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Xavi: Barcelona midfielder has been linked with summer move
Barcelona's sporting director Andoni Zubizarreta is hoping Xavi will express a desire to stay at the Nou Camp but admits the midfielder's future is not yet decided.
Although Xavi has made no official statement about his future, speculation he would leave Barcelona gathered pace during the World Cup when Dan Petrescu, coach of Qatar club Al-Arabi, claimed the Spain international had signed a pre-contract agreement with the club.
Reports later emerged that negotiations between the player and Al-Arabi broke down, although Xavi is understood to have told his inner circle he is still leaving Barcelona after 16 years at the club.
Barca have already let go of one of their key midfielders by selling Cesc Fabregas to Chelsea, but have recalled academy product Rafinha following a successful loan spell with Celta Vigo.
Speaking at the presentation of Barcelona's latest signing Ivan Rakitic, Zubizarreta said Xavi was one of several midfield options.
"We have an excellent player coming from Celta called Rafinha, we have Ivan here with us, (Andres) Iniesta and Xavi," he said.
"Today Xavi is still our player and the number six shirt is still his. We spoke to him before the World Cup and when he returns from holiday we will speak to him again.
"For Xavi any news will be good for us. If he wants to stay that will be excellent news and if he wants to go we will part ways in the best way possible.
"We are talking about a symbol of the club who is decisive to our play. No-one at this club is indispensable but what we are saying is that the conversation we are having with Xavi is still open, we will be delighted if he stays, and he will compete as best as he can. If he decides to take a different path we will accept that."
Zubizarreta also admitted the club had received offers for Alexis Sanchez, adding "we will seek the best possible solution". However, he declared that Pedro was "not for sale".
Barcelona have also been linked with moves for Juventus duo Paul Pogba and Arturo Vida, but Zubizarreta says they are focused on strengthening their squad in other positions.
He said: “Pogba and Vidal are two big players, but we are okay in the midfield and they aren't in our plans.” | 2,200 |
the strength of the numbers from the pitch and the strength of faith in the boardroom surrounding Frank’s leadership. This points to overall measurement looking at many more areas than Brentford’s Expected Goals ratios.
Frank has been dignified, honest and a complete gentleman in what has clearly been one of the toughest on and off the field periods since the return to the second tier.
Performances on the pitch may have reached a tipping point within some sections of fans, but Frank must be doing something tangible on the training ground or behind the scenes, because Brentford FC, working in the way that they do are one of only a handful of British clubs that can take the emotion away from fans demands for change, due to an enlightened key indicator.
Having finally appointed an Assistant Head Coach in King Kev, it does feel both at the same time, that the club are finally giving Frank the team he requires, but also a safety first appointment. Some believe what is actually lacking, may only be found outside of the club, in the shape of an individual along the lines of a Michael Appleton.
If Frank wasn’t the man to lead the side into the future, I believe the club would have made the decision to part ways weeks ago. That isn’t to say that the home game against Bolton, 22nd December, the exact halfway point of the season, doesn’t have a climactic feel to it. As it feels like it does.
It’s an absolute must win.
Everything at Brentford comes down to odds and the chances of events occurring. The fivethirtyeight modelers at time of writing have Brentford FC at a 6% chance of being relegated from the Championship. The probability of that particular event happening is not going to worry any of the smart thinkers in TW8, but that number can shift upwards.
Lose to Bolton, and if Rotherham continue their improvement and somehow find a way past West Brom, we could see a little more attention payed to the supposed 3 or so worse teams.
But in the meantime, Frank must get his message right. To regain support from distressed fan factions, there can’t be anything overly confusing for the players, long term plans and subtle advancements in tactics may have to wait, but while he remains, we should trust the board in their decision to place their continued trust in Thomas.
In a storm of chaos, there’s some value in the chance of an introverted thinker bringing blue skies back to TW8. | 2,201 |
UNIVERSAL MUSIC CANADA
N E W REL E AS E
UNIVERSAL MUSIC
2450
Victoria
Park
Avenue,
Suite
1,
Toronto,
ON
M2J
5H3
Phone:
(416)
718
‐
4000
Fax:
(416)
718
‐
4218
Artist/Title:
Jeremy Fisher Junior / Highway To Spell
Cat.
#:
Q202065
Price
Code:
G
Order
Due:
Feb
8,
2018
Release
Date:
March
9,
2018
File:
F
–
Fisher
Genre
Code:
8
Box
Lot:
25
Key Tracks:
Turtle & Guy Bath Time I Lost My Shoe
Key Points:
JUNO-nominated and multi-award winning folk singer Jeremy Fisher brings his catchy songwriting to circle time with his very first collection of music aimed at young listeners,
Jeremy Fisher Junior - Highway To Spe ll
. Songs such as
Turtle & Guy
,
I Lost My Shoe
and
Bizzy Bee
come alive with vivid imagery, instantly singable melodies and grooves that inspire kids to dance like nobody’s watching. His trademark wit and penchant for storytelling add dimension to the simple tunes and make sure there’s a little something in there for the whole family.
- Release shows being planned in Toronto and Hamilton - Focusing on festival tour dates for Summer and Fa ll 2018 (Winnipeg Fo lk Festival, Islands Fol k Festival, Supercrawl) - He i s already confirmed to perform at the Megaphono Festival in Ottawa at the beginning of February - Lyric videos are in production as well as an animated video for Turtle And Guy which wi ll be ready before release
For
additional
artist
information
please
contact
Angie
at
[email protected]
0 6 0 2 7 0 2 0 6 5 2 6
INTERNAL USE
Label Name: Hidden Pony Territory:
Domestic
Release Type: | 2,202 |
Disney Research
3D printing is getting better at printing in flexible material, but fabric is still a little on the tricky side. Disney Research is hard on the case; after its "3D printing" needle-felting machine a year ago, the film company's research arm has revealed, in collaboration with Carnegie Mellon University, another fabric "3D printer" that taps into additive manufacturing.
The so-called "Layered Fabric 3D Printer" works along principles similar to those used in polymer deposition. A 3D model is broken down into slices, which are translated into the 3D printer. This is where the two techniques diverge.
Rather than being laid down by an extruder nozzle, the Layered Fabric 3D Printer uses a laser to cut the outline of each layer from a roll of thick felt. This layer is then deposited onto the print bed, where a layer of heat-sensitive adhesive is activated by a warm disc on the print head.
This process is then repeated until the object is fully "printed," whereupon the excess fabric can be removed, revealing a yet soft and flexible layered object.
The printer is also multimaterial, and can integrate two types of fabric into a single object. This allows, for example, conductive fabric to be embedded in a print, creating a capacitive touch input, or embedded circuit paths. This, Disney Research said in the paper, allows the printer to create custom objects on demand that are also interactive electrical objects.
Disney Research
Obviously the technique has its drawbacks compared to selective laser sintering or fused deposition modelling. Firstly, it produces a fair amount of waste material. Secondly, the individual layers are much more visible -- the felt used is around two millimetres thick, compared to the 0.1-millimetre layer thickness for a high-resolution FDM 3D printer.
In an object larger than the 6.35-centimetre (2.5in) Stanford bunny test print -- which took around two and a half hours to print -- these layers would be less pronounced, Disney said.
"The layers in the bunny print are evident because the bunny is relatively small compared to the felt we used to print it," said Disney Research scientist Jim McCann. "It's a trade-off -- with thinner fabric, or a larger bunny, the layers would be less noticeable, but the printing time would increase."
The Layered Fabric 3D Printer was unveiled at the Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems in Seoul, South Korea, on April 18. | 2,203 |
4 mini
2314
HTC One
2262
Sony Xperia Tablet Z
2170
HTC One mini
2164
Sony Xperia ZL
2107
Sony Xperia Z
2093
LG Optimus G Pro
1801
Oppo Find 5
1797
Nexus 4
1794
Nokia Lumia 920
1774
Google Nexus 10
1773
HTC Butterfly
1475
Samsung Galaxy S III
1247
We put the LG G2 through Vellamo as well and it turned on par with the Sony’s Xperia Z Ultra
Vellamo
Higher is better
Sony Xperia Z Ultra
2944
LG G2
2908
HTC Butterfly S
2592
Samsung Galaxy Note II
2418
HTC One
2382
HTC One mini
2252
Sony Xperia Z
2189
HTC One X (Tegra 3)
2078
Samsung Galaxy S4 (S600)
2060
Samsung Galaxy S4 (Octa)
2056
Samsung Galaxy S4 mini
2019
Samsung Galaxy S4 Active
1936
HTC Butterfly
1866
Oppo Find 5
1658
Samsung Galaxy S III
1641
LG Optimus 4X HD
1568
LG Optimus G
1522
Nexus 4
1310
Just like the Sony Xperia Z Ultra, the LG G2 offers blazing fast performance and user interface experience. There has never been as fast and fluid Android devices as those two beasts.
LG did a great move waiting for Qualcomm to start the mass production of the Snapdragon 800 chipset before outing its flagship. The G2 is definitely faster than the most common version of the Galaxy S4 that is running on the previous generation Snapdragon 600 SoC. You can feel it throughout the whole Android OS, when playing games, even when you are browsing the web. And since the Xperia Z Ultra is a phablet, then the LG G2 is currently the fastest smartphone available on the market to date.
LG G2 is definitely a great comeback for the company. We are already working hard on the full-blown review and you should expect it to hit our homepage soon. | 2,204 |
By Josh Bergeron
[email protected]
SALISBURY — A bipartisan group of U.S. senators is calling for corrective action after a federal audit found longer-than-reported wait times at a group of VA hospitals that includes Salisbury.
On March 2, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General released an audit showing staff at VA hospitals incorrectly calculated wait times. The inspector general’s calculations showed that actual wait times in the Mid-Atlantic Care Network were longer than previously reported. Veterans were waiting even longer for care at private facilities as part of the Choice Program.
In Salisbury, for example, there was a 23-day difference between the specialty care number reported by VA staff and the Office of Inspector General. The average specialty care wait time for the Choice Program was 64 days in Salisbury, according to the audit.
On Monday, Sens. Richard Burr and Thom Tillis said they have joined a bipartisan group of senators to request more information about problems found in the report. Tillis and Burr were joined by another Republican senator, Johnny Isakson of Georgia — and three Democrats, Mark Warner and Tim Kaine, both of Virginia, and Jon Tester of Montana.
The senators wrote that veterans across the country deserve to be seen more quickly than the audit shows in the Mid-Atlantic Care Network, which includes VA hospitals and clinics in North Carolina and Virginia.
“The American public must be able to trust that the wait time information being provided by VA is accurate. That we, once again, cannot trust VA data is more than disappointing,” the senators wrote.
The letter makes a series of recommendations to VA Secretary David Shulkin. They include:
• Conduct a nationwide retraining of appointment schedulers, either virtual or in person, by the end of the federal fiscal year.
• Conduct an analysis of the front-end process involved in scheduling veterans for appointments through the Choice Program.
• Require an individual at each care network — the Mid-Atlantic Care Network, for example — to take responsibility for ensuring the scheduling process is audited.
• Identify a person at each care network to conduct scheduling audits quarterly.
• Conduct a thorough review of channels of communication used to publish wait time data.
“It appears, based on this audit, that incorrect information is being published without validation,” the senators wrote.
Contact reporter Josh Bergeron at 704-797-4246. | 2,205 |
Are we on the verge of societal collapse? Scientists from the University of Maryland think we are. The researchers have developed a new model in a soon-to-be-published research paper. The Human and Nature Dynamics (HANDY) model states that if humans continue down the road of overconsumption of resources and wealth inequality, societal collapse is imminent.
The study was led by mathematician Safa Motesharrei of the US National Science Foundation. The HANDY model paper has been accepted to be published in the Elsevier Journal, the transdisciplinary journal of the International Society for Ecological Economics (ISEE).
The research examines historical data and claims that it shows that the “process of rise-and-collapse is actually a recurrent cycle found throughout history”. According to historical data presented in the report, every complex and advanced civilization is sensitized to collapse, which raises concerns about the sustainability of modern society. The study cites not only the fall of the Roman Empire but also the advanced Gupta and Mesopotamian Empires, as being testimony to how sophisticated, creative and complex civilizations can be breakable and transient.
Looking to the Past
The project uses these past cases of advanced societal collapse to identify the most prominent reticular factors that explain societal decline. The researchers use these salient factors to issue their warning that modern civilization is heading towards a similar collapse.
The components highlighted by the scientists that pose a risk to civilization as we know it, predominantly include:
— Climate
— Population
— Energy
— Agriculture
— Water
Depleting natural resources is at the forefront of the HANDY model. Societal collapse, according to the researchers, was more likely to occur if a civilization exhausted its natural resources.
In traditional environmental analysis, the issue of the depletion of natural resources has principally been a problem of overpopulation. In the late eighteenth century, English cleric and scholar Thomas Malthus raised the issue of what he deemed as “inevitable shortages of food in relation to population growth”.
Today, focus of environmental concern has shifted towards worries of climate change. The HANDY model views “the stretching of resources due to the strain placed on the ecological carrying capacity” as a leading factor that can lead to collapse. The researchers cite a “predator/prey model”. As the population of prey increases, the predators feeding on the prey also thrive. When the predators become too numerous, they over-consume the prey and famine results. | 2,206 |
UTICA, NY — The Division Semifinals matchup between the Albany Devils and Utica Comets shifts to the Utica Memorial Auditorium for Game 3 Tuesday at 7 pm. The Devils own a 2-0 series advantage and have a chance to advance to the Division Finals. Albany is coming off back-to-back wins against Utica Friday (3-2) and Saturday (5-1).
The Devils finished second in the division and in the conference at 46-20-8-2 (.671). The Comets were third in the division and seventh in the conference at 38-26-8-4 (.572). Albany went 19-13-5-1 on the road during the regular season, while Utica was 18-11-5-4 at home.
What To Watch For
• Albany: The Devils need one more victory to advance to the second round of the Calder Cup Playoffs for the first time in their 10-year history. The team has never had the opportunity to play in a clinching game while leading in a playoff series. During the 2010 Calder Cup Playoffs, the Lowell Devils lost 4-1 to the Worcester Sharks during the first round; during the 2014 Postseason, Albany lost 3-1 to the St. John’s IceCaps.
The Devils power play has three goals on eight attempts, operating at 37.5 percentage after two playoff games. Reid Boucher, Jim O’Brien and Pavel Zacha have the goals.
• Utica: The Comets are hoping to carry over their success on home ice from the regular season to the postseason. The team went 18-11-5-4 (.592) at the Utica Memorial Auditorium, outscoring opponents 103-90. Darren Archibald, who played during Game 1 but not Game 2, did not practice Monday. The left-winger is in his fifth professional year and during the regular season, he produced 10 goals and 19 helpers in 51 contests.
Last Time Out
• Game 2 Recap: A four-goal second period outburst propelled the Devils to a 5-1 win against the Comets Saturday at Times Union Center during Game 2. Scott Wedgewood finished with 22 saves. Jim O’Brien (2g-1a), Reid Boucher (1g-2a) and Damon Severson (3a) led the Devils with three points apiece. Pavel Zacha extended his point streak to four games (2g-3a) with a goal and Ben Thomson scored for the third time in four games. | 2,207 |
Pope Francis has decried the "the winds of war" blowing around the world in his traditional Christmas message, which also calling for a two-state solution in the Middle East.
As Christians celebrate the birth of Jesus, the pope, in his traditional Urbi et Orbi (To The City And To The World) Christmas message from the Vatican, he also prayed that confrontation can be overcome on the Korean Peninsula.
"The winds of war are blowing in our world and an outdated model of development continues to produce human, societal and environmental decline," the pontiff said in his December 25 message and blessing from the central balcony overlooking St. Peter's Square.
U.S. President Donald Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital has sparked fresh violence in the Middle East, while confrontation with North Korea over its nuclear tests has escalated tensions in Asia.
The pope depicted suffering reflected "in the faces of little children," citing war and other tensions in the Middle East and Africa.
He asked for peace for Jerusalem and the Holy Land, and prayed "that the will to resume dialogue may prevail between the parties and that a negotiated solution can finally be reached, one that would allow the peaceful coexistence of two states within mutually agreed and internationally recognized borders."
The pontiff also said he would "pray that the Lord may also grant peace" in the Donbas, and said that he had seen Jesus "in children who, together with their families, suffer from the violence in Ukraine and its grave humanitarian repercussions."
Francis also prayed for an end to confrontation on the Korean Peninsula and expressed hope that "mutual trust may increase."
The Urbi et Orbi message has become an occasion for popes to survey suffering in the world and press for solutions.
The pontiff urged that "our hearts not be closed" as the inns of Bethlehem were to Mary and Joseph before Jesus's birth.
Francis criticized the situation in Syria, which remains "marked by war." He also lamented that Iraq had been "wounded and torn" by war over the past 15 years and that ongoing conflict in Yemen "has been largely forgotten."
Francis, who celebrated the fifth Christmas of his pontificate, said he had also seen Jesus in the children he met during his recent trip to Myanmar and Bangladesh, and he called for adequate protection of the dignity of minority groups in that region.
More than 600,000 Muslim Rohingya people have fled mainly Buddhist Myanmar to Bangladesh in recent months.
With reporting by AP, Reuters, and dpa | 2,208 |
Zach Buchanan
[email protected]
In the biggest non-upset since rock beat scissors, Joey Votto won the 2016 Ernie Lombardi Award for 2016, given out to the Cincinnati Reds' most valuable player by the Baseball Writers Association of America. Votto was a unanimous selection, and also finished seventh in National League MVP voting this season.
Right-hander Dan Straily unanimously won the Johnny Vander Meer Most Outstanding Pitcher Award, and catcher Tucker Barnhart won the Joe Nuxhall Good Guy Award.
Votto hit over.400 in the second half of the season after a rough start, and finished with a.935 OPS and a majors-leading.434 on-base percentage. Straily was a waiver claim before Opening Day and went on to be the Reds' most reliable starter, posting a 3.76 ERA in 191 1/3 innings. Barnhart had a solid season at and behind the plate, and handled more media duties than normal after being elevated to a starting role in the wake of Devin Mesoraco's season-ending surgery.
Joey Votto remains firm in commitment to Reds
The Reds also handed out their own awards at Redsfest. Outfielder Aristides Aquino was named the organization's top minor-league player and given the Sheldon "Chief" Bender Award after hitting.273 with 23 home runs and terrific outfield defense at High-A Daytona. Infielder Shed Long was named the minor-league Hitter of the Year on the strength of his.293 average between Low- and High-A. Left-hander Amir Garrett, who had a 2.55 ERA between Double- and Triple-A, was named Pitcher of the Year for the second year in a row.
Right-hander Barrett Astin was given the Minor League Community Service Award.
Reds decline to tender contracts
The Reds on Friday declined to tender contracts to catcher Ramon Cabrera, right-hander Keyvius Sampson and outfielder Gaby Guerrero. Cabrera and Sampson were designated for assignment earlier in the week, and Guerrero was acquired off waivers from the Arizona Diamondbacks at the same time.
Teams had until 8 p.m. to tender contracts to all players with less than six years of service time, and the Reds will tender contracts to their four arbitration-eligible players: left-hander Tony Cingrani, shortstop Zack Cozart, center fielder Billy Hamilton and right-hander Blake Wood. There is now one open spot on the 40-man roster. | 2,209 |
The Department of Justice memo released by NBC News on Monday, which asserts the right of U.S. officials to kill American citizens without due process, “equates government accusations with guilt,” writes former constitutional lawyer Glenn Greenwald in The Guardian.
“The core distortion of the War on Terror under both Bush and Obama is the Orwellian practice of equating government accusations of terrorism with proof of guilt,” Greenwald says. “One constantly hears US government defenders referring to ‘terrorists’ when what they actually mean is: those accused by the government of terrorism. This entire memo is grounded in this deceit.”
As is suggested by the memo’s wordy title, “Lawfulness of a Lethal Operation Directed Against a US Citizen Who is a Senior Operational Leader of al-Qaida or An Associated Force,” the Obama administration and its lawyers are attempting to convince the public that any American citizen it targets and kills should be assumed to have been a terrorist leader. This is a “deceit,” Greenwald says.
“[W]hen this memo refers to ‘a Senior Operational Leader of al-Qaida’, what it actually means is this: someone whom the President — in total secrecy and with no due process — has accused of being that. Indeed, the memo itself makes this clear, as it baldly states that presidential assassinations are justified when ‘an informed, high-level official of the US government has determined that the targeted individual poses an imminent threat of violent attack against the US.’
“This is the crucial point,” Greenwald continues. “The memo isn’t justifying the due-process-free execution of senior al-Qaida leaders who pose an imminent threat to the US. It is justifying the due-process-free execution of people secretly accused by the president and his underlings, with no due process, of being that. The distinction between (a) government accusations and (b) proof of guilt is central to every free society, by definition, yet this memo — and those who defend Obama’s assassination power — willfully ignore it.”
Read more of Greenwald’s criticism of the memo — reliance “on the core Bush/Cheney theory of a global battlefield,” “[e]xpanding the concept of ‘imminence’ beyond recognition,” and “converting Obama underlings into objective courts” — here.
— Posted by Alexander Reed Kelly. | 2,210 |
TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Germany has no plans to establish diplomatic relations with Taiwan, but it is mulling ways to expand ties with the island nation, said a German foreign ministry official at a public hearing at Germany’s federal parliament on Monday (Dec. 9).
Petra Sigmund, director-general for Asia and the Pacific, said Germany has adhered to the “one China” policy since it forged formal relations with China in 1972. The policy, which has also been adopted by most of the world, including the European Union, rules out the possibility of establishing ties with Taiwan, and the German government has no intention to reverse course, she said.
Sigmund referred to Taiwan as a “partner” for Germany based on such shared values as democracy and freedom. She added that Germany is planning to expand its relations with Taiwan, as it values the multiple exchanges it has had with the island in the areas of trade, culture, and academics.
The hearing at the Bundestag was brought about by a petition requesting that the German government recognize Taiwan as an independent state and formalize the relations between the two countries. It was participated in by German foreign ministry officials and parliamentarians, reported CNA. Taiwan’s representative to Germany Shieh Jhy-wey (謝志偉) also attended the event.
Michael Kreuzberg, the German citizen who launched the petition that collected more than 50,000 signatures within one month, said at the hearing he had undertaken the initiative out of concern that democratic Taiwan would be annexed to China’s authoritarian regime. He urged Germany to recognize Taiwan as an independent state, contending that it was the moral responsibility of western countries to ensure Taiwan’s security.
Fuh Pey-fen (傅佩芬), a Frankfurt-based Taiwanese lawyer who represented the petitioners, described Germany’s approach toward China as being “obsolete.” Its policy has not stimulated China’s democratization, she noted, calling on the German authorities to regard Taiwan as an innovative and strategic partner that shares democratic values.
Kreuzberg later told CNA that he had known the petition would not drive Germany to change its policy, but he noted that the Taiwan issue has drawn unprecedented levels of attention in German society lately, partly due to the petition and also because of China’s tightening grip on Hong Kong and Xinjiang. He added that he plans to make the same case to the EU. | 2,211 |
Starbucks to Track Its Coffee Products Using Microsoft’s Blockchain
May,6, 2019 Founded is Seattle, Starbucks is an American coffee company and coffeehouse chain that operates over 30,000 locations worldwide. From way back in time, Starbucks has closely managed its
May,6, 2019
Founded is Seattle, Starbucks is an American coffee company and coffeehouse chain that operates over 30,000 locations worldwide. From way back in time, Starbucks has closely managed its supply chain sector, and even today, the company continues to look for ways to efficiently manage and control the sector so as to improve its operability.
“We have a world-class team of technologists engaging in groundbreaking innovation each day. Their inventiveness and intellectual curiosity are matched by their dedication to enabling the Starbucks experience, and this is increasingly critical to how technology has to show up for us,” says Gerri Martin-Flickinger, Starbucks executive vice president and chief technology officer.
Starbucks Partners with Microsoft
The international coffee giant is moving to give customers more information on its coffee products using a blockchain-based system that will track the coffee beans all the way from the farm, to the coffee cups. To achieve this, the coffee company is working with Microsoft to harness its Azure Blockchain Service it tracking coffee shipments globally. This merger makes it easy for Starbucks to trace its supply chains.
‘’Everything we do in technology is centred around the customer connection in the store, the human connection, one person, one cup, one neighbourhood at a time,” says Gerri.
The Bean to Cup program
With the partnership, Starbucks will implement Microsoft’s blockchain onto its platform and in return provide a more personal and seamless customer experience in all its stores. Microsoft’s blockchain will record every single change that takes place along the journey (from bean to cup) on a shared ledger, so as to provide a more transparent and traceable supply chain.
“This kind of transparency offers customers the chance to see that the coffee they enjoy from us is the result of many people caring deeply,” said Michelle Burns, SVP of Global Coffee & Tea at Starbucks.
Also, with Microsoft’s blockchain on board, Starbucks will be able to bring a new feature to its mobile app, giving customers detailed information on where the coffee was sourced from, roasted, and the tasting notes as well. Starbucks is also quite optimistic that the technology will also benefit growers by providing them with data such as where their coffee beans end up. | 2,212 |
�s Lucy Bronze, widely recognised as the best defender in world, missed out on the main award to Rapinoe, but was proud to be representing English football at the awards. “The whole England team is improving, the fact that we made three consecutive semi-finals is a good reason for that,” said Bronze, who was named in the women’s Best XI of the year. “Teams grow and we’ve got a lot of talent. I know Kelly Smith has been to these kind of events before and in the future we’re going to have more and more England players, I hope so anyway.”
The England manager, Phil Neville, agreed. “That’s what I’m proud of,” he said. “Jill Scott, Steph Houghton, Ellen White, they deserve to be at awards of this type after a fantastic World Cup and we’ve got players at the top of the game.”
On her manager’s belief that she should lift the trophy, Bronze said: “I can imagine. I know what he’s like, I’m happy to be here and I’m happy to be in the top three after such an up-and-down season. A good season with Lyon, we won a lot, and then the World Cup was heartbreaking but I think that’s why the other two had more of a chance.”
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Jill Ellis collected the women’s coach of the year award following her second successive World Cup-winning campaign with the US women’s national team. The 53-year-old has announced she is stepping aside to take an ambassador role with US Soccer and Neville was full of praise for his semi-final opponent: “When you win a World Cup, I think you should win the top award and I’m glad everyone has voted for her like I did.”
Ellis said, on collecting her award: “What a ride. I want to thank Phil Neville and Sarina Wiegman for making my job hard. The World Cup really was a showcase. I think the world fell in love with our game.”
The former Arsenal goalkeeper Sari van Veenendaal, who joined the Spanish champions, Atlético Madrid, after her World Cup heroics for the Netherlands, collected the inaugural women’s goalkeeper of the year award. | 2,213 |
Chuma Okeke’s shot technique, which is excellent, draws comparisons to seven-time NBA champion Robert Horry, who just so happened to play at Okeke’s rival in-state school, Alabama, years ago. The 6-foot-8, 230-pounder from Auburn made 38.9 percent of his 3-point attempts during his two years in college. With a 7-foot wingspan, Okeke can shoot over most defenders. He’s also a very good spot-up shooter.
Maybe the best thing about Okeke is that he’s position-less, which makes him a versatile player on both ends of the floor. He’s very good defending in space. In Auburn’s game against Murray State this past season, there were a couple possessions where Okeke was switched onto Ja Morant, the No. 2 pick in this year’s draft, and he did a good job staying between Memphis’ new electrifying point guard and the basket.
What’s Okeke’s most underrated quality? It might be his court vision. Three times during his sophomore season, which ended when he tore his ACL in Auburn’s Sweet 16 win against North Carolina, the 20-year-old dished out five assists. Either when he posts up or when he faces the hoop, Okeke generally makes good decisions, which helps explain why he averaged only 1.3 turnovers during his time with the Tigers.
If not for the ACL tear, Okeke would have likely been a lottery pick. Why? He’s very polished for his age. The belief with Okeke is that, although he’s far from being a finished product, he would have been able to contribute right away if not for the injury. The Atlanta native, who was named Mr. Georgia Basketball in 2017, moves really well without the ball, which makes him a terrific stretch four because he knows exactly where to go to spot up.
Even though he’s not super explosive, Okeke uses his high basketball IQ and craftiness to score. The former four-star recruit, who shot nearly 58 percent inside the arc this past season, displayed excellent footwork when he posted up and he’s capable of scoring off the dribble, despite not having supreme athleticism. Before injuring his knee midway through the second half against UNC, Okeke was having a remarkable night, going for 20 points on 8-of-11 shooting from the field. | 2,214 |
people (especially trans women of color) are more likely to experience violence, joblessness, homelessness, and mental health issues. However, the focus on these and only these issues is taking major tolls in the community. The dominant voice in the community is one not only of societal suffering, but also personal suffering. It's an idea we are passing to our children, both literally and figuratively.
These are the stories we are telling trans* people who are just finding themselves. These are the stories we are giving our children to look forward to. We are telling those who will come after us that they only have pain to look forward to. This is unacceptable.
While there will be pain, there will also be happiness. There is the possibility for success. There is the possibility for a life well lived. We need these stories alongside the stories of the negative. There needs to be a balance. There needs to be sun, at least even occasionally, through the rain clouds.
Understandably, without rain there cannot be a rainbow, but we need at least a little sun for that to be possible.
While women like Janet Mock, Laverne Cox, and Carmen Carrera are slowly changing this dialogue, we need more. No more defining ourselves via negativity. No more requiring self-hatred. No more requiring suffering. Dysphoria is something that some of us experience, but not all.
Requiring dysphoria to be trans* is requiring pain to be trans*. We are not molded merely by our suffering. We are molded by so much more. Someone being in love with their body does not discredit the pain someone else feels about their own. This pain is no less valid, it is no less traumatizing, but it is not a defining factor of the trans* experience.
Our lives are worth so much more than pain. Our stories are filled with so much more than suffering. Our trans* identities are so much more varying and unique than the harsh and shrill cry we are giving them. There is so much more depth to our existences. So much more depth to the lives we lead. We need to start doing ourselves the love we deserve.
LUCIAN CLARK is a non-binary queer writer and advocate born and raised in Southern New Jersey. His work as been featured on In Our Words Blog and the Quail Pipe as well as his own website Gender Terror.
Editor's Note: "trans*" is a term that is meant to be inclusive of all non-cisgender people within the gender identity spectrum. | 2,215 |
The arrival of Russian military planes in Venezuela in March 2019 spurred harsh criticism from the US, who has accused Moscow of destabilizing the situation in the Latin American state currently engulfed in a political crisis. Russia, for its part, has recalled that its planes arrived under a bilateral agreement with Caracas.
The US has called on the international community to deny Russian planes flying to Venezuela a right of passage through their airspace, following the example of such a move by Malta. Ortagus said that such a decision could help stop Russian support for the country’s President Nicolas Maduro.
We applaud the government of #Malta for refusing to allow Russian planes to use its airspace to supply the brutal former regime in #Venezuela. We call on all countries to follow Malta’s example to stop the Kremlin’s support for the dictator Maduro. #EstamosUnidosVE @MFAMalta — Morgan Ortagus (@statedeptspox) April 19, 2019
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova earlier stated that Malta had refused to provide a green light for the passage of two Russian planes carrying cargo and personnel to Venezuela. The spokeswoman noted that Malta didn’t provide any reason for denying it and added that Moscow will take this fact into consideration in its bilateral relations with the island nation.
Which swamp creatures will flip on the deep state now that their plan to take down President Trump is being revealed to the American people?
Venezuela has been engulfed in a political crisis, which took another turn after opposition figure, Juan Guaido proclaimed himself the country’s interim president. The move was immediately supported by the US and most western states, but was harshly criticized by Russia, Turkey, China, and many other countries. They expressed their support for the constitutionally elected president, Nicolas Maduro.
Washington has lambasted Moscow’s support for the president and specifically the arrival of Russian planes carrying military personnel in March 2019. The US called their arrival an “unwelcomed provocation”. At the same time, Moscow said that its military personnel had arrived to carry out maintenance on Russian military tech under a bilateral agreement with Caracas.
Whenever an outsider becomes influential in society, the establishment is eager to attack them in order to keep control. Dr. Nick Begich breaks down exactly what is going on with the fake news smears against President Trump, Infowars, and other patriots world wide.
The Emergency Election Sale is now live! Get 30% to 60% off our most popular products today! | 2,216 |
New Delhi: India has a strong reservation over the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a flagship project of China's prestigious 'Belt and the Road Initiative' (BRI) and is expected to figure prominently in the two-day meet of China’s Belt and Road forum which begins on Sunday.A clear indication of that came from an official statement issued on Saturday which said “India cannot accept a project that ignores its core concern on sovereignty and territorial integrity”.The CPEC passes through Gilgit and Baltistan of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). India treats the entire state of Jammu and Kashmir as its integral part, including the PoK."Guided by our principled position in the matter, we have been urging China to engage in a meaningful dialogue on its connectivity initiative, One Belt, One Road which was later renamed as Belt and Road Initiative. We are awaiting a positive response from the Chinese side," External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Gopal Baglay said in a statement.He added saying, "Regarding the so-called China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, which is being projected as the flagship project of the BRI/OBOR, the international community is well aware of India’s position. No country can accept a project that ignores its core concerns on sovereignty and territorial integrity”.Noting that India has received a formal invitation to participate in the six separate forums that China is organising as part of the BRF, he said India is of firm belief that connectivity initiatives must be based on universally recognised international norms, good governance, rule of law, openness, transparency and equality."Connectivity initiatives must follow principles of financial responsibility to avoid projects that would create unsustainable debt burden for communities; balanced ecological and environmental protection and preservation standards; transparent assessment of project costs; and skill and technology transfer to help long-term running and maintenance of the assets created by local communities," Baglay said.Asserting that India shares international community’s desire for enhancing physical connectivity, the ministry said it believes that it should bring greater economic benefits to all in an equitable and balanced manner.The spokesperson also noted that India was working with many countries and international institutions in support of physical and digital connectivity in its immediate and near neighbourhood.India also asserted that connectivity initiatives should follow principles of balanced ecological and environmental protection and preservation standards; transparent assessment of project costs; and skill and technology transfer to help long-term running and maintenance of the assets created by local communities.China, too, protested India’s decision to permit the Dalai Lama last month to visit Arunachal Pradesh, which Beijing claims as South Tibet. | 2,217 |
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Destinia, a major cryptocurrency-accepting travel booking service, has added Dash as a payment option for a limited selection of flights and services.
Bitcoin-friendly travel agency Destinia now accepts ETH, EOS, and more … incl Dashhttps://t.co/W3qgndkCKn — DASH (@Dashpay) October 8, 2019
Originally reported by Spanish publication MuyPymes, travel booking site Destinia has added several cryptocurrencies, including Dash, to its list of accepted payment methods. However, only certain flights and
services are available for purchase with Dash, and there is no option to explicitly search for that purchase option, as Destinia informed Dash News:
“I inform you that each flight has its methods of payment, if the option you want does not come out, that is, you cannot pay such flight with this method of payment. Kindly note that in this case there is no way to filter by payment method as availability varies greatly. What we can tell you is that as a general rule flights that are in less than 48 hours do not usually let pay with crypto currencies and low cost airlines do not usually let either.”
Destinia reportedly began accepting cryptocurrency payments in 2014, beginning with Bitcoin, and only recently expanded to other options.
Expedia’s cautionary tale of formerly accepting Bitcoin
Destinia’s foray into accepting cryptocurrency for travel draws parallels to key competitor Expedia. Also around the same time in 2014, Expedia began accepting Bitcoin payments for flights and other travel services, which ran until 2018. However, similar to Destinia, the service only accepted cryptocurrencies for select flights, with no indication of which payment methods were accepted prior to checkout, and also with no option to filter offerings by supported payment method. This may well have limited the project’s success in generating a significant amount of business in cryptocurrecy payments, and may also apply to the Destinia case as well.
Dash’s travel options have surged
In addition to Destinia, several other cryptocurrency travel options exist for Dash users with more explicit support. Travel booking site XcelTrip integrated Dash last month. At the end of last year Travala integrated Dash for booking travel lodging as well, including a Dash-back discount, and served as the official travel partner for the Dash Convention Europe. CheapAir.com has long served as a go-to for the Dash community, accepting Dash for airfare, lodging, vehicle rentals, and more. | 2,218 |
The newfound asteroid 2016 HO3 has an orbit around the sun that keeps it as a constant companion of Earth.
It seems the moon is not Earth's only cosmic companion.
The newly discovered asteroid 2016 HO3 orbits the sun in such a way that the space rock never strays too far from Earth, making it a "quasi-satellite" of our planet, scientists say.
"One other asteroid — 2003 YN107 — followed a similar orbital pattern for a while over 10 years ago, but it has since departed our vicinity," Paul Chodas, manager of NASA's Center for Near-Earth Object Studies at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, said in a statement Wednesday (June 15).
"This new asteroid is much more locked onto us," Chodas added. "Our calculations indicate 2016 HO3 has been a stable quasi-satellite of Earth for almost a century, and it will continue to follow this pattern as Earth's companion for centuries to come."
Indeed, 2016 HO3 is the best example of an Earth quasi-satellite ever found, scientists said.
The asteroid was discovered on April 27 by scientists using the Pan-STARRS 1 survey telescope in Hawaii. 2016 HO3's exact size is unknown, but researchers think it's between 130 feet and 330 feet wide (40 to 100 meters).
The newfound asteroid 2016 HO3 has an orbit around the sun that keeps it as a constant companion of Earth. (Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech )
As the space rock circles the sun, it loops around Earth as well, zooming ahead of the planet half of the time and trailing behind the other half, NASA officials said. 2016 HO3's orbit is tilted slightly relative to that of Earth, so the asteroid also bobs up and down through our planet's orbital plane.
The path of 2016 HO3 tends to twist and drift over time, but Earth's gravitational pull keeps the asteroid contained: It never comes closer than 9 million miles (14.5 million kilometers) to our planet, and it never gets more than 24 million miles (38.6 million km) away, researchers said.
"In effect, this small asteroid is caught in a little dance with Earth," Chodas said.
This dance is not dangerous: 2016 HO3 poses no threat to the planet, NASA officials said.
Follow Mike Wall on Twitter @michaeldwall and Google+. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook or Google+. Originally published on Space.com. | 2,219 |
Nigerian and Chadian jets are bombing Boko Haram out of a slew of northeastern Nigerian towns and villages, witnesses and officials said Wednesday. It is the first major offensive against the Islamic extremists whose insurgency is spreading across borders.
The successful operations come as African Union officials meet in Cameroon to finalize a mandate for a 7,500-strong multinational force to confront the extremists who in recent months have seized more than 130 towns and villages across three of Nigeria's northeastern states bordering Cameroon, Chad and Niger. Boko Haram has held many of the towns for months, some since August.
Satellite images show the town of Baga and Doron Baga before and after a Boko Haram attack earlier in January. More than 3,700 structures were damaged or completely destroyed in the area. Image: Human Rights Human
The visualization below shows the geographical expansion of the group, showing the locations of attacks in Nigeria increasing overtime from Jan. 2010 to Jan. 2015.
Nigerian jets started bombing Monday in the Sambisa Forest, where the extremists have camps and first took nearly 300 kidnapped schoolgirls last April, witnesses said.
"At night we hear distant sounds of explosions," Bulama Danbayo said by telephone from Madagali town in Adamawa state. "We were all terrified but some of the soldiers stationed here told us not to be worried, that it was soldiers that commenced bombardment of Sambisa Forest."
Chad's army said in a statement that its troops were attacked Tuesday in Cameroon by Boko Haram.
"Our valiant forces responded vigorously, a chase was immediately instituted all the way to their base at Gamboru and Ngala (in Nigeria), where they were completely wiped out."
View Larger Map
More than 200 extremists were killed for the loss of nine Chadian troops, it said.
Nigeria's spokesman on the insurgency, Mike Omeri, said the twin towns were recaptured but gave no credit to Chadian forces.
In a statement Tuesday, Omeri said Nigerian forces this week have "liberated from Boko Haram presence" more than a dozen northeastern towns.
The Defense Ministry spokesman, Brig. Gen. Chris Olukolade, said the presence of foreign troops on Nigerian soil in no way compromises the sovereignty of the West African nation. Nigerian forces have been unable to curb the uprising without foreign help.
Nigeria is Africa's most populous nation of some 170 million people as well as the continent's biggest economy and biggest oil producer.
Additional reporting by Mashable staff | 2,220 |
Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.) introduced a bill Tuesday aimed at barring the United States from sharing intelligence with any countries that permit Huawei to operate their 5G networks.
“Huawei is a Trojan Horse for the Chinese Communist Party to spy on and infiltrate other nations. Our allies must choose: Adopt Huawei and lose access to U.S. intelligence, or remain our trusted partner,” Banks said in a statement.
The legislation comes after the Department of Commerce placed the Chinese telecommunications giant on its blacklist last spring, preventing U.S. firms from working with Huawei without first obtaining a permit.
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Proponents of the new bill — which include Rep. Liz Cheney Elizabeth (Liz) Lynn CheneyOVERNIGHT ENERGY: Cheney asks DOJ to probe environmental groups | Kudlow: 'No sector worse hurt than energy' during pandemic | Trump pledges 'no politics' in Pebble Mine review Cheney asks DOJ to probe environmental groups Press: The big no-show at the RNC MORE (R-Wyo.) — argue that it's a necessary step to prevent the Chinese government from spying on the country, saying the company poses a risk to U.S. national security.
Cheney, a member of the House Armed Services Committee, also called on the United Kingdom to refrain from doing business with the telecommunications company, arguing it could strain relations between Washington and London.
“Huawei is controlled by the Chinese Communist Party and its efforts to infiltrate 5G are nefarious at their core. Allowing Huawei into the U.K.’s 5G networks would pose a national security threat that could not be mitigated or contained. Such a decision would necessarily have negative consequences for the U.S./U.K. relationship in many areas, including trade and intelligence cooperation,” she said in a statement in support of the measure.
"I hope that the U.K. unites with the U.S. and other allies against the threat from Huawei," she added. "However, the U.S. must always be prepared to protect its national security interests.”
The United Kingdom is expected to announce whether it will use Huawei in its 5G networks in coming weeks.
Sen. Tom Cotton Tom Bryant CottonRenewed focus on Trump's Supreme Court list after Ginsburg's death Republicans call for DOJ to prosecute Netflix executives for releasing 'Cuties' Loeffler calls for hearing in wake of Netflix's 'Cuties' MORE (R-Ark.) recently introduced companion legislation in the Senate. | 2,221 |
The deployment of a Navy carrier strike group – along with a bomber task force – designed to offset what the national security adviser said Sunday was a new threat from Iran had been previously planned, the Navy's top officer said Monday.
"The Abraham Lincoln Strike Group was planned to deploy for some time now," Chief of Naval Operations Navy Adm. John Richardson said at the annual Sea Air Space conference taking place just outside Washington this week.
Richardson described the deployment of the Lincoln, along with its support ships and tactical aircraft aboard the carrier, which were previously staged to participate in operations in Europe, as "a dynamic force deployment."
"They're designed to move around the globe very fuildly in response to changing security situations," he said, "if the dynamic changes and national leadership requires or requests that force package to go to a different theater."
National security adviser John Bolton announced the deployment of the strike group Sunday night as well as a separate bomber task force to the Middle East "to send a clear and unmistakable message to the Iranian regime that any attack on the United States interests or on those of our allies will be met with unrelenting force."
In a statement, Bolton described "a number of troubling and escalatory indications and warnings" by regime in Tehran and its proxy forces in the region, but did not offer any specifics.
When asked by a reporter for specifics about the security situation on Monday, Richardson deferred to Bolton's remarks. In a tweet following his formal remarks, Richardson clarified that the decision to move the Lincoln into the region came at the direction of Bolton and the secretary of defense.
The Photos You Should See – April 2019 View All 57 Images
The deployment comes at a time of high tension between the Iranian regime and the Trump administration. The White House took the unprecedented step of designating the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps a terrorist group last month, and Tehran responded with a similar designation for all U.S. forces operating in the Middle East.
More recently, the Trump administration began reenforcing sanctions on partner countries and other world powers that had begun purchasing Iranian oil as a part of the 2015 nuclear deal brokered by the Obama administration. The White House has indicated it wishes to dismantle that agreement. Foreign ministers representing the U.K., France, Germany and the EU took the unusual step over the weekend of publicly criticizing the U.S. decision "with regret and concern," noting that Tehran continues to abide by the terms of the deal.
Bolton is among the most hawkish members of Trump's Cabinet with regard to Iran. | 2,222 |
It’s difficult when something looks so good, so polished, but is completely hollow, without edge or substance.Gangster Squad, the latest suspicious package from the Hollywood’s Gangster Fetishisation Bureau, will come and go. It’s successful in that it provides a reason to sit indoors, away from the snow outside, but not much more. (In my review of Gangster Squad‘s source material, I said that it would make a better film than book. I was wrong.)
The insult is compounded by the all-star cast, relegated to playing extras from Who Framed Roger Rabbit. Big marquee names – Gosling, Stone, Nolte, Brolin, Ribisi – playing two dimensional shotgun racks that spout lines of period dialogue that sound so forced and completely false that it’s difficult not to burst out laughing. At one point, an actual human being gathers together enough sentience to form their mouth and say, without irony, “You know the drill” before presenting an actual drill. It’s been said before, in other reviews, but it bears repeating. An Actual Drill.
It’s more of the “cops breaking the law to get the baddies” sub-genre that Hollywood absolutely loves. There’s never any tricky ethical questions to be asked, nor any signs of contrition underpinning the questionable action we see onscreen. The cops are all salt of the earth guys, either ex-army vets or hero cops, and the gangsters are all slimy, greasy, with either a speech impediment or some other sort of “baddie signifier” needed by audiences as stupid as us.
The only person to really escape the turgidity is Giovanni Ribisi, who brings his typically quirky, chirpy, twitchy charm to a role that is far, far beneath him, playing Keeler, the “bug guy”. Keeler was over six feet tall in real life, so Ribisi playing him must literally have been a stretch.
It’s all so po-faced and seriously played with none of the weight that such an attitude requires. It has none of the heft of The Untouchables, none of the fun of Bugsy Malone, or even Mobsters. When the best thing about your film is the Jay-Z song that pops up in the trailer, then you’ve got problems, son. 99 of them.
Written by Rob Batchelor | 2,223 |
to be a pitcher with a real idea of how to hit. It’s a part of his job he takes seriously, which is already enough to distinguish him from many of his peers.
Brault takes hitting seriously because he’s been good at it. In his last year as a two-way player at Regis University, he batted.397, with a team-low 5% strikeout rate. Over three summers in the collegiate Northwoods League, he batted.329. And when Brault had the rare opportunity to hit in the minors, he batted.419, which is to say, he went 13-for-31. He does have seven minor-league strikeouts, but, we don’t care much for minor-league stats when we’re talking about major-league performance. Brault hasn’t gone down on strikes in the majors. It doesn’t matter how small the sample is. Avoiding major-league strikeouts over any sample is an accomplishment.
According to Brault, more than anything, he just wants to make sure he’s enough of a threat that the pitcher can’t relax. And there’s evidence now that Brault has forced his opponents to give him a second thought. In Brault’s first two years, he saw 87% fastballs, and he saw fastballs for every single first pitch. In this year’s limited sample, Brault has seen only 56% fastballs, and he’s seen his first handful of first-pitch offspeed deliveries. Brault has made pitchers treat him like he isn’t just any other pitcher. You could say it took two years, but really, it took 22 plate appearances. By then, Brault had made enough of an impression.
Recently, the Pirates demoted Brault to their bullpen. What that means is that, until or unless Brault returns to the rotation, he won’t be batting multiple times a game. He might not be batting at all. On the other hand, Brault has shown the Pirates enough that he’s been used as a pinch-hitter on two separate occasions. It’s an option the coaching staff will have. Until at least Brault’s next plate appearance, the contact streak will live on. He hasn’t struck out, even though he takes some real swings. You might think it sounds so simple, but, no one else is doing it. For now, it’s only Steven Brault. | 2,224 |
New York Times columnist and MSNBC contributor Michelle Goldberg has a novel theory about Trump supporters: “Maybe They’re Just Bad People.”
That’s the title of her latest column for the Times, in which Goldberg speculates that the energy spent by liberal political analysts trying to explain why intelligent people would support, or work with, President Donald Trump may be wasted, since the simplest explanation — one that may fit the prejudices of Times readers — is that they are just evil.
Goldberg begins her column with a story about an aide to Christian activist Ralph Reed “performing oral sex on a future member of the George W. Bush administration during the 2000 primary.”
Having suitably demeaned Trump aides and supporters with that “slut-shaming” anecdote, Goldberg extends the analogy to those in President Donald Trump’s political circle (original links):
Trump is hardly the first politician to attract self-serving followers … But Trump is unique as a magnet for grifters, climbers and self-promoters, in part because decent people won’t associate with him. With the exception of national security professionals sticking around to stop Trump from blowing up the world, there are two kinds of people in the president’s orbit — the immoral and the amoral. … In many ways, the insincere Trumpists are the most frustrating. Because they don’t really believe in Trump’s belligerent nationalism and racist conspiracy theories, we keep expecting them to feel shame or remorse. But they’re not insincere because they believe in something better than Trumpism. Rather, they believe in very little. They are transactional in a way that makes no psychological sense to those of us who see politics as a moral drama; they might as well all be wearing jackets saying, “I really don’t care, do u?” … Senator Lindsey Graham, another insincere Trumpist, once justified his sycophantic relationship with the president by saying, “If you knew anything about me, I want to be relevant.” Some people would rather be on the wrong side than on the outside.
Read the full column here.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. He is also the co-author of How Trump Won: The Inside Story of a Revolution, which is available from Regnery. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak. | 2,225 |
and I actually met at the dungeon’s game night, where a bunch of kinky nerds gathered to play geeky board games like Settlers of Catan and Dominion. When I walked into the lounge that evening, I noticed this totally cute guy on the couch perusing a fetish book he’d retrieved from the dungeon’s library. Feeling cheeky, I sat myself down and struck up a conversation. Next thing I knew, we were swapping numbers.
After a few weeks of hanging out both in and out of the dungeon, Trevor and I went on a hike and talked about everything from dark matter, parallel universes and aliens to evolution, God and Kevin Smith. That’s when I knew we were going to be more than just a passing fancy and here we are, a year and a half later, and because my nonkinky friends have been amazingly hospitable, I could confidently share with them the truth about how Trevor and I met, while sticking to our cover story for the vanillas in our lives.
Yeah, it can be wearing, this balancing act of ours, but what I find more wearing are the wink-winks and cougar jokes I sometimes get when people learn about our age difference. I have to admit it really irks me as I feel some of these “good-humored” remarks minimize one of the most substantive relationships I’ve ever had. I am fully aware he’s closer to my daughter’s age than mine. I don’t need anyone to remind me. Thankfully, my friends and, more importantly, my daughter, only care that I’m happy and have welcomed Trevor with open arms.
It’s funny. For all the books read and spiritual awakenings had and indispensable life lessons learned previous to turning 50, exploring BDSM and the broader spectrum of kink these past four years has opened me up in ways I never imagined. I’m more adventurous and willing to try new things. My conventional thinking about sex and relationships has evolved. I readily embrace others for who they are, without judgment, no matter their sexual orientation or gender identification. Because BDSM requires tons of negotiating and advocating, I’m so much better at communicating in general. Setting boundaries is no longer a problem for me.
Most of all, I’m having the time of my life.
Do you have a compelling personal story you’d like to see published on HuffPost? Find out what we’re looking for here and send us a pitch! | 2,226 |
A supporter of President Trump claims that Mike Ness, lead singer of the rock band Social Distortion, spat on him and repeatedly punched him in the head after he protested Ness's criticism of the president at a concert.
The confrontation allegedly took place July 17 at a show in Sacramento, Calif., when concertgoer Tim Hildebrand, 30, held up his middle finger to convey his disagreement with Ness.
The 56-year-old lead singer was “badmouthing President Trump and America,” Hildebrand told CBS 13 Sacramento.
“I pretty much said, 'I paid for your music, not your politics,'” Hildebrand told the station. “I stood pretty much with my silent protest with my middle finger up for the next two songs.”
“I pretty much said, 'I paid for your music, not your politics.' I stood pretty much with my silent protest with my middle finger up for the next two songs.” — Tim Hildebrand, supporter of President Trump
But Ness didn’t seem to take kindly to Hildebrand’s nonverbal expression. Cellphone video appears to show the lead singer motioning toward a fan in the crowd, before removing his guitar and jumping off stage. He then repeatedly throws punches for a brief moment until the camera cuts out.
Hildebrand, a Republican, said Ness took “his guitar off, jumps off the stage and proceeds to punch me multiple times in the head.”
He told the station that the singer spat in his face and that the two argued before Ness attacked him, resulting in two black eyes, a busted lip and a concussion.
“I wasn’t able to defend myself because people in the crowd were holding me back,” he said.
Security dragged Hildebrand out of the venue, where he met with officers and filed a police report, according to the station.
Sacramento police said they were investigating the incident, the station reported.
Hildebrand told the New York Times that he wasn’t the only fan to express displeasure with Ness’ political statements during the concert, as others walked out and yelled expletives toward the stage.
“If you can speak your mind but you can’t take a response or rebuttal,” he told the paper, “it shows a lot about your character.”
Social Distortion did not immediately return Fox News’ request for comment. | 2,227 |
It wouldn’t be unfair to label Kevin Lee as one of the UFC’s loudmouth fighters, would it? That’s not to speak negatively of “The Motown Phenom,” only an observation that the young, brash lightweight contender likes the spotlight. He likes to talk.
But have you noticed something different lately? Lee has been awfully quiet on social media.
His last tweet? Oct. 7 to talk a little trash about Tony Ferguson.
His last <a href=" So what gives? The 26-year-old Lee addressed his social media silence during a recent appearance on Submission Radio:
“Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, the whole shebang, I kind of shied away from most of it. Even a lot of media I haven’t been doing, just because at the end of the day, what I do is more important to me. You know, like my craft, my skills, being able to work on that. I felt like some things, especially on social media, were starting to be too big of a distraction. I’m keeping my eyes on the prize. I’m the youngest guy in the top 10 for a reason, and I’m going to be around for a long, long time. I’m not one of these guys that’s going to get to the top and only stay there for a year, a year-and-a-half or whatever. I’m staying there for a long time. And in order to do that, I have to have my craft underneath me. I’ve been focusing on what I do. And when I show up on December 15th, you’re going to see all the work, and it’s going be worth missing a couple of tweets.”
Iaquinta, who defeated Lee in their first at UFC 169 in 2014, recently gave Lee credit for evolving and maturing as a fighter. As a person, though? Not so much.
But perhaps Lee’s conscious decision to block out the distraction of social media speaks to the contrary.
For more on UFC on FOX 31, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.
The Blue Corner is MMAjunkie’s blog space. We don’t take it overly seriously, and neither should you. If you come complaining to us that something you read here is not hard-hitting news, expect to have the previous sentence repeated in ALL CAPS. | 2,228 |
The US promised to "gradually reduce" its presence in Iraq in February after Baghdad declared victory over Daesh (ISIS)* last December, but has declined to withdraw its contingent from the country. In August, the US-led coalition said the estimated 5,200 US troops in Iraq would stay in the country "as long as needed."
Iraqi lawmakers have urged Washington to end what they consider its illegal military presence in their country.
Speaking to Iran's Press TV on Friday, Council of Representatives MP Amer al-Shebli argued that continued US presence was "a violation of the Iraqi sovereignty."
"After ending terrorism, the previous parliament should have taken a serious action to force all foreign forces to leave Iraq," al-Shebli said.
"The presence of US forces in Iraq is illegal," fellow lawmaker Adnan al-Assadi added. "As a member of the parliament's Security Committee, we voice our concern over the presence of the US military and the constant increase in the number of the soldiers. They have thousands of soldiers here. Yet the government says they are advisors," he noted.
"Sovereignty is the most valuable asset in any nation," legislator Kadhim al-Sayadi said. "The sacrifices of the Iraqi people in their fight against Daesh show how important their country's sovereignty is for them. Today, no country will allow foreign military bases on its land."
Other lawmakers said that the US could maintain a military presence in Iraq, but only if it reached agreement with Iraq's parliament and government first.
"The presence of any foreign forces inside Iraq can only be done through agreements with the Iraqi government, and these agreement cannot be passed without the approval of the parliament," Kurdish Democratic Party lawmaker Diar Barawri said.
The United States invaded Iraq in 2003 on the pretext of finding and destroying the country's weapons of mass destruction. The weapons were never found, and the US withdrew from the country in 2011 following a costly occupation and insurgency which led to the deaths of over 4,800 coalition troops and up to a million Iraqis. After the US withdrawal, the pro-US government in Baghdad was overwhelmed by sectarian violence, leading to further casualties and the eventual rise of Daesh, which overran large tracts of western Iraq and eastern Syria and declared a caliphate in 2014. Syrian and Iraqi forces and their allies launched operations to defeat the terrorist group and reclaim their territories. By 2018, Daesh's remnants were confined to a small area of Syria east of the Euphrates River.
*A terrorist group outlawed in Russia and many other countries. | 2,229 |
A slew of Hollywood celebrities launched a coordinated Instagram attack on Ivanka Trump over the so-called “child separation” immigration policy.
Celebrities such as model Alexa Chung, filmmaker Paola Mendoza, and comedienne Amy Schumer have banded together to sponsor a “Dear Ivanka” letter urging the President’s daughter and White House adviser to end the “abuses” of children who have been separated from the illegal alien adults detained after trying to sneak into the country.
Filmmaker Mendoza, who co-founded the social media meme, insisted that Ivanka Trump take action to end the separation policy or “her words are as false as her father’s.”
“The separation of families is a tragedy that Ivanka participated in, and we will not stop shining the light of truth on her no matter how much she wants to hide from it,” Mendoza told Bustle.
The message makes a series of assertions about the separation policy that has been in place at least since the late 1990s, a policy these celebrities never seemed to care much about until Donald Trump became president.
You follow me on social media. You said family separation was a “low point” for you. The low point is for the separated families. You spoke in past tense. This crisis is ongoing. As of now, 572 children have not been reunited. A child has died after separation. Approximately 400 parents have been deported without their children. There have been multiple claims of sexual and physical abuse in detention. There have been psychotropic drugs administered to children in detention without parental consent. These abuses have occurred on your father’s watch and under the leadership of Secretary Nielsen. End these racist, inhumane and unconscionable abuses now! We demand you call for the resignation of Secretary Nielsen!
Of course, this policy was implemented under Bill Clinton and has been carried out under both George W. Bush and Barack Obama, as well, but none of these celebrities were interested in the “abuse” then.
Further, many of these children are not being brought across our border by their “parents,” as Breitbart News has reported. Many are being trafficked as cover for illegals and are not related to the people dragging them from Central America, across Mexico, and into the U.S. One of the reasons this policy was created was to put an end to the enslavement of these innocent children.
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston. | 2,230 |
From its earliest colonial days, New York produced lots of trash.
What wasn’t dumped in the rivers by private carting companies or scavenged by rag-pickers piled up on streets, producing a terrible stench described as “a nasal disaster.“
The image above, by Italian painter Nicolino Calyo, shows trendily dressed Bowery Boys in the 1840s, unfazed by a pig beside them.
In an era before street cleaners and a real sanitation department, the metropolis relied on one tactic: free-roaming pigs, who fed on household food scraps tossed into the gutters.
Swine didn’t just eat trash in poor neighborhoods, like Five Points (above in 1827, with fat sows mixed into the crowds). Pigs could be found on more upscale streets as well.
Charles Dickens made much of their presence when he was touring Broadway in American Notes, a book about his travels in 1842:
“Two portly sows are trotting up behind this carriage, and a select party of half-a-dozen gentlemen hogs have just now turned the corner,” wrote Dickens. “Here is a solitary swine lounging homeward by himself. He has only one ear, having parted with the other to vagrant-dogs in the course of his city rambles.... They are the city scavengers, these pigs.”
In 1849, the city drove thousands of them toward the northern reaches of the city, and by 1860, swine had been banished above 86th Street—where there were still sparsely populated enclaves of shantytowns and rural villages.
By the 1870s, the city stopped dumping refuse in the rivers, and a decade later, the first garbage incinerators are built. In the 1890s, George Waring’s “White Wings” finally cleaned the city up.
Above: no more pigs, but New York still needed horses to cart away trash and ashes, now kept curbside in barrels, as this 1897 Alice Austen photo shows.
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Tags: Alice Austen ash removal cart, Charles Dickens in New York City, Garbage carts 19th century NYC, New York City garbage, Nicolino Calvo, pigs in New York City, scavenger pigs New York Streets, trash removal NYC, White Wings | 2,231 |
, rising unemployment – these festivities comes as divine intervention to pull us above mundane realities even if it’s for a day or two. When the pure devotion in our hearts pulls us to some remote pilgrimage we indirectly might be funding a state whose only revenue might be coming from religious tourism.
On a neutral, unbiased analysis about the relevancy of RELIGION in India as an educated, Indian youth strangely I’m ending up with more pros than cons!
I read in the newspaper recently that the numbers of atheists in America are increasing. It made me wonder why would people want to stop believing in the supreme power, was it because God has been unable to fulfill their wish. I think the explanation might not be that simple, I think in this scenario nothing but a shifting of faith from the unknown to the known. But in order to recognize this divinity within lots of dry & clinical things needs to be taken care of first for example food security, job security, improved medical provisions etcetra, then we will be able to arrive at the top most tier of Self Actualization – as per Abraham Maslow’s Pyramid depicting the Hierarchy of Our Needs.
But since India is still a little far away from these idealized state I think we will have to fast, pray & perform Havaans to fight corruption & scams & whenever our politicians will get shifty in their thrones with the unnecessary inquisitiveness of the common man about soaring food prices, rising unemployment, farmer suicides, rising gap between the rich & poor in our country or their income or about them enjoying their legitimate rights they will quickly bring out the most potent tool from their arsenal. And off course we never shy away from fighting communal riots – by god, & sadly religion will continue to serve every other purpose than what it was intended for by its founders.
But being the eternal optimist I am I would definitely like to believe that there is light at the end of the tunnel! Till then HAVE FAITH!
*Nilantika is a regular writer of Alochonaa. She is the author of the novel‘To The Anya In You. She now lives in the rural part of India as part of her job posting.
** Alochonaa.com is not responsible for any factual mistakes (if any) of this analysis. This analysis further is not necessarily representative of Alochonaa.com’s view. We’re happy to facilitate further evidence-based submissions on this topic. Please send us your submission at [email protected] | 2,232 |
KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysia will begin on October 2 the trial of two women accused of the dramatic killing of the estranged half brother of North Korea’s leader, the High Court said on Friday.
Indonesian Siti Aisyah, 25, and Doan Thi Huong, 28, from Vietnam, are charged with murdering Kim Jong Nam at Kuala Lumpur airport on Feb. 13 by smearing his face with VX, a chemical the United Nations describes as a weapon of mass destruction.
Appearing at the Shah Alam High Court on the outskirts of the capital, Kuala Lumpur, both women were handcuffed and wearing bullet-proof vests over Malay traditional costume, consisting of a floor-length skirt and a blouse.
“We will start in October,” said Judge Azmi Ariffin. “The hearing has been fixed for the second.” Both cases would be tried jointly, with pleas taken at the first hearing, he added.
If convicted, the women could face the death penalty.
Doan smiled during the hearing, but Siti Aisyah was in tears afterwards, with her lawyers seen trying to calm her.
Defense lawyers have warned previously that they feared “trial by ambush”, with police not sharing evidence.
Slideshow ( 3 images )
Prosecutor Muhamad Iskandar Ahmad said the prosecution had given a further 33 documents and CCTV recordings to the defense, and would call between 30 and 40 witnesses, depending on the progress of the trial.
“Having seen the CCTV recordings, I hope the judge will have a better understanding of how the situation took place,” said Gooi Soon Seng, Siti Aisyah’s lawyer, adding that he had asked for a visit to the crime scene during the trial.
Kim was the eldest son of the late North Korean leader Kim Jong Il. His half brother, Kim Jong Un, became North Korean leader when their father died in 2011.
U.S. and South Korean officials say the North Korean regime was behind the murder of Kim, who lived in exile in Macau and had criticized his family’s dynastic rule of North Korea.
North Korea has refused to accept the dead man was Kim Jong Un’s half brother, suggesting instead he died of a heart attack.
Aisyah and Huong have told diplomats from their countries that they believed they were participating in a reality television show prank when they assaulted Kim Jong Nam. | 2,233 |
SPACEPORT AMERICA, New Mexico (Reuters) - The U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) launched and tested a new umbrella-like heat shield on Wednesday, opening the door to landing humans on Mars.
FILE PHOTO: Tourists take pictures of a NASA sign at the Kennedy Space Center visitors complex in Cape Canaveral, Florida April 14, 2010. REUTERS/Carlos Barria
The new technology - dubbed the Adaptable Deployable Entry Placement Technology (ADEPT) - stores like a folded umbrella inside smaller rockets, opening handle-up in space to protect larger payloads as they enter a planet’s atmosphere, said Brandon Smith, NASA’s principal investigator on the project. The shape allows it to protect larger areas than current heat shields.
“At the larger scales, it could be used for something as grand as human Mars explorations, or potentially human cargo landings on Mars,” Smith told Reuters at the Spaceport America launch site, about 50 miles (80 km) north of Las Cruces, New Mexico.
NASA is preparing to send a new rover robotic lander to Mars in 2020 and plans to send human astronauts in 2033. The rover will search for previous signs on life on Mars and demonstrate technology that could help astronauts survive there.
The goal of sending humans to Mars was set in 2010 during the administration of President Barack Obama and was affirmed by President Donald Trump last December.
Before NASA can send humans to Mars, it will need to land a lot of cargo there and the new heat shield could help if it works, Smith said. The system also could also be used with crew capsules, protecting astronauts.
ADEPT, launched with a Spaceloft suborbital rocket made by UP Aerospace, was tested at the spaceport in southern New Mexico. It deployed between 100 and 120 kilometers before opening and making its way back to Earth, landing at White Sands Missile Range.
Data gathered from the test will not be available until the shield is recovered, officials said. The system, once implemented, will allow NASA to send more complex missions to other planets.
“Typically, heat shields are rigid structures, but this one can actually deploy in space,” Smith said. “What that allows you to do is to get around the volume constraints of a typical launch vehicle that are long and slender.”
The new heat shield also can be used to run recoverable experiments in Earth’s upper atmosphere and send probes to Venus, Smith said. | 2,234 |
In an attempt to blatantly thwart the NSA from spying through its router products, Cisco will now ship boxes to vacant addresses to foil the NSA’s efforts and protect their customers.
Since the initial reports of the NSA, was revealed last May. The NSA interception campaign was reported to actively intercept the delivery of Cisco routers and install back-doors before the delivered Cisco routers reached their customers in order to have root access of the routers and actively monitor them. Because of this NSA interception campaign some Cisco customers cannot trust the mail service and now drive up to a distributor to pick up Cisco hardware at the door.
In reaction to the NSA’s interception campaign Cisco will ship to fake identities for its most sensitive customers, in the hope that the NSA’s interceptions are targeted and exposed. Cisco has been pro-active and has inspected their routers for possible embedded spy chips, but to date has not found anything because it necessarily does not know precisely what NSA taps may look like.
According to security chief John Stewart of Cisco
“We ship [boxes] to an address that’s has nothing to do with the customer, and then you have no idea who ultimately it is going to. When customers are truly worried … it causes other issues to make [interception] more difficult in that [agencies] don’t quite know where that router is going so its very hard to target – you’d have to target all of them. There is always going to be inherent risk.”
Borg boss John Chambers of Cisco wrote a letter to US President Barack Obama saying the spying would undermine the global tech industry. But is seems to have fallen on deaf ears.
Mike Burgess, chief security officer for Australia’s dominant telco Telstra, says the carrier is confident it will be able to secure the swelling pools of data the nation’s government will force it to collect under soon-to-be-enacted data retention laws. However, the swelling data pools will turn companies into honeypots for hackers, and staff with access to the databases as prime targets for phishing campaigns.
There was not much clarity over how much data retention will cost the telco, but it would impose a significant monetary overhead and that prompted telcos to write to Federal Attorney General George Brandis and Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull requesting additional government subsidizes.
John Stewart of Cisco points out that hacking groups are likely with sufficient time and effort be successful at targeting systems specifically government mandated data retention databases. Imposing a greater security risk.
And goes on to say | 2,235 |
When not seeking UFOs, To The Stars Academy of Arts and Science will be partnering with the U.S. Army on projects involving energy propulsion, quantum physics and space-time engineering.
A private company that researches UFOs has a new contract with the U.S. government, for developing technologies that could enhance ground vehicles in the military.
To The Stars Academy of Arts and Science (TTSA) was launched in 2017 by former Blink-182 guitarist Tom DeLonge; in December of that year, TTSA became the first company to share videos that showed U.S. Navy pilots interacting with UFOs. It was able to obtain the footage "by leveraging its team's access" to the material, according to the company website. (The videos may not have been officially cleared for public viewing, Live Science reported in September.)
Other divisions at TTSA focus on new technology. On Oct. 17, TTSA representatives announced that the group had entered into a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command, according to a statement.
Related: 7 Things Most Often Mistaken for UFOs
The five-year contract outlines a research collaboration, and the U.S. Army will provide at least $750,000 in support and resources for developing and testing TTSA technologies, Motherboard reported on Oct. 21.
Those technologies could include "inertial mass reduction, mechanical/structural meta materials, electromagnetic meta material wave guides, quantum physics, quantum communications, and beamed energy propulsion," according to the contract.
Alongside TTSA's technology production and theoretical research is an entertainment division that is "at the forefront of socializing the UFO conversation," the company says. TTSA maintains a film archive of UFO sightings, and key TTSA personnel — several of whom previously held U.S. government positions — were featured in the documentary series " Unidentified: Inside America's UFO Investigation," which aired on the History Channel in May.
A U.S. Army representative hailed the new partnership in a statement as "an exciting, non-traditional source for novel materials and transformational technologies."
While the U.S. Army's interest in the project stems from its potential applications toward enhanced military performance, TTSA has other plans for the results of the collaboration, and expects to apply their findings toward "commercialization and public benefit," Steve Justice, TTSA's chief operations officer and Aerospace Division Director, said in the statement.
Whether that includes UFO-related applications, however, remains to be seen. | 2,236 |
Greece bailout: MPs approve new cuts to unblock bailout funds Published duration 22 May 2016 Related Topics Greece debt crisis
image copyright AP image caption Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras (R) and Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos in parliament on Sunday
The Greek parliament has passed new budget cuts and tax rises two days before a eurozone meeting expected to unblock much-needed bailout funds.
The government led by the leftist Syriza coalition passed the widely unpopular bill by 153 votes to 145.
Greece agreed to a third bailout worth €86bn (£67bn; $96bn) last year.
Demonstrators gathered outside parliament on Sunday to protest against the new legislation. Eurozone finance ministers meet in Brussels on Tuesday.
image copyright AFP image caption Protests continued on Sunday outside parliament
The bill also creates a state privatisation fund requested by its eurozone finance ministers.
One Syriza MP, Vassiliki Katrivanou, voted against the fund and a contingency mechanism that will trigger automatic spending cuts if the country fails to meet the targets of the bailout deal.
Greece is trying to negotiate new aid for a debt payment of €3.5bn due in two months' time.
Earlier this month, parliament approved reforms of the pension and income tax system.
'Did hope die?'
"European leaders get the message that Greece is sticking to its promises," Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras was quoted as saying by AFP news agency before the vote on Sunday. "Now, it's their turn."
"No one in Greece will remain unaffected by the typhoon of the new measures," Kyriakos Mitsotakis, the leader of the New Democracy conservative opposition party said. "Employment is punished, property is prosecuted."
Syriza came to power in the course of two elections last year, first in January on an anti-austerity platform and then in September, after accepting tough conditions for the third bailout.
Reflecting a mood of despondency among many Greeks on Sunday, Elias Toumasatos, a teacher on the island of Cephalonia, told BBC News: "As a Greek citizen, I feel my only strength left is just to be prepared for new cuts and measures. Call it despair.
"Syriza's motto for Jan 2015 elections was 'Hope is coming'. Now people feel totally hopeless. Did hope die on its way here?"
As protesters demonstrated in Athens, a public transport strike continued in protest at the reforms. | 2,237 |
Graeme Souness has hit out at Manchester United despite Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's side managing to take a point away to Sheffield United in a dramatic encounter.
The game finished 3-3 at Bramall Lane, with Sheffield United having established a two-goal lead courtesy of efforts from John Fleck and Lys Mousset.
United, unexpectedly, pulled a goal back through Brandon Williams in the 72nd minute, with Mason Greenwood and Marcus Rashford also getting on the scoresheet.
Graeme Souness has criticised Manchester United after their draw against Sheffield United
However, Sheffield United secured a point courtesy of Oil McBurnie's late goal.
Despite only taking a point from the game, Solskjaer was delighted with his side's response to going two goals down. Souness, though, disagreed, saying that United 'turned up like a team of big heads'.
Speaking on Sky Sports, Souness said: 'I'm not sure how you can say you deserve to win. I'm not sure what pluses Ole will take from that.
'For me I'd be more worried about the first 70 minutes when we didn't turn up rather than the last 20 minutes.
United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer praised his side's determination after they came back
'The vast majority of times when they find themselves 2-0 down they won't get back in the game.
'They turned up like a team of big heads today - they just turned up and thought they'd get away with it.'
Solskjaer had praised his side after the game, stating that their response was better than last season, when they fell to a 4-0 defeat away to Everton.
Solskjaer said: 'It's football. Sometimes it's beyond tactics. The difference between this team and last year's team is huge. 2-0 down my mind's going back to Everton.
'No doubt about the drive and attitude of these boys. Last year we would have been 3,4,5 down. This is such a big stride forward for us.
Marcus Rashford looked to have won it for the visitors before Oli McBurnie's late equaliser
'They looked like they wanted it more than us but sometimes it's little margins here and there. But the response after they went 2-0 up was fantastic.'
The result leaves United in ninth place in the Premier League - they have won just four of their 13 games so far this season. | 2,238 |
Hurricane Patricia was bearing down on the southwestern coast of Mexico Friday, with maximum sustained winds continuing to blow at more than 200 miles an hour, making it the most powerful storm to ever hit the east Pacific.
Patricia started as a tropical storm but turned into a dangerous Category 5 hurricane early Friday, threatening to wreak havoc on a coastline that is popular with tourists.
In the latest update on Patricia from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, it said the hurricane is likely to make landfall in the next few hours with the worst conditions to be expected this afternoon and evening.
Earlier, the NOAA said it had “intensified at an incredible rate” late Thursday. The agency predicted “potentially catastrophic landfall in southwestern Mexico later today,” and said it was an “extremely dangerous storm.” Up to 20 inches of rain are expected over the Mexican states of Nayarit, Jalisco, Colima, Michoacán, and Guerrero through Saturday.
Gifs like this do the job of sending a chill:
And this image:
Twisted Alley Chasers, a group of individuals who chase weather phenomena, said in a blog on Friday that Patricia’s 200 mph sustained winds are a world-wide record. “No building on Earth is designed to handle winds of this magnitude, therefore total and complete devastation is likely where the core of the Category 5 winds makes landfall in Mexico.”
From Mexico, one Twitter user said his hotel had given guests time to pack and head to the shelter, warning them that their status had changed:
Comparisons were made to the 1935 Labor Day Hurricane, which Wikipedia describes as the “strongest and most intense hurricane to make landfall in the United States and the Atlantic Basin in recorded history. “
The category 5 hurricane killed over 400 people in the Florida Keys, among them 259 World War I veterans who had been working on a highway project. A train sent to rescue them was swept off the track by the storm.
The World Meteorological Association said the storm was comparable with Typhoon Hainan, which devastated the Philippines a few years ago.
The National Hurricane Center said its models are showing the development of a cyclone near the Texas coast over the weekend, which should be non-tropical in nature. However, the cyclone is likely to draw large amounts of moisture from Patricia, possibly causing heavy rainfall over parts of Texas close to the northwestern Gulf of Mexico.
Read: The weatherman really can make it rain for these retailers | 2,239 |
The Comedy Central guys just haven’t been content with staying on their own network this week. Following Stephen Colbert’s appearance on Jimmy Fallon (unfortunately, the last we’re gonna see of him for a few days apparently), Jon Stewart popped on over to CBS for a talk with David Letterman. After discussing topics like sports (Stewart joked that the awful New York Post “Amasian!” headline was “Linsensitive”) and parenting, the conversation turned to politics and the biggest problems facing President Obama (he doesn’t seem to like us) and Mitt Romney (we don’t seem to like him).
First up was Obama, with Stewart worrying that the President might not reelect us this year. Echoing an observation he’s made on his own show, the Daily Show host pointed out to Lettermen that Obama was the only president who started every press conference with a “heavy sigh.” He contrasted Obama’s approach to George W. Bush’s, saying that the former President was like a kid confidently giving a book report on a book he hadn’t read while our current Commander in Chief is like the kid who read the book last year and thinks we’re idiots for just getting around to it. Stewart argued that it, at times, felt like we had “over-corrected” a tad.
However, he explained that the guy he felt “the worst for” is Romney because of how hard he tries to be like “a regular guy” without it having much impact on the voters. Stewart guessed that, even when he’s wearing jeans, Romney probably still has his suit pants on underneath. He then compared the candidate to a motion-capped animated character like those in the Tintin movie; Romney looks like a real person but, inside, “he’s like pixels.”
Letterman had a much simpler view on Romney:
“I know nothing about politics but, as the president, you want someone who makes good decisions. Putting your dog on the roof of your car and driving to Toronto is not a good idea. That’s it. End of story. I don’t care about anything else.”
Of course, if Romney’s dog was all animated like Snowy in Tintin, then we have no problem.
Watch the clip from CBS below:
Have a tip we should know? [email protected] | 2,240 |
the absence of HSV-2 glycoprotein D, mice mount antibody responses to a variety of HSV-2 proteins that are not highly neutralizing but together may induce strong natural killer cell ADCC of infected cells. In addition, the inherent properties of HSV-2 glycoprotein D itself may contribute to weak ADCC. For example, it was recently shown that the expression of HSV-2 glycoprotein D reduced the levels of a molecule called CD122 on infected cells, which reduced the ability of natural killer cells to kill the virus-infected cells (Grauwet et al., 2014).
Figure 1 Download asset Open asset Why vaccination with a glycoprotein D-deficient Herpes simplex virus (HSV) may induce protection. Natural killer (NK) cells have many receptors, at least two of which—FcγR and DNAM-1—recognize antibody-decorated, virus-infected target cells: the antibodies bound to the infected cells are detected through FcγR, and a protein called CD122 on the surface of the infected cells is detected through DNAM-1. Vaccination with a glycoprotein D-expressing virus (gD+; left) induces predominantly neutralizing antibodies specific for glycoprotein D (green). Upon challenge with HSV, these antibodies bind strongly to the virus but may not bind well to the surface of the virus-infected cell. Consequently, the NK cell FcγRs are not engaged and binding of the NK cell's DNAM-1 to CD122 is not sufficient to induce the killing (by lysis) of the infected cell. In contrast, Petro, González et al. found that vaccination with a gD-deficient virus (gD−; right) induces the production of primarily non-neutralizing antibodies that are specific for a variety of glycoproteins on the surface of the virus. The antibodies in the gD−-vaccinated mouse bind poorly to HSV but strongly to the surface of the infected cells. The NK cells can therefore detect the infected cells through both FcγR and DNAM-1, which is sufficient to activate the NK cells to kill the target cells by lysis.
Why glycoprotein D is not an effective vaccine and why the removal of glycoprotein D from HSV-2 makes an effective vaccine is a puzzle that we may not solve soon. Nevertheless, it is indeed a good day in the struggle to develop a vaccine to protect the world's population against the disease burden of HSV infections! | 2,241 |
rating.
He hasn’t put up Ricky Ray numbers but his leadership and winning percentage last year were such that he made people stop talking about Ricky Ray.
“I do believe this year I should play the best football I’ve played as a pro. I certainly expect this year to be the best year that I’ve had.
“The one big stat, the one I want to be graded on, the one I care about, is the wins. Certainly last year, we improved tremendously. But there’s still a ton of room for improvement for everybody on our team but especially for myself.
“The biggest thing is to come in and realize what your shortcomings are and try to get better at those, and improve and continue to be good at the things you do well. With me having another year grasping this offence and another year where this coaching staff is able to evaluate how to make this offence work the best that it can work with me playing quarterback for it, I think we’re going to continue to get better and this year should be an improvement over last year,” added Reilly.
“When I look at the team and see the consistency with our coaching staff, we have that core group of guys that were here last year that have learned how to win to a certain extent but also learned that we have to get over the hump.
“We have to be able to beat Calgary,”
Uh, yes. Attention all new Eskimos, Edmonton lost all four games to Calgary last year and now have a 12-game losing streak going against the Stampeders.
“I think it’s a good time for us because we’ve had some success so we know what that’s like but we also haven’t had enough where we were content.
“We’re extremely hungry. We know that we have a team that’s capable of winning the Grey Cup but we also know that there’s a lot of work to be done to get to that point.
“We have to win those Calgary games. And that’s something we haven’t done yet.
“So that’s the next step.
“After coming off a 4-14 season, first we had to learn how to win any game.”
Follow me on Twitter.com/sunterryjones
[email protected] | 2,242 |
A team of Belgian biologists led by researchers at KU Leuven has provided the first genetic evidence that rapid evolution can help non-native plant species spread in new environments. Using samples of centuries-old herbaria and DNA analysis, the researchers reconstructed the genetic adaptations undergone by the Pyrenean rocket prior to its rapid spread in Belgium.
The Pyrenean rocket (Sisymbrium austriacum subsp. Chrysanthum) is a plant that grows in the mountains of southern Europe and is particularly prevalent in the Pyrenees. The species was first reported in Belgium -- 1,200 kilometres north of its native range -- in the first half of the 19th century. Seeds from the plant were most likely introduced alongside the wool industry in and around Verviers. The Pyrenean rocket took root on the banks of the River Vesdre in Verviers and later spread across the Meuse basin towards the Netherlands.
The colonization history of the Pyrenean rocket is well documented, explains postdoctoral researcher and corresponding author Katrien Vandepitte (Plant Conservation and Population Biology Research Group): "We found dried specimens of the Pyrenean rocket in herbaria from the 19th and 20th centuries and were able to isolate DNA from these samples. We then compared this DNA with the genetic profile of contemporary samples from Belgium and the Pyrenees. This gave us a unique opportunity to reconstruct when and how an exotic plant species genetically adapted to a new environment."
20 generations
"When we looked at the genetic evolution of the Pyrenean rocket, we found the greatest divergences in a set of genes that regulate flowering time, an important plant fitness trait. When we compared current individuals taken from our region and the Pyrenees, both grown under Belgian conditions, the Belgian variant bloomed later."
"Our DNA analysis shows that the Belgian variant genetically adapted quite rapidly -- in about 20 generations. This very likely helped the plant to survive and spread here."
"Our findings are important because until now evidence supporting the hypothesis that exotic plants can spread after a period of rapid genetic adaptation has been very scant," says Dr. Vandepitte.
The results also suggest that we should be wary of 'latent' non-native plant species. "These plants can be present in small numbers for years before spreading as a result of genetic adaptation. The Pyrenean rocket is a harmless plant, but some exotics can become a real plague. And this can occur even after a period of unproblematic presence in a non-native environment." | 2,243 |
NEW DELHI: By the end of this year, air travel time in certain sectors may become shorter with commercial flights no longer needing to skirt restricted airspace zones. The civil aviation and defence ministries are working on the concept of Flexible Use of Airspace ( FUA ), which would allow both military and commercial flights to use such designated airspace with prior permission.At present, more than 35% of the Indian airspace is earmarked for defence use, and so restricted for civilian flights. In such a scenario, many navigational routes are not aligned along the shortest flight passage between airports, and require commercial flights to take circuitous paths that require additional fuel and time. Government officials say the implementation of FUA will also help bring down carbon emissions by cutting down on fuel use.The first airspace management cell (AMC), which will coordinate pre-tactical and tactical allocation of temporary restricted airspace between civil and military aviation authorities, is likely to become operational by December at Delhi Air Traffic Control. “The AMC would constitute of officers from the Indian Air Force, Indian Navy, airline representatives, airport operator and the Directorate General of Civil Aviation,” informed a senior civil aviation ministry official. “The first unit at Delhi will work on trial for a few months, and depending on results, similar units will be set up in Chennai, Mumbai and Kolkata.”Officials say that apart from bringing down fuel cost and flight time, FUA will also allow optimum utilisation of airspace. “Under FUA, the airspace designated to one authority will be allowed for use to the other for a temporary period,” explained an official. “Twenty-five Temporary Segregated Areas and Temporary Reserved Areas, as these zones will be known, have been established along with 10 conditional air routes passing through them. Civil and military personnel are currently undergoing training to understand the concept in depth.”In countries like the US, UK and Belgium, the shared use of airspace has been successfully implemented. Before starting with FUA in India, a high level delegation comprising officials of the defence and civil aviation ministries, the Indian Air force, DGCA and Airports Authority of India visited these nations to study the global best practices of such arrangements.In 2008, the delegation submitted a report that recommended the setting up of the National High Level Airspace Policy Body (NHLAPB) that would oversee a three-tier airspace management model. Officials said the report also mentioned that NHLAPB should decide on the harmonisation and standardisation of civil and military ATC systems and airport infrastructure, the sharing of data and the provision of common inputs. | 2,244 |
WATCH: Billie Joe Armstrong Gives Guitar To Disabled Fan
The Green Day frontman invited the mega-fan to perform on stage at The O2, London.
Billie Joe Armstrong made one fan's day when he gave away his own guitar live on stage.
The Green Day frontman invited a few members of the audience to perform with the band during their gig at The O2, London last night (8 February), but a particularly special moment came when he asked if anyone knew how to play guitar.
Watch what happened next in our video taken by Radio X's Ross Buchanan:
After spotting Rachel in the crowd, Armstrong asked her to join him on the stage, before handing her his guitar to play.
However, it was once they'd finished performing together, that the Revolution Radio rocker proved he was all heart, asking the fan her name, before declaring: "Rachel you need to keep the guitar. You can have the guitar".
During their 30-song-set Green Day also played a medley of great British hits, and paid tribute to the late George Michael with their saxophonist playing the famous solo section of his Careless Whisper hit.
See their full setlist, courtesy of setlist.fm, below:
1. Know Your Enemy
2. Bang Bang
3. Revolution Radio
4. Holiday
5. Letterbomb
6. Boulevard of Broken Dreams
7. Longview
8. Youngblood
9. 2000 Light Years Away
10. Hitchin' a Ride
11. When I Come Around
12. Waiting
13. Christie Road
14. Burnout
15. Scattered
16. Minority
17. Are We the Waiting
18. St. Jimmy
19. Knowledge(Operation Ivy cover)
20. Basket Case
21. She
22. Do You Wanna Dance(The Beach Boys cover)
23. King for a Day (w/ Careless Whisper saxophone solo )
24. Shout / Always Look on the Bright Side of Life / Teenage Kicks / (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction / Hey Jude
25. Still Breathing
26. Forever Now
Encore:
27. American Idiot
28. Jesus of Suburbia
Encore 2:
29. Ordinary World
30. Good Riddance (Time of Your Life) | 2,245 |
Lighting up your outdoor doesn’t always require heavy-duty pole lights, LED Corn Bulbs equally serve the purpose and also save you money on various fronts. Highly energy-efficient these outdoor LED light bulbs offer more than lighting, these provide comfort. But buying a corn cob LED is not such an easy task.
This is why we have prepared this guide to help you with your evaluation process. We have prepared this guide to evaluate the best option for you and inform you about how to pick the right corn bulb.
What exactly are LED Corn Bulbs
Named after how these appear, corn bulbs are shaped like corn on the cob. These have lighting diodes on the 360 degree° surface of the bulbs. This is why these corn bulbs emit a 360 light. The number of diodes on the surface varies from 80-108 and is based on size and the type of the bulb.
How are LED corn bulbs classified
Based on the base types
There are two types of bases available in corn bulbs.
E26: This base type is known as the Medium Edison Screw base and is the standard base for most bulbs. ‘E’ here stands for Edison and the number is the diameter of the base in millimeters.
E39: Known as Mogul Edison Screw base, these are used in commercial applications or on farms. The naming is the same as in the E39 base type. The application of these bulbs are mostly in barns and warehouse.
Base on wattages
AT LEDMyplace we have multiple wattages of corn bulbs available, which are listed here.
20 watt which replaces 100 watt metal halide corn bulb
60 watt which replaces 250 watt metal halide corn bulb
100 watt which replaces 400 watt metal halide corn bulb
125 watt which replaces 400 watt metal halide corn bulb
Advantages of LED Corn Bulbs
Energy-efficiency: These LED Corn bulbs are highly energy-efficient and convert 95% of the electricity consumed into light while losing only 5% as heat. This means that you will save 75% on your utility bills. This energy-efficiency also makes these bulbs highly eco-friendly as these lights consume less electricity and produce very little heat.
High CRI: The color rendering index measures the accuracy of a light source in rendering colors in comparison with an ideal light source such as sunlight. The CRI of these LED corn bulbs is more than 80 which means that the light of these bulbs renders colors with an accuracy of 80%. | 2,246 |
When the L.A.-based alternative-pop trio MUNA released their debut album, About U, in 2017, their positioning was as a queer, leftist band of punks. Focus in the press gravitated toward seeking answers: MUNA, tell us how fucked-up the world is! MUNA, what are the solutions? MUNA, please can you help?
MUNA still believe in music’s capacity for social change, but they've had time to consider the task put upon them, to wonder if they’re fit for it. There's also now a refreshing lightness about them. Which is why today, a Saturday in early June, singer Katie Gavin, producer/synth player/guitarist Naomi McPherson, and guitarist Josette Maskin are here at World On Wheels taking a roller-skating class.
Gavin, 26, is MUNA’s Yoda, a spiritual leader who challenges and unlocks her partners’ potential. This activity is her idea. It’s somewhat fitting that Maskin, McPherson, and I are stepping into her shoes, given that’s the way the band functions. When Gavin isn’t writing songs and rescuing pop, she’s roller-skating along the Los Angeles River. Maskin and McPherson don’t roller-skate regularly, but they've done it before. I've never roller-skated; 80 percent of the students in our class are children. I put skates on and fall into the rink while still on the carpet. Gavin laughs, offering to take my hand. Debuting on skates as an adult is like learning to walk again. Gravity feels like a scam. If you push too fast, it arrives with a thud.
At one point I get stuck out in the open by myself, like a buoy in the Pacific Ocean. Our teacher sees me beckoning the band over. “Nah-uh!” he shouts. “You don't make your friends come to you!” MUNA find themselves watching from the sidelines. Waiting for others to overcome obstacles is familiar to them. They’ve fallen on their asses a lot these past few years, always in front of one another, always there to pick one another up each time. It’s been, they say, the most painful and rewarding part of being a band. And it’s why their new album, Saves the World, might just save the three of them, too. | 2,247 |
the brave heroes fighting this virus on the frontline of our health care system. They are lives full of potential and bright futures at risk of being taken from us far too soon. Most of all, they are avoidable. But only if each of us each to our part. Only if you stay home to stop the spread of COVID-19."
Dr. David Williams, the province's chief medical officer of health, called the numbers released Friday "real" and "challenging."
"They may be for people a bit scary," he said. "I think the need is to turn that apprehension into determination to do what we need to do."
Federal government not releasing national projections
The decision to publicly release provincial modelling was made by Ford on Thursday, just one day after he suggested that he was reluctant to release the projections due to the “panic” it could cause.
Ford’s decision is at odds with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s handling of Canada’s modelling.
On Friday, Trudeau said the Canadian government is not ready to release their projections at this time.
“We need to make sure we have a better grasp on the accuracy of the data before we put the projections out there,” Trudeau said during his daily news conference in Ottawa on Friday.
Mayor John Tory commended the premier for releasing the numbers on Friday, saying it was “absolutely, positively” the right thing to do.
“We do have the experience in New York to provide us with an actual example of what can happen in a big city if you don't take all the steps that you have to take… I have been encouraging the premier to go in this direction for some time,” Tory said.
“I think people are ready for the information, I think they deserve the information.”
During the city's news conference on Friday afternoon, Toronto's top doctor gave a clearer idea of how many deaths the city could see based on the new projections.
Dr. Eileen de Villa said given that fact that Toronto represents 20 per cent of Ontario's population, the city could see between 600 and 3,000 deaths by the end of the pandemic.
"I am hoping (the modelling) makes it patently clear why it is we are asking (residents) to take on things like physical distancing," she said. "We know that the more we get behind these measures... the sooner we can bring this to an end, the more we can save lives." | 2,248 |
A few team owners in the ongoing Pakistan Super League (PSL) are not happy with the attitude of some of their overseas signings, who they suspect are not going all out to avoid fitness/fatigue issues before the lucrative Indian Premier League.
Karachi: A few team owners in the ongoing Pakistan Super League (PSL) are not happy with the attitude of some of their overseas signings, who they suspect are not going all out to avoid fitness/fatigue issues before the lucrative Indian Premier League.
Sources in some of the franchises competing in the PSL have said that some players have even pulled out of matches citing niggles.
"Joffra Archer is one example. He is playing for Quetta Gladiators and he pulled out of a crucial match and this didnt exactly make the owners, management or fellow players happy, a source said.
He said the Quetta Gladiators owner, Nadeem Omar, didnt say anything to Archer but suspected the all-rounder was only keen on being fully fit and fresh for the IPL, which begins shortly after the PSL ends on March 25.
Archer will make his IPL debut this year and was bought for an astounding USD 800,000 by Rajasthan Royals.
Defending champions, Peshawar Zalmi, are also not happy with the unavailability of West Indian veteran all-rounder, Dwayne Bravo, who is yet to show up in the PSL third edition. Zalmi depends heavily on the all-rounder who is reportedly yet to fully recover from an injury and reach Dubai.
"It is not about the money but when you lose a player of high caliber it upsets the teams plans," one source said.
Bravo has been retained by Chennai Super Kings for this year's IPL for 6.40 crore approximately USD one million.
Sources say few others in the PSL who have been auctioned in the IPL are also suspected of not giving their best and reserving their resources for the more lucrative Indian league.
Pakistan's former Test captain, Salman Butt, says he is not surprised since there are many T20 leagues being played in the world but the IPL remains the most lucrative for players.
"Top players would prefer to be in the IPL 100 percent fit and in fresh. Because if you perform there you get richer and noticed quickly."
The PSL is facing the problem of overseas players not being willing to travel to Pakistan for the two play-off matches in Lahore and the final in Karachi. | 2,249 |
Former Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz Ernest Jeffrey MonizOVERNIGHT ENERGY: Dems press Trump consumer safety nominee on chemical issues | Lawmakers weigh how to help struggling energy industry | 180 Democrats ask House leadership for clean energy assistance Lawmakers weigh how to help struggling energy industry The Hill's Coronavirus Report: Surgeon General stresses need to invest much more in public health infrastructure, during and after COVID-19; Fauci hopeful vaccine could be deployed in December MORE is criticizing the Trump administration's policy toward the federal government's oil reserve, saying the administration should improve on its usefulness.
Moniz, who led the Department of Energy from 2013 to 2017 under former President Barack Obama Barack Hussein ObamaObama calls on Senate not to fill Ginsburg's vacancy until after election Senate Republicans face tough decision on replacing Ginsburg Cruz: Trump should nominate a Supreme Court justice next week MORE, argued in a Houston Chronicle op-ed published Thursday that the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) should not be dramatically reduced, as President Trump’s budget proposes.
The former Energy chief argued that while the nation’s oil and energy systems are dramatically different from 40 years ago, when the SPR was established, it still serves a vital purpose.
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Moniz wrote that the rationale that the SPR is unnecessary with a boom in domestic oil production “appears to be grounded in a view of oil markets in 1973."
“The SPR — its value to domestic and global energy security, U.S. consumers and our economy — needs to be viewed instead through the lens of the dramatic changes that have taken place in the last 40 years,” he wrote.
Moniz called for modernizing the SPR, including through updating its infrastructure to better be able to release oil quickly in the case of a supply disruption or other problem.
Congress has acted a handful of times in recent years to sell off some of the approximately 690 million barrels of oil in the SPR to pay for other programs.
Those proposals frequently face cautious opposition among some lawmakers, and the Obama administration resisted large-scale sell-offs.
Moniz said Trump and current Energy Secretary Rick Perry should realize the domestic and international benefits of the SPR and work to improve its usefulness, not reduce it.
“We should support the view of Congress that the SPR is one of our most valuable security assets,” he said. “In today's world of changed markets, unrest, and collective energy security responsibilities, we should be modernizing the SPR, not selling it off.” | 2,250 |
Samplestate is very proud to present the 7th volume in our Little Helpers series produced by the Belgium born underground powerhouse that is, Hermanez.
Hermanez is perhaps mostly associated with his grooving, tribal-flecked tech-house productions, which has helped him find favour with the great and good including Luciano, Loco Dice and Reboot to name a few. A closer look at his back catalogue unveils an all-encompassing production portfolio that confidently moves through the different realms of techno.
With releases on quality labels such as Viva Music, Leena Music, Noir and Suara, Serkal Music and Inmotion Music, and not to mention releases on his own Aella Music imprint which he runs together with long-time friend Ramon Tapia.
Hermanez has been zigzagging the planet delivering his perfect fusion of house and techno, incorporating minimal undercurrents and rhythmic building blocks, to clued-up revellers the world over.
Little Helpers is a conceptual digital label courtesy of Andrew Rasse (a.k.a. Butane) and Sean O'Neal (a.k.a. Someone Else) launched in December 2009. Each release on Little Helpers is a strong, reduced groove-tool aimed to satisfy the increasing number of digital DJs. Much like the traditional locked groove vinyl, these tracks are suitable for looping, editing and layering. Yet at the same time, each track has enough variation to stand on its own. That is, each tune, lies somewhere between a full track and a DJ tool -- focusing solely on the rhythm or a singular idea rather than extraneous arrangements. This new series of sample product takes this concept into new territory and offered is an inspiring pack jam packed with the essential building blocks for Minimal, Tech, Techno and Deep productions.
This pack comes in two main formats as well as specific formats for convenience.
Apple Loops pack - Includes Apple Loop aif files with pre-analysed and tagged drum, and music loops. You also receive 3rd party sampler instruments as well as all the other content in the other formats such as REX2.
Wav Pack - Standard wav pack, if in doubt then select this one. Contains standard wav files and is suitable for any DAW system. You will also receive 3rd party sampler instruments as well as all the other content in the other formats such as REX2.
Check out the demo for an idea of what this quality product has in store. | 2,251 |
Pamela Paquin, the founder of Petite Mort Fur, cashes in on roadkill. How? She turns deceased animals left on the side of the road into ethical furs worth hundreds.
Some of the items she sells? A raccoon neck muff for $1,500, a red fox wrap stole for $2,000, and a fawn scarf and belt for $2,500. But if that’s a little above your price tag, there are also fur pom pom earings that retail for just $45. She sells the items on Etsy, and her store can be found here.
Along with making money, Paquin says that she wants to inspire a new industry for “ethical fur.” She told CNN in an interview: “It was a wasted resource and I decided after some deep thought that I could make a viable business out of this.” Paquin added that she hopes the business can one day “completely mitigate the need to have animals in cages.”
To get the furs required for the business, she works with the Highway Department and animal control near the Boston area. “I started working with the Highway Department and animal control officers who would report them to me when they had an animal down,” she told CNN. “They took me seriously, thank God.”
She’s responsible for sewing the furs herself after getting them tanned elsewhere. Paquin also said in the interview that she skins the animals to leave in forests for other creatures to eat.
“It’s a way for the customer to honor the animal and the animal’s life, rather than dissociating from it in the way you have to when you have fur that comes from trapped or caged animals,” she said.
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Contact us at [email protected]. | 2,252 |
A top government official in Nova Scotia intends to ask Maine Gov. Paul LePage for help financing the Nova Star Cruises ferry.
The Halifax, Nova Scotia-based Chronicle Herald reported that Michel Samson, Nova Scotia’s economic development minister, said Thursday that he didn’t have a confirmed date yet for face-to-face talks with LePage, and that the governor’s staff is trying to find a time.
“I think it would be the responsible thing to do on behalf of Nova Scotians to see how we can find ways of developing partnerships and reducing the financial burden to Nova Scotians regarding the ferry,” he said.
The province already has released all of a $21 million public subsidy to fund the ferry service – money that was supposed to last seven years. The ferry service between Portland and Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, was revived this year after a five-year hiatus.
Included in the province’s support is $5 million to back a line of credit for general operations. Nova Star Cruises, the ferry operator, has not received any money from Maine, and has yet to obtain a $5 million line of credit from a Maine bank, which it has been seeking since November. At the time of negotiations to re-establish service, LePage said his administration would help the company secure the line of credit, according to the Chronicle Herald.
Calls made by the Portland Press Herald to the governor’s office seeking to confirm a prospective meeting were not returned. Dennis Bailey, a spokesman for Nova Star Cruises, said he had no information about a potential meeting between LePage and Samson.
Restoration of the ferry service was hampered by a delay in acquiring a key federal permit, which prevented marketing the service and selling tickets. Since it started in May, passenger counts have been well below expectations.
But the ferry service recently had an increase in boardings. Nova Star Cruises reported 13,043 passengers boarded Nova Star in July for an average of 217 passengers per one-way trip. As of Aug. 15, the ferry had booked 17,255 passengers for trips in August.
Though the ship has a capacity of more than 1,200, Nova Star officials have said they would be happy with an average of 250-350 passengers per one-way trip.
The ferry is the first service between the province and the United States since 2009, when Nova Scotia cut off subsidies for a high-speed ferry that operated on the same route.
Send questions/comments to the editors. | 2,253 |
NEW DELHI: Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar on Tuesday lashed out at the Congress for alleging that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was trying to'steal' the people's mandate in the state."If you (Congress) had the support then why did you not go to the Governor?" Parrikar said soon after taking oath as Goa CM "I agree the mandate is fractured, but with 22 MLAs together the vote share is more than sufficient," Parrikar said, addding, "It's a post-poll alliance."He also said that the support extended to his party to form government in the state is only for Goa's development.No MLA wanted to support Congress, he claimed.However, Congress is confident that Parrikar's government will fail the floor test on Thursday."If Manohar Parrikar wants to be sultan of two days he is welcome to be so," Congress said.Parrikar, who resigned as Defence Minister, was sworn in as the Goa chief minister for the fourth time in presence of top BJP leaders including BJP national president Amit Shah, Union Ministers Venkaiah Naidu, Nitin Gadkari, JP Nadda and several other dignitaries.Nine ministers were also sworn in during the ceremony, namely Sudin Dhavalikar and Manohar Azgaonkar of the Maharashtrawdi Gomantak Party, Vijai Sardesai, Vinod Palienkar and Jayesh Salgaonkar of the Goa Forward, Francis D'Souza, Pandurang Madkaikar of the BJP and Independent legislators Govind Gawde and Rohan Khaunte.Earlier, the Supreme Court directed a floor test in the Goa Assembly on Thursday as it refused to interfere with the Goa Governor's decision to appoint Manohar Parrikar as Chief Minister.Directing the floor-test to determine the majority support, the bench of Chief Justice Jagdish Singh Khehar, Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice RK Agrawal said that all the formalities prerequisite to the floor test, including by the Election Commission, would be completed by March 15.The court direction came on a plea by leader of the Congress legislature party in the state assembly Chandrakant Kavlekar who has sought stay of Governor Mridula Sinha's decision appointing Parrikar as Chief Minister and fixing his swearing in for Tuesday evening.The court also rejected the plea by senior counsel Abhishek Manu Singhvi for a composite floor test. | 2,254 |
Renewables International
So much for renewable energy destabilizing the German grid: Yesterday, Germany’s Network Agency published the SAIDI figure for 2014, showing that the number of downtime minutes fell to an all-time low.
It’s getting hard to count the minutes of power outages in Germany. And it’s getting hard to improve the figure.
As recently as 2006, Germany had 21.53 minutes of power outages, as counted in the SAIDI metric (report in German). That number has now fallen to 12.28 minutes as of last year, according to the official statistics from the Network Agency (website in German). Since 2009, the figure has hovered around 15 minutes, so this decrease of around 2.5 minutes represents a considerable improvement.
To get an idea of how good the German grid is, we need an international comparison.
Above, we see that Germany and Denmark have the most reliable grids by far in Europe. The Danes also have around 40 per cent wind power, whereas the Germans have roughly 17 per cent wind and solar combined.
The share of these two energy sources is relevant because they react to the weather, not to grid events; they are not dispatchable and are therefore commonly held to be a danger to grid reliability, at least among critics of the Energiewende.
Italy also has roughly the same amount of wind and PV as Germany does, and its grid performance has improved since 2006. Likewise, wind and solar taken together are now the largest source of electricity in Spain, and that country’s SAIDI figure improved tremendously (but note that the data are only available for 2006-2011, PDF).
Correlation is not causation, however. Just because these countries have fewer minutes of downtime does not mean that solar + wind are the reason. Rather, as a report from the CEER explained in 2013, other improvements have been made to the grid, specifically the use of underground cables rather than overhead lines.
While solar + wind are therefore not the main cause for lower downtime minutes, clearly high levels of fluctuating renewable energy are possible with extremely low SAIDI numbers.
Note that SAIDI does not include natural disasters, so storms that cause blackouts are not included in the figure. Likewise, the outage must last at least three minutes, a criterion for which the metric has been criticized; after all, less than three minutes of downtime can be quite disruptive in the production sector.
Source: Renewables International. Reproduced with permission. | 2,255 |
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The HEXAGON satellite spied on America's Cold War foes for over a decade, taking extremely detailed (film!) photographs from space. It was 60 feet long—bigger than a bus. And the public never, ever saw it. We did.
To celebrate its 50th birthday, the top secret satellite operators at the National Reconnaissance Office gave the public a little present: full access to a real life HEXAGON at National Air and Space Museum's Udvar-Hazy Center in Virginia—filled largely with nostalgic old spies and space engineers. So of course we checked it out. The enormity of the thing is stunning, as is its complexity. [View as single page]
In the 70s, flying a plane over the Soviet Union and China wasn't like hopping on Jet Blue—especially one loaded with American spy gear. So the Pentagon cooked up HEXAGON—the most sophisticated space eyeball among the first generation of spy sats. Beginning in 1971, each HEXAGON was pushed up into space by a Titan III rocket, whereupon it would snap humungous panoramic views of Russian turf with its giant camera, which boasted a focal length of 77 inches, a 20-inch aperture, and the ability to capture detail down to two or three feet. But how'd it get the film down to Earth? With a lot of balls.
Each payload of recon negatives was launched in its own landing vehicle, met by a spy plane that would literally snatch it out of the air like a butterfly net. These photos were used to, of course, see what the dastardly commies were up to, and plan for an eventual war against them. Of course, none of this was ever needed, as they weren't really up to that much. But the HEXAGON marked a profound shift for warfare—even cold warfare. For the first time, space was a battlefield. America began to think that to control space was to control what sat underneath it—the vacuum was militarized. And this giant hulk helped make it that way—a process that'll never, ever be reversed. [NRO]
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You can keep up with Sam Biddle, the author of this post, on Twitter, Facebook, or Google+.
All photography by Nicko Margolies. For more of Nicko's work and contact information, check out his photo blog.
Advertisement | 2,257 |
It’s bad enough when a public school promotes religion. It’s downright stupid when they publicize how they’re promoting religion for the world to see.
But that’s great news when you’re building a case for a potential lawsuit against them.
In Alabama, a football coach for the Washington County Schools was baptizing players on the field. The whole thing was videotaped and celebrated and broadcast to the public. (You can even hear a man introducing Coach Devon Roberts as the person who made this happen since “none of this would be going on without” him. Roberts is not the man in the image below.)
Even the team’s Facebook page shows the baptisms as their banner photo.
Now the Freedom From Religion Foundation wants further explanation from the District and a promise that this will never happen again.
We write to ensure that WCS is no longer including religious rituals during school-sponsored activities. It is inappropriate for a public school district to proselytize students by organizing a team baptism. It is equally inappropriate and unconstitutional for coaches to have participated even if students or the [Fellowship of Christian Athletes] organized the baptism.
Even if it wasn’t illegal — which it absolutely is — there’s another component to this that’s also disturbing:
The conduct at Washington City Schools is especially problematic in the context of athletics, given the pressure players feel to conform to coaches’ expectations, FFRF points out. Student athletes are inclined to mirror the actions of team leaders to garner their favor. Students should not be expected to pray to play, much less to be baptized at a school event. By leading and participating in such events, coaches send a clear message that the athletic staff approves of these activities. … “The involvement of a public school coach in baptisms is so over the top as to be ludicrous,” says FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor. “You’d be hard-pressed to cite a display of sectarian religiosity more blatant than this.”
Incidentally, Coach Roberts only became the team’s football coach after the previous one took a position with the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. Roberts was bragging about the proselytizing on social media, too.
If any public school coach was helping students become Muslim, you know what the backlash would look like. It shouldn’t be any different when they’re pressured into joining Christianity.
(Image via Facebook)
| 2,258 |
home-2016-11-21 16:40.checkpoint Mon, 2016-11-21 16:40:25 home-2016-12-31 18:06 Sat, 2016-12-31 18:06:44 home-2017-01-31 20:19 Tue, 2017-01-31 20:19:59 home-2017-02-28 11:04 Tue, 2017-02-28 11:04:19 home-2017-03-15 14:07 Wed, 2017-03-15 14:07:51 home-2017-04-30 23:08 Sun, 2017-04-30 23:08:20 home-2017-05-31 23:04 Wed, 2017-05-31 23:04:51 home-2017-06-11 20:09 Sun, 2017-06-11 20:09:28 home-2017-06-14 09:06 Wed, 2017-06-14 09:06:59 home-2017-06-22 18:00 Thu, 2017-06-22 18:00:31 home-2017-06-29 20:02 Thu, 2017-06-29 20:02:55 home-2017-07-03 23:03 Mon, 2017-07-03 23:03:47 home-2017-07-04 21:07 Tue, 2017-07-04 21:07:35 home-2017-07-06 20:06 Thu, 2017-07-06 20:06:04 home-2017-07-08 18:07 Sat, 2017-07-08 18:07:21 home-2017-07-10 23:09 Mon, 2017-07-10 23:09:16 home-2017-07-11 18:03 Tue, 2017-07-11 18:03:24 home-2017-07-12 19:06 Wed, 2017-07-12 19:06:40 home-2017-07-13 18:05 Thu, 2017-07-13 18:05:46 home-2017-07-13 19:07 Thu, 2017-07-13 19:07:19 home-2017-07-17 14:06 Mon, 2017-07-17 14:06:30 home-2017-07-17 15:07 Mon, 2017-07-17 15:07:59 home-2017-07-17 16:07 Mon, 2017-07-17 16:07:03 home-2017-07-19 15:38 Wed, 2017-07-19 15:38:40 | 2,259 |
IN THE hot debate over the proposed Comcast-Time Warner Cable merger, there are two competing versions of reality.
In one, increasingly massive communications firms gobble up ever-larger shares of various, increasingly interrelated markets, magnifying the power they wield against innovators who threaten the old business model and against customers already suffering from high bills and poor service. In that world, stopping the Comcast merger would prevent a bad situation from getting worse.
In the other, traditional cable television and wired broadband providers are in increasingly dire competition with online video services, wireless Internet providers and a cash-flush Google expanding its installation of high-speed fiber-optic cable across the country. Consolidation is the only way to ensure these companies have enough capital to invest in new and better technology that will keep their customers happy — or, at least, satisfied enough not to cancel their subscriptions.
In the real world, the outlook for the future of communications and entertainment is foggier than either scenario suggests. That uncertainty recommends a degree of regulatory caution. The government’s smartest move is not to block the merger, but to make clear that regulators will respond if big industry players begin to violate basic principles of market fairness.
Some criticism of the merger is misleading or speculative. Cable subscribers will not lose flexibility to get their television service from another company. The market is split geographically: Comcast and Time Warner Cable do not compete for customers. Will Comcast find ways to use its strengthened position to promote its own content (from NBC, for example) or services (such as its Netflix competitor, Streampix)? It may well gain more leverage in negotiations with content creators, some of which are in pretty strong positions at the moment. But it would take a much more drastic change in practice to start discriminating heavily against other players interacting with the company.
By the same token, some merger supporters overstate the extent of competition the cable industry faces. At the moment, there are few broadband services as attractive as the wired connections cable companies sell. That might change, but it is not clear how fast and in what way. Merger defenders also downplay the conflicts of interest that might encourage firms such as Comcast to promote their products on the wires they own, about which critics are speculating.
That is not grounds to take the severe step of blocking a proposed merger. But it is reason for federal regulators to keep a close eye on what cable companies, still huge players in how we communicate and consume culture, end up doing to competitors and upstarts — and to set clear conditions that allow a crackdown, if necessary. | 2,260 |
public works project initiated by the United States Government under George Washington.
Walk along the Boardwalk and stop at the Norwegian Lady Statue, a tribute to the 1891 shipwreck of the Norwegian ship Dictator along the coast of Virginia and the community members that worked tirelessly after the wreck to save many of the passengers.
An identical sculpture stands Virginia Beach’s sister city of Moss, Norway.
Looking for even more Virginia Beach history? Experience it all at the local museums and historic sites, such as the Military Aviation Museum, the Adam Thoroughgood House, and the Virginia Beach Surf and Rescue Museum.
Virginia Beach Today
As a go-to vacation destination among the most famous artists, musicians, and other innovative thinkers in the 20th century, the Cavalier Hotel helped put Virginia Beach on the map as a mecca for creativity. That influence is evident today in the city’s impressive arts and music scene. The ViBe Creative District, just off the oceanfront strip, is a hub for both local and nationally-renowned artists. Murals adorn the walls of over a dozen businesses in the area, adding colorful and artistic touches, and sculptures, creative crosswalk art, and special installations are constantly being added to the vibrant community. Another artistic center within the oceanfront destination is the Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art, known for their vast array of contemporary art from leading international, national, and regional artists. Each year, the museum hosts the Annual Boardwalk Art Show, which has been running since 1952.
When it comes to music, Virginia Beach is a prime spot for live shows. The American Music Festival, one of the nation’s largest and longest-running waterfront music events, brings together an impressive lineup of musicians each year to perform right on the beach. Past performers include Sheryl Crow, Heart, The Beach Boys, Willie Nelson, Boyz II Men, and ZZ Top. While much newer, Something in the Water is another can’t-miss music festival for the Virginia Beach area. The brainchild of famous Virginia artist Pharrell, this music festival/cultural experience draws thousands of people to the shore to see some of the biggest names in rap, hip hop, rock, and more.
If you need more inspiration for a Virginia Beach vacation that involves more than just surf and sand, use our three day vacation itinerary and dining guide to start planning an incredible coastal Virginia getaway.
Stay tuned for more But Did You Know… history articles to learn about some of Virginia’s most amazing untold stories! | 2,261 |
Arvind Kejriwal, whose sit-in protest at the Lieutenant Governor's house has crossed 48 hours, told NDTV, "I am fighting for the people of Delhi against those who have stopped the public services. You can say this "dharna" (protest) is my surgical strike against those who want to punish the voters of Delhi".
His government contends that Delhi's IAS officers have not been attending meetings with ministers or picking up their calls since the alleged assault on Chief Secretary Anshu Prakash in February. The government says the "strike" has affected many initiatives, including setting up of mohalla clinics, building of drains and release of funds to private schools.
In a statement, Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal's office backed the IAS officers, saying they have been working as usual and the onus was on Mr Kejriwal and his ministers to improve the relationship with bureaucrats. Mr Kejriwal accuses the Centre of trying to control the Delhi government through the Lieutenant-Governor.
The IAS officers have dismissed the government's accusation as "baseless". But in a communique, they admitted that the officers are "not attending routine meetings called by the ministers and the CM".
Mr Kejriwal has informed the Lieutenant Governor that if the officers did not end the strike, the Delhi government will be forced to impose ESMA - a law to punish those who disrupt essential services. Since morning, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia joined cabinet colleague and fellow protester Satyendar Jain in an indefinite fast.
Mr Kejriwal's party says it has the support of many opposition parties. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee today tweeted in his support. "@ArvindKejriwal, CM of Delhi is sitting in a dharna in LG's office for the last few days in the capital city of the country. Elected CM must get due respect," Ms Banerjee tweeted.
The BJP, which said Mr Kejriwal's protest was "drama" and ploy to shirk work, held a rally to his house today to flag power and water scarcity in Delhi.
The Congress -- which is at loggerheads with AAP in Delhi despite its concerns about a united front against the BJP in 2019 -- has also vehemently criticized the Chief Minister.
Mr Kejriwal and his ministers went to meet Mr Baijal on Monday evening, asking that he help end the stand-off between Delhi's bureaucrats and the government and give clearance to a scheme for door-to-door delivery of rations for the poor. They started the sit-in protest when he refused. | 2,262 |
MOSCOW - Moscow's ombudsman for children's rights and members of a presidential council have expressed outrage over Russian prosecutors trying to take a 1-year-old boy from his parents because they allegedly brought him to an unauthorized protest.
The ombudsman, Yevgeny Bunimovich, denounced the custody removal request prosecutors filed Tuesday as “political blackmail involving children” and said he wrote Moscow's chief prosecutor to urge dropping a criminal case against the parents.
Prosecutors alleged in a court petition seeking the withdrawal of parental rights that Dmitri and Olga Prokazov endangered their son by taking him to a July 27 protest rally and handing the child to a man who is now being sought on charges of organizing mass riots.
Speaking on independent Dozhd TV late Tuesday, Dmitri Prokazov said his family was on a walk in central Moscow at the time of the rally but did not participate in the protest.
He said the couple were aware of the protest and sympathized with the demonstrators, but didn't want to join the event while they were out with their son.
Members of the presidential human rights council also criticized the custody petition, which is part of a slew of criminal cases launched in the wake of protests challenging the Kremlin.
Police aggressively cracked down on the July 27 rally protesting the exclusion of opposition candidates from Moscow's city council election and on another demonstration a week later.
More than 1,400 people were detained during the first protest and police rounded up 1,001 during the second, according to figures from an independent arrest monitoring group.
Most of those detained were released within hours, but some have remained in custody and face criminal charges that may carry prison terms.
The father facing the removal of his son said he and the child's mother did nothing wrong by letting a close friend carry the boy. Investigators alleged the friend used the toddler as a shield to cross police lines.
Dmitri Prokazov denied that, saying they weren't anywhere near police cordons and the child never was in jeopardy.
”We didn't feel any danger,” he said. "It never occurred to me that I was doing something wrong.”
Prokazov said police knocked on his family's door just before midnight, searching their apartment and treating him and his wife as if they were dangerous criminals.
”We were shocked. We felt as if some monsters wanted to take our child from us,” Prokazov said. “It's barbaric.” | 2,263 |
As EF! Journal editors arrive in New Orleans to speak at the 2013 North American Anarchist Studies Network Conference, a story of justice for the Gulf BP spill, albeit too-little-too-late, covers headlines in newspapers across town. [Re-posted below]
Meanwhile along the Texas Gulf Coast, the need for yet another Tar Sands Blockade action camp proves that our struggle against a global energy empire is far from over. As of this morning, at least six people have been arrested in a tree sit blockade erected yesterday.
——————–
According to NBC News: The Transocean settlement in the 2010 Gulf spill unveiled by the Department of Justice includes $1 billion in civil penalties and $400 million in criminal penalties. The company had set aside a total of $1.95 billion in potential losses related to the spill, including $1.5 billion for its anticipated settlement with the DoJ.
Shares of Transocean were up 7 percent at $49.50 on midday trading on the New York Stock Exchange.
“The bottom line to me is they now can put away the big black cloud that has been hanging over them,” said Phil Weiss, an oil analyst at Argus. “I take this as a positive, even if the number is a little higher than I expected.”
Switzerland-based Transocean owned the Deepwater Horizon rig that was drilling a mile-deep well when a surge of methane gas sparked an explosion on April 20, 2010. The explosion killed 11 men and led to one of the largest environmental disasters in U.S. history.
“This resolution of criminal allegations and civil claims against Transocean brings us one significant step closer to justice for the human, environmental and economic devastation wrought by the Deepwater Horizon disaster,” U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said in a statement.
BP and Transocean had “multiple safety management system deficiencies that contributed to the Macondo incident,” and neither had adequate safety rules, according to a July 2012 report from the U.S. Chemical Safety Board.
Transocean and BP disagreed on who was in charge of interpreting what is known as a negative pressure test, which could have alerted workers to the well’s instability.
In November, BP agreed to a settlement with the U.S. government worth $4.5 billion, including the largest criminal fine ever, at $1.256 billion. The London-based oil company also agreed to plead guilty to obstruction of Congress, a felony. | 2,264 |
USC football has a 30% chance of winning the Pac-12, a 4% chance of making the College Football Playoff and remains one of just 14 teams with a 1% or better chance of winning the national title, according to FiveThirtyEight.com’s playoff predictor.
RELATED: 10 USC Football Awards for October
The model, which was developed in part by Nate Silver, gives Ohio State, Clemson, Alabama and TCU the best probability of being the final four in the playoff.
Though USC did not make an appearance in the Playoff Committee’s opening rankings, the Trojans still outrank the likes of No 23 UCLA and No. 20 Mississippi St. when it comes to the predictor’s playoff probabilities at 4%.
The most surprising part of the predictor lies in USC’s unlikely shot at what would be a stunning national title this season. With an admittedly low 1% probability, the Trojans still have better odds than more highly-ranks squads like Florida State, who sit in the same position as Ohio State did last year, Memphis, Utah, Michigan and Iowa.
The predictor does not just give probabilities for the playoff. Percentages for the conference title give USC a surprisingly high shot at taking home the Pac-12 championship for the first time since 2008. Stanford has the highest probability at 46%, but the Trojans are not far behind with a 30% chance.
By comparison, Utah’s odds are just 18% while UCLA’s chances are rated at 5%.
In order to get to the conference title game, the Trojans would need to win the remaining four games on the schedule. They also need the Utes to drop one more game.
USC is a 16-point favorite over their next opponent, Arizona. Following the Wildcats, the men of Troy will take on Colorado and Oregon on the road before meeting up with UCLA at the Coliseum.
Utah faces road tests at Washington and Arizona before taking on UCLA at home and then finishing the season up with Colorado.
Predictors obviously do not hold all the answers, as what really matters is what plays out on the field. However, it is interesting to note that how highly rated USC remains in rankings which focus on the numbers, rather than just record.
Measured in advanced stats, the Trojans are currently ranked No. 6 FEI and No. 11 in S&P+. ESPN’s Football Power Index, which is a predictor of future outcomes, ranks USC at No. 5. | 2,265 |
The European Space Agency (ESA) is preparing to launch the Proba-3 ‘double-satellite’ in 2019, with the aim of creating its own solar eclipses and studying the Sun’s corona.
Known to be the world’s first precision formation-flying mission, Proba-3 includes the occulter and coronograph spacecrafts.
Once launched, the occulter satellite will fly 150m in front of the second coronograph satellite, casting a precise shadow to reveal the tendril of the solar corona, which extends millions of kilometres into space and can easily be seen during a total solar eclipse.
The makeshift eclipse will reveal the solar corona down to an exact measurement of 1.2 solar radii.
Proba-3 payload manager Damien Galano said: “We have two scientific instruments aboard.
“The primary payload is ASPIICS, a coronagraph to observe the corona in visible light while the DARA radiometer on the occulter measures the total solar irradiance coming from the Sun, a scientific parameter about which there is still some uncertainty.
“The corona is a million times fainter than the Sun itself, so the light from the solar disk needs to be blocked in order to see it."
“The corona is a million times fainter than the Sun itself, so the light from the solar disk needs to be blocked in order to see it. The coronagraph idea was conceived by astronomer Bernard Lyot in the 1930s, and since then has been developed and has been incorporated into both Earth-based and space telescopes.”
Currently being developed by a consortium led by Belgium’s Centre Spatial de Liège, the association of spacecraft for polarimetry and imaging of the corona of the sun (ASPIICS) has a 50mm aperture.
ESA noted that in order to observe corona, the aperture of the ASPIICS should remain as much as possible in the centre of the shadow of the sun.
Galano added: "So we’ll need to achieve millimetre-scale positioning control between the two spacecraft, effectively forming a single giant instrument across space.”
The external occulter spacecraft will also carry out the imaging of earth-like exoplanets, which would require the blocking out of their parent stars, during the eclipses.
Image: Rendering of Proba-3 revealing corona. Photo: courtesy of ESA-P. | 2,266 |
After a feature film and a number of TV series spinoffs, the Stargate franchise is coming back to life.
Producers MGM have revived the franchise as a 10-episode digital series — Stargate Origins — that will live exclusively on a dedicated subscription-based platform called Stargate Command.
The new series, which will feature 10-minute episodes, will follow fan-favorite character Catherine Langford (originally played by Elizabeth Hoffman) and explore a new chapter in her early history surrounding the portal. Young Catherine embarks on a new unexpected adventure to unlock the mystery of what lies beyond the Stargate in order to save the Earth from darkness. (Watch the teaser trailer, below.)
The new series will be produced by MGM's Digital Group and entertainment studio New Form. It will be directed by Mercedes Bryce Morgan (Virtual Morality) and written by Mark Ilvedson and Justin Michael Terry. Production is slated to begin in August.
"We saw a need for a definitive hub for the Stargate fanbase to continue to enjoy news and content, both old and new,” said Chris Ottinger, president of worldwide television distribution and acquisitions at MGM. “Stargate Command will open a new door for the community to celebrate and interact with all content in a way that has never been done before."
Stargate Origins will launch in the fall on the Stargate Command platform. The new digital space will feature content from the franchise's nearly 25-year history and offer subscribers a behind-the-scenes look at the new series.
"We’ve been eager to revisit the Stargate franchise, and create an all-new story that honors the founding mythos and gives loyal fans more mystery and adventure,” said Kevin Conroy, president of digital and new platforms at MGM. "We view Stargate Origins as a thank you to fans who have been keeping the spirit of the franchise alive for nearly 25 years. With the increasing popularity of digitally native content that can be streamed to any device, MGM is committed to the production of premium linear mid-form content and are proud to launch with Stargate Origins."
All told, there have been more than 380 episodes of the Stargate franchise that have spanned nearly 20 seasons. Stargate SG-1 is among the longest-running sci-fi shows in U.S. TV history. The original 1994 Stargate feature film grossed nearly $200 million worldwide and spawned three live-action spinoff shows.
The announcement was made Thursday night at Comic-Con during a special Stargate panel. | 2,267 |
not need to remember about calling assertAll() but we can also see potential failures in a comparison editor in IntelliJ:
Custom SoftScoreAssertion
To improve the readability and reusability of the score validation we can create a custom assertion so it can be used as follows:
@Test public void verifiesScoreSoftlyWithCustomAssertion() { Score score = Score.scoreBuilder().withValue(11).withCombination(dice(1, 1, 3, 4)).withReminder(dice(6)).build(); SoftScoreAssertion.assertThat(score).hasValue(8).hasCombination(dice(1, 1, 3, 3)).hasReminder(dice(5)).assertAll(); }
The SoftScoreAssertion uses SoftAssertions and therefore we will still see all assertion errors at once. And the code:
class SoftScoreAssertion extends AbstractAssert<SoftScoreAssertion, Score> { private SoftAssertions softAssertions = new SoftAssertions(); protected SoftScoreAssertion(Score actual) { super(actual, SoftScoreAssertion.class); } public static SoftScoreAssertion assertThat(Score actual) { return new SoftScoreAssertion(actual); } public SoftScoreAssertion hasValue(int scoreValue) { isNotNull(); softAssertions.assertThat(actual.getValue()).as("Has score").isEqualTo(scoreValue); return this; } public SoftScoreAssertion hasReminder(List<Dice> expected) { isNotNull(); softAssertions.assertThat(actual.getReminder()).as("Has reminder").isEqualTo(expected); return this; } public SoftScoreAssertion hasCombination(List<Dice> expected) { isNotNull(); softAssertions.assertThat(actual.getCombination()).as("Has combination").isEqualTo(expected); return this; } @Override public SoftScoreAssertion isNotNull() { softAssertions.assertThat(actual).isNotNull(); return this; } public void assertAll() { this.softAssertions.assertAll(); } }
References
Source code
The source code for this article can be found in my unit-testing-demo project at GitHub: https://github.com/kolorobot/unit-testing-demo. | 2,268 |
Postponing the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo because of the coronavirus pandemic was "the right decision," beach volleyball player and three-time Olympic gold medalist Kerri Walsh Jennings said. Walsh Jennings, who was set to play for Team USA this summer, said it was almost a relief to hear the games would be delayed.
"When they made the decision, my heart broke a little bit, but also my mind was able to breathe," she told "CBS This Morning Saturday" co-host Dana Jacobson. "Something like this where it's like, 'Am I competing, you know, on the world's biggest stage in six months, or am I not?' To me it was like pulling the Band-Aid off fast."
Training for the unknown was something the veteran Olympian had never encountered before.
"My heart for the past three-plus years has been so focused on Aug. 7, 2020, the gold medal match, and what it's going to take to get there," she said. "As tournaments started falling off our schedule, my eyes became wide open to the seriousness of this pandemic."
Walsh Jennings said she has "no doubt that they made the right decision" to postpone.
"We want the Olympic movement and the spirit of it to be held in the highest integrity," she said.
She said the news could be "devastating" to some, especially athletes who were preparing for their first Olympic Games.
"It's like going into triple overtime when you're spent, so mentally and emotionally, physically exhausted. My bet is that if you're made of what Olympians are made of, if you're made of championship qualities, that your operating mode is optimism," she said. "There's a period where you have to understand and process what's going on, but once that's over, it's go time, and I believe every athlete will just see this as, you know, I have 365 more days, or whatever it is, to become even better."
Walsh Jennings said she will compete in 2021, her sixth Olympic Games.
"I'm just fully committed. Twelve more months is nothing. I love what I do. I just feel like over the weeks as the real life kind of toll has come and the human stories have come from this pandemic, it's put everything in perspective," she said. "And however sad I am as an athlete to not get to go and fight for my dreams this summer, I can wait a year. Life is so much more important." | 2,269 |
Sight begins with light. Look around and everything you perceive is the result of particles of light bouncing off surfaces and traveling to your eyes. For millennia visual artists have played tricks with light and shadow to mimic, capture and occasionally subvert the same rules that let you take in the world.
Perceptual scientists V.S. Ramachandran and Chaipat Chunharas at the University of California, San Diego, have developed dozens of demonstrations to identify and explore these rules. In the July/August issue of Scientific American MIND they present a series of illustrations that demonstrate the power of shading, one of the most elementary elements of perception.
For an example, watch the gif below for a few seconds. What do you see?
When Ramachandran and Chunharas created this animation, they made use of just two circles, side by side. The circles were shaded in opposite ways and alternated in presentation. The researchers expected people might perceive the display as two convex spheres with alternating lighting; two disks that continuously morphed from a concave into a convex shape; or—very literally—a convex sphere and a cavity trading places.
Instead, in an unpublished study with 15 participants, a majority of people reported seeing something like this (although in much more rapid motion):
That is to say, people reported seeing a ball-like sphere that moved back and forth between two cavities. This illusion disappeared, however, when the scientists simplified their animation to remove any shading gradient.
The simpler display makes it clear that shading and shadows are the brain’s cue to interpret a two-dimensional image as having a third dimension (something artists have long recognized). Once the brain has established it is looking at a 3-D ball or sphere, it can make assumptions about an object’s properties, such as its ability to roll back and forth between stationary cavities.
And in a variation on the experiment, the scientists created a display very similar to the initial animation but only allowed one of the two spheres to change over time.
This time people uniformly saw a sphere on the right—a bias that probably comes about because we as a species have evolved on a world littered with solid, convex objects—and an object on the left that continuously morphed back and forth from a convex into a concave shape. As Ramachandran and Chaipat detail in their article for MIND, these demonstrations can give us insight into how we process visual information and why, in evolutionary terms, we see things the way we do. | 2,270 |
"You've got gonorrhea!"
As both the Internet and casual sex continue to rise in popularity, e-cards have also seen a rise in use. But the e-cards that connect all of those things aren't your typical "Happy Birthday" with a picture of a cat popping out of a cake; they're aimed at notifying partners that they've been exposed to a sexually-transmitted disease or infection.
This is how it works. Sites like inSPOT offer a place for people to send the e-cards to up to six partners—or tricks—in order to inform them that they might have been exposed. The cards can be sent from yourself or from an anonymous source, as to protect your privacy if you're not yet comfortable revealing who you are. inSPOT promises not to log any of your data or report anything to government officials—the site is aimed solely at informing others and helping people find places to get tested.
For now, inSPOT is limited to a handful of US cities (San Francisco, New York, Chicago, Seattle, and more) and a handful of states/provinces, plus Romania. This is merely to offer those who have received a card to be able to find local information on how to get tested and receive treatment. If you live outside one of those areas, you can still use the site to send an e-card, though the recipient will be on his or her own in order to find further information.
As for the reason why such a thing exists, it's simple. InSPOT director Deb Levine said that inspiration for the site came from the rise in Internet use along with an increase in syphilis among men who have sex with men. She added that research indicated that men exposed to STDs usually failed to inform their partners about it. "They did tell their partners, the people they saw every day, but they didn't take the time to follow up with other people they were having sex with," Levine told the New York Times. "They said to us, 'If there was an easy and convenient way to do it, we would.'"
Of course, using a site like this requires you to know your partners' e-mail addresses, which isn't always possible in this day and age. But when presented with not informing a partner at all versus having the opportunity to do so online, more options are always better. Of course, people who have been exposed to STDs could also take the less couth route by using someecards instead, but that would be... well, not nice. | 2,271 |
(CNN) At least one in every two people in India have paid a bribe in the past year, according to a new national corruption report, which branded the practice "part and parcel of daily life."
Corruption remains "part and parcel of daily life in India," said a press release from TII. It's particularly widespread in local-level citizen services, which are "ridden with bribery and kickbacks."
The survey, published Tuesday, gathered 190,000 responses across 20 of India's 28 states. Some 24% of respondents said they had paid bribes several times in the past 12 months, while the remaining 27% said they had done so only once or twice.
Property registration and land issues were the biggest sectors of corruption, with more than a quarter of respondents having paid bribes to the relevant local departments. The police force was next; 19% of respondents said they had paid most of their bribes to police in the past year.
People also paid bribes to the tax department, transport office, municipal corporations, and other local authorities, the report found.
The Indian government has tried to crack down on bribery and corruption, amending an anti-corruption bill last year and setting up watchdog institutions. Under the amended bill, bribery is punishable by up to seven years in prison or a fine, or both, the report said.
The new deterrents and measures are "starting to show some effects," the report said -- but that change has not trickled down to the local level. Only 6% of people said that their state or local governments had taken steps to reduce corruption, and many reported that nothing had changed at all.
When the government does take action, sometimes the measures backfire. In 2016, India plunged into crisis after Prime Minister Narendra Modi suddenly banned high-value cash currency as a means to combat corruption and reduce tax evasion. Overnight, two of the biggest bank notes in the country became "worthless pieces of paper," as Modi put it.
But the demonetization measure devastated small businesses and destabilized what remains primarily a cash-based economy. Modi's plan ultimately failed "because through corrupt practices the ill-gotten money was legitimized ultimately, having a crippling effect on the Indian economy," according to the TII report.
All the while, watchdog agencies are "failing to fulfill their respective roles" and have a public reputation for "inefficiency and manipulation in the commission," the report said. It called for greater "political willingness on the part of the government," suggesting that efforts against corruption had been blocked by "partisan politics." | 2,272 |
It’s bad enough when a public school promotes religion. It’s downright stupid when they publicize how they’re promoting religion for the world to see.
But that’s great news when you’re building a case for a potential lawsuit against them.
In Alabama, a football coach for the Washington County Schools was baptizing players on the field. The whole thing was videotaped and celebrated and broadcast to the public. (You can even hear a man introducing Coach Devon Roberts as the person who made this happen since “none of this would be going on without” him. Roberts is not the man in the image below.)
Even the team’s Facebook page shows the baptisms as their banner photo.
Now the Freedom From Religion Foundation wants further explanation from the District and a promise that this will never happen again.
We write to ensure that WCS is no longer including religious rituals during school-sponsored activities. It is inappropriate for a public school district to proselytize students by organizing a team baptism. It is equally inappropriate and unconstitutional for coaches to have participated even if students or the [Fellowship of Christian Athletes] organized the baptism.
Even if it wasn’t illegal — which it absolutely is — there’s another component to this that’s also disturbing:
The conduct at Washington City Schools is especially problematic in the context of athletics, given the pressure players feel to conform to coaches’ expectations, FFRF points out. Student athletes are inclined to mirror the actions of team leaders to garner their favor. Students should not be expected to pray to play, much less to be baptized at a school event. By leading and participating in such events, coaches send a clear message that the athletic staff approves of these activities. … “The involvement of a public school coach in baptisms is so over the top as to be ludicrous,” says FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor. “You’d be hard-pressed to cite a display of sectarian religiosity more blatant than this.”
Incidentally, Coach Roberts only became the team’s football coach after the previous one took a position with the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. Roberts was bragging about the proselytizing on social media, too.
If any public school coach was helping students become Muslim, you know what the backlash would look like. It shouldn’t be any different when they’re pressured into joining Christianity.
(Image via Facebook)
| 2,273 |
of Men’s Health Australia is Lance Franklin, champion AFL footy player and supreme athlete, and the current cover of Women’s Health Australia is Jennifer Hawkins, a model. Come on! We are in the renaissance of women’s sport and we can’t get an AFL player like the Crows’ Erin Phillips or superstar of the Matilda’s Sam Kerr? Why?
Buddy Franklin on the cover of Men’s Health, and Jennifer Hawkins on the cover of Women’s Health, October 2017
Look at the language difference between these two. Men’s Health – to the point, hey we’ve been around 20 years, we’re the best for fitness and health – nice. Women’s Health ’10 years of Fitspiration!’ in flowery font. It’s condescending. I do not want ‘fitspo’ – I want to know more about the fitness and health industry and what workouts are best for me!
The actual purpose of these magazines also seem to be different, for men, it is simply to get fit, look good, feel good and be more confident. For women it is *takes breath* how to be great at sex; how to look YOUNGER; how to have perfect abs; how to HAVE IT ALL; how to lose cellulite forever!; how to be the absolute perfect woman in every possible way and not drop dead from exhaustion! Oh wait, they don’t include that.
There’s more sex in women’s magazines then there is in men’s! How does that make sense? When I find a fitness magazine that has no sex in it (which thankfully, Women’s Fitness doesn’t) I am absolutely praising, because it’s just so refreshing not to read yet another article on ’30 different ways to please him with your mouth’
Really?
Overall, I want more female athletes, more women’s sports teams featured, more elite runners and athletics champions, and more stories of overcoming adversity (eg: ‘I lost 50 kilos now I’m a marathon runner!’). Stop treating female readers like morons.
I do not want to see what a frankly underweight, no-muscle definition waif has for breakfast. I do not care. I want to see what champions eat. I want to know how champions train, and I want those champions to be women. | 2,274 |
Aadhaar data leaks amidst privacy debate, 210 government sites found displaying personal info
About 210 websites of the Central and State government departments were displaying personal details and Aadhaar numbers of beneficiaries. The Parliament was informed of the same on Wednesday. Minister of State for Electronics and IT, PP Chaudhary said in a written reply in the Lok Sabha, “UIDAI (The Unique Identification Authority of India) has taken note of the same and is regularly monitoring the status to get the Aadhaar data removed from the said websites. It was found that around 210 websites of Central Government, State Government Departments including educational institutes were displaying the list of beneficiaries along with their name, address and other details and Aadhaar numbers for information of general public.”
He also goes on to say that there has been no leakage of Aadhaar data from the UIDAI. According to PTI, “Chaudhary said that private players have not acquired any Aadhaar data including biometrics from the UIDAI, and sharing of Aadhaar information is done only with authorised agencies through secure applications after following well-established procedures and protocols.”
This isn’t the first-time information such as Aadhaar has leaked. A database of user information of Reliance Jio users recently leaked online. The leak included personal user information like email addresses, Aadhaar numbers and more. Information pertaining to 120 million Reliance Jio users leaked online. However, Aadhaar number of all the users wasn’t leaked during this breach.
More than a billion people today have Aadhaar numbers. The breach or leak of Aadhaar details can be catastrophic in the right hands. Right to privacy is being debated in the Supreme Court as we speak of this leak. The petitioners say data like iris scans and fingerprints taken by the state violates citizens' privacy. An eight-judge bench in 1954 and six-judge bench in 1962 had both ruled that there is no right to privacy. But in those days, sensitive data like Iris scans and fingerprints was not being collected by the government. Whether such information being collected by the government is a breach of privacy will be determined on the basis of the verdict which decides whether privacy is a fundamental right or not. This Aadhar leak will definitely not help the government's case.
With Aadhaar being linked to users PAN cards, bank accounts and more, it’s easy for a hacker who gets his hands on all this data to exploit it. The question isn’t what will happen when this data is leaked. The question is, when will this data leak. Well, that time has come. | 2,275 |
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Ten Conference announced that its colleges could now show an unlimited number of replays at any speed on stadium videoboards, mirroring the multiple, slow-motion replays commonly featured in game broadcasts.
Previously, stadiums were allowed to show just one replay at only 75 percent of the actual speed. “Our goal on game day is to blend the best parts of an in-stadium experience with the best parts of an at-home experience,” Jim Delany, the Big Ten’s commissioner, said at the time.
More commonly, universities are trying to attract student fans by adding more amenities to stadiums and transforming the game day experience into something that can’t be found at a bar or in someone’s living room.
“We’re seeing more and more incentives,” Nagel said. “And we’re also seeing a trend toward creating a larger entertainment experience. The game on the field is still the centerpiece, but there’s more fireworks, more giveaways, more promotions. That’s the wave of the present.”
More than half of Division I FBS institutions plan on spending more than $10 million on facility investments over the next year, according to a recent survey conducted by Ohio University’s Center for Sports Administration and stadium designer AECOM. The top three priorities for that spending—enhancing food and beverage options, premium seating, and connectivity—all focus on the experience of fans, rather than the players.
Earlier this year the University of Nebraska at Lincoln approved a $12.3 million project for installing a better sound system and wireless Internet in its stadium. The University of California at Berkeley is now offering freshman season tickets, usually available for a $99 fee, for free. And 21 college-owned stadiums now sell alcohol, according to a survey conducted by the Associated Press. That’s double the number from five years ago.
“Even though it’s important to look at the macro issue, everything about how to solve this is really local,” Nagel said. “Numbers could be down at some stadiums, but certain schools could be up. It really is a situation where every school have their own micro issues that need to be dealt with.
“But they share the same concern: If students don’t have that affinity for their team as young people, when they’re 35 years old with a lot of expendable income, are they going to make the decisions their parents have as fans?” | 2,277 |
to the coming elections, "we need more Republican victories in 2018!"
Republicans control the Senate, but fall nine votes short of the 60 they need to avoid a Democratic filibuster.
Government Funding Bill past last night in the House of Representatives. Now Democrats are needed if it is to pass in the Senate - but they want illegal immigration and weak borders. Shutdown coming? We need more Republican victories in 2018! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 19, 2018
The Office of Management and Budget is responsible for coordinating and enforcing a shutdown, which will send all non-essential federal workers home unless they're funded outside the annual appropriations process.
The White House itself, as a constitutional office, would remain open for business. All presidential appointees would remain on the job, with 152 of 371 West Wing employees reporting for duty. In the executive residence, 21 of the 77 employees who help run the mansion would report to work.
The president's weekend at his Mar-a-Lago resort was scheduled to be a bigger spectacle than his usual golf weekends at what he calls the "Winter White House." Trump had planned to celebrate the one-year anniversary of his presidency with a party and fundraiser.
But Trump himself clearly sees political advantage in a shutdown for which he could blame Senate Democrats.
More: Then and now: See President Trump's evolving views on government shutdowns
Noting that the GOP-controlled House passed a temporary funding bill Thursday night, Trump said Friday morning that "now Democrats are needed if it is to pass in the Senate — but they want illegal immigration and weak borders. Shutdown coming?"
Democrats and some Senate Republicans object to the House-approved spending plan for a variety of reasons.
Many Democrats want it to include authorization of a program designed to block deportation of people who were brought to the United States illegally by their parents. Trump has vowed to end the the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program unless Congress comes up with a legislative fix.
"We would like to keep the government open. What we'd really like the Democrats in the Senate to do is tell us why they don't like the bill," Mulvaney said. By including non-spending issues in the negotiations, he said, Democrats are doing the same thing they accused Republicans of when House Republicans refused to pass a spending bill that didn't include a repeal of the Affordable Care Act.
More: Trump's first year: President spent 38 weekends at his own properties
Contributing: Eliza Collins and Deirdre Shesgreen. | 2,278 |
1. Gardein Chick’n Scallopini
YESSSSS.
2. Field Roast Hand-Formed Burger
Take grilling season up a notch!
3. Lightlife Pepperoni
All of the taste, none of the torture.
4. Beyond Meat Beefless Feisty Crumble
Perfect for your favorite recipe! BONUS: It’s gluten-free!
5. Gardein Breakfast Pockets
Breakfast—to go!
6. Daiya New York Style Cheezecake
Rich, creamy, and 100 percent dairy-free, this might be Daiya’s best product.
7. Field Roast Smoked Tomato Deli Slices
These deli slices are out of this world!
8. Follow Your Heart Vegenaise
This is a must-have in any vegan household.
9. Gardein Meatless Meatloaf
Just like mom used to make, only better.
10. Miyoko’s Kitchen Double Cream Sundried Tomato Garlic
Whoa.
11. Vegetarian Plus Vegan Citrus Sparerib Cutlets
Find these in the freezer at your local Whole Foods.
12. Tofurky Hickory Smoked Deli Slices
Take your sandwich to the next level.
13. Follow Your Heart VeganEgg
Breakfast just got better.
14. Earth Balance Vegan Cheddar Squares
Another amazing snack from the folks at Earth Balance.
15. Kite Hill Cream Cheese
Made from almonds!
16. So Delicious Coconut Milk Cookie Dough Ice Cream
Perf.
17. Miyoko’s Kitchen Fresh Loire Valley in a Fig Leaf
So good!!!
18. Tofurky Slow Roasted Chick’n
This product is great in pretty much any recipe that calls for chicken.
19. Earth Balance White Cheddar Popcorn
WARNING: You will eat the entire bag.
20. Beyond Meat Chicken-Free Southwest Style Strips
These are seriously good.
21. Ben & Jerry’s Non-Dairy P.B. & Cookies Ice Cream
Think cookies and cream with a TON of peanut butter swirled in!
22. Field Roast Apple Maple Breakfast Sausages. YUM. | 2,279 |
uresh
Those who tame a bull - as the man in the picture above has done - were seen as heroes in their villages.
"Bull fighting has been part and parcel of our cultural tradition for centuries. Despite agreeing to the rules imposed by the court earlier, the event has been banned. We are terribly upset," says P Rajasekaran, president of Tamil Nadu Jallikattu Association, from the city of Madurai.
He denies accusations that the bulls were tortured and ill-treated. "We implemented strict rules regarding welfare of the bulls and bull fighters after the court intervened in 2008. We have no idea why the Supreme Court decided to impose the ban."
image copyright J Suresh
Contestants and the ferocious noise of the crowd ensured the bulls were enraged by the time they entered the arena.
Animal rights activists say the bulls were also sometimes force-fed homemade liquor, and had chilli powder rubbed in their eyes, ears and mouth. In some places their tails were even bitten and testicles pinched to get them angry.
Following the outcry, the state government introduced a number of strict regulations aimed at ensuring the bulls were not ill-treated and keeping people safe. Animals now need to be registered, photographed and tested by a vet before they are allowed to take part. Details are cross-checked before they enter the arena.
image copyright J Suresh
Bulls are also given regular exercise to keep them fit and strong for competition. If the ban is lifted they will be ready to run in time for the January festival, their owners say.
image copyright J Suresh
The events used to attract often vast crowds. There was always a higher risk of injury to people at Manju Virattu contests, where bulls were set loose among the tightly packed spectators and contestants.
image copyright J Suresh
At this pre-2015 Jallikattu contest some of the new safety measures are visible - the crowd is fenced off from the bull.
image copyright J Suresh
Since the ban was imposed, protesters in Tamil Nadu have been demanding the central government allow them to continue the sport.
The Bharatiya Janata Party government in Delhi has promised to look into their demands sympathetically, much to the annoyance of animal rights activists.
It's far from certain that bulls will be part of the festival this year - the government and legal opinion are at odds on the issue - but hopes in Tamil Nadu are high as their New Year approaches. | 2,280 |
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Hull KR have signed former Leeds Rhinos prop Nathaniel Peteru on a deal until the end of the season, subject to visa approval.
The 28-year-old left the Rhinos by mutual consent in October after a frustrating spell at Headingley.
Peteru suffered two separate biceps injuries during his first season and then sustained a fractured cheekbone last year, limiting him to 32 appearances during his time with Leeds.
Rovers have been in the market for a prop since Mose Masoe suffered a career-ending injury in mid-January and Peteru – who stands at 6ft 5in and weighs almost 18st – fits the bill.
The former Gold Coast Titans forward takes Masoe’s non-federation spot on the club’s overseas quota.
“I’m very excited,” said Peteru. “I’m grateful to Tony Smith and the club for this opportunity.
“I’m looking forward to getting into training and getting up to speed with everything.
“Tony approached me a while ago but I had a few other things going on in my life. Then I talked to Tony again and I couldn’t really say no this time.
“I’m really, really thankful for this opportunity to come to a club like Hull KR and hopefully I can bring a positive influence to the place.
“Tony touched on the game time with me and I got myself up to speed with what has been happening at Rovers. I want to bring my bit of experience to the team.”
It is highly unlikely Peteru will receive clearance in time for Sunday’s Challenge Cup tie against Leigh Centurions, when Rovers will be short on bodies in the front row.
(Image: SW pix)
Will Maher and Robbie Mulhern both suffered injuries in last week’s defeat to Wigan Warriors, joining Mitch Garbutt on the casualty list.
Smith has been left with only two fit senior props in Dan Murray and Kyle Trout, with youngsters Owen Harrison and Anesu Mudoti among his other options.
Matty Storton is also sidelined after leaving the DW Stadium with an ankle issue but the Robins will welcome back captain Weller Hauraki, full-back Adam Quinlan and back-rower Dean Hadley this weekend. | 2,281 |
Smart tattoos are the hottest thing since mood rings. When they become commonplace, they will be a great way to eavesdrop on both vital signs and not-so-vital signs. The only thing that seems to be holding them back, is getting power to them. Joseph Wang, a researchers from UCSD, has now come up with a way to generate power for these devices without using any external equipment. The secret, is to harness electrons from lactate acid secreted in sweat.
The muscle “burn” we feel when exercising to exhaustion has been commonly associated with the buildup of lactic acid. For muscle, lactate is a waste product, a metabolic endpoint from which there is no escape. The brain, on the other hand, thrives on lactate. As far as the muscle is concerned, the brain is its metabolic trashman.
Exercise physiologists, quite naturally, have sought to measure lactate levels in the muscle or blood. When lactate was discovered to be released in sweat, a new sensor technology was born. Wang has taken the next logical step of adding provisions to accumulate charge when lactate is enzymatically sensed. By embedding enzymes that process lactate into the tattoo, he was able to extract 70 microwatts per cm² of skin.
That measure may be a bit misleading, because the actual device was only a few millimeters in size and so only made about 4 microwatts. Technically speaking, if you want to say that you made $1,000 per hour during the hour that you got your paycheck for the week, who can fault you if you can scale that? The catch with this tattoo is that you need to be hot — as in pedaling your heart out on a bike for 30 minutes — to get the lactate out. That, however, may not be the death knell for such a technology.
One could imagine selectively activating the sympathetic nerves that control the sweat glands in a discrete patch of skin. That way, you override the normal control and can sweat without the heat or exertion. The other part of the puzzle would be to actually generate the lactic acid. Preferably, this would be done locally as well, rather than having to have high levels circulating in the blood.
Other researchers have already imagined e-tattoos to read your thoughts and desires. This concept is not your grandma’s skin conductance, but rather a sophisticated electronic package with on-board signal processing and communications. With a discrete way to power such devices, a formidable tool for self discovery might be had. | 2,282 |
Donald Trump’s press secretary Sean Spicer has admitted that millions of Americans could lose access to healthcare if the Republicans are successful in repealing Obamacare.
Speaking at a White House press briefing, Mr Spicer defended plans to replace the Affordable Care Act, claiming a replacement would bring “a higher likelihood that [Americans] will find something that they want at a price they can afford”.
CNN’s Jim Acosta asked: “Would you concede that there will be some coverage losses, perhaps in the millions? That there will be millions of people who will not have health insurance as a result of what you're doing?"
Mr Spicer replied: “Sure, except you have to look at the current situation. You are mandated by law to buy insurance right now under Obamacare."
It came as independent analysis by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), similar to Britain’s Office for Budget Responsibility, estimated that 14 million more people would be uninsured next year under the legislation than under under the current arrangement – a figure expected to rise to 24 million by 2026.
The findings are likely to strike a blow to Mr Trump’s administration, which has insisted that its plan to replace Obamacare will provide better and cheaper healthcare.
They are also likely to make it harder for Republicans to sell the plan - their first major piece of legislation under Mr Trump’s presidency - in Congress, especially the Senate.
Doctors, hospitals and other medical providers as well as patient advocates have urged lawmakers to abandon the plan.
Republican Orrin Hatch, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, said he did not think the CBO report meant the end of the proposal.
“No matter what you do... you’re going to have differences like that, and to be honest with you, I don’t think they truly looked at all the aspects,” he said.
Mr Spicer also disregarded the report, implying it was inaccurate.
"When you get down to it, the Congressional Budget Office is there to measure the potential impact of programs on the federal budget. Its attempts to estimate coverage have been historically faulty," he told reporters.
Democrats say the Republican plan could hurt the elderly, poor and working families while giving tax cuts for the rich. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called it "a wreck".
"It's vintage Donald Trump: talks like a populist, but when he acts, it's hard-right, favouring the special interests and hurting the middle class and those trying to get there," Mr Schumer said. | 2,283 |
that might be pretty fucking difficult to manage when there’s nothing left to “make great.” It’s like saying, “make coal great again…” Oh wait.
If the EPA was supposed to guarantee clean air and water, then that guarantee is already amiss. Last week, President Trump signed legislation quashing the Office of Surface Mining’s Stream Protection Rule, a regulation aimed to protect waterways from coal mining waste.
The main complaint of the provision is that it cost miners $50 million annually to maintain.
The President’s remark, “This will eliminate another terrible job-killing rule saving many thousands of American jobs especially in the mines.”
Coal miners similarly rejoiced, with one miner, identified as “Mike,” at the Marion County Coal Company addressing the President, “President Trump, we thank you very much for everything you’ve done for us. Everything you’re doing for our industry is very much needed. I’ve been mining in this industry for 40 years and this is a very exciting time in our industry. Thank you very much.”
Of course, this won’t revitalize the coal industry at all, an industry damaged more by automation and low-cost natural gas via fracking than by environmental regulations.
Repealing the Stream Protection Rule merely fouls the streams and rivers by mine tailings. It also incentivizes the age-old mining practice of blowing off mountain tops, the main aim of the protection rule. The repeal also means more greenhouse gas pollution from burning coal. It means the numerous species, like the 50 types of freshwater mussels, that live in waters affected by mining will more than likely die. And it also opens the risk of tainted water supplies that can last centuries. In total, the rule protected some 6,000 miles of streams and 50,000 acres of forest, which are now open to more destruction.
Some claim industry can “regulate itself.” But if a history of deregulation has shown us anything, it’s that industry can’t regulate itself. Just look at West Virginia, with its extensive history with tainted water or the Wyoming town living with a contaminated water supply.
Top photo by Laurie Shaull CC BY-SA 2.0
Tom Burson is a travel writer, part-time hitchhiker, and he’s currently trying to imitate Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? but with more sunscreen and jorts. | 2,284 |
The St. Louis Rams and longtime franchise player Steven Jackson parted ways last week. It was a sad moment, but like everything in the NFL, life moves on.
It seems like the Rams will be moving forward with last years draft picks Isaiah Pead and Daryl Richardson. But it always seemed likely that the Rams would add another running back. Most of the talk out there has been that the Rams would add a bigger back, you know: a running back with the skill set of Steven Jackson.
Well at the owners meeting, Jeff Fisher said they would be looking at another RB.
#Rams coach Jeff Fisher said they'll be in the market for another RB to help replace Steven Jackson. He wants a "big back". — Jamey Eisenberg (@JameyEisenberg) March 20, 2013
#Rams coach Jeff Fisher said "we'll be shopping" for another RB. Look for them to go after DeAngelo Williams when he's released. — Jamey Eisenberg (@JameyEisenberg) March 20, 2013
#Rams coach Jeff Fisher did say he likes Daryl Richardson and Isaiah Pead, but clearly he's not sold on them leading the backfield. — Jamey Eisenberg (@JameyEisenberg) March 20, 2013
DeAngelo Williams is an interesting name, however he isn't technically a big back. When I hear big back, I think of a bruiser like Brandon Jacobs, but who would complain if the Rams signed Williams to a multi-year deal? Hey, maybe a back like Williams is big to Fisher now that the NFL has changed the rules on RB's lowering the boom.
The Panthers head coach even mentioned trading Williams as an option.
Hey, a 5th rounder for a 2 year rental wouldn't be bad, and he's a proven player. Last season, he ran the ball 173 times and gained 737 yards. The Rams could still use Isaiah Pead, a back that they have been high on since last season.
It doesn't seem likely that the Rams would invest a draft pick in another back, but weird transactions have happened in the NFL. Honestly, getting a proven veteran back to go along with the young runners would be a great plan for the Rams going forward. There's also a chance that the Rams could spend a mid-round pick on a running back. It's not as big of a need, but the Rams could use the draft for a back.
Here's a list of all the available free agents (including running backs). | 2,285 |
That is, they do not trace any pensive motion of the soul or heart but are a volley of words discharged. From the Cambridge English Corpus
His only chance of restoration to health and activity is a prolonged and pensive system of medical treatment. Hansard archive Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0 From the
The same argument would apply in that case, because the nearer the barracks were the more ex, pensive they would prove. Hansard archive Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0 From the
It is an expensive business because staff is ex- pensive. Hansard archive Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0 From the
The more ex- pensive that a school makes it for people to hire a room, the more people will be against that establishment. Hansard archive Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0 From the
Those flats are going to be far more ext pensive than the houses, and the cubic space is going to be lower, and they are not what the people want. Hansard archive Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0 From the
A£4,000 house would be fairly ex pensive. Hansard archive Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0 From the
Pensive images were popular in the other two kingdoms. Wikipedia This example is from Wikipedia and may be reused under a CC BY-SA license. From
Its dissonances and complexities juxtapose the sustained with the pointillistic, mirroring the characters' pensive but restless wanderings. Wikipedia This example is from Wikipedia and may be reused under a CC BY-SA license. From
The girls have a pensive dignity as though they are pondering the burdens and joylessness of a future to be spent as caryatids. Wikipedia This example is from Wikipedia and may be reused under a CC BY-SA license. From
There were also several songs with a softer and more pensive theme. Wikipedia This example is from Wikipedia and may be reused under a CC BY-SA license. From
He however seems harmless enough, and looks rather pensive and pained. Wikipedia This example is from Wikipedia and may be reused under a CC BY-SA license. From | 2,286 |
Newly released "Podesta Emails" published by WikiLeaks reveal that Chelsea Clinton was extremely worried about potential conflicts of interest between the Clinton Foundation, State Department and Teneo, a consulting firm that was founded by former aides to Bill and Hillary Clinton. Per The Washington Examiner, Teneo, founded by Doug Band and Declan Kelly, drew a lot of scrutiny for its decision to employ Huma Abedin during the final months of Hillary Clinton's State Department tenure. Chelsea apparently thought the firm created potential conflicts of interest when Abedin and Band went to State Department officials to seek assistance for Teneo's clients, including MF Global.
The situation escalated to the point that Doug Band sent the following email to John Podesta in November 2011 as he was "worried that if this story gets out, we are screwed." Among other things, Band had the following to say about Chelsea:
"She is acting like a spoiled brat kid who has nothing else to do but create issues to justify what she's doing because she, as she has said, hasn't found her way and has a lack of focus in her life. I realize she will be off of this soon but if it doesn't come soon enough...."
Less than a month later, Chelsea wrote to Podesta raising concerns over Teneo leveraging their relationship with Bill Clinton to pull strings on behalf of their client, Dow Chemical, run by CEO Andrew Liveris. Interestingly, this is the same Andrew Liveris that Bill Clinton pushed Hillary to meet with back in 2009 just as Dow was engaged in a legal battle with Kuwait over a failed joint venture (see "Did Foundation Donor Dow Chemical Seek Hillary "Favor" To Settle $9 Billion Lawsuit With Kuwait?" and "New Hillary Emails Expose Bill Pushing Meetings With Foundation Donors, Requests For 'Diplomatic Passports'").
After that, the situation escalated to the point that Band sent the following email two days later saying that Chelsea had pushed Clinton Foundation COO, Laura Graham, to the brink of suicide. Within the email Band describes an encounter in which he received a "late night" call from Graham who was:
"...on staten island in her car parked a few feet from the waters edge with her foot on the gas pedal and the car in park. She called me to tell me the stress of all of this office crap with wjc and cvc as well as that of her family had driven her to the edge and she couldn't take it anymore."
Luckily Graham was able to avoid Vince Foster's fate...though just narrowly it seems. | 2,287 |
In the past, people with ulcers were told to eat small, bland meals and drink lots of milk to help heal ulcers, but today doctors know otherwise.
But if you know that there are specific foods that make your ulcer feel worse, avoid them until your treatment is over.
Back when spicy food was believed to cause an ulcer, milk was thought to heal it. Now the prevailing wisdom is that milk may improve the symptoms of an ulcer, but cannot heal it.
Interestingly, spicy food could have a preventive effect.
According to one study, researchers in Singapore found that people who ate mostly Chinese food, which does not have a high amount of capsaicin, had three times the frequency of ulcers as those who mostly ate the much spicier Malay or Indian food.
Stop Smoking: If you smoke, you are already at increased risk for getting an ulcer.
The data also show that ulcers take longer to heal in smokers and that the ulcer medication you are taking may be less effective.
Scientists don't know exactly why smoking has these negative effects.
Beware of NSAIDs: NSAIDs, such as aspirin, ibuprofen, and many others, are taken for pain and fever, but can cause an ulcer if used too often.
NSAIDs also can prevent an ulcer from healing as quickly as you would like, so talk to your doctor about what you can take for your other aches and pains while you are waiting for your ulcer to heal.
Also, be sure to read all drug labels; some products such as cough and cold liquids have NSAID ingredients in them and you should avoid them, too.
Acetaminophen (Tylenol) does not cause ulcers, so it may be an effective substitute.
Cut back on alcohol: Stop drinking alcohol if you want to completely reduce your risk of additional ulcers and help your body heal.
Eat a diet rich in fruits and vegetables: A comprehensive review of published studies related to ulcer prevention shows that eating a lot of fiber from fruits and veggies may help reduce your risk of ulcer.
Vitamin A, found in many vegetables, may also be helpful.
Manage your stress: Most ulcers are caused by H. pylori or NSAIDs, but for a small group of people, stress does appear to have a connection to ulcers.
Many doctors recommend some form of stress release for these people, including yoga, exercise, or massage. | 2,288 |
able to secure themselves a direct invite to the Kiev Major and avoid the difficult qualification process. Currently, Liquid are looking like one of the best teams in the world. They have several competitive games in the new patch under their belts, and look to translate that success to the major stage.
DAC a Perfect World?
With the winners covered, let’s take a look at some of the other notable things that happened during the DAC Regional Qualifiers.
VP not connecting anymore
One of the most notable events of the qualifiers was that VP have not qualified for DAC. All bad puns aside, this was completely out of their control. The team suffered connection issues in both of their games, leading to them being disqualified after some long delays.
Another casualty of the DDosS attack was their Dota 2 Manager, Andrey Kvasnevsky, who took the blame for the bootcamp choices made for the tournament.
Having not competed in the StarLadder qualifiers and missing out on DAC, VP will likely have to qualify for the Kiev Major. Hopefully they can reconnect as a team and mount a series challenge for a spot at Kiev.
A worldwide crush
Often is the case in Dota that different regions develop slight nuances in the meta. Currently, however, there is one mainstay in every region. Slardar was the most contested hero in the whole qualifiers, being picked or banned in 200 games. In comparison, the next highest is Ember with 150 picks or bans. Slardar also has a very strong 56% win-rate. Expect to see more and more Slardar in top level games.
B)ears start with a roar
DAC was the first showing for new team, B)ears. The qualifiers were a baptism of fire, and B)ears rose from the fires of war to finish in a respectable second place. Possessing some of the best talent in the world, including talented position four Yazied “YapzOr” Jaradat, B)ears hope to build on DAC. Heading into Kiev, B)ears will likely be a favorite to qualify from what is expected to be a tough qualification region.
If you missed any of the qualifiers, check out some of the best plays from the qualifiers below.
You can ‘like‘ The Game Haus on Facebook and ‘follow‘ us on Twitter for more sports and esports articles from other great TGH writers.
You can follow Joe here – https://twitter.com/TrenchCommander | 2,289 |
A U.S. judge rejected Hawaii's bid to exempt grandparents from President Donald Trump's temporary travel ban on Thursday, but ruled that the state could ask the U.S. Supreme Court directly to clarify which parts of the order should take effect.
U.S. District Judge Derrick Watson in Honolulu had been asked to interpret a ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court that revived parts of Trump's March 6 executive order banning people from six Muslim-majority countries for 90 days.
The highest court let the ban go forward with a limited scope, saying it could not apply to anyone with a credible "bona fide relationship" with a U.S. person or entity.
Trump said the measure was necessary to prevent extremist attacks. However, opponents including states and refugee advocacy groups sued to stop it, disputing its security rationale and saying it discriminated against Muslims.
Watson said in Thursday's ruling he "declines to usurp the prerogative of the Supreme Court to interpret its own order."
Hawaii said late on Thursday it would appeal against Watson's ruling to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, according to a court filing.
The Justice Department said in a statement it was pleased with the ruling.
"We are confident that the U.S. Supreme Court will again vindicate the president and his constitutional duty to protect the national security of the United States," it said.
The government said after last month's Supreme Court ruling that a "bona fide relationship" meant close family members only, such as parents, spouses, fiancés, siblings, and children.
Grandparents, grandchildren, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews and cousins from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen would still be banned.
The state of Hawaii asked Watson last week to clarify the Supreme Court's ruling, arguing the government's definition of "bona fide relationship" was too narrow.
Justice Department lawyers said its definition "hews closely" to language found in U.S. immigration law, while Hawaii's attorney general's office said other parts of immigration law included grandparents as close family.
The government reversed its position on fiancés before the ban went into effect last week, saying they could also qualify for exceptions.
The roll-out of the narrowed version of the ban was more subdued last week compared to January, when Trump first signed a more expansive version of the order. That sparked protests and chaos at airports around the country and the world. | 2,290 |
, crazy, insane price? I disagree.
Easily worth it for Samsung if you ask me. (:
UmberBane Profile Joined March 2013 Germany 2412 Posts Last Edited: 2013-09-03 20:15:38 September 03 2013 08:06 GMT #15
But anyway this should be easily worth it for Samsung, looking at the record breaking OGN Finals numbers and also the implications that has on the upcoming S3 finals viewership.
Now top 6 or so in KR will be all KeSPA teams though... :O Half of that price is actually being paid for the dancing coach!But anyway this should be easily worth it for Samsung, looking at the record breaking OGN Finals numbers and also the implications that has on the upcoming S3 finals viewership.Now top 6 or so in KR will be all KeSPA teams though... :O
canikizu Profile Joined September 2010 832 Posts September 03 2013 08:06 GMT #16 On September 03 2013 17:01 DarkLordOlli wrote:
It would make sense to get the MVP SC2 team as well at least, they currently have the most amount of Code S players out of any team.
If Samsung cares about SC2 that is.
Yeah, look at this:
http://wiki.teamliquid.net/starcraft2/Samsung_KHAN/Results
http://wiki.teamliquid.net/starcraft2/MVP_(team)/Results
MVP team has way more success than Samsung Khan team. Yeah, look at this:MVP team has way more success than Samsung Khan team.
WetSocks Profile Joined June 2012 United States 2 Posts Last Edited: 2013-09-03 08:10:29 September 03 2013 08:10 GMT #18 That's a lot of money from Samsung. Never watched LoL, but I watched MVP won 1st place on a Korean tournaments when I randomly clicked on a featured stream couple months ago
So it should be worth it.
Itsmedudeman Profile Joined March 2011 United States 4722 Posts September 03 2013 08:15 GMT #19 Considering jangbi retired and all samsung is gonna be pretty desperate right now. They have no one.
NovemberstOrm Profile Joined September 2011 Canada 13 Posts September 03 2013 08:16 GMT #20 If they buy the SC2 squad that would be awesome for the players. Moderator lickypiddy
1 2 3 4 5 10 11 12 Next All | 2,291 |
About this mod Hello again! Today we have a new mod today for pride month. (which is in June) So now we can celebrate pride in the Commonwealth! Hope you all enjoy, and if you do, endorse the mod so it can get seen by more people. Like the video and subscribe for future mods. Permissions and credits Credits and distribution permission Other user's assets All the assets in this file belong to the author, or are from free-to-use modder's resources
Upload permission You are not allowed to upload this file to other sites under any circumstances
Modification permission You must get permission from me before you are allowed to modify my files to improve it
Conversion permission You are not allowed to convert this file to work on other games under any circumstances
Asset use permission You must get permission from me before you are allowed to use any of the assets in this file
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Asset use permission in mods/files that earn donation points You are not allowed to earn Donation Points for your mods if they use my assets
Console modding permission This mod will not be available on Bethesda.net for console users Author notes This author has not provided any additional notes regarding file permissions File credits This author has not credited anyone else in this file Donation Points system This mod is opted-in to receive Donation Points Donations Straight donations accepted
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Watch the video Here
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSERFpJKGws
Hello again! Today we have a new mod today for pride month. (which is in June) So now we can celebrate pride in the Commonwealth! Hope you all enjoy, and if you do, endorse the mod so it can get seen by more people. Like the video and subscribe for future mods.
This Mod Has;
- 17 different pride flags in 2 styles
- A leather jacket with a bunch of patches.
UPDATE!
Added 1 more flag, I've seen it called the sunset flag and also the pink lemonade flag, but its a really cute lesbian pride flag that is hard to love. This brings the number of flags to 18. I also added a second version of the flags that are less saturated and are a bit grimier! I hope everyone enjoys! | 2,292 |
The way drinking go works, Jacky Sun explained at dinner Friday night, is that the loser of the game has to down a beer. “I played the former European go champion, I think he was from Finland, maybe, and I lost the game but I won the drinking,” Jacky boasted. He and Qin Zhixuan were playing in the teacher’s room at Jin Sheng Yu’s go school Friday night while I played a simul with two students (see Chicken Feet, New Friends, the Mysteries of Go and Pint-Sized Players). After the kids left, EJ photog John Pinkerton and I went in to check on the game. Qin was trying to activate some non-existent aji but Jacky was giving no quarter and soon Qin was paying for his loss by downing a giant bottle of Suntory in one long gulp. Go is thirsty work.
After the Blue Elephant Go School visit Saturday morning (see At the Blue Elephant Go School), Du Yufeng 3P dropped us off at a coffee shop where some of her friends have been playing go every weekend for seven years. “There aren’t really any go clubs in Shanghai,” Danny Wang (below) told us. “It’s easier just to play on the Internet, and it’s free.” Still, Danny and his friends — all very strong dan players — prefer to hang out at the coffeeshop on the weekends and they welcomed us to the gang, keeping our glasses filled with tea, showing us how to peel ripe lychee nuts and taking turns giving us games. “Go is a good way to make new friends,” Danny said. The afternoon slid by as rain pattered outside and stone s clicked on the boards. We lost track of time and how many games we played. After a few games with one player, another would take his place. Some smacked their stones down forcefully, some gently. All smoked and all played classically good shape patiently, never gambling on a quick win. At game’s end the stones would fly around the board during Chinese counting and each time we’d come up short and the cycle would begin again. After a dinner break nearby — Chinese food family-style with beers and toasts each time our glasses were refilled and a discussion about favorite go professionals — the games continued into the night until finally it was time to say goodbye — until next time — to our new Shanghai go friends.
– Chris Garlock; photos by John Pinkerton | 2,293 |
Liverpool's docks seem fairly quiet now - yet, in Victorian times, an extraordinary forty percent of the entire globe's trade went through this city. Sport the evidence of it still remaining around the streets of Liverpool with this audio walking tour from Discovering Britain beginning at Lime Street station, for 3 miles around the city centre. Take the tour as you go on a smartphone, or download the audio tour files to hear as you go.
Got an idea for A Thing To Do Today? Submit your suggestion at [email protected].
ATTDT is your unique local guide to things to do, see, visit and explore in Liverpool. From date ideas to tourist attractions, we've got today in Liverpool covered. What's on? We know.
Note: While events and activities are featured here because they should be available online today, changes can happen - you can use the headline link on the thing to do above to find out up-to-date information.
Send your friends A Thing To Do Today in Liverpool:
"What cultural things to do in Liverpool are on today?" "Where can I find out what to do today in Liverpool?" "How can I have an amazing day today?"...
If you want to know what to do today, you need ATTDT. Welcome to the Liverpool edition of A Thing To Do Today: your Liverpool culture attendant, and the ultimate independent curated guide to the very best of what to do today in Liverpool. Whether it's budget or bespoke, from local tourist attractions to hidden gems, cultural events and even adventurous things to do, if you're in and around Liverpool, whether you're visiting or a local, ATTDT is here to help. We specialise in finding amazing and often little-known stuff to do specifically on and open today, which are ready to visit: things to do in Liverpool for anyone wondering what they can get up to today. Look at the idea above for something to do today, reload the page to get other awesome things to do, or change the day to have an amazing time in Liverpool all week: here are amazing things to do on Tuesday. Find out more...
LIVERPOOL
53.41°N, 2.98°W
Sunrise: 05:57
Sunset: 18:12
Moon Phase: waxing crescent
Weather: sky is clear, 17°C max, 10°C min
“Tomorrow, do thy worst, for I have lived today.”
JOHN DRYDEN | 2,294 |
All appeared to be well in the world for the New York Knicks NBA Summer League squad. New York ended the third quarter of Tuesday night’s contest against the Los Angeles Lakers on a 28-3 run, effectively erasing what once had been a 25-point deficit. After taking their largest lead of the game at a mere three points to begin the fourth quarter, the Knicks watched as the Lakers regained control, scoring the next 16 points en route to a 109-92 win.
Knox Leads Knicks
2018 first-round pick Kevin Knox out of Kentucky was the key cog for the Knicks throughout the game. He recorded a game-high 29 points and threw in 9 rebounds and 2 assists for good measure. One of the most striking things about the number 9 overall draft pick is his ability to score from anywhere on the floor. After the nasty slam he had against the Hawks earlier in the Summer League, Knox showed his ability to drive for lay-ins and stretch the floor with the three-point shot on numerous occasions during this contest, as seen below.
https://twitter.com/NBATV/status/1016873658956984321
Undrafted rookie Allonzo Trier out of Arizona posted a double-double with 21 points and 10 rebounds. In addition, he added 5 assists. Troy Williams and 2017 second-round selection Damyean Dotson were the other Knicks to reach double figures, scoring 15 and 13 points respectively. Dotson also added 8 rebounds.
Hart Stuffs the Stat Sheet
As great as Kevin Knox played, Josh Hart matched him stride for stride for the Lakers. His stat sheet-stuffing night included 27 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists, and 3 steals. It is almost a certainty that the Lakers would not be 3-0 in Vegas Summer League play if not for the presence of the second year pro. Jeff Ayres was the next leading scorer for L.A., coming off the bench to put up 17 points on a perfect shooting night, 7-for-7 from the floor. Nick King scored 15 points and Xavier Rathan-Mayes added 10. Solid defensive play also paid dividends for the Lakers. They won the turnover battle 18-11 and came up with 9 total thefts as a team.
More NBA Summer League
Collin Sexton Outplays Aaron Holiday in Cavaliers Win over Pacers
Chris McCullough the Bright Spot as Sixers Lose Again
Bates-Diop, Okogie Show Defensive Ability Against Brooklyn
DeAndre Ayton Dominated Mo Bamba in Matchup | 2,295 |
(Reuters) - McDonald's Corp MCD.N missed quarterly U.S. same-store sales estimates for the first time in at least two years amid fierce competition in a slack restaurant market, sending its shares down as much as 2.3 percent in midday trading.
The burger giant has committed to a discount-value menu program and other specials -- notably its $1, $2 and $3 menus -- as it competes with long-time rivals and fast-growing chains like privately held Chick-fil-A, Yum Brands Inc's YUM.N Taco Bell and Dunkin' Brands Group Inc DNKN.O.
“We don’t strive to win on value, but we won’t lose either,” said Chief Financial Officer Kevin Ozan, on the restaurant chain’s second-quarter earnings call.
The company's stock, a component of the blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial index, fell to $155.31 in midday trading. Shares have dropped nearly 10 percent since the start of the year, underperforming the S&P 500 Restaurants sub index.SPLRCREST, which is down about 6.4 percent in the year to date.
The company, which had said in the previous quarter it saw weakness in the highly competitive U.S breakfast category, said on Thursday that segment remained weak.
McDonald’s quarterly sales at its U.S. restaurants open for at least 13 months grew at its slowest pace in over a year, at just 2.6 percent. That missed the average analyst estimate of a 2.96 percent rise.
Outside of the United States, business was healthier, with same-store sales for the company’s international markets, including France and Britain, jumping 4.9 percent. Analysts had forecast a more modest growth of 3.94 percent.
This helped McDonald’s worldwide sales at stores open for at least 13 months to grow 4 percent, exceeding analyst estimates for 3.60 percent growth, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Net income rose to about $1.50 billion, or $1.90 per share, in the second quarter ended June 30, from $1.40 billion, or $1.70 per share, a year earlier. Excluding items, the company earned $1.99 per share, beating the estimate of $1.92.
Revenue fell 12 percent to $5.35 billion, but edged past expectations for $5.32 billion. | 2,296 |
International rugby will return to Ushuaia and Brazil will host only one match at their iconic Fortress Pacaembu. Those dates and venues have now been confirmed for the 2018 Americas Rugby Championship. Only one match remains at a venue to-be-confirmed, the fourth-round meeting between the Argentina XV and Canada.
[EDIT: Argentina will play Canada in San Salvador de Jujuy, kickoff time to be confirmed.]
The schedule is unique with Canada’s opening match against Uruguay on January 27 counting towards the tournament rather than their February 3 contest, this decision made to account for the home-and-away ratio during the tournament. An evening match in São Paulo in the second round will be the only Friday match, the rest coming on Saturday of each week.
There are two schedule conflicts for observers keen on watching every match. The USA’s match against Chile in the third round kicks off at the same time as Uruguay host the Argentina XV. In the final round Uruguay’s match against the USA will begin just a half hour before Chile hosts Canada at La Serena.
Complete broadcast details for the tournament are to be confirmed.
DATE LOCAL PT ET HOME AWAY VENUE
Jan 27 17:00 17:00 20:00 Canada Uruguay BC Place, Vancouver Feb 3 15:00 10:00 13:00 Chile Brazil Estadio de la Pintana, Santiago Feb 3 17:00 17:00 20:00 USA Argentina XV StubHub Center, Los Angeles
Feb 9 20:00 14:00 17:00 Brazil Uruguay Estádio do Pacaembu, São Paulo Feb 10 17:40 12:40 15:40 Argentina XV Chile Estadio Agustín Pichot, Ushuaia Feb 10 15:00 15:00 18:00 USA Canada Papa Murphy’s Park, Sacramento
Feb 17 15:00 15:00 18:00 USA Chile Titan Stadium, Fullerton Feb 17 20:00 15:00 18:00 Uruguay Argentina XV Estadio Burgueno, Punta del Este Feb 17 17:00 17:00 20:00 Canada Brazil Westhills Stadium, Langford
Feb 24 15:00 10:00 13:00 Chile Uruguay Estadio de la Pintana, Santiago Feb 24 18:00 13:00 16:00 Brazil USA Estádio Martins Pereira, São José Feb 24 tbc tbc tbc Argentina XV Canada Gimnasia y Esgrima, Jujuy | 2,297 |
The tumultuous ethics case against Rep. Maxine Waters, one of Los Angeles’ most enduring politicians, took another strange turn Friday as six members of the House Ethics Committee recused themselves from considering the charges against her.
Committee Chairman Jo Bonner (R-Ala.) said that all five of the panel’s Republicans, including himself, and one Democrat were taking the unusual action of recusing themselves from further involvement in the long-running Waters case “out of an abundance of caution and to avoid even an appearance of unfairness.” Six new House members immediately were named to the bipartisan panel to consider all matters related to the Waters case.
Waters, a South Los Angeles political fixture since the 1970s, has been accused of intervening on behalf of a bank where her husband owned stock and served on the board. She has denied wrongdoing. The case has taken on greater importance for Waters, who is in line to succeed retiring Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) as the top Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee.
The investigation against Waters has been anything but usual. It has been sidetracked twice -- once by the committee’s decision to put off a trial to conduct further investigation and then by allegations of misconduct against the ethics staff.
An outside lawyer was hired last July to examine whether the committee’s staff acted improperly in investigation allegations of misconduct.
While Washington lawyer Billy Martin has yet to complete his report, which will help determine whether the case against Waters proceeds, he recommended the recusals, according to a letter from Bonner read on the House floor Friday.
“These recusal requests are not based on any indication of any wrongdoing or inappropriate partisanship by members,” the letter says, adding that the outside counsel has “not discovered any evidence to indicate actual bias or partiality by any current member or staff.”
But Bonner said in the letter that he and the other members were recusing themselves to “assure the public, the House and Rep. Waters that this investigation is continuing in a fair and unbiased manner.”
There was no immediate response from Waters. The congresswoman, 73, has defended her actions, saying she didn’t benefit financially and was acting on behalf of minority banks in general.
ALSO:
Soldier charged in $630,000 theft of high-tech military gear
No cursing in class: Arizona bill targets swearing -- by teachers
Explosives near Kansas Statehouse lead to... release of suspect? | 2,298 |
A teenage passenger was taken to a hospital for mental health treatment after he opened an emergency door on an airplane minutes after it landed in San Francisco then slid down the wing to the tarmac, officials said Wednesday.
The teen traveling on Copa Airlines Flight 208 from Panama City was not injured during Tuesday's incident at San Francisco International Airport, airport spokesman Doug Yakel said.
The 17-year-old — a U.S. citizen — was traveling alone and appeared to be in emotional distress during the flight, Yakel said. The teen's name has not been released.
City police Officer Grace Gatpandan said Wednesday he was taken for treatment and will not be charged by local authorities.
However, Copa Airlines said it is a violation of federal law to open an emergency door without having been instructed to do so by the crew.
Federal prosecutors in San Francisco did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment.
After jumping from the plane, the teenager was held by an airfield construction crew until police arrived and arrested him.
Witnesses said the teen seemed fidgety and anxious throughout the seven-hour flight. He was already on the ground and running by the time passengers realized the door had been opened.
"It was as if he was like flying out, like it was really fast," passenger Sophia Gibson told San Jose television station KNTV.
Emergency exits over wings are intended to be opened by passengers at lower altitudes to allow evacuations in emergencies, the airline said.
Copa confirmed in an email to The Associated Press that the boy was sitting in an exit row during the flight and that personnel had followed Federal Aviation Administration rules requiring passengers seated in an exit row to be at least 15.
Flight attendants also followed security and safety procedures after the teenage pushed open the door, the Panama-based airline said.
A crew member closed the door and the plane proceeded to a gate where passengers and crew safely left the aircraft, it added.
Passenger Matt Crowder said people sitting near the exit row stood up and shouted when the boy jumped.
"They were yelling, 'Tell the flight attendants. Relay the message back. The door's open. Someone jumped off,'" Crowder told the television station. "It was pretty crazy."
Passenger Isaac Rodrigues said a flight attendant used her body to block the gap where the door had been.
"We were on the runway for about an hour," Rodrigues said.
No other flights were affected, Yakel said. | 2,299 |
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