and HER2-negative breast cancer.
RELATED FDA approves first biosimilar treatment for cancer
"Verzenio provides a new targeted treatment option for certain patients with breast cancer who are not responding to treatment, and unlike other drugs in the class, it can be given as a stand-alone treatment to patients who were previously treated with endocrine therapy and chemotherapy," Dr. Richard Pazdur, director of the FDA's Oncology Center of Excellence and acting director of the Office of Hematology and Oncology Products in the FDA's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, said in a news release.
Verzenio works by blocking certain molecules, known as cyclin-dependent kinases 4 and 6, that promote the growth of cancer cells.
The drug is approved to be given in combination with an endocrine therapy, known as fulvestrant, when cancers continue to grow after endocrine therapy. Verzenio can be given on its own if patients were previously treated with endocrine therapy and chemotherapy after cancer metastasized.
RELATED FDA approves Idhifa to treat relapsed acute myeloid leukemia
Verzenio was studied in a trial of 132 patients with HR-positive and HER2-negative breast cancer that had progressed after treatment with endocrine therapy and chemotherapy after the cancer spread. The study showed that 19.7 percent of patients taking Verzenio had complete or partial shrinkage of their tumors for an average of 8.6 months. | 2,198 |
Aroldis Chapman’s second appearance after returning from left knee tendinitis went much better than his first, as he threw a perfect seventh inning, despite diminished velocity.
“I felt good,’’ Chapman said through an interpreter. “The speed wasn’t where it usually is, but my command was much better and that’s really important.”
He sat mostly at 95 mph with his fastball.
“That doesn’t worry me at all,’’ Chapman said after the Yankees’ 3-2 playoff-clinching victory over the Orioles in 11 innings on Saturday. “I know the speed is there. It’s just a matter of getting out there and my getting rhythm back. Maybe after two more outings I’ll be back to being the pitcher I’ve been.”
Chapman was one of six relievers to hold Baltimore scoreless.
“Obviously, our bullpen is so important to what we do,’’ manager Aaron Boone said. “I would imagine if we win big they’ll play a huge role. … Baltimore really held us down today. We had to keep throwing zeroes up.”
Luke Voit’s magical run continued with a homer in the playoff-clinching win.
“I’m having the time of my life,’’ Voit said. “This has been the craziest year of my life, man. Going up and down with St. Louis and spending a lot of time in Triple-A when I didn’t really think that was going to happen, it sucked, but I had to stay mentally strong. Luckily [GM] Brian Cashman gave me a chance to come over here.”
Voit arrived in a trade for Chasen Shreve and after coming up from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, he’s hit 11 homers for the Yankees.
Asked if he has wrapped his head around his whirlwind season, Voit laughed.
“I think I sort of wrapped my head around it when I forgot the subway systems every time I was heading to the field,’’ Voit said. “It’s been nothing but fun. It’s a lot at first, but what’s not to love?”
— Additional reporting by Greg Joyce and Kevin Kernan | 2,199 |
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