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“The Big Bang Theory” is a bit underdecorated. Parsons has his two Emmys, but he should have easily won a third for his work in the fifth season, if for nothing else than playing the bongos and singing about the subjunctive mood. Galecki and Bialik have received single Emmy nominations, but the show has never won for best comedy series, and its writing and directing have never even been nominated, having most recently run up against the awards juggernaut of “Modern Family,” an altogether hipper, sexier (if not necessarily funnier or smarter) show.
And while my own proselytizing about “The Big Bang Theory” has earned it a few new fans, many of my would-be converts remain unconvinced. When at one happy hour I lauded the guest appearances of Christine Baranski as Leonard’s mother, one of my buddies sneered, “She’s too good for that show.” When I praised the show in passing in a previous column, one of my editors strongly urged me to reconsider (“Replace it with anything else,” he said). And this from my haircutter: “But isn’t it about... nerds?” (She eventually came around.) So even though the show has lately been earning its highest ratings (20 million viewers for one episode in January) and has been regularly finishing at No. 1 on the Nielsen list, it has remained something of a guilty pleasure, an affection that you don’t broadcast too loudly. It’s still a little lonely at the top.
For me, though, true validation came last summer when I was on vacation, walking up a darkened hill in the kind of resort town where the smart TV talk veers toward shows like “Girls” and “Mad Men.” I was wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with the word “bazinga,” Sheldon’s self-satisfied exclamation whenever he thinks he’s got the better of one of his pals. A car crept toward me, a window rolled down and my shields went up: Uh-oh, I thought, here comes some snarky comment. Instead the driver just said the word, Sheldon-like, quietly but rascally: “ba-ZING-a,” and then moved on. It was an acknowledgment of a shared secret, a coded utterance of the sentence that some people wait a lifetime to hear: How cool are we!
Twenty million nerds can’t be wrong. | 4,200 |
ism. Related to this is a more concrete and mundane objection that holds that there can be no anarchist movement or collective action, since anarchism is constitutionally opposed to the idea of a movement or collective (since under anarchism there can be no authoritative ruler or set of rules).
Reply: This objection only holds if anarchism is taken to be an all-or-nothing theory of the absolutist variety. Political anarchists do not necessarily agree with the skeptical post-foundationalist critique which holds that there can be no ruling principle or authority whatsoever. Rather, political anarchists hold that there are legitimate authorities but that political power quickly loses its authoritativeness and legitimacy. Furthermore, anarchists tend to advocate for a principle and procedure for organization based upon voluntarism and mutual aid, as well as unanimity and/or consensus. From this point of view anarchist communities can work very well, provided that they avoid coercive authority. To support this point anarchists will point to historical examples of successful anarchist communes. They will also point to ordinary human relations—in families and civil society relationship—which operate quite well apart form coercive and hierarchical political authority
4.5 Philosophical Anarchism is “Toothless”
Objection: One objection to philosophical anarchism of the sort discussed throughout this essay is that it remains merely theoretical. Some political anarchists have little patience for abstract discourses that do not engage in direct action. One worry about philosophical anarchism is that in failing to act—and in failing to take responsibility for the actions that ought to follow from thought—philosophical anarchism remains a bourgeois convenience that actually serves the status quo. Thus when philosophical anarchists remain uncommitted in terms of the concrete questions raised by anarchism—whether they should obey the law, whether they should vote, and so on—they tend to support the interests of defenders of the status quo.
Reply: In response to this objection, one might defend the importance of philosophical reflection. It is important to be clear about principles and ideas before taking action. And with anarchism the stakes are quite high. The puzzles created by philosophical anarchism are profound. They lead us to question traditional notions of sovereignty, political obligation, and so on. They lead us to wonder about cultural and ethical conventions, including also our first principles regarding the theory and organization of social life. Given the difficulty of resolving many of these questions, the philosophical anarchist may hold that caution is in order. Moreover, the philosophical anarchist might also defend the importance of wonder. The anarchist critique gives us reason to wonder about much that we take for granted. Wonder may not change the world in immediate ways or lead to direct action. But wonder is an important step in the direction of thoughtful, ethical action. | 4,201 |
Quote President Trump declared that our nation stands ‘at the birth of a new millennium, ready to unlock the mysteries of space’ – and after the first year of our administration, the record is clear: under President Trump, America is leading in space once again.
Vice President Mike Pence will provide policy recommendations to the President to streamline the regulatory environment for commercial space companies. At the second National Space Council Meeting, the council agreed on the following four recommendations to reform the commercial space regulatory frameworks at the Departments of Transportation and Commerce:
RECOMMENDATION 1: The Secretary of Transportation should work to transform the launch and re-entry licensing regime.
The Department of Transportation would require a single license for all types of launch and re-entry vehicle operations and transform the launch and re-entry regulatory process from one of prescriptive requirements to a performance based licensing regime.
Revision of the licensing regime would be in coordination with members of the National Space Council. This action should be completed no later than March 1, 2019.
RECOMMENDATION 2: The Secretary of Commerce should consolidate its space commerce responsibilities, other than launch and reentry, in the Office of the Secretary of Commerce.
The Department of Commerce should develop a legislative proposal to create an Under Secretary of Space Commerce, who would be responsible for all commercial space regulatory functions.
The Secretary of Commerce would also coordinate with the Secretary of State, the Secretary of Defense, and as appropriate the Federal Communications Commission and the NASA Administrator to streamline the existing commercial remote sensing operation licensing regime, and address new issues such as radio frequency spectrum surveys, rendezvous and proximity operations and docking maneuvers.
The Secretary would propose legislative changes that would further enable the rapid, efficient, and predictable permitting of commercial remote sensing activities. This legislation proposal would be completed no later than July 1, 2018.
RECOMMENDATION 3: The National Telecommunication and Information Administration should coordinate with the Federal Communications Commission to ensure the protection and stewardship of radio frequency spectrum necessary for commercial space activities.
The protection of radio frequency spectrum necessary for commercial space activity should not adversely affect national security or public safety.
The Department of Commerce would take an active role in working with U.S. Industry and members of the National Space Council to develop and advocate, and to the extent possible, implement spectrum management policies that make U.S. space-related industries more competitive globally.
RECOMMENDATION 4: The Executive Secretary of the National Space Council, in coordination with members of the National Space Council, should initiate a policy review of the current export licensing regulations affecting commercial space activity. | 4,202 |
Radical Lunch on the floor of the Oculus in NYC. Photo by Savitri D.
2020 will be the year that the culture flips over.
2020 is the year the Earth stops waiting for us to look up from our screens.
2020 is the year we do look up and wherever we are on this Earth, in whatever eco-system we find ourselves, we will be over-run by real life. The Earth eats the screen in our hand. The Earth eats the Trumpian walls that stand around us. The Earth eats all screens and walls enthusiastically.
2020 is the year we look up because we are moments from the annihilation of our personal identity. We address the flood and the fire directly. We say, “You are my god, you are my culture, you are my economy…” And as we say it we know that this is not enough.
2020 is the year that we finally stop asking, “Is it too late?”
2020 is the year that we await the Earth’s instructions. Meanwhile, the Earth blows magnetic wind full of overdue justice and long postponed desire through the molecules of our skin.
2020 is the year that striking youth break out of the news cycle and touch us directly like an extreme weather event. We stare at them. They are able to demand their survival and so we want to be close to them.
2020 is the year that we recognize reality because it’s no longer a show. We will maintain autonomous zones where we let difficult memories grow back, like community gardens of pain. This begins the journey toward the survival of our children.
2020 is the year that extinct animals pull us aside for a talk.
2020 will be the year that we stop with the lie of “natural disasters.” There is a super storm that covers the planet and she knows what she’s doing.
2020 will be the year that sufferers emerging from the storm have great power and are climbing over the fences as the privileged scream into phones in private jets that don’t start.
2020 will see the retreat of artificially fast information, which for years was allowed to hunt the truth and colonize it. This will open space for new languages that arrive like faintly-typed fortunes inside hail stones. Octavia Butler and Philip K. Dick will direct us through the phantasms….
2020 is the year we make love with such abandon that we become essentially unmarketable. We don’t register as data, or dollars or damn fools. The Earth leads us to the truth. We find the truth in our perplexing tenderness. | 4,203 |
Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren have competed for months over the party’s left flank, but Warren in recent weeks has vaulted to the top tier of 2020 candidates. | Alex Wong/Getty Images 2020 elections Bernie slams Democrats' 'corporate wing' as it warms to Warren
Bernie Sanders on Wednesday lashed out at the “corporate wing of the Democratic Party,” seizing on a report that centrists in the party are coming around to Elizabeth Warren as a compromise nominee if the alternative is Sanders.
“The cat is out of the bag. The corporate wing of the Democratic Party is publicly ‘anybody but Bernie,’” Sanders wrote on Twitter, sharing a POLITICO story headlined: “Warren emerges as potential compromise nominee.”
“They know our progressive agenda of Medicare for All, breaking up big banks, taking on drug companies and raising wages is the real threat to the billionaire class,” Sanders added.
POLITICO’s report details how many moderate Democrats, united in their opposition to Sanders, are increasingly gravitating toward Warren as a more acceptable general election rival to President Donald Trump who could still harness the energy of the party’s progressive coalition.
Centrist think tank Third Way, which notably criticized Warren in a 2013 op-ed that highlighted intra-party divisions, has since praised parts of her candidacy and highlighted perhaps the most glaring distinction between Warren’s and Sanders’ campaigns.
“One is a Democratic capitalist narrative,” Matt Bennett, a co-founder of Third Way, told POLITICO. “The other is a socialist narrative.”
Sanders campaign manager Faiz Shakir lashed out Wednesday at Third Way on Twitter, writing that the organization’s “approach antagonizes no one, stands up to nobody and changes nothing.”
“This is a Washington think tank that takes Wall Street money, so if @ThirdWayTweet is the opposition to @BernieSanders'campaign, which is leading Trump in poll after poll, we welcome the contrast,” Shakir added.
Sanders and Warren have competed for months over the party’s left flank — both lobbying for the endorsement of liberal Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) — while former Vice President Joe Biden, the ostensible Democratic frontrunner, has enjoyed the backing of more middle-of-the-road voters.
But Warren in recent weeks has vaulted to the top tier of 2020 candidates, and appears to have siphoned some support from Sanders, who still regularly ranks second to Biden in primary polling. | 4,204 |
Last updated on.From the section Championship
Lawrence is due to appear in court on 15 October
Tom Lawrence scored in his first appearance at Pride Park since being charged with drink driving as Derby beat Luton in the Championship.
Lawrence was fined six weeks' wages and issued an apology for his part in last month's incident before the game.
The Welsh winger sealed the points for his side with a cross-cum-shot that flew past Luton Town goalkeeper Simon Sluga in the 70th minute.
Lawrence's goal capped a miserable afternoon for Hatters goalkeeper Sluga, who had previously taken his eye off Matty Pearson's 11th-minute back pass to gift Derby the lead.
The own goal was a major setback for the Hatters, but James Collins fired over from inside the six-yard box after being picked out with a low cross by James Bree as they missed a glorious chance to equalise in the 19th minute.
Thereafter Luton struggled to create clear openings, although Ryan Tunnicliffe fired narrowly over just before the hour mark.
Derby offered more of a threat, with Lawrence shooting inches wide at the end of a good Derby move just minutes before his fortuitous goal.
With victory secured, Rams' manager Philip Cocu was able to bring on Andre Wisdom as an 89th-minute substitute- the defender's first appearance since April following injury.
Derby's win, which was only their second in 10 league games, leaves them 13th in the table, with Luton - who are one of only two Championship teams yet to keep a clean sheet this season back in 18th.
Derby County boss Phillip Cocu told BBC Radio Derby:
"To get the win was really important for us. The late equaliser at Barnsley was a big blow after the way we played at Birmingham City.
"To get one now gives a good streak and it was a great team effort. It's something we talked about a lot.
"We have to do it together and I'm glad Tom got his goal today. It helps."
Luton Town boss Graeme Jones told BBC Three Counties Radio:
"The game was a 1-1 or 0-0 game. There's very little difference in shots on or off target.
"We were beaten because of two goalkeeping errors which are basics of the game.
"I've given him my opinion at the end of the game because we've got 13 other boys who give their heart and soul, were mentally and physically really consistent having played three games in seven days." | 4,205 |
KOLHAPUR: The Devendra Fadnavis led government has asked the labour department to study 20 laws — some of them over 100 years old — and present a report suggesting changes in 30 days.
The government has formed a committee of six bureaucrats of the department, including thw labour commissioner, and others to prepare a report on some sensitive laws such as minimum wage (1936), contract labour (1970) and Child Labour Act, 1986.
The government issued an order on January 30, in which deputy secretary D S Rajput has asked the members to present the report within 30 days from the formation of the committee.
The order mentioned that the Union government has adopted ‘Make In India’ mission to boost domestic manufacturing, production and research. “The state government has also adopted ‘Make In Maharashtra’ and ‘Digital India’ missions. The government was considering to appoint a committee to amend or change and simplify laws and acts of the labour department. The committee has been established under the labour commissioner,” Rajput stated in the order.
Meanwhile, the order has irked labour leaders, who believe that the state government is tampering with the system to please the industrialists. Former labour minister Hasan Mushrif has alleged that the government is working at the behest of industrial lobbies.
“This government is following the path set by Gujarat and Rajasthan governments that have modified, changed and made laws and acts suitable to the industries only. All the labour unions in the country have demanded that they should be consulted before making any changes. We have already opposed the changes suggested by the Union government,” said Govindrao Pansare, a veteran leftist leader.
“Cutting across political affiliations, the labour unions are united over the proposed changes. We will oppose the changes which will harm the interest of labours,” he added.
Anti-child labour activist Anuradha Bhosale criticized the bureaucratic approach of the government and demanded inclusion of social organizations in the committee. “Child labour and some of the other acts are sensitive and will impact larger section of the society. We cannot afford a bureaucratic approach. It seems the present committee is formed within the labour department. Besides, it is highly impossible to study and recommend changes in 20 laws in 30 days,” she said.
Mushrif said unnecessary changes would harm labours in the state. “It (government) is working on the behest of industry tycoons. How are they going to change all these laws within 30 days? Everything is fixed already,” he told TOI.
| 4,206 |
“I’ve always been drawn to country music of the 1950s and early 1960s," says Jay Farrar, singer, guitarist and leader of the alt-country band Son Volt. "There was such energy in the recordings of that time period. I love the innovations that were taking place as far as pedal steel and different string combinations. That was all happening simultaneously with the advances in recording technology of the time. There was a fresh vibe to the early country records; those musicians would try anything."
On Son Volt's latest release, Honky Tonk, Farrar and his bandmates (David Bryson, drums; Mark Spencer, keyboards, bass, pedal steel; Gary Hunt, fiddle, mandolin, guitar; and Andrew Duplantis, bass) continue to spread the waters of traditional American music. With an emphasis on acoustic instruments (including twin fiddles) and two-step tempos, the sound of Honk Tonk, as the title suggests, is as far and away from today's polished country sound as you can get.
All of which suits Farrar just fine, who admits that that he doesn't seek out modern country music. "Sometimes I'll hear something in passing, if it’s on a TV channel or whatever," he says. "Contemporary country is essentially whatever is selling, so whatever is selling is therefore country music. Which, in theory, is great – if there’s a cross-pollination of styles, it can have great results." He thinks for a second, then adds pointedly, "I just don’t know if we’ve seen that yet."
Farrar, who with Jeff Tweedy co-led the wildly influential country-rock band Uncle Tupelo before he formed Son Volt in 1995, first heard country music by way of his father, Jay Sr., who played traditional American records in the house. However, Farrar says that he didn't fully embrace the genre till he was well into is teens.
"The Beatles covering Buck Owens, who was a huge influence on them – that helped me start to put the pieces together," he says. "At school, I was something of an outsider because I listened to garage and punk rock. I just wasn’t listening to the stuff that was on the radio. You heard the same songs over and over, so I was looking for something new. The country records that were made decades earlier filled the gaps."
On the following pages, Farrar, an inveterate music collector, looks through his extensive library and picks out what he considers to be 10 essential country recordings. | 4,207 |
A factory worker in central China has died after her colleague accidentally scooped her up in a digger and dumped her in a sand processor.
Horrifying footage of the incident shows the forewoman at a factory in Yidu, Hubei province standing in the digger's blind spot as the operator drove the vehicle towards a pile of sand.
She is seen falling backwards into the bucket after the vehicle collided with her. The oblivious driver then proceeded to fill it with a large pile of sand, burying the woman.
Horrifying footage of the incident shows the forewoman at a factory in Yidu, Hubei province standing in the digger's blind spot as the operator drove the vehicle towards a pile of sand
The woman is seen falling backwards into the bucket after the vehicle collided with her. The oblivious driver then proceeded to fill it with a large pile of sand, burying the woman
The local government has confirmed that the victim died of suffocation in the incident on February 24, according to Global Times citing a report by Beijing News.
After filling the bucket with sand, the operator then turned the digger to deposit the pile in a processor.
Workers were filmed scrambling to the woman's aid but they could not reach her in time.
The operator had been distracted by his phone and did not see the woman standing in front of the vehicle, according to a report by HK01.
The driver then filled the digger's bucket with sand, burying the woman in it
After filling the bucket with sand, the operator turned the digger to deposit it in a processor
A statement by the Yidu city government confirmed that the woman had died of suffocation and authorities are now investigating the case, according to the report.
In recent years, China has been ramping up efforts in reducing the number of job-related fatalities attributed to lax regulations, corruption and poor monitoring.
Deaths caused by workplace accidents in the country fell 12.1 per cent to 38,000 in 2017 compared to the previous year, according to Reuters, while fines for work safety violations rose 58 per cent in the year to around 3.3 billion yuan (£374 million).
In February, 21 people were killed and 29 others were injured after a shuttle vehicle lost control and crashed into the side of a tunnel in a lead, zinc and silver mine in northern China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.
An investigation revealed that the company had illegally bought the vehicle online, implying that it did not undergo safety checks. The mining firm had also erroneously used the vehicle underground when it was only meant for ground transport. | 4,208 |
QUEENSLAND households will be penalised with higher power prices for keeping their air-conditioners off over summer.
The state's electricity price regulator, the Queensland Competition Authority, has announced a 6.6 per cent increase in power prices from July 1.
The increase will add $120 to the average bill of households already under pressure from an array of cost increases.
Power prices have now soared by more than 60 per cent since the State Government promised deregulation of the industry in the southeast would put downward pressure on prices.
Almost 80 per cent of the increase was blamed on growing network costs, the price passed on to consumers for building and maintaining the power system to cope with increasing demand.
However, lower than expected power consumption over the disaster-affected summer meant distributors did not recoup their investment costs.
Those costs have now been attached to electricity prices for 2011-12, meaning households will pay extra for not using enough power this financial year. "Between 2009 and 2010 the load decreased by 2.13 per cent, reflecting the more benign temperatures during the latter months of 2010," the QCA said in a statement.
"As costs increased while the load decreased, the (electricity price) was pushed higher than it would have been had the load remained relatively constant."
Energy Minister Stephen Robertson described the outcome as "perverse" but said consumers would benefit in years when they used more power than predicted.
"As perverse as it sounds there has been a slight upward adjustment to take into account the mild summer," he said.
"But next year we could have a very hot summer and the reverse would apply under those circumstances."
He said the increase "could have been far worse".
"For an average electricity user, an average family in Queensland, it represents a further increase of around about $29.40 to the average quarterly bill," he said.
The QCA said the electricity price increase for 2011-12 would have been 8.31 per cent if the damage from floods and cyclone experienced by distributors was passed on to consumers.
However, the Government last week announced it would prevent Ergon and Energex from recouping the costs of rebuilding its network.
The authority also found the Federal Government's Renewable Energy Target, which will require that 20 per cent of all power be produced from renewable sources by 2020, also contributed to the price increases.
Queensland Council of Social Service president Karyn Walsh said the increase would push more low-income households further into poverty and targeted government assistance was needed.
Originally published as We turn off power, so bills go up | 4,209 |
Judge Judy is the newly-minted highest paid TV star, raking in a whopping $47 million a year — and she’s got the real estate chops to prove it.
The gavel-wielding pint-size powerhouse’s take-no-prisoners approach on the bench can also be seen in her equally-impressive market prowess from Connecticut to Florida. But don’t judge this little lady by her cover… she’s got some B-I-G taste.
Judith Sheindlin and her judge hubby Jerry Sheindlin splashed out over $13 million on a Greenwich, Conn. manor house in 2007 with 9 bedrooms, 8.5 baths and nearly 12,000 square feet on 12.5 acres with meadows, woodlands, vintage stone walls, picturesque pond, pool and pool house, according to property records.
But for the feisty attorney, bigger is better, so in 2008 she built a mega-mansion with everything the queen of the silver screen could want and more — guesthouse; pool house; four-car garage; staff quarters; 5 acres of gardens with fountains, statues, benches, urns and a pond; 13 bathrooms with gold-plated fixtures; 3 floors, 24,000 square feet, 8 bedrooms, 10 hand-carved marble fireplaces, 50-seat theatre, playroom and pool.
But before that pricey overhaul, they splashed out even more millions on a grand 14,000 square foot estate just minutes away in the same tony town, complete with music room, wine cellar, theatre, gym, indoor and outdoor pools, tennis court and a whopping 19-camera security system.
Rolling in the dough also means having destination digs perfect for a summer escape, so the leading lady of television has a sprawling Naples, Florida penthouse that the Sheindlins bought in 2005 for nearly $7 million. The 8,550 square foot oceanfront high-rise home comes with a multi-million view and the 70-year-old’s old-fashioned decor charm.
And because having so many palatial places to live it’s hard to keep up, everyone’s favorite no-BS judge unloaded her NYC pied-a-terre at The Sherry-Netherland hotel for $8.5 million in June, complete with floral upholstery, wood paneling, Central Park views, and a separate home office.
Take a tour of Judge Judy’s impressive digs in the CB! gallery above and don’t forget to subscribe to our YouTube page | 4,210 |
nation’s biggest environmental group, the Sierra Club, went from accepting major contributions from the nation’s biggest gas developer to turning down that money and vocally opposing increased fracking. EDF is the main group that hasn’t come out in favor of moratoriums in places like New York, instead working with industry to come up with new regulations and saying it’s up to local communities to decide whether they want to frack.
To be sure, Krupp, EDF’s leader, talks about gas as “an exit ramp,” not a bridge, and in a debate this spring said it was imperative to avoid “lock-in” to the fuel. Still, EDF’s work with industry angers many anti-fracking activists, who feel that it will help expand the practice: When Krupp and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg called for new fracking regulations in a New York Times op-ed earlier this year, gas producers (who realize that such rules will help reduce opposition to the practice) cheered it. Efforts to regulate existing wells would be more useful if EDF were to also come out against an expansion of fracking: We will, after all, continue to produce natural gas in this country (if nothing else, massive quantities are required to produce fertilizer) and there is no need to leak more methane than we have.
The importance of this debate has grown the more we’ve learned about methane—and one of the things we’ve learned is how fast it acts. Unlike CO 2, which can last in the atmosphere for a century or more, methane disappears relatively quickly. Which means that its power at trapping heat is concentrated in a very short burst.
Twenty years ago, when scientists first started calculating how much to worry about methane, they said that molecule for molecule, it trapped 25 times as much solar radiation as CO 2. But now, over a more appropriate 20-year time frame, that ratio is reckoned to be about 86 times as much. At that rate, more than a third of the greenhouse gas that America produces is methane (not all of it from gas wells—a fair amount comes from cattle). And that means that while the Obama administration boasts about cutting carbon, it’s poised to leave behind a huge burst of methane as its greatest climate legacy.
It turns out, in other words, that there’s no easy bridge to a working climate future—no way to avoid angering powerful interests, no way to put off actually building the clean energy we desperately need. It’s time to stop searching for a bridge and simply take the leap. | 4,211 |
This is truly amazing! No designer involved but it’s all about design, nevertheless!
Eliphante was created near Sedona, inover 28 years by Michael Kahn and his wife, Leda Livant. The Residence that drew my attention through its originality was built until a progressive brain disease killed Mr. Kahn this December (71years old).
Eliphante, The Handmade Home has a 25-foot ceilings and incorporates rocks and scraps from construction sites, stained glass, pottery and wood and it was turned into a nonprofit arts organization in the late 1980s.
And it’s not only the Eliphante with the fascinating history. The couple who built it also has one. Ms. Livant was 45years old, married with two children and living in Westport when she met Mr. Kahn.
My husband and I went for a vacation on Cape Cod, and I met Michael, who was an artist there. He showed me one of his large canvases, a dark blue abstract painting with a small rectangle of light. What I saw in that particular painting was an image that invoked fear in me. I thought, there’s another world I have to explore. I knew I had to open my eyes to the rest of my life.
Three months later, Ms. Livant left her family and went to live with Mr. Kahn.
People said, ‘Leda must have gone crazy,’. It wasn’t craziness, it was like a rebirth. Within three weeks of my moving to Cape Cod, I got pneumonia and almost died, I was in such mourning for my family and so vulnerable, and the sadness of having left my kids has never left me.
Nine years later, the couple moved to Sedona, where two business people offered them three acres rent-free. The lack of money never disarmed the two artists who added Hippodome to Eliphante, as the residence of Ms. Livant.
The main concern is the endangered Eliphante that’s being planed to deed by her landlords. Even if the original couple had a Smithsonian evaluation for conservation purposes, they never received the $28,000 calculation.
I guess that makes Eliphante a uniquely styled mansion handmade by two lovers connected beyond ordinary understanding endangered by very ordinary reasons – money.
Why does art in its pure form must disappear like that? Can’t we do something? At least have an opinion?
If you want to read more about this story, you can try the nytimes.com and eliphante.org. | 4,212 |
）」を全員にプレゼント。【600RT】●『三國志12 対戦版』で「SR華佗（カダ）」を全員にプレゼント。●『三國志13 with パワーアップキット』で追加武将データ「韓世忠（カンセイチュウ）」を全員にプレゼント。【800RT】●抽選で3名様に魚沼産コシヒカリ5kgをプレゼント。提供：越後米蔵商店●『三國志13 with パワーアップキット』で追加武将データ「梁紅玉（リョウコウギョク）」を全員にプレゼント。【1000RT】●『三國志13 with パワーアップキット』で追加武将データ「卑弥呼（ヒミコ）」「難升米（ナシメ）」「都市牛利（ツシゴリ）」を全員にプレゼント。「卑弥呼」は専用威名「倭国女王」、戦法「鬼道降神舞」が使用可能です。○参加方法(1)『三國志13』公式Twitterアカウント（@sangokushi13_kt）をフォローする。(2)WEBサイト掲載中の指定のツイートをリツイート。○備考「三國志」PR大使キャンペーン｢シブサワ・コウ｣35周年記念サイト | 4,213 |
some of my workload, it allowed me to scale my business in new ways. I had to teach and train my virtual assistants to do 3-4 tasks in a specific way and then it allowed me the time I needed to focus upon doing SEO for my clients, plus it gave me the freedom to write blog articles and build new websites like this one.
Personally, I don’t feel comfortable with outsourcing my content creation. I think this is why there is so much groupthink in the lifestyle business community, people hire writers to produce a slightly different article from what they saw on someone else’s site.
I don’t care for that model because it seems a bit phony…I mean, if people are coming to your website it is because they want to hear what you have to say, right?
My focus is on writing and producing for my SEO clients–those things are essential to my success and the success of my brands. So, because of that, I want to give my readers my take on things; I want to share my voice and impart my knowledge so that they can reach even higher.
If you’re a blogger whose model isn’t to rely on a lot of guest posters (it’s fine if you do!), then let me challenge you to not let someone else speak for you…you don’t have to write super-long articles, but they should be your own if that’s what you’re passing them off as…just my $.02. You’ll find an audience that resonates with your outlook–just be yourself and focus on one or two things you’re good at.
Anyway…if your lifestyle business sucks, then today is the day to ask yourself whether you’re spending too much time doing the wrong things.
Here are some questions for personal reflection. Say ‘yes’ to taking five minutes right now to do some soul-searching…
Write out, to the best of your ability, what your schedule was yesterday. How much of that time was wasted? What do you tend to spend your unproductive time doing? (Watching sports, playing video games, bingeing on Netflix, reading/commenting on forums and social media sites, etc?) If you could only be known for one thing, what would it be? What are three things that you could outsource that would allow you to focus on becoming that person described in #3? What are three things that you absolutely could not outsource if you want to be that person described in #3?
Share your thoughts in the comments below! | 4,214 |
The chief minister of Uttar Pradesh Yogi Adityanath is going to meet the family of the deceased Kamlesh Tiwari by tomorrow evening. Former Hindu Mahasabha leader Kamlesh Tiwari was yesterday assassinated by two men who entered his house in Lucknow with a gun and a knife concealed in packets of sweets and had brutally murdered him by slashing his throat.
According to reports, the UP CM will meet the family members of late Kamlesh Tiwari at his official residence in Lucknow at 11 AM on Sunday.
The Gujarat ATS had today arrested three youth Khurshid Pathan, Faizan Pathan and Mohsin Sheikh from Surat who had reportedly confessed to the crime of murdering Kamlesh Tiwari in his residence.
Earlier today, UP DGP OP Singh had informed in a press conference that the three suspects and the two killers were all radicalised and they had planned Tiwari’s murder because of the remarks he had made in 2015, calling Prophet Muhammad gay.
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Read: UP DGP’s press conference: Confirms Gujarat ATS arrests, says suspects were radicalised and planned Kamlesh Tiwari’s murder
However, casting aspersions on those arrested, Kamlesh’s son Satyam Tiwari said that the video footage of these three accused should be matched with those who entered their house and killed his father. He further said that his family’s demand is to have an NIA probe and they have no trust over the state administration.
The Lucknow divisional commissioner Mukesh Meshram met with the bereaved family members of slain Kamlesh Tiwari, assuring the family of security and financial aid. “We have taken their demands into consideration. A meeting with UP CM Yogi Adityanath has been fixed for the family. We are ensuring their security and recommending a government residence for them,” he added.
Kamlesh Tiwari Murder: Authorities assure family’s safety and security https://t.co/CWmcKg9Xiu — Republic (@republic) October 19, 2019
He further said that a gun will be provided to the eldest son of Kamlesh Tiwari for self-defence. “A licensed weapon will be provided to the eldest son for self-defence. He’ll also be recommended for a job. They will be helped with monetary assistance. The investigation into Kamlesh Tiwari’s murder is currently underway,’ he said.
Note: This report has been updated with relevant information | 4,215 |
This article is more than 2 years old
This article is more than 2 years old
Sardinian authorities are getting tough with tourists who steal sand from the island’s pristine beaches as a souvenir and are issuing fines of up to €3,000 (£2,700).
Earlier this week, a 40-year-old Italian who lives in the UK but is originally from Naples, was fined €1,000 after police caught him in possession of a bottle of sand from Gallura beach, on the island’s north coast.
Vigilantes have also started to patrol some of the island’s beaches. Perhaps unaware of the seriousness of the offence, some tourists find the sand so lush that they can’t resist taking it home.
The problem has affected Sardinia for years, with more than a tonne found in tourists’ luggage at Cagliari airport last summer. This is despite beach signposts clearly warning that it is forbidden to take sand.
The sand is usually placed in plastic bottles or bags and labelled with the name of the beach from which it was taken. Authorities say that although the practice is seemingly harmless, it is not only an offence but detrimental to the island’s environment.
The German embassy in Rome also warned holidaymakers last week against stealing Sardinia’s sand.
The embassy wrote on its Facebook page: “Sardinia has some of the most beautiful beaches in Italy, for example Cala Goloritzè, but the taking of sand, stones and molluscs is a serious problem.”
Residents set up a Facebook page called “Sardinia is being robbed and pillaged” a few years ago. A note on the page reads: “With the excuse of acquiring a souvenir, each year tourists are taking from the island what nature took millions of years to create.”
Some sand thieves do repent, however. In 2016, a woman who took sand from Budelli, an island off Sardinia that is famous for its pink-sand beach, returned it after 29 years. The pink shade is created due to a mix of fragments of coral, granite and shells.
The woman sent the sand back with an apology note, which read: “I read in some newspapers and heard on the TV what this sand is and how it is made. I understood how unique Sardinia is. I felt guilty.”
Sardinia, which is popular with wealthy visitors, boasts miles of beautiful beaches. Twenty-eight of them have gained Blue Flag status due to their cleanliness. | 4,216 |
A 43-day-old infant died allegedly after being constantly exposed to harsh weather conditions at the Idgah ground of Deoband, Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh, where Muslim women have been protesting against CAA and NRC for the last 46 days. The baby girl’s mother was reportedly bringing her to the protest site continuously for the last fortnight to ‘make the child strong”.
According to the protest organiser Amna Roshi, the woman was bringing the child to the sit-in-protest every day despite being warned not to. “I had warned Naushaba several times. I had told her not to carry the child to the protest site as it was cold due to the rains. We had even sent her back home once as she was carrying the child. But she used to say that the baby was getting stronger”, Roshi was quoted in the Times of India report.
According to a report by AmarUjala, the mother, Naushaba, a resident of the town’s Mohalla Barjiaulhak, sat with the infant at the Idgah ground from morning till late evening. She had been doing this for the last fortnight. Many times, Naushaba had even insisted on staying back at the protest site later during the night, but other protestors present there, use to send her back home, considering she carried her infant along with her.
On March 12 (Thursday) Naushaba did not reach the protest site. According to sources, “On Thursday evening, the girl slept and didn’t wake up,” a source close to the family said, adding that she was rushed to the hospital where the doctors declared her brought dead.
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The news comes after the January incident where another infant had died after constant exposure to cold weather in Delhi’s winter at Shaheen Bagh. Shockingly, the child’s parents showed no remorse and had declared that they are ready to ‘sacrifice’ their other children.
The Supreme Court had taken suo motu cognisance of the incidence and issued notices to the centre and the Delhi government on the plea to “stop the involvement of children and infants in demonstrations”
These unfortunate developments raise various questions over children being used as props for furthering agenda through protests. Multiple child welfare groups had also raised concerns over children being used during the anti-CAA protests at Jamia and Shaheen Bagh. A complaint was filed with the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights in January against the use of children during the anti-CAA protests. | 4,217 |
more, the definitive text on Norse mythology is Snorri’s Edda written and compiled by 13th-century Icelandic historian and lawspeaker Snorri Sturluson. Snorri viewed Norse mythology through the lens of his Christian faith and his knowledge of The Iliad and The Odyssey. According to Snorri’s Edda, Odin brought his people out of Asia in search for a new place to live, and this is how the gods—the Æsir—and their home, Asgard, got their names.
Another issue with Asatrú is that it gives the impression that all Viking Age Scandinavians were pagans. When it comes to religion, the Viking Age was a transition period where people were pagans, Christians, or both. Thor hammers made towards the end of the Viking Age could be used as both a hammer and a cross.
In contrast to how the alt-right uses the Vikings for their purposes, Viking Age Scandinavians were raiders turned immigrants who became completely assimilated into their new societies. If it weren’t for the introduction of certain Scandinavian dietary practices, place names, and political customs, there is hardly any evidence left of their presence.
Also, they had close contacts with the Muslim world. Viking Age Scandinavia was part of a trade network that reached from the English Channel to the Persian Gulf and which brought goods, people, and impulses to the region from as far away as India. Tens of thousands of Arabic silver coins, minted in today’s Iraq, have been found in Sweden alone.
This exchange and interaction brings us to the final point. Viking Age Scandinavians were not tall, blonde, and blue-eyed. The idea of the Viking warrior as the finest specimen of manhood took hold in the late 19th century when racism and Nordicism developed into ideologies declaring Scandinavians to be the superior race. Analyses of human remains from the Viking Age have revealed a wide spectrum of hair color, eye color, and height. Once again, there are echoes in Norse mythology. There, Thor does not look like Chris Hemsworth, but is described as a short and stocky redhead with a full beard and covered in body hair.
Of course, Viking Age Scandinavians were what we today would call white, and they were fierce fighters. But their skin color comes from the fact that they lived in and around the Arctic. And their fighting abilities developed because they lived in a violent society defined by vendettas and power struggles. These things don’t make the Vikings superior to anyone else. It makes them typical for the time and place where they lived. | 4,218 |
In this, the Year of Luigi, the Wii U is an outstanding option for console gaming.
Forget the launch lineup, forget the mixed messages, forget the initial price point and forget the early marketing efforts. The Wii U that piddled out of the gates in November of 2012 was a very different system than the one we’re looking at today.
The Internet, TechnoBuffalo included, has lately been yammering on about the Xbox One and PlayStation 4. The next generation of home gaming is officially upon us, friends, and these new systems are the proverbial champagne cracking on the heel of the bowsprit of the ship of tomorrow.
Or, wait, are we the champagne and the consoles the ship? No. We’re the ships, the consoles are the bottles and the games are doing the christening.
Look, whatever, you get it. We’re using the Xbox One and the PlayStation 4 to herald the coming of a new age of console gaming. Bully for us.
In all this pre and post launch coverage of Sony and Microsoft’s newest efforts, the Wii U sits quietly, waiting for a fresh set of owners and a chance to shine.
Here’s the thing: in terms of quality, value and sheer volume of good content, the Wii U is the brightest gem in the recent home console lineup.
The Old Adage of Bang for Buck
Let’s start by coming at this argument strictly in terms of money spent. The best Wii U option today is the Wind Waker HD bundle, in my opinion. $299 will get you a Deluxe Wii U, a digital copy of Wind Waker HD and a unique GamePad.
That leaves plenty of dough to pick up additional games. Round out your collection with Super Mario 3D World and Pikmin 3, and you have a stellar starting library for $420, if you pay full price on both of those games.
$420 won’t even get you a PlayStation 4 and a retail game this holiday. It’s not even enough to buy the Xbox One by itself. For current home consoles, $420 is best spent on the Wii U this fall, purely in terms of value.
Now, consider that the Wii U is the last home console with free online play, and you’ve got an extra card in its deck. The Nintendo Network is free, it now features user names (finally) and offers stuff like Netflix, Amazon Instant Video and Hulu.
But, right, what about games?
A Stunning Lineup, Right Now | 4,219 |
Politics 'More than half SDLP councillors are ready to join FF' Close 1/1 Micheal Martin Gallery 1 Micheal Martin
More than half of the SDLP's local representatives in Northern Ireland would be prepared to run under the Fianna Fáil banner, according to sources.
The two parties have been in talks about a merger for several months but appear some way off making any official announcement.
However, behind the scenes councillors are becoming anxious to get clarity on where they stand ahead of local elections next May.
Party leader Micheál Martin was left "fuming" when Cllr Sorcha McAnespy, who is currently an Independent, declared herself Fianna Fáil's first ever candidate in Northern Ireland last month.
The move was seen in Dublin as a "false start" and deeply unhelpful to negotiations that are taking place.
Now sources familiar with the process have told the Irish Independent that as many as 36 of the SDLP's 55 councillors are open to the idea of a merger with Fianna Fáil.
"Others would probably fall in line as well rather than run as an Independent at election time," said one source.
The SDLP is currently a'sister' of the Irish Labour Party - but over the weekend Labour leader Brendan Howlin warned that any move towards Fianna Fáil would see that relationship end.
He said that if a merger goes ahead, Labour will step in to ensure a "pluralist option" is available in Northern Ireland.
Sources say there is considerable concern that a deal with Fianna Fáil would see the SDLP die, with members being split into two factions.
The party has already lost its Westminster representation and is struggling to maintain relevance as voters focus on Sinn Féin and the DUP.
Fianna Fáil sources said if they miss the opportunity to work with the SDLP now they will "never again" have such an easy route to establishing a base in Northern Ireland.
However, Mr Martin knows it would be a costly exercise that comes with no guarantees.
Already South Belfast assembly member Claire Hanna has told the BBC that she would not join Fianna Fáil. "It would be remiss of me to say that it is not a politics that appeals to me and it's not a party I would personally join," she said.
A number of other MLAs are understood to share that view.
But another source argued that if Fianna Fáil used its brand in the North it could attract new members.
Irish Independent | 4,220 |
Report: Neda's Family Forced Out of Home
Check out today's earlier coverage on heated protests and more violent clashes between demonstrators and security forces.
According to an un-bylined report on The Guardian's Web site, Iranian authorities have forced the family of Neda Agha Soltan to leave their apartment in east Tehran. Amateur video of Soltan's apparent death at a rally on Saturday has become a YouTube sensation and galvanized the opposition movement, as The Post's Thomas Erdbrink wrote yesterday.
According to The Guardian,
Neighbours said that her family no longer lives in the four-floor apartment building on Meshkini Street, in eastern Tehran, having been forced to move since she was killed. The police did not hand the body back to her family, her funeral was cancelled, she was buried without letting her family know and the government banned mourning ceremonies at mosques, the neighbors said.
"We just know that they [the family] were forced to leave their flat," a neighbour said. The Guardian was unable to contact the family directly to confirm if they had been forced to leave.
The Post has not confirmed the details of The Guardian report. According to Erdbrink's story, BBC Persian, a Web site run by the BBC in Farsi, quoted a man it described as Agha Soltan's fiance as saying that her body was buried "in a small area in the Zahra Cemetery in the late afternoon" on Sunday.
The video that turned Soltan into an icon of the opposition can be seen here. But be forewarned, the footage is unedited and very graphic.
According to The Post's Jose Antonio Vargas's story on how the Iranian protests have played out online, a Wikipedia page about Soltan created late Saturday night has been edited hundreds of times since it was posted.
--Liz Heron
June 24, 2009; 4:58 PM ET | Category: world
Previous: Video, More Reports of Violence Emerge | Next: Possible Runoff Vote, Power Struggle in Iran
Posted by: fridaolay | June 24, 2009 5:19 PM
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The comments to this entry are closed. | 4,221 |
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The head of the patent office had some advice for critics of software patents yesterday: “Give it a rest already.” Basically, he made a case that software patents are a positive force because they spur innovation. Tim Lee is unimpressed:
This argument ducks the central question in the software patent debate: do patents, in fact, provide a net incentive for innovation in the software industry? Many entrepreneurs say that just the opposite is true: that the disincentive to innovation created by the threat of patent litigation dwarfs any positive incentive effects created by the ability for a firm to get patents of its own. Empirical evidence backs this up. For example, in a 2008 book, the researchers James Bessen and Michael Meurer found that for nonchemical patents, the costs of patent litigation began to exceed the benefits of holding patents in the 1990s. Software and business patents were particularly prone to litigation. More recent research has estimated that litigation by patent trolls costs the economy at least $29 billion per year, and that figure may be as high as $83 billion.
I don’t know if these numbers are correct, but I’d add another argument to the mix: We already know what would probably happen if software patents didn’t exist. That’s because, for the most part, they didn’t exist until the early 70s, and thanks to fights between the courts and the patent office, they didn’t become common until the late 80s. And yet, the era from the 50s through the 80s was about as dynamic and innovative as you could possibly imagine. Lack of patents simply doesn’t seem to have had the slightest effect on the growth of the software industry.
The world is different today, of course. But I see little evidence that software patents are any more necessary now than they were during the adolescence of the computer industry. Rather than spurs to genuine innovation, they’ve evolved into little more than virtual armaments that big companies use to fight virtual wars with each other. And virtual wars are no better for economic growth than real ones. Honestly, it’s long past time for software patents to be put out of their misery and for software companies to focus their attention on inventing new stuff, not wasting countless man-hours of time building defensive patent portfolios with no real-world value aside from providing protection against other companies who are building their own defensive patent portfolios for the same reason. This particular arms race got out of hand a long time ago. | 4,222 |
A computer-generated image of the revised event centre plans submitted by Bam following a request by planners for further information. Pic: G-Net 3D
Confusion over which department holds funding for event centre
FUNDING for the long-awaited event centre is not currently being handled by the Department of Local Government, it has been confirmed.
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar revealed last month that following talks between the Government, operators Live Nation, developers BAM, and Cork City Council, funding certainty had been reached and that the local authority was to receive funding for the project via the Department of Local Government.
The Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht had previously been in charge of funding for the project.
However, a Freedom of Information request by Labour representative Peter Horgan seeking all documentation received by the Department of Local Government relating to the funding requirements and processes has been refused on the basis that the Department of Culture is still the lead Government body for the project.
Mr Horgan said the funding channel for the project needs to be clarified.
“This is very concerning. The event centre is being used as a political football, which it really shouldn’t be. We still don’t have clarity on which department the money will be funnelled through,” he told The Echo.
“Now we have the Department of the Taoiseach, the Department of Culture, the Department of the Tánaiste and the Department of Housing and Local Government all involved in this.
“Surely Local Minister Eoghan Murphy needs to be informed of this large tranche of money that will be coming through his Department to the lcoal authority for a project.
“This is creating extra layers of bureaucracy when they don’t need to be. This has been talked about for nearly the full lifetime of the current Government.”
Tánaiste, Simon Coveney told the media in Cork last month that the centre will cost more than the €80m originally cited, but added the funding process that had led to legal issues regarding the tender had now been “simplified” and a new planning application by developers BAM could lead to contract negotiations with city council, starting next month.
The previous funding package for the event centre included €21m of Government grant aid, €9m of a repayable loan and another €6.5m planned for public realm works.
Mr Coveney has said the extra public cost for the project could not be revealed until contract negotiations between Bam, operators Live Nation and Cork City Council are concluded. | 4,223 |
Wall Street is about to be rocked by secretly recorded audio tapes that purport to show a too-cozy relationship between the New York Federal Reserve Bank and the financial institutions it is supposed to regulate.
The 45 hours of tapes, made by Carmen Segarra, a former NY Fed worker, capture former co-workers, whose job was to keep banks like Goldman Sachs in line, instead deferring to the banks, being unwilling to take action and being extremely passive, according to public radio’s “This American Life,” and ProPublica which obtained the tapes and is scheduled to air a program about the matter Friday night.
Segarra, ironically, was hired by the NY Fed in October 2011 to help toughen up their oversight. She was fired in 2013 after, she claims in a lawsuit, she tried to get Goldman to toe the line on regulations.
The NY Fed has regulators embedded at each of the large banks it oversees. On her first day on the job, Segarra was assigned to Goldman.
The pushback from Goldman started right away. At one of her first meetings, a senior compliance officer at Goldman said certain consumer laws didn’t apply to the bank’s wealthier clients.
“I was shocked,” Segarra tells a reporter for the show, adding that her notes on the meeting had that exact line.
Goldman, through a more seasoned Fed regulator also embedded at the Wall Street bank, told Segarra her notes were wrong.
Segarra said they weren’t.
Her more senior colleague asked her to change the notes.
She refused.
That senior colleague would later tell Segarra, according to a transcript of the program, that “credibility at the Fed is about subtleties and about perceptions, as opposed to reality.”
Said Segarra: “I found it to be completely incredible.”
Goldman and the NY Fed, as an answer to her lawsuit, have denied the charges.
David Beim, the Columbia University business professor whose 2009 report on how the NY Fed could improve its oversight of banks — a report which led to Segarra’s hiring — called the ability of banks to co-opt and tame NY Fed workers “regulatory capture.”
Michael Lewis, best-selling author of “Flash Boys: A Wall Street Revolt” and “Liar’s Poker,” said after listening to the tapes: “The Ray Rice video for the financial sector has arrived.” | 4,224 |
A 71-year-old grandmother found a 2.63 ct. ice white diamond at Arkansas' Crater of Diamonds State Park earlier this month.The woman found the diamond after searching for only about 10 minutes.“I was using a rock to scrape the dirt but don’t know if I uncovered the diamond with it or not," she said. "It was just lying on the surface!” The woman from Colorado came to the park with her family. She asked to remain anonymous.She thought the ice white diamond was likely a piece of glass, so she asked her son to put it in his pocket. The family continued to search for another hour. When they had their rocks identified by park staff, they learned the woman had found the largest diamond found at the park so far this year."I didn't know what to think," the woman said. "I was shocked!"The woman decided to name her diamond "Lichtenfels," the name of her hometown in Germany.The name also means" a rock between two lights." She was standing between her grandchildren when she found the diamond.Crater of Diamonds State Park in Murfreesboro, Arkansas, allows the public to search for diamonds and keep what they find. It became a state park in 1972.
A 71-year-old grandmother found a 2.63 ct. ice white diamond at Arkansas' Crater of Diamonds State Park earlier this month.
The woman found the diamond after searching for only about 10 minutes.
“I was using a rock to scrape the dirt but don’t know if I uncovered the diamond with it or not," she said. "It was just lying on the surface!”
The woman from Colorado came to the park with her family. She asked to remain anonymous.
She thought the ice white diamond was likely a piece of glass, so she asked her son to put it in his pocket.
The family continued to search for another hour. When they had their rocks identified by park staff, they learned the woman had found the largest diamond found at the park so far this year.
"I didn't know what to think," the woman said. "I was shocked!"
The woman decided to name her diamond "Lichtenfels," the name of her hometown in Germany.
The name also means" a rock between two lights." She was standing between her grandchildren when she found the diamond.
Crater of Diamonds State Park in Murfreesboro, Arkansas, allows the public to search for diamonds and keep what they find. It became a state park in 1972. | 4,225 |
,” which is taking up residence at the Atlas Performing Arts Center with its first production in the Fall of 2015. Part of Ms. Zawatsky’s allegations are that Mr. Roth had been planning the creation of this company for “many months.”
Ms. Zawatsky points to this particular allegation when asked to respond to the wave of support for Mr. Roth from the theater community and Artistic Directors specifically:
“I am surprised that the arts community does not recognize the important fact that Ari was planning to leave the DCJCC for many months and that he wanted to start his own venture. Now he has his own venture and is free to pursue his artistic visions as he sees fit. We are surprised that the narrative Ari has presented continues to be about censorship rather than his clear desire to move on to a new venture.”
What Remains?
Both Ms. Zawatsky’s and Mr. Roth’s narratives have been called into question: in the press, in official public statements, and privately among the theater community. A recent statement by Mr. Stern, long-time Theater J Council member, has called Ms. Zawatsky’s letter “distortion of the reality of what occurred.” He says, “One clear power that I agree rests with Carole is the hiring and firing of the Artistic Director, and finally she unequivocally exercised that, and is now in my view futilely searching with her ‘communications team’ for ways to justify its timing and impact.”
Going further, Mr. Stern states that Ms. Zawatsky’s accusation that Mr. Roth had been planning to leave for months “leaves out much of reality.” He says that Ari Roth and Theater J staff, in consultation with Council for Theater J, developed a number of scenarios for a cooperative way forward and presented them to DCJCC leadership.”
He puts this activity before Ms. Zawatsky’s timeline saying that at a Theater J Council meeting on October 29th, “all of the scenarios presented to her were rejected. I think it was then that it became crystal clear to us all that the die was cast and major transition at Theater J was inevitable.”
More disheartening is Mr. Stern’s description of the day that Mr. Roth was fired, that a letter from the Council, urging “a cooperative transition” “was delivered by email the morning of December 18, perhaps simultaneously with the fired Ari being escorted from the building.” | 4,226 |
A man accused of murdering at least 12 people in Texas, has been identified as an illegal immigrant, with a previous arrest record.
However, despite his illegal status, the suspected killer was never deported.
Dallas News reported that the city of Dallas is joining some other Texas cities, including Austin and San Antonio, in taking on the state’s so-called “sanctuary city” law.
Mayor Mike Rawlings made the announcement Wednesday afternoon, calling SB4 “unconstitutional” and a law that “greatly infringes on the city’s ability to protect” the public. According to Rawlings, the city attorney has “serious constitutional concerns” with the new measure, which goes into effect Sept. 1.
Rawlings said after Wednesday’s council meeting that he had already spoken with Austin Mayor Steve Adler and San Antonio Mayor Ivy Taylor about potential litigation.
“I told them both this was a serious issue,” Rawlings said.
Watch the video:
From Daily Caller
A Kenyan man accused of 12 murders while living in the United States illegally also had been arrested four times for less serious crimes, according to Dallas County, Texas, records.
While immigration authorities have placed a hold on Billy Chemirmir, a Kenyan citizen, now that he has been arrested on charges of capital murder, the 46-year-old’s previous brushes with the law leave questions as to why such a move wasn’t made much sooner.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) told The Daily Caller that an immigration detainer for Chemirmir was filed with Dallas County Jail in March 2018, but that he’s not currently in the agency’s custody.
Chemirmir had already been charged with capital murder in March 2018 in the death of 81-year-old Lu Thi Harris, but was indicted on Tuesday for 11 other deaths: five in Collin County and six more in Dallas County. Court records show that Chemirmir allegedly smothered his victims with a pillow and then robbed them, The Dallas Morning News reported.
The former health care worker’s extensive criminal history in North Texas prior to his March 2018 arrest includes 180 days in jail and a fine of $1,250 in June 2011 for driving while intoxicated in Addison, as well as 70 days in jail for another DWI charge in Dallas several months later.
Records also include a 2012 arrest for domestic assault, and a 2016 arrest for criminal trespass and failing to identify himself.
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Actor Mark Ruffalo, a supporter of Bernie Sanders Bernie SandersMcConnell accuses Democrats of sowing division by 'downplaying progress' on election security The Hill's Campaign Report: Arizona shifts towards Biden | Biden prepares for drive-in town hall | New Biden ad targets Latino voters Why Democrats must confront extreme left wing incitement to violence MORE, praised the Vermont senator late Sunday after Sanders clashed with Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham ClintonHillicon Valley: FBI chief says Russia is trying to interfere in election to undermine Biden | Treasury Dept. sanctions Iranian government-backed hackers The Hill's Campaign Report: Arizona shifts towards Biden | Biden prepares for drive-in town hall | New Biden ad targets Latino voters FBI chief says Russia is trying to interfere in election to undermine Biden MORE in the latest Democratic presidential debate.
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"He was charming, he was direct, he felt fresh in his answers," Ruffalo said in a post-debate appearance on MSNBC. "I just felt a lot of heart from him."
"He awoke something in me, and it was his ideas, and it's his decency, and it's his record, frankly," Ruffalo added.
"This guy is exactly who he's always been, he's always been fighting for the little guy, and today that just happens to be the very person we need," Ruffalo said.
"There's an authenticity about him and about his history and about his career as a politician that speaks to me."
Sanders and Clinton tangled on the auto industry and water during the debate Sunday night held in Flint, Mich., which has been under the national spotlight for months over its water contamination crisis.
Both Democratic candidates called for the state's Republican governor, Rick Snyder, to step down and be held responsible for the situation. They also weighed in on accountability for Environmental Protection Authority officials.
Ruffalo, an anti-fracking activist, was also active on Twitter on behalf of Sanders, saying that Sanders was "crushing it" at the debate while stating that "Clinton supports fracking" while Sanders "does not."
The actor also weighed in on the possibility of Sanders facing off against Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump Donald John TrumpHR McMaster says president's policy to withdraw troops from Afghanistan is 'unwise' Cast of 'Parks and Rec' reunite for virtual town hall to address Wisconsin voters Biden says Trump should step down over coronavirus response MORE in the general election.
"There's no doubt in my mind he could beat Donald Trump if he goes up against him," Ruffalo told MSNBC, adding that he thought the self-described democratic socialist would "mop the floor" with Trump. | 4,228 |
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960 specifications are finally here. The GTX 960 will sport 1024 CUDA cores and 32 ROPs.
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960 specifications
The heart of the GTX 960, Maxwell GM206, is the newest 28nm GPU designed by NVIDIA. The mid-range solution has 1024 CUDA cores, which is exactly half of what GTX 980 has to offer. This statement also translates in ROP count, which is 32 on GTX 960.
The clock speeds reported by GPUZ software are most likely inaccurate (the model is factory-overclocked), thus we will wait for final specs for reference model before adding them to the chart.
GeForce GTX 960 will launch with 2GB GDDR5 memory across 128-bit interface. There are some indications that GTX 960 may also launch with 4GB memory (like missing memory modules on PCBs).
The GPUZ reports 85 Texture Mapping Units, which for obvious reasons is also inaccurate. By comparing GM206 to GM204 architecture we conclude that GM206 has 64 TMUs. Whether this is the full chip, we don’t know.
The card is powered through single 6-pin power connector and the TDP is reported at 120W (unconfirmed).
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960 Specifications GeForce GTX 960 GeForce GTX 970 GeForce GTX 980 GPU 28nm GM206-300 28nm GM204-200 28nm GM204-400 CUDA Cores 1024 1664 2048 TMUs 64? 104 128 ROPs 32 64 64 Core clock? 1050 MHz 1127 MHz Boost Clock? 1178 MHz 1216 MHz Memory Clock 1753 MHz 1753 MHz 1753 MHz Memory Bus 128-bit 256-bit 256-bit Memory Size 2GB 4GB 4GB Bandwidth 112 GB/s 224 GB/s 224 GB/s DirectX 11.3/12 11.3/12 11.3/12 TDP 120W 148W 165W Power Connectors 1x 6-pin 2x 6-pin 2x 6pin Display Outputs 1x DVI-I, 1x HDMI 2.0, 3x DP 1x DVI-I, 1x HDMI 2.0, 3x DP 1x DVI-I, 1x HDMI 2.0, 3x DP MSRP? 329 USD 549 USD
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960 performance
GeForce GTX 960 is not the fastest card around, but it’s definitely doing well in mid-range segment. The performance will be close to Radeon R9 280 and R9 285, but we still need to see how does this card perform at default clocks.
Source: PCEVA via WCCFtech | 4,229 |
“We won’t really know the concrete problems until [cannabis] becomes legal in October.” — Vandita Kumar, president of the UBC Residence Hall Association
Kyra, a Carleton residence fellow, said the department instructed fellows to not speak to the media after training. Her name has been changed to protect her identity.
Kyra says residence fellows were told more specific training would happen closer to legalization. However, she said she is unsure about how to enforce rules with somebody who is drunk versus somebody who is high.
“I don’t feel entirely prepared to deal with it, but I feel like the training from other aspects will definitely enable me to look at that situation,” Kyra said.
Jacob Howell, president of the Rideau River Residence Association (RRRA), a campus group representing the interests of Carleton residence students, says students will likely find ways to consume cannabis around campus regardless of a ban.
“I would prefer if there was a way, like us collaborating with the university for students to safely consume that without being worried about getting in trouble with the police or school administration,” he said. “Not doing that just leaves a lot of room to be confused or be upset.”
Howell added that the RRRA will be working on awareness campaigns for residence students to become more informed about the effects of cannabis usage.
The challenge for schools will be to inform students about the new policies. On the west coast, president of the UBC Residence Hall Association, Vandita Kumar, agrees.
“Also, it’s worth noting that a lot of people don’t actually read their residence contracts. So they don’t really know the nitty-gritty details,” she said.
She added that residence community managers will send out an email blast with updates, but “people actually engaging with the content is something different entirely.”
“It’s such a complicated things to actually put into legal form and especially in a residence contract. They don’t know what this policy or the legalization of cannabis is going to look like. I imagine this is like a trial or pilot year for them—that’s the impression I got,” she said. “We won’t really know the concrete problems until it becomes legal in October.”
“I feel like no one has a tangible idea of what this is going to look like.”
— with files from Temur Durrani and Kristy Koehler | 4,230 |
Thank you so much. |I had to wait till Christmas Day to open the gift...not that it was easy. I kept looking at the box and moving it around trying not to shake it. Finally my husband moved it where I could not find it. He said "Its for Christmas...you know Santa only comes on Christmas Eve" so I had to be patient and wait Today is Christmas and the wait was over!! The box contained a wrapped box. then inside the wrapping was a beautiful penguin box Then inside that box was 3 wrapped gifts. My whole family was in suspense watching me open each layer. My 14 year old daughter said "now that is the best way to wrap presents!"
My secret Santa really figured me out. It was so worth waiting for. My dream for many years is to hike the John Muir trail. I mean it is the thing that I would feel would make my life complete. My Secret Santa did not just get me a book about hiking that trail...he got me the BEST John Muir guidebook there is. So now I can go safely and have a well planned trip - hoping to go this August. The other thing I do alot is local hiking and I always take my dog. At this time of year it is really dark when I head for Green Grind (our local steep fitness trail). So when I go after work I am afraid my dog will disappear into the dark woods (ok she is a very good dog and smart - after all she is a Nova Scotia Dug Toller) but in the woods the smells kind of overtake her brain and she may wander away since she knows Green Grind trail well. Now I have this amazing neon glowing dog collar and can flash as well. So she can't escape and I have no excuse not to be out there after work training for John Muir trail Last but not least my name is Alpine Gurl and my Secret Santa got me a CD called A for Alpine! How wonderful is that??!! I am visiting people for Christmas so have not been able to listen to it but I thought that was SO cool to get that CD. I love it without even listening to it. So Merry Christmas! You are a very thoughtful and creative Secret Santa. I appreciate you tons. I will send some photos with Nani when I get home and I will let you know how the CD is.
A is also for Awesome! I love the music - Alpine is a group I can keep listening to. thanks
Also here is a photo of Nani with her new collar. We went snowshoeing yesterday - very cold and the trees were super icy. She looks good with the collar, don't you think so?! | 4,231 |
Came home today from running errands to find two boxes waiting on my porch and got supper excited. One from my parents, and one from my secret santa, known only as K.S. My normal excitement about a box from the parents was completely brushed aside as I couldn't wait to open my ss box! Inside I found a note and three presents. The note said my SS loves dogs, so I got excited for Jake(my little over 1 year old dog) to get a present too.
I'll start with the dog presents, well because I opened them first somehow. Jake got a nice big chew/treat bone and a tube of snausages. He's very excited, even as I opened the box he wanted to help. I gave him the bone right away and he went to work. As I'm writing this part, he is almost half done with the bone, guess he really likes it! He's never had snausages, but I'm sure he will love them.
Now for my present; some how in my randomly chosen order of opening presents I saved the best for last!! K.S. made me a 'hand-made 100% original duct tape wallet' (as the note inside the wallet explains), so cool!! the outside is a scene of me climbing a mountain, and the inside is full of all the pockets and slots I would need! I never bring my normal wallet on my outdoor adventures(hiking, snowboarding, rock climbing), usually just a few essentials(debit card, id, cash, etc) but they always just end up loose in my pack somewhere and never organized. Now I have a wallet that will be perfect for my outdoor adventures to carry the essentials! Rest assured K.S., this wallet is going places on many adventures and will be put the great use. It is such an awesome personal gift! But if that wasn't enough, no no, K.S. also put inside the wallet a $10 itunes gift card! not sure if this will be put to use on a movie, or album, or saved for app purchases, but I'm sure something good will come of it!
Thank you so much K.S., you did an awesome job. I'll forgive you for shipping one day late for having such a thoughtful and handmade gift and taking care of my dog too! Merry Christmas and thanks again!!
PS: in the time it took to write this and post the pics, Jake has reduced the bone to about the size of a satsuma orange, and by the time anyone reads this I'm sure it will be gone. He definitely enjoyed him self. | 4,232 |
NBC’s Meet the Press and host Chuck Todd libeled The Gateway Pundit Sunday morning with a graphic prepared by NBC reporter Ben Collins that falsely labeled TGP of being part of a “chain of intentionally bad information”. Todd also slandered TGP in his question about the graphic.
Here’s the flow chart they posted on NBC which is completely ridiculous in so many ways.
Does all conservative news really start at 4chan?
Is The Drudge Report really conservative anymore?
Are they really saying these outlets are “Intentionally” misreporting the news?
There may be a lawsuit in the works here.
Newsbusters reported on the segment and posted a partial transcript. Chuck Todd pressed establishment conservative Matthew Continetti of the Free Beacon on the Meet the Press smear of independent conservative media and Continetti responded by throwing everyone under the bus.
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TODD: Matthew, I wanted you to address what I think is an ecosystem problem, at least on the right. I want to put up something that my colleague, Ben Collins, put here. It’s a bit of an ecosystem here. It’ll say, something starts on 4Chan. There’s the subreddit of Trump. InfoWars might pick it up. Then it starts inching into the mainstream. Gateway Pundit might just say, “Oh, what’s this about?” Then it gets to Drudge, might have a provocative headline link. Rush might say it in his fun, little way. Then it does make its way into Fox News and then, of course, your Facebook feed. How do you create more accountability in the conservative ecosystem for, basically, dealing with propaganda? CONTINETTI: Well, it’s hard work. And I think it begins by trying to instruct young conservatives in the canons of journalism, mainly, empirical verification, right? And this, I think, the distrusted institutions, that’s longstanding among conservatives, has led many of them to no longer believe in the idea that you need, kind of, evidence, in order to forward a fact. Or they don’t believe in certain verified sources, credentialed sources, of evidence or information. They don’t trust any of it.
Further in his comments Continetti compares conservative outlets to the supermarket tabloids that feature articles about the space alien predicting the next president.
Video: | 4,233 |
Last week rumors began to fly about the Sayre Area School District cutting a number of programs.
Programs potentially on the chopping block include art, music, home economics and foreign languages. The Sayre Education Union Facebook page said that could mean furloughing a quarter of their teachers. That prompted many students to take action by staging a sit-in.
Protestors said everyone who chose to take part was marked absent. They also faced detention or suspension if they left the auditorium to go to the bathroom or get lunch.
“They kicked me out before I got to (eat lunch) because I went to the bathroom and they wouldn’t let me back into the auditorium,” freshman Nick Park said. “So they said it’s either go back (to class), get written up or just leave school. And I’m not going to get written up just for going to the bathroom.”
Eventually all students left the auditorium to march around campus with their signs.
Many protesters and community members said that cutting these programs will only hurt students in the long run.
“Not all schools have electives and we have them so that we can learn skills that are going to help us in the outside world,” Park said.
“Family consumer science which is like home-economics, when they’re cutting that they’re also like cutting our futures because they teach us how to cook, they teach us how to take care of children,” sophomore Olivia Rumsey said.
“Most of the things that I use today like I work at the grill after school are skills I’ve learned from those classes with my life now,” junior Brianna Reynolds said.
“The arts in a lot of the school districts in our area they’re starting to do away with them and I’m thinking why are you letting the most important programs go?” former teacher Glenda Otten said. “So no, I would be totally against that.”
Students said they’re heartbroken knowing they may have to say goodbye to some of the most important people in their lives.
“To these teachers we’re their children and to us they’re like the secondary parents and they just want to take care of us and let us learn,” Rumsey said.
Calls to the district for comment were not immediately returned.
A school board meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. Monday night in the high school auditorium. | 4,234 |
The police helicopter was called in the aftermath of the funeral of murdered dad-of-one Clarence Edwards because of a cortege of off-road bikes and quad bikes.
Five men were later arrested across south Manchester, Trafford and Salford and six bikes were seized following reports of dangerous driving and anti-social behaviour throughout the afternoon.
Around 50 bikes were dispersed by police from the Southern Cemetery area of Chorlton at around 2.50pm today and the force helicopter was dispatched to monitor the situation.
There were then numerous reports of dangerous driving and anti-social behaviour in areas including Ashton-on-Mersey, Stretford and Salford.
The men - aged between 18 and 25 - were arrested for a number of offences including theft, dangerous driving and public order offences.
The off-road bike cortege is believed to have been a tribute to Clarence, 26 - who was a bike enthusiast.
(Image: Dominic Salter)
Eye-witnesses spotted bikes being driven on pavements, the wrong way round roundabouts and through Salford Precinct.
Karen Watts wrote on Facebook: “I got caught up in them at Trafford park and was very scared as they were intimidating workers in the car parks and bringing traffic to a halt while they tore up the grass verges.”
Charlotte Johnson wrote: “My son was nearly knocked over and he was on footpath, i understand this was for a funeral, but someone was going to get hurt.”
A number were involved in police chases and officers stopped a number of bikes using ‘stinger’ devices in the road.
Chief Inspector Mark Dexter, said: “This incident was particularly difficult to deal with, the speed and manoeuvrability of the group combined with the heavy traffic made stopping the group very challenging.
“With support from the National Police Air Service we were able to coordinate ground patrols and, using a range of tactics, intercept and disable the bikes.
“These individuals caused chaos and danger on the roads and we used all the tactics available to us to stop them as quickly as possible.
“We have made a number of arrests and seized a number of the bikes and will continue to review video footage with a view to identifying and prosecuting those who were involved today.”
Clarence - also known as Clay - was stabbed to death during a disturbance outside a nightclub on Charles Street, Manchester city centre last month.
Five people have been arrested in connection with his murder but no-one has yet been charged. | 4,235 |
DHAKA (Reuters) - A university professor was hacked to death on Saturday in northwestern Bangladesh, police said, with Islamic State claiming responsibility for the latest in a series of attacks on liberal activists.
An Islamic State flag is seen in this picture illustration taken February 18, 2016. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration
Two assailants on a motorcycle attacked Rezaul Karim Siddiquee, 58, an English professor at Rajshahi University, slitting his throat and hacking him to death, Rajshahi city police chief Mohammad Shamsuddin told reporters, quoting witnesses.
He was found lying in a pool of blood near his home, where he was apparently waiting for a bus to the university campus about 200 kilometers (125 miles) northwest of Dhaka when he was attacked.
Islamic State claimed responsibility for the killing of the professor for “calling to atheism”, the U.S.-based SITE monitoring service said quoting the militant group’s Amaq Agency.
Police said the murder was similar to other recent attacks on secular bloggers by Islamist militants. But fellow university teachers said Siddiquee, while active in cultural events, never spoke or wrote anything about religion or Islam.
“Professor Rezaul was killed in a similar fashion as the killings of bloggers,” Shamsuddin said, adding he was a peaceful person and had no enemies.
The Muslim-majority nation of 160 million has seen a surge in violent attacks over the past few months in which members of minority Muslim sects and other religious groups have also been targeted.
Five secular bloggers and a publisher have been hacked to death in Bangladesh since February last year.
A group affiliated with al Qaeda claimed responsibility for the killing of a liberal Bangladeshi blogger earlier this month, the SITE has said.
Bangladesh authorities said the homegrown militant group Ansarullah Bangla Team is behind the attacks on online critics of religious extremism.
The gruesome killing on Saturday triggered a protest by teachers and students of the Rajshahi University, blocking a major road and demanding immediate arrest of the killers. Three teachers at the university have been killed in recent years.
Islamic State has also claimed responsibility for the killings of two foreigners, and attacks on mosques and Christian priests in Bangladesh since September, but police said local militant group Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen was behind those attacks.
The government has denied that the Islamic State or al Qaeda groups have a presence in Bangladesh. At least five militants have been killed in shootouts since November as security forces have stepped up a crackdown on Islamist militants looking to establish a sharia-based Muslim state. | 4,236 |
Natti is one-third of the underground alt. rap legends Cunninlynguists and this is his first solo record, though he is frequently backed up by the other members of his group. Fellow Cunninlynguist MC Deacon The Villian shows up on half the tracks, and Cunninlynguist skilled beatmaker Kno lends his skills to numerous tracks as well.
http://cunninlynguists.bandcamp.com/album/still-motion
Hopsin – Knock Madness
Hopsin has been building up quite a name for himself, fueling his rise with a multi-part introspective series called The Ill Mind Of Hopsin. On Knock Madness, Hopsin as usual has an anti-drug/anti-alcohol bent that puts him in a different class of rappers, even if part of the time he falls ill with boring tropes and rap cliches. Where this record really shines is in Hopsin’s raw passionate skill as an MC and his Eminem-like ability to change his flow in so many different ways, and he tops that by showing off some skill as a singer on several tracks as well. Knock Madness is a pissed-off ode to immature youth grasping for truth while wishing everything daily death. Dig it.
https://play.spotify.com/album/16SMGvTZrwtiJ132g69toP
Ghostface Killah – Twelve Reasons To Die
While other members of Wu have gone soft, or delivered a myriad of half-baked albums, Ghostface has never lost his touch and Twelve Reasons To Die is a warning shot to the larger rap world that (some) Wu rappers still got it. On Twelve Reasons To Die, Ghostface continues his reign as both the most prolific and most consistent member of the Wu-Tang Clan to have continued success in a solo career. As usual, he is backed up by a lot of Wu members, making this Wu-Joint Wu-Tang as fuck bitch. C.R.E.A.M. per usual.
http://soultemplemusic.bandcamp.com/album/twelve-reasons-to-die
Childish Gambino – Because The Internet
Donald Glover is one talented dude. He is a comedy writer, actor, producer, and also a skilled rapper who goes by the moniker Childish Gambino, which he fully admits came from a Wu-Tang instant name generator. Lurking between typical rap themes and tropes are some very cerebral and introspective lyrics that ring true and keep me coming back. | 4,237 |
may look seductive to those who think economic expansion is all that matters to a society, but can the repressive Beijing model survive the inevitable day when growth slows down? Government by experts, “the rule of the knowers” or “the epistocracy”, was advocated by Plato and is still promoted by those who regard citizens as too stupid to be trusted with making decisions. The public wouldn’t wear that and “intellectuals” are just as prone to making terrible mistakes as the crowd. Runciman seems attracted to the idea that technological advances could offer some form of “liberation”, but comes to the equivocal conclusion that this “includes all sorts of potential futures: some wondrous, some terrible, and most wholly unknowable”.
I share a lot of his anxieties, but ultimately he didn’t persuade me to subscribe to his underlying despair. For all its manifest and manifold imperfections, democracy has a better record than any rival form of government at sustaining free, innovative, peaceful and prosperous societies. Yes, democracy is often messy, clumsy and ineffectual. Yes, voters sometimes empower ghastly rulers. Yes, democracy is looking tired at this moment in its history. But almost despite himself, and without saying it this explicitly, Runciman seems to accept that there is something special about democracy. One of its great merits is the capacity for self-questioning and self-correction, which is lacking in other systems of government whether they be tyranny by emperor, colonel, president of the praesidium, priests or data. Democracy can go wrong, but it has the flexibility to put itself right. As Runciman acknowledges, “democratic politics assumes there is no settled answer to any question” and this “protects us against getting stuck with truly bad ideas”. As Tocqueville put it: “More fires get started in a democracy, but more fires get put out too.”
I finished this book feeling more hopeful than I thought I would be and the author probably expects his readers to be. Democracy can change its mind and by doing so it can improve its circumstances and prospects. This is a precious quality that contains within it the possibility of renewal. Donald Trump is not the end of democracy’s story.
• How Democracy Ends by David Runciman is published by Profile (£14.99). To order a copy for £12.74 go to guardianbookshop.com or call 0330 333 6846. Free UK p&p over £10, online orders only. Phone orders min p&p of £1.99 | 4,238 |
UCLA basketball players LiAngelo Ball, Jalen Hill and Cody Riley were arrested for shoplighting sunglasses during a trip to Shanghai for a game against Georgia Tech. President Trump tweeted Wednesday that the players were facing 10 years in prison, despite earlier reports that they would serve 20 days under house arrest.
“Do you think the three UCLA Basketball Players will say thank you President Trump? They were headed for 10 years in jail!,” tweeted the President.
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/930815626460921856&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.si.com%2Fcollege-basketball%2F2017%2F11%2F15%2Fdonald-trump-ucla-basketball-players-liangelo-ball-china-tweet
At a press conference Wednesday, Cody Riley thanked President Trump for securing his release.
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“To President Trump and the United States government, thank you for taking the time to intervene on our behalf,” UCLA basketball player Cody Riley said.
UCLA basketball players detained for shoplifting in China thank Pres. Trump for his help in bringing them home: "We really appreciate you helping us out." https://t.co/YdBGH65S4m pic.twitter.com/AmkGkIG2kC — ABC News (@ABC) November 15, 2017
LA Times reports:
Trump said Tuesday that he had spoken to Chinese President Xi Jinping about the three athletes, who were taken into custody while in Hangzhou for a game against Georgia Tech. Their teammates left China after the game, but freshmen LiAngelo Ball, Jalen Hill and Cody Riley were held until Tuesday, when they boarded a plane in Shanghai. When they arrived in Los Angeles, the three ignored reporters’ questions. They planned to speak at a news conference Wednesday. The players have not explained the circumstances of their confinement, but Trump on Tuesday said that “what they did was unfortunate.” “You know, you’re talking about very long prison sentences,” he said, then added of the Chinese: “They do not play games.”
At the press conference, UCLA men’s basketball coach Steve Alford said “I can’t thank enough the incredible folks here at UCLA, at the Pac-12 and even President Trump and his administration for the nonstop efforts to resolve this situation.” | 4,239 |
He is better known for his interest in sustainable architecture and energy saving property refurbishment, but that doesn’t stop Kevin McCloud from having a good time.
The Grand Designs presenter has revealed he made an episode of his long-running architecture show “deliberately designed to get people as drunk as possible” after discovering its fans had invented a drinking game based on the series.
The rules of the drinking game required viewers to drink when regular incidents happened on the show, such as the owners running out of money or quitting their job to manage the project.
McCloud said: “We even actually wrote an entire programme around the drinking and it’s covert so one of the programmes is deliberately designed to get people as drunk as possible.
“There are all kinds of rules like every time I used the word ‘bespoke’ it’s a double shot, the wife gets pregnant half way through, that's a treble.”
Other rules include having a drink if the owners ignore planning permission or their windows do not fit.
McCloud, who has been presenting the show for more than 15 years, was awarded an MBE last year.
He set up his own lighting design firm and appeared on BBC makeover show Home Front before launching Grand Designs, which he writes and presents. It has led to a spin-off magazine, books and a live show.
Impressive Grand Designs homes Show all 8 1 /8 Impressive Grand Designs homes Impressive Grand Designs homes Grand Designs' best houses The 'Sliding House' in Suffolk, which has an outer shell that can be moved to offer shelter and sun in different parts of the house Rex Features Impressive Grand Designs homes Grand Designs' best houses A sustainable eco-house in Staplehurst, Kent Rex Features Impressive Grand Designs homes Grand Designs' best houses One of Kevin McCloud's all-time favourite builds, Lucy Fairweather's modern house in Woodbridge Channel 4 Impressive Grand Designs homes Grand Designs' best houses Corten cladding and glass home in County Derry Impressive Grand Designs homes Grand Designs' best houses 1930s credentials with 21st century efficiency in Bromley, South London Impressive Grand Designs homes Grand Designs' best houses Japanese-inspired bamboo haven in Monmouthshire Impressive Grand Designs homes Grand Designs' best houses Rob and Kay's sleek glass home in North Wales inspired by the cliff top villas of California Impressive Grand Designs homes Grand Designs' best houses Inside Rob and Kay's North Wales home
He is currently filming a new show for Channel 4 about people who have chosen to live in isolation from the modern world. | 4,240 |
Frank Eudy's biggest fan walked out the front door Thursday night on Big Brother 18.
After the season 14 winner for "America's Favorite Houseguest" took Bridgette under his wing, the traveling nurse instantly became a target. Once that target started to fade away, she decided to flip the house in order to go against Paulie to evict Zakiyah. While Bridgette becoming bold with a big move impressed superfans, she was unfortunately sent packing soon after.
THR caught up with Bridgette to find out what she said to Paulie on the way out the door and which former player she wishes played the game this season.
Who do you hope doesn't go far in the game?
Paulie and Nicole.
What were you saying to Paulie as you were leaving the house and how do you hope it will impact his game?
I told Paulie he needs to cool it and be nice to Natalie. I had been telling him all morning what he said to her was inappropriate and I really hope Natalie is okay right now.
You are a fan of this game. If you could compare your game to a past player, who would it be and why?
I want to say Frank. In season 14, the whole house was against him from the beginning... I felt very similar throughout the game.
If it weren’t Nicole, James, Frank and Da’Vonne, which four former players would you have liked to play the game with and why?
I would have loved to play the game with Donny [Thompson]. He’s got a heart of gold, I’ve always wanted to meet him, and I absolutely love honest, genuine people.
You missed Zingbot this season. Give us your best zing to three remaining houseguests.
James: Hey James, the diner down the street just named a pancake after you. Because of all your flip-flopping. Zing!
Nicole: Nicole, I heard they were throwing another parade for you… the featured float is a giant Corey and you get to hide right in his shadow. Zing!
Paulie: Hey Paulie, are you secretly a scuba diver? Because you’ve gone off the deep end. Zing!
Were you just starting to be a Bridgette fan before she was sent packing? Would Bridgette and Donny have been a solid alliance? Which houseguest would you zing? Give your best zing in the comments section below and stay tuned to The Live Feed for all things Big Brother. | 4,241 |
It has always been my view that corporations are groups of people united for various purposes, often to benefit from a business venture guided by competent management. Initially I worried little about the legal details, nor even about the legal history. A bunch of people incorporate or form a company to achieve certain perfectly acceptable, even admirable goals. Sometimes this can be done via a partnership, sometimes by incorporating, sometimes for profit, sometimes not.
Then I started to get involved in political philosophy and found that there is a whole lot of hostility toward these outfits, mainly from Leftists but also from some so called left-libertarians. I am not sure why from the latter.
This is intended as a brief response to Tibor R. Machan's latest piece First, let's narrow this down to corporations specifically (as opposed to other types of partnerships).The corporation as such is not just a large partnership -- a joint stock company, or something of the sort.Rather, the corporation is a creature of the state from beginning (its claim to legitimacy is based on state charter) to end (it receives "artificial personhood" and "limited liability" by state edict).These state-bestowed privileges result in state-imposed injury on others. For example, a person injured by someone acting on behalf of a corporation is limited as to the damages he can seek to recover.These state-bestowed privileges also distort the market by making the corporation artificially competitive/profitable. The single proprietor or partners in a non-corporate business must either carry liability insurance that corporate owners get automatically from the state (in the form of that "limited liability"), or else run a perpetual risk of personal financial ruin that corporate "shareholders" don't run. This raises their costs, and therefore their prices, but not the corporation's.The corporation's artificially inflated profits produce additional distorting ripples in the market. Corporations grow faster than they could in a free market because they have more capital to invest in that growth. And the bigger they get, the more effectively they lobby government for additional privileges, subsidies and "protections."It's a snowball effect that starts with that one little thing -- "here's a corporate charter -- you aren't bound by the same rules as other market actors, the state will protect you from risk."Corporations are not pure market actors. They are part-market, part-state actors. The "market" part is privatized profits. The "state" part is socialized risk. Aside from the obvious prima facie unfairness of that kind of setup, it has consequences. Negative consequences. Sort of like Gresham's Law -- bad business drives out good. | 4,242 |
(CNN) Thousands of marchers flooded the streets of Berlin for the annual Christopher Street Day parade on Saturday in support of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights.
No doubt this year's event will be particularly sweet for those celebrating pride as it comes just weeks after German lawmakers voted to legalize same-sex marriage in the country.
Paradegoers march alongside decorated trucks on Saturday during the 2017 Christopher Street Day gay pride celebration in Berlin, Germany.
Dressed in vibrant, multi-colored outfits, some participants worn "Stop transphobia" stickers as well.
The bill passed convincingly by 393 votes to 226 allowing Germany to join the club of over 20 countries -- including France, Denmark, Spain and the UK -- where same-sex marriage is already legal.
German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier finalized the process by signing the "marriage for all" bill on Thursday with the legislation due to take effect from October 1, German public broadcaster Deutsche Welle reported
The parade saw people of all nationalities -- like this participant from Russia -- join the festivities.
A man wears an intricate headpiece featuring a model ship and minions.
Despite patches of rain, brightly-colored crowds danced as music blared from trucks along the parade route with partygoers holding multi-colored banners and placards and others donning elaborate costumes.
The annual Christopher Street Day parade recognizes the 1969 New York riots sparked by a police raid of a gay bar in the city. Seen by many as a turning point in the fight for gay rights, it has been celebrated in Germany since 1979.
The Bundestag, Germany's parliament, recently passed a law that allows marriage between same-sex couples, finally giving them the same rights by marriage as for heterosexuals.
Many had doubted if the day would ever come when same-sex marriage would be recognized. Chancellor Angela Merkel and her conservative CDU party had long opposed legalization, promoting "traditional" family values instead.
But Merkel signaled a shift in her position last month, triggering a chain of events that lead to a vote.
A "Love is Love" float makes its way through Berlin's streets during the parade.
A Sister of Perpetual Indulgence strikes a pose during the annual gay pride parade in Berlin.
There had been widespread support for gay marriage among voters with two-thirds of Germans said they were in favor of legalizing same-sex marriage in a YouGov poll released before the bill passed in the German Senate.
The bill gives homosexual couples in Germany the same rights as heterosexual couples, and will allow same-sex couples to marry and jointly adopt children. | 4,243 |
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) on Tuesday called on governments to more closely monitor sex trafficking and lend specialized assistance to the 1.5 million refugees expected to enter the European Union this year, warning of a surge in sexual assault against women being smuggled across the Mediterranean Sea from West Africa.
The IOM reported that tens of thousands of people continue to pour into Europe each day, but the group expressed particular concern for the fate of women, who are increasingly representing a larger percentage of refugees. IOM said last week that 4,371 women and girls from Nigeria have reached Italy since January. Most of them — about 80 percent, according to IOM — were trafficked and became victims of sexual violence.
"Over the past few months we have observed an exponential rise in sea arrivals of African women, mainly from Nigeria," IOM's Federico Soda said in a statement.
About 710,000 people, most fleeing violence in Iraq, Syria and Eritrea, have crossed into the EU this year, according to the EU border agency Frontex. About 3,000 people have died during the attempt.
Roughly 13 percent of refugees traveling toward Europe are women, according to the United Nations. Of those, some 4,200 are estimated to be pregnant and another 1,400 "at risk of sexual violence."
But with the prospect of more women and girls arriving, governments and aid groups need to adapt to the needs of the changing demographic, the IOM said. The group called on Italy to open more reception centers for women and to spend more resources against sex trafficking.
Viriri added authorities should also be more attuned to the needs of other vulnerable refugees such as unaccompanied minors and disabled people making their way to Europe.
“We do need to look more at the kind of specialist support that’s needed,” said Itayi Viriri, an IOM spokesman in Geneva. “We certainly need to find out more to make sure that people who do need extra help are given that help.”
On Sunday, the United Nations echoed those sentiments. The U.N.'s Global Initiative to Fight Human Trafficking called on European authorities to improve screening for trafficking victims and protect more vulnerable refugees.
“It is imperative today to acknowledge that not only specific anti-trafficking policies but all related policies and especially migration policies must be consistent with the priority of preventing and eradicating trafficking and exploitation,” Maria Grazia Giammarinaro, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially women and children, said in a statement.
With wire services | 4,244 |
Professor Marc Waelkens' archaeological team has discovered the oldest Roman baths in Asia Minor known to date in Sagalassos, Turkey. Sagalassos was inhabited as a city until the 7th century AD, when it was destroyed by earthquakes. Waelkens has directed excavations at the sight every summer for the past 21 years.
Until now, the Capito Baths in Miletus, built during the reign of Emperor Claudius (41-54 AD), were considered the oldest known Roman bathing complex in Asia Minor. This summer, however, in addition to the previously unearthed Imperial Baths (ca. 120-165 AD -- with a surface area of more than 5,000 square metres), a second bathing complex was discovered in Sagalassos, below the remains of the Imperial Baths. It is much older and smaller than the Imperial Baths and is dated to 10-30 AD, though it was probably built somewhat earlier, during the reign of Augustus or Tiberius. The complex measures 32.5 by 40 metres and is far better preserved than was originally thought. The walls must have been at least 12 metres high, of which 8.5 metres remain erect today.
These Old Baths were replaced by the larger Imperial Baths, when Hadrian selected Sagalassos as the centre of the Imperial cult for all of Pisidia, to which the city belonged. This included the organisation of festivals and games (agones), which attracted thousands, so that a new urban infrastructure became necessary in order to accommodate the Pisidian visitors to these events.
The Roman and Italian bathing habits consisted of a succession of a warm water pool, a hot water pool and a cold water pool. Each pool was housed in a separate space; a 'tepidarium', a 'caldarium' and a 'frigidarium', respectively. The latter usually contained a pool (a 'piscina' or 'natatio').
Excavations this past summer also revealed the façade of an important public building dating from the reign of Emperor Augustus (25 BC -- 14 AD). It may have been the town hall of Sagalassos. Furthermore, it was concluded that the triumphal arch, hitherto thought to pay tribute to Caligula, was actually erected in honour of his uncle and successor Claudius (41-54 AD) and Claudius' brother Germanicus, Caligula's father.
At the end of the season's excavations, an Antonine Nymphaeum (monumental fountain) was inaugurated at the site.
For more information, visit: http://www.sagalassos.be | 4,245 |
It was just recently that we brought you images of the 2018 Jimny being tested for benchmarking but earlier than that we also showed you the images that were leaked online. But now, with this new pictures, we can say with certainty that there's a lot of progress that has gone into the production of the Jimny. Images shared from a Twitter handle called Hunfooli shows the 2018 Jimny sans any camouflage and inside the factory. Of course, from what we can see, the Jimny is probably undergoing trial production and while we expected it to be showcased at the Tokyo Motor Show, Suzuki reserved the debut for another day.
The Suzuki Jimny flaunts its boxy design and old school looks. Those have been its signature qualities and it seems like the new Suzuki Jimny will also have them in abundance. In fact, the new Suzuki Jimny is boxier than ever and the new design makes it look even better by making it look more sophisticated. The five-slat grille and the circular headlamps make it look like a mini G-Class and that's where the'sophisticatiion' part comes in.
The new Jimny also comes with a more muscular bumper with round foglamps, a clamshell style bonnet. The Jimny continues to be a two-door model with flared wheel arches and side skirts and twin-5-spoke black alloy wheels, boxy ORVMs. The rear comes with a tailgate mounted the spare wheel and different coloured-lights on the rear bumper.
The 2018 Jimny looks better than before and will remain to be a two-door SUV
The cabin is not visible in these images but based on the leaked photos from last time we can tell you that the interior will also be all-new. The new dashboard design will come with a modern classic look with large control dials and knobs, a touch screen infotainment system, large two-pot instrument cluster and more.
The SUV will also come equipped with Suzuki's Allgrip Pro 4x4 system for improved capabilities. On the other hand, engine options are likely to include the 1-litre BoosterJet turbocharged petrol, as well as the 1.2-litre petrol options. India will definitely be on the radar for the Jimny, considering how well the country is responding to SUVs and compact ones at that. We wait to hear what Maruti Suzuki has to say about its launch but we can't wait to know when it'll make its way here.
For the latest auto news and reviews, follow carandbike.com on Twitter, Facebook, and subscribe to our YouTube channel. | 4,246 |
Employee Leasing Should “Save” You Money
Employee leasing is designed to save money and alleviate administrative aspects of a business such as payroll, taxes and employee benefits.
Employee Leasing providers assume the human resources responsibilities so you can focus on growth and profitability.
Payroll Consultants’ knowledgeable team manages over 3,000 employee leasing accounts nationwide. Contact us to learn more about the benefits of employee leasing.
Please do not hesitate to call us toll free at 1-866-684-5684
Companies all over the United States are using Employee Leasing for all their human resource needs because it provides:
Relief from the burden of employment administration.
Assistance to improve productivity and profitability.
Improved employment practices, compliance and risk management to reduce liabilities.
Access to a comprehensive employee benefits package, allowing clients to be competitive in the labor market.
A wide range of personnel management solutions through a team of professionals.
Payroll Consultants will find an Employee Leasing / HR Outsourcing Company that’s right for your type of business.
That company will assume your human resources responsibilities so you can focus on running your business and growing your bottom line.
You retain full ownership and control over the operations of your company. The service provider and your company contractually share employer responsibilities and liabilities. The service provider typically assumes responsibility for administration, payroll, taxes and benefits. You continue to have responsibility for worksite safety and compliance.
Employee Leasing Companies, or “PEOs” (Professional Employer Organizations):
Provides access to comprehensive benefits often previously unavailable – 401(k), Section 125 plan, comprehensive insurance benefits, Flexible Spending Plan.
Delivers on-time and accurate payroll.
Provides professional assistance with employment-related issues.
Supplies easy-to-read employee handbooks, policies, procedures and practices.
Enables more employees to receive statutory protection.
Improves communication among and between employees.
Offers up-to-date information on labor regulations, workers’ rights and worksite safety.
Processes claims efficiently and responsively.
Enables employees who move from one PEO client to another to avoid loss of eligibility for benefits.
Provides improved access to payroll information, benefits, personnel data, vacation and sick time accrual, and specialized reports.
May offer credit union membership and banking privileges.
Frequently offers exclusive employee discounts and rates on travel, entertainment and services.
For government, an Employee Leasing Company / PEO: | 4,247 |
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A young Brookfield man who successfully completed his probation was automatically entitled to have his marijuana conviction expunged — as a judge originally ordered — even though he was later arrested, causing the judge to change her mind.
The Wisconsin Supreme Court on Thursday reversed a lower-court ruling, which concluded Kearney Hemp had missed his chance for expungement. The court heard oral arguments in the case last month in Waukesha, as part of its annual Justice on Wheels program, which brings court operations around the state.
Reversal improper
In its ruling, the high court found that now-retired Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Jean DiMotto improperly exercised her discretion when she reversed the decision she made at sentencing to find Hemp, 24, eligible for expungement.
For people under 25, Wisconsin law allows expungement of convictions for offenses that carry no more than a six-year prison term as a maximum sentence.
Hemp pleaded guilty in 2010 to a single felony count of possession with intent to distribute marijuana. He was sentenced to 30 days in jail and other conditions of an 18-month term of probation.
DiMotto ordered expungement upon successful completion of the probation. By December 2011, Hemp finished the probation successfully.
But it wasn't until late 2012 that Hemp's lawyer filed a form seeking expungement. By that time, Hemp was facing new charges in Walworth County of drunken driving and possessing marijuana.
The new charges prompted DiMotto to ask Hemp to explain why he should get the prior conviction expunged. Unsatisfied with the answer, she denied the expungement, and Hemp appealed.
Hemp's attorney argued that the law doesn't require the extra petition for expungement, that it was granted at sentencing and became effective without extra steps by the defendant, when he successfully completed the probation.
Extra hoops
In Thursday's ruling, the high court found that defendants should not have to jump through extra hoops after completing probation in order for an expungement to take effect.
Legal Action of Wisconsin, which filed a friend of the court brief in the Hemp case, said the ruling corrects a common problem.
"Our investigation revealed that many times, the expungement paperwork was not filed by prison officials and the expungement never went through," attorney Erica Sweitzer-Beckman said in a statement. "Clients learn of this error when the conviction continues to appear on their record when they're applying for jobs, for example. If it had been expunged, it would not be appearing on their records." | 4,248 |
The unemployment rate for black Americans jumped to 7.7% in January, up from 6.8% in December, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The increase came during a month in which President Donald Trump repeatedly touted the record-low rate in tweets and his State of the Union address.
The black unemployment rate is still down significantly from a high of 16.8% in March 2010, but it also remains well above the unemployment rate for white Americans.
The unemployment rate for black Americans jumped in January, a month in which President Donald Trump leaned on the figure as proof of the positive effects of his economic agenda.
In the January jobs report, released Friday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the black unemployment rate increased to 7.7% from 6.8% in December. The rate in December was its lowest since the BLS began tracking black unemployment in 1972.
Trump used the record-low figure multiple times in January to argue that his economic policies were benefitting black Americans.
In one case, Trump tweeted about the record-low rate in response to criticism from the rapper and businessman Jay-Z.
"Somebody please inform Jay-Z that because of my policies, Black Unemployment has just been reported to be at the LOWEST RATE EVER RECORDED!" Trump tweeted on Sunday morning.
CNN had aired a special interview with Jay-Z the evening before in which he said Trump's slur toward African countries showed the president was "looking down on a whole population of people." He also addressed Trump's touting of the record-low rate.
"It's not about money at the end of the day," the rapper said. "Money doesn't equate to happiness. It doesn't. That's missing the whole point. You treat people like human beings. That's the main point."
Trump also tweeted about the record low on January 19 — and he mentioned it Tuesday during his first State of the Union address.
The black unemployment rate in January was at its highest since April, and the month-over-month increase was its largest since June 2012. While the jump is notable, demographic unemployment rates can be subject to volatility since they are based on survey data.
The unemployment rate for black Americans remains in a long-term cyclical decline — down from a peak of 16.8% in March 2010.
At the same time, it remains higher than the unemployment rate for white Americans, which declined to 3.5% in January from 3.7% the month before. Black unemployment has never been equal to or lower than white unemployment in any month since the BLS began tracking it. | 4,249 |
Don’t Be Embarrassed About Talking to Yourself. Instead, Do It More Often
Being caught talking to yourself can be one of the most mortifying experiences. Whether you’re encouraging yourself to get a task done or chastising yourself for making a mistake, it’s a nightmare to be called out on it, especially considering the stigma that people who talk to themselves are “crazy.” But if anyone’s ever laughed at you for talking to yourself, the joke’s on them.
According to a new study, talking to yourself is not only totally normal, it might actually be healthy. Researchers at Bangor University asked participants to read written instructions either silently or out loud. They then measured each participant’s concentration and performance of each task. As it turned out, they improved greatly when those instructions were read aloud.
MUST-SEE: What Is Self Care?
This isn’t the first study to point to benefits of talking to yourself, either. Back in 2001, researchers found that humans’ brains act more like monkeys’ brains when we stop talking to ourselves—whether it’s silently or out loud.
Apart from talking to yourself being a sign of high cognitive functioning, more researchers are beginning to say that “self-talk” can also help with recalling memories as well as improving your confidence level and sharpening your focus.
“It’s not an irrational thing to do,” said Gary Lupyan, an associate professor of psychology at the University of Wisconsin. “You don’t know everything you’re going to say—you can even surprise yourself.”
MUST-SEE: Everything You Need to Know About Meditation and Weight Loss
Lupyan, who has studied how hearing ourselves speak can impact our memories, added that saying a name—any name—out loud can be incredibly powerful in recalling memories.
He said, “Think of it as a pointer to a chunk of information in your mind. Hearing the name exaggerates what might normally happen if you just bring something to mind. Language boosts that process.”
And this news gives us a big boost for the next time someone give us a hard time for talking to ourselves! As it turns out, we were doing it right all along.
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Home Remedies for Chronic Pain: Get the Relief You Deserve | 4,250 |
Should the Houston Texans use their first round pick on a quarterback no matter what?
The Texans have a very tough decision to make when it comes to whether they should take a quarterback in the first round of this year’s draft.
NFL draft expert Mike Mayock of the NFL Network was a guest on Sean, Rich & Ted talk this past week and talked about the Texans’ quarterback situation heading into this year’s draft.
“I think they’re in a really spot. And I don’t know how confident they felt about the whole Romo thing. You know I wasn’t behind their closed doors. I don’t know how they feel about the quarterbacks in their building,” said Mayock. “But they’re in a tough spot because unless they move up, I don’t think DeShaun Watson or Mitch Trubisky are going to be there at 25. They’re the two most logical guys. “But I think there’s another point that has to be discussed here and that is you know this Tom Savage kid, is he better than most of the quarterbacks coming out this year?”
Mayock said that he coached Savage in a high school all-star game and knows he’s a talented passer.
“There aren’t any good answers for Houston right now. Do you want Cutler? Do you want Kapernick? I don’t want that. And I look at the draft and I’m not sure if at 25 there’s an answer. And I go, rather than reach for a quarterback at 25, I’d rather go get a good right tackle that can develop into a left tackle,” he continued.
Mayock then said he would rather the Texans go with Savage so they can finally find out what kind of quarterback they have in him, rather than reaching for a signal-caller in this year’s draft.
This would make sense since it’s a contract year for Savage. But whether the Texans draft a quarterback or not, he’ll likely be Houston’s week one starter.
At the end of the day, the Texans’ decision to draft a quarterback will come down to how much pressure is on both general manager Rick Smith and head coach Bill O’Brien to find a franchise quarterback now.
It might make sense for the Houston Texans to wait until next year to use a first round pick on a quarterback if the right one doesn’t fall into their lap’s this year. | 4,251 |
Jeremy Kyle guest jailed over community service failure Published duration 7 June 2012
image caption Lamb said he went on the programme to gain access to his daughter
A man who failed to carry out a community service order so he could appear on the Jeremy Kyle Show has been jailed.
Alister Lamb, 23, from Dundee, was ordered to carry out 200 hours of unpaid work in November last year as punishment for housebreaking.
However, by April this year, Lamb had only carried out one hour of the work, claiming he was busy filming.
He was jailed for six months at Dundee Sheriff Court.
During an earlier appearance at the court, Lamb had claimed he appeared on the programme in order to gain access to his daughter.
He was convicted, along with another man, of breaking into a flat in Dundee's Whitfield Avenue in February 2011.
They stole a television, an Xbox console, ornaments, a train set and a toilet seat.
'Simple way'
In a report submitted to Dundee Sheriff Court outlining the breach of his community service order, social workers said: "It would appear that Mr Lamb has not afforded his orders due priority, which is evidenced by his continued failures to attend.
"His most recent evidence to cover absences was an appearance on TV, namely the Jeremy Kyle Show.
"He reports that he now has access to his children, which he contributes to his recent appearance on the Jeremy Kyle Show."
At Thursday's court appearance, Lamb's defence agent, Theo Finlay, said his client had not had "stars in his eyes" by appearing on the programme.
Mr Finlay said: "He felt it was an appropriate way to deal with matters - in his simple way of looking at things, it was a measure of last resort to get contact with his child and he sees that as being successful."
However, in sentencing, Sheriff Tom Hughes told Lamb that he had been given the order as an alternative to jail - so the only option was prison.
He said: "What is particularly difficult in your case is that of the 200 hours imposed, you did only one - and that was when you reported to the social work department to have a programme set up for you.
"So you have done absolutely nothing on this order."
He added: "This was not a licence for you to ignore the order and go off on your own daft frolics like appearing on television shows rather than doing the work asked of you."
A spokeswoman for the Jeremy Kyle Show said the episode Lamb was involved in has not yet been aired. | 4,252 |
The admiral commanding America's Pacific naval fleet says he will retire.
Admiral Scott Swift made the shocking announcement in a statement released late Sept. 25.
In the statement, Swift revealed he had been informed that he would not rise to become Commander of United States Pacific Command, a usual advancement for Navy admirals who commanded the Pacific Fleet.
Admiral Scott Swift, Commander, United States Pacific Fleet. (US Navy photo)
"I have been informed by the Chief of Naval Operations that I will not be his nominee to replace Adm. [Harry] Harris as the Commander, U.S. Pacific Command," he said. "In keeping with tradition and in loyalty to the Navy, I have submitted my request to retire."
Admiral Harry B. Harris, Jr., the current commander of Pacific Command, is reportedly under consideration to serve as the United States ambassador to Australia. Prior to commanding Pacific Command, Harris had commanded the Pacific Fleet.
The Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Fitzgerald (DDG 62) returns to Fleet Activities Yokosuka following a collision with a merchant vessel while operating southwest of Yokosuka, Japan. (Photo: U.S. Navy Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Peter Burghart)
Admiral Swift's career included service with Attack Squadrons 94 and 97, flying the LTV A-7 Corsair. He saw combat during Operation Preying Mantis, and commander Air Wing 14 and Carrier Strike Group 9. His awards include the Distinguished Service Medal, Defense Superior Service Medal, Legion of Merit, Bronze Star, Meritorious Service Medal, and Air Medal with Combat V.
In recent months, the Pacific Fleet as rocked by the collisions involving the Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyers USS Fitzgerald (DDG 62) and USS John S. McCain (DDG 56) that killed a total of 17 sailors and seriously damaged both vessels, which were forward-based as part of Destroyer Squadron 15.
Damage to the portside is visible as the Guided-missile destroyer USS John S. McCain (DDG 56) steers towards Changi Naval Base, Republic of Singapore, following a collision with the merchant vessel Alnic MC while underway east of the Straits of Malacca and Singapore on Aug. 21. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Joshua Fulton/Released)
A number of other officers have been relieved of duty in the wake of those collisions, including Vice Adm. Joseph Aucoin, the commander of the 7th Fleet, and the commanders of Destroyer Squadron 15 and Task Force 70. | 4,253 |
Video screenshot by Tim Hornyak/CNET
Mecha-heads rejoice: A Gundam-style giant robot has come to life in Japan, promising joyrides aplenty in this 13-foot humanoid machine on wheels.
Suidobashi Heavy Industry showed off its Kuratas mecha bot over the weekend in Makuhari just outside Tokyo.
Kuratas is a four-wheeled, 30-joint exoskeleton that can be piloted from its cockpit or remotely with a 3G touch-screen phone. It was demoed at the Wonder Festival, where legions of robot fans gathered.
Kuratas can move its massive torso, arms, and hands, and has a few "weapons" like a "LOHAS launcher," but it actually shoots BB pellets and fireworks. It can also grab things (like humans) with its claw-like fingers.
After all, Kuratas is billed as an "art project" but it "makes your dream of becoming a robot pilot come true," as a promo video tells us.
The man behind it is metalworking wizard Kogoro Kurata, who is known for creating a full-scale cast-iron model of a Scopedog mecha from the 1980s series "Votoms."
Kurata has also done a variety of art and commercial design work in recent years in and around Tokyo. He assembled the robot in a remote garage in the mountains.
Kuratas is a case of life imitating art. It evokes the realism of Votoms and the Gundam animation franchise that debuted in 1979.
Inside the cockpit, AR-style info is overlaid over the video feed. Game-style controls rotate the torso and move the arms. The exterior has "shot-proof armor" and is painted with military-style insignias.
Suidobashi Heavy Industry's logo, meanwhile, recalls those of Japanese weapons and shipbuilding conglomerates like Mitsubishi Heavy Industries.
Video shows the bot rolling through Shibuya and other areas of Tokyo, but that seems unlikely. The capital's near-ubiquitous cops would doubtless halt the machine before it got far.
But if the project goes well and generates enough interest, Kurata and Suidobashi are hoping to build bespoke Kuratas units. A video shows a grainy figure of 1,523,500, but the currency is unclear. The sum in Japanese yen would equal nearly $20,000.
Dreams cost plenty of cash. Check out the gallery of pics above if you need inspiration.
(Via Wired Japan) | 4,254 |
Setting up Emacs as a modern Objective-C editor
Your.emacs.d/ only requires a few software packages and custom Lisp functions to function as a modern Objective-C editor. These instructions are primarily aimed at people developing on GNUstep but could probably be adapted easily for an Apple macOS environment.
First and foremost, emacs-ccls provides IDE features such as code completion, code outlining, and integration into your text completion framework of choice such as company, ivy, or helm.
This technology is powered by the Language Server Protocol which provides these IDE features to text editors through a separate server process.
The setup is quick and easy:
(require 'lsp-mode)
(require 'ccls)
(setq ccls-executable "/var/lib/snapd/snap/bin/ccls")
(add-hook 'objc-mode-hook #'lsp)
Add a.ccls file to the root directory of your Objective-C project with your compiler settings such as the locations of header files. For clang on NEXTSPACE this looks like:
clang
-I/Developer/Headers
-I/usr/NextSpace/include
-fobjc-nonfragile-abi
-F/usr/NextSpace/Frameworks
Now the next time you open a file within that project, ccls will be activated.
To get started, I find the three most helpful functions are finding references, finding definitions, and finding documentation, so I bind those in Objective-C mode to three easy keystrokes: C-x C-d(ocumentation), C-x C-r(eferences), and C-x C-w(here is function defined).
Unfortunately, these packages do not provide rich documentation for Cocoa, so I had to write a function called cocoa-open-documentation to open Apple’s documentation in a web browser when over a specific symbol.
One keybinding that is helpful and already exists is C-x c(ompile) for compiling and running a project. If you’re on macOS, you’ll have to write a shell script to do this for you, but for GNUstep the compile command just looks like make && openapp./App.app.
With all that setup, you now have a pleasantly modern environment for writing Objective-C in.
Note: I am noticing Emacs.app on GNUstep is having trouble opening a web browser. I’ll hopefully submit a patch shortly. | 4,255 |
ATHENS — On the one hand, Kirby Smart called Georgia’s quarterback competition a “see-saw battle.” On the other hand, he came close to acknowledging that last year’s starter remains the favorite.
Greyson Lambert, the fifth-year senior who started all but one game last year, has been first in the pecking order at every media viewing period of practice this spring. He’s been followed by junior Brice Ramsey and freshman Jacob Eason.
The vast majority of practices are not free to be viewed by the media, and none of the scrimmages are. Smart also hasn’t released scrimmage stats. But in evaluating the race, Smart said “there hasn’t been much separation,” then hinted that Lambert has come the closest.
“There’s been a couple times where I thought Greyson was going to stick his head and shoulder above the pack, and then maybe he makes a poor decision,” Smart said. “Then Brice makes a play. Then Jacob makes a throw. It has really been a see-saw battle.”
Lambert, while very inconsistent last year in his first season at Georgia, draws raves for how he manages the offense. Ramsey’s strong point is his arm and even lately his feet. But Smart has also called on Ramsey to exert more leadership. As for Eason, the five-star recruit, his talent has been evident, so has been the fact he should still be in high school.
Smart said three days ago that the competition “almost has to” carry into preseason practice in August. But he said Tuesday that wasn’t his preference.
“It’s frustrating, because I think we would rather have a guy take the leadership role and take the bull by the horns,” Smart said. “But it seems like every time a guy takes a step forward, he makes a poor decision and comes back.”
A definite plan hasn’t been set for splitting snaps on Saturday. In order to get three quarterbacks an equal number of snaps, it’s likely that at least one quarterback will take snaps with both teams.
“We want the reps to come out even, and it’s really not about for who wins or loses, it’s how these guys play for their respective units,” Smart said. “It’s really important for us to get a fair look. I mean if there’s 100 snaps, we want it to come out relatively even.” | 4,256 |
Here are the groups and full schedule for the upcoming SL i-League StarSeries XIV Finals.
SL i-League StarSeries XIV Finals is around the corner, kicking off on January 13th with group A up first, followed up by group B on January 14th.
The groups and full schedule have just been released, as we see Natus Vincere and G2 from the European side joining Asia's CyberZen and North America's Luminosity.
It makes for a very interesting group B, since EnVyUs replaced Method, and seemingly the seeds have not been remade. The Frenchmen will be joining their rivals Titan, as well as Question Mark and the tournament favourites, fnatic.
Group A Group B Na`Vi Na`Vi fnatic fnatic G2 G2 Question Mark Question Mark Luminosity Luminosity Titan Titan CyberZen CyberZen EnVyUs EnVyUs
As mentioned above, the first two days will be reserved for the entire group stage, played without live audience, which will feature an unusual format.
Groups will be played in a GSL best-of-three system, with the group winners advancing directly to semi-finals, while second and third placed teams will play each other in the quarter-finals.
Playoffs will also feature best-of-threes across the board. The tournament will follow the schedule shown below:
Wednesday, January 13th 11:00 Na`Vi Na`Vi CyberZen vs.CyberZen BO3 11:00 G2 G2 Luminosity vs.Luminosity BO3 14:00 Group A winners' match BO3 14:00 Group A elimination match BO3 17:00 Group A decider BO3 Thursday, January 14th 10:00 fnatic fnatic EnVyUs vs.EnVyUs BO3 10:00 Titan Titan Question Mark vs.Question Mark BO3 13:00 Group B winners' match BO3 13:00 Group B elimination match BO3 16:00 Group B decider BO3 Friday, January 15th 11:00 Quarter-final #1 (A3 vs. B2) BO3 17:00 Quarter-final #2 (B3 vs. A2) BO3 Saturday, January 16th 11:00 Semi-final #1 BO3 17:00 Semi-final #2 BO3 Sunday, January 17th 15:00 Grand final BO3
The first big event in 2016, SL i-League StarSeries XIV Finals, runs from January 13-17 and will have $200,000 up for grabs. Official streams will be covering the tournament in English, Russian and Chinese. | 4,257 |
Soundfall brings gaming and music into one sweet-sounding experience
Drastic Games have debuted a unique gaming experience as they reveal their new title, Soundfall. Soundfall is a new action-adventure game, set to upbeat music that accompanies gameplay. If you like a fun adventure game and some good tunes, Soundfall might have you singing.
Check out the trailer below to get an idea of how this unique combination blends into one seamless gameplay composition.
Drastic Games is composed of former Epic Games developers. They describe Soundfall as rhythm-driven dungeon crawler that’s procedurally generated to music.
The Epic Games alumni that have founded Drastic Games, pride Soundfall on melding the charm of classic adventure games with the intensity of twin-stick shooters.
Soundfall is set to be released on all major consoles – that means Playstation, Xbox, PC and Nintendo Switch.
The developers of the game staged an interview to discuss this daring title further. Check it out below to get a closer look at the talent behind Soundfall.
In Soundfall, players will begin their adventure with protagonist, Melody. She’s described as a talented young audiophile who is transported to Symphonia, a world where music comes to live. Melody must befriend endearing allies and wield legendary weapons against a horde of adversaries in a race to halt the return of an unfathomable darkness, Discord.
With the integration of music as a central element of the game, players perform to the beat of the song. Time your actions to the beat of the music to super-charge their effects as you dash, blast, and slash your way through a world forged by sound.
Check out the gameplay for yourself in this uncut footage below:
Share the adventure with up to 3 friends in both couch co-op and online multiplayer.
You don’t have to dance alone either. You can play Soundfall either in a solo mission or you can play with a friend as you take on enemies to the beat of the music. Share the adventure with up to 3 friends in both couch co-op and online multiplayer.
Characters and weapons can progress and improve as you make your way through the game. The levels are also described as hand-crafted and procedural, so you can expect some great things from the gameplay of Soundfall.
Sound good? Want to know more? Check out their website here. The game is still in development and you can make your pledge now by checking out the website linked above. What we know for sure is that Soundfall is on the way and it’s music to our ears. | 4,258 |
Well-mannered: Well, that was awkward—one of those embarrassing breach-of-etiquette moments, like when some guy on the bus asks to borrow your comb. You want to be generous, do the polite thing, etc. but geez...
In our case, the uncomfortable moment involved U.S. District Judge Barbara Lynn, who presided over the recent City Hall corruption trial of former city council member Don Hill, his wife and cronies. After the trial concluded last month, Dallas Observer reporter Sam Merten interviewed one of the jurors who voted to convict Hill and his four co-defendants. Juror Nedra Frazier let slip that there might have been some chitchat among jurors about testimony before deliberations began and jurors might have heard talk about the case outside the jury room. All of which is a no-no.
We posted part of Merten's interview with Frazier on our blog Unfair Park, and Victor Vital, lawyer for Hill's wife, Sheila, used the interview as part of his basis for requesting a new trial for his client. So, Lynn had her clerk call the paper and ask Merten for a copy of his tape of the interview.
We refused, of course.
"Citing to some vague constitutional protection unknown to this Court, the Observer declined to produce the tape to the Court. Because of the Observer's refusal to produce the tape, the Court cannot assess the accuracy of the story," the judge wrote last week in a somewhat snippy footnote to a ruling that partly rejected Vital's motion. She held off ruling on whether Frazier's statement constitutes grounds for granting the motion until she gets a chance to interview Frazier herself.
Listen, judge, we here at the Observer love to be helpful—we're just a big bunch of Boy Scouts—and Lord knows we'd never deliberately do anything to screw up the process of sending a local political hack off to the pokey.
But 'round here we call that "vague constitutional protection" the First Amendment. As our lawyer Steve Suskin explained to Lynn's clerk, if the judge wants our tapes, we at least want a chance to be heard before her on why we think we shouldn't give them up. We wouldn't be the first news organization in Texas to fight a court's request to turn over our work product. We're not in the business of becoming an adjunct to the government.
"The point isn't we don't want anyone to know what is on the tape. There are First Amendment issues that need to be asserted here as a matter of principle," Suskin says.
That's right. We have principles. Who knew? | 4,259 |
Russia court declares Hindu book Bhagvad Gita legal Published duration 28 December 2011
image caption Shiv Sena activists protested against Russia in Amritsar this week
A Russian court has dismissed a call to ban an edition of the Hindu holy book Bhagvad Gita, in a case that triggered protests in India.
Prosecutors in the Siberian city of Tomsk wanted the edition to be ruled "extremist". That would put it in the same category as Hitler's Mein Kampf.
The Russian foreign ministry said it was the commentary on the text, not the text itself, that was under scrutiny.
The edition - Bhagvad Gita As It Is - is used by the Hare Krishna movement.
A lawyer representing the movement in Tomsk, Alexander Shakhov, welcomed the judge's decision, saying it "shows that Russia really is becoming a democratic society".
The controversial commentary on the text was written by A C Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, the founder of the movement, whose full title is the International Society for Krishna Consciousness.
Hare Krishna followers in Russia saw the case as part of efforts by the Russian Orthodox Church to restrict their activities.
India voices concern
The trial began in June and had been due to conclude on 19 December, but it was delayed until 28 December at the request of the Russian ombudsman for human rights.
But neither the ombudsman Vladimir Lukin nor his Tomsk colleague Nelli Krechetova was present in court for Wednesday's ruling.
On Tuesday India's Foreign Minister, SM Krishna, complained to the Russian Ambassador to India, Alexander Kadakin, about the Tomsk prosecution.
Mr Krishna said Indians had reacted very negatively to the alleged infringement of Hindu rights in Russia.
The Bhagvad Gita, one of the most popular texts for Hindus, takes the form of a conversation between the god Krishna and prince Arjuna.
Earlier this month Indian MPs demanded the government protect Hindu rights in Russia, shouting: "We will not tolerate an insult to Lord Krishna."
Ambassador Kadakin, quoted by the AP news agency, distanced himself from the Tomsk prosecutors, saying "any holy scripture, whether it is the Koran, Bhagvad Gita, the Bible, Avesta or Torah cannot be brought into court".
The Russian translation of the book was at risk of being placed on the Federal List of Extremist Materials, which bans more than 1,000 texts including Mein Kampf and publications by the Jehovah's Witness and Scientology movements. | 4,260 |
Paul
I've done many things in my time; the variety is astounding but this is the first time I've been asked with my family to edit a magazine. Why start now? Well, I love food and having for many years been a vegetarian, the idea of turning people on to the delights of such a lifestyle is very appealing.
When Linda and I brought our family up not eating meat, the original reason was our deep love of animals. Once we got the idea that many cultures' cuisines contained meat-free dishes, we began to explore various options and soon found ourselves with a huge repertoire of healthy, and most importantly, great tasting food.
Over the last couple of years, another aspect has entered the picture. It has been pointed out by bodies such as the United Nations that one of the most effective things any individual can do to help the environment is to eat less meat. As a family, we now promote a campaign for Meat Free Mondays, the idea being that if people want to "do their bit" for the future of the planet, it's quite simple for them to leave meat off the menu for one day a week.
What seems to interest people is that this is a relatively easy thing for them to do and at the same time they are helping to secure a better environment for future generations. The United Nations' original report (Livestock's Long Shadow, 2006) pointed out that the livestock industry worldwide is responsible for more harmful greenhouse gases than the whole of the transport sector. Adding to this astounding fact the pleasure and benefits of vegetarian food, it becomes an attractive option to consider. So in this issue of Observer Food Monthly, we hope to show that meat-free dishes can not only be great tasting and easy to prepare but also benefit us all. The kids and I thank the good people at Observer Food Monthly for giving us this opportunity to gently nudge people in what we think is the right direction. Instead of putting people's backs up, we hope that this issue will quietly entice you to dare to look at how you eat and consider whether this is a good moment to make some changes.
Mary
We are thrilled that an entire issue has been dedicated to vegetarianism. If it encourages people to reduce their meat intake by showing just how delicious an alternative it can be, then we will look on it as a great success! We hope you enjoy it.
Stella
This issue is not about being or becoming a vegetarian. It's about opening your mind to new ways of eating that could lead to a healthier, cheaper and more environmental way of living. It's not all or nothing. It's just great food! | 4,261 |
based18 polygenic scores for height (x-axis), but not with UK-Biobank-based polygenic scores (4b) or East Asian GWAS based polygenic scores (4c). Polygenic scores constructed using only genome-wide significant variants from GIANT (top left) were positively correlated with height phenotypes (r =.67, p =.002), as were scores constructed using larger numbers of GIANT-based variants (e.g., all variants, top right, r =.59, p =.008). Results in 4b and 4c demonstrate that correlations (or lack of correlations) between height and polygenic scores for height are dependent on discovery GWAS. There are numerous reasons why polygenic scores differ between studies. However, recent findings suggest that correction for population stratification may not have been adequate in GIANT30,31, and therefore the positive correlations observed in 4a could be partially due to uncorrected population stratification. The dependence of correlation estimates on discovery GWAS is further illustrated in 4c, in which the point estimate for correlation between height and East Asian GWAS based polygenic scores for height is negative (r = −.11, p =.643). Power in discovery GWAS is also relevant, and greater confidence should be assigned to the results in 4a and 4b because both European ancestry discovery GWAS were adequately powered to detect hundreds of height loci, whereas the East Asian height GWAS was only adequately powered to detect 17 loci. Finally, methodological choices in polygenic score construction (see Fig. 3) must also be considered. The shape, dispersion, and even the ordering of distributions of polygenic scores for different 1000Genomes populations depends on polygenic score construction parameters, and would also necessarily result in different correlations with population phenotypes, and this is one additional reason why differences in polygenic scores among populations cannot be naively interpreted.
More research is needed to better understand the exact causes of differences in score distributions across populations and their putative relationships to phenotypes. Future research must also account for environmental effects on phenotypes, as well as variability in measurement validity and reliability across populations. Even for the relatively simple example of height (which is easily measured and for which major environmental influences are relatively well-understood) our analyses suggest that a great deal of caution should be used in drawing conclusions about polygenic score differences underling worldwide phenotypic differences, until data resources are significantly improved (i.e., well-powered GWAS in diverse populations), and until a deeper understanding of relevant population genetics principles has emerged. As discussed further below, even more caution will be required for other phenotypes such as psychiatric disorders. | 4,262 |
Strip area to get a new attraction: Famed Shelby American cars
Topless shows, machine-gun shooting and high-stakes gambling.
Those are just a few of the attractions Las Vegas offers around the Strip.
Starting this fall, you can add muscle cars to the mix.
Las Vegas-based Shelby American is consolidating its local operations into a 135,000-square-foot facility roughly two miles south of the Strip at 6405 Ensworth St., just west of Las Vegas Boulevard near Sunset Road.
Along with car production and modification, the facility will feature a Shelby museum and gift shop. It also will offer factory tours.
The new headquarters is slated to open by November. Shelby’s current base of operations, spread among five buildings near the Las Vegas Motor Speedway, will shut down by Dec. 1, company President John Luft said.
Putting everything under one roof will accelerate production, and the new location near the Strip and McCarran International Airport will better expose the company to Las Vegas' almost 40 million annual visitors, executives said.
Many of the properties the company looked at were buried in industrial parks. The warehouse on Ensworth is close to the resort corridor and fronts Interstate 15, offering good visibility.
“It was the perfect combination,” Luft said.
Founded in 1962 by Carroll Shelby, a race car driver and entrepreneur who died in May 2012, Shelby American touts itself as the only automobile manufacturer in Nevada. Each year it builds between 50 and 75 Shelby Cobras and modifies an additional 225 to 450 cars for aesthetics and performance.
For between $10,000 and $150,000, Shelby can beef up Ford Mustangs, Raptors, even Focuses. The company typically equips the vehicles with better wheels, brakes, suspension systems and exhausts.
Shelby American moved to Las Vegas in the mid-1990s from Southern California. It initially settled in a small warehouse on Valley View Boulevard, but after a few years, moved to a pair of buildings near the Speedway. The company later expanded to occupy three more buildings nearby.
For years, Shelby products were available only through the company’s dealer network; car enthusiasts couldn't buy directly from the company. But that changed six or seven years ago.
The planned relocation is an effort to bolster retail efforts.
Shelby’s current headquarters are about 15 miles northeast of the Strip. Only about 50 to 75 people visit each day, although the factory displays a vintage car collection and offers tours of the production floor. Even many locals are unaware of the facility. | 4,263 |
(Photo: Microsoft)
At E3 2017 Microsoft finally fully unveiled the Xbox One X, and there’s no doubt it’s an impressive piece of tech. That said, given its $500 price tag and somewhat lacking support in 2017, there’s been plenty of questions about who, exactly, the Xbox One X is for. Does Microsoft expect the machine to be a mainstream success, or is it niche device for hardware fanatics only?
Well, in a recent interview with Metro, Xbox boss Phil Spencer more-or-less admits it’s the latter. Spencer realizes most gamers don’t obsess about 4K and teraflops, and thinks the base Xbox One S will outsell the X next year...
“We have two consoles in our line: Xbox One S, now for sale for $249 in the US, and Xbox One X, the most powerful console to date. And the majority of consoles we will sell next year will be the S. There’s no doubt about that. Because most of most of the people will say, ‘I just want a console that plays the games I wanna play.’ Our Xbox One S will sell the most because most people are not into how many [teraflops] does this have versus someone else. Most people just want to go play games. And the breadth of games we showed was critical to me, for young and old, male and female. I wanted to make sure we had a great cross section, because at the end of the day the majority of people just wanna buy a console, put a controller in their hands, and play games they’re gonna enjoy.”
Well, I don’t disagree, but it’s kind of a surprising thing to hear from somebody who just launched a super-powerful 4K gaming device. According to Spencer, most gamers don’t even particularly care about framerate.
“Developers are incentivized to give you the best experience they can. We can both agree on that. So, if they think it’s 60fps and that’s gonna help them, in terms of selling more copies of the game, they’re gonna be all in. But not everybody understands what 60fps vs. 30fps means.”
To recap, Microsoft will soon have the most popular console on the market, but most people don’t really understand or care about what it can do. Soooo…shrug?
You can check out WWG’s latest Xbox One coverage, right here.
[via Metro] | 4,264 |
The City of Sydney has pedaled its next crucial move in its ambitious new Green Square precinct project, with a plan to start building essential new bike lanes that will cater to the increased traffic of residents riding to and from work in the CBD.
It’s an unsurprising move from the City of Sydney, which has consistently pushed for new bicycle link infrastructure under the leadership of Lord Mayor Clover Moore, which has led to a significant level of saturation of bike lanes in the city area.
The installation of these new bike lanes from Green Square to the city are part of the council’s $540 million investment in essential infrastructure for the fast growing Green Square community over the next decade.
According to the City of Sydney, three new cycleways are planned for the Green Square Town Centre.
These will include a 275 metre separated bidirectional cycleway along Geddes Avenue between Botany Road and Portman Street. Construction on this first Green Square cycleway will begin in June 2016.
The second will be a one-way 420 metre separated cycleway on either side of Zetland Avenue connecting Gunyama Park and the Aquatic Centre to the town centre and community facilities, between Paul Street and Victoria Park Parade.
The third will be a 350 metre separated bidirectional cycleway along Portman Street between Portman Lane and Hansard Street.
The cycleways in the Green Square Town Centre will be completed in stages and will open by late 2019. The Green Square library and plaza will open to the public in early 2018, and will include bike access between Zetland Avenue and Botany Road to Green Square Railway Station.
The new cycleways through Green Square will connect to more than 2.4 kilometres of separated bike lanes already linking Zetland, Waterloo, Alexandria and Redfern with the inner city.
The links will provide an easy 20-minute ride from Green Square along separated cycleways, shared paths and parks. Riders will also be able to get to destinations like Sydney University in less than 20 minutes and Central Station in about 15 minutes.
Ms Moore said the cycleways through Green Square will give local residents and businesses an easy, comfortable and safe 15 minute ride to Central Station, with the capacity to transport more than 50 busloads of people a day.
“Planning Green Square from the ground up has given us a unique opportunity to create a 36-metre wide central spine through the Green Square Town Centre – wide enough to accommodate a one-way separated cycleway on both sides. This is a first for Sydney, as all our other cycleways are retrofitted on narrower streets,” she said. | 4,265 |
owned by its parent company. This is especially true as the company faces increased competition in the payments space from a range of companies including Apple, Amazon, Stripe, Square, Walmart-backed Current, and others.
PayPal reported 24 percent growth in its net total payment volume during the quarter and 25 percent transaction growth, while adding 4.6 million new active registered accounts to reach 162 million globally. The eBay-owned payments unit great quarterly revenue to $2.2 billion.
What we’re seeing today is the reckoning of an aging giant. EBay, the ecommerce platform is quickly losing relevancy in an on-demand, mobile-first, and highly-personalized world. The company has been badly outmaneuvered by not only Amazon, but vertical specialists like Etsy, Wayfair, Zulilly, Fanatics, and others.
On the other side of the house, PayPal remains relevant by the sheer force of its scale and the incredibly difficult proposition of building a competing online payments platform. But with mobile commerce quickly growing in importance, it has only been through the acquisition of Braintree (and subsidiary Venmo) that the company has remained competitive.
Some, including the company’s founders Max Levchin, Elon Musk, and Peter Thiel, point to the anchor of eBay as an overlord as part of the problem. This was also cited as the reason for former CEO David Marcus’ sudden departure. But whatever the reason, PayPal has largely underachieved given its market position and is at a critical juncture today. Facing increasing competition and a changing financial services landscape, PayPal needs to prove it can still innovate and that it can turn its scale into an advantage, not a burden.
Icahn and others are betting that by separating PayPal, eBay Marketplaces, and eBay Enterprises, the collective value of these independent businesses and their long-term growth potential will be greater than the current sum of these parts. PayPal appears the best positioned to deliver on this belief, but it wont be easy. For Marketplaces and Enterprise, it looks increasingly like these units are being sent off to pasture. Surely the ecommerce businesses are worth something, but it’s unlikely we’ll see them deliver the kind of growth and upside traditionally associated with technology companies.
We’re still several quarters from these moves fully coming into effect and the potential for a few curveballs, such as acquisition offers, to further mix things up. Carl Icahn got his wish and then some when it comes to breaking up eBay into parts. Whether it proves to be a win for all shareholders, it’s still too early to tell. | 4,266 |
state.
These references – “natural mother and father” and “biological parents” – exclude an array of families, including LGBTQ families, adoptive families and blended families, some of which may not be cisgender and/or heterosexual. The last bullet point is a veiled reference to the Christian Right’s concern over “parental rights” and its claims that parents are being denied the right to raise their children as they see fit. The argument is often used to attempt to deny children access to school materials that deal with comprehensive sex ed and LGBTQ people and issues.
Roback Morse has falsely linked homosexuality to pedophilia and claimed the Catholic Church’s sex abuse scandal is because of gay priests; denied the existence of transgender people and referred to them as “gender confused” and supported the criminalization of affirming healthcare for transgender children.
Ruth Institute launched the petition in September and posted it on LifeSite News, a right-wing antichoice and anti-LGBTQ site that also platforms petitions through “LifePetitions.” The director of advocacy at LifePetitions, Gualberto Garcia Jones, was also present at the petition delivery.
On March 6, a coalition of human rights organizations sued the Trump administration for creating and operating the commission in violation of the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA), which was created in 1972 to curb the Executive Branch’s reliance on secretive and superfluous advisory committees.
According to a press release, the lawsuit alleges that the commission was unlawfully created and has been working behind closed doors to “articulate a definition of human rights that is grounded in certain religious traditions” and will thus eliminate rights for LGBTQI individuals (“I" here refers to intersex), restrict sexual and reproductive health and remove protections for other marginalized communities around the globe.
Democracy Forward filed the lawsuit on behalf of Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, the Center for Health and Gender Equity (CHANGE), the Council for Global Equality, and Global Justice Center.
Anne Harkavy, executive director of Democracy Forward, told Hatewatch in an email:
The Commission’s continued violation of federal transparency law gives special interest groups, like the Ruth Institute, a vehicle to put a federal imprimatur on policies that would strip protections for LGBTQI communities and sexual and reproductive health and rights. Our lawsuit aims to stop the Trump administration from extending its pattern of unlawfully outsourcing policymaking to outside groups, like this Commission, that exclude a diversity of views from its membership and operate outside public scrutiny.
Photo illustration by SPLC. (Background image via iStockPhoto) | 4,267 |
ALLAHABAD: The district police have roped in around 2,000 'police mitra' across the city to ensure an incident-free Holi this year. Over 826 Holikas would be set afire on Thursday, while colour would be played on Friday and SaturdayWith the festival clashing with Jumme-Ki-Namaz, the police have urged denizens to indulge in colours only till 12 noon on Friday and till 3pm on Saturday to prevent any communal tension.
Additional police force and 58 mobile police cars too would be deployed to keep a tab on mischief in the garb of revelry. The police have identified 12 areas where rowdy incidents on Holi were reported in the past five years. Apart from civil police, volunteers of civil defense and anti-corruption unit have also been assigned duties at sites of Holikas and identified trouble prone areas to maintain law and order.
SP, city, Rajesh Kumar Yadav told TOI "Adequate police force has been deployed across the city." He said, "One company of PAC and RAF and 500 homeguards have also been deployed and additional vigil was being maintained in the trouble-prone areas."
Besides, prior permission from district authorities has been made mandatory for using loudspeakers and DJs. The administration has also appealed to people to avoid loud music owing to ongoing exams of UP, ICSE and CBSE boards. Special vigil will be maintained in 14 trouble-prone areas where shobha yatras are taken out on Holi. Besides, police would maintain a watch on various cultural programmes organised on Holi.
SP, meanwhile, said that the police have prepared a three-point security plan. Volunteers of peace committee, civil defense, police mitra and gram suraksha samitis were being contacted to ensure peace. He added that after identifying trouble prone areas, the police department has deployed mobile police vans and sleuths of local intelligence unit (LIU) to compile inputs. Besides, beat constables have been asked to take rounds of holikas and submit report to seniors.
Special police teams have been constituted to keep an eye on manufacture of spurious liquor. Villages known for preparing illicit brew are already under police scanner.
Around 2,500 policemen have been deployed throughout the district. Cops have been directed to keep an eye on people who roam in the streets after consuming liquor and create nuisance. "Station officers have been asked to keep a check on tipsy revellers," said SP. Adequate security arrangements have been made in villages and blocks and cops would remain mobile on the day. Additional police pickets would be deployed in mixed populated areas.
| 4,268 |
The White House has invited Israel’s Prime Minister and opposition leader to the White House. The Trump administration says it plans to finally unveil its strategy for ending the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
“President Donald J. Trump will welcome Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel to the White House on January 28, 2020. LTG. (Res.) MK Benjamin Gantz, Blue and White Chairman, has also accepted the President’s invitation to come to Washington,” the White House said in a statement. “The United States and Israel are strong partners, and the Prime Minister’s visit is an opportunity to discuss our shared regional and national security interests.”
The President told the press Thursday that he would release his peace plan, which some call the “Deal of the Century,” before Tuesday’s meeting with Netanyahu and Gantz, who are just over one month away from their third election in the span of a year.
Vice President Mike Pence, who was in Jerusalem for the Fifth World Holocaust Forum, extended the invitation from Pres. Trump to the two leaders. The Vice President said Thursday that Netanyahu and Gantz would be visiting the White House to discuss “regional issues as well as the prospect of peace.”
“President Trump asked me to extend an invitation to Prime Minister Netanyahu to come to the White House next week for talks on regional issues, including peace,” Pence said during a meeting with Netanyahu on Thursday night. “At the prime minister’s suggestion, I also extended an invitation to Benny Gantz.”
Gants accepted the invitation, which was made at the request of his political rival.
“I suggested that Benny Gantz be invited to this event as well because I think it is important that we not lose this historic opportunity with such friends in the White House,” PM Netanyahu said. “We should get as broad as consensus as possible.”
In the meantime, Israeli Defense Minister Naftali Bennett has indicated that his right-wing Yamina alliance would oppose any plan that includes transferring land or the creation of a Palestinian state.
“President Trump, [Jared] Kushner and Ambassador [David] Friedman are true friends of Israel,” Bennett said in a statement. “It is likely that Israel faces a historic opportunity, along with significant risks.”
The Palestinian Authority is expected to reject this proposal. Nabil Abu Rudeinah, a spokesman for PA president Mahmoud Abbas, said the Palestinian leadership had a “clear and unwavering position” to reject any initiatives led by Pres. Trump. | 4,269 |
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LAS VEGAS — Joe Biden called on Bernie Sanders to accept greater accountability for tactics and rhetoric of his staunchest supporters and do more to discourage it, after what he called the “outrageous” threats on a prominent union that criticized his healthcare plan.
Representatives of the powerful Culinary Workers Union, which represents 60,000 workers supporting Nevada’s gaming and hospitality industries, said this week that supporters of the Vermont senator had “viciously attacked” its members after its leadership warned about the risk to their negotiated health plans under a Medicare for All system.
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In an exclusive interview airing Sunday on NBC’s “Meet The Press,” Biden said the Vermont senator “may not be responsible for it, but he has some accountability.”
“You know me well enough to know if any of my supporters did that, I’d disown them. Flat disown them,” Biden said. “The stuff that was said online. The way they threatened these two women who are leaders in that Culinary union. It is outrageous. Just — just go online.”
In a PBS interview Thursday, Sanders called the attacks on Culinary leadership “not acceptable.”
“I don't know who these so-called supporters are,” he said. “We're living in a strange world on the Internet. And sometimes people attack people in somebody else's name. But let me be very clear. Anybody making personal attacks against anybody else in my name is not part of my movement.”
Calling attacks “vicious, malicious, misogynistic,” Biden said it wasn’t enough for Sanders to simply disassociate himself from those making them. He needs to “find out who the hell they are, if any of them work for [him]. Fire them.”
“I’m hoping he’s looking. But I tell you what: so far I don’t think it’s sufficient just to say, ‘I disassociate myself,’” he added.
Biden’s comments came between campaign stops Saturday. After a fourth-place finish in Iowa and fifth place in New Hampshire, the remaining early contests in Nevada and South Carolina have taken on even greater urgency for the former vice president. | 4,270 |
they tried to say that antisocial behaviour meant any of the regeneration programmes had to be cancelled. There’d be war.”
Why have councils been so slow to deliver – or not to deliver – Traveller accommodation? Smith says most local authorities would like all Travellers to move into standard housing. “I think to most officials Travellers are a nuisance. They would like them absorbed and to go away as an issue. So if they can thwart their aspirations, and just get them all into flats and houses, that would be the end of the matter.
“Of course there’s the political reality that advocating for Travellers is not going to win you any votes. But it’s a human-rights issue, and while councils refuse to face that, Traveller families and Traveller children are growing up in Third World conditions we should all be ashamed of.”
As the national Traveller accommodation budget is to be cut further next year, to an almost meaningless €3 million, Traveller groups believe local authorities may not even try to implement their proposals. Most draft programmes make no mention of costs, and almost all contain a proviso similar to that in Dublin City Council’s: delivery “is based on the premise that there will be available funding”.
The Irish Traveller Movement wants the matter taken out of the hands of local councils. “We want an independent Traveller accommodation agency established with the power to compulsorily purchase land if necessary,” says Colette Spears.
Failing that, they want Minister of State for Housing Jan O’Sullivan to exercise her power under the Housing Act of 1966 to order local authorities to perform their housing functions if the Minister believes they have failed in those duties.
O’Sullivan has expressed her concern about the delivery of Traveller accommodation and ordered, for the first time, that there be midterm reviews of all the 2014-18 programmes. “This will ensure that any slippage in achieving goals is addressed over the lifetime of each Traveller accommodation plan,” says a department spokesman.
On every human indicator Travellers’ lives are blighted far beyond those of their settled neighbours: in unemployment, poverty, life expectancy, child mortality, literacy, numeracy, depression, addiction, homelessness and suicide.
“Nothing meaningful can be done to address these until Travellers’ housing needs are met first,” says Chris Flood. “It’s as simple as that. This is a small number of families. It cannot be beyond our capacity as a State to meet their very modest housing needs.” | 4,271 |
DUP leader Arlene Foster has indicated she is willing to examine details of a Fianna Fáil plan to give Northern Ireland the status of a special economic zone in the wake of Brexit.
However, while Ms Foster’s willingness represents a change of position, the DUP has stressed that the proposal could only be examined in very limited circumstances.
A DUP spokesman said: “Micheál Martin’s idea would need to be tested alongside access to Great Britain. We would not countenance anything that would limit access to the Great Britain market for Northern Ireland.”
The spokesman also said: “The key for us is that Northern Ireland leaves the EU on the same basis as the rest of the UK and there is no border on the Irish Sea.
“Northern Irish dairy farmers should have the same access to Great Britain markets as a farmer in Devon.”
Ms Foster and Mr Martin both delivered keynote speeches at the Killarney Economic Conference at the weekend, which was organised in partnership with The Irish Times.
The Fianna Fáil leader argued that the only credible means of addressing Northern Ireland’s economic needs post-Brexit was for it to become a special economic zone.
Mr Martin suggested such a designation “would threaten no one’s sovereignty”. He said it would enable a means of allowing the free flow of trade North and South, and also east and west.
“It would not in any way undermine the internal market of the UK as it is a model used throughout the world by states seeking ways of developing regions.”
He said those who opposed such a status for the North had used arguments that were not unjustified.
“It is effectively an economic development zone which doesn’t undermine the status of Northern Ireland, and one which provides the basis for respecting the wishes of the majority in Northern Ireland.”
Responding to the proposal during a questions and answers session on Saturday, Ms Foster said she would be willing to hear detail on the special economic zone for Northern Ireland. However, she also emphasised her commitment to the union, a position that was emphasised by her party spokesman on Sunday.
Mr Martin also warned against negotiators rushing to microphones, which was received as an opaque criticism of comments made by Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Tánaiste Simon Coveney in advance of the phase-one negotiations concluding.
Ms Foster also criticised megaphone diplomacy, which was received in some quarters as a reference not only to Brexit but to the current logjam in negotiations to restore the Northern institutions. | 4,272 |
Workers from the EU contribute around £7.3 billion to the Scottish economy, MSPs have been told.
The figure has been set out in a submission to Holyrood's Economy Committee looking at the economic impact of Brexit.
Economic consultants at 4-consulting said the number was a “snapshot” of the contribution of workers born in other EU countries.
The consultancy's director Richard Marsh is one of a number of experts due to give evidence to the committee.
Around one in 20 workers in Scotland come from other EU countries, with patterns of employment “markedly different” north of the border compared with other parts of the UK, 4-consulting's submission said.
Around 20,000 EU workers are employed in the financial sector - accounting for 4.8% of total workers, it said.
EU workers represent 8.7% of the hospitality workforce, with 42,000 employed in this area, while 12,000 are employed in manufacturing, and a further 33,000 are working in public admin, education and health.
“EU workers in Scotland are paid a higher average hourly pay than any other part of the UK outside of London,” 4-consulting added.
“This may point to EU workers engaged in higher value added activities in Scotland compared to the rest of the UK.”
The submission continued: “Using an economic model and underlying data published by the Scottish Government, the economic contribution of workers born in other EU countries was estimated to be around £7.3 billion in Gross Value Added (GVA) each year.”
The Scottish Government has called for a guarantee from the UK Government that EU nationals will be allowed to stay following Brexit.
The SNP administration also wants control over immigration policy as part of a package to protect Scotland's place in Europe.
The 4-consulting submission highlighted data which shows the importance of financial services in Scotland. The impact of Brexit on the sector is a key concern for both the Scottish and UK governments.
The sector accounts for almost 24% of Edinburgh's economy, while the city is more reliant on financial services than any other European city except Luxembourg, according to 4-consulting.
Other experts giving evidence at the committee include Dr Graeme Roy, director of the Fraser of Allander Institute, Stephen Boyle, chief economist at The Royal Bank of Scotland, Dr Matias Margulis of the University of Stirling, Dr Fabian Zuleeg, chief executive and chief economist at the European Policy Centre, and Jane Gotts of GenAnalytics Ltd. | 4,273 |
Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne says that when people say "all lives matter" in response to Black Lives Matter, it reminds her of people saying, "Why don't straight people have a parade?"
Wynne, who is openly gay, responded to questions Thursday about a member of The Tenors changing the national anthem's lyrics at the Major League Baseball all-star game to the controversial phrase.
"I think what is heard by people who heard him sing that is that, 'You don't understand what we're saying. What we're saying is that there's a particular issue,"' she said.
"It's like when people have said to me in the past, 'Well, straight people don't have a parade. Why don't straight people have a parade? Everybody should be proud of who they are.' Well, yeah, that's true, but straight people experience life differently than gay, lesbian, bi, transgender (and) two-spirited people. So I think that there's a lot of misunderstanding that happens when we get into the use of language in this way."
Issues of racism 'to be taken seriously'
Singer Remigio Pereira inserted "all lives matter" into O Canada while singing a solo verse of the anthem on Tuesday night and held up a sign bearing the message.
He has since said that his motivation was to "bring us all together" and that he meant no disrespect to Black Lives Matter because "they most definitely do."
Wynne said it looks like he "made a big, big mistake in terms of his career."
Ahead of attending a public meeting Thursday night of Ontario's newly established anti-racism directorate, Wynne said Pride Toronto and Black Lives Matter Toronto will have to discuss their issues separately from her input.
Black Lives Matter temporarily halted the Pride parade to issue a series of demands that included more funding and better representation for racialized communities during Pride events. It also called for a ban on police floats in future parades.
Wynne said people can discuss specific tactics, but the group is raising issues of systemic racism "that have to be taken seriously."
"People have a right to peaceful protest and we as a government have a responsibility, and I would suggest we as a society have a responsibility, to tackle the challenges of systemic discrimination as we see them."
Wynne stepped outside the Ontario legislature in April to speak to a crowd of Black Lives Matter protesters and told them she was willing to set up a formal meeting. That has not yet happened, but Wynne said Thursday that it would take place "later in the fall, perhaps." | 4,274 |
Air Canada Hiring More Than 900 Employees, Launches Low-Cost Airline
Air Canada announced 20 September 2012 that it is hiring more than 900 employees during the next 12 months.
The hiring wave comes as Air Canada upgrades customer service call centers, prepares to start a low-cost airline and gets ready for the intense Canadian winter.
In addition, 200 new jobs will be created for flight attendants and pilots at the airline’s low cost carrier launching in 2013.
“Air Canada is undertaking a selective hiring process over the next 12 months in order to seize new commercial opportunities, enhance customer service and renew our workforce,” said Calin Rovinescu, Air Canada’s president and chief executive officer, said in a statement. “This recruitment program is consistent with our focus on controlling costs to become more competitive in our various markets,”
“At a time when youth unemployment is nearly 15% in Canada, we are pleased to offer exciting career opportunities that will especially appeal to young people,” Rovinescu said. “These include not only a chance to work at Air Canada’s new low cost carrier, where 200 new jobs will be created in anticipation of its 2013 launch, but also for the mainline business where we will be actively renewing our airports, in-flight and call center workforce.”
During 2012-13 Air Canada Plans To:
• Hire an additional 60 agents in the coming months for its call center in Montreal and Toronto. So far in 2012 the airline has hired 160 new call center agents.
• Hire approximately 400 flight attendants for its main network airline operation. The first training classes are scheduled in October.
• Hire approximately 500 permanent, part-time and full-time airport customer service agent and baggage handlers at major airports cross Canada as the airline prepares for its winter schedule.
• Hire about 150 flight attendants and 50 pilots for its new low cost airline launch in 2013.
Information on Air Canada job postings is available at aircanada.com/careers.
Job-seekers with the necessary qualifications can apply online.
Preference will be given to candidates fluent in both English and French. The company will be reaching out to the appropriate language organizations, educational institutions and publications to find potential candidates.
Air Canada is one of Canada’s largest employers. Air Canada employs about 27,000 people across Canada and worldwide.
The airline flies to more than 175 destinations on five continents. Air Canada’s is the 15th largest commercial airline in the world, serving more than 33 million customers 2011. | 4,275 |
Since April, four people have died in the Milwaukee County Jail overseen by Sheriff David Clarke, a fixture in right-wing media and avid supporter of President-elect Donald Trump. And these deaths appear to have been preventable: one man died of thirst. Another was a newborn baby. When Shadé Swayzer asked for help because she was going into labor, she claims in a lawsuit that jail staff laughed at then ignored her. Her baby died.
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On Thursday, the Huffington Post reported that the Department of Justice is deciding whether to launch a federal civil rights investigation into the jail. In response to a request by U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore (D-WI), Assistant Attorney General Peter J. Kadzik wrote, “We will carefully consider your letter along with other information we may receive regarding Milwaukee County Jail in order to determine whether a pattern or practice investigation may be necessary.”
Although Clarke might not supervise daily operations of the jail, he is officially in charge of the facility. But the threat of federal involvement does not appear to have inspired the high-profile law enforcement official to review jail conditions. His office sent a statement to the Huffington Post calling the investigation “fake news” and a “political assault on the Sheriff for supporting and playing a key role in helping Donald J. Trump becoming the 45th President of the United States.”
The statement further laid out the Sheriff’s hopes for a DoJ run by Senator Jeff Sessions (D-AL), Trump’s nominee to lead the department.
“After January 20, 2017, Sen. Jeff Sessions will become the new Attorney General of the US Department of Justice. He will take the partisan politics out of decision making at DOJ,” the statement read. “The Sheriff looks forward to working with the NEW administration in Making America Great Again!”
In the past, Clarke has blamed the deaths on the inmates themselves as well as the private medical contractor the facility uses for its health care. Erik Heipt, an attorney representing the family of the man who died of dehydration, told the Huffington Post that Clarke’s defense is flat-out wrong.
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“For decades, the Supreme Court has made clear that contracting out jail or prison medical care does not relieve the government of its constitutional duty to provide necessary medical treatment to those in its custody,” Heipt told the Post. “The government’s duty is non-delegable. Simply put: the constitution creates a continuing obligation on counties to provide needed medical care despite contracting out inmate healthcare to private, for-profit corporations.” | 4,276 |
be two to four times that of the parent tornado with astronomical horizontal and vertical speeds, but they had never been directly measured. He said that a crucial piece of data for tornado science was to determine the true ratio of horizontal and vertical wind speeds between these mini suction vortices and the main tornado. This quickly became an obsession of mine and the ultimate goal of my research career.
Back in the center of the tornado, the wind dropped to an eerie calm for a few seconds that seemed like eternity. Then, a mini suction vortex developed right in front of the vehicle and rotated around to the left before surging in our direction. I yelled to Chris Chittick in the passenger seat and radar operator Mik Wimbrow in the backseat to hang on, and right before the suction vortex slammed the vehicle I looked away from the window just as it came crashing into my face. The driver’s side window also shattered, hitting Chris in the left side of the face. A 100 mph wind was blowing through the inside of the Dominator!
A second later the suction vortex and the backside of the tornado moved off to the east, we were in the clear. Chris and I both had blood streaming down the side of our faces. Thankfully, it was only from a few cuts from the shattered glass.
The horizontal wind speed and direction data recorded inside this tornado was very interesting, as seen in the plot below, with a minimum wind speed of 8 mph measured inside the “eye” of the tornado before quickly accelerating to near 140 mph a few seconds later as the suction vortex hit the vehicle. The wind speeds inside the parent tornado were relatively weak (averaging around 70-80 mph) but were substantially stronger inside the mini suction vortex that slammed into the Dominator.
While this situation was clearly very dangerous, the data recorded inside this tornado is a huge step toward accomplishing our research goal of measuring the winds contained in these suction vortices. Needless to say, we have some substantial improvements planned for the Dominator during the off season to prevent similar mishaps.
I’ve been in some intense storms — like the time we got covered in mud by an F5 tornado in Oklahoma, or the time our windshield was blown out by softball-sized hail in Texas, or the time we watched a tornado rip trees out of the ground a mere 100 yards away from us. However, none of those helped me finish my Ph.D. It might be risky, but documenting tornadoes at extreme close range is just what I love to do.
Images: Reed Timmer. Video: Discovery Channel/Reed Timmer. | 4,277 |
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Chia pudding is perfect for the ketogenic diet. It's high in healthy fats and will keep hunger at bay. This recipe is based on my Strawberry Breakfast "Pudding" — one of the many recipes in the KetoDiet App. When I first made it I was surprised how filling it was and I ended reducing the serving size!
Whole or Ground Chia Seeds?
When making chia pudding, I prefer whole seeds but you can use either. I also used whole chia seeds in my keto oatmeal, cereal, granola, chia jams and smoothies.
Ground chia seeds will add a more distinctive (some may perceive it as slightly bitter) flavour and are better in baked goods like keto tortillas, pizza crust, muffins, breadsticks or croutons.
This meal is relatively high in total carbs and low in net carbs. If you are not sure whether to focus on net or total carbs, check out this post: Total Carbs or Net Carbs: What Really Counts?
0 days, 0 hours, 25 minutes Hands-on 5 minutes Overall 30 minutes Serving size about 2/ 3 cup/150 g/ 5.3 oz Allergy information for Sweetener-Free Raspberry Chia Pudding ✔ Gluten free ✔ Dairy free ✔ Egg free ✔ Nut free ✔ Nightshade free ✔ Pork free ✔ Fish free ✔ Shellfish free Pescatarian Low FODMAP Vegetarian Vegan Print Recipe Download Recipe
Nutritional values (per serving, about 2/ 3 cup/150 g/ 5.3 oz)
Net carbs 4.2 grams Protein 5.5 grams Fat 18.2 grams Calories 223 kcal Calories from carbs 8%, protein 11%, fat 81% Total carbs 12 grams Fiber 7.7 grams Sugars 1.7 grams Saturated fat 11.3 grams Sodium 12 mg ( 1 % RDA ) Magnesium 35 mg ( 9 % RDA ) Potassium 213 mg ( 11 % EMR )
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Martina Slajerova Creator of KetoDietApp.com I changed the way I ate in 2011, when I was diagnosed with Hashimoto’s, an autoimmune disease that affects the thyroid. I had no energy, and I found it more and more difficult to maintain a healthy weight. That’s when I decided to quit sugar, grains, and processed foods, and to start following a whole-foods-based ketogenic approach to food. More posts by Martina Slajerova Martina Slajerova | 4,278 |
Photo: PTI
NEW DELHI: India should nourish and cultivate its Muslim population which is successful and integrated and considers itself Indian unlike in some other countries, former US President Barack Obama said here on Friday while also observing that PM Narendra Modi recognises the importance of Indian unity.
He said he had spoken of the need for religious tolerance and the right to practise one’s faith in private conversations with Modi, a theme he spoke of during his last official visit to India as President in 2015.
Asked at the HT leadership summit if his 2015 comments were intended for Modi, Obama said, “No, I think it was a message to all of us. I have said the same thing to PM Modi in private but I have said the same thing in public in US and in Europe. With migration, people start looking different, there is a clash of cultures. There is a counter narrative taking place, you are seeing in Europe, you are seeing in the US and sometimes you see it in India. Where those tribal impulses reassert themselves. There are leaders who push back against those impulses and those who try and exploit them.”
Asked of Modi’s response to his suggestion, Obama said he would not reveal private conversations, but said, “I think his impulses are to recognise the importance of Indian unity. I know he firmly believes in the need for that and it is important to understand that this is the work of all of us.”
He spoke of his excellent equation with former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh who he said had taken important decisions. Asked for his opinion of Modi, he said, “I like him. I think he has a vision for the country that he is implementing and in many ways modernising many elements of the bureaucracy. I am also good friends with Manmohan Singh. He took steps to modernise the economy.”
Obama, who also spoke at a Town Hall here, said, “The unifying thing (between Modi and Singh) was that (they advocated) strong US-India relations were important.” Speaking on Pakistansupported terror, Obama said, “What is true, and an understandable source of frustration, is the view that sometimes there are connections between explicit terrorist organisations based in Pakistan and elements that are connected to various more official entities inside Pakistan.”
When terror struck Mumbai in November 2008, former US president said, “the US was as obsessed as India” to dismantle the terror network. US intelligence personnel, were deployed to help the Indian government, he added.
In Video: Former US President Obama addresses youth in Delhi | 4,279 |
not worried' about Trump and Putin's relationship
With that in mind, Putin should get cracking. A useful first step would be to hack a tranche of texts from Fiona Hill, May’s rottweiler, to any Tory MPs who have been cast in the Nicky Morgan role in a remake of that well-loved animated short, The Wrong Trousers.
Something along the lines of “Pickles, you fat f***, one more syllable about the PM’s £14,500 ruby-encrusted leather gimp suit and I’ll stick one of her kitten heels up so far up your fundament, it’ll be moonlighting as a spare tongue. So there!”
That would be merely the amuse-bouche for the banquet of revelation to come. God knows what electronic indiscretions Boris Johnson has committed, but his email cache might well be a goldmine of witty sniping about colleagues. An intercepted phone recording of Philip Hammond sobbing to Mark Carney down the line would be a boon.
But exposing civil warfare and psychological frailties within the Cabinet wouldn’t be enough. The psephological hurdles facing Labour are so high that Putin would also have to take out the SNP, and Ukip in the English north. With assassination thoroughly out of vogue – isn’t Polonium just soooo 2006, dahlings? – his people might consider kidnapping Nicola Sturgeon and Paul Nuttall, drugging them, and taking some heavily staged yet touchingly intimate photos.
Even then, it’s hard to imagine David Dimbleby or whoever is staring blankly into a lens at 10pm one Thursday night, muttering, “Well, we’re going to have to check this very, very carefully indeed with John Curtis, but according to our exit poll Jeremy Corbyn is heading for No 10…” But in these days of wonderment, we accept the limitations of the human imagination.
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So far as extending Russian influence, having Corbyn in power wouldn’t be all that much of a prize. Although you’d struggle to nominate any western politician, even Trump, who would be more uncritically friendly to Putin than Jezza, the Brexiting UK is a puny little runt in the farmyard of international affairs.
But however irrelevant in strictly geopolitical terms, sliding Corbyn into Downing Street would confirm that Putin has the powers of a demigod, and can do precisely as the fancy takes him. And that’s an incalculably valuable message for a tyrant to project. | 4,280 |
Larry Page, CEO of Google's parent, Alphabet. David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Alphabet managed to buck backlash over its ad platform in the first quarter, reporting better-than-expected quarterly earnings and revenue on Thursday. The company saw mobile search and ongoing strength in YouTube driving ad sales higher, while sales on Google Play, hardware and cloud grew substantially, said chief financial officer Ruth Porat. Shares rose more than 4 percent after hours, as executives said more consumers are turning to smartphones for content — and for ads.
Adjusted earnings post a healthy beat
(for Class A shares) EPS: $7.73 vs. $7.39 a share expected, according to a Thomson Reuters consensus estimate
Revenue: $24.75 billion vs. $24.22 billion expected, according to a Thomson Reuters consensus estimate
That's up compared to a year ago, when the Google parent reported adjusted first-quarter earnings of $6.02 per share on $20.26 billion in revenue (That means revenue increased 22 percent over the past year.)
Extremist content weighs on advertisers, even as stock climbs during 2017
Alphabet, the public holding company of Google, makes most of its money from advertising in its core search function and on YouTube. Advertising revenues rose to $21.4 billion during the quarter, up from a little over $18 billion a year ago. Net income was $5.43 billion, up from $4.21 billion a year ago. Those ads made headlines over the last two months after The Times of London's investigation found Google's YouTube video site ran ads for major brands next to neo-Nazi and jihadist videos. In response, major brands around the world like AT&T and Johnson & Johnson announced they would suspend some digital advertising as Google made changes to its system. Still, revenues grew from last year in every geography: the U.S., Europe, the Middle East and Africa, Asia Pacific, and the other Americas. Alphabet shares are up more than 23.5 percent over the past year, and nearly 12.5 percent so far this year. Traffic acquisition costs in the Google network were $4.63 billion, slightly higher than the $4.41 billion expected by StreetAccount. Mobile is more expensive to support, Porat said. But revenue on Google properties, other revenue, and sales on the Google network all came in slightly above estimates. Alphabet's so-called Other Bets category — which includes internet company Google Fiber, smart-home brand Nest, self-driving car company Waymo and divisions for life sciences and venture capital investing — has been under pressure as the company streamlines its spending. | 4,281 |
(Courtesy of IDW Publishing)
A gripping read, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #93 (IDW Publishing) steers the riveting suspense with its well-developed character decisions. Before heading towards its celebratory milestone, the TMNT series teases the popular franchise with an upcoming war between good and evil.
The battle for control of New York City begins! As the city splinters into different human, mutant, and ninja factions, the TMNT find themselves in the middle of the chaos! Eight years of storytelling have led to this!
Here are 5 reasons why you should get Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #93:
5) What Happened Before!
The Turtles and Mutanimals are having a difficult time dealing with Slash’s sacrifice. While Slash’s murderer, Agent Bishop, is still out there, he plots his return, Karai makes a surprising decision as Splinter questions his leadership within the Foot Clan.
4) The Writing!
From a story by Kevin Eastman and Bobby Curnow, writer Tom Waltz explores the impending kill count with fan-favorite team-ups. Who has more to lose? Whose death would break Splinter’s heart the most? Shawn Lee’s lettering emphasizes Ralph’s struggle between being loyal to his brothers and seeking revenge for the Mutanimals.
3) The Artwork!
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #95 cover art pic.twitter.com/znTKCIK9VH — Dave Wachter (@DaveWachter) April 4, 2019
Artist Dave Wachter captures Karai’s cold-hearted calculations with her facial expressions. She has been rejected by Splinter and now threatens everyone he loves. Everyone is on high alert, which is how Wachter illustrates the nerve-wracking tension between Leonardo and Raphael.
2) The Colors!
Interestingly, colorist Ronda Pattison adds something to Karai’s sword to make it look special. You could say the steel always looks like it’s on fire. You could also say the blade always has blood in it.
1) The Beginning!
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #93 is a worthy installment that adds drama and excitement. The “City at War” begins here as we start heading towards the #100 issue milestone.
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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #93 arrives in stores on April 24th, 2019.
By Jorge Solis
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The GOP’s top selling point for the tax plan recently — a spate of employee bonuses and wage increases — was a wash in the poll. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, President Donald Trump and House Speaker Paul Ryan are pictured during a celebration of the plan. | Alex Wong/Getty Images GOP tax plan fails to crack a majority in new poll
Support for the Republican tax plan has ticked up slightly since President Donald Trump signed it into law, but it still hasn’t drawn the backing of a majority of voters, according to a new POLITICO/Morning Consult poll.
The GOP’s top selling point for the plan recently — a spate of employee bonuses and wage increases — was a wash in the poll.
The tracking poll, conducted Jan. 11-16, found that a 45 percent plurality of voters backed the plan based on what they knew about it, up from 42 percent in a similar poll before the legislation was enacted on Dec. 22. Opposition in the new poll came in at 34 percent, down from 39 percent. Twenty percent of respondents were undecided, up from 18 percent.
After respondents were told about the major provisions of the bill, support rose to 47 percent, opposition remained at 34 percent.
Since the bill was enacted, major corporations like Walmart, AT&T and American Airlines, and smaller companies have announced employee bonuses or pay raises, something publicized almost daily by the White House, GOP lawmakers and groups that back the plan. Americans for Tax Reform puts the number of workers benefiting at 2 million so far.
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When asked about the bonuses and raises, 46 percent of the 1,993 registered voters surveyed said that made them feel somewhat or much more favorable toward the plan. Forty-two percent said it either didn’t change their minds or gave them a less favorable view.
Republicans have been banking on the tax plan to lift their fortunes this election year. Trump, congressional Republicans and conservative groups have been barnstorming the country and advertising to talk up its benefits.
The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points.
Morning Consult is a nonpartisan media and technology company that provides data-driven research and insights on politics, policy and business strategy.
More details on the poll and its methodology can be found in these two documents — Toplines and Crosstabs. | 4,283 |
A book is a tool for preserving words and images. Through books, an abundance of information, including the knowledge and experiences of the people of the past, has been handed down to the present. But books are more than records of words and images. Their form, appearance, and even the scripts and styles used tell us about the fashions and technologies of the times that produced them. By studying old books, we can learn a great deal about the geographical areas in which they were made, the historical background, and the individuals and groups involved in their making.
While displaying remarkable similarities with books produced in other areas of the Sinitic cultural sphere, Japanese books also possess some unique features, starting with their sheer diversity of form and appearance. Using a wealth of multimedia content, we will take a journey through the wonderful world of traditional Japanese books.
Keio University’s Book Collection
Keio University’s Institute of Oriental Classics is a unique institution specialized in rare East Asian books. The Institute’s extensive collection comprises 163,000 items, and is open to the public as a specialized library. In this course we will make use of this rich collection and rely on the expertise of specialists and researchers who have been working for the preservation and study of these resources. Using state of the art media resources, you will familiarize yourself with not only the content of traditional East Asian books, but also with their physical appearance, format, binding method, script, and cover style.
Learn about bookbinding styles and their influence on Japanese literature
In the first week of the course, you will be introduced to the main bookbinding methods used in traditional Asia, and to the practice of rebinding books. We will also discuss the influence of Chinese bookbinding methods on early Japanese books in all their various shapes and forms.
Explore old Japanese manuscripts and illustrated books in high-resolution images and videos
In the second week of the course, we will focus primarily on the different types of manuscripts and illustrated books that were used for waka (classical Japanese poetry) and prose tales (monogatari) from the 9th century through the 17th century. High quality images and video recordings of materials in Keio University’s book collection and beyond will give you a real sense of the look and feel of these precious objects.
Discover the role of book publishing in the development of Japanese literature and scholarship
In the final week of this course, we will look at how the introduction of movable-type and woodblock printing in the 17th and 18th centuries helped books spread widely across social classes, and how this democratization of books affected Edo culture and learning. | 4,284 |
Why Telemarketers Love/Hate their Job
In B2B marketing, we are always faced by the prospect of getting rejected. You pick up a phone, conduct a cold call, and talk with a prospect only to find he or she has no interest in your offers. Isn’t it just frustrating? Others will say that B2B telemarketing should always be frustrating, especially when it is specifically done for generating sales leads.
There’s no wonder why telemarketers hate their position, being at the frontlines of prospecting for leads and setting up sales appointments. Having to deal with irate prospects is just too much for someone to bear. But even if we are faced squarely by these realities in terms of lead generation telemarketing, we cannot entirely shrug off the fact that we are assuming multi-faceted responsibilities.
Aside from securing a fresh group of B2B sales leads for our respective businesses, we are also partly responsible for solving certain issues that clients want to streamline or optimize. In a way, each conversation that we strike up with a potential customer can transform into an opportunity for that customer to apply beneficial solutions, especially to highly complex problems that have long been left unchecked.
We can see here that the telemarketer is in a love/hate relationship with his or her line of work. It illustrates one of many paradoxes we usually encounter in daily life, like the impulse to go on a shopping spree or upholding a decision to cheat on one’s diet.
There are advantages and disadvantages when it comes to contacting leads through phone. Regardless, telemarketers need to persevere and always conduct themselves professionally whenever they face someone on the other line.
Give value to politeness. Nothing screams professionalism than a polite attitude, for it certainly comprises the factors involved in effectively attaining a qualified sales prospect. Whenever someone perceives your positivity, there is a higher likelihood her or she will engage you further than when you seem to exhibit disinterest.
Be clear and concise. Lead generation telemarketing is more a craft than a technical thing. Like an artist, the telemarketer should be able to craft the conversation with precision and straightforwardness until a confirmation for an appointment is reached.
Put down that call script for a while. The call script shouldn’t supply the content of your conversations. It should serve as a guide and nothing more. What you should be focused on is gaining a personal connection. Trust can only be forged when you give your cold calls a more human touch.
Taking these tips into account will surely help you love more the challenges telemarketing has in store. | 4,285 |
orthy was, however, all too brief. In October, the Germans finally removed the unreliable regent after he had once again attempted to conclude an armistice with their enemies. The fascist Arrow Cross under Ferenc Szálasi, which shared Hitler’s desire to eliminate the approximately 200,000 Hungarian Jews who had thus far survived, was now installed in power. Deportations commenced and the Arrow Cross set about massacring Jews in Budapest. Again, however, the Hungarian Service went silent about the tragic events, unable to obtain the confirmations it required to broadcast news of them.
There remains a difficult, but ultimately unanswerable, question as to whether, had the BBC’s Hungarian Service acted differently, it could have helped to reduce the number of Jews the Nazis and their Hungarian collaborators were able to murder. Historians are split, both on this question and the wider one of how much information Hungarian Jews anyway possessed.
“The odds are strong, given the authority of the BBC in the minds of Hungarian Jews, that explicit warnings specifically addressed to them would have broken down the psychological barriers immobilizing their defense mechanisms” wrote Chalk.
Uprisings and greater acts of resistance might have ensued, slowing the killings and tying down more German troops. “Very many Jews would have died in any case, but their deaths while resisting and seeking to escape would have had more meaning and the war would have ended sooner,” he said.
But, for Milland, “the simple answer” as to whether the BBC could have saved lives is “no.”
“Once Germany occupied Hungary, the Jews were its prisoners,” he wrote. “In this context both the potential and actual impact of the BBC on Hungarian Jewry was limited.” Indeed, he noted, the appeals it made to Hungarians to assist their Jewish neighbors largely went unheeded.
The late David Cesarani, one of the foremost experts on the Holocaust, took a similar stance. “It wasn’t the job of the BBC to warn Jews that the Nazis were coming to get them. The responsibility lay elsewhere. The BBC was doing everything it could to help win the war,” he told the “Document” program in 2012.
“Some could have built bunkers, hideaways, some could have tried to get false papers. But we’re talking about 750,000 people, surrounded by a hostile population, by countries either allied to the Nazis, or occupied by the Germans. There was nowhere to hide, nowhere to run,” he concluded. | 4,286 |
CANCUN, Mexico (Reuters) - Global airlines made a full-throated defense of globalization on Monday at their largest annual gathering, vowing not to give up on climate change agreements and calling for a swift resolution of a diplomatic rift threatening air travel in the Middle East.
Missing from the general meeting of the International Air Transport Association in Mexico was Qatar Airways Chief Executive Officer Akbar Al Baker. Usually a star of the show, he appeared to have left the summit amid a dispute between Arab powers.
Asked about Saudi Arabia and Bahrain’s move to ban Qatari planes from their airports and airspace, IATA Director General Alexandre de Juniac called for openness.
“We would like borders to be reopened, the sooner the better,” he told reporters, expanding on earlier remarks in the opening session.
“Aviation is globalization at its very best,” he had told executives from IATA’s more than 200 airlines. “As aviation’s leaders, we must bear witness to the achievements of our connected world.”
Qatar Airways could not be reached for comment.
The Arab rift was a stark reminder of the political risks to the airlines, which have run up healthy profits even as the global consensus they rely upon comes under the threat of nationalist and protectionist political currents.
Forecasting a third straight year of robust earnings, IATA raised its 2017 industry profit outlook on Monday to $31.4 billion, up from a previous forecast of $29.8 billion.
The IATA also raised its outlook for 2017 industry revenue to $743 billion from $736 billion on expectations that the global economy will post its strongest growth in six years.
The forecast underscored a new golden age for airlines’ profitability even as carriers scramble to meet fast-changing electronics restrictions, pressure to limit emissions and unprecedented scrutiny on social media over their every mistake.
A United Nations representative urged airline leaders to stand by an industry emissions accord known as CORSIA even as U.S. President Donald Trump breaks with a climate pact struck in Paris last year.
“We need to promote implementation of this historic agreement,” said Olumuyiwa Benard Aliu, president of the UN’s International Civil Aviation Organization.
IATA’s de Juniac said the airlines would hold fast to their commitments.
“The very disappointing decision of the U.S. to withdraw from Paris is not a setback for CORSIA,” he told the meeting. “We remain united behind CORSIA and our climate change goals.” | 4,287 |
(Washington, D.C., November 19, 2019) – United States Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue are pleased to announce that the Trump Administration has reached an agreement with the government of South Korea on market access for U.S. rice.
Under the agreement, Korea will provide access for 132,304 tons of U.S. rice annually, with an annual value of approximately $110 million. Korea also agreed to important disciplines to ensure transparency and predictability around the tendering and auctioning for U.S. rice.
“Thanks to President Trump’s leadership, this agreement gives our farmers the largest volume of guaranteed market access for rice in Korea that the United States has ever enjoyed,” said Ambassador Lighthizer. “It will prove enormously beneficial for American producers and their customers in Korea, who will enjoy access to high quality and cost competitive U.S. rice.”
Secretary Perdue said, “Today’s announcement is another great testament of President Trump’s determination to expand export opportunities for America’s farmers and ranchers. Exports are critical for the economic health of the U.S. rice industry, with half our crop being exported every year. Agreements like this, that expand opportunities for U.S. rice producers in important markets, are critical to introduce foreign customers to the bounty of goods produced by America’s farmers.”
Background:
In 2014, the United States, Australia, China, Thailand, and Vietnam entered into negotiations with Korea when its special treatment for rice market access under the World Trade Organization (WTO) expired. As a result of these negotiations, Korea agreed to include in its WTO Schedule a 408,700-ton tariff-rate quota for rice imports with a five percent in-quota duty and a 513-percent above-quota duty. Of that 408,700 tons, Korea will allocate 388,700 tons of rice into country-specific quotas under a Plurilateral Agreement with the United States, Australia, China, Thailand and Vietnam. The remaining 20,000 tons will be administered on a global basis, which U.S. suppliers can also bid for.
The agreement gives the United States the greatest volume of guaranteed rice market access in Korea ever with an annual value of approximately $110 million. Additionally, the agreement provides U.S. suppliers with enhanced disciplines related to administration of the U.S. country-specific quota.
The agreement will enter into force on January 1, 2020.
#
USDA is an equal opportunity provider, employer, and lender. | 4,288 |
above characterizations and instead claim that these articles help emancipate women. Melissa Blake of CNN claims that Walmart’s decision to remove Cosmopolitan from the checkout shelves is a step backward for women, “Cosmo has done an amazing job of changing with the times and truly reflecting where women are today. Putting the magazine farther back in the store is like saying women should hide, that they shouldn’t be seen.”
Magazines like Cosmopolitan are not changing with the times; they are the ones who are changing the times. The societal acceptance of promiscuity and the desire for women to be empowered by having more casual sex is not an advancement– it is a detriment.
For men, society used to celebrate a young man’s transition from sowing his “wild oats,” to finally growing up and becoming a real man, a real husband, and a real father. Such growth is still recognized in segments of our society, but that is not likely the case at magazines like Cosmopolitan. Such growth is likely viewed as far too domesticated and pedestrian for any “Cosmo girl.” Instead, Cosmopolitan glorifies the female adaptation of the midnight “booty call” as the pinnacle of personal growth. We are told that the more promiscuous a woman becomes, the more respected and desired she is by society by masking it with words such as “advancement” or “empowerment.”
This thirst for physical and instant gratification has poisoned the minds of young girls and women all across the world. Walmart’s decision to remove these toxic magazines from the reach of those who are susceptible to these pornographic ideas shows the beginning of push-back from those who are tired of this hypersexualized society. The issue is not the tan, slim women on the front cover. The issue is that magazines like Cosmopolitan are not advancing or improving the standard for women. The negative effects that these magazines have on women is apparent as we see the continuation of the normalization of one-night stands. The so-called movement for the “empowerment of women” given to us by these magazines, is merely a movement of the degradation of women.
Related
Casey Dickinson Casey is a student at Belmont University studying Economics and Finance. Casey plans to attend law school after undergraduate school so that she may continue to fight for and defend the Constitution in a professional setting. Her interests include reading, writing, politics, debating, music, and traveling.
The views expressed in this article are the opinion of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Lone Conservative staff. | 4,289 |
M.I.A. is unable to board to a plane to Canada after officials in the UK found a stamp in her passport, the musician said on Tuesday.
The British-Sri Lankan rapper and pop star – real name Mathangi “Maya” Arulpragasam – is scheduled to attend the Canadian premiere of her new documentary Matangi/Maya/M.I.A. at the Hot Docs Festival in Toronto on Wednesday (May 2) and participate in an on-stage conversation with NOW film critic Radheyan Simonpillai.
“Jealousy is a terrible thing. At the airport in London they wont let me board a plane to Canada for screening of documentary,” she wrote. “Apparently a mystrious [sic] person has added a stamp on my name in 2017 for some issue. No one knows who or what its about?!!!. Hummm I wonder who is that powerful in Canada/US who also doesn’t want me to talk about the film??? Cloak and daggers… its basically criminal.”
A spokesperson for Hot Docs said the festival has been in contact with M.I.A.’s reps, who are working to find a solution.
“M.I.A.’s representatives are in communication with the appropriate authorities to try and resolve the situation,” the festival said in a statement. “There is much anticipation for the Canadian premiere of Matangi/Maya/M.I.A. and we hope a resolution can be found that will allow M.I.A. to attend. When we know if this situation may impact any or all of her scheduled Hot Docs appearances, we will make that information available.”
Over the past four months, M.I.A. has attended festival screenings of the film, which was directed by her long-time friend Steven Loveridge, in New York City and Utah.
M.I.A. has previously spoken out about immigration woes in 2016 when she said her label would not release her album AIM – which included a song called Visa – because she could not secure a visa for the United States in order to promote it. She was eventually granted a visa in October of that year.
Her last public appearance in Toronto was for a speech at a Canadian Tamils’ Chamber of Commerce event in 2016.
NOW has reached out to a rep for M.I.A. for further comment. See her Instagram post below.
[email protected] | @kevinritchie | 4,290 |
TWO OF A KIND: Police officers in Auckland's Aotea Square wearing the same badge number.
Police officers arresting Occupy protesters in Auckland this morning were wearing identical badge numbers, leading to claims from protesters that it was a deliberate attempt to ensure they couldn't be identified.
Protesters claimed this morning that up to four officers in Aotea Square were wearing the same badge number - Z557. Photographic evidence partially backs those claims, with one photograph showing two officers wearing the same number.
Officers must wear identification badges to help be identified by members of the public complaining about or praising police actions.
Police, security guards and council staff today moved to shut down the Occupy camps across Auckland, leading to the arrest of three protesters and frequent scuffles and standoffs between the parties.
Protester Merlin Blackmore, who today claimed four officers were wearing the same number, claims the identical numbers are being used to allow police to act with impunity.
"The police are supposed to have an identification number so you can identify them if they're being naughty.
"That's like having two people with the same drivers licence or passport... one of them was one of the people who was being physically quite brutal whilst arresting a protester and yanking them out of the van."
Blackmore believed police could use this tactic to deny complaints, saying the officer could not be identified. However, the break-up of the protest and subsequent arrests were carried out in front of a large media contingent and members of the public.
It is not yet known why the officers were wearing the same identification numbers.
A police national headquarters spokeswoman confirmed the officers should be wearing their own numbers but referred calls to Auckland police, who have not returned calls.
This is not the first time issues have been raised over the way police dealt with Occupy protesters as the movement spread across the world.
Officers in Oakland, Boston and Houston were found to have covered their nameplates and badges while dispersing Occupy protests in the US.
"This is exactly the kind of thing that we've seen in New York and across the world where police have covered their badge numbers and [used] these kinds of tactics," Blackmore said.
It was also reported that some officers in the US were targeted by internet hackers as a result of their involvement in arresting protesters.
Blackmore said they would discuss what they would do as a result.
"We will be seeking appropriate legal recourse, we'll have to talk to our lawyers and we'll have to have general assembly and discuss that in consensus.
"This is a complete crock of s---". | 4,291 |
AFRICA’S great grasslands are one of that continent’s most famous features. They are also reckoned by many to have been crucial to human evolution. This school of thought holds that people walk upright because their ancestors could thus see farther on an open plain. Forest primates do not need to be bipedal, the argument continues, because the trees limit their vision anyway.
As “Just So” stories go, it is perfectly plausible. But some go further and argue that the transition took place when the savannahs themselves came into existence, replacing the pre-existing forest and forcing human ancestors to adapt or die out. Fossil evidence suggests humanity’s upright stance began to evolve between 6m and 4m years ago. So the question is, did that coincide with the formation of the savannah? A paper in Geology, by Sarah Feakins, of the University of Southern California, suggests not.
Dr Feakins studied sediment cores from the Gulf of Aden, a place where offshore winds deposit detritus from a goodly part of the east of the African continent. In these, she discovered plant molecules that date back between 12m and 1m years. Such molecules contain carbon, and carbon atoms come in various isotopes, whose ratios give away their history. In particular, the ratio of ¹²C to ¹³C can tell you what sort of plant made the molecule in question.
Plants in rainforests tend to discriminate against ¹³C. Those in modern African grasslands are less selective and ¹³C is thus more abundant in their molecules. Dr Feakins was therefore able to ask when these grasslands came about.
To her surprise, they seem to have been there even 12m years ago. Close examination of the cores shows that the nature of the grass changed over the millennia, as species that were adapted to dry conditions took over from those that prefer wetter weather, but savannah of some form there always was.
The climatic change she observed was already known about. It was the reason people suspected forests had given way to savannah. But, contrary to that suspicion, Dr Feakins has shown that early humanity’s east African homeland was never heavily forested, so the idea that people were constrained to walk upright by the disappearance of the forests is wrong.
Perhaps it was more pull than push—a pre-existing, but empty ecological niche crying out to be filled by an enterprising species that could make the transition. But perhaps those who seek an ecological explanation of this sort are, as it were, barking up the wrong tree. | 4,292 |
2017 just got a whole lot nastier. Killing Ground is here as another reminder that regular humans are way more scary than franchise serial killers and immortal beings that keep coming back for sequel after sequel. Set in our very own reality, two men set a disturbing course for vile acts and a series of terrifyingly cold murders.
Haven't humans learned by now? You don't go into the woods and expect to not be maimed, killed, or raped. Like a new spin on 2008's Eden Lake, the vacation ritual once again turns into a visceral tale of human pain and suffering. What should have been a peaceful weekend of lakeside camping is transformed into a blood soaked cat and mouse game infused with perversity by a pair of backwoods rednecks with no moral compass whatsoever. Mixing decades old themes of I Spit On Your Grave and Deliverance into another cold blooded tale of death, director Damien Power brings a level of fear that's palpable.
Australia always does it right. For years now, the land down under has been churning out a solid stream of great horror films. From Wolf Creek to The Loved Ones to this year's release of Killing Ground, there's just something they get about producing edge of your seat genre films that rely heavily on tension, strong characters, and brooding violence that's painful to watch. While this latest movie uses many standard tropes like neverending chase scenes and the age old wooded setting, it definitely skims the surface of man's inherent evil and how easily things can slide off the rails into unbridled mayhem.
Nobody better touch my baby!
Directed with near perfection and acted with total emotional decay, Killing Ground has a take no prisoners attitude as it spins further and further out of control. As a merging of great acting talent and hyper realism, Power brings the good old days back to his chosen palette. Using a dual timeline that never gets confusing, his picture stays focused on always being ahead of the game by skipping contrivances. This is steady film making that plays all its cards right by maintaining a momentum that feels fresh when most horror entries are still stuck trying to create the next best franchise.
Sometimes we need to fall back on what's worked in the past. Killing Ground does just that. Audiences will be able to predict many plot points. However, it still remains a hardcore reminder of the way things used to be. Stalkings and death are a dish best served cold. Power's movie is a platter full of the exact thing most fans are looking for these days: a return to form.
| 4,293 |
in the legal marijuana trade, where companies are eager to show they can be professional and law-abiding while distancing themselves from "stoner hippie" stereotypes.
Vangst surveyed recruiters at a job fair this year and found that they overwhelmingly judged casually dressed prospects to be less responsible, less qualified and lazier than those wearing formal clothes. So dress like you'd dress for any other job interview, which is to say, overdress.
You don't need to be a user
Obviously, familiarity with any product can help a job selling or marketing it. But that's far from a requirement in the weed business. "We're hiring people out of lots of other industries whether they're cannabis users or not," Adams said.
Some jobs, like working as a patient counselor or a budtender in a dispensary, do require a worker to know the properties of various marijuana strains and to recommend products. "You have to have some knowledge to talk to the customers, but that's just knowledge -- it doesn't have to be firsthand," he said.
Education counts
The view that companies want workers with experience, but are reluctant hire people to gain that experience, applies here as well. So in the absence of applicable experience, "The best thing is doing a class," Humiston said. These can teach you more about the laws in your particular state and how to get certified in the area that interests you.
"If you take the extra step to take a compliance course, that's one less training [for your employer]," she said. "Putting yourself out there, learning and educating yourself will set someone apart."
Within the cannabis sector, cultivators are looking for people with experience in other large-scale agricultural operations, like growing tulips or tomatoes. On the retail side, people who have worked in high-volume stores or restaurants would find themselves with a leg up. That's true at all levels. For instance, managers at high-end clothing stores or restaurants are being tapped to run dispensaries, Humiston said.
It's good to be green
It's not hard to see parallels between cannabusiness and another green industry.
"We're pulling a lot of people from the solar industry," said Vangst's Arfsten. "That industry grew nearly as quickly as this one. People from that growth environment understand the need to scale, and what's required to make that happen." Experience working in startups is also valuable.
Finally, there's no shortage of professional help, with a slew of staffing and recruitment firms dedicated to helping those looking for jobs in legal weed at all levels (here's one list). | 4,294 |
Mother of 4, boyfriend and family dog fatally shot on West Side
Police investigate shooting on West Side. Police investigate shooting on West Side. Photo: By Jacob Beltran, San Antonio Express-News Photo: By Jacob Beltran, San Antonio Express-News Image 1 of / 3 Caption Close Mother of 4, boyfriend and family dog fatally shot on West Side 1 / 3 Back to Gallery
A West Side family was mourning the loss of a woman they said was fatally shot along with her boyfriend and a family dog as they sat in a truck Sunday afternoon.
Although San Antonio police have not released any identifications in the double shooting in the 2300 block of Delgado Street, Lorrina Robinson,, identified one of the victims as her sister Darlene Jessica Robinson, 34.
She said her sister was getting ready to leave the home on a Sunday outing with her boyfriend and two children. She said that based on witness descriptions, they believe the shooter to be her sister's ex-boyfriend.
SAPD spokeswoman Misty Floyd said officers arrived around 3:30 p.m. to the intersection of Delgado and North West 24th streets and found a man and woman dead inside a Chevrolet Tahoe.
Next to them, police found an injured 8-year-old girl who was taken to the hospital, Floyd said. The dog was also inside the truck.
Police believe the suspect walked up to the vehicle and fired several rounds at both Robinson and the man before shooting the dog, Floyd said.
Robinson's family believes her ex-boyfriend was upset that Robinson and her boyfriend were planning to marry at some point.
Robinson's sister said witnesses told her the man put her sister in a headlock and shot her multiple times in the chest.
A 15-year-old girl who witnessed the shooting ran behind the SUV and begged for her life before the man attempted to shoot the 8-year-old girl, just grazing her, Robinson's sister said.
Robinson was a mother of four, her sister said, including two boys and two girls. She described her sister as a spirited woman.
"She did everything for her kids and it's sad she had to die like this," Robinson said. "We just need him to come to justice."
Floyd said police believe the man fled in a small, dark colored sedan. Homicide detectives were investigating the scene Sunday and urged anyone with information regarding the shooting to contact police.
"Our hearts go out to the family and we're doing everything we possibly can to catch the suspect," Floyd said.
[email protected] | 4,295 |
An accident happened at 11 a.m. yesterday. The biggest crane that was used in construction of Podolsky bridge crashed down.
Several boats were destroyed. 8 people were working on the crane at the time of the accident. 5 of them were able to save on their own whereas three others were saved by employees of the MES of Russia.
The crane had to be used in installation the last segment of the bridge.
The bridge is facing an active transformation, asphalt is being laid now. Arcs of the bridge are ready.
How could such a huge crane fall down?
Workers say that the crash occurred due to somebody’s criminal negligence. Puddles of machine oil can be seen on the water.
Let’s go upstairs to see the place of the accident better.
The crane was intended for bridge construction. It was the biggest technological construction of the type in Ukraine.
Specifications: actual carrying capacity – 680 tons, height of the crane arm – 93,3 m, size of the main boat – 97x16m, mass of the assembled crane – 3000 tons.
The last arc has to be mounted here but nobody knows when it is going to happen.
It seems that two 5-storey buildings have fallen down.
The bridge is still under construction.
Construction of the crane was over in 2009. In August 2010 the crane was used for the first time in dismantling of another floating crane.
The main arm of the crane is over 100 m long.
The crane has two auxiliary boats. One of them carries the arm during transportation.
Boats are fixed laterally from the crane to increase stability.
The crane can be controlled from the front cabin and works both in an autonomous regimen and from the coast using a cable.
The crane with a lifted arm.
The adjacent crane was dismantled last year.
The photo was taken 10 minutes before the crane crash.
11:24 a.m. The arm of the crane is not observed above the bridge any longer.
The crew is saved and workers are trying to catch the boat that has floated away.
Let’s continue the examination.
The person was working on the crane.
Welding seams are deformed along the entire arm. Even the flat upper part is curved now.
The reasons for the accidents are still being discussed.
It is hoped that the crane will be restored in winter.
Location: Kiev
via interesniy-kiev, lov-tob and dfaw | 4,296 |
As teams continue discussions on Thursday at a Strategy Group meeting about potentially introducing 1000bhp engines for 2017, a direct request has been sent to motor racing's governing body for it to back a rules overhaul.
Ron Walker, the former Australian Grand Prix CEO and head of the Formula One Promoters' Association (FOPA), says that he has directly requested the FIA acts because he thinks fans do not like the current power units.
"I have written to Jean Todt and told him that the FIA and the technical committee should urgently convene and consider the original proposal to reintroduce 1000bhp V6 twin turbo engines," Walker told Motorsport.com
"The teams are keen to see it happen in 2017 and Formula 1 needs to move in that direction."
Walker believes that the expense and focus on the current turbo V6 engines are not justified, and that fans would prefer a more powerful and cheaper concept
"Why do the majority of fans come and watch Formula 1?," he asked. "It's not to experience new rules each year or to witness new engine development. It's to see and experience the whole show.
"A simple modified V6 twin turbo engine with 1,000 hp (as voted on by the F1 Commission in 2012) is what the fans want; not to see a technology miracle with computer operated engines controlled from overseas and Swiss watch precision."
He added: "Our fans want to see a gladiatorial race between drivers in the world's fastest cars, the best drivers and driving at the limit.
"Formula 1 aficionados can appreciate the masterpieces that these modern V6 turbo engines are. But, for the majority of fans, it's just too complex."
Action must be taken
Walker stepped down from his role as Australian GP chairman earlier this year, but still maintains close links with the circuits and F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone.
He is adamant that F1 must not waste the opportunity to make change now while those within the sport are open to tweaks.
"One thing I have learned building the most successful Formula 1 event in the world over the past 20 years is that you have to give the customers what they want," he said.
"The teams are seeing the need for change and have been very supportive. Of course Bernie has been particularly vocal, but everyone needs to work together to implement the change, and those decisions need to be made now – it's a time for action."
He added: "The sport needs to continually evolve, but it can't adversely affect the show. Everyone understands that action needs to be taken and the time is now." | 4,297 |
A father in Highlands Ranch, Colorado said that a store manager called him a homophobic slur in front of his 4-year-old son.
James Shawlin told KUSA that he stopped by the Floor and Decor store on Friday to exchange defective materials he had purchased to build a stone fireplace.
“The stones were broken and they were basically gluing them back together and putting them in the box and selling them,” he explained.
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Shawlin said that a store manager spotted him going through boxes to check the stones and “was not too happy.”
“I was a little firm with him, and I just told him, ‘Hey, you know, my husband and I spend a lot of money here. We’ve been using you guys for ten years. We have $3,000 worth of stone.’” Shawlin recalled telling manager. “And [the manager] goes, ‘oh, that explains it now. The faggot that voted for Hillary.’”
Another customer expressed support for Donald Trump after overhearing the conversation, Shawlin said.
The father broke down in tears remembering how the customer later followed him and his son into the parking lot.
“He basically said, ‘What are these faggots going to do to this child?’” Shawlin recalled.
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“I’m 44, I’ve been out for a while, I grew up in rural Wisconsin, I’ve heard it all,” Shawlin observed. “But when you have a child that’s so young that doesn’t understand, it’s pretty traumatizing.”
After returning home, Shawlin left a review on Yelp about his “horrific” experience at the store.
“What is this world coming to?” he wrote. “I am shocked, hurt and very upset. You see this on the news but to actually be on the other side of it is crazy. I am in shock and in disbelief. I think that what hurts the most is how they mentioned to ‘what the faggots were going to do to this child.'”
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According to Floor and Decor spokesperson Mickey O’Sullivan, the Atlanta-based company is conducted an investigation of the complaint. O’Sullivan told KUSA that he had never heard an employee use bigoted language in his 10 years working at the company.
Watch the video below from KUSA. | 4,298 |
New Year 2010 As the ball dropped at Times Square, Jennifer Lopez and Daughtry performed at the ABC stage in the legendary Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve at Times Square. New Year 2009 New Years Eve at Time Square 2008 was a very cold experience.
At 1F (-17C) degree and a strong wind, it was one of the coldest Times Square New Years Eve ever.
Still a million people was gathered to see the Ball drop.
Bill and Hillary Clinton joined the crow a couple of minutes before midnight.
New Year 2008 No Panorama New Year 2007 More than 700.000 people are gathered at Times Square when the ball drops.
This year Brian Seacrest and Christina Aguilera welcomes the New Year on the ABC Stage at Military Island. New Year 2006
with Mariah Carey performing live in ABC's Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve New Year 2005 New Year at Times Square is probably the most well known New Year Celebration in the world.
The celebration has this year (2005) it's 100 year anniversary
It started in 1904 when the new headquarters of The New York Times was inagurated. The owner of NYT the German Jewish immigrant Alfred Och, wanted to celebrate this with a large party where nothing was spared. It ended with a large fireworks at midnight with people cheering and wishing Happy New Year.
The night was a large success and it instantly became a yearly tradition
2 years later fireworks within the city was banned and this lead to the introduction of the BALL which was lowered from the top of the building.
The Ball has been dropped every year since 1907 except for the war time dimouts in 1942 and 1943.
The Ball is actually a 400 pound iron ball with light bulbs mounted around i New Year 2004 The New Year Celebration at Times Square New YORK is famous. People travel from far away for this event.
The panorama made last year by Jook Leung is also famous. Ranked among the top 10 during all 2003 at Google in searches for Times Square or New Years Eve. Now he has done it again.
New Year 2003 The first of Jook Leung's Times Square New Years panorama was a large succees, which was featured among thousands of blogs and liksites around the world.
PHOTOGRAPHER: Jook Leung www.360vr.com is internationally recognized as an innovator in spherical panoramic photography. He specializes in creating unique and exceptional 360 degree panoramas. A mini portfolio of his artistry with spherical panoramas can be seen on the Adobe Photographers Web site. | 4,299 |
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