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Obama brought McKinsey and Co, the giant management consulting firm, into ICE to effect an "organizational transformation," so they were already in place when Trump took office, and as Trump pivoted to concentration camps, McKinsey had some suggestions to save money: cut back on food, medicine and supervision.
Propublica sued the US government and obtained 1,500 pages' worth of McKinsey/ICE memos thanks to the Freedom of Information Act. They document how McKinsey's sole focus was lowering costs and accellerating deportations, even if it meant inhumane conditions and gross miscarriages of justice, including some that certainly sent some asylum seekers to their deaths.
One official Propublica spoke to said that ICE's senior management found the suggestions inhumane, and argued against them, only to be shouted down by the McKinsey people. McKinsey drafted its own federal consulting contract — ghostwriting it for ICE — and cut themselves in for an additional $2.2m (they made more than $20m off the contract).
In 2018, Kevin Sneader — McKinsey's global managing partner — sent out a memo to all staff in which he lied about the work the firm had done with ICE, falsely claiming that the firm was not involved in developing immigration policies and that it would not "under any circumstances, engage in work, anywhere in the world, that advances or assists policies that are at odds with our values."
The ICE gulags today still run on principles established by McKinsey, and the undertrained sadists who staff them were hired in McKinsey-designed "super one-stop hiring" centers.
Within months, McKinsey was making significant strides toward advancing the Trump administration's policy goals. The firm's work showed "quantifiable benefits," ICE officials stated in an October 2017 contracting document, "including increased total removals and reductions in time to remove a detainee." As some McKinsey consultants worked on the staffing challenge, others took aim at the logistical hurdles posed by an expected influx of detainees flowing from the Trump administration's directive to enforce immigration laws more strictly. The consulting team became so driven to save money, people involved in the project said, that consultants sometimes ignored — and even complained to agency managers about — ICE staffers who objected that McKinsey's cost-cutting proposals risked jeopardizing the health and safety of migrants.
How McKinsey Helped the Trump Administration Detain and Deport Immigrants [Ian MacDougall/Propublica] | 400 |
GENEVA (Reuters) - About half the 2.6 million people displaced in Iraq after a three-year war with Islamic State militants are children and persisting violence hampers efforts to ease their suffering, the United Nations said on Friday.
FILE PHOTO: A displaced Iraqi boy plays at the Amriyat al Fallujah camp in Anbar Province, Iraq January 3, 2018. REUTERS/Khalid al-Mousily
While the Baghdad government last month declared victory over Islamic State after wresting back almost all the territory IS seized in 2014, persistent bombing and shooting attacks make it difficult to rebuild the lives of displaced people, according to UNICEF, the U.N. children’s agency.
“We believe that as a result of the conflict, a lack of investment over the years, and the poverty... that there are 4 million children now in need across Iraq,” said Peter Hawkins, UNICEF chief representative in the country.
He told a Geneva news briefing by telephone from Baghdad that 1.3 million of the 2.6 million displaced by the often devastating fighting with Islamic State were children.
“While the fighting has come to an end in several areas, spikes of violence continue in others - just this week, three bombings went off in Baghdad,” UNICEF Regional Director Geert Cappelaere said in a statement.
“Violence is not only killing and maiming children; it is destroying schools, hospitals, homes and roads. It is tearing apart the diverse social fabric and the culture of tolerance that hold communities together.”Hawkins said UNICEF was also helping children of alleged IS militants now in detention by providing comfort and legal aid, and is trying to reunite those separated from their families, including those abroad.
The issue of civilians uprooted from Sunni Muslim areas previously under control of Sunni IS jihadists has become the latest bone of sectarian-tinged political contention in Iraq.
Sunni politicians are lobbying for postponing parliamentary elections due in May to allow the displaced to return to their hometowns to cast their ballots there.
Shi’ite Muslim politicians including Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi insist on the vote taking place as planned on May 12.
The United States called on Thursday for the elections to be held on time, saying that delaying them “set a dangerous precedent, undermining the constitution and damaging Iraq’s long-term democratic development”. | 401 |
PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP is adding 125 information-technology workers over three years to its downtown Detroit office for a new internal cybersecurity team the global accounting firm began building last year.
PwC chose Detroit for a new Network Information Security office and Security Operations Center because of the region's lower cost of living, access to IT talent and its geographic location in the Eastern Time Zone, said Ray Telang, managing partner of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP's Michigan operations.
The security center is set up to operate two shifts monitoring and responding to cybersecurity threats and attacks to PwC's information technology systems, Telang said.
"Their whole lot in life is to make sure that our information systems, from the firm's perspective on a global basis, are safe and secure," he said.
The 6,200-square-foot security center was added in 2018 to PwC's existing 70,000-square-foot office in the One Detroit Center as the new unit was established. PwC occupies the entire 33rd and 32nd floors of the skyscraper and three-quarters of the 31st floor, Telang said.
As of late December, 16 of the 125 positions had been filled. PwC will fill the 125 jobs over 24-30 months, Telang said.
PwC's Detroit office employs 675 workers who work in the firm's audit and assurance, tax and management consulting practices. The new office will bring its downtown workforce to nearly 800.
Senior-level leadership positions in the security center have attracted interest from within the company, Telang said.
"The amount of interest from our internal IT network has been extraordinary," he said. "There's more than a handful of folks who have raised their hand and said, 'You know what, based on what I'm hearing and based on my tour of the new center, I'm going to put my hat in the ring to move to Detroit.'"
Most of the new employees in Detroit will be entry-level positions for recent college graduates, he said.
"It's going to be a bottoms-up kind of build," Telang said. "We're going to have the folks that are transferring here provide the leadership and oversight and most of the other folks will be coming to us from (college) campuses."
PwC will be recruiting from colleges and universities with cybersecurity programs accredited by the National Centers of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense, Telang said. | 402 |
“This is a historic election, and I recognize the significance it has for African-Americans and for the special pride that must be theirs tonight,” Mr. McCain said, adding, “We both realize that we have come a long way from the injustices that once stained our nation’s reputation.”
Not only did Mr. Obama capture the presidency, but he led his party to sharp gains in Congress. This puts Democrats in control of the House, the Senate and the White House for the first time since 1995, when Bill Clinton was in office.
The day shimmered with history as voters began lining up before dawn, hours before polls opened, to take part in the culmination of a campaign that over the course of two years commanded an extraordinary amount of attention from the American public.
As the returns became known, and Mr. Obama passed milestone after milestone —Ohio, Florida, Virginia, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, Iowa and New Mexico — people rolled spontaneously into the streets to celebrate what many described, with perhaps overstated if understandable exhilaration, a new era in a country where just 143 years ago, Mr. Obama, as a black man, could have been owned as a slave.
For Republicans, especially the conservatives who have dominated the party for nearly three decades, the night represented a bitter setback and left them contemplating where they now stand in American politics.
Mr. Obama and his expanded Democratic majority on Capitol Hill now face the task of governing the country through a difficult period: the likelihood of a deep and prolonged recession, and two wars. He took note of those circumstances in a speech that was notable for its sobriety and its absence of the triumphalism that he might understandably have displayed on a night when he won an Electoral College landslide.
“The road ahead will be long, our climb will be steep,” said Mr. Obama, his audience hushed and attentive, with some, including the Rev. Jesse Jackson, wiping tears from their eyes. “We may not get there in one year or even one term, but America, I have never been more hopeful than I am tonight that we will get there. I promise you, we as a people will get there.” The roster of defeated Republicans included some notable party moderates, like Senator John E. Sununu of New Hampshire and Representative Christopher Shays of Connecticut, and signaled that the Republican conference convening early next year in Washington will be not only smaller but more conservative. | 403 |
Conservative Caucus launches Alberta Jobs Taskforce to Address Growing Jobs Crisis October 3, 2016
Conservative Caucus launches Alberta Jobs Taskforce to Address Growing Jobs Crisis
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 3, 2016
OTTAWA, ONTARIO – In response to the growing jobs crisis in the province of Alberta, today the Conservative Caucus launched the Alberta Jobs Taskforce.
Unemployment is quickly reaching a crisis situation in Alberta. Since the beginning of 2015, the number of Albertans out of work has nearly doubled to 200,000. For a province that was, until recently, the economic engine of Canada, this situation affects the entire country and demands swift and dedicated action.
Over the coming weeks the Taskforce will collect information from everyday Albertans, employers, small businesses, social assistance organizations, workers and other stakeholders – all of whom are affected by the current jobs crisis and have valuable insight and ideas to share.
Foothills MP John Barlow, Deputy Critic for Employment, Labour and Workforce Development, said “the Taskforce will produce a report containing tangible policy solutions and budget requests, all while drawing attention to an unemployment problem that is of growing national concern.”
“Alberta is facing one of the highest unemployment rates in the country and the Liberal Government has been silent on the issue,” said MP John Barlow. “The Alberta Jobs Taskforce will give Albertans a chance to have their ideas heard and provide policy proposals we can implement now that will be instrumental in getting Alberta back to work.”
Calgary MP Michelle Rempel, co-chair of the Taskforce, added, “The people of Alberta have worked hard for generations, and the entire nation has benefitted from Alberta’s economic strength,” said “As the jobs crisis in Alberta gets worse, families need the Liberal government to come up with solutions. Yet so far, the Liberals have failed to put forward a jobs plan. We need to work together and take a collaborative approach in finding real solutions to the very real jobs crisis in Alberta.”
Albertans interested in participating in the Taskforce’s work can visit AlbertaJobsTaskforce.ca
-30-
For additional information, please contact:
Brittany Lorenz
Director of Communications
Office of John Barlow, MP
613-995-8471
[email protected] | 404 |
We will be rolling out the update to servers in stages in the next 24 hours. Servers that have not been updated yet will appear greyed out in the server browser. During the rollout period, you can still access the 0.0.23 client by switching to the "0.0.23" branch on Steam via the "Betas" properties tab.
New Content
New Map Region: Umbral Wildwood
A new area east of the Upper Heartlands, filled with forests and shallow rivers
New Structure: Barbed Wire
An obstacle used to slow down enemy infantry movement
Gameplay Features & Changes
Dynamic Spawn System
"Wild" spawn points will now be dynamically placed
"Wild" spawn points will avoid enemy players, vehicles, structures, and walls
Faction locking will now be enforced during both weekly and non-weekly wars
Items will now scatter in front of a Town Hall when it is destroyed
Newly built Town Halls, Barracks, and Outposts will no longer contain any Soldier Supplies
Trucks can no longer be locked or Coalition claimed if there is a driver
Backpacks will despawn more quickly if they only contain starter kit items
Offline Character will only spawn if player has been logged in for longer than 3 minutes
Game Balance
Starting Town Halls will now contain 60 soldier supplies
Mines are no longer available (This is a temporary change. We hope to bring them back in the future)
Revolver range limit increased by 10%
Other Changes
Player list can now be sorted by level, rank, name, and coalition
Daily vote kick limit increased to 3
Major Bug Fixes
Trucks will no longer "fly away" when exiting
Fix bug that allows players to join a Faction that is already at the 60 player limit
After a world restore post crash, Town Hall icons on the map will now match their faction
After a world restore post crash, players will now be able to access their locked trucks
If a wall upgrade build site is destroyed, the original wall no longer restores to full health
Players no longer fall through the landscape when exiting a Foxhole
Fixed several server side crashes
Fixed bug that prevents enemy truck build sites from being damaged
Fixed bug that causes player to sometimes spawn at enemy Town Halls/Barracks/Outposts
| 405 |
Demi Lovato was just 7 years old when she began her career as a child actress on “Barney & Friends,” which she followed by a star-making turn on Disney Channel’s 2008 series “Camp Rock.” But at a conversation at Cannes Lions on Monday afternoon, she admitted that she wished she’d waited longer before auditioning for jobs.
“I wouldn’t start out that young if I could do it over again,” Lovato said. “I don’t regret anything. It was difficult to transition from a child star to transforming into a mainstream artist. It’s something that is very challenging.”
She explained all the pitfalls involved. “You have to find your identity. For so long you’ve been molded into something and now you’re expected to figure out who you are very fast in front of the entire world. It’s definitely has been difficult, but it’s been a learning experience. I am still figuring out who I am every day.”
Lovato made the trek to the annual advertising conference in the South of France for a YouTube presentation moderated by Susanne Daniels, the vice president of originals for the video-sharing web site. Lovato is starring in a docuseries for YouTube called “Demi Lovato: Simply Complicated,” which will debut later this year.
“I feel like I’m at a turning point in my life,” said Lovato. “I’m turning 25.” The line drew laughter, but it wasn’t meant as a punch line.
“I feel like I’ve lived a lot longer than I actually have,” Lovato said, who allowed cameras to trail her every move for her series.
She said that she’s left her plans for the future more open than they used to be. “If you asked me a year ago, I would have said within the next five years I would be married, starting a family,” Lovato said. “That all changed, which I touch on in my documentary. I don’t know what I want the next five years to look like. I’m still figuring that out. I love music, I want to make music and tour. I want to dive back into acting at some point.” | 406 |
Tijuana Bibles were eight-page, hand-sized comic books featuring well-known cartoon characters, sporting heroes, and Hollywood film stars in a sequence of hardcore sexual shenanigans. They first appeared sometime in the 1920s as illustrated dirty jokes featuring squeaky clean comic strip characters like Tillie the Toiler and Jiggs and Maggie from “Bringing Up Baby.” The more straightlaced the character, the more outrageous the smut.
Their instant success led to far more explicit hardcore tales featuring famous movie stars like Mae West, Robert Mitchum, Dorothy Lamour, Greta Garbo, even Laurel & Hardy, alongside such well-loved cartoon figures as Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Popeye and Betty Boop porking the fuck out of everything that moved. They were cheap titillation intended to arouse and (in their own way) educate the virginal. They were subversive and offensively humorous.
The name “Tijuana Bible” came from the mistaken belief these comics were produced south of the border and smuggled into the USA. They were actually produced and printed in the States by local artists and independent businesses who hid behind fake publishing titles like “London Press” and “Tobasco Publishing Co.” They were sold under-the-counter in tobacco shops, bars, barbers and bowling alleys at 25 cents a pop. Their greatest popularity was during the Depression of the 1930s, eventually petering out with the arrival of real porn mags in the 1950s. Tijuana Bibles are now considered by many comic book historians to be among the very first underground comix. More importantly, these cheaply produced comic books helped unfetter sex and sexuality from the weight of societal and religious strictures of guilt and taboo by making sex seem fun, natural, and something to be greatly enjoyed.
A man called Quinn has scanned a whole selection of these “politically incorrect literary gems” which can be viewed here.
Via Tijuana Bible, Pulp International, and Nafff.
| 407 |
According to Fabrizio Romano, Gianluigi Buffon has completed a sensational return to Juventus. The 41-year-old is set for a medical on Thursday, but the move is confirmed. He will sign a one-year deal, after leaving for Paris Saint-Germain last summer.
Gianluigi Buffon Completes Juventus Move
Gianluigi Buffon is back to Juventus. Total agreement reached for 1 year contract, he’ll have medicals and sign tomorrow. Confirmed. Here we go ✔️ @SkySport @DiMarzio #transfers #Juve — Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) July 3, 2019
Last Season
At the beginning of last season, Buffon joined PSG, after 17 years at the Italian champions. His experience was required to help guide PSG to the Champions League trophy.
He shared the number one spot with fellow goalkeeper Alphonse Areola. According to Jonathan Johnson of ESPN, this was to keep fresh legs in both keepers.
Buffon’s debut saw instant success. He kept a clean sheet during a 4-0 win over Monaco in the Trophee des Champions.
Despite his scintillating start, Buffon did have to wait for his Champions League debut with PSG. This was due to receiving a three-match ban with Juventus.
The 41-year-old successfully helped guide PSG through the group stages of the Champions League. However, it was yet another failed season in the competition for PSG, as they were knocked out by Manchester United in the round of 16.
Why is Buffon Returning to Juventus?
The return of Buffon will certainly mean he will see out his career where he is a club legend. During his 17 seasons with the Italian champions, he made 656 appearances and won every domestic trophy available to him in Italy.
However, the Champions League is the only trophy he is still yet to win. He has finished runner-up three times in his career, most recently in 2017.
His status at the club does not mean an instant return to the first team. He is likely to play second fiddle to current Juventus goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny. However, according to Talksport, he is wanting an eight-game clause in his contract to surpass the current Serie A appearance record.
Main Photo
Embed from Getty Images | 408 |
spending powers—The Socialister. I want you in the role of Princess Leia. And Boba Fett. And Jabba the Hut.
Alexandria, you are precious. You are truly a gift that keeps on giving. Silencing you would be a disaster for the GOP. You should be on every social network and mobile app known to man. Every search result from every search engine should be about you, and only you—regardless of the query.
With the lowest unemployment in living memory and five million jobs added, with businesses raising wages to retain workers, with the stock market shattering new heights after two years of spectacular economic growth, America has become a fetid hellhole of misery, woe, and despair. You should campaign in every contested congressional race to make things right again.
Any endangered Republican should pay you to give speeches supporting the other guy. They should lease a gulfstream jet so you and your boyfriend can travel in the ultimate socialist style. Given your already gigantic carbon footprint, it won’t make much difference to the planet.
Alexandria, you are Trump’s secret weapon. He is itching to see you out there on the campaign trail. Your stumping for the Democratic nominee will be priceless. The Donald has your photo as the home screen on his presidential iPhone. He is probably writing his second inauguration speech right now.
Alexandria, it is only because I care deeply about you that I must tell you how I truly feel about your legislative and public policy achievements. There is simply no sugarcoating this: detailed in-depth analysis of your “ideas” is the very definition of absurdity. I refuse to call you “stupid” because no one else in the entire recorded human history was ever stupid enough to make cow flatulence into a global warming issue. The notion that you have “Jewish” roots (as you’ve claimed) is unworthy of discussion—no one in his or her right mind believes it.
You recently said that the world will end in 12 years and wondered if it was morally acceptable to have children. You were right to wonder; you should not have children. Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes (another dead white guy) once said: “Three generations of imbeciles is enough.” In this very unique case, let us stop with one generation.
Alexandria, you are my hero.
Yours forever,
George Bardmesser | 409 |
The B.C. government has announced a feasibility study on creating a rapid transit link between the North Shore and Vancouver.
The study, which will begin this summer, is being funded jointly by the province and the City of Vancouver along with the three municipalities on the North Shore — West Vancouver, the District of North Vancouver and the City of North Vancouver.
The current options available to cross to the North Shore — the Lions Gate Bridge, the Ironworkers Memorial Bridge and SeaBus — have not changed in over 40 years. Meanwhile, the number of commuters has increased to the point where transportation has become the dominant issue in regional elections.
"Over the years, the high cost of housing has forced people to move further from the places they work, resulting in longer commutes and serious traffic issues," said Bowinn Ma, the MLA for North Vancouver-Lonsdale and Parliamentary Secretary for TransLink.
"This feasibility study is an extremely exciting addition to the many initiatives we have implemented so far and continue to work on to get the North Shore moving again."
The announcement from the government contains no frame of reference for the study, but says it will "consider the compatibility of a transit crossing with existing and future land use" and "could also consider increased use of the Burrard Inlet through an extended passenger ferry network."
Translink Seabus leaving North Vancouver for downtown Vancouver. (CBC)
Link to Waterfront station?
Ma said the people on the study will be primarily planning and engineering experts, with the first stage likely completed in September or October.
One of the biggest questions part of study will look at, according to Ma, is whether the optimal route is between Waterfront Station and Lonsdale Quay or another location.
"That was [identified] as the most optimistic alignment for a rapid transit connection, if you take into account population growth and economic activity," she said.
"However that connection... also happens to be extremely technically challenging. It is the widest, deepest part of Burrard Inlet."
Once a few options are identified by the panel, they will explore land-use plans, future growth plans and regional transportation strategies.
The full study will be completed in early 2020. Questions around government support and financing options will come after, but for now, Ma is excited.
"This is an extremely exciting and important announcement for people in North Shore," she said.
"The issue of transportation impacts us every single day." | 410 |
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erker style of play, Foster's back troubles began to severely hinder his ability to lace up.
2000s Central: Pacers.com/2000s »
It was a catch 22 — had he not dove for every loose ball, gotten involved in every tangle, crashed the paint for every offensive rebound, his back might have given him a few more years to chase a title. Yet, had he not done those things, he wouldn't have had a 13-year NBA career to begin with, and certainly wouldn't be remembered as the type of teammate that inspired others to work harder at their craft every day.
By the time the 2011-12 season rolled around, Foster was 35 years old and played in just 11 games, with his back sending a painfully clear signal that his time in the league was finished.
"When I couldn't feel anything below my knees, it was just cut and dried, I'm done. I can't play," Foster said. "If I keep playing, I'm going to be in a wheelchair."
Armed with a business degree from his time in college, Foster moved back to his home state of Texas and has become an entrepreneur, currently focusing on a cryotherapy company: Restore Cryotherapy.
It's a bit ironic, considering cryotherapy treatment might have helped during his time with the Pacers. Foster even joked about trying to sell a cryotherapy machine to Carl Eaton, the Pacers Associate Head Athletic Trainer/Physical Therapist, while he's in town for the Pacers 2000s "Decade Game" on Sunday.
But despite the lingering back pain, Foster speaks like someone who would run through the same brick walls for his teammates all over again. Someone who got a chance to live out his basketball dream and now gets a chance to live out his dream in the business world, which he's been passionate about since he sold baseball cards and mowed lawns in high school.
"I don't have any regrets," He said. "That's the deal, you know? I've got injuries that people don't deal with until their 60s or 70s; I literally just got back from L.A. seeing my doctor. I mean, whatever hand you're dealt you play it and I'm playing it. I deal with it, I get therapy, I stretch, I keep my core strong. Hey, life is what you make of it, you're either happy or you're sad, and I'm pretty content with how things worked out." | 412 |
s persistent gender imbalance that the attempts of past-peak actresses to reanimate career-making roles are so often treated as futile folly, while their male counterparts frequently get the green light for equally absurd proposals. Having written his own breakthrough part with Rocky 40 years ago, Sylvester Stallone thinks nothing of keeping fusty franchises going entirely on his own steam: Rocky V in 1990 was already pushing it, but writing and directing Rocky Balboa 16 years later and persuading MGM to back it was a feat of startling devotion to one’s own brand, if little else. Poetic justice came last year, when Stallone and Balboa were demoted to an admittedly Oscar-nominated supporting presence in Ryan Coogler’s Creed, an urgent, red-meat boxing drama that asserted itself as the best film in the Rocky, er, universe, without a scrap of writing or directing input from Sly himself. Meanwhile, even the franchise’s lowest points were higher than 2008’s Stallone-directed Rambo, a grim, desultory return to the jungle for the actor’s grizzled Vietnam vet, arriving a whopping 20 years after Rambo III and betraying every one of them.
Vin Diesel, meanwhile, may yet prove to be Hollywood’s king of endlessly extended action gruel – not so much for the Fast and Furious series, for which demand remains globally clamorous even at the seven-film and 16-year mark, but for the considerably more against-the-odds achievement of bringing two far less actively invited properties back into play. Does anyone remember the xXx films – a less formally dressed James Bond reworking firmly rooted in the nu-metal era and aesthetic of the early 2000s – quite as fondly as Diesel does? We’ll find out this year, when Xander Cage pummels us back into submission in the prosaically titled xXx: Return of Xander Cage (no time or breath for definite articles here), while Diesel’s tirelessly slogging sci-fi antihero Riddick is also due to test audiences’ loyalties (or simply memories) with a fourth go-round. (Let’s not even dignify the mooted possibility of a Last Witch Hunter sequel with our consideration before we absolutely have to.)
At this rate, Lindsay Lohan isn’t looking quite ambitious enough: she should strike with a proposed Parent Trap re-up while the iron’s cold. | 413 |
NASA unveils $28B plan to land first woman on the moon
Adrianna Rodriguez | USA TODAY
USA TODAY
NASA has given us another historic glimpse into the wonders of space after releasing a video that shows a star-shredding black hole in a galaxy millions of light-years away.
The amazing footage of the "cataclysmic phenomenon" was taken by NASA’s planet-hunting Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, or TESS.
Astronomers think the supermassive black hole weighs around 6 million times the sun’s mass and is located about 375 million light-years away in a galaxy of similar size to the Milky Way, NASA said.
The incredible event, called a tidal disruption, is very rare and occurs once every 10,000 to 100,000 years in galaxies like the Milky Way.
Hey, Ariana Grande! NASA interns had a blast remixing your song to promote moon mission
It came from outer space: Newly discovered comet is likely interstellar visitor
When a star gets too close, the intense tides of a black hole break apart the star into a stream of gas, according to NASA. As shown in the video, the tail of that stream breaks away from the black hole while other parts of it swing back around and create a halo of debris.
Scientists believe the star in the video may have been about the same size as our sun.
The event, named ASASSN-19bt, was first discovered on Jan. 29 by the All-Sky Automated Survey for Supernovae telescope network, a worldwide network of 24 robotic telescopes headquartered at Ohio State University.
NASA says that scientists have only been able to observe about 40 tidal disruptions in history and TESS was able to capture one after launching in April 2018.
“For TESS to observe (the event) so early in its tenure, and in the continuous viewing zone where we could watch it for so long, is really quite extraordinary,” said Padi Boyd, TESS project scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
“Future collaborations with observatories around the world and in orbit will help us learn even more about the different outbursts that light up the cosmos.”
Follow Adrianna Rodriguez on Twitter: @AdriannaUSAT.
View | 9 Photos
NASA releases panoramic photos of Apollo moon landings | 414 |
BOSTON (WHDH) - The state’s Cannabis Control Commission has suspended all medical and adult-use cannabis operations at Nova Farms in Sheffield and Attleboro after one of the co-owners was scouting out places to set up an illegal marijuana grow operation.
The announcement comes after the commission learned last week that Mark Rioux, a registered Marijuana Establishment Agent who is listed as a controlling person with ownership and control interests in Nova Farms, was facing criminal charges.
Rioux has ownership interests in the following marijuana establishments:
Marijuana Establishments
1. MC281841: Final Tier 9 (Outdoor) Cultivator, Sheffield
2. MC281970: Provisional Tier 1 (Indoor) Cultivator, Sheffield
3. MC281263: Provisional Tier 2 (Indoor) Cultivator, Attleboro
4. MP281325: Provisional Product Manufacturer, Attleboro
5. MR281379: Provisional Retailer, Attleboro
Medical Marijuana Treatment Center
1. Provisional Medical Marijuana Treatment Center, Attleboro
None of Nova Farm’s licenses have commenced operations for the adult or medical use industries in Massachusetts.
Rioux, a licensed Massachusetts real estate agent and listed principal of several Massachusetts real estate holding companies, allegedly conspired with Marshall Muir to scout a warehouse location for Muir to set up an illicit marijuana grow operation.
The forensic search found communications that established Rioux’s awareness of Muir’s illicit operation and Muir’s efforts to avoid detection by law enforcement, including but not limited to, the posting of “grow licenses on the wall when they (i.e. municipal fire department) walk in that is separated from the grow,” according to the commission.
“The Commission takes these allegations seriously and is taking immediate action to protect against the risks of diversion and criminal elements entering the legal market,” Executive Director Shawn Collins said. “The Commonwealth has enacted strict laws and regulations to ensure our legal cannabis industry is safe and accessible. As these allegations would undermine those objectives, the Commission will continue to investigate and work alongside our counterparts in Attleboro and Sheffield to uphold public health and public safety first and foremost.”
(Copyright (c) 2020 Sunbeam Television. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.) | 415 |
that doesn't work out, they'll probably settle for their own hand and call it a day.
Mama's Boy
There is a fine line between a cute mama's boy and a pathetic one. Calling your mother often and taking her out on Mother's Day is cute, but if this guy doesn't have his sh*t together, it might be because he needs to step away from the mom. The main problem with these guys is that the first thing they are looking for in a girlfriend is a second mom. I don't know about you, but that just isn't my style. I'm not trying to do someone's laundry and clip his toenails – this is 2013, women have better sh*t to do. Make yourself a sandwich and while you're at it – make me one, too!
Metrosexual
These guys are misunderstood in the sense that it's hard to tell if they're gay or not. If you get a manicure and enjoy a chick flick from time to time, I guess we won't question it. But if you take longer to do your hair than women do, you probably should re-evaluate yourself.
Honestly, unless you grow your hair to a female length, which is a problem in itself, the gel you use to f*ck with your hair for a half hour is literally making no difference whatsoever. One of the best parts of being a man is that you always look the same and you're not supposed to give a sh*t. Cherish it -- trust me, it's not fun on the other side.
20-year-old in an older man's body
This man comes in many different forms: he may be a mama's boy, ex-college athlete, ex-frat star, club promoter and short dude all wrapped up in one. Only a few things are consistent with these guys: they're creepy as f*ck and have trouble accepting the fact that they hit their peaks a while ago.
You can find this guy rolling his face off in the middle of the crowd at a house music show about 10 years too late, creeping on you at the club and then acting like he's mind blown when you say you're in your early 20s (f*cking duh, he's the only one in the entire place who isn't), or at the gym pretending he isn't only ripped because he takes steroids. Another word for this guy is pedophile. Hide ya kids. | 416 |
case art.
Special Features (2.5/5):
There’s a few special features included with the Blu-ray release of Tag. Some show a small look at the story that inspired the film, as well as a small look at the fun was had while making the movie. However, those features are considerably minimal and really could have included more details. The content that has been provided was in fact a really nice look into the movie and the experiences, but maybe a feature audio commentary or even a slightly longer, documentary styled look into the real life events could have been included. Included with this release is:
Meet The Real Tag Brothers – The men who inspired the film visit the set and tell the ongoing story of a game that’s lasted nearly thirty years!
– The men who inspired the film visit the set and tell the ongoing story of a game that’s lasted nearly thirty years! Deleted Scenes
Gag Reel
Technical Specs:
Video
Codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Resolution: 1080p
Aspect Ratio: 2.40:1
Original Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1
Audio
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
English: Dolby Digital 5.1
French (Canada): Dolby Digital 5.1
Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1
Subtitles
English SDH, French, Spanish
Runtime
Original Film: 100 Minutes
Final Thoughts:
Overall, my wife and I really enjoyed Tag. Sure, it’s a lighthearted comedy that tries really hard to be serious, and serious enough that crosses some lines of comfort; but, the crass humor that’s shared with the characters is something that is often seen among friends as they’re goofing off. The overall presentation of the Blu-ray release was on par with what I personally expected, with not too much really being a shining example for the release. The special features, while being minimal, were nicely done; despite the need for more. If you’re considering this release for your collection, I would absolutely recommend it. Tag is available on Blu-ray and DVD.
Note: This Blu-ray was sent to us for review. This has not affected our judgement or editorial process in any way. Please contact us if you have any questions regarding this process. | 417 |
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences today announced that 15 films in the Documentary Feature category will advance in the voting process for the 88th Academy Awards®. One hundred twenty-four films were originally submitted in the category.
The 15 films are listed below in alphabetical order by title, with their production companies:
“Amy,” On the Corner Films
“Best of Enemies,” Tremolo Productions and Media Ranch
“Cartel Land,” Our Time Projects and The Documentary Group
“Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief,” Jigsaw Productions
“He Named Me Malala,” Parkes-MacDonald and Little Room
“Heart of a Dog,” Canal Street Communications
“The Hunting Ground,” Chain Camera Pictures
“Listen to Me Marlon,” Passion Pictures
“The Look of Silence,” Final Cut for Real
“Meru,” Little Monster Films
“3 1/2 Minutes, 10 Bullets,” Motto Pictures, Lakehouse Films, and Actual Films
“We Come as Friends,” Adelante Films and KGP - Kranzelbinder Gabriele Production
“What Happened, Miss Simone?,” RadicalMedia and Moxie Firecracker
“Where to Invade Next,” Dog Eat Dog Films and IMG Films
“Winter on Fire: Ukraine’s Fight for Freedom,” Pray for Ukraine Productions
The Academy’s Documentary Branch determined the shortlist in a preliminary round of voting. Documentary Branch members will now select the five nominees from among the 15 titles.
The 88th Academy Awards nominations will be announced live on Thursday, January 14, 2016, at 5:30 a.m. PT at the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills.
The 88th Oscars® will be held on Sunday, February 28, 2016, at the Dolby Theatre® at Hollywood & Highland Center® in Hollywood, and will be televised live by the ABC Television Network at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT. The Oscar presentation also will be televised live in more than 225 countries and territories worldwide.
Media Contact
Natalie Kojen
[email protected] | 418 |
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Viewers were fuming when The Chase star Jenny Ryan was axed from Celebrity X Factor ahead of the live finals.
Judge and mentor Nicole Scherzinger shocked fans after deciding to send the 37-year-old old quizzer packing.
The decision was unexpected after Jenny had previously earned a standing ovation for performing the Queen hit Somebody To Love, and was touted as an early favourite to win after her audition.
Angry fans took to social media to vent their annoyance at the decision, hoping that she might return as a wild card act.
(Image: Syco/Thames/ITV)
"It's so fixed Jenny Ryan done so well but gets kicked off WTF," fumed one viewer on Twitter.
"Disgusted that Jenny Ryan was kicked from the show last night, she was by far the best singer there and deserved a place in the lives," raged another.
"Won't be watching the show any longer as this proves its fixed. How on earth did Ricki Lake and Martin Bashir get through instead of Jenny Ryan?!" asked another.
"Jenny RYAN not taken to the live show - were the judges DEAF??" commented a third.
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"I thought it was meant to be singing contest..?!" asked another.
Jenny had performed at X Factor HQ in Los Angeles in front of an audience of judges and music executives. She effortlessly hit the high notes, causing head judge Simon Cowell's mouth to fall open in amazement.
"Wow Jenny where did all that come from?" asked fellow judge Louis Walsh.
And Nicole said: "When you opened your face hole and that came out I was like 'yeah.'"
Jenny, aka The Vixen on the quiz show The Chase, previously said that while has always enjoyed singing she was "never convinced" she had a big, distinctive voice.
She revealed that she might not have been doing the singing show if it wasn't for her colleague Bradley Walsh.
The game show host provided the confidence boost that the Chaser needed to take part in the ITV singing programme.
The X Factor: Celebrity returns next Saturday LIVE on ITV | 419 |
Sketches of the five accused released by the Mumbai Police on Friday morning.
A 22-year-old photojournalist was gang-raped by five men on Thursday evening at the dilapidated Shakti Mills compound in Lower Parel, south Mumbai. The police say one of the accused was arrested early this morning and four others have been identified.The young woman's condition is now described as stable by doctors attending to her at the Jaslok Hospital.She works with a magazine in the city as an intern and was on assignment with a male colleague when she was brutally attacked, soon after they had entered the compound at 6 pm.In details chillingly similar to the December gang-rape in Delhi, the woman and her friend have described in their statements to the police how two men accosted them at the mill, beat up and tied her colleague with a belt and then dragged her into a run down, abandoned building, where three other men joined them and gang-raped the young woman. (Mumbai gang-rape case: Horror in an abandoned mill)
The woman fell unconscious and regained consciousness only at about 8 pm. The attackers had fled by then. The photojournalist and her colleague took a cab to the Jaslok Hospital four kilometres away and doctors called in the police.The police said the arrested man had confessed. All the accused reportedly lived nearby.Twenty people were detained overnight and this morning the police released sketches of five suspects based on the statements.The woman reportedly gave the police names of two attackers who had addressed each other. Most of the attackers are believed to be in their early 20s and Mumbai's police commissioner Satyapal Singh said he suspected they were drug addicts who live in the area.The audacity and horror of the crime has stunned Mumbai, a city that prides itself on being safe for women. The Shakti Mills compound is isolated, but it is in the middle of Mumbai and right next to the crowded Mahalakshmi station.South Mumbai MP Milind Deora tweeted, "Mumbai Police must get to the bottom of yesterday's alleged rape and punish the guilty ASAP. Mumbai takes pride in being a safe city for women." (Mumbai gang-rape: Maximum rage in maximum city) Last December, a 23-year-old medical student was brutally gang-raped by six men in a moving bus in Delhi. She died 13 days later. The horrific assault had provoked nation-wide protests and demands for better protection for women and more stringent laws against rape. | 420 |
who Williams and Vindman had talked to about the July 25 call, with a clear eye toward uncovering the whistleblower's identity that way.
If that wasn't despicable enough, Nunes and Republican counsel Steve Castor went all in on trying to discredit Vindman by implying that he's a double agent or even a criminal. Nunes angrily asked Vindman if he wanted to plead the Fifth Amendment when Vindman refused to out the whistleblower — language that implied Vindman has criminal exposure, when there is absolutely no reason to believe that.
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Later, Castor harped on an episode in which Ukraine's national security adviser asked Vindman to be that nation's defense minister, an offer that seems to have been meant as a joke and certainly was not taken seriously by Vindman. This line of questioning seemed to served no other purpose than to give Fox News hosts more grist for conspiracy theories about Vindman being disloyal to the United States.
This behavior from Republicans is worse than clownish antics. It's witness intimidation. They know full well that Vindman's safety is already threatened. By stoking lies about him, they are putting him in more danger. They know that Trump's avid fans have both guns and a deep-set hatred for the whistleblower and anyone else who seems to endanger their overlord. This sends a clear signal to others in the executive branch: If you speak out, you too will be in danger.
Democrats, for their part, mostly stuck to emphasizing the sheer volume of evidence against Trump. During his questioning of the witnesses, House Democratic counsel Daniel Goldman made sure to carefully read as much of the July 25 call readout as possible on camera, which served to remind viewers of how damning it is. Trump keeps barking, "Read the transcript!"— but, of course, that's the last thing he wants his followers to do. Democrats, at least, made sure parts of it were read out loud on TV, even on Fox News, which is airing the hearings.
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This abundance of evidence explains, of course, why Republicans are getting increasingly arcane and grotesque in their defenses of this indefensible president, and turning on vile tactics like trying to out the whistleblower or smear the reputations of witnesses. They have nothing left but giving up their last vestiges of illusory morality and decency, all in defense of Trump, a man who would cut every single one of them if he thought that might help him. | 421 |
TEL AVIV – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday that as the world leader in cyber warfare Israel was the best equipped country to deal with potential election hacks.
His comments came in response to reports that a foreign superpower was meddling in the elections.
“Israel is prepared to thwart a cyber intervention, we’re prepared for any scenario and there’s no country more prepared than we are,” he told reporters.
During a closed-door event at Tel Aviv university on Monday, Shin Bet security agency head Nadav Argaman warned that a foreign country was using cyber-attacks and hacking to intervene in the elections.
“100 percent [redacted name of foreign country] will intervene in the upcoming elections and I know what I’m talking about, but I don’t know who will benefit,” he said.
The meddling “involves cyber-attacks and hacking,” Argaman added.
He said that the Shin Bet obtained concrete proof of the plan to intervene.
Later on Tuesday, the Shin Bet released a statement saying it had the ability to monitor and thwart any intervention attempts.
“The Israel Security Agency wishes to clarify that the State of Israel and the intelligence community have the tools and capabilities to locate, monitor and thwart foreign influence efforts, if there are any,” the statement said.
“The Israeli defense establishment has the tools and capabilities to allow the existence of democratic and free elections in the State of Israel,” it continued.
In response, Tamar Zandberg, head of the left-wing opposition party Meretz, said Israel should thwart any attempts by Russian President Vladimir Putin to influence the elections in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s favor.
“We demand the security services make sure that Putin doesn’t steal the elections for his friend, the tyrant Bibi,” Zandberg said in a statement.
However, Russia denied the accusations.
“Russia is not interfering and does not intend to interfere in the elections in any country in the world,” Kremlin spokesman Dimitri Paskov told reporters.
According to Russian daily Izvestia, Paskov also said that people should “not read the Israeli media.”
The Russian embassy released a tweet to that effect, and accompanied it with a meme reading, “Keep calm and blame Russia or Russian hackers.” | 422 |
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The Admiralty System unlocks when you become an Admiral, around level 52, where you will now get the true “Admiral Experience”, by sending your old ships on assignments. While you won’t be at risk to lose any ships while they are on assignment, they will be subject to cooldown conditions to prevent sending your best ship on every run.
Of course, this may not be the wisest course of action in any event, with assignments subjected to Hazards. “We haven’t talked about this yet but there are these things called Hazards that are random, so you might do the same diplomacy mission three times – one time it’ll just be a diplomacy mission, the next time there’ll be pirates and that’ll change the requirements for the mission. Or there’s a graviton anomaly and that will also change the requirements for the mission. So maybe you want to send an Escort instead of a Cruiser or a Science ship instead of an Escort depending upon how you proceed”
Ricossa then went on to elaborate that even the same type of ship at the same tier will differ in stats, “Based on IP and ingame reasons they will have different stats even across the same tier of the same type – for example the Cruisers at Tier Four will be different from each other.”
“We wanted to make sure each ship feels unique, and each ship has it’s own stats so that way you are easily able to make a meaningful choice while you’re slotting your ships into these assignments.”
Completing assignments will contribute to a new reward track, called a Tour of Duty, that can be filled over a number of days to earn a unique reward. Each Tour of Duty gives a different reward, that can be repeated – a small number of Tours will be available at launch, “We’re shooting for more than one Tour of Duty, we have a number internally but I’d like to make sure we hit it before we quote anything but we definitely want more than one at launch. Single digits, but more than one”, Ricossa confided.
With the beginning of a brand new story arc, that even new players will be able to jump into, plus the lure of new unique rewards for existing players, it is safe to say that New Dawn will see a healthy rise in activity for Star Trek Online. | 423 |
Home India Four IIT Kanpur professors booked under SC/ST Act for 'harassing' Dalit faculty member
Four IIT Kanpur professors booked under SC/ST Act for ‘harassing’ Dalit faculty member
Subrahmanyam Saderla, an assistant professor of the Aerospace Department, has accused four of his colleagues of making casteist comments.
Kanpur Superintendent of Police (West) Sanjiv Suman said the quartet had been booked under relevant sections of the SC/ST Act, PTI reported.
An FIR has been registered against four Indian Institute of Technology-Kanpur (IIT-K) professors under the SC/ST Atrocities Act for allegedly harassing a Dalit faculty member of the institute. Subrahmanyam Saderla, an assistant professor of the Aerospace Department, has accused four of his colleagues — professors Ishan Sharma, Sanjay Mittal, Rajeev Shekhar and Chandrashekhar Upadhyaya — of making casteist comments.
Kanpur Superintendent of Police (West) Sanjiv Suman said the quartet had been booked under relevant sections of the SC/ST Act, PTI reported. The institute’s Board of Governors has already found the accused professors guilty of mental torture and intimidation.
In his complaint, Saderla alleged that he had applied for a job in July 2017 and was given his appointment letter on December 28, 2017, after clearance by external experts. He joined IIT-K as an assistant professor on January 1.
Saderla, who is also an alumnus of the institute, said soon after his induction, the accused professors started spreading rumours that he benefited from reservation and was not competent enough for the post.
With the harassment showing no signs of ebbing, Saderla then took up the matter with the IIT director and the head of aerospace engineering department, Professor A K Ghosh. Thereafter, he lodged a complaint with the state SC/ST Commission, IANS reported.
The matter was heard on April 10 and orders were issued against the four professors. However, the accused professors moved the High Court and a obtained a stay.
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© IE Online Media Services Pvt Ltd | 424 |
Several hours after announcing his bid for the White House, former Rep. Beto O’Rourke, D-Texas, defined one significant aspect of his platform, saying he'd suspend capital punishment at the federal level.
O’Rourke hit the campaign trail on Thursday in Iowa. On his way to an appearance at Fort Madison High School, O’Rourke, who drove himself, spoke to Radio Iowa.
BETO O’ROURKE MAKES 2020 WHITE HOUSE BID OFFICIAL WITH WEE-HOURS ANNOUNCEMENT
The three-term congressman from El Paso was asked specifically about a recent decision by California Gov. Gavin Newsom to sign an executive order halting executions for the state’s 737 death row inmates.
“As president, would you suspend capital punishment at the federal level?” he was asked.
“I would. It’s not an equitable, fair, just system right now -- the guarantees and safeguards against wrongful prosecution, the disproportionate number of people of color who comprise our criminal justice system,” O’Rourke said.
CALIFORNIA GOV. NEWSOM TO SIGN EXECUTIVE ORDER TO HALT DEATH PENALTY EXECUTIONS
“And on moral grounds," he added, "I oppose the death penalty.”
O’Rourke did vote for a bill in 2017 called the Thin Blue Line Act that expanded “ the list of statutory aggravating factors in death penalty determinations” to include those who target or kill law enforcement personnel.
O’Rourke’s comments came just a day after the Democratic Governor Newsom signed an executive order that placed a moratorium on all executions at San Quentin State Prison. The order also withdrew lethal injection regulations but left convictions intact.
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“The intentional killing of another person is wrong. And as governor, I will not oversee the execution of any individual,” Newsom said in a prepared statement obtained by the Southern California News Group.
The order goes against much of the state’s wishes, as California voters backed a measure in 2016 to speed up executions -- President Trump said neither he nor the victims’ families and friends were “thrilled” about Newsom's change of course.
Fox News’ Brooke Singman contributed to this report. | 425 |
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the south Pacific Ocean. The uninhabited island has been found to have the world's highest density of waste plastic, with more than 3,500 additional pieces of litter washing ashore daily at just one of its beaches. EPA
“Day after day we’re seeing humans kill our sea and we had to do something, immediately,” he said.
The discovery of high concentrations of microplastic surrounding Isole Tremiti was particularly worrying given the islands’ protected status; the archipelago lies within a protected marine reserve.
Fentini is encouraging people to use reusable and biodegradable utensils instead.
Plastic bottles, however, are still legal. He hopes this can change, with a move towards glass bottles instead, and aims to ban polystyrene containers too.
The levels of plastic were revealed by a Greenpeace investigation, which found 2.2 pieces of plastic per metre cubed of water, most of it polyethylene, which is commonly used to make plastic bags, bottles and packaging.
This was significantly higher than Italy’s average – 0.52 items per metre cubed of water.
However, the plastic may not all be coming from the Tremiti islands themselves, as currents frequently carry plastic particles towards islands, according to Greenpeace.
“I’m calling on the mayors of all islands and coastal areas to follow suit,” said Fentini. “Let’s all try to do some good for our planet.”
Plastic is a hot topic in the travel industry at the moment. Hurtigruten, the world’s biggest expedition cruise operator, announced recently it aims to be the first plastic-free cruise company. It will prohibit all unnecessary single-use plastic, including straws, glasses and bags, by 2 July.
The Tremiti archipelago is getting tough on plastic (Getty Images/iStockphoto) (Getty)
Heathrow airport is also in on the action, announcing an ambitious plan to recycle all single-use coffee cups from over 20 of its retail and lounge business partners by the end of the year.
The initial stage will see retailers use a standardised paper cup which can be collected by the airport and recycled in the UK. Heathrow then plans to explore how to implement a reuse system to help phase out single-use cups altogether, as well as other plastic items such as straws. | 427 |
James Faulkner has maintained a strict diet of Twenty20 and one-day cricket in recent times, with the Australian all-rounder making only a dozen first-class appearances, including a solitary Test, in the last two years. His most recent assignments have included a successful World Cup campaign on home soil and time at the Indian Premier League. For the next three months his focus is very much on red-ball cricket as he aims to help Lancashire out of Division Two and further his Test ambitions. So a debut 121 off 152 balls, his first in first-class cricket, was not a bad way to start.
The Tasmanian, 25, looks to be the sort to relish a challenge such as the one he faced on his arrival at the crease after lunch. Lancashire were 102 for five and in the midst of a loss of three for 17. They soon slipped to 108 for six. The key batsman, Ashwell Prince, had been dismissed, as had Alviro Petersen, and they were two of four wickets to fall during a nervy afternoon. Lancashire needed to reach 299 to avoid the follow-on and they did so late in the day on the back of a seventh-wicket stand of 183 inside 47 overs between Faulkner and Jordan Clark, another man whose short career has been white-ball heavy.
Clark has hit six sixes in an over in a second XI match and played junior cricket in Cumbria against Ben Stokes. But this is only his sixth match in his maiden season of four-day cricket. Although Clark hit straight sixes off both spinners, Gareth Batty and Zafar Ansari, he was much more reserved on the way to his maiden half-century, a 142-ball 63. Faulkner, too, was watchful but accumulated nicely before racing through the nineties with two crunching boundaries to the cover fence off Stuart Meaker inside the final hour of the day and reached three figures off 141 balls with 11 boundaries. He gained a congratulatory slap on the back from Kevin Pietersen, his Melbourne Stars T20 team-mate, before falling late in the day. Both men were bowled by Matt Dunn, who finished with three wickets after Surrey advanced their first innings from 435 for eight at the start of play.
Given they came into this fixture 32 points ahead of Surrey at the top of Division Two, a draw will be a positive result for Lancashire when confirmed around 5pm on Wednesday. | 428 |
“In order to safeguard the integrity, safety and soundness of the country’s financial system, and to protect the public in general, all financial institutions are hereby required to ensure that they do not use, trade, hold and/or transact in any way in virtual currencies.”
Just as we report positive news from Thailand with regards to cryptocurrency regulation, we are now seeing reports of quite the opposite from the Zimbabwe central bank, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ), in a move that does resonate what we saw last month, from the Reserve Bank of India. With Zimbabwe now seemingly on the against side of the cryptocurrency argument, we could expect some backlash to occur within the cryptocurrency community, perhaps on a similar scale to what we have seen in India, with the launch of a petition and appeals to the high court of Delhi. According to CCN, the RBZ have officially banned all banks and financial groups from processing any cryptocurrency transactions for traders and investors. The bank has said:Many people are seeing this as a regressive move, given that Zimbabwe as a country is known for its struggling financial system. People have turned to Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies to help seek an alternative to the Zimbabwean Dollar, a currency that sits against the US Dollar at a value of around 0.00276. Clearly, the RBZ are taking an approach here designed to protect the fiat Zimbabwean Dollar and of course, to protect members of the public from the risks associated with cryptocurrency trading. Many people do consider this sort of restriction to be censorship, something the industry does not take very kindly too. Therefore, we expect some backlash to arise as a result of this. Golix, the biggest cryptocurrency exchange operating in Zimbabwe have passed comment, stating that Bitcoin trade is growing in the country as it is helping to plug certain financial shortages. With this in mind, other exchanges in Zimbabwe will no doubt feel the pressure from these regulations in the coming weeks. Overall, this is an unfortunate turn of events for cryptocurrencies and the blockchain industry. For now, we must await some more specific information from the RBZ as to the scale of these regulations. At the moment, things are a little unclear, hopefully in due time, the RBZ will be able to explain a more detailed plan. In the meantime, we expect people to challenge this decision. For now, we should expect trading in Zimbabwe to continue. Of course, as this news gets out, we will see volumes reduce, when this happens though, we always find that community spirit gets the better of the regulators. | 429 |
A top state official is pushing back against the federal government’s claim that Texas was among states whose election systems were targeted by Russian hackers ahead of the 2016 presidential election.
“At no point were any election-related systems, software, or information compromised by malicious cyber actors,” Texas Secretary of State Rolando Pablos wrote in a letter to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security on Thursday.
Last week, the Department of Homeland Security said the election infrastructure of 21 states, including Texas, was targeted by Russian hackers. Being targeted does not mean that votes were changed but that a system was scanned.
Shortly after the announcement, officials in California and Wisconsin said they’d received contradictory information from the department that suggested they’d been incorrectly included on that list.
Pablos, in his letter, made a similar claim and asked the department to “correct its erroneous notification” that the state agency’s website had been the target of malicious hackers. Pablos argued that federal officials had based their assessment on “incorrect information” and that an investigation by his office with the state’s Department of Information Resources had found no such targeting.
“In order to restore public confidence in the integrity of our elections systems, it is imperative for DHS to further clarify the information provided,” the letter says. “Our office understands that you have provided similar clarification to election officials in Wisconsin and California. We respectfully request you provide the same clarification to the State of Texas.”
A Department of Homeland Security spokesman told Reuters Thursday that “additional information and clarity” had been provided to several states, and that the department stood by its assessment “that Internet-connected networks in 21 states were the target of Russian government cyber actors seeking vulnerabilities and access to U.S. election infrastructure.”
But Sam Taylor, a spokesman for the Texas Secretary of State, said Friday that the issue remained unsettled.
“Our office is hoping to have a conversation with DHS in the coming days to receive additional clarification on this issue,” Taylor said.
Last September, Pablos’ predecessor denied a request by the Russian consul general in Houston to allow a Russian government official inside a Texas polling station on Election Day to study the U.S. election process.
Correction: An earlier version of this story misidentified the official who denied a 2016 request by a Russian official. | 430 |
Scott Pye continued DJR Team Penske’s strong form by topping Practice 1 at a drying Phillip Island Circuit.
The 60 minute session started in full wet conditions, with early flying laps in the 1:48s bracket and beyond.
It took almost 40 minutes before the track was good enough for slicks, after which times tumbled quickly.
Pye’s best of 1:32.06s was set just seconds before the chequered flag fell, edging Nissan’s Todd Kelly by 0.09s.
“We haven’t done that much running in the wet so we experimented a lot with (tyre) pressures and set-up,” said Pye, who scored a career first podium last time out at Pukekohe.
“I felt like just before we went to the slicks we were fairly strong and the guys just put the car back to a dry set-up and we’ve rolled out competitive again which is great.”
Pye and Kelly had a tight moment after their fastest laps when the Nissan went off at Turn 1 and rejoined in front of the Ford, which then ran off at Turn 2 in avoidance.
“I was hoping that he’d be a little bit further back (when he rejoined) so that when I got to Turn 2 I could go around him,” said Pye.
“Unfortunately though when you rejoin off the wet track he’s going to come arrowing across, so I just took the precautionary side and gave him plenty of room and ran off myself.”
Jason Bright ended up third fastest ahead of Mark Winterbottom, David Reynolds, Jamie Whincup, James Moffat and Nick Percat.
Percat completed the entire session aboard the #222 Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport Holden and was among many to briefly sit atop the order as the track dried.
Newcomers Dean Canto and Chris Pither were arguably the most hurt by the weather, ending up at the bottom of the order in 24th and 25th as they adapt to the Erebus Mercedes and Super Black Ford respectively.
Fabian Coulthard, Reynolds and McLaughlin were among those to have off track excursions in the early wet running, but each was able to rejoin without damage.
Result: V8 Supercars WD-40 Phillip Island Super Sprint Practice 1 | 431 |
to come in to speak with them, as well. "We were a bit astonished and had some conversation back and forth with the prosecutor's office," Uhrig said. "They told us what we expected, '[that they] were not going to talk to a criminal or [defendant] without counsel.'"
Uhrig said that Zimmerman told officials at the prosecutor's office that Uhrig and Sonner were not his lawyers, but "his legal advisers."
As the press conference went on, Uhrig engaged in several testy exchanges with reporters, alternately criticizing the news media's coverage of the case and defending the state's Stand Your Ground law. "The gun law is a good law because it gives honest citizens the right to carry a weapon," Uhrig said.
Uhrig was also derisive of civil rights activists, whom he said were attempting to profit from the case, and mocked Rep. Corrine Brown, who represents Sanford in Congress and has been calling for Zimmerman's prosecution.
On Monday, the special prosecutor said that she would not convene a grand jury in the case, which effectively rules out murder charges in the case, as only grand juries can issue murder charges in the state of Florida. Zimmerman can still be charged with manslaughter and other crimes for his role in the shooting.
UPDATE:
Trayvon Martin's parents and their attorney appeared on CNN tonight to discuss the latest developments in the case, including the special prosecutor's announcement that new details about the case will be made public in the next 72 hours.
"We're encouraged, but we have a lot of anxiety," Benjamin Crump, the attorney, told Piers Morgan. "No one has any idea where the killer of Trayvon Martin is."
Tracy Martin,Trayvon's father, said he believed that Zimmerman was a flight risk. "He definitely needs to be contained," he said.
Alan Dershowitz, the legal scholar and criminal attorney, also appeared on the show, and said he was "disturbed" by the conduct of Zimmerman's former attorneys. Dershowitz said they may have damaged his defense by expounding on his state of mind, and they may possibly have violated attorney-client privilege. "All they had to do was quietly say that 'we're no longer representing [Zimmerman] and our role in the case is over.'"
Clarification: In an earlier version of this story, attorney Hal Uhrig was not fully identified.
| 432 |
Overall rating 5.0 / 5
The 2017 Tesla Model S stands out as the only true electric luxury sedan. Tremendous acceleration, cutting-edge tech and 300-plus miles of potential range make it more suited for almost anybody, not just early EV adopters. There are drawbacks, but the overall ownership experience is very positive.
As with all electric vehicles (EVs), driving range and charging time are constant considerations. But the Model S delivers the most range of any EV on the market, with the new P100D model rated to cover 315 miles on a full charge (that's the EPA's estimate; Tesla claims it's higher). Combined with access to Tesla's Supercharger rapid charging stations, this makes the Model S a legitimate long-haul road tripper.
You'll need those superchargers, too, as the Model S forever goads you into dipping into its accelerator for a burst of effortless, astonishing speed. Fully boosted with electrons, the Model S can sprint from zero to 60 mph in just 2.5 seconds. That kind of speed can pin back your eyeballs, but can drain range just as quickly, so it's best to be judicious.
Despite its luxury station and price, the Model S still comes off a bit unpolished and less opulent than some of its German contemporaries. No matter — this is a car that bleeds tech, will uniquely fascinate the tech-obsessed and will otherwise charm anyone simply looking for an alternative to living with a gasoline engine-powered car.
What's it like to live with?
Edmunds' editorial team was one of the first to acquire and live with a 2013 Tesla Model S for a full year. To learn more about the Tesla Model S of this generation, read our complete 2013 Tesla Model S long-term road test. In our experience the early build Model S was prone to premature tire wear and a number of quality issues, which were sorted out in the subsequent years. That said, we found it to be a fun car to drive and unlike anything else on the road at the time.
The 2017 Tesla Model S differs from our early long-term Model S in a number of ways. The front bumper and grille have been revised, range has improved, and all 2017 models come standard with all-wheel drive (ours was rear-drive only) except for the base 75 trim. It's the same generation, though, so most of our general driving impressions still apply. | 433 |
NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York Governor Andrew Cuomo on Thursday called on the private sector to help improve New York City’s aging subway system, saying business and civic organizations could each contribute $250,000 to join a “partnership council” and clean up dirty, decrepit areas.
Slideshow ( 2 images )
He said firms including BlackRock, Estee Lauder and Blackstone already agreed to contribute the funds, and that companies could “adopt a station” to help fund cleaning, art or even wireless internet service for additional contributions up to $600,000.
Such an approach could open the door to subway stations branded with corporate names.
“We want to bring the private sector in as a full partner,” Cuomo told the Association for a Better New York in a breakfast speech.
On Tuesday, Metropolitan Transportation Authority Chairman Joseph Lhota laid out an $836 million plan to immediately fix the more than century-old subway system’s biggest operational problems, including repairing 1,300 signals by the end of 2018.
The MTA is a state authority that operates the subway, buses, two commuter railroads and bridges and tunnels. Cuomo appoints the chairman, vice-chairman and several board members.
Cuomo said the state would commit to paying 50 percent of that repair program and that he was making the money available immediately. He has been in a war of words with New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio over subway funding.
The program to adopt subway stations is still “in development,” Lhota told reporters after Cuomo spoke.
Similar programs were in place in Europe, Lhota said. Private contributions have also been used for major facelifts and maintenance in New York City parks, but that program has been controversial because it has led to greater improvements in wealthier, more popular urban green spaces like Manhattan’s Central Park.
To avoid that pitfall, the MTA could require a company to sponsor stations in outlying areas if it also wants to sponsor central Manhattan stations, Lhota said. Naming rights for stations were being considered, Lhota said.
Separately, Cuomo acknowledged that after 2020, tolls from the Thruway Authority would be used to finish financing the state’s new $4 billion Tappan Zee Bridge, a public-private partnership, which will be named after his father, the late former Governor Mario Cuomo. | 434 |
How the FBI tracked Aaron Swartz FOIA'd files reveal how federal agents watched Swartz's online activity, noting even banal details
Firedoglake's Daniel Wright has published once classified files on the FBI's tracking of Aaron Swartz, the online activist who committed suicide last month facing hefty federal charges.
The FOIA'd files, which became unclassified following the 26-year-old technologist's death, tell how the FBI began watching Swartz once he was suspected of downloading millions of records from the Public Access to Court Electronic Records (PACER) database -- a different case from the Justice Department's pursuit of Swartz over downloading academic articles from JSTOR.
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"I remembered a macabre fact," wrote Wright on obtaining the FBI file, "upon death every American’s FBI file becomes unclassified with certain exceptions." The blogger added that "overall the files tell you more about the FBI than they do Swartz," noting how the FBI highlighted a host of Swartz's banal online activity:
They collected information from Linked In, followed his blog posts, and even thought his membership in the “Long-term Planning Committee for the Human Race” was worthy of note. There is also a Kafkaesque entry concerning Swartz’s blog post NYT Personals which includes the question “Want to have the F.B.I. open up a file on you as well?” – which I read for the first time in Swartz’s FBI file.
Swartz's quip on NYT Personals alluded to the fact that he knew he was being investigated for downloading PACER files -- he'd even FOIA'd his own FBI file.
The FBI file advises agents to locate any of Swartz's vehicles and personal information on his driver's license. Agents surveyed his home address in Illinois but were ordered not to approach the activist while he was the subject of investigation. The PACER investigation against Swartz was dropped -- although he had downloaded millions of files, it was determined he had committed no crimes in doing so. As HuffPo noted, "Swartz downloaded public court documents from the PACER system in an effort to make them available outside of the expensive service. The move drew the attention of the FBI, which ultimately decided not to press charges as the documents, were, in fact, public.” The Justice Department did not, however, decide similarly over Swartz's downloading nearly 5 million academic articles from JSTOR. | 435 |
Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) is the latest Trump critic to offer praise for the president’s response to the Wuhan coronavirus, calling it “incredible and the right response in this critical time.”
The Minnesota progressive was responding to a tweet from The Intercept’s Lee Fang about all the measures the Trump administration has taken to help Americans through this crisis:
“Trump suspending mortgage foreclosures, demanding cash payments to Americans, now invoking the Defense Production Act to force private firms to produce needed supplies is incredible,” Fang tweeted. “Kind of a shell shock for anyone who reported on any economic policies in the Obama years.”
Omar went on to agree with Rep. Ayanna Pressley that “unprecedented times require unprecedented leadership,” which she said is happening right now. “I have faith that we will survive this as a nation and build together.”
.@AyannaPressley always says, unprecedented times require unprecedented leadership and we are seeing that in our country right now. I have faith that we will survive this as a nation and build together. — Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) March 19, 2020
She called the measures Fang cited “a great start” and hoped a spirit of unity will continue to “help us work through the economic anxiety the country is feeling right now.”
Finally, we should never let politics get in the way of good policy. This is a great start and hope others will be part of a united front to push for good policies that will help us work through the economic anxiety the country is feeling right now. — Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) March 19, 2020
Omar is not the first critic of the president who has praised the work he’s doing to manage this pandemic.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom said Trump told him “everything I could have hoped for” on the cruise ship response in the state, and that “every single thing he said, they followed through on.”
This week, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo also told reporters that Trump’s “team is on it."
"They’ve been responsive," he added. "I want to say thank you.”
CNN's Dana Bash, meanwhile, commented that Trump “is being the kind of leader that people need.” | 436 |
A few recent retro challenges I’ve undertaken had me wanting to spend a bit more time logged in to BBS’s strewn here and there about the web. I’ve spent an enormous amount of time on BBS’s over the years, nearly all of it long ago on systems that we today consider to be vintage. As such, I wanted to use just such systems to explore BBS’s that are online today, and that means telnet access. Unfortunately, my normal approach to setting this up, using my iMac to bridge an older system to the internet via serial connection, is presently broken. Apple completely redid the USB stack in OS X El Capitan and in so-doing broke the drivers for all of the various USB-to-serial adapters I have on hand. I needed to find another approach, and so I looked to the Raspberry Pi.
I ran a quick search and found that Keyspan USB-to-serial adapters work under Linux with the proper firmware. I downloaded the firmware and installed them on my Pi Model B laptop, which is equipped with WiFi. I dug out a serial cable, several gender changers, a DB9-to-DB25 converter, and a particularly hard to track down null-modem converter, I wired the lot together, and fired up my Amiga 1000. After getting getty properly configured on the Pi (with some help from @pdweinstein, whose Apple //c serial terminal adventure inspired me to start turning everything I owned into a serial terminal), I loaded up NComm on the Amiga and … voila, the Amiga became a serial terminal to the Raspberry Pi. A few keystrokes later, I was logged into @FozzTexx‘s Level 29 BBS, bbs.fozztexx.com.
As you can see from the short video of the adventure I put together, the Pi laptop easily sits on top of the Amiga’s monitor. Previously I had been running a long serial cable from my iMac on one side of the room to whichever system I wanted to use as a serial terminal. With this Pi laptop so configured, I can just walk it over to whatever vintage machine strikes me at a given moment, attach the Pi, and get onto the BBS’s in the appropriate fashion. My laptop Raspberry Pi has found its role and it’s nice to have easy access to BBS’s on proper hardware once again. | 437 |
Off the top of our heads, we can name check a number of things that have the potential to ruin a first date: Being rude to the waiter, texting your way through dinner, Instagramming your meal.
But saying the wrong thing is probably the biggest fear among the recently-dating-again set. The good news? Nothing you say on your next date could possibly trump the unbelievably bad date conversations below, pulled from an Ask Reddit thread on the subject that popped up Thursday.
We promise reading through this will make you feel a lot better about your own instances of word vomit.
1. "My ex is over there -- quick, act like we're interested in each other!"
2. "You're going to eat ALL of that?"
3. "Yes, those are my parents at the next table. Great people. We go everywhere together."
4. "Are you familiar with Vector Marketing? You should join my team and start earning for yourself today!"
5. "Hey babe, can we cut this a little short, the game starts in two hours and I'm superstitious about sitting on my couch an hour before each game."
6. "Here's something I actually said while driving to the restaurant on my first date in 20 years: She was making small talk about my car and I blurted out, 'And with the back seat folded down you can lay down in the back.' I am sooooo smooth."
8. "Well, seeing as this recently happened to me I've got an answer. So I asked her out and she said yes quite enthusiastically. The first words that come out of her mouth on the date are, 'I'm not looking for a relationship.' It definitely killed the mood."
9. "My SO loves this place!"
10. "I knew I should've worn my other fedora."
11. "What's your credit score?"
12. "'I never used to watch Asian porn until I met you, now it it is all I watch.' I actually had someone say this to me; he was confused that I wasn't super flattered."
14. "You look a lot skinnier in your profile pic."
16. "Have you ever heard of Bitcoin? Let me tell you all about it."
17. "Could we get one salad please? Not for me, for her."
18. "My ex took me to nicer restaurants." | 438 |
While the Ring Doorbell can send you alerts if anyone actually rings it by pressing the button, you can also receive alerts whenever motion is detected. Unfortunately, it isn’t perfect. Here’s how to adjust the sensitivity of that motion.
RELATED: How to Install and Set Up the Ring Video Doorbell
The Ring Doorbell uses infrared technology to determine if motion is by a person or not, but it can still invoke a lot of false positives. For instance, the heat signature from a passing car can set off an alert, but by adjusting the sensitivity and distance that the Ring Doorbell can detect, you can cut down on false alarms and zone in on the Ring’s detection field.
To adjust the sensitivity of the Ring’s motion detection, start by opening up the Ring app on your phone and tapping on your Ring Doorbell at the top of the screen.
Tap on “Motion Settings”.
Select “Zones and Ranges”.
On this screen, you can select which zones you want enabled for detection and how far out you want the detection to reach. To enable or disable a certain zone, simply just tap on it.
After that, use the slider on the left-hand side to adjust how far out you want the motion detection to reach.
When you’re done, hit “Save” in the bottom-right corner.
A pop-up will appear that says to push the button on the Ring Doorbell to save and confirm the changes. Do this and then press “Continue”.
Next, tap on “Smart Alert”.
Adjusting this setting will tell Ring how sensitive you want the Ring’s motion detection to be. For instance, if you’re doing outside work on your house in front of your porch where your Ring Doorbell is, setting this to “Light” would only give you a few alerts, while “Frequent” would send you a bunch of alerts. When you select one, hit “Save”.
That’s all there is to it! If, after you adjust the motion sensitivity, you’re still receiving false alarms, try toning down the sensitivity even more. For me, I had to pretty much turn it all the way down to its lowest setting before it would finally stop giving me false positives, but your mileage may vary. | 439 |
A Cambridge police officer has been placed on administrative leave after allegedly hitting a female bicyclist while off duty and fleeing the scene around 7:49 p.m. Sunday at the intersection of Broadway and Portland Street.
The victim, a 32-year-old Cambridge woman, was discharged from the hospital Monday evening, a day after the crash that left her with non-life-threatening injuries to her back and head, according to Jeremy Warnick, director of communications for the Cambridge Police Department.
Charges, if any, will be determined after an investigation, which includes reconstruction of the crash with the help of the State Police and Middlesex District Attorney's Office, said Warnick. The officer will only be identified if charges are filed against him, like any other case, Warnick said.
There were reportedly multiple witnesses at the scene of the crash. The off-duty cop was caught after one of the witnesses called in his license plate number. He had not turned himself in at the time of the report, so officers went to his home and took away his car as evidence, Warnick said.
The department placed the officer on paid leave, taking away his badge and gun pending a complete investigation, which is expected to be completed this week.
“We have people working on this exclusively,” said Warnick on Tuesday afternoon. “The very earliest [for the investigation to be finished] could be [Wednesday]. Some of these do take some time. We’re going to speak to the victim again, the witnesses. Go through any property, evidence, etc. … We'll release more details as the investigation progresses.”
A delay is that one of the witnesses is out of state, Warnick said.
When asked whether the DA's Office and State Police are usually involved with non-fatal hit-and-run investigations, or whether the agencies were brought in to prevent any conflicts of interest, Warnick said part of the reason was that the police department doesn't want "bias to play a role whatsoever" in the investigation.
"With the allegations made in this case, we requested the support of the District Attorney’s Office and State Police to ensure a fair and balanced investigation," Warnick said.
When asked if the officer was under the influence of alcohol during the crash, Warnick said, "That's a key component we're looking to discuss with the officer, and we're also looking to speak with witnesses and the victim." | 440 |
Like the look of that and want one already? Head over to Kickstarter!
Do you find yourself constantly forgetting how to set-up the RPi.GPIO Python library? I know I do: trying to remember the correct way of doing things has never been my strong point!
Most of the time when I’m programming the Pi to do hardware stuff, I have to sit with a laptop open next to me with a cheat sheet up on the screen. Alex Eames has come up with a great solution to this problem – a GPIO reference ruler. Other reference rulers, for general electronics, have been out there for a while, but no-one has come up with one for the Raspberry Pi, until now. You can see a picture of Alex’s new ruler below (click to embiggen):
To work out whether there are enough people interested in the ruler, Alex has launched it on Kickstarter today, so head over there to pledge. There are 500 rulers available at the £3 Early-bird price (plus shipping) and after that it rises to £4. This is extremely good value considering the finish and sheer usefulness of the product (see below for a mini review). Delivery is expected in September/October.
Mini review
I got one of the pre-production rulers (such as the one pictured) a few days ago and I’ve already found it invaluable. I needed to program a lot of GPIO pins in a short period of time and used the ruler instead of booting up my laptop to get the proper commands. The commands listed on the ruler are all the ones you generally use when doing electronics experiments with the Pi. The ruler also includes a handy reference for the GPIO pins themselves, using the BCM numbering system, and you can push the holes in the ruler over the GPIO pins for ease-of-use. I’ve also found it very useful as a ruler – I needed to measure the length of some wires for an upcoming project and it just happened to be to hand. The white silkscreen is not quite production-sharp on the one I’ve got, but is still easily readable, and the gold parts make it look very attractive. If you consider that it’s basically £3-4, and there’s nothing like it out there, it’s a bargain. Rating: 10/10.
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| 441 |
. There was a consensus concerning an understanding of human learning grounded in virtue according to the objective standard of truth. Men and women were always aware of their complementary inequality and the metaphysical realities of their sex. There had been a respect for the true nature of history as that record to present the habits of character of the great souls who navigated the stormy seas of times and events more tumultuous than our own. Man had not considered himself the measure of all things in times past and knew that he was to be judged in the end by God, not the other way around. Life had never been assumed to be purely material and the right use of intellect was always valued, even to a degree by the untutored.
Although Lewis’ observations are spot on concerning some of the intellectual roadblocks we face today, he is also quick to warn us that this is not the whole picture. We are responsible for ordering our intellects to objective truth, but our intellects are intended to be merely the handmaidens of the will ordered to Christ. Of much greater magnitude and importance is the realm of the soul and theological truth imparted at its highest levels by revelation as gifts from the Holy Spirit. This is our trump card even though modern man cut himself off from this realm long before he cut himself of from the above described intellectual stumbling blocks.
Lewis explains that “where God gives the gift, the ‘foolishness of preaching’ is still mighty.” Mighty indeed and it is for us to remember that it is not by our agency that hearts will be converted, but by our instrumentality working in concert with the will of God. Although the realm of the intellect is extremely important to cultivate properly, let us not take it out of its rightful context as integrated with and working in harmony with the righteous will.
Lewis leaves us with this greater truth that “best of all is a team of two, one to deliver the preliminary intellectual barrage, and the other to follow up with a direct attack on the heart.” As we pick up our crosses, let us keep in mind that we are mail carriers for Christ. We are to adapt only our delivery methods of the Gospel message, not the message itself. As we redouble our efforts to colonize heaven, we need not worry how the recipients receive it, but that we continue to deliver it with fidelity, humility and charity. Indeed, let us continue to go out and teach all nations!
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Print this entry | 442 |
Back in the day, when computer graphics ranged between non-existent and lousy and system specs called for RAM amounts usually less than 256k, and floppy disks were still...floppy, games that relied mostly upon the user's imagination provided the biggest bang for their software buck. Instead of the up, down, left, right, B, A, etc., it was all about typing in verbose commands like Look, Take, Get, Kill, and so on. However, where these games lacked in the graphics and gameplay perspective (at least from the modern perspective), there's one thing that they often got right - simulating the mindset of the jerkwad dungeon master.
First, consider the "classic" Zork II. I'm sure that I'll catch hell in the comments, but I absolutely hate this game. Now, I don't have a problem with the storyline or lack of graphics, no, I hate Zork II because it's the type of sadistic game that sets you up to fail. Basically, you could get to one point in the game, unable to proceed because you don't have a certain item...and you can't go back unless you have an old game save. Activision got what they deserved for buying Infocom.
Well, from what I can tell, there's this Orb, and the idea of the game is to "quest" for it. Awesome! Eager to learn more about this gem, the best I could do was find an ancient comment on Slashdot confirming its existence.
FTA:
"Theus, a level twenty-Raver, finds himself cornered by two fierce Chimera during his exploration of level ten. With lighting quick dexterity he makes five mighty swings with his Vorpal Blade, slaying both attackers. He considers himself lucky - not only that he has survived, but he is able to remove the Chimeras' Mithril Cloak."
IF I were a "level twenty Raver" I wouldn't be crawling around in any dungeon - I'd be partying...all...night...long.
Ok, so if I reach "Grand Master" status in the CompuServe Adventure Tournament, and the big prize is 2 whole hours of free access? Isn't that like 12 bucks or something? How much time will I end up burning to get said status? Personally, I'd say "no thanks", but considering the popularity of modern MMORPG sites, I'd guess that this promotion was hot like lava at the time. | 443 |
The State Department improperly retaliated against a career diplomat based on her "perceived political views, association with former administrations, and perceived national origin," according to a report from the Office of Inspector General.
The big picture: The inspector general report into alleged political retaliation against career diplomats comes as President Trump faces an impeachment inquiry "whose elements involve the mistreatment of career diplomats, in particular those dealing with Ukraine," per Politico.
The OIG recommends State Secretary Mike Pompeo discipline any political appointees, including U.S. envoy to Iran Brian Hook, who have violated policies against using non-merit based factors when assigning employees.
Context: The report focuses on events that unfolded in 2017, when Rex Tillerson was still the secretary of state. The OIG reviewed thousands of emails regarding five cases of "allegations of politicized and other improper personnel practices."
Sahar Nowrouzzadeh, a career civil servant, had her one-year detail to the Policy Planning office cut short due to concerns over her Iranian heritage and questions about her loyalty to Trump, per Politico. She is known as Employee One in the report.
Employee Two worked in the Office of the Special Envoy for Guantanamo Closure was re-assigned Freedom of Information Act duties because "he raised allegations of unethical conduct while on detail to another agency and because he worked on priorities of the previous administration," the report finds.
Employee Four, a senior executive, was removed from his position as director of refugee admissions and given temporary detail assignments allegedly because of his support for refugees, he and his supervisor told the OIG.
The OIG also investigated the case of Employee Five, a senior Foreign Service employee, who was denied a deputy assistant secretary position. The government watchdog said it examined this case because it found conversations discussing the employee's ethnicity and connections to the prior administration.
Information regarding Employee Three was redacted in the report.
The OIG's conclusion: "Improper considerations played a role in the early termination of Employee One’s detail, but OIG found no evidence that inappropriate factors played a role in relevant decisions relating to Employees Two and Three. As to Employees Four and Five, the lack of documentation and OIG’s inability to gain essential information from key decision makers meant that OIG could not draw conclusions as to the motives for the personnel decisions affecting these individuals."
The State Department's official response to the report can be found on page 54.
Go deeper: | 444 |
A Hamilton man who police have dubbed a "prolific Canada-wide ticket scammer" has been arrested for the second time in less than a month for allegedly defrauding people with fake tickets.
Peel Regional Police say they have now uncovered 180 victims of Shaun Michael Nixon, who has been arrested for selling people non-existent tickets to concerts, sports, and other events.
Police say the frauds stretch back to August of last year. Nixon has been arrested multiple times in connection with fraudulent ticket schemes stretching back to 2007.
Police say that since last year, Nixon allegedly posed as an event ticket seller online.
"He habitually asked the victim buyers to provide money 'up front' for the tickets, via e-transfer or MoneyGram payments," a police news release reads. "The culprit then provided a false tracking number to the victims once they provided their address for the shipment of the tickets."
"The culprit never actually had any tickets to sell. The intent of the culprit was to defraud the victim buyers of their money."
Arrested Monday
Police say Nixon also "habitually" met women on online dating sites, again posing as a concert promoter or reviewer.
"He indicated to them that he received his salary via e-transfers and/or money transfer services and that he does not have his own bank account. The women would subsequently allow the culprit to use their bank account. The women would then unknowingly receive funds from other victims."
Peel police Const. Rachel Gibbs told CBC News that the 180 victims police have counted also include the 75 people they announced were defrauded when Nixon was last arrested in July.
"He had been arrested and then arrested again on these further charges," she said. Gibbs could not say if police had opposed his bail when he was last arrested.
Nixon was arrested on Monday and charged with defrauding the public and failing to comply with his probation.
Peel police say people have been defrauded in the U.S., as well. Investigators say they believe there are more victims and are encouraging them to call police.
"Investigators are also appealing to any women who have had a relationship with and/or have allowed Nixon access to their bank account to receive transfers," Peel police said in a news release.
Anyone with information is asked to call the Peel police fraud bureau at (905) 453-2121, ext. 3353. | 445 |
The Islamic State (Isis) has threatened to destroy the Sphinx and the Egyptian pyramids in its latest pledge, made on video, to step up their attacks on ancient cultures. It follows Isis (Daesh)'s recent destruction of other 'heretical' sites in Nimrud, Mosul and Palmyra and is part of their hard-line interpretation that pre-Islamic culture is 'blasphemous'.
The video affirmed that Isis (Daesh) believe that it is their religious duty to destroy the Egyptian pyramids and Sphinx. The extremists currently have a presence in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, which they have claimed as the territory "Wilayat Sayna".
The group also said they were responsible for downing the Russian A321 airliner, above the Sinai desert in October 2015, killing all 224 people on board.
The destruction of ancient sites have been condemned as war crimes by the United Nations (UN) and world leaders have expressed their disgust. During the nine-minute video the Great Pyramid of Giza near Egypt's capital, Cairo was coupled with a pledge to destroy "ancient sites built by the infidels".
In a separate propaganda film, a militant vows to destroy the 2,500-year-old temple of Nabu in the ancient Assyrian city of Nimrud, currently under IS control, before an explosion razes a building.
The video, entitled 'The Axe of Ibrahim, the Intimate Friend of Allah' shows information signs on the Nabu temple wall before the blast is shown from a number of different angles. Although it has not been independently confirmed that the temple had been razed.
IS also claim to have destroyed the Adad and Mashki Gates which formed a large portion of Nineveh's fortification wall with bulldozers. This destruction was released as a photo report on IS in mid-May.
Isis had taken control of the Syrian city of Palmyra in May 2015. They quickly began destroying ancient monuments and using the amphitheatre as a backdrop to their propaganda videos.
They were ousted from the UNESCO World Heritage site by the Syrian army backed by Russian air strikes after three weeks of fighting earlier this year.
In 2015, the group published videos of militants smashing monuments and blowing up ruins in the ancient city of Nimrud, northern Iraq. The group has also smashed ancient Assyrian statues and carvings in Mosul museum, and has reportedly bulldozed the ruins of Hatra, south west of Mosul. | 446 |
AP Images
Updates from Saturday, April 26
Rusty Simmons of the San Francisco Chronicle has the latest on Bogut's status:
Updates from Wednesday, April 16
Coach Mark Jackson is not very optimistic about Andrew Bogut's ability to play in the postseason according to Rusty Simmons of the San Francisco Chronicle:
Updates from Monday, April 14
Rusty Simmons of the San Francisco Chronicle has the latest on Andrew Bogut's status:
Later in the evening, Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports provided a troubling update on Bogut's ribs:
The Warriors Twitter account confirmed that his ribs are fractured:
Simmons provided more context on how the injury occurred and why he might be out for awhile:
After the Warriors 130-120 win over the Timberwolves, coach Mark Jackson briefly spoke about the injury via Tim Kawakami of the Mercury News:
Original Text
It's been a rough stretch for big men on the Golden State Warriors roster and that stretch continued on Sunday evening, as Andrew Bogut suffered an apparent rib injury.
Comcast SportsNet NW reported the news on Twitter during the Warriors' matchup with the Portland Trail Blazers:
Shortly after the injury took place, Rusty Simmons of the San Francisco Chronicle provided more information:
After the game Simmons gave an update:
The loss of Bogut against Portland comes just days after he made his return to the lineup from a groin and pelvis injury that kept him out for four games.
Before Bogut left the court, he proved that his play in the paint is crucial for Golden State, as he collected nine rebounds and dished out four assists. Bogut's inside presence offers a necessary balance for the Warriors with the outside shooting abilities of Klay Thompson and Stephen Curry.
On the season, Bogut has averaged 7.3 points, 10.0 rebounds and 1.8 blocks per game. Jimmy Spencer of Fox Sports shares just how important the status of the Australian is for the Warriors:
Bogut's initial return also came just days before David Lee rejoined the lineup after an injury of his own. Now, with the 29-year-old once again showing the effects of an injury, the Warriors enter the NBA playoffs hobbled and with plenty of question marks.
The extent of Bogut's injury has not been reported, but updates will be announced as new information becomes available.
Follow R. Cory Smith on Twitter. | 447 |
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FIA president Jean Todt has resurrected the idea of a 'global engine' that could be used in both Formula 1 and other motorsport series.
The concept was previously proposed in the late 2000s, when the FIA commissioned British engineering consultancy Ricardo to investigate the potential for a common rules package to create a base engine that could be adapted for use in as many as 11 major series around the world.
The 2009 report suggested that championships ranging from F1 and IndyCar to single-seater ladder categories, rallying, touring cars and prototype sportscars could use versions of the same engine, but the concept fizzled out amid concerns over cost and practicality from the targeted championships and manufacturers.
Given the huge investment needed to produce engines for the current hybrid F1 regulations, Todt believes reviving the global rules concept could be attractive.
"Probably what we should say, which is not easy as well, is could we use this [F1] engine in other categories of motorsport?" he said.
"At the moment each category of motorsport has its own single regulations, so probably we should try to see if we can have some synergies."
Todt highlighted the World Endurance Championship's LMP1 class as a candidate for sharing engine rules with F1, saying grand prix racing's move towards longer-life engines made it more practical for its technology to be used in long-distance sportscar racing too.
"We have the endurance championship with LMP1," said Todt.
"We have completely different engines, so would it make sense to anticipate a future for the endurance championship using this synergy - which incidentally is covering the same kind of mileage."
The WEC is currently assessing options for future rules packages as it reacts to Porsche and Audi's departures from LMP1.
Though a move towards road-car styling has been mooted for 2020/21, a major change in engine philosophy is considered unlikely as privateers have been promised rules stability.
Autosport understands that Todt's 'global engine' idea has not so far been formally suggested to LMP1 teams.
F1 and top-level sportscar racing's last attempt to share engine technology proved ill-fated, when Group C's move towards F1's 3.5-litre engines led to the decline and eventual demise of the World Sportscar Championship ahead of the 1993 season. | 448 |
very cold,” says an attorney who has worked there for five years and wished not to be identified. “All the heat for the floor comes into my office, and the same thing happens in the summer, because the A/C is designed to do one thing"—that is, cool and heat an almost entirely open-plan office.
Retrofitting the interior to make the building less radically transparent was, at least, supposed to give employees a bit more privacy and a bit less distraction. Like so much else with the building, it didn’t quite work. “They built a lot of offices,” he says, “where the walls are plywood that you can hear through.”
The same goes for the electrical system. “There are very few plugs on the walls,” he says. “There are random outlets coming up from the ground, and power strips in a lot of places. It’s ad hoc.”
But it’s not that the power strips ruin the view.
“The carpets are very old,” he says. “There’s duct tape on the floor where it’s torn.”
Glavin has the same complaint. “The carpet is quite literally held together with duct tape. It’s my understanding that the carpet was the original carpet. The building felt tired.”
The Thompson Center in 2014 Photo: Michael Tercha/Chicago Tribune
And yet, despite it being the worst downtown office building he’s worked in, Glavin has some affection for it. “I do think it’s become a punching bag. No other building would be a good place to work if it was neglected for 30 years.” he says. “I like the fact that it was completely different, that it took a chance. Do you know the Pompidou Center in Paris? It reminds me of that.”
He’d like to see it repurposed. So would Jahn, who released a statement lamenting how the “symbol for the openness and transparency of state government” fell into physical neglect. He suggested that the “best way to save the building” is to hock it, “marketing the large floor plates to innovative tech companies.” How’s that for architectural symbolism?
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| 449 |
Authored by Steve H. Hanke of the Johns Hopkins University. Follow him on Twitter @Steve_Hanke.
The Grim Reaper has taken his scythe to the Iranian rial (see chart below). The Islamic Republic of Iran remains in the ever-tightening grip of an economic death spiral. The economy is ever-vulnerable because of problems created by the last Shah, and added to massively by the theocratic regime. Indeed, the economy is more vulnerable to both internal and external shocks than ever. That vulnerability will become more apparent in the face of President Trump’s tearing up of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), and the laying on of more primary and secondary sanctions against Iran.
How fast the death spiral will spin is anyone’s guess.
The most important price in an economy is the exchange rate between the local currency and the world’s reserve currency — the U.S. dollar.
[ZH: In fact, the Rial traded at 85,000 Rials per dollar late last night...]
In Iran, the IRR/USD exchange rate, represents the most important price. By using active and available black-market (read: free market) data for the Iranian rial, I have transformed the black-market exchange rate into accurate measurements of country wide inflation. The economic principle of Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) allows for this reliable transformation, so long as the annual inflation rate exceeds 25%.
The chart below shows how Iran’s implied annual inflation rate has surged to an annual rate of 75.8% with the collapse of the rial’s value against the U.S. dollar. Indeed inflation has spiked in 2018.
So, what is to come of Iran’s economic death spiral? It can be summed up in one word: misery.
To get a sense of how miserable Iran is, we can look to Hanke’s Annual Misery Index. Back in February when the index was calculated, Iran ranked the 11th most miserable country, out of the 98 countries in the index. Using today’s surging inflation rate of 75.8% in our calculation of misery, Iran would a rank 3rd, just behind Venezuela and Syria.
Without meaningful reform in Iran, more of the same will be expected for its economy and the rial. In the words of George W. Bush, “this sucker could go down.” | 450 |
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Joe Thomas is one of the best offensive linemen in NFL history. He hasn't missed a single snap since he came into the league in 2007 as the No. 3 overall pick, and he's performed at an All-Pro level throughout his career despite playing through injuries and the dire performances of those around him. The Cleveland Browns last had a winning season in Thomas' rookie year, and they last won more than three games in a season in 2014. Under current head coach Hue Jackson, they're 1-20.
It's time for this to end. Thomas deserves a team committed to roster development, and few teams fit that profile in this decade better than the Seahawks...except for one obvious Achilles heel. Under assistant head coach and offensive line capo Tom Cable, the team has tried everything from career retreads to converted defensive linemen in order to assemble a front five that can put forth credible performances. Nothing has worked, and you could argue that over the last three seasons, it's cost the team a Super Bowl or two.
Trading for Thomas wouldn't fix everything, but it would certainly shore up Russell Wilson's blind side, a spot Cable has been singularly bad at addressing. This season, Rees Odhiambo has been the team's primary left tackle after former basketball player and project lineman George Fant suffered a torn ACL. Odhiambo, a third-round pick out of Boise State in 2016, has given up more total pressures than all but one offensive tackle (Breno Giacomini of the Houston Texans) this season. Thirty pressures in 208 pass-blocking snaps adds up to a ton of pain for Wilson, and the team has already worked out former Kansas City Chiefs and Miami Dolphins tackle Branden Albert to try to stop the damage.
Thomas would be a far better option—he's allowed just six total pressures in 231 pass-blocking snaps this season, which is singularly impressive because rookie quarterback DeShone Kizer is taking sacks at a high rate as he learns to read NFL defenses. Some teams might be put off by Thomas' age (32) or contract situation (his cap hit is $11.5 million this season and $10 million in 2010), but the Seahawks are good enough at nearly every other position to quit fooling around with bargain-basement guys along their line.
Yes, they'd need to free up cap space to make this happen, but there's a way to get that done... | 451 |
Stratford woman’s triple win: Gets a job, wins lottery twice
Stephanie Buzbee, of Stratford, won a $10,000 prize playing "$5,000,000 Ultimate" scratch game. On the same week, Buzbee, who was unemployed, got a job. Stephanie Buzbee, of Stratford, won a $10,000 prize playing "$5,000,000 Ultimate" scratch game. On the same week, Buzbee, who was unemployed, got a job. Photo: CT Lotterty Photo Photo: CT Lotterty Photo Image 1 of / 32 Caption Close Stratford woman’s triple win: Gets a job, wins lottery twice 1 / 32 Back to Gallery
A Stratford woman recently had a triple win - all in one week.
Stephanie Buzbee, who was unemployed, got a job and and also won the lottery... twice the same day.
Having been laid off from work since January, Buzbee was available to lend her boyfriend a helping hand by accompanying him on his bread delivery route.
At one stop, Buzbee decided to do something out of the ordinary and buy a "$5,000,000 Ultimate" scratch game ticket.
“It was the first time I've ever bought a $30 ticket. When I won $100, I was really excited. We even did a little happy dance about it," Buzbee told Lottery officials.
At the next stop, Buzbee cashed in her winning ticket and purchased another of the same.
“This time I just scratched off the barcode area and scanned it in the ticket checker," Buzbee said.
“When I saw message on the ticket checker, I thought, 'This can't be right,' but it was. It was a $10,000 winner!”
"Last week was a great week," Buzbee said. "[The prize] is going to pay my bills for the next couple months, and I just got a job offer the same week!"
She cashed in her winning $10,000 ticket last Wednesday at CT Lottery’s headquarters in Rocky Hill. People who win $5,000 or more are required to claim it at CT Lottery headquarters.
Buzbee's prize-winning ticket was purchased at City Star Mart at 500 Boston Post Road, Guilford. | 452 |
(CNN) -- A Somali militant group publicly executed two teenage girls Wednesday after accusing them of being spies for the Somali government, according to the group, eyewitnesses and a relative of one of the girls.
"Those two girls were evil and they were spies for the enemy (the Somali government), but the mujahedeen caught them and after investigation, they admitted their crime, so they have been executed," said Sheikh Yusuf Ali Ugas, commander of Al-Shabaab in Beledweyne, a town in central Somalia.
The teens were blindfolded with their hands behind their backs against a tree, and shot, according to a local journalist.
A resident of Beledweyne told CNN that Al-Shabaab called on the town's residents to come out and watch the execution.
"Hundreds of people came out to watch the execution," he said. "It was very bad... the girls looked shocked and were crying but [no one] could help."
A relative of one of the teens denied they were spies.
"My cousin, Ayan Mohamed Jama, was just 16 years old and she was absolutely innocent," said the relative, who did not want their name used out of fear of retribution from Al-Shabaab. "And Al-Shabaab caught her and the other girl between El-gal and Beledweyne and simply accused them of what they were not."
The other girl, said the relative, was 15. Al-Shabaab refused their families' request to see the teens while they were in detention, "and they executed them at a public gathering, so this is inhumane and cruelty."
The El-gal area has been the scene of heavy fighting recently between Somali government forces and Al-Shabaab.
"Ayan didn't have any contact with the government and even in her life, she never had a mobile [phone] so we can't understand how she could be accused of being a spy," the relative said.
Last year, Al-Shabaab stoned a teenage girl to death in Kismayo, a town in southern Somalia.
Al-Shabaab is waging a war against Somalia's government in an effort to impose a stricter form of Islamic law, or sharia.
Somalia has not had a stable government since 1991, and fighting between the rebels and government troops has escalated the humanitarian crisis in the famine-ravaged country. | 453 |
want us to leave, but we’re here until we deliver our message.
PROTESTERS: Pay your fair share! Pay your fair share! Pay your fair share!
GEORGE GOEHL: Wealthy elites have basically and isolated themselves off from the rest of us. They actually don’t have to see poverty. They don’t actually have to see the people that have been made invisible by inequality.
PROTESTER 5: Pay your taxes so our families can live.
AI-JEN POO: It’s a transformative experience for people to speak truth to power in a really direct way. And it is about civic engagement and participation. It is about making this country the country that makes everyone visible.
PROTESTER 6: Above us are the General Electric offices. And up there, they can hear you. They can hear you.
PROTESTERS: Whoo! We’ll be back! We’ll be back! We’ll be back!
GEORGE GOEHL: We are at this point in building a new movement. That we are not quite at take-off, but a lot of the building blocks are being put into place. Big shifts in how we do organizing, big shifts in terms of collaboration. We feel like this was a little baby step towards aligning some impressive forces across the country.
BILL MOYERS: There was something of the spirit of '76 about those protesters as they marched up Capitol Hill to make their case to any legislators who would listen. I mean the spirit of 1776, when ordinary people became insurgents against imperial power. The House of Representatives, by the way, was once known as "The People's House." And now it's in the imperial grip of money. But these present-day insurgents are just getting started and, as Tom Paine, the great pamphleteer and journalist of the American Revolution, wrote: “An army of principles will penetrate where an army of soldiers cannot.” At our website BillMoyers.com, you’ll find cause for hope and creative ways to bring about change in interviews I've done with George Goehl, Ai-jen Poo and other activists at our “Take Action” page.
That’s at BillMoyers.com. I’ll see you there, and I’ll see you here, next time. | 454 |
DENVER — As part of a broad reexamination of restrooms on its campuses, Naropa University has created two “all gender” restrooms at its Nalanda campus in Boulder.
This month, the Buddhist-inspired university converted a men’s room into a single-occupant, all-gender restroom and turned the corresponding women’s room into a multi-stall, all-gender restroom, said Todd Kilburn, Naropa’s chief financial officer.
Signs now hang outside the two doors bearing the phrase “All-gender restroom,” with a toilet replacing the traditional stick-figure depiction of a male or female.
The conversions came after a university committee identified restrooms as a place where students, faculty and staff may feel marginalized, said Debra Bopsie, interim director of diversity and inclusion.
“We are looking at all the ‘isms’ — racism to sexism to heterosexism to gender issues,” she said. “For people who do not identify on the gender binary, as male or female, or they could be transgender, there was not a restroom at Nalanda they could really feel comfortable in.”
The phrase “gender binary” refers to the traditional classification of all people as either male or female, a notion that is being increasingly replaced by a more fluid understanding of gender.
The changes at Nalanda, a building constructed in 1977 and purchased by Naropa in 2000, are the first step in the university’s larger conversation about restrooms. Bopsie said the university is in talks with students, faculty and staff about next steps, including whether to remove gender labels from all restrooms throughout the university.
Bopsie said she did not know how large the transgender or gender non-conforming populations are at Naropa but believes there are “plenty of people who do not live on the binary.”
The school has been pushing students and employees to use a person’s preferred gender pronouns — he, she, they, etc. — if they are comfortable sharing their preferences.
The school is also renovating a building on its Arapahoe campus to create a “cultural identity center” for members of traditionally underrepresented populations and their allies to gather, Bopsie said.
© 2016, Associated Press, All Rights Reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. | 455 |
There have been many heartbreaking cancellations on television, but only a few have managed to bounce back after getting the boot from a network. One of the most famous is Arrested Development, which was cancelled by Fox after three hilarious seasons and then brought back for a fourth on Netflix years later. Although Season 4 met mixed reactions, fans have still been rabid for a Season 5. Luckily,executive producer Ron Howard indicates that the show is moving forward once more at Netflix.News of a Season 5 ofhas been circulating for some time now, but word coming from Ron Howard that the project is moving forward in earnest is pretty damn exciting. As reported by Deadline, Howard’s update on the progress on Season 5 shared that show mastermind Mitch Hurwitz is actively working with writers to get the next installment of the series off the ground.Hurwitz has had the backing of both Netflix and 20th Century Fox to work on a Season 5 for a 2016 release, and early reports indicated that production could start as early as January or February 2016. Hurwitz meeting with writers now is a good sign that the original timeline is still feasible.The real difficulty in Season 5 ofis in finding a way to reassemble the entire cast. Season 4 changed up the serialized format of the first three seasons for the Netflix release, and the format did allow cast members to film chunks of their stories independently of the entire Bluth family, but everybody was back for another go at capturing the magic – or illusion? – that made the Bluths so hilariously bizarre from the very beginning. Still, with the actors behind the Bluths in such high-demand on big and small screens alike, rounding everybody up is no easy feat.Of course, Hurwitz could always resort to sending a one-armed man to jump in front of Jason Bateman ’s or Michael Cera ’s car with a “This is why you always make time for Netflix series!” as persuasion. A fifth season just wouldn’t feel right without all of the Bluth family in attendance, and the stars’ port mortem enthusiasm for the show is part of what enabled a fourth season in the first place.With Hurwitz and Co. still only in the writing stages, it's definitely too soon for us to start our final countdowns or blue ourselves in anticipation. But real progress being made toward a Season 5 ofis fantastic news. Check out our midseason premiere schedule to find a few shows to fill the time while we wait for the next dose of | 456 |
NASHVILLE – An Army veteran who has often complained about being thanked for his service is extremely angry that civilians have been ignoring him recently, Duffel Blog has learned.
Staff Sgt. Tim Kalentkowski separated from the Army in 2013, after multiple deployments and an increasing amount of frustration with his chain of command. He let his contract run out before leaving Ft. Campbell and settling down in Nashville. He missed the Army, and maintained his “high and tight” and showed a few other, outward signs of being a veteran.
For years, he had constantly been thanked for his service by random civilians and staff in retail stores and restaurants, much to his sometimes-visible irritation. He began to hide from the constant onslaught underneath the bill of his OIF/OEF hat at the local VFW hall, sitting by himself alone with just a black aluminum bracelet on his right wrist and a pitcher of flat draft beer.
Now, as his hair has grown out a bit and USAA revoked his credit card, he is hardly ever recognized as a veteran.
“The other day I had to run some errands. I went to the bank to pay some money down on my second mortgage, stopped at the liquor store, and ran in Wal-Mart for the new Battlefield game. And not one single person thanked me for my service.”, said Kalentkowski. “I used to think it was a bother, and I hated it. But now I find myself missing it more than I miss my rifle and sand dusted Fleshlight.”
Kalentkowski went on to say that he has even gone so far as to wear T-shirts stating things like “Freedom isn’t free. I paid for it. Thank me for my service!” that he had made and still gets no attention.
Now, only a year after separation, Kalentkowski has found himself thinking about getting back in. “At least when I was still in, I got 10% discounts on everything. People could show me thanks without having to actually say it. Now I’m not even getting so much as a fist bump. It’s like people just don’t care anymore.”
Kalentkowski’s application to re-enter the service is on hold, as he has not been able to get a waiver for his new forearm tattoo that states “Liberty has a price. And I paid it.” | 457 |
Only two days ago it was reported that over 800 people had been erroneously granted citizenship. Don’t ask me how that is even possible though incompetence seems to be viewed by Obama as a feature, not a bug, of his administration. And it seems to be a pattern in Democrat administrations:
Atty. Gen. Janet Reno said Tuesday that the Clinton administration awarded citizenship to at least 168 immigrants last year who had been convicted of felonies that should have disqualified them. That number could grow by several hundred or thousands once a Justice Department audit is completed, administration officials said. The figures Reno gave a House panel Tuesday result from a review of 10,800 people who were arrested for felonies but who were granted citizenship anyway between August 1995 and September 1996. Auditors have reviewed 9,500 of the 10,800 cases. While the 168 wrongly naturalized immigrants represent fewer than 2 percent of the felony arrests, they are eight times the number of people whose citizenship is normally revoked in a year.
Yesterday, we were told the number was actually 1,800. And now, we know even more:
This is sure to get the anti-immigrant crowd riled up. A new Inspector General’s report found that the U.S. government mistakenly gave citizenship to at least 858 immigrants who were supposed to be deported or came from countries with high rates of immigration fraud. The immigrants with questionable backgrounds were not identified by name but reportedly all came from “special interest countries.” Those countries include those that pose a national security concern to America.
…
In addition, the auditors found that 953 people had been naturalized despite having outstanding deportation orders. What’s even more troubling is that the audit by DHS Inspector General John Roth found fingerprints missing from the federal database for 315,000 immigrants. According to the AP, at least three of the immigrants who were mistakenly granted citizenship were able to get jobs with aviation or transportation credentials, allowing them access to secure areas. Those credentials were revoked after it was discovered they got citizenship improperly.
So this isn’t like there were nearly 2,000 people who were going to eventually become citizens anyway who became citizens a little faster. Nope. These were people who were never going to be citizens.
It is hard to write this level of buffoonery off to mere incompetence. The fact that these people were mostly from countries with rampant terrorism and that many of them had deportation orders smells more like SJW run amok in the bureaucracy. | 458 |
New York Magazine reporter Olivia Nuzzi explained in a Sunday CNN interview that President Donald Trump is awkwardly wedged between a rock and a hard place on the New Zealand terrorist attack.
President Donald Trump was relegated to tweeting “best wishes” to the families of the 49 people killed in the shooting.
My warmest sympathy and best wishes goes out to the people of New Zealand after the horrible massacre in the Mosques. 49 innocent people have so senselessly died, with so many more seriously injured. The U.S. stands by New Zealand for anything we can do. God bless all! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 15, 2019
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The White House was forced to send out chief-of-staff Mick Mulvaney to the Sunday morning talk shows to take on the message from the president.
“I think the Fox News host there was right to ask why the president won’t just come out and give a speech about this, but I think unfortunately the obvious answer to that is that he can’t,” said Nuzzi. “He can’t without disavowing what he himself has said previously.”
She explained that since Trump announced his campaign, he had said “abhorrent things”about Muslims, which she attributed to “rising tensions” around the world.
“He can’t give a speech condemning white supremacism and condemning this ideology that led to these 50 deaths, including a 3-year-old,” Nuzzi continued. “If he does not take some personal responsibility for the things that he has said. So, I think, for the time being, the only thing he can do is send out his surrogates, as he’s doing now, while he stays at home and sends tweets about other topics, I think hoping to deflect the conversation elsewhere.”
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It’s an odd choice, given Mulvaney’s statements about Trump being a “terrible human being.”
“I doubt he’s evolved and views the president differently,” Nuzzi predicted about Mulvaney. “But I think he got a different opportunity and is feeling the role he now has. He’s not the only one who’s served in this White House who previously condemned the president.”
Watch her full comments below: | 459 |
When you think about tackling the dusty trails of America's vast expanse, the last vehicle you'd likely think could conquer the wilderness is a minivan. They're family haulers designed to carry kids and soccer equipment two towns over for a Saturday-morning contest. But for Journeys Off Road, the Toyota Sienna proved the perfect platform for a few off-road upgrades. The company offers a 3.5-inch lift kit for the 2004-2010 and 2011-2019 Toyota Sienna—and it's dirt cheap.
There are two kits—one for front-wheel-drive Siennas and another for the all-wheel-drive version. The FWD kit for both generations of the Sienna is $710 while the AWD kit is just $40 more at $750. That doesn't include installation; however, that's an affordable buy-in price for converting your everyday minivan into an overland machine. The kits include two strut extensions, two sway bar links, two camber adjustment bolts, two rear axle drop brackets, two coil spring spacers, two extended rear brake lines, and two rear bump stock/shock extensions, along with all the necessary hardware and instructions.
Gallery: Toyota Sienna Lift Kit
7 Photos
No, the Sienna may not be the most attractive off-road vehicle; however, it's not about the glamour. In the video above (1:23:34-1:28:00), the Journeys Off Road representative at Overland Expo 2019 explains the kits are about affordability and accessibility. The cheap kits help put overlanding in reach for everyday folks, the company bringing a 2004 Toyota Sienna to show off the kit. It has about 240,000 miles on the odometer, and the company, in total, has invested less than $10,000 into the build, which includes new paint. Since the conversion, the company has added 45,000 miles, 10,000 of which were off-road.
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Overlanding is gaining popularity across the country as more and more people are diving in headfirst into the hobby. The Journeys Off Road Toyota Sienna lift kit opens up off-road fun to more people who may not want to invest tens of thousands of dollars. Instead, it offers a chance to dip a toe into the overlanding experience even if you get a few strange looks on the trails.
Source and Photos: Journeys Off Road, Mixflip YouTube Channel | 460 |
Double R F4 have announced Michael Meadows will head up the team’s F4 British Championship certified by FIA – powered by EcoBoost programme this season.
Michael Meadows, Team Principal of the Argenti Motorsport outfit, already successful in its own right in karting circles in the UK and Europe, will this year take over the reins of Double R F4’s team.
Meadows is a two-time Porsche Carrera Cup GB (2012-13) champion and won the 2018 Blancpain GT Series Sprint Cup behind the wheel of an AKKA-run Mercedes AMG GT3.
His single-seater credentials include campaigns in Formula BMW UK, Formula Renault and British Formula 3 and, with 36 race victories and over 100 podium finishes across the last decade and a half, the next generation of rising stars will have a wealth of racing experience and knowledge to aid their development.
The team are close to announcing their first driver for the upcoming campaign, which gets underway at Donington Park, Leicestershire, over the weekend of 28-29 March.
“Having spent the past 15 years racing myself, it’s exciting to now be taking on the reins. Double R has a fantastic track record in this Championship and with their full support, I have no doubt that this season we will continue that.”
“Argenti Motorsport are extremely proud to be working with Double R and, with our three drivers, I am excited for the season to begin.”
“I’ve learnt a lot throughout my career and I hope that our drivers and my team can take something from that. It’s interesting being on the other side and having the responsibility for the team, but the ambition is always the same, and that’s to leave everything on the track.”
Double R Team Principal Anthony ‘Boyo’ Hieatt underlined his excitement at introducing Meadows to the Championship, believing the partnership with Argenti Motorsport will prove to be a fruitful one from the get-go.
“It is important for new faces to continue to arrive in the junior formula paddocks, which makes introducing Michael as the British F4 team manager this year an exciting announcement,” commented Hieatt.
“Michael has already demonstrated just how valuable his knowledge and experience of 15 years of driving are and I am sure that this will be proven in his teams results over the season.” | 461 |
Enjoy two parks for $53.99/park at any combination of our theme parks: SeaWorld Orlando, Aquatica Orlando, Busch Gardens Tampa Bay and Adventure Island.
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Price does not include parking, taxes, or service fees. Valid for two (2) visits to Florida Parks. Two Park tickets are redeemable on any regularly scheduled operating day. Please see the current operating schedule. Valid for two (2) All-Day Dining Deals if dining upgrade is purchased. First visit must be used within six months of purchase during regularly scheduled operating hours. Second visit and All-Day Dining Deal (if purchased) must be redeemed within 14 days of first visit. This ticket is non-transferable, non-refundable, not for resale, void if altered, will not be replaced if lost or stolen and may be confiscated without restitution for misuse. This offer is not to be combined with any other special offers or discounts and does not include special events or Howl-O-Scream. Offer, park products, hours and services are subject to change or cancellation without prior notice. Price and savings based on multi-day admission ticket and price of All-Day Dining Deals. No refunds on day of use. Discount not available at the park. Adventure Island is a seasonal park. Visit adventureisland.com for park hours.
All-Day Dining Details
All-Day Dining Deal includes 1 entrée, 1 side OR 1 dessert & 1 regular sized non-alcoholic beverage each time through the line up to once per hour until 30 minutes prior to restaurant closing time. Ticket and photo identification required for each park entry and when redeeming All-Day Dining at each restaurant. Some food and beverage exclusions apply. Not valid for alcoholic beverages. Sharing and take out is prohibited. Not valid at Sharks Underwater Grill, Dine with Orcas, Flamecraft Bar, Serengeti Overlook™ Restaurant or for any specialty dines. Participating restaurants noted in park. Valid for the person listed on the ticket. | 462 |
Industry publications and the mainstream news media for the most part overlooked “Gosnell: The Trial of America’s Biggest Serial Killer,” an independent dramatic film that offered the details of the investigation and murder trial of abortionist Kermit Gosnell.
The film, however has done surprisingly well following its opening on Friday. It has emerged as the No. 1 indie film in the U.S. over the weekend and No. 10 among all box office offerings according to BoxOfficeMojo.com, an industry source.
The Los Angeles Times and Forbes were among the few news organizations that recognized the film, according to coproducers Phelim McAleer and his wife Ann McElhinney. In contrast, such feature films as “First Man” garnered 280 reviews. Nevertheless, their “Gosnell” movie made it to 673 theaters screens across the country, with considerable support from a devoted and motivated audience.
The producers credit “social media, grass roots marketing, alternative and conservative media and word-of-mouth” for the promising success.
The film previously was financed through an unprecedented crowdfunding campaign that raising $2.3 million from more than 30,000 donors in 45 days for the production — an average of more than $51,000 each day.
“By refusing to review the film, the media are ignoring a historic film about a historic case — and also telling 30,000 people their record crowdfunding is not important and doesn’t matter. It’s not surprising that no one trusts the media anymore,” Mr. McAleer said in a statement.
The mainstream press simply did not want to cast “a negative spotlight” on abortion, he added.
The husband/wife team, who also wrote a book explaining the case, have been prepared for critics and analysts to ignore their film, which is detailed at GosnellMovie.com.
“In politics there’s an equivalent term for this: voter suppression. It is a sad attempt to pretend our film isn’t in theaters across America. But they can’t ignore the box office numbers. We humbly thank all of our fans across the country for this great opening. The people have spoken,” Mr. McAleer noted.
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Copyright © 2020 The Washington Times, LLC. Click here for reprint permission. | 463 |
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Last updated on.From the section Rugby Union
Harry Robinson scored nine tries in his debut season with Scarlets in 2014-15
Wales and Scarlets wing Harry Robinson has retired from rugby with immediate effect following a serious neck injury.
The 23-year-old had surgery last summer after a heavy collision in a Pro12 game in March 2015 forced two discs in his back to protrude onto his spinal cord.
He won three international caps, scoring two tries, but has not played for Scarlets since December 2015.
"I am utterly devastated and it is a very, very bitter pill to have to swallow," said Robinson.
"I never thought I would be in this position at the age of 23 - having to call an end on my professional rugby career at such an early age.
"I have worked so hard over the last 10 months to return to full fitness and regain the functionality I had before the injury.
"It is with great regret that I have been unable to do this."
Robinson joined Scarlets in 2014 from Cardiff Blues and went on to make 30 appearances for the region.
A Wales Under-20 international and former member of Wales Sevens squad, Robinson was called into the senior squad for the training camp in Poland in January 2012 before that year's Six Nations Championship.
Robinson scored his first international try on his debut against the Barbarians in June 2012 at the Millennium Stadium.
"Whilst I am devastated I count myself very lucky and enormously privileged," he said.
"I have had a fantastic six years as a professional rugby player with both Cardiff Blues and Scarlets.
Harry Robinson scored 10 points for Wales in three international appearances
"I have travelled all over the world at every age grade, Wales Sevens and the Welsh squad."
Jon Daniels, Scarlets' general manager of rugby, said: "It is with great sadness that we as a region have to confirm Harry's retirement from rugby.
"He's a talented young player who had a bright rugby future ahead of him.
"It has been a difficult time for Harry as he has worked exceptionally hard to make a full recovery.
"I am sure the qualities that got him to the top of the rugby tree in Wales will stand him in good stead in his future career."
Scarlets play Newport Gwent Dragons on Saturday in Welsh rugby's Pro12 Judgement Day IV at Principality Stadium. | 465 |
The New York Jets are finalizing a deal with defensive coordinator Gregg Williams according to ESPN's Adam Schefter.
Schefter added that Williams was the defensive coordinator that New York was targeting regardless of who they hired as head coach. The Washington Redskins had also pursued the coach but the 'Jets wanted Williams more.'
Many considered former Denver Broncos head coach Vance Joseph to be a leading candidate for the position due to his relationship with Gase. Joseph landed the defensive coordinator job with the Arizona Cardinals Friday according to reports.
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Williams had previously served as head coach of the Buffalo Bills from 2001-2003. He has also been defensive coordinator of the Tennessee Titans/Oilers, Washington Redskins, Jacksonville Jaguars, New Orleans Saints and St. Louis Rams. The 60 year old was hired in 2017 by head coach Hue Jackson. In March of 2012, Williams was suspended by the NFL for his involvement in a bounty scandal with the Saints.
Here is how his defenses have fared over the last five years:
Williams assumed the responsibility of interim head coach during the second half of the season when Jackson was fired. The team finished with a 5-3 record.
If Williams takes the job with the Jets, it is likely that he would take his son, linebackers coach Blake Williams and other members of the defensive coaching staff as well. The younger Williams served as the de facto defensive coordinator during the second half of the season when his father had been elevated to the interim head coaching role.
The Jets present a lot of intrigue for potential defensive coaches. Safety Jamal Adams is a star in the NFL. Cornerback Trumaine Johnson and defensive lineman Leonard Williams are also on the roster. Beyond those players, they are presented with a lot of flexibility this off-season. New York has the second most projected salary cap space in the NFL at $98,104,238. After going 4-12 this season, the team also brings the No. 3 overall selection in the 2019 NFL Draft. The 2019 NFL Draft is loaded with prospective defensive stars.
Williams also has the unique perspective of going from defending the No. 1 overall selection in the 2018 NFL Draft, quarterback Baker Mayfield, to defending the No. 3 overall selection in the 2018 NFL Draft, Sam Darnold, in back-to-back years.
Gase has not yet hired an offensive coordinator. | 466 |
まったようです。
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【追記】はちま起稿またデマ「サムスンがオーストラリアで日本になりすましたCM」→真に受けた人々がYouTubeのコメント欄を荒らす惨事に | BUZZAP！（バザップ！）
外大卒の編集者有本香さん、レ・ミゼラブルの劇中歌を知らず「間違いだらけの英文」と揶揄してしまう | BUZZAP！（バザップ！）
アダルトマン将軍再臨、自称・日本人目線のまとめブログが「RESISTはレイシストの誤字！」と主張し恥を晒してしまう | BUZZAP！（バザップ！）
「アダルトマン将軍」爆誕、差別動画削除を本国YouTubeに抗議した自称・普通の日本人が世界に恥を晒してしまう | BUZZAP！（バザップ！） | 467 |
];
cu1(-pi/8) q[5], q[2];
cu1(-pi/4) q[5], q[3];
cu1(-pi/2) q[5], q[4];
cu1(-pi/16) q[4], q[0];
cu1(-pi/8) q[4], q[1];
cu1(-pi/4) q[4], q[2];
cu1(-pi/2) q[4], q[3];
cu1(-pi/8) q[3], q[0];
cu1(-pi/4) q[3], q[1];
cu1(-pi/2) q[3], q[2];
cu1(-pi/4) q[2], q[0];
cu1(-pi/2) q[2], q[1];
cu1(-pi/2) q[1], q[0];
barrier q; // output should be 6 (binary 110)
h q[0];
//measure q[0] -> c[0];
h q[1];
//measure q[1] -> c[1];
h q[2];
//measure q[2] -> c[2];
h q[3];
//measure q[3] -> c[3];
h q[4];
//measure q[4] -> c[4];
h q[5];
//measure q[5] -> c[5];
h q[6];
//measure q[6] -> c[6];
h q[7];
measure q[7] -> c[7];
h q[8];
measure q[8] -> c[8];
h q[9];
measure q[9] -> c[9];
Yes, if you want to factor larger numbers, and assuming you have the available qubits to do that, you will want to do this in Python. I use OpenQASM because you can copy-and-paste the Python for everything except the controlled unitary (Block 2 of 4), and there’s no fun in that. | 468 |
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Hey @smashmouth - sorry we let our competitive juices get the best of us. Tickets and a 1st pitch are on us anytime you're in the East Bay. pic.twitter.com/wfsKcBr1NW — Oakland Athletics (@Athletics) October 29, 2016
@Athletics @smashmouth The intern who battled smash mouth should get a raise and full time position. Truly a legend in the sports twitterverse. — Vic Mahogany (@Poweshow) October 29, 2016
@Athletics @smashmouth Hate to stir the pot but I just heard Sugar Ray thinks the lack of new stadium progress is totally unacceptable — Kevin (@kmf50) October 29, 2016
It's since been deleted, but there really was a post-World Series Twitter feud between the Oakland Athletics' official account and '90s pop-rock hitmakers Smashmouth last night.It began after Cleveland beat the Chicago Cubs in game three of the Series, with the only run of the night coming from a Coco Crisp RBI.sports writer John Shea Tweeted about how far Crisp had come this year, from feuding with A's management to winning playoff games.And that's when Smashmouth, who got its start in nearby San Jose, started talking trash:To which the official A's account promptly shot back:And so began the A's-Smashmouth Twitter Brawl of 2016:Quickly, A's relief pitcher Sean Doolittle jumped in to drop some kumbaya:But his interjection was just fuel on the fire:Admittedly, that's some real talk from the straight from the Smash's mouth.But official A's Twitter also kept it 100:BOOM!At this point, The Smash tried to de-escalate the feud.But A's official didn't let up:DAMN!(Note that it is now midnight.)At this point, Smash was running out of material:And A's fans on Twitter were in disbelief:And then, as quickly as the Twitter war kicked off, it was over. Until this morning, when A's official deleted the evidence and posted an apology:To which fans responded:Smashmouth has yet to reply to the A's offer. | 469 |
Apr 01, 2019 at 13:54 // News
Coin Idol Author
The latest data from market analysis and ICT consultancy operative holding company NetConsulting Cube shows that the blockchain market in Italy doubled to reach €31.0 million in 2018 – growing from €16.0 million in 2017 - and is still indicating significant growth over the next 3 years.
The market data displays a value of only €4.6 mln in the year 2015, which slightly doubled to €8.5 mln in 2016, and in 2017 the registered figure was €16.0 mln – meaning that the market in the country has a strong and positive correlation.
Blockchain, IoT and Cloud in Use
As the government of Italy is planning how to integrate the technology with the internet of things (IoT) to achieve a central change in information management, the IoT figures also seem to be growing in an upward trajectory. For instance, the IoT market had €1.85 mln in 2015, €2.115 million in 2016 and €2.953 mln in 2018 – this shows a 37.4% increase just from 2015 to 2018, which is a good trend.
Very many Italian companies, businesses and institutions are considering applying blockchain technology and Cloud to easy work and also increase the efficiency & ability of chief financial officers (CFOs) to operate. According to the available data, Cloud had €2.281 million last year.
Generally, a lot of cryptocurrency and distributed ledger technology-related activities were seen to be on the rise in the country. This marked the switch from a platform for creating and exchanging digital currencies to the tech on which to create and develop enterprise applications.
Industry 4.0 Increase Blockchain Visibility
Predictions for the next three years show positive growth with an average yearly rate of around 76%. As per the estimates, blockchain will reach a cost of €54 million this year and later hit €92 million by 2020.
The use of distributed ledger in Italy is far-flung, it is now being used in a variety of use cases and sectors including energy, banking, smart contracts, supply chain, insurance, agrifood, public administration, art, tourism, logistic & transport and very many others. Industry 4.0 in Italy has also played a big role in putting blockchain to use.
Source text: https://it.coinidol.com/mercato-blockchain-raddoppia/ | 470 |
heads if you’re strapped for cash, but possibly giving you a bad rep if you keep it up too long. I fiddled with percentages, looked at the game map for my next expansive move. Yes, yes, Frankie Donovon is a bold player on the Chicago scene.
Really, there’s a shocking amount of things that can happen in Empire Of Sin. Although the environments are crafted, much of what goes on ends up being dynamic. You can get into tangles with other bosses, for example. I ended up having two sit down meetings, one which ended in a fight where I killed my rival, and one which ended in Al Capone declaring war on me, but letting me leave. Later, he asked me to another sit down that turned out to be an ambush. Romero said they’re still working on balancing different aspects, and that she wouldn’t necessarily have expected me to get ambushed by ol’ Al in the first hour, but still, it’s all possible.
“It’s based on what binders he has, who does he know — there’s a possibility that he may have a mole in your organisation that’s telling him how big it is,” she explained. “It’s not like: you’ve done the following thing, trigger sit down five, queue cinematic six.”
They’re also still pouring in missions and side bits to explore. I ran into a lad in the street who wanted to cut a deal with me over a batch of tainted, possibly poisonous booze, for example. I could make a fast buck, but do I sell it, do I offload it on a rival — or an ally? There were just so many clicking, interlocking bits of invisible machinery (two of my gang members fell in love! Another became “cruel”!), but at the same time enough bits of intriguing story, that I was almost surprised at how good it was looking.
“Every game designer has the game they just can’t wait to make,” Romero told me. “I think now I’m more careful about the design decisions I make, the longer you’ve been doing it. So I’m glad that this game is coming now vs. at the very beginning of my career.”
I think I’m just glad it’s coming out. | 471 |
The oldest verified person in the world and the last person alive known to have been born in the 19th century has celebrated her 117th birthday.
Emma Morano, from Verbania in Northern Italy, claims the secret to her longevity is eating “two eggs a day, and that's it. And cookies. But I do not eat much, because I have no teeth," she told AFP.
Happy 117th Birthday to Emma Moreno -- world's oldest woman from Vebania #Italy#WorldRecordpic.twitter.com/y8xAq9GfEb — Trisha Thomas (@TrishaThomasAP) November 29, 2016
Morano said she will not eat birthday cake, as the last time she did she became ill, and she is unlikely to attend a celebration of her life in a local theater titled, “The woman who saw three centuries.”
Instead, Morano, who has been bed-bound for a year, will receive guests in her home including relatives and Verbania Mayor Silvia Marchionini.
Born on November 29, 1899, Morano has lived through two world wars and 19 US presidents. The eldest of eight children, she has outlived all her siblings and been solitary for most of her life, after leaving her violent husband in 1938. Her only child died in infancy and Morano supported herself working in a factory producing jute sacks.
Only last year, at the age of 116, did she finally take on a full-time carer to look after her. With poor eyesight and hearing, Morano has not left her apartment for 20 years, but her mind is said to still be alert.
Morano has five more years to go if she wants to achieve the all-time record as the world’s oldest person. Frenchwoman Jeanne Louise Calment died in 1997, aged 122 years and 164 days.
Jeanne Louise Calment is the oldest (verifiable) human ever. When she died in 1997 she was 122 years, 164 days old pic.twitter.com/WUDbSJuG1L — History Gems (@HistoryGems) November 10, 2016
Morano earned the title of oldest verifiable person alive in May this year when the previous holder, Susannah Mushatt Jones, died in Brooklyn, New York, aged 116.
READ MORE: World’s oldest person, the last American born in the 1800s, dies at age 116 | 472 |
Wendy Wright and Chelsen Vicari co-hosted Sandy Rios In The Morning this week, and used the opportunity to attack The Daily Show’s Jon Stewart for discriminating against Christians… in a hypothetical scenario that the two Religious Right activists invented.
Wright, the former head of Concerned Women for America who is now vice president of the Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute (C-FAM), was upset about a Daily Show segment from 2005 that poked fun of the “Christian persecution complex,” noting Christianity’s ascendency in the West following the conversion of Constantine I. Wright said she couldn’t understand why Stewart thinks “we are in charge and we are the oppressors,” referring to the Crusades as an instance in which Christians faced persecution. “I guess he never heard of the Crusades; the Crusades were actually defensive against the Muslim hordes,” she said.
Yes, that’s right, she cited the Crusades as an example of anti-Christian persecution.
She also spoke to Vicari, who like Wright used to work for CWA but now is with the Institute on Religion and Democracy, about Stewart’s recent interview with Malala Yousafzai.
Vicari was upset because she imagined that while Stewart and President Obama lauded Yousafzai, they wouldn’t have done so if she was shot while defending the rights of Christians.
I couldn’t, I just couldn’t see why there was such a disconnect between the way Jon Stewart was treating Malala for something very admirable, a girl’s right to an education, but he couldn’t stand up for the right to believe in Jesus Christ,” she said. I had this thought, Wendy, I thought, you know if Malala Yousafzai was a Christian standing up for girls’ rights to believe in Jesus Christ, would we still know her name? Would she receive all this praise that she’s getting from the international community? From our national leaders? The president just invited her to the White House on Friday. Would Jon Stewart have had her on his show? The answer is probably not and I have to ask the question, why that is?
Of course, Vicari has no idea if Stewart would have interviewed a girl who survived a shooting over her defense of Christians’ freedom of religion, but nevertheless she maintained that Stewart hypothetically discriminated against Christians. | 473 |
HONOLULU (KHON2) — James and Brittany Campbell say they had gone for the week to visit family on the mainland and when they returned, they got the surprise of their lives.
“Got to the front door and when I got there there was a stranger at the door,” said James Campbell. “I yelled at him to get out of the house, get out of the house.”
James said he was able to convince the man to come out and watched him before police arrived on the scene.
However, it wasn’t until the man was arrested that they found out the true extent of the damage.
The man had made strange concoctions in the kitchens, items were thrown about, and bodily fluids were all over the furniture.
“Everything was torn apart… things were put out on display and kind of organized but chaotic at the same time,” said James.
But they say what’s even more disturbing are the notes he left for them on the counters and on their computer. The notes describe turning the family from “omnivores” to “ezequiels,” and mentioned surgery.
“It was strange and he wrote about wanting to perform surgeries on us and transform us and stuff like that,” said Brittany.
They had even found knives around their bed as if preparing for a surgical procedure. He had also written diary entries about each of the family members, which makes the family believe he had been watching them for some time.
“He violated – he violated our family, he violated our home,” said Brittany Campbell.
The stranger in their home, Ezequiel Zayas, was charged with burglary, but a judge allowed him to be put on supervised release while he awaits trial.
“Its terrifying. It’s terrifying that he’s out,” said James. “This seems like somebody that needs help. Him being released back into the streets under supervised release seems inapropriate. Someone like this needs needs some mental health care”
Brittany Campbell adds, “I’d like for due process and I’d like to see this through and make sure it doesn’t just get dropped and swept under the rug.”
Zayas’s trial date has been set for November 25th. | 474 |
For the fifth year in a row, Great Rivers Greenway and Trailnet are participating in the National Bicycle and Pedestrian Documentation Project. This count is very important for our region because it measures the results of biking and walking investments and helps better plan future projects. We need YOU to help us count people walking and biking at locations throughout St. Louis City, St. Louis County and St. Charles County. Volunteers commit to using a pen and paper (we’ll email you a standard counting form) to count at one street location from 5-7pm on Tuesday, September 13, Wednesday, September 14, or both days. Only one person is needed per count location, but feel free to bring a friend, family member, neighbor or pet for counting company and safety in numbers. In case of rain, counts will be done the following week on September 20 and 21.
As we continue to collect bicycle and pedestrian data each year, we are able to show changes in how people walk and bike around the St. Louis region. Last year, volunteers counted more than 9,000 people walking and biking at 60 locations!
Volunteers are especially needed to count in St. Charles County, North St. Louis County, Mid St. Louis County, South St. Louis County and North St. Louis City. Counts in all areas of the St. Louis region help to paint a more complete picture of where people are using walking and biking routes and where better planning for new routes and encouragement and education programs are needed. Click here to see a map of all count locations.
Will you consider counting in an area you have never been before? Bring a lawn chair and get comfortable as you help make St. Louis an even better place to walk and ride bikes!
Once you have completed the count, scan or take a picture of the form with your phone and email your completed counting form to [email protected], or drop the paper copy in the mail to Trailnet Attn:Taylor 411 North 10th Street., Suite 202 St. Louis, MO 63101.
All volunteers who submit a completed counting form are eligible to win an Apple iPad!
Optional volunteer training will be held on September 7, from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m., at Trailnet’s office (411 North 10th Street., Suite 202 St. Louis, MO 63101). To sign up as a counting volunteer, click here.
Thank you in advance for your help! | 475 |
The Council of Europe & The British Government
The United Kingdom and The Council of Europe need to address the ethics regarding non-medical infant circumcision. (genital mutilation)
In the United Kingdom it is LEGAL for any member of the public, including tourists, to cut the genitals of a newborn baby boy, provided that the parents give consent. In the United Kingdom male genital cutting is the only surgical procedure that can be carried out by anyone. YES...you read that correctly. Surgical circumcision on a baby boy is un-regulated in the United Kingdom. You do not even have to be British. You can be a tourist.
The United Kingdom has done little to prevent life changing, and catastrophic injuries to baby boys, including death. Anyone, you, me, your friends, your neighbour, or the local barber can set up a business circumcising. You do not have to register anywhere. There are no regulations to adhere to, and you do not have to be qualified or have any experience. Tattoo and ear piercing artists, do however have to register, adhere to guidelines and prove their qualifications and experience before a 'Licence to Practice' is granted by the British Government. Consequently, every year babies in the UK die. Many more experience the worst mutilation possible. But we must keep quiet, for fear of offending someone who has the freedom and the human right to cut a baby boy's penis. Circumcision and it's negative effects, is a subject that appears to be ignored, obscured and downplayed within the UK.
The United Kingdom has a problem with female circumcision. This is not surprising. Female genital mutilation (FGM) is ILLEGAL. It was condemned by law in 1986. It carries a prison sentence of up to 14 years. An estimated 66,000 British women in the United Kingdom have been genitally mutilated. The British Government estimates that a further 24,000 girls, under the age of 15 years, are at risk. Over the years, numerous self appointed 'Circumcisers' or 'Genital Mutilators' have been arrested for cutting young girls genitalia: NONE OF THEM HAVE EVER BEEN PROSECUTED (January 2020)
(All of the above information has been taken from documents provided by the British Government. As far as we are concerned, the information above is as good as true and is written here in good faith.)
| 476 |
at it. I get a lot of ego support from the fans, and at the same time I don't have the lack of privacy or the kind of constant harassment that pop stars do."Originally published in The Aquarian Weekly, May 9-16, 1979.[For more on Evans' music, two especially notable books offer detailed explorations: Bill Evans: How My Heart Sings, by Peter Pettinger (1998) and Bill Evans: Everything Happens to Me, by Keith Shadwick (2002). For two fascinating accounts of Evans' personal life, see The Big Love: Life & Death with Bill Evans (2010) by Laurie Verchomin, and "The Two Brothers as I Knew Them: Harry and Bill Evans" (2011) by Pat Evans.]Selected Discography (by original recording date)Bill Evans, Turn Out the Stars: The Final Village Vanguard Recordings (Nonesuch, 1980) Bill Evans, We Will Meet Again (Warner Bros., 1979) Bill Evans, Paris Concert: Edition One (Blue Note, 1979) Bill Evans, Affinity (Warner Bros., 1979) Bill Evans, I Will Say Goodbye (Original Jazz Classics, 1977) Bill Evans, You Must Believe in Spring (Warner Bros., 1977) Tony Bennett/Bill Evans, The Complete Tony Bennett/Bill Evans Recordings (Concord, 1975-76) Evans/Eddie Gomez, Intuition (Original Jazz Classics, 1974) Bill Evans, The Sesjun Radio Shows (Out of the Blue, 1973) Bill Evans, The Bill Evans Album (Columbia, 1971) Bill Evans, Alone (Verve, 1968) Bill Evans, Bill Evans at the Montreux Jazz Festival (Polygram, 1968) Bill Evans, At Shelly's Manne-Hole (Original Jazz Classics, 1963) Bill Evans, Conversations with Myself (Polygram, 1963) Bill Evans/Jim Hall, Undercurrent (Blue Note, 1962) Bill Evans, Interplay (Original Jazz Classics, 1962) Bill Evans, The Complete Village Vanguard Recordings (Riverside, 1961) Bob Brookmeyer/Bill Evans, The Ivory Hunters (United Artists, 1959) Miles Davis, Kind of Blue (Columbia, 1959) Bill Evans, Everybody Digs Bill Evans (Original Jazz Classics 1958) Art Farmer, Modern Art (Blue Note, 1958) Bill Evans, New Jazz Conceptions (Original Jazz Classics, 1956) George Russell, The Jazz Workshop (RCA, 1956)Photo Credit: Guy Fonck | 477 |
to do this in math as well as reading and writing.
Johnny finally nailed seven times eight, then with amazing quickness worked his way through basic “x” problems up to multiple variables and beyond. Still, I couldn’t quite catch him up to a year’s worth of work in a couple of months. And on a sweltering June day, with humidity that neared 100%, the regents exam came, faster than we felt ready for it.
A couple of weeks later, I saw Johnny in the hall. He shot me a dazed look and broke the news -- 95%! That moment has wiped from memory my own regents score. But I won the algebra award at the graduation ceremony. Johnny cheered, apparently undaunted by the fear of appearing uncool.
We lost touch in high school. I was college-prep, he was voc-ed. We would pass occasionally in the halls, and he would glance up from the floor and say, “Hi, teach!”
I know he received his diploma because I see his picture in my old yearbook, wearing a suit and tie instead of his leather jacket. His eyes still look up cautiously from his slightly downcast face, as though he is a bit surprised to be there.
BEFORE I USED Johnny’s full name in a story that would reach more than a million readers, it was only right to try to contact him for permission. Directory assistance found one John Patrello, not too far from Yonkers.
The phone was answered by his wife, Joann. It was the same Johnny, but he had died a year and a half ago of a massive stroke, leaving behind Joann and four children.
As she and I talked, both of us in tears at times, it was amazing how much of what I remembered about Johnny continued throughout his life -- the tough outer look, the sweetness a millimeter underneath, the quick mind, the habit of tilting his face toward the floor. His eldest is a doctor; the second, a teacher. His teenage daughter wants to be a journalist, and I’ll see what I can do to help her along the way.
Johnny became an auto mechanic. (“He loved math, and you know auto repair involves a lot of math,” Joann said. Yes, it does.)
Another thing Joann told me about Johnny: He was incredibly fast at multiplication. | 478 |
At least 62 civilians have been killed in a US Air Force attack on two villages near Deir ez-Zor city, Damascus said, adding that Washington’s aim is not to combat terrorism in the region, but to kill Syrian people.
The airstrikes, which targeted the villages of Sousse and Bubradan, also injured a number of civilians, according to the agency.
Later on Saturday, the Syrian Foreign Ministry sent a letter to the UN Security Council, calling on the body to investigate the US-led airstrikes in Deir Ez-Zor. The ministry insisted that the tragedy only proves that the goal of US operations “is not to combat terrorism,” but to kill as many Syrian people as possible.
READ MORE: Over 90 killed in string of attacks in Syria’s southwest, ISIS behind carnage
US forces have been in Syria since September 2014, working with some militias to fight Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS) in the country. Deir ez-Zor province where the airstrike took place is included into the US-led locations. Islamic State is controlling large parts of Deir ez-Zor’s territory. According to the Russian MoD, this is clearly a result of “inaction of the US-backed armed units.”
Read more
The recent tragedy comes days after another offensive carried out by US forces in the embattled province. In that attack, two US-led coalition F-15 fighter jets mistakenly targeted Kurdish units during their offensive on the remaining forces of Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS) terrorists in Syria. A diplomatic source criticized the US’ “lack of coordination and professionalism.”
READ MORE: US to stay in Syria so long as ‘Iranians’ are there – Bolton
Earlier this week, the Russian Defense Ministry revealed that terrorists had attacked a refugee camp in Deir ez-Zor and had taken hundreds of hostages. Some 700 people were abducted and transported to the town of Hajin in the province.
In September US National Security Advisor John Bolton vowed that American troops would remain in Syria for long as any Iranian-related forces operate there. Damascus invited Iran to help fight jihadist rebels and ISIS in the country, while denouncing the US presence as illegal. US President Donald Trump has repeatedly stated that American troops are in Syria to eradicate IS, and would leave after that mission is complete.
Think your friends would be interested? Share this story! | 479 |
Lenovo has announced a pair of new gaming PCs: the IdeaCentre Y710 Cube and the all-in-one IdeaCentre AIO Y910. Both conform to the established gaming PC aesthetic, using red and black coloring, industrial textures like faux carbon fiber, and a surfeit of a angular lines and grills. (The Y710 tower also bears a striking resemblance to a Cylon's head.) And, like many of the most recent PC and laptop releases, they're also advertised as "VR-ready."
Lenovo is even dubbing the Y710 the "console conqueror" — a grandiose, but accurate title. Choosing the highest-end options on the Y710 gets you Nvidia's beefy, power-efficient GeForce GTX 1080, 32GB of DDR4 RAM, a 6th-generation Intel Core i7 processor, and a hybrid storage system with 2TB HDD and 256GB of SSD. This, says Lenovo, will let players "confidently handle 4K gaming, VR and high-quality streaming," although with prices for the Y710 with a GTX 1070 GPU starting at $1,299, we're not sure everyone will be able to handle the price.
Grid View
It's also worth noting that the Y710 is oddly deficient when it comes to ports. There are connections for HDMI and VGA, but only one apiece. And there are just four USB ports — two 3.0 ports on the front, one 3.0 and one 2.0 port on the back. Given that some gaming keyboards use two USBs, and that you'll then want to connect your mouse and maybe a headset, that's just not enough ports. The Y710 also has a built-in handle and an optional Xbox One wireless controller, but these extras aren't as useful as better connectivity.
Next up is the all-in-one Y910, which is again being marketed as VR-ready. Its top specs are identical to those of the Y710 (GTX 1080, 32GB of RAM, 2TB/256GB storage, Intel Core i7 processor), but, of course, all these components come packed behind a 27-inch display with Quad HD 2560 x 1440 resolution. Prices start at $1,799 for the Y910 (that's with a GTX 1070 GPU), but again, we don't know what the cost is for the highest specs. Both the Y910 and Y710 will be available from October. | 480 |
was dominating the American League over a decade-plus peak, headlined by winning the 2010 AL Cy Young Award and throwing the Majors’ most recent perfect game on Aug. 15, 2012.
Hernandez has also been one of the most beloved players in franchise history for his engagement and loyalty, having spent each of his 15 seasons with Seattle. And he has been one of its most reliable, hitting the injured list just twice during his first 11 seasons, when he led Major League pitchers with a 52.7 WAR, per FanGraphs, and compiled the third-most innings with 2,262 1/3.
Yet Hernandez’s drop-off has been stark. His 4.79 ERA in the four seasons since (2016-19) is the 15th highest among 106 qualified starters, and he was 1-4 with a 6.52 ERA in eight starts to open ‘19 before his IL stint. Even while acknowledging that he has “got a lot of miles” on his arm, Hernandez would still like to pitch in the Majors in 2020. He’ll have a little more than a month to audition.
Other injury updates from Tacoma
• Right-handed reliever Austin Adams (right shoulder strain) threw a 20-pitch live batting practice session on Monday, which is typically one of the final precursors to beginning a Minor League rehab assignment. Adams had been arguably the Mariners’ best reliever before suffering his injury on July 6.
• Right-handed reliever Dan Altavilla (right forearm strain) will likely pitch another rehab outing on Tuesday for Tacoma, where he has made two appearances after one at Class A Short-Season Everett.
• Haniger (lower back) was still experiencing soreness on Monday and was not in Tacoma. Servais over the weekend likened Haniger’s status to being at the onset of Spring Training, where players are still conditioning themselves for everyday demands.
• Second baseman Shed Long (fractured right middle finger) remains at the club’s Spring Training facility in Peoria, Ariz., where he’s working out. Seattle is hopeful that Long might return this season, potentially for Arkansas’ bid in the Texas League playoffs next month.
Daniel Kramer is a reporter for MLB.com based in Seattle. Follow him on Twitter at @DKramer_. Dawn Klemish is a reporter/editor for MLB.com based in Tampa. Follow her on Twitter @Sportsgal25. | 481 |
to win this series.I betted against History last time and he proved me wrong, so maybe he will do it again but I think Shibbxyz is a class above History here and in any game which looks relatively standard at the 12 minute mark I have to feel is in the favor of Shibbxyz. The way he plays also means History is unlikely to pick up any maps with very early aggression and so I think this could be quite the white-wash for our Terran player (but here’s to him proving me wrong!)And now we come to our final RO8 game and the third TvZ -Kreator vsKhyira. Is Khyira ever going to play someone who’s name doesn’t sound similar to his own?!Kreator has shown to be a strong player in the SC2Improve events he plays in frequently and we even got to have a peak of his ZvT in the RO16 against Destructicon, where he dropped one map due to an 11/11 play. The rest of his games he played aggressively and with strong macro and was able to close out the games relatively quickly, both in the macro game and holding a 2 base timing - but if he finds himself caught off-guard one too many times with these 11/11 builds then he is going to put himself in no danger.His opponent Khyira is a strong opponent, though his mindset vs Zerg does him no favors. “Anyone with two opposable thumbs who selects Zerg can win” is a quote which more or less sums up his mindset on the match-up and this could definitely play a huge role in this match. Having avoided Zergs in the RO16, Khyira was able to come out first in his group, but going up against Kreator is no easy feat and he will have to push back the negativity and throw in a couple of proxy barracks here to take this series!I’m really torn about predicting this one as I feel it can be a landslide defeat against Khyira or a highly competitive series between the both of them, depending on how it starts out and how diligent Kreator is with his control against 11/11 Rax. I’m going to be optimistic here and take the better option for Khyira - where in the initial games we see some very standard Zerg play and no early aggression. If this happens I think Khyira can pick up a win or two and really make a series out of it. | 482 |
Protesters of a recent executive order restricting immigration of Muslims from some countries -- gather at Metro Airport. (WWJ/Lauren Barthold)
DETROIT (WWJ) – Hundreds of people gathering at Metropolitan Airport who have no intention of traveling, demonstrating instead, their disdain with recent presidential orders that crack down on refugees and immigrants from certain countries.
Several organizations, activists and organizers joined forces at the airport protesting what is being called a “Muslim Ban” in the United States.
The federal court for the Eastern District of New York issued an emergency stay halting deportations under President Donald Trump’s executive order.
Fatima Salman co-organizer Michigan Muslim Community Council says this ban will negatively affect thousand of families in the state.
“The stay was granted for those people only in transit, so this still doesn’t – it’s not a permanent stay first of all, it’s a temporary stay, for those in transit –so anybody that’s still trying to travel – they still can’t come through and I don’t know if it’s been told the White House overruled the federal stay – late last night, early this morning,” says Salman.
https://twitter.com/bylaurenb/status/825771960747585537/video/1
Trump signed an executive order Friday setting “new vetting measures” to keep “radical Islamic terrorists” out of the United States.
The order indefinitely stopped Syrian refugee and immigrant entry into the U.S., suspended all refugee entry for four months and suspended refugee admissions for three months from countries with terror concerns, naming majority-Muslim nations including Iraq, Syria and Iran. The new president and his supporters say his measures are needed to strengthen national security.
Stephanie Kenner, of the Women’s March in Michigan says people cannot stay silent in the face of such egregious human rights violations.
We wanted to be able to stand in solidarity with the other protests — that spontaneously and organically occurred yesterday, the airport seemed to be a galvanizing space, and we’ve been in contact with DTW and they’ll been very accommodating and supportive of this rally,” says Kenner.
She says the location of the protest is significant — “showing that we are a community that welcomes refugees and don’t want them out.” | 483 |
Deep recession and slow recovery has widened Britain's productivity gap with other rich G7 nations to its largest since 1994, according to official figures.
Data from the Office for National Statistics showed that the output per hour from UK workers in 2012 was 2% down on its pre-slump levels in 2007 and 16% below the average of other leading industrialised nations.
The ONS said that output per hour worked in Britain was 29% lower than in the US and 24% lower than in Germany and France. Canada and Italy had slightly higher productivity than the UK and only one G7 nation – Japan – had a worse record.
Britain's gross domestic product is still below its peak reached in 2008 but despite the deepest recession of modern times, the shake-out in the labour market was less severe than in the downturns of the 1980s and 1990s. The combination of weak output and a willingness of workers to accept pay cuts to keep their jobs has resulted in a poor productivity record.
The ONS said that the gap with the rest of the G7 was even wider – 19% – using an alternative measure of productivity, output per worker.
John Philpott, director of The Jobs Economist, said: "The relative improvement in the UK's productivity performance from the mid-1990s to the late 2000s has clearly gone into reverse in an economy reliant on falling real wages, rather than increased output, as the main driver of employment growth. According to the ONS output per hour in 2012 would have been 15 percentage points higher had the pre-recession rate of growth been maintained. Though some of this latter growth may have been 'illusory' in that it was propelled by an unsustainable boom, the UK economy clearly needs in particular a strong resurgence of business investment in order to regain its pre-recession productivity mojo."
The Bank of England is assuming that Britain's productivity will improve as demand recovers, although opinions differ about how much of the shortfall is caused by permanent scarring from the recession.
Howard Archer, chief UK economist at IHS Global Insight, said the ONS's international comparisons made "very uncomfortable reading." He added: "An element of the UK's poor productivity performance does appear to have been companies' willingness to hold on to workers, particularly when the workers are skilled or experienced. There have also been reports that some companies employed more people, or at least retained workers, as they found winning and delivering work more resource-intensive in an environment of persistently weak demand." | 484 |
�It was a terrible moment,” Yovanovitch recalled Friday. Someone who watched her read the White House’s rough transcript told her “that the color drained from my face. I think I even had a physical reaction.”
It sounded, she said, “like a threat.”
In private testimony, she had grown emotional retelling the story and at one point agreed to take a break.
That didn’t happen Friday, so there was no need for tissues. But Yovanovitch made clear she was still unnerved by the ordeal. It’s hard to believe, she said, “the president would talk to any ambassador like that to a foreign head of state, and it was me.”
Watching from the rows reserved for the public were some women from Long Island who had taken the train to Washington to see the proceedings firsthand. When Yovanovitch was done, Schiff delivered a stemwinder of a closing statement, telling her, “You were viewed as an obstacle that had to go.”
He gaveled the proceedings, which had stretched over six hours, to a close. Republicans shouted for his attention but Schiff walked out.
Members of the public jumped to their feet and applauded Yovanovitch as she, her lawyers and others in her retinue stood. Yovanovich heard the hoots and looked over her shoulder. Then she smiled and headed out a side door, her turn in the public eye complete.
“It touched my soul, the way Schiff just ended it,” said Ann Orton, of Northport, New York, a retired teacher who took the train to the hearings with two friends. “I wanted to cheer.”
Her friend, Cathy Benjamin of Bay Shore, said it was Yovanovitch who had moved her.
“Having to testify in front of the world to Congress,” she said. “What courage.”
By the end of the day, someone had removed the box of tissues from the witness table.
___
Follow Kellman on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/APLaurieKellman
___
This story has been corrected to change ``such power” to ``such powers’ in Yovanovitch quote in 6th paragraph that begins, `Yovanovitch, 60,...’ | 485 |
So this is the only transformers i have ever watched (aside from Bumblebee, but that doesn't count, does it?). I was never interested in transformers, and the only reason why I watched this film was because the reviews were so bad i had to see it for myself. And let me tell you right now: So this is the only transformers i have ever watched (aside from Bumblebee, but that doesn't count, does it?). I was never interested in transformers, and the only reason why I watched this film was because the reviews were so bad i had to see it for myself. And let me tell you right now: transformers last knight is one of the worst films i have ever seen.
To start of with, the effects range from average, to flat out bad. The acting also ranges from average to bad. All the voices over characters sound like their either half-asleep, blandly reading off a script or both. And as for the actors and actresses, I think it's clear that they knew how much of a train-wreak this film was going to be, and as such, don't put any effort into their acting whatsoever.
I'm not going to talk much about the story, because it's basically just robots fighting other robots, but on earth, so you get humans helping or hindering along the way. Like I said, I haven't watched any other transformers films, but I'm pretty sure all of their stories are exactly the same as Last Knight.
Their are two more subjects i want to talk about that make this film as bad as it is. First is that it's so boring! I was having trouble keeping my eyes open during this film because it was so mind-numbingly dull. Whether it's a slow scene or a fast scene, it's boring. A talking scene of an action scene, it's boring, you get the picture. And that leads me onto my last point: this is the most unfunny film i have ever seen in my life. Every "joke", if you could call them jokes, is like a stab in your ear lobes. You will cringe so hard at the humour/torture in this film.
Overall, this film is almost a guide in how to not make movies. Unfunny, bad acting, bad effects and boring as sin.
Avoid at all costs, or don't, I'm not your mum, jeez. … Expand | 486 |
Retrospective is the title of a new exhibition curated by Owl Braveheart, one of the powerhouses behind the FIAT (FIne ArT) project in Second Life. It features the work of Giovanna Cerise, presenting – as the name suggests – a retrospective of her art from the period 2009 (shortly after her arrival in SL at the end of 2008) through until the end of 2014.
On arrival, follow the arrows into the gallery building and through a miniature excerpt from Chaos, Kosmos, her installation at the LEA which form a part of the 7th round of the Artist In Residence (AIR) series there, and which I wrote about in both November and December 2014.
Like Chaos, Kosmos, many of Giovanna’s more recent works have been on a region-wide scale, so the core of the exhibition focuses on her work from the period 2009-2011. Which is not to say elements from her larger builds cannot be found here. For example, Circe, from the magnificent Il Folle Volo (which I reviewed in August 2014), can be found here, waiting, perhaps, to trick visitors into drinking her potion as she once did with Odysseus’ crew.
Many of the pieces within this exhibition demonstrate Giovanna’s eye for fusing movement, colour, geometry and both 2D and 3D elements into quite striking pieces, so much so that still images really don’t capture the motion and interplay of colour and space found in many of them, such as with Lampo, Change Ball, Optical illusion and Optical Illusion 3, which can all be seen at the top of this piece, and which collectively date from 2010.
Also, and with respect to the degree of motion evident in many of the pieces on display, I would suggest that those on older hardware or with older GPUs and who generally have Shadows enabled might want to turn them (or ALM off) in order to fully appreciated the sheer fluidity of movement that is on display.
Offered with an environment that is itself quite striking and which is lit in a manner which ideally complements the pieces on display, Retrospective makes for a delightful and worthwhile visit, and will remain open through until the end of February.
Oh, and should you find yourself arriving at the ground level in the region, take the teleport disc at the landing point to reach the exhibition sky platform, then take the steps up to the exhibition entrance.
Related Links | 487 |
Story highlights Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi met with President Barack Obama on Tuesday
John McCain: U.S. needs to treat India the same as it does its close partners and allies
John McCain, a Republican, is the senior senator from Arizona. The views expressed are his own.
(CNN) This week's visit to Washington by Indian Prime Minster Narendra Modi, a visit that includes an address to a joint session of Congress and meetings with senior congressional leaders, underscores just how important our relationship with India has become -- and how critical it is that we set the foundation correctly for the years to come.
It is remarkable how much bipartisan support the U.S.-India relationship enjoys on Capitol Hill, an upsurge of interest and respect that is normally reserved only for close partners and allies. In all my years in Congress, I recall only a select few countries that rose so quickly to such an exalted esteem.
To be sure, the U.S.-India relationship is broad-based, relying on hundreds of officials and business leaders in both countries, and affecting the lives of millions of people who are reaping the benefits of a close and open partnership. For all of its foreign policy shortcomings, the Obama administration has done an admirable job of nurturing this relationship and seizing the opportunities that India is providing. As just one example, India is now one of the fastest growing sources of foreign investment in the United States, with Indian companies investing in American entrepreneurship, creating jobs and leading in corporate social responsibility.
John McCain
At the same time, as I have watched the partnership develop over the past several years, it is remarkable how much progress we have made on defense and security issues. From joint exercises to joint technology development, and from defense sales to defense strategy, our security interactions and cooperation are increasingly becoming the backbone of our global strategic partnership.
A quarter-century ago, this would have been hard to imagine. As our two countries emerged from opposite sides of the Cold War, suspicion was high and distrust even higher. Back then, we could not agree on trading mangos or Coke, let alone trading fighter jets and attack helicopters. Prospects at that time for our defense relationship were bleak to the point of nonexistent -- so much so that we could not even contemplate activities like co-production and coordinated patrols. But in the intervening years, the world changed, and with it, so did our two countries. Remarkably, both sides are now keenly working to make such activities a reality.
Read More | 488 |
An alligator attacked and dragged a 2-year-old boy into the water Tuesday night while he was playing on a beach near a Disney resort in Orlando, police said.
A massive search was still under way Wednesday morning, with more than 50 law-enforcement officers and wildlife officials scouring the lake for the boy, reports NBC.
Jeff Williamson, a spokesman for the Orange County Sheriff’s Department, described it as a “search and rescue operation” during a Wednesday morning press conference. “We are very hopeful,” he said at a morning news conference. “Sometimes you get the worst, but we are hoping for the best.”
The child was playing in the shallows of the lake with his father near Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa when the alligator — described as being between 4 ft. and 7 ft. long — attacked.
“The child was playing in the water, just a foot or so into the water, and the alligator came up and attacked,” Orange County Sheriff Jerry Demings said. “The father at some point struggled to try to get his son and was not successful.”
The boy and his family, who live in Nebraska, were on holiday at the resort.
“We’re not leaving until we recover the child,” Demings said, adding that a dive team, search helicopters, sonar equipment and an alligator trapper were all being deployed to help find the boy.
According to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission records, at least 41 unprovoked “major” alligator attacks have occurred in the state since 2010, with at least two deaths in 2015.
[NBC]
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Contact us at [email protected]. | 489 |
The organizers of the march agreed this year to obey a Supreme Administrative Court decision to uphold a municipal court order limiting the event to flower-laying at Lukov's home.
The Sofia Municipal Police reportedly advised the organizers of the march that any person who violated the order would be stopped. Only 60 supporters attended the event.
"For the first time in more than a decade, the Jewish community of Bulgaria has been spared its yearly day of fear and apprehension from shameful flame-wielding thugs who parade through the streets to glorify the very ideology that brought the near destruction of the Jewish people,” Lauder said. “At this frightening time of rising antisemitic activity across the world, this is a moment of true victory for the Jewish community, the people of Bulgaria, and all promoters of justice and tolerance worldwide.”
Lauder expressed the WJC was "deeply grateful" to Bulgarian officials, including Prime Minister Boyko Borisov, Foreign Minister Ekaterina Zakharieva and Deputy Foreign Minister & National Coordinator against Antisemitism Georg Georgiev, Sofia Mayor Yordanka Fandakova, Prosecutor General Ivan Geshev, and "the many others have been sincerely responsive to our concerns over this inciteful demonstration."
"Their cooperation last year with the WJC and the Organisation of Jews in Bulgaria, Shalom, in convening the first-ever March for Tolerance to oppose this scourge was another critical demonstration of their dedication to helping us work to quell these flames of hatred, and it was an action that spoke louder than words. This year, only a few dozen neo-Nazi thugs showed up. Next year, let’s hope that the month of February will pass without a single disturbance of this kind," added Lauder.
cnxps.cmd.push(function () { cnxps({ playerId: '36af7c51-0caf-4741-9824-2c941fc6c17b' }).render('4c4d856e0e6f4e3d808bbc1715e132f6'); });
World Jewish Congress President Ronald S. Lauder thanked political and judiciary authorities in Bulgaria, including Prime Minister Boyko Borisov, for stopping an annual torch-lit demonstration attended by thousands of neo-Nazi marchers to celebrate Holocaust-era General Hristo Lukov, whose movement sent more than 11,000 Jews to their deaths in Treblinka. | 490 |
Photo by Art Bicnick
With the proposed 2018 government budget, alcohol taxes will become the highest in Europe, the Icelandic Federation of Trade wrote in a press release.
According to figures from Spirits Europe white and red wine sold in Iceland is the heaviest taxed in Europe and with the proposed hike, the price of the cheapest available bottle of wine will rise by 11.1%. An argument put forth by the government has been to create parity between alcohol taxes on beer and wine.
“We understand the reasoning behind making taxes on wine and beer equal,” said the federation’s Secretary General Ólafur Stephensen. “However, taxes on alcohol have reached such completely nonsensical levels that we should be lowering taxes on beer rather than raising them on wine.”
To name one example of the level of taxation on alcohol in Iceland–84.4% of the price of a bottle of vodka is due to taxes.
Way worse than Norway
When compared to Norway, a neighbouring country with high alcohol taxes, Icelandic taxes are on average 28.8% higher in Iceland, with taxes on fortified wines, such as port and sherry, a whopping 89% higher.
Ólafur adds that because taxes on alcohol are a fixed ISK amount based on alcohol percentage, cheaper wines will become proportionately more expensive than expensive ones. “Yet again those who have the least get hit the hardest by tax happy authorities,” Ólafur said.
“It is high time that some of those so-called liberal MPs in government to say “enough is enough” it is impossible to endlessly raise taxes on a single consumable good,” he concluded.
Let us drink, please
We at the Grapevine don’t drink nearly enough alcohol. Journalists make little money and happy hour ends way too early. This lack of drinking has created something of a panic in the office. We work long hours and are very shy.
In fact, things have gotten so dire that we’ve started to make the interns distil moonshine in the office toilets. This has fostered anger among the interns–at one point almost leading to a full scale open (alcohol based) revolt–but the worst thing is that they are terrible at it. What was supposed to bring us closer to the interns has created a rift we fear will be impossible to mend.
That’s on you government. | 491 |
UNITED STATES | UT-Salt Lake City
ID 239568, Type: Temporary Full-Time
POSTING INFO
Posting Dates: 07/22/2019 – 08/05/2019
Job Family: Human Resources
Department: Church History Department
PURPOSES
The Church History Library is seeking a candidate for a one-year, full-time (40 hours/week) paid internship opportunity working with archivists in arranging, describing, and preparing records for digitization which are related to the history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and its members.
RESPONSIBILITIES
Process archival records in paper, audiovisual, and/or electronic form.
Participate in intake activities of newly acquired collections.
Create finding aids using the EAD register and rendering tool.
Assist in preparing paper and electronic records for digital preservation.
Assist in workflow management of records from acquisitions and processing to digitization and storage.
Review/edit cataloging work of others.
Develop expertise with the cataloging system to capture descriptive metadata, adhering to internal and professional standards.
Contribute to a collegial and professional atmosphere that incorporates the highest standards of behavior and cooperation, promoting teamwork and group purposes.
QUALIFICATIONS
Required: Bachelor’s degree in history, humanities, or related field
Preferred: Master’s (earned or in process) in archival studies, library science, or history
Understanding of archival theory and practices
Proficient in Microsoft Office suite
Strong organizational and time management skills
Highly detail-oriented with excellent writing and editing skills
Willingness to dress and present oneself appropriately
Experience teaching and/or training (in any setting)
Knowledge of the historiography and sources of Church history
Proficiency in working both independently and in a team setting
Experience conducting research and/or working in an archive, including arranging and describing archival collections
WORTHINESS QUALIFICATION
Must be a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and currently temple worthy.
POSTING NOTICE/MORE INFO.
Please Note: All positions are subject to close without notice.
Find out more about the many benefits of Church Employment at http://careers.churchofjesuschrist.org.
| 492 |
Burnout is a stress-related state of exhaustion and often leads to feelings of isolation, low accomplishment and even depression. Although research has long shown that burnout affects employees, we now know burnout also affects students.
As a researcher who specializes in identifying strategies to help college students get through their first year of college, I’d like to offer a few tips to help students avoid burnout.
1. Start with why
Intrinsic motivation – the idea that learning is naturally satisfying – is associated with lower levels of academic burnout and with higher academic achievement. The most effective way of preventing burnout is being sure you know why you’re in college to begin with. Build your internal motivation by identifying the skills you need to develop and the experiences you want to have while you are in college.
2. Visualize your work and progress
Use the syllabus and other resources to get a full picture of the projects you have and their deadlines. Use to-do lists, calendars and apps to remind you of the work you have to accomplish, and celebrate small wins along the way.
3. Work a little every day
High-impact learning requires the investment of time and effort and deliberate practice and self-regulation. However, the majority of incoming college students spent less than 10 hours per week studying in high school and need to learn to put in a more sustained effort. Moreover, the study practices that college students use most commonly – highlighting or underlining notes, reading material over and over, and summarizing class content – are the least effective.
Take advantage of the learning strategies that have proven to be most effective. Spread your study time out over days rather than cramming. Actively retrieve the material you are learning using flashcards or practice tests, rather than passively reading and rereading information.
4. Take breaks regularly
Since burnout is related to stress, it is important to manage stress carefully. Exercise, proper nutrition, social interaction and quality sleep are each part of a productive coping strategy. In addition, breaks help restore your focus on your overarching goals, increase creativity and improve memory formation.
5. Keep the end in mind
Parts of college are simply stressful and difficult. But in the end, graduation from college remains economically beneficial. Additionally, the knowledge and skills you gain while in college have lasting and wide-ranging benefits in your work and personal life – like living longer, making more money and passing those benefits on to your children. | 493 |
a publisher’s site. It may also allow the reseller to implement bad practices, such as constantly refreshing a video ad, which could cause a publisher’s viewability score to plummet. Or they could do “bid jamming,” a practice where multiple requests for an ad are sent, which is forbidden by most exchanges and DSPs. Not all resellers hurt a publisher’s site, but because publishers cede control over their inventory when they work with resellers, it’s hard for them to catch bad actors.
Consequence of Sound, for example, underwent a project that improved its site viewability by 75%. In the process, it took “a fresh look at our ad stack and demand partners,” said CEO Sajan Shiva. He found that some of its resellers were refreshing nonviewable ads, sending multiple bids for the same impression and increasing latency on the page.
After discovering these issues, the site removed resellers with duplicative demand and is looking through its remaining partners with a “fine-tooth comb,” Shiva said.
Since resellers create so many paths to a publisher’s inventory, it’s easier for bad ads to get in and harder for publishers to identify bad practices or lax controls by resellers. Mobile redirect ads tend to occur most frequently on sites with many resellers, Hearst’s Both said. “Publishers who keep tight control on this have fewer issues.”
Resellers also might open up a less efficient path to the publisher, because resellers take additional fees, can set different floors or provide a lower-quality ad placement. By shutting off a reseller, publishers may not lose an advertiser’s money, but see it flow through another exchange path.
At The New York Times, Glogovsky is constantly testing partners. He looks at the incrementality of the demand they provide and their ability to ensure high ad quality.
The right number of exchange partners, and whether that number includes resellers, is an open question, and one that may be different for each publisher. But giving resellers access to inventory without oversight and testing is going the way of the ad network.
“I would encourage other publishers to re-evaluate the partners they work with,” Glogovsky said. “We’ve made the decision to focus on quality revenue and a quality reader experience.” | 494 |
As the saying goes, what goes up must come down, and it's time for a German satellite launched in 1990 to make the second half of that journey. ROSAT, says German Aerospace Agency DLR, is likely to fall from space between Oct. 21 and 24.
Up to 30 individual debris with a total mass of 1.7 tons could return to Earth at speeds of up to 450 kilometers per hour — likely burning from the friction of re-entry.
The idea of getting hit by a stray piece of burning space junk is terrifying. But, thanks to Earth's large swaths of water and open land, it's also exceptionally unlikely. DLR scientists put the risk of being hit by ROSAT's debris at 1-in-2,000. That's not a 1-in-2,000 chance of being hit by a satellite this weekend. Rather, the probability of someone on Earth getting injured is one for every 2,000 de-orbit events of this kind. When NASA encountered a similar debacle as its 6.5-ton Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS) tumbled toward Earth last month, it put its risk estimate at a lower one in 3,200.
Nobody was injured in UARS's descent. Nor are there many cases of humans even witnessing falling space debris — despite the phenomena being more common than you might think.
"Space debris re-enters Earth's atmosphere on an almost weekly basis," says the DLR website. "Over the last few years, the total mass of this debris has amounted to about 60 to 80 tons per year."
But even with the high frequency of falling space debris and the low risk of human injury, shouldn't scientists be doing something about a car-sized piece of metal that could potentially collide with our planet? Unfortunately, the satellite has no propulsion system that might enable a controlled landing, and the technologies for de-orbiting satellites and bringing them back to earth are still at the development stage. Since ROSAT ended its mission in 1999, communication with its aging equipment isn't possible. But scientists are doing their best despite these limitations to track where and when the satellite will re-enter Earth.
A number of international space facilities, specialists and computer programs will join the cooperative effort. If you would like to do some monitoring, you can track ROSAT's orbit at real-time satellite tracking site n2yo.com.
Image, an artist's impression of the ROSAT satellite in space, courtesy of DLR | 495 |
A New York City judge is under fire after freeing without bail a man police say tried to steal an officer's gun--just days after the assassination of a Bronx cop.
Cops say Kurdel Emmanuel, a mentally-troubled 29-year-old man, tried Saturday to wrestle the gun from a female officer who fought him off in a Brooklyn precinct house.
WNBC-TV reported that when Emmanuel was interviewed after his arrest he told police he wanted to kill a cop.
On Sunday, Emmanuel appeared before Brooklyn Judge Loren Baily-Schiffman on assault, attempted robbery and attempted criminal possession of a weapon charges.
Prosecutors requested a $250,000 bond. Instead, Baily-Schiffman released him on his own recognizance.
Her decision outraged police union leaders, according to reports.
They pointed out that Bronx officer Miosotis Familia was killed in an ambush Wednesday. The gunman was another mentally troubled man who said he wanted to go after cops. That man Alexander Bonds was killed fleeing the shooting.
“This is a sickening display of carelessness or callousness by a judge who should be fully aware of the similarity in the circumstances between this thug’s crime and the assassination of police officer Miosotis Familia,” Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association president Patrick Lynch, said, according to WPIX-TV. “We have seen too often the unbalanced act out against NYC police officers with deadly effect.”
Ed Mullins, who represents NYPD sergeants, told the New York Post that Emmanuel would have “killed police officers” if he managed to wrest the gun away from the officer.
Emmanuel was home with his stepmother Sunday after the arraignment, the paper reported.
“He has mental-health issues,” the woman said, according to the paper. “The problem you have is you have someone who is not well, and you can still get conflicting stories.”
The judge declined comment to WNBC and hung up on a Post reporter.
It wasn't clear why Baily-Schiffman was handling criminal arraignments.
She normally hears lawsuits not criminal matters, according to NYC Office of Court Administration records.
She is now listed as an acting Supreme Court Justice but for many years was on the bench in civil court where legal disputes involving less than $25,000 are heard. | 496 |
Hypnosis as A Fetish, What is it?
The hypno fetish falls under an umbrella of terms the more common terms are mentioned below and while most can be used interchangeable some are not.
Erotic Hypnosis
Hypnofile
Mind Control or Mindcontrol
Hypno Contol
Brainwashing
Mesmerization
Trance Control
Mindfucking or Mind Fuckery
Sissification Hypno Fetish
and more.
Hypnosis in simple terms is a state of consciousness where you are in an enhanced capacity to respond to suggestion. The key term is suggestion, submissives want to submit even further, or give them domme full control, placing triggers for certain actions or thoughts and so forth. Subs get aroused knowing they can be controlled and go into a deep sub space via erotic mental power of suggestion.
Our minds are extremely powerful and sometimes hold some much buried information, thoughts, wants, desires and more. Sometimes an hypnosis session can be simply unlocking your true thoughts you were trying to bury deep, those thoughts of dressing up frilly, being an human toilet, giving control of your finances to your goddess, all those thoughts of enjoying a dommes feet in more ways then someone else could ever imagine.
Then you have subs who just need that extra push to fully explore being feminized, programmed to send their goddess giftcards weekly or even never touching their genital in a pleasurable way even without a chastity device.
I absolutely enjoy using my assets – and I’m referring to my mind, charisma, aura and wit in this manner to further your addiction, capitalize on your weakness, address that nagging fetish and submit to me further. I have been doing this my whole life it comes naturally.
Hypno session can be done in person, via cam, or phone and I enjoy what each platform brings but my two favorite are on cam and in person. Most times my voice alone will soothingly induce you but think about having all your senses overloaded into submission a high like no other.
The power of suggestion can work wonders for many people that are into many things, and this includes fetishes, and domination sessions.
Stay tuned to more insight on this fetish and the roots of hypnosis discussing Neuro Linguistic Programming as not all my sessions are strictly fetish related. I have aided individuals with growth in the career, losing weight, and more confidence just to name a few | 497 |
that her son Eddie texted when the attack began and asked her to contact the police. He told her he ran into a bathroom with other club patrons to hide and then texted her: “He’s coming.”
“The next text said: ‘He has us and he’s in here with with us,’” she said. “That was the last conversation.” During the attack, the nightclub posted a message on Twitter: “Everyone get out of Pulse and keep running.”
The Irish embassy in Washington DC said it was monitoring developments but hadn’t received any requests for consular assistance.
Hillary Clinton, Democratic nominee for the White House, said she joined Americans in praying for the victims of the attack in Orlando, their families and the first responders who did everything they could to save lives.
“This was an actor of terror.... This was also an act of hate. The gunman attacked an LGBT nightclub during Pride Month. To the LGBT community: please know that you have millions of allies across our country. I am one of them. We will keep fighting for your right to live freely, openly and without fear. Hate has absolutely no place in America,” she said.
Her rival, Bernie Sanders, said all Americans were horrified, disgusted and saddened by the horrific atrocity in Orlando.
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump said he was “right on radical Islamic terrorism” and called for toughness and vigilance.
Trump made the statement on Twitter after the attack in Orlando.
“Appreciate the congrats for being right on radical Islamic terrorism, I don’t want congrats, I want toughness & vigilance,” he tweeted. “We must be smart.”
President Michael D. Higgins said he wanted to express his sincerest condolences to the families of all those bereaved and affected by the tragedy.
In a statement on Sunday evening he said: “ Our thoughts are with the people of Florida and the community in Orlando and Orange County at this difficult time. The loss of innocent life on such a horrendous scale is truly shocking and challenges us all.”
It was the second deadly shooting at an Orlando night spot in as many nights. Late Friday, a man thought to be a deranged fan fatally shot singer Christina Grimmie, a former contestant on “The Voice”, as she was signing autographs after a concert. | 498 |
The package offered to Brexiting MEPs is no different from that offered to any other EU legislator leaving the assembly | Frederick Florin/AFP via Getty Images Brexit transition granted … for British MEPs The UK’s representatives will continue to receive perks from the European Parliament for months after they leave their posts.
Even after their country leaves the EU, British MEPs will get funds, access to the Parliament and their official email accounts, and a last free trip back home.
According to an internal "notice" dated January 9 and seen by POLITICO on "End of mandate for Members elected in the U.K. : information regarding their financial and social entitlements, their staff, and logistics," the European Parliament will reimburse British MEPs for "final trip" back to the U.K. from their "last final registered presence" in Brussels or Strasbourg or "more generally at the end of their last working week," before Brexit day on January 31.
The assembly will also give U.K. MEPs an additional three months to access Parliament email accounts and the "ePOrtal" intranet and they will benefit from a "badge for former members" to access the Parliament "from Monday to Friday during building opening hours."
With the U.K. now all but certain to leave the EU at the end of the month, MEPs were asked to vacate their offices next week in Strasbourg and before February 7 in Brussels.
Similar notices have been sent to U.K. parliamentarians before, since the Brexit deadline has been pushed back several times.
British MEPs will travel to Strasbourg next week for their last plenary session (though a two-day plenary in Brussels is scheduled for January 29).
As POLITICO has previously reported, the internal note reiterated that British MEPs, whose contracts expire on January 31, can receive half of the "General Expenditure Allowance" for three months after Brexit day. The GEA is a controversial €4,416 monthly payment that MEPs are given to cover office and other expenses, without having to provide any evidence of how the money is spent.
MEPs can also claim a "transitional allowance" of €8,611.31 per month before tax for up to two years, depending on their length of service.
The financial package offered to Brexiting MEPs is no different from that offered to any other EU legislator leaving the assembly, for example if they are voted out. | 499 |
Subsets and Splits