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Hungary’s populist government has banned gender studies degrees citing low enrollment numbers that waste taxpayer money and because it is “an ideology not a science.”
Left-wing critics say it’s academically problematic, politically unheard of in a democratic society, and argue gender studies degrees do lead to jobs.
Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who has been called the Donald Trump of Europe, signed the decree, which went into effect Saturday, removing gender studies from a list of approved master’s programs, though students already enrolled will be grandfathered in.
COLLEGE STUDENT REINSTATED AFTER 18-DAY EXILE FROM CHRISTIANITY CLASS FOR GENDER SPEECH
“The Hungarian government is of the clear view that people are born either men or women,” Orban’s chief of staff said in August. “They lead their lives the way they think best, but beyond this, the Hungarian state does not wish to spend public funds on education in this area.”
Central European University (CEU), founded by Hungarian-American liberal billionaire George Soros and one of two universities in the country that teaches gender studies, blasted the decree as “a significant loss to the Hungarian scholarly community and for democratically-minded public policymakers.”
Eva Fodor, pro-rector for social sciences and humanities at CEU, told Fox News the decree is “atrocious” and unheard of in democratic societies.
“Whether or not you believe in the academic merit in gender studies as a field, it is a legitimate academic field, so banning it is a historic violation of academic freedom,” said Fodor, who has taught gender studies for the past 15 years.
The ban abolishes CEU’s Hungarian accredited two-year master’s program in gender studies, which has about 20 students each year, including Americans. As of Saturday, students are no longer able to enroll in the program.
Fodor said it is problematic because the program is in partnership with other countries, supported by European Union funding.
HUNGARY'S PRO-TRUMP, POPULIST GOVERNMENT PUSHES SOROS CRACKDOWN
Seen as a hostile bastion of liberalism by Orban’s administration, CEU students have participated in the “Vagina Monologues” and the “Hate Speech Monologues,” describing the program as being a part of “social change.”
CEU said it will continue teaching and research in the field through its U.S.-accredited MA and Ph.D. programs.
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leonardo-dicaprio-django
Leonardo DiCaprio is stepping back into a role that could easily see him bag an Oscar, and if anyone can help him achieve that, it’s Martin Scorsese.
The iconic director, who was heavily involved in some of Leo’s classic films, including Wolf of Wall Street, Gangs of New York, Shutter Island and The Departed, has just cast the now 40-year-old in a film that is more than likely going to test him.
Leonardo will take the form of H.H. Holmes, better known as Dr. Henry Howard Holmes, who is documented as one of the first serial killers in the modern sense of the term. Holmes admitted to killing 27 women in the time surrounding the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago, but it’s widely believed that he murdered over 200 victims in total.
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There is plenty of material on Holmes, who was also the chilling subject of Erik Larson’s bestselling 2003 book ‘The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic And Madness At The Fair That Changed America.’
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Holmes was not your ordinary backstreet grabber, though, and had a pretty murderous weapon that took the form of a hotel that is today nicknamed ‘The Murder Castle.’
The building was a death trap in every sense of the word. Home to enormous furnaces, large vaults and custom build acid pits, the sadistic Dr would dispose of his victims in a variety of ways – often torturing them in said vaults. But even more disturbing is the selection of rooms that had gas lines fed into them in order to suffocate some people in their sleep.
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The hotel is also rumoured to be the inspiration for the upcoming fifth season of American Horror Story, although this hasn’t been confirmed.
Leonardo-DiCaprio-Teddy-Daniels-shutter-island-portable
It’s going to be an incredibly complex role to take on and accurately portray, but if anyone is up to the task, DiCaprio is. And we think he will revel in it.
We’ll leave you with one H.H. Holmes quote that could one day in the future, be one of Leonardo’s most iconic: “Yes I was born with the devil in me. I was born with the evil standing as my sponsor beside the bed where I was ushered into the world, and he has been with me since.”
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In fact, it already has. There’s a generation growing up which will know books – proper books, not pop-ups or book-like toys – only in the electronic form. Hopefully none of them will have the unhealthy addiction of the previous generations.
Because you know, that smell you’re so enamoured with? I have bad news for you: that’s the thinner in the ink and adhesive in the binding. You’re basically a glue junkie. There’s nothing poetic, cool or literary about it.
There will, most probably, always be some printed books being made. Just like there are vinyl records and horse tack. But a paper book, especially a hardcover, is just such a terribly cumbersome and inconvenient media-consumption method, it’s bound to disappear from mainstream use within our lifetime.
1. It’s not about the money.
Let me set one thing straight:
Writing a book is not about the money. It’s a labour of love. You can write anything you want, show it to your friends (or not), and be happy about it (or not).
But publishing is about money. If you put a price – any price – on your book, it means you want to make money from it. There’s no point denying it. There are plenty of ways to distribute your work for free: Figment, Wattpad, forums, your own website. Don’t put the book out there with a $2.99 sticker and say you don’t care about money.
I’ve spent a good few monthly wages to make sure my books were ready for publishing. I’m not even half-way to making even. This is money I could’ve spent on any number of other, less painful hobbies. This is money that, if I had children, would have been taken away literally from my children’s mouths. I want – no, I need those money back, with profit.
What you’re probably trying to say is “it’s not just about the money.” Of course it isn’t. I earn more in my office job than I will ever earn from publishing. My books are bound for niche markets, instead of being naked torso vampire romances or pseudo-mystical thrillers that would probably sell much better than what I prefer to write. So yes, there must be the element of fun, engagement, satisfaction for both reader and writer.
But also, there must be money, or we’ll all end up like poor old Vincent Van Gogh.
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s business resolution.
What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received? When I was working as a journalist, there was a new newspaper launching in Toronto, and an editor there asked me to write about real estate. I really wanted a column, but I didn’t want to write about that subject. My husband asked me, “If you could write about anything what would it be?” and I said, “Beer.” He said, “You can do it, just ask.” I think it’s a big thing to just ask for what you want without being afraid, even if it seems insane. That column is how I started my career.
Who do you admire most in your profession and why? Stephen Beaumont. Like him, I started off writing about beer as a journalist, but he’s worked his way up to the point where he wrote The World Atlas of Beer, this hardcover glossy book where he travelled to breweries all over the world. It’s kind of my dream job to be able to travel everywhere from Chile to China to Italy and just taste all of the new stuff that’s coming out, visit all of the new breweries and figure out what’s the best.
When drinking beer is your job, does it make it hard to kick back with a cold one? When I just want to have a beer with dinner and not think about it, there’s nothing in my house that I can do that with. I just have a glass of water or open a bottle of wine because otherwise I have to sit down and write a tasting note #beerwriterproblems.
After a long day of sampling brews, how do you unwind? I love beer and cheese. Lately, I’m loving stouts with blue cheese. The combination brings me a deep sense of relaxation and pleasure. I’d rather have that than chocolate any day.
More Real Women 9-5:
What It’s Really Like to Launch a Successful Tech Start-Up
What It’s Really Like to Be a Professional Stuntwoman
What It’s Really Like to Be in the Canadian Armed Forces
What It’s Really Like to Be a Sports TV Anchor
What It’s Really Like to Be a Rocket Scientist
What It’s Really Like to Be a National Ballet Principal Dancer
More #CareerInspo:
How to Stay Career-Focused Without Burning the $@*! Out
How Do I Keep My Job and My Brash Social Media Persona?
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.19.5. Financial Analysis
18.19.6. SWOT Analysis
18.19.7. Business Strategies
18.20. Rhizen Pharmaceuticals S.A.
18.20.1. Company Details
18.20.2. Company Overview
18.20.3. Product Offerings
18.20.4. Key Developments
18.20.5. Financial Analysis
18.20.6. SWOT Analysis
18.20.7. Business Strategies
18.21. Torigen Pharmaceutical Inc.
18.21.1. Company Details
18.21.2. Company Overview
18.21.3. Product Offerings
18.21.4. Key Developments
18.21.5. Financial Analysis
18.21.6. SWOT Analysis
18.21.7. Business Strategies
18.22. Vaccibody
18.22.1. Company Details
18.22.2. Company Overview
18.22.3. Product Offerings
18.22.4. Key Developments
18.22.5. Financial Analysis
18.22.6. SWOT Analysis
18.22.7. Business Strategies
18.23. VetDC
18.23.1. Company Details
18.23.2. Company Overview
18.23.3. Product Offerings
18.23.4. Key Developments
18.23.5. Financial Analysis
18.23.6. SWOT Analysis
18.23.7. Business Strategies
18.24. Virbac.
18.24.1. Company Details
18.24.2. Company Overview
18.24.3. Product Offerings
18.24.4. Key Developments
18.24.5. Financial Analysis
18.24.6. SWOT Analysis
18.24.7. Business Strategies
18.25. Zoetis Services LLC
18.25.1. Company Details
18.25.2. Company Overview
18.25.3. Product Offerings
18.25.4. Key Developments
18.25.5. Financial Analysis
18.25.6. SWOT Analysis
18.25.7. Business Strategies
19. Key Findings
Note: This ToC is tentative and can be changed according to the research study conducted during the course of report completion.
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A top House Democrat predicted on Sunday that the lower chamber would move forward with a vote on impeachment against President Trump Donald John TrumpSteele Dossier sub-source was subject of FBI counterintelligence probe Pelosi slams Trump executive order on pre-existing conditions: It 'isn't worth the paper it's signed on' Trump 'no longer angry' at Romney because of Supreme Court stance MORE without support from GOP lawmakers.
When asked by CNN’s Dana Bash Dana BashTrump says officials will investigate whether California is using 1619 Project in classrooms Veterans Affairs secretary defends Trump: 'I judge a man by his actions' GOP senator dismisses national intelligence director election security briefings: 'This is blown way out of proportion' MORE on “State of the Union” if he would support a House vote on impeachment without backing from Republican colleagues, Rep. Jim Clyburn James (Jim) Enos ClyburnMcEnany says Trump will accept result of 'free and fair election' Fauci, Black Lives Matter founders included on Time's 100 Most Influential People list Azar to testify before House coronavirus subcommittee MORE (D-S.C.) said, “We would. Absolutely.”
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“I don’t think she was limiting that to the Congress,” he added. “She knows the Congress very well, and she knows how Republican colleagues are prone to vote on these issues within the party.”
Clyburn cited polls showing the American public increasingly supporting an impeachment inquiry. These recent surveys have mainly shown a rise in support of the investigation among independents.
Bash then asked if Clyburn thought GOP lawmakers would change their minds to reflect public opinion.
“Well, that may be true,” he said. “But what’s that level we have to get to for them to have to change?”
Pelosi launched an impeachment inquiry after a whistleblower report surfaced showing President Trump asked the Ukrainian president for an investigation into former Vice President Joe Biden Joe BidenPelosi slams Trump executive order on pre-existing conditions: It 'isn't worth the paper it's signed on' Hillicon Valley: Subpoenas for Facebook, Google and Twitter on the cards | Wray rebuffs mail-in voting conspiracies | Reps. raise mass surveillance concerns Fox News poll: Biden ahead of Trump in Nevada, Pennsylvania and Ohio MORE and his son.
The House voted along party lines last Thursday to support the impeachment inquiry rules. No GOP lawmakers supported the measure in the lower chamber's first vote on the inquiry.
Three House committees have been holding closed-door hearings with former and current Trump officials as part of the inquiry.
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Earlier this week, UFC President Dana White said he offered Nick Diaz (26-9 MMA, 7-6 UFC) a fight against Lyoto Machida (19-4 MMA, 11-4 UFC). But if Diaz doesn’t want to fight the ex-light-heavyweight champ in his middleweight debut, at least one other guy does.
Former Strikeforce title challenger Tim Kennedy (16-4 MMA, 1-0 UFC), who recently made a successful UFC debut with a decision victory over fellow 185-pounder Roger Gracie, has offered his services.
As Kennedy wrote on Twitter: “Lyoto is moving down to middleweight in the @ufc?!?!?! I currently have a spot open on my dance card and would love to boogie. @danawhite”
As MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) reported on Wednesday, White continues to hold out hope that Diaz returns to the cage. Although the ex-Strikeforce champ suggested he was going to retire following a March loss to UFC welterweight titleholder Georges St-Pierre, White recently has suggested Diaz may be interested in making a return.
“I talked to Diaz today, and I made him an offer, so we’ll see what happens,” White said on Wednesday. “He had been talking about going to 185 pounds. Machida has been talking about going to 185 pounds, so we wanted to see if he wanted to fight Machida at 185.”
If not, Kennedy is interested in a bout, as he wrote on Thursday.
Of course, Kennedy has already seen one potential high-profile fight slip through his fingers. He had been targeted for a bout with top middleweight contender Vitor Belfort this fall in Brazil. However, Belfort later said he’d rather fight at heavyweight than take a non-title fight at middleweight, where he believes he’s already earned another shot at the belt. That scrapped the Kennedy vs. Belfort plans.
Machida has had a long and fairly fruitful career at light heavyweight, despite his controversial decision loss to Phil Davis earlier this month at UFC 163. However, he long dismissed a potential move down to middleweight because his friend and training partner, Anderson Silva, was the division’s long-reigning champion. However, with Chris Weidman dethroning Silva earlier this summer, Machida might make the plunge.
Now, he just needs an opponent.
For more on the UFC’s upcoming schedule, stay tuned to the UFC Rumors section of the site.
(Pictured: Tim Kennedy)
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The City's Planning a Lawsuit to Fight Releasing Public Records to an Anti-Union Group
ANOTHER BELIEVER / CC 3.0
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The City of Portland is preparing a lawsuit in order to avoid releasing the names of members of a public-employee union to an anti-labor group, after District Attorney Rod Underhill's office deemed those records are public.
A resolution Portland City Council will vote on next week would give city attorneys permission to file suit in Multnomah County Circuit Court, opposing the release.
At issue is whether the city will reveal the names of hundreds of members of the union Laborers' Local 483 to the Freedom Foundation, an anti-labor group that has made plain its intention to try convincing union members to stop paying union dues. Willamette Week reported last month that the Olympia-based group was called into town by disaffected sewer workers who belong to Local 483.
The city refused a request from the Freedom Foundation to release the names of dues-paying union members, arguing "employees' membership is a union is personal and confidential in nature." But the group appealed to Underhill, who frequently acts as a final arbiter as to whether records fall under Oregon's public records law. The DA's office ruled last week that the membership list is fair game for release—noting that names of non-union members have been released to unions in the past—but Local 483's crying foul.
"They’re an anti-union, anti-worker group," says the union's business manager, Farrell Reichartz. "We’re interested in protecting the rights and privacy of our members."
According to City Attorney Tracy Reeve, Local 483 has threatened to file an unfair labor practice complaint against the City of Portland if it complies with Underhill's order.
"The union has taken the position that release of this information would constitute unlawful interference with its representational responsibilities.." reads a statement filed with the resolution council will take up.
The decision, Reeve says, might come down to whether public records law and state labor laws clash, and, if so, which should win out in this instance. Local 483 says its complying with its members wishes that their names not be made public in conjunction with their union membership.
According to the Willamette Week report, the Freedom Foundation took a similar tack with another public-employee union last year, and "foundation activists landed at the front doors of more than 10,000 workers, urging them to stop paying dues."
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“Through the grace of the people in my life, I am able to conduct what appears at first glance in many ways more normal than it is beneath the surface,” Mrs. Manning said recently. “My husband, he’s been my hands.”
There is no clear accounting of how many people were seriously injured that day. Of the $7 billion distributed by the federal government’s September 11th Victim Compensation Fund, $6 billion went to the families of those killed at the World Trade Center, at the Pentagon, and in the plane that went down in Pennsylvania; $1 billion went to the injured. Most of the injured were firefighters, and most of the payments were for respiratory ailments.
Burns accounted for 40 of the 2,680 injury payments.
Eighteen of the most gravely burned were taken that day to NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital. A dozen of those survived.
Some, like Mrs. Manning and Harry Waizer, who both worked at Cantor Fitzgerald, have regained a sense of equilibrium. For others, like Elaine Duch, who was a senior administrative assistant in the real estate department at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the before and after are clearly demarcated.
Ms. Duch, 56, has cut herself off from her old friends, partly because, as she put it, “I’m never going to be the Elaine that I used to be.” Of her current friends, Ms. Duch said, “Well, see, they did not know me before, they only know me as an injured person.”
Nowadays, she goes to the New Jersey Shore with her twin sister and a woman who saw her on the news and who sent her cards and letters every day of the five months she spent in rehabilitation. She no longer drives because her hands are too weak and she is easily rattled. She avoids zippers, tiny buttons and opening the wax paper in cereal boxes. She suffers through summers and winters because her burned skin does not tolerate heat and cold very well.
Image BY HER SIDE Lauren Manning with her husband, Greg, make for a different picture this month, than they did in the first few months after the attacks. I am able to conduct what appears at first glance in many ways more normal than it is beneath the surface, says Mrs. Manning, 47. Credit... James Estrin/The New York Times
“I felt like I was young when this happened, and I feel like I’m old now,” Ms. Duch said. “I feel like my past life was a different life.”
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College students who want to boost their grades can start by boosting their level of exercise, new research suggests.
A report presented on Thursday at the American College of Sports Medicine’s 57th annual meeting in Baltimore finds that college students who regularly engage in vigorous exercise get better grades. Although a link between physical activity and higher academic achievement has been shown in middle-school students, it hasn’t been clear whether exercise is associated with better grades among older students.
To find out, researchers at Saginaw Valley State University in Michigan tracked the grades and exercise habits of 266 undergraduates. They found that students who regularly participated in vigorous physical activity had higher G.P.A.’s.
But does exercise really boost grades — or are high academic achievers simply more likely to be higher achievers in physical activity as well?
To answer the question, the researchers controlled for a number of factors that might influence grade point average, like gender, study time and participation in college sports. They even controlled for area of study, noting that a kinesiology major, for instance, might be more likely to exercise than a student studying another subject.
After controlling for such variables, the findings still showed that exercise made a sizable difference in a student’s G.P.A. On a 4.0 grade scale, students who exercised vigorously seven days a week had G.P.A.’s that were, on average, 0.4 points higher than those who didn’t exercise. (The full study isn’t available online, but the American College of Sports Medicine has posted a press release about the research.)
Although the researchers controlled for the amount of time a student spends studying, earlier reports showed that students who study a lot are also more likely to exercise regularly, suggesting a high academic work ethic may also translate into a higher commitment to exercising.
Notably, a study published last year in the journal Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise found that the more hours a student spends studying, the more likely he or she is to exercise. Compared with students who studied less than an hour per day, students who studied three or more hours a day were nearly four times more likely to participate in vigorous exercise and about three times more likely to take part in moderate physical activity. And students with G.P.A.’s of 3.5 or higher were three times more likely to participate in vigorous physical activity than students with a G.P.A. under 3.0.
Correction: An earlier version of this post misstated the name of the university where the research was conducted; it is Saginaw Valley State University in Michigan, not Saginaw State University.
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Sushi Striker: The Way of Sushido review – Not quite as satisfying as actually eating sushi
Sushi Striker: The Way of Sushido review – Not quite as satisfying as actually eating sushi by Josh Porter
Overwatch League’s Philadelphia Fusion have teamed up with N3rd Street Gamers to host an amateur Overwatch tournament with $5,000 up for grabs.
The Philadelphia Fusion is one of Overwatch League’s best teams, both in terms of results and fan engagement. Their next project for fan outreach is “The Fusion Showcase,” scheduled to take place during the TooManyGames convention at the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center from June 22 to 24. A collaboration with N3rd Street Gamers, this is the first amateur Overwatch in Philadelphia that’s officially licensed by Blizzard Entertainment.
According to a press release, The Fusion Showcase will have a $5,000 prize pool, has slots for 32 teams, and will be open to anyone not currently competing in Overwatch Contenders or Overwatch League. This is a pretty big deal for anyone wanting to build a name for themselves in the professional scene since there aren’t many tournaments going on outside of the path-to-pro circuit. The release also said the following:
The Philadelphia Fusion and N3rd Street Gamers partnership combines the strength of the city’s first professional esports team with the region’s foremost gaming network. The Fusion Showcase competition will be carefully watched by the coaching staff of Fusion University Contender League staff and other league scouts. The tournament also furthers N3rd Street Gamers’ mission of lowering the barrier of entry to competitive play for esports athletes, and building the next wave of up and coming esports talent.
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Inclusivity has been a huge trend in gaming over the last few years, so having tournaments aimed at aspiring Overwatch professionals is a great move for the Fusion. Having the Fusion University coaching staff on-site will give competitors access to important people who can further bridge the gap between amateur and pro.
It all ties into Overwatch League’s overarching theme – competition should be enjoyed by everyone, and everyone will have an opportunity to make a name for themselves. Click this link to find out more about The Fusion Showcase.
N3rd Street Gamers is a Philadelphia-headquartered esports network focused on serving semi-professional, amateur, and developing gamers. Founded in 2009 by entrepreneurs John Fazio and Rob Hilsky, the NSG team’s goal is to empower competitive video game communities with resources to grow and a national system for tracking player progression.
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HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) - Gov. Ned Lamont recommended Monday that Connecticut join a growing number of states in eliminating the religious exemption for childhood vaccinations.
Lamont, a Democrat, and Health Commissioner Renee Coleman-Mitchell proposed that the General Assembly do away with the exemption by the start of the 2021-22 school year.
The decision follows the recent release of statistics from the state Department of Public Health showing the percentage of Connecticut kindergarteners who were vaccinated against measles, mumps and rubella dropped from 96.5% in the 2017-18 school year to 95.9% in the 2018-19 school year.
There have been 1,241 cases of measles reported in the United States this year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Monday, but just three in Connecticut.
“Sometimes legislatures like to wait until the emergency and then act,” Lamont said. “Wait for the bridge to go down, wait for that measles epidemic. And that’s not the way you deal with public safety.”
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1905 that states have the right to enforce compulsory vaccination laws, but opponents argue it should be up to parents to make health care decisions for their children.
“NO EMERGENCY HERE,” the anti-vaccination group called Informed Choice CT tweeted Monday. “NO NEED FOR (governor Lamont) TO DENY OUR CHILDREN A CIVIL RIGHT.”
But Coleman-Mitchell said that unvaccinated children pose a risk to classmates who have compromised immune systems or other health problems that prevent them from receiving vaccinations.
“As public health commissioner, I have the responsibility to protect the public health and to protect those who cannot protect themselves,” she said. “Children going to school are entitled to learn in a healthy environment, safe from disease.”
Lamont and Coleman-Mitchell were joined by leaders of the legislature’s Democratic majority, who said expect the legislation to pass in next year’s regular session of the General Assembly.
“This is not a religious issue,” said Senate President Pro Tempore Martin Looney. “This is a public health issue, and there is no valid reason for children not to be vaccinated except for health-related reasons.”
New York and Washington state both recently removed religious or philosophical exemptions to vaccines, joining California, Mississippi and West Virginia. Maine will remove them in 2021. All states allow medical exemptions.
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was no physical distancing?
There are two answers to the whataboutery.
The first is that not only were all of these things wrong, they were widely criticized and condemned at the time — by many people, including those members of the secular establishment who are now using them to offer tactical cover to the Jamaat.
The second answer is that it does not matter what else happened. You cannot explain away the 2020 Delhi riots by saying that the 1984 riots were worse. All riots are bad and should be condemned. So what if legislators hugged each other at Shivraj Chauhan’s victory celebrations? How does it make the behaviour of the Jamaat any less criminal?
The problem with knee jerk secularism is that it can sometimes offer up excuses for the indefensible. We think we are defending the Muslim community from attacks by bigots.
In fact, we are damaging Indian secularism.
Each time secularists take a stand that runs totally counter to morality or even to common sense, we damage the liberal idea of India. Yes, communalists will play the Hindu-Muslim game. But we must never fall into the trap of doing the same thing.
We must condemn disgraceful and criminal behaviour wherever we see it. Once we start defending people only because they belong to a particular religion, we are no better than the religious bigots on the other side.
It makes no sense to say, as some are now claiming, that the incident had nothing to do with religion. This was a religious gathering. And the reasons for the behaviour of the congregation were explicitly religious — they were told that 70,000 angels would protect them.
Secularism does not mean that you rush to the defence to every Muslim, no matter what he or she has done. It means that you fight against all religious bigots and their primitive mindset that ignores science and promotes religious mumbo-jumbo.
The issue with the Jamaat gathering is not only that it endangered the lives of so many people. It is that it did so in the name of religion. In the process, it strengthened the communal Hindu propaganda that Muslims are fundamentalists who do not regard themselves as subject to Indian laws.
Of course, this is complete nonsense. The average Muslim is as sensible and as patriotic as the average Hindu. Many influential Muslims have condemned the Jamaat.
But when secularists feel obliged to find excuses for Muslim bigots, they obscure this reality. If India is to move forward, then all of us should unite to fight bigots, no matter whether they are Hindu or Muslim.
Find excuses for one or the other and the battle is already lost.
The views expressed are personal
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son in 2001.
Budd said he is looking out for jobs in North Carolina. IOMAX, which takes in about $1 billion a year in sales compared to L3’s $10 billion, has 115 employees in his district, with 49 percent of them veterans who make an average of $115,000 a year — many of them special operations forces veterans.
“Our first interest is to look out for jobs in the district. These are guys who are cutting sheet metal and doing rivets at the same time as those who are installing weaponized system…It’s a whole work force down there,” Budd said. “It’s infuriating that they’d be cut out of a deal like this.”
“They have to earn this deal on their own,” he added. “We can’t get the deal for them. But we want them to have a fair shot at it…They shouldn’t catch the brunt of politics.”
The L3 contract would primarily benefit its Platform Integration Division in Waco, Texas. An L3 spokesman did not respond to a phone call asking for comment.
Budd said the current deal is not a good one for the Kenyans either. He met with the Kenyan Deputy Chief of Mission last Monday, who was allegedly “flabbergasted” they were potentially paying almost $200 million more than necessary.
“We’ve had several Kenyans reach out and thank us,” he said.
Several Kenyan analysts also questioned the sale on Twitter, with the accompanying hashtag #KDFWeaponsScam. KDF is short for Kenyan Defense Force.
We could have bought 5 of these Bell Boeing V-22 Ospreys at the $418 million expenditure #KDFWeaponsScam pic.twitter.com/2XXdS9g7VT — The Muthoka® (@MuthokaTito) February 17, 2017
Although the 30-day notification period for Congress before a foreign military sale can go forth ended Sunday, lawmakers can still halt the sale by passing a resolution of disapproval.
Budd also introduced a joint resolution in the House earlier this month to halt the sale. If the resolution is adopted, it would be the first time Congress has voted to block a foreign arms deal since 1986.
Co-sponsors of the resolution include Reps. Meadows, Jones, Duncan Hunter (R-CA), Jeff Duncan (R-SC), Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), Doug LaMalfa (R-CA), and Gary Palmer (R-AL).
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Update: Nintendo of Europe has confirmed to GameSpot that the standard size New 3DS has been discontinued in the region. The company did not comment on US New 3DS production, though the device never fully launched in North America anyway--it only ever came to the region late, and as part of limited-edition bundles.
Original story follows.
Nintendo has announced that production of the New 3DS has ended in Japan. An update on the official Nintendo Japan website indicates that white, black, and limited edition models of the base New 3DS are no longer being manufactured. The 2DS, New 2DS XL, and New 3DS XL pages do not display the same message.
It is unclear what this means for the western 3DS lineup. The Nintendo US Store currently has no standard New 3DS systems listed, while the UK Store only shows remaining stock of limited edition bundles.
The news comes on the same day Nintendo launched another addition to the 3DS family of systems in Japan. The New 2DS XL came out today, July 13, over there and is already available in Australia and New Zealand. It's coming to the US and Europe on July 28, priced at US $150 / £130 / AU $200.
It's possible that Nintendo is beginning to phase out the standard New 3DS model in favor of a three-option system incorporating the 2DS, New 2DS XL, and New 3DS XL. Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime recently explained the New 2DS XL is designed to exist "between" the New 3DS XL and the standard 2DS.
"The Nintendo 2DS really focused on that entry level gamer," he said. "The four-, five-, six-year old that is just getting into gaming, but wants to play Mario Kart, wants to have a Super Mario Bros. experience, wants to play Pokemon. And we feel with Nintendo 3DS XL at $199 that it's a fully-featured product, that it is, if you will, the Cadillac of handheld gaming. And then we heard from consumers, 'Boy, I wish there was something in between.'"
The platform holder already ended production of the standard, non-New 3DS XL in Japan in 2014.
Of course, Nintendo also launched the Switch in March this year. Over 900,000 units were sold in its first month in the US, contributing to around 2.74 million units shipped worldwide in the same month. Supply shortages continue to be an issue for the Switch, and it seems likely that sales would be even higher were it not for that. Retailer GameStop has suggested that could be a problem for the entire year, and Nintendo of Japan recently apologized for the situation.
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Human rights watchdog Amnesty International has reiterated its call for an international probe into the killing of Saudi journalist and Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi.
The rights monitor made the call outside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on Tuesday as it marked the 100th day since Khashoggi was killed there.
"It is important for the Turkish authorities to keep up their calls for an independent UN investigation, but really the whole international community needs to commit to this so that justice is done," Amnesty's Andrew Gardner told Al Jazeera.
Activists held up a symbolic street sign bearing the name of Khashoggi, a journalist and critic of the Saudi government's reform programme under the stewardship of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, also known by his initials MBS.
"The murder of Khashoggi, which happened before the eyes of the whole world, should be the subject of an international investigation," Goksu Ozahishali, the organisation's campaign manager in Turkey, told reporters.
"With this symbolic activity, we are reiterating our demand of justice for Khashoggi," she added.
Several questions remain unanswered including the whereabouts of Khashoggi's remains more than three months after the murder on October 2.
Khashoggi had entered the consulate to obtain divorce papers, in order to marry his Turkish fiancee, Hatice Cengiz.
Saudi authorities initially denied involvement in Khashoggi's murder, insisting he had left the building after completing paperwork, but later admitted that a team of Saudi agents had killed him.
"After continually lying about what happened to the journalist, Saudi authorities eventually talked about Khashoggi's fate," Al Jazeera correspondent Jamal Elshayyal said.
"However, so far nobody has been punished for the crime. Turkish investigators identified 19 suspects who entered the country as part of a hit squad," he added.
Turkish and Western intelligence officials have either hinted at or directly blamed MBS for the murder but Saudi monarch King Salman left MBS's portfolios unchanged in the latest reshuffle.
The trial of those accused of murdering Khashoggi opened last week in Saudi Arabia. The prosecutor has demanded the death penalty against five of the accused whose identities have not been revealed.
"We don't believe that the Saudi authorities, who initiated a show investigation into the murder, will conduct a fair and reliable process," Amnesty's Ozahishali said.
The United Nations human rights office last week said it was unable to assess the fairness of the trial taking place, regretting that the information it had was "not sufficient" and adding that it was "against the imposition of the death penalty" on the five suspects.
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24th March 2017
Aging partially reversed in mice by flushing out senescent cells
Dutch scientists have announced a new drug treatment able to reverse aspects of aging in old mice – restoring their stamina, coat of fur and even some organ function – by flushing out "senescent" cells in the body that have stopped dividing. Human trials are now planned.
Researchers at the Erasmus University Medical Centre in Rotterdam, Netherlands, have found a way to turn back aging. By giving old mice a peptide that disrupts the binding between two proteins, the mice became fitter and more alert, their coat of fur became fuller again, and organ functions improved. This discovery was published yesterday in the leading scientific journal Cell.
Key player in the study is proxofim, a substance developed by the researchers themselves. It disrupts the binding between the proteins FOXO4 and p53. In contrast to existing substances used by researcher to intervene with aging, proxofim was found to have no adverse effects on the health of the mice. "The platelet count and the liver function, for example, remained normal," said Peter de Keizer, a researcher in Erasmus MC's department of Molecular Genetics and a lead author in this study.
Proxofim can deal with so-called "senescent" cells that play a significant role in aging. These are cells that have ceased to divide, but are not really dead: "In fact, their metabolism does continue, which means they continue to secrete all kinds of proteins, including inflammatory cytokines," says De Keizer. "These in turn cause more rapid aging of tissues and poorer organ function. They also play a role in cancer. The senescent cells make cancer less sensitive to chemotherapy and can accelerate the growth of tumours. In other words, we actually want to get rid of these cells."
Proxofim kills these senescent cells "and it stimulates the surrounding stem cells to create new tissue. It is a peptide, a small protein that can easily penetrate into cells."
When applied to mice, this had a major effect. After just three weeks, their running wheel activity nearly tripled, their organ function improved and after ten days their coat of fur became fuller again. The researchers would now like to start clinical trials on humans: "We first want to investigate the safety and efficacy further. We then hope to expand the study to patients with aggressive forms of cancer within one to two years, and then eventually to study geriatric ailments. We do not seek eternal life, but a longer life without ailments and in excellent health would be great."
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Donald Trump says he's unfazed by the prospect of running against Michael Bloomberg, the former New York City mayor who is considering a possible third party bid in 2016.
"I'd beat him," the Republican presidential frontrunner told CNN's Wolf Blitzer in an interview on Monday.
Trump said repeatedly that he didn't think Bloomberg was actually going to run, but said he'd welcome his entry into the race. "I would love him to do it actually. I love the competition. I love the competition. I would love for Michael to do it." Trump said.
The braggadocious real estate magnate also appeared to goad Bloomberg. At one point, Trump cast doubt on Bloomberg's business success, suggesting that the head of the Bloomberg media empire wasn't actually worth the $36.5 billion estimated by Forbes.
"I don't believe it, I don't believe it," Trump said.
Earlier in the campaign Trump claimed that Forbes had underestimated his own fortune.
Related: The never-ending fight over what Donald Trump is really worth
Trump said that the success of Bloomberg's company could easily be undermined if someone came up with a better machine than the Bloomberg Terminal, the costly financial data hardware that accounts for the bulk of Bloomberg's revenues.
"I mean if somebody came in... likely... and comes up with a better machine than him, people stop using it," Trump said. "I don't even know why other companies haven't come up with a better machine. I mean why? It's so simple. They come up with such a competitive world, but for some reason they haven't come up with a machine."
A spokesman for Bloomberg had no comment Monday.
Bloomberg, who has long been said to harbor presidential ambitions, has taken a more serious look at the 2016 race after concluding that Trump's victory on the right and a Bernie Sanders victory on the left could leave moderate voters without an alternative.
The fact that Trump's success seemed to encourage Bloomberg wasn't lost on the Republican frontrunner: "You know, we used to be friends," Trump said. "I guess we're not friends anymore."
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As if to provide evidence of that friendship, Trump told Blitzer that he had once helped Bloomberg out with a construction "problem" the city had in the Bronx that was "way, way over budget."
"I took it over, I got it knocked out in one year, and now it's a tremendous success. Michael asked me if I'd get involved in it. And I'm the one that got it done and did a great job," Trump said, though he did not specify what the project was.
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One of the most anticipated awards in Oscar 2017 is the Best Animated Feature category, which has set its record-breaking number of animated nominations. "Your Name" or the English translation for the movie "Kimi No Na Wa" has been considered in the Oscar race in February 2017.
The highly-anticipated 89th Academy Awards is three months to go, but everyone is excited about who will receive the highest honor in filmmaking. "Kimi No Na Wa" also known as "Your Name" has been receiving positive reviews and is now an official contender for the Best Animated Feature category at Oscar 2017.
"Kimi No Na Wa" or "Your Name" is a 2016 Japanese animated film written and directed by Makoto Shinkai and was first distributed last August 26, 2016 by Toho in Japan. The animated movie has earned to date 17.9 billion yen or a whopping $170 million U.S. on its first day of release. It is considered as a Box office hit under animated film category, which set a record as the first anime film for gross more than 10 billion yen or 96 million U.S. dollars. The anime film will be competing for Oscar 2017 along with the other 26 animated films that are also considered for the Best Animated Feature category, Forbes reported.
According to Funimation Films, the one who acquired the North American distribution for the film "Kimi No Na Wa" or "Your Name," said that the anime movie is worthy to receive the award at Oscar 2017. Mike DuBoise, EVP and COO of Funimation said that "the stunning animation, rich characters and a storyline" of the film offers a distinct pain and will tear the heart of those who will watch it.
"Your Name" or the Japanese translation "Kimi No Na Wa" is a story of two young souls who met and changed their lives forever after a comet hit a small town in Japan. It's about the two high school students, Mitsuha and Taki, complete strangers, who experienced switching places and switching bodies. The nomination of the film for Oscar 2017 has paved way for the other Japanese animated movies to be recognized, aside from "Spirited Away," which won the Best Animated Feature in 2003.
Alongside "Kimi No Na Wa" or "Your Name" at Oscar 2017, other animated films such as "Angry Birds," "Finding Dory," "Sausage Party," and "Zootopia," were also nominated in Best Animated Feature category. There are more than 20 animated films entries in total that will compete for the Oscar Race. "Kimi No Na Wa" will be available in theaters across the U.S and Canada nationwide in early 2017 distributed by Funimation Films.
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It’s becoming ever more clear that the race for Trinity-Spadina will be between the NDP’s young Joe Cressy and well known city councillor Adam Vaughan for the Liberals.
Ryan Davey, who recently announced his intentions of seeking the Liberal nomination, dropped out of the race just days ahead of the party’s nomination meeting on May 3, with a statement on his website accusing Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau of hand-picking the riding’s candidate.
Christine Tabbert, also formerly seeking the nomination, withdrew her bid this week, announcing her new role as co-chair of Vaughan’s campaign.
Davey is unhappy with what he calls Vaughan’s “de facto appointment.” The nomination process, he says, isn’t as transparent and democratic as was promised it would be.
“While it’s the leader’s prerogative to recruit and select candidates, the clear identification of favoured candidates creates an imbalance in support that is difficult to overcome for other candidates,” Davey wrote.
Davey added that a nomination rule change in the riding made it so that all candidates received membership lists and forms before being green lit, which he says gave Vaughan critical information that every other candidate had waited weeks to receive.
“Regardless of the outcome, these circumstances have not been consistent with an open nomination process.”
So Davey’s out of the game.
Meanwhile in the NDP camp, Joe Cressy’s team is happy to provide their own accusations about things the Liberal leader has done, or in this case, didn’t do.
In an announcement Thursday morning, in which Cressy shared plans to pick up where former Trinity-Spadina MP Olivia Chow left off with a national transit strategy, the NDP candidate pointed out that the last time Chow’s appeared in the House of Commons, Trudeau was nowhere to be seen.
Cressy, too, was joined by five out of Toronto’s 44 city councillors — councillors Gord Perks, Janet Davis, Joe Mihevc, Paula Fletcher and Mike Layton — endorsing his bid to head to Ottawa as an MP, as well as his bid to create a Chow-like transit strategy.
As yet, the government hasn’t announced a date for any of the five upcoming federal byelections — but is expected to do so soon, with the last day for a Macleod byelection announcement coming this month.
The bid for the Liberal nomination in Trinity-Spadina, to be decided Saturday, is now between two candidates: Adam Vaughan and Scott Bowman.
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Signatures on a petition to impeach a Montana judge who handed down a 60-day sentence for a man who admitted to raping his 12-year-old daughter approached 80,000 on Friday in the latest case of citizens targeting judges for doling out what they believe are light sentences for sexual crimes.
District Judge John McKeon sentenced the 40-year-old man to 60 days of incarceration and probation, far less than the plea agreement recommendation of at least 25 years in prison, according to court records.
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Reuters is not naming the man in order to protect the identity of the victim.
The Montana case comes in the wake of a controversial six-month jail sentence for sexual assault of an unconscious woman by former Stanford University swimmer Brock Turner, which caused an uproar because it was far shorter than the six years prosecutors had sought.
That case led California lawmakers to pass legislation to ban probation in similar assault cases and expand the definition of rape. It also set off an effort to recall the judge who handed down the sentence.
In the Montana case, the petition on the website Change.org set up by the group Justice4Montana says the sentence “does not match the crime and fails to acknowledge the horrors the victim had to endure.”
McKeon did not respond to a request for comment on Friday, but he wrote in his judgment that the exception to the mandatory sentence was appropriate since prosecutors did not challenge a psychosexual evaluation that said the man could be safely treated and supervised as a sex offender in the community.
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He also cited the lack of direct input from the victim or an advocate on behalf of the victim to the court.
McKeon also cited letters written by the girl’s mother and grandmother asking for leniency.
The defendant’s suspended sentence comes with such restrictions as a ban on owning firearms or pornography, or using the internet without permission from his parole officer and a sexual offender therapist. Any violation of those conditions would likely lead to “significant time in state prison,” McKeon wrote.
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Deputy Valley County Attorney Dylan Jensen said on Friday he was “disappointed” in the sentence, but respected the judge’s decision. He declined to say whether an appeal was planned.
McKeon is scheduled to retire next month and Justice4Montana hopes an impeachment would stop him from receiving his government-sponsored pension.
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Supporters of the impeachment effort are also in the process of filing formal complaints with the Judicial Standards Commission, a Justice4Montana representative said.
(Reporting by Rory Carroll in San Francisco; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)
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And when we try to wrap our hunter-gatherer brains around concepts like student loan interest rates and year-end bonuses, it starts misfiring in all sorts of ridiculous ways...
When the economy goes bad, we all want to blame somebody else, from politicians to banks to shape-shifting alien reptiles. And while much of that finger pointing may be justified (except for the reptiles thing), the problem comes down to how all of us are wired. Remember, what we all think of as a "normal" human life -- education, career, finances -- is in fact a very recent invention.
5 Fear of a Bad Economy Makes Us Worse Employees
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We've spent a lot of time as a species evolving to respond to bear attacks. Our fight-or-flight response gives us a burst of energy that we use to either scamper away at Mach 30 or punch that bear right in its stupid face. But times have changed: These days, most of us are in less danger of a bear attack than we are of getting laid off, so what physiological response have we evolved for that? Not a great one: Basically, we just get shitty at everything.
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"I could've sworn I knew how to do this yesterday."
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While our reaction to physical danger is to hulk out and kick-punch our problems away, our reaction to constant, looming money danger is to be less sure of ourselves, less aggressive, and less good at everything we do. We basically shut down, which isn't just bad for ourselves, it's bad for everyone: A tired, dejected workforce isn't exactly the shot in the arm an ailing economy needs. Right now, about half of all workers are too stressed at work to do a good job, and American businesses are losing $300 billion every year to this kind of self-conscious worrywart bullshit.
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You have to be pretty sad to mope through the entire GDP of Norway.
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But it's not just the economy: Whenever the tax season rolls around, or literally anything bad to do with money happens at all, the stress kills our productivity. It's a system that is really good at punishing failure, but, as a result, really bad at encouraging you to try something new (like, say, leaving your job to go back to college or starting your own business). We won't branch out and take risks until "the economy" improves, but "the economy" doesn't improve until people branch out and take risks.
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Older individuals who are subliminally exposed to positive stereotypes about aging showed improved physical functioning that can last for several weeks, a new study led by the Yale School of Public Health has found.
Researchers used a novel intervention method to examine for the first time whether exposure to positive age stereotypes could weaken negative age stereotypes and their effects over time, and lead to healthier outcomes.
The study, to be published in an upcoming online issue of the journal Psychological Science, consisted of 100 older individuals (average age 81 years) who live in the greater New Haven, Connecticut area. Some of the participants were subjected to positive age stereotypes on a computer screen that flashed words such as “spry” and “creative” at speeds that were too fast to allow for conscious awareness.
Individuals exposed to the positive messaging exhibited a range of psychological and physical improvements that were not found in control subjects. They benefited from improved physical function, such as physical balance, which continued for three weeks after the intervention ended. Also, during the same period, positive age stereotypes and positive self-perceptions of aging were strengthened, and negative age stereotypes and negative self-perceptions of aging were weakened.
“The challenge we had in this study was to enable the participants to overcome the negative age stereotypes which they acquire from society, as in everyday conversations and television comedies,” said lead researcher Becca Levy, associate professor and director of the Social and Behavioral Science Division. “The study’s successful outcome suggests the potential of directing subliminal processes toward the enhancement of physical function.”
While it has been previously shown by Levy that negative age stereotypes can weaken an older individual’s physical functioning, this is the first time that subliminal activation of positive age stereotypes was found to improve outcomes over time.
The study found that the intervention influenced physical function through a cascade of positive effects: It first strengthened the subjects’ positive age stereotypes, which then strengthened their positive self-perceptions, which then improved their physical function.
The study’s effect on physical function surpassed a previous study by others that involved a six-month-exercise intervention’s effect with participants of similar ages.
The research was supported by grants from the National Institute on Aging; National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute; and the Patrick and Catherine Weldon Donaghue Medical Research Foundation. The research team also included Corey Pliver of the Yale School of Public Health, Martin Slade of the Yale School of Medicine, and Pil Chung of the University of California, Berkeley.
Citation: Psychological Science: doi: 10.1177/0956797614551970
(Photo via Shutterstock)
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Saturday Night Live cast member Pete Davidson has gotten a tattoo of Hillary Clinton, and she says she's 'honored' by it.
Davidson, a 24-year-old New York City native who was an outspoken supporter of Clinton during the presidential election, shared a photo of the new tattoo of her face on Instagram Friday.
'Wanted to get @hillaryclinton a Christmas gift so I got a tattoo of my hero,' Peterson wrote.
Davidson, a 24-year-old New York City native who was an outspoken supporter of Clinton during the presidential election, shared this photo of the new tattoo of her face on Friday
'Thanks for being such a bada** and one of the strongest people in the universe,' he continued.
Pete Davidson, 24, showed off his new Hillary Clinton tattoo on Friday
Clinton responded quickly with a comment on Davidson's post.
'Thanks, @petedavidson, This makes it significantly less awkward that I've had a Pete Davidson tattoo for years,' she joked.
'But seriously, I'm honored. Merry Christmas my friend,' Clinton wrote.
Initially, some thought that the photo was some kind of prank. But the tattoo artist confirmed it was real.
'Yes, it's real!' Jon Mesa told US Weekly.
'Just did it last night at my shop No Idols Tattoo on Bowery and Grand! It's a small one on his right leg,' said the Manhattan tattooist.
During the 2016 presidential election, Davidson was a Clinton supporter and spoke out frequently against now-President Donald Trump.
Clinton responded: 'Thanks, @petedavidson, This makes it significantly less awkward that I've had a Pete Davidson tattoo for years. But seriously, I'm honored. Merry Christmas my friend'
Clinton-supporter Davidson (left) appeared frequently on SNL's Weekend Update during the election, often slamming Republican candidate Trump
'The one good thing about Trump running is a Trump presidency actually scares people my age into paying attention to politics,' he said on SNL's Weekend Update segment in October 2015.
Shortly after the election, Davidson went on a rant about Trump's victory at the polls.
'I think it's important to hold onto that outrage,' Davidson said in November 2016 on Weekend Update days after the election.
'Hold onto your anger and frustration, and let it build and build, so you can release it at the exact right moment: Thanksgiving. Your family wanted Trump? Well, this is what they're gonna hear the whole entire day: 'Hey, Grandpa, can you take a second away from loving Hitler to pass me the potatoes?'
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named by a lieutenant who wrongly identified the area’s Madrona trees—is no stranger to slow progress and class conflict. For decades, Fort Lawton took up much of the neighborhood. Soldiers used the site during World War II as a camp for prisoners of war. Over the years, the post has been transformed piece by piece. In the 60s, the Army transferred most of the area to the city for a park. In March of 1970, a group of Native American leaders and supporters occupied Fort Lawton to draw attention to the needs of urban Indians and to retake the land. The Daybreak Star Cultural Center formed out of that action. Part of the area is a cemetery. Another part includes restored historic houses now worth about $2 million each. The post finally fully closed in 2012. The empty buildings and parking lots are the final piece to go.
This week, the city will start the next round of its battle with the neighborhood. A draft environmental impact statement (EIS) released Wednesday considers several alternatives but shows the city’s preference for affordable housing on the site. Of the total 34 acres, most of that would be open space, owned either by the city or the school district. Seven acres would be housing, less than half of the 19-acre development proposed in 2008. That change was partially a response to neighborhood complaints about the scale of new development, according to the Office of Housing.
The city’s preferred affordable housing plan would include 75 to 100 affordable row houses for rent, 85 apartments for homeless seniors, and 52 row houses and townhomes for purchase built by Habitat for Humanity. The affordable rentals would be designated for people making up to 60 percent of area median income or $57,600 for a family of four. The housing for purchase would be for people making up to 80 percent area median income or $72,000 for a family of four. In total, the project would house about 596 people and include 266 parking spaces, according to the EIS. Federal law allows the military to give the city free land for parks and homeless housing. The city would purchase the segment used for affordable rental housing.
The homeless housing, built by Catholic Housing Services, would have services on site, including 24-hour access to counselors, case management, help with Medicaid or Medicare, and transportation to healthcare.
City officials will now take another round of public comment before finalizing their report. Then, they could face another possible appeal.
Asked recently whether she plans to appeal or sue again this time around, Campbell, who led the 2008 effort, told The Stranger, “Well, of course.”
This article has been updated to clarify the number of adults referred to housing.
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By Express News Service
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Concerned over the dwindling number of participants in inter-school chess tournaments in recent years, the Capablanca Chess School (CCS) has come up with an innovative concept to popularise the game among students of the city schools.
The project, in association with The New Indian Express, titled ‘Super Genius’ intends to create chess clubs at schools in the district and is being implemented at Pangode Kendriya Vidyalaya, Christ Nagar International School, and Holy Angels’ CBSE School in its first phase.
Super Genius chess clubs at each school will feature 30 students - five each in U-7, U-9, U-11, U-13, U-15 and U-17 age categories - who are selected after conducting tournaments in the respective schools.
“Attendances were as low as 100-150 at inter-school and inter-district tournaments in recent times. So, there was a need to introduce something like this in our schools to create a chess culture,” said CCS managing partner Vijin Babu S.
As many as 271 students participated in the tournament held at KV while 66 participated at the Holy Angels from which 26 were picked for the club. 120 students have registered at Christ Nagar where the event will be conducted this week.
“It is important that we have a good network in schools. And this project will help us to achieve that objective,” said Vijin. A club coordinator will be picked from the students’ group.
“When chess tournaments take place now, we will have the opportunity to inform the Super Genius Chess Clubs through these coordinators via physical education teachers,” he added.
Apart from intimations to students regarding chess tournaments taking place in the district, the students will also undergo an orientation camp which will help them get to know chess better.
“We will conduct a two-day orientation course in the beginning which will give these kids the knowledge of chess at the initial level. We also plan to conduct week-long camps during vacations,” said Vijin. “The response has been excellent so far from school principals, physical training teachers, and students,” said Vijin. CCS plans to expand the programme to at least 50 schools in the district by September in the next academic year.
“We have approached the Central Government, state government and private schools in the district who are open to the idea. We are also planning to conduct an inter-school district championship in October which will feature close to 1,500 students,” said Vijin.
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(CNN) Legal action on climate change has become a global phenomenon, with lawsuits launched against governments and corporate interests in 28 countries so far, according to new research published Thursday.
A report from the Grantham Research Institute at the London School of Economics and Political Science looked at instances of legal action on climate change from 1990 to May 2019.
Researchers found that while the US remains the global leader in terms of climate change litigation, the prevalence of such lawsuits has spread worldwide, according to a press release
This reflects an increasing willingness to use litigation as a tool to influence policy, according to the report, and human rights and science are playing an increasingly important role in these lawsuits.
Since 2015, the first cases of climate change litigation were recorded in Colombia, Indonesia, Norway, Pakistan and South Africa, according to the report, titled "Global trends in climate change litigation: 2019 snapshot."
"More and more countries, not only in the global north but in the global south, are bringing cases," report co-author Joana Setzer, research fellow at the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, told CNN.
Cases related to climate change are spreading around the world.
Setzer emphasized that there could be many more cases that have been filed but not reported, and that she believes the number will continue to rise.
"We expect not only more cases but in different jurisdictions and using different strategies," she said.
There were 1,023 climate change cases in the US for the period of the research, followed by 94 in Australia and 53 in the UK.
Most of the litigation has targeted local and national governments, but companies have also been taken to court over failures to inform shareholders of the risks of climate change, or to incorporate climate change planning into decision making.
Both businesses and governments have been taken to court accused of failing to protect people from climate change, or contributing to the problem.
Outside the US, rulings have favored the fight against climate change 43% of the time, compared to 27% that hindered efforts. Others had no impact on existing policy or law.
Previous research out of Columbia University revealed that 84% of climate-related lawsuits filed since the election of US President Donald Trump have had objectives supporting climate protection.
Litigation is "forcing judges to examine this issue" and "bringing science to court," said Setzer, who is also interested in how climate change lawsuits are raising awareness.
"I would like to see more research on the impact of litigation," she added.
Businesses might not have previously considered a climate change lawsuit to be a risk, but they should now take this possibility into account, Setzer cautioned.
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Authorities said Saturday they arrested a 14-year-old in connection the stabbing death of Barnard College student Tessa Majors. She was stabbed multiple times in December at a Manhattan park not far from the campus.
Police said they arrested Rashaun Weaver late Friday night, CBS New York reported. He faces second degree murder and robbery charges. Weaver will be tried in criminal court and is being charged as an adult.
"Sadly, it can not bring back this young woman. This student. This victim. That is something even the best, most impartial investigation simply can not do. What we can do is say that we are confident that we have the person in custody who stabbed her, and that person will face justice in a court of law," NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea said Saturday at a press conference.
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"This arrest is a major milestone on the path to justice for Tessa Majors," said Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance, Jr. "And our journey to reach that milestone today was not a sprint, but rather, it was a painstaking, deliberate and meticulous search for the truth."
Majors played in a rock band and friends say she was considering a career in journalism, CBS N.Y. reported. Police confirm the Majors family is aware of these developments.
"The killing of 18-year-old Tessa Majors was a heartbreaking tragedy that brought unimaginable loss to her family and friends," Vance added.
Police previously arrested a 13-year-old who they say admitted to being in the park with two other teenagers. The 13-year-old said he was not the person who stabbed Majors.
The 13-year-old's case is being heard in family court.
Majors, a freshman at Barnard College, was stabbed several times in Morningside Park, near West 116th Street, shortly before 7 p.m. local time on December 11. She staggered up a staircase onto the street where a school security guard found her and called 911. Barnard is part of Columbia University.
Vance said the criminal complaint paints "a gruesome picture of what this young woman endured in her final moments. As alleged, some of the last words she was known to have said was 'Help me, I'm being robbed.'"
According to the complaint, evidence against Weaver — who turns 15 in two months — includes DNA recovered from Tessa's fingernails. Vance also mentioned "video evidence, the blood evidence, the smart phone evidence, the iCloud evidence, the witness identification and the defendant's own statements."
There is a memorial with flowers and candles on the sidewalk near where the incident happened.
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Former President Jimmy Carter is currently the only former president who has agreed to attend Trump’s inauguration, an event which is typically attended by all living former presidents.
President Obama will almost certainly be there. It would be a huge break from precedent for the most recent President to skip the inauguration (although it’s happened before,) and would be at odds with the Obamas’ stated intention to help the incoming administration. Since 1889, the outgoing President has hosted the incoming President on inauguration day.
But the Bushes and the Clintons have been putting off a decision on whether to attend the inauguration of a man who has publicly mocked Jeb Bush and ran a highly personal campaign against opponent Hillary Clinton.
Trump mocked primary opponent Jeb Bush for running an ad featuring his mother, Barbara Bush, saying Jeb “needed mommy to help him.” He flatly accused former president George W. Bush of lying about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. He repeatedly bullied Jeb Bush as “low energy” during the primary campaign, and suggested that Bush had a soft spot for Mexican immigrants because his wife Columba is Mexican.
Jeb Bush’s father, former President George H.W. Bush, has said he will not attend Trump’s inauguration, citing his health and his age (he is 92.) Former President George W. Bush has not said whether he will go.
The Clintons have also not decided whether they will attend the inauguration of a President who repeatedly belittled Hillary Clinton and dredged up scandals from Bill Clinton’s past on the trail. While the inaugural invitation is typically only extended to the former President, former First Ladies often attend with their husbands. Bill Clinton choosing not to accept the invitation could be a way to spare Hillary the indignity of having to sit and watch Donald Trump take the Oath of Office after an election where she won nearly 3 million more votes.
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Write to Charlotte Alter at [email protected].
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Depression can do more physical damage to a person's health than several long-term diseases, according to a study.
Saba Moussavi of the World Health Organisation led the largest population-based study on the physical effects of several illnesses by analysing data from more than 245,000 people in 60 countries. His results, published today in the Lancet, showed that depression had more impact on sufferers than angina, arthritis, asthma, and diabetes.
"On the basis of our results, addressing the further exacerbation of disability due to depression needs to be a priority of health systems worldwide," wrote Dr Moussavi. "Primary care providers must be taught not to ignore the presence of depression when patients present with a chronic physical condition."
He said that this would only be achieved by reducing the stigma around mental illness and alerting doctors and the public at large that depression was a disease at least on a par with physical chronic diseases in damaging health.
Depression was the fourth leading cause of "disease burden" in 2000, a measure of the number of years of full health lost due to an illness. Projections by scientists at the Harvard School of public health suggest that, by 2020, depression will rise to become second only to heart disease in terms of disease burden.
On a scale of 0 to 100, with 0 indicating worst health and 100 indicating best health, sufferers of depression had an average score of 72.9 in Dr Moussavi's study. This compared with 80.3 for asthmatics, 79.6 for angina sufferers, 79.3 for arthritis sufferers and 78.9 for those with diabetes. "Our main findings show that depression impairs health state to a substantially greater degree than the other diseases," Dr Moussavi said.
In addition, suffering from depression along with another chronic disease produced significantly worse health than having one or more of the chronic diseases alone. "The need for timely diagnosis and treatment of depressive disorders to reduce the burden on public health is imperative," wrote Dr Moussavi. "In many primary care settings patients presenting with multiple disorders that include depression often don't get diagnosed, and if they do often treatment is focused towards the other chronic diseases."
In an accompanying article in the Lancet, Gavin Andrews, of the University of New South Wales, said: "In Australia less than 30% of patients receive good treatment with antidepressants, cognitive behavioural therapy, and proactive maintenance care. By contrast, 80% of patients with arthritis and 90% of patients with asthma receive an acceptable standard of care."
Dr Moussavi said mental disorders often came hand-in-hand with other chronic illnesses and would become more common as the world's population lived longer.
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The men of One Tree Hill wasted no time to support and stand in solidarity with their female colleagues in the wake of TV writer Audrey Wauchope’s sexual harassment allegations against OTH creator and showrunner Mark Schwahn. Actors Chad Michael Murray, Bryan Greenberg, Austin Nichols, James Lafferty, Stephen Colletti, Antwon Tanner, Lee Norris, and Robert Buckley took to social media to let their OTH co-stars that they’re in their corner.
Sophia Bush, Hilarie Burton, Bethany Joy Lenz, and 15 other women who worked on OTH released a joint letter earlier this week saying they “stand together in support” with Wauchope, who was accused Schwahn of unwanted touching and harassment.
The support continued with the men as they spoke up against harassment and gave their overwhelming support to their colleagues. Murray tweeted, “The women of OTH have always been strong and incredible. Today they’ve made us all even more proud by standing as a beacon of what is right, and continuing to lead & change the atmosphere of society. This affects all avenues of life, from our day to day activities in passing to each and every single workplace. Respect and love must lead the way.”
This outpour continued with cast members from the series. Read their tweets below.
Shocked and saddened to hear what the women of OTH had to endure. I’m proud of them for speaking up. I support them fully. And I hope that their courage to tell the truth, will help put an end to the pervasive culture of harassment in the work place. There’s no place for it. — Bryan Greenberg (@bryangreenberg) November 14, 2017
I stand with all my OTH sisters. We have to change. We have to be better. All of us. This is unacceptable. — AUSTIN NICHOLS (@AustinNichols) November 14, 2017
I want to acknowledge the women of OTH who have penned their letter with deep wounds from a culture unacceptable for anyone, at any age, and in any business. I have the utmost respect of your position in righting the wrongs you have endured. I stand for you, for better… — Stephen Colletti (@StephenColletti) November 14, 2017
To my sisters/all the women of OTH that have come forward and showed their bravery. I want u to know that I love u and I support u 😁😁💯💯🙌🏾🙌🏾 — antwon tanner (@antwon_tanner) November 14, 2017
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Plans for a $40 million retail and apartment project on Shelbyville Road are on hold, pending an effort by the developer to appease some neighbors' concerns.
Investment Property Advisors recently asked the St. Matthews City Council to delay acting on its pending development plan until it can get more input from residents.
A community meeting for discussion of revisions has been scheduled for 6 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 5, at the St. Matthews Community Center on Ten Pin Lane.
The developer plans the project at 4156 Shelbyville Road, land it currently has under contract — a site long occupied by the Tafel Motors luxury auto dealership.
Read this:Historic synagogue near St. Matthews to be torn down for luxury apartments
Tafel plans to relocate to a suburban site near Old Henry Road and the Gene Snyder Freeway. The Tafel buildings would be demolished. The adjacent Mini of Louisville dealership at Hubbards Lane would remain.
The plan for developing the Tafel site features an eight-story building, with 276 apartments on the upper seven floors and about 15,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space on the ground level.
The site already carries the correct zoning for the IPA development. The plan was recently recommended for approval by the Metro Planning Commission, after which the plan was forwarded to the St. Matthews council for final review.
Background:Large apartment complex coming to old Tafel Motors site in St. Matthews
Related:Tafel Motors details plan to move Mercedes-Benz dealership to suburban site
But Jonathan Baker, the attorney for the developer, said in an interview Friday that some significant concerns were raised by residents before the St. Matthews council. They focused on traffic congestion and access to Church Way.
Baker said the developer asked the council to hold off on considering the plan until after the neighborhood meeting.
"We want to take a step back. We want to see if there is some way to accommodate" some of the residents' concerns, he said.
Investment Property Advisors was founded in 2004 and the company specializes in developing student housing.
The proposed St. Matthews project calls for the apartment amenities to include a pool, an exercise room, and 18,000 square feet of green roof space.
The apartments will range from one- to three-bedroom units and have "high-end finishes" with washers and dryers, the initial plan filing with metro regulators said. The units will rent for around $1,100 a month.
Reporter Sheldon S. Shafer can be reached at 502-582-7089, or via email at [email protected].
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All it took was one major defensive mistake and a moment of total brilliance for New York City FC to leave Talen Energy Stadium with a 2-0 victory.
Jack Harrison made Keegan Rosenberry pay for a mistake on the left wing in the 52nd minute to give Patrick Vieira’s side its first road points of the season. David Villa scored NYCFC’s second on a beautiful strike from just inside midfield that deflated the already poor environment in Chester.
The Union displayed a decent amount of creativity in the first half, but they were unable to find the special touch in front of the net that they needed to capitalize on the pressure.
NYCFC had a legitimate penalty claim in the 31st minute, when Richie Marquez slid in the box to stop a David Villa shot. The ball appeared to strike the left hand of the Union center back before it drifted to Maxi Moralez, who had his shot saved by Andre Blake.
Harrison handed the visitors the lead in the 55th minute, as he benefited from a turnover by Keegan Rosenberry on the left wing. The Rosenberry turnover gifted the ball to Ronal Matarrita, who fed Harrison for his second goal of the campaign.
Blake kept the Union in the game with an impressive save in the 66th minute on the right side of the box against former Union man Ethan White, but that was a rare positive for the home side in the second half.
The closest the Union came to threatening the NYCFC goal in the second half was in the 82nd minute, when Fabian Herbers shot was blocked by Alexander Callens. Other than that, the Union were devoid of options moving forward.
Villa unleashed a masterpiece in the 90th minute, as he bested Jack Elliott and launched a ball over the hands of Blake.
NYCFC became the second team in the Eastern Conference to reach the 10-point mark. They will face Orlando City next Sunday at Yankee Stadium. The lowly Union will take on fellow bottom feeder Montreal next Saturday.
Man of the Match
Rodney Wallace was a menace for most of the night on the wing for NYCFC. His runs put Rosenberry under pressure from the start, and although he didn’t play a role in a goal, he made a massive contribution for most of the match.
Moment of the Match
Villa’s brilliant strike capped a solid road victory for NYCFC. The Spaniard bested Jack Elliott and perfectly placed the ball over the leaping Andre Blake,
Match to Forget
Rosenberry had a horrific night at the back with countless misplayed passes and his critical mistake on the goal.
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said Pettine. "He's just coming off NFI. The plan right now is to practice him this week, but I don't foresee him playing this week. I could see in the short term that's going to be John. But we're a mile away from making that decision. We have some options whether we keep Paul at guard, whether we let Paul continue to be the swing and have (Vinston) Painter to play guard.''
Painter (6-4, 310) was originally drafted by the Broncos in the sixth round of the 2013 draft out of Virginia Tech. The Browns signed him last month off the Broncos' practice squad. In addition, the Browns have three linemen on their practice squad that can be called up.
"There's options,'' Pettine said. "That's stuff that I'm going to get with the offensive guys tonight, and we'll start to work out."
Pettine was moved by the sight of his entire team spilling out onto the field to wish Mack well when he was on the cart, the aircast protecting the broken leg. The ironman -- all 5,279 straight snaps of him -- smiled and laughed in the face of great pain and showed his teammates once again how tough he really is.
"That was the great part about that (team greeting), it was spontaneous,'' said Pettine. "But that shows you what the guys think of Alex and what he meant to this team and they say a guy who was a warrior for us. He goes full speed in practice.''
Pettine described a scene on a deep pass in Tennessee, where Mack "took off like the ball was thrown to him and he's like that in practice, too. I think that he sets a great example and when your best players are your hardest workers you've got a chance to be something special."
Greco, who lost 25 pounds coming into this season to help him run the zone-blocking scheme, is up for playing center for as long as they want him to.
"Hopefully I showed enough to where they're good and confident with me there,'' he said. "But that's ultimately someone else's decision.''
He noted that the players dedicated the game to Mack and Bryant after they left.
"You want to do it for those guys,'' said Greco. "Armonty, in particular, has been having a heckuva year and he started off the game great. And on our side, we'll be playing for Alex as long as he's out. But everything we accomplish this year or don't, he's right there along with us. He's been in this thing long enough to where we're including him in everything.''
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[JURIST] The US District Court for the District of Colorado [official website] denied [order, PDF] on Monday a request by Citizens United [advocacy website] for a preliminary injunction to allow the conservative organization to air a political documentary without disclosing the film’s advertising donors as required by state law [text]. The documentary, Rocky Mountain Heist, which the group hopes to air before November’s elections, “concerns various Colorado advocacy groups and their impact on Colorado government and public policy.” Citizens United argued, on First Amendment [text, LII] grounds, that its organization should be considered a “press entity,” entitled to the same exemptions as traditional media outlets, which are not required to disclose their donors. Otherwise, the group argued, it would be the victim of “viewpoint-based discrimination.” The court disagreed stating that people should be able to “discern the private interests behind speech when determining how much weight to afford it.” Citizens United intends [press release] to appeal this ruling to the US Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit [official website].
Political donations and campaign finance [JURIST backgrounder] have been highly litigious issues in the US, especially since the 2010 US Supreme Court’s [official website] ruling [JURIST report] in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission (FEC) [SCOTUSblog backgrounder] permitting corporations to be considered individuals when contributing to election campaigns, in essence allowing for functionally unlimited donations to political campaigns. In June 2012 the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit [official website] ruled [JURIST report] that the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, Alexandria [official website] erred in its May 2011 holding [JURIST report] that corporations can contribute directly to political campaigns asserting that the Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens United does not prevent limitations on direct contributions to candidates. Also in June 2012 the US Supreme Court struck down [JURIST report] a century-old campaign finance law in Montana that restricts the amount of money corporations can spend on campaigns, stating that Citzens United overruled such restrictions. In May 2011, the US Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit [official website] upheld [JURIST report] a Minnesota campaign financing law prohibiting direct contributions to candidates and affiliated entities. The Minnesota law was being challenged by organizations that argued the law was in violation of the ruling in Citizens United. In April 2010 four months after Citizens United, a group of Senators introduced [JURIST report] legislation aimed at curbing foreign and corporate influence in elections. The bill was defeated [Center for Responsive Politics report] in September 2010.
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ILIR chairman Bart Murphy (center) with fellow ILIR advocates Kelly FIncham, Bruce Morrison, Celine Kennelly and Ciaran Staunton
San Francisco: The American Ireland Fund annual dinner here in San Francisco honored Bart Murphy, one of those quiet heroes of the Irish American community who too often get overlooked.
I made the 3,000 mile journey to pay homage to a friend of long standing, but also a man who will play a key role in the future of the Irish in this country.
I was delighted when the American Ireland Fund, the most prestigious Irish group in the U.S., decided on Bart as their California honoree. It was an acknowledgement of the importance of an issue and of a man who has decided not to play it safe with some worthy charity, but to try and help Irish in the U.S. who desperately need that help.
There are up to 50,000 of them scattered around the U.S. and with the fall-out from the last election still resonating the opportunity has suddenly arisen that the GOP will finally act on the issue of immigration reform which has been stalled for decades.
If they do, Bart Murphy will be a key player. Bart, a lawyer and successful real estate investor is Chairman of the Irish Lobby for Immigration Reform, an organization that will be the first responder in the Irish bid to legalize the thousands of Irish who have the misfortune to live in undocumented status in America.
Chairman of ILIR is a job I once held and it is a tough one, carrying the hopes and dreams of so many thousands of Irish undocumented on your shoulders
But Bart Murphy has broad shoulders.
His selfless efforts on behalf of those undocumented and the many other great causes he is involved in led over 500 people to pay tribute to him last night at a packed St. Francis ballroom in downtown San Francisco.
Rarely have I heard a more spontaneous reaction to an honoree at an Irish event.
The standing ovation went on for minutes and the genuine warmth and affection for Murphy, who could easily focus on increasing the family fortune rather than spend so much time working on Irish causes, was very evident.
Focusing on helping the Irish undocumented is not the sexiest gig in the Irish American community. It is an issue many Irish Americans shun, not wanting to be reminded of an immigrant issue that doesn’t fit easily into an Irish toast on St. Patrick’s Day.
But Bart Murphy has taken it on and his time has come as the issue comes center stage. I can report from San Francisco that it is in very good hands.
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Last month, the Seattle Parks Department ordered the destruction of a play area designed for special needs kids, claiming its four-foot rope ladder, tire swing, and "nest" made of rope and bike tires were "extreme dangers" and "hazardous conditions." That's an odd verdict: In 10 years of existence, no children were ever significantly injured on the play area equipment, according to Liz Bullard, who helped design the space. As she writes in Crosscut.com:
These simple play features may seem ordinary, but…here children with cerebral palsy, autism and developmental delays are encouraged and assisted as needed to climb and swing alongside their typically developing peers. The joy is palpable. We complied with the order, but it has left a bitter taste in our mouths. Our kids have been robbed of the simple pleasure of climbing and swinging under a beautiful tree.
The thing about kids with special needs is that they often have to spend a lot of time in less-than-fun institutions. Hospitals. Therapists' offices. Waiting rooms. The "Wild Zone," as the play area was called, was specifically "designed to provide relief from the highly controlled and often hyper-medicalized world our kids move in," writes Bullard.
One mom of a child with special needs commented on a post about the city's order, "This is a travesty!! How dare they steal the only play space in the Greater Seattle area, let alone the NW that is dedicated to creating a healthy play space for special kids where they aren't judged by their lesser abilities."
Wrote another mom: "The Play Garden is the best! My son attended preschool there for three years and I am so grateful for the Wild Zone. There was nothing dangerous about it. Nothing!"
Ah, but when you're a bureaucrat and you live in the world of what if thinking, danger is everywhere. Just imagine, "what if someone got hurt?" Look at the world that way and no play area wil seem safe enough.
This outlook seems to be sweeping Washington state. Recall that just a few weeks ago the Richland School District decided to phase out all swings because what if a child got hurt on them?
Too bad the bureaucrats never consider the reverse: What if kids never get a chance to climb a ladder, or hang from the monkey bars? What if kids with special needs know that after their doctor's appointment they will have to go straight home, because there's no place left for them to play?
At least they won't be exposed to the "extreme danger" of a tire swing.
Related: "Little Girl's Playset Is in Her Own Backyard, City Wants It Destroyed Anyway"
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The global palm oil market reached a volume of 81.5 Million Tons in 2019. Originating from West-Africa, palm oil is an edible vegetable oil produced from the mesocarp of the fruit of oil palms. It is the world’s highest yielding oil crop, with output 5-10 times higher per hectare than other leading vegetable oil crops. It offers numerous nutritional benefits since it is cholesterol-free, easy to digest and rich in carotenoids, as well as Vitamin A. It also has a longer shelf-life and is cheaper than other vegetable oils available in the market.
Palm oil offers several health benefits that help in enhancing energy levels, preventing premature aging, improving eye vision, boosting the immune system, and reducing the risk of cancer and heart diseases. The increasing awareness regarding these health benefits among consumers is one of the primary factors contributing to the market growth. Furthermore, the thriving food industry is driving the product demand as it is extensively utilized for frying and as a key ingredient in the preparation of healthy food recipes. Apart from this, palm oil is readily replacing petroleum-based products as an effective alternative in the transportation and energy industries. It is also employed as a substitute for mineral oil in power stations for energy production. Moreover, initiatives undertaken by governments of various countries, such as Denmark and other western European nations, along with awareness campaigns by the World Health Organization to curb trans-fat consumption, are envisaged to boost the market growth. Looking forward, IMARC Group expects the market to exhibit moderate growth during 2020-2025.
Breakup by Application:
Household Cooking
Food & Beverages
Oleo Chemicals
Personal Care
Animal Feed
Bio-fuel
Food and beverages currently represent the largest application segment as palm oil is resistant to oxidation, which helps in increasing the shelf life of the final products.
Regional Insights:
India
Indonesia
China
European Union
Malaysia
Others
Region-wise, India exhibits a clear dominance in the market owing to the several initiatives undertaken by the Government of India, such as cutting down the import duty on palm oil.
Competitive Landscape:
The competitive landscape of the market is characterized by the presence of numerous small and large manufacturers who compete in terms of prices and quality. Some of the leading players operating in the market are:
Wilmar International Limited
Sime Darby Berhad
IOI Corporation Berhad
Astra Agro Lestari
Kuala Lumpur Kepong Berhad
Golden Agri-Resources Ltd.
Key Questions Answered in This Report:
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PM Narendra Modi will meet Finance Minister to pick a successor of RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan
Highlights PM will meet Arun Jaitley today to pick Raghuram Rajan's successor
RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan's term ends in September
Dr Rajan's sudden exit came after persistent criticism from BJP lawmaker
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will begin discussions today with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley to pick a successor to Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan, whose term ends in September.The Prime Minister will meet Mr Jaitley in his office immediately after a meeting of the union cabinet this morning.The corridors of the stately North and South Blocks that house the offices of the Prime Minister and the Finance Minister have been buzzing all week with the names of people who could replace Dr Rajan. Among those being talked about are Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das, Niti Ayog Vice Chairman Arvind Panagriya and former RBI deputy governors and noted economists Subir Gokarn and Rakesh Mohan.PM Modi needs to juggle competing demands from within his own party, the economy's need for more stimulus and investors' demands for an independent thinker.Traditionally, senior bureaucrats in the economic affairs department have seamlessly transitioned to the central bank because they understand internal economic challenges. But the RBI governor now must also possess experience and expertise at a global economy level.Also, the Indian economy's biggest challenge right now is a banks crisis over non-performing loans and the RBI governor must be able to tackle that. "The government has names that fit one or two of these criteria. The right person has to fit all three," a senior official said.Global and Indian investors have been on edge with reports that Prime Minister Modi could select the new RBI governor within 48 hours of his return from his Africa tour yesterday.But sources said the government will weigh whether to announce a new governor before the RBI's next policy announcement in August. A section in the government suggests it would be prudent to wait till the end of Dr Rajan's term so as not to unsettle him. But another argues that an early announcement will give the new Governor a chance to prepare for the crucial role.Dr Rajan - held in high esteem for defusing a currency crisis, cutting interest rates and overhauling the way the RBI operates, including introducing inflation targeting - had stunned financial markets last month by announcing that he would step down after a single three-year term to return to academia. The government responded with a tweet from the finance minister that the next governor would be announced soon.Raghuram Rajan's sudden exit came after persistent criticism from BJP lawmaker Subramanian Swamy and right-wing affiliates.
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WASHINGTON ― A jury in Iowa on Friday found Jorge Sanders-Galvez guilty of first-degree murder in the death of a gender-fluid teenager. The case had attracted the attention of President Donald Trump’s Justice Department, which sent a federal hate crimes attorney to aid the prosecution.
Sixteen-year-old Kedarie Johnson was found shot to death last year in Burlington, Iowa. Prosecutors suggested that Sanders-Galvez, 23, and co-defendant Jaron Purham, 26, intended to have sex with Johnson ― as they routinely did with women in the house where they stayed ― but that they became violent after discovering that Johnson was assigned male at birth. A plastic bag was stuffed down Johnson’s throat, and the teenager was found shot and killed in an alley.
Sanders-Galvez argued that he did not know Johnson and had nothing to do with the murder, according to The Des Moines Register. Purham is being tried separately.
Johnson, a well-liked high schooler, sometimes liked to wear girls’ clothing and go by the name Kandicee, Katrina Johnson, the teen’s mother, told HuffPost last month. But she compared Johnson to “RuPaul,” referring to RuPaul Andre Charles, a professional drag queen who is gay and identifies as male. When Johnson came out to her as being interested in boys, she said, she was supportive, though she worried some peers were bullying her child.
The cases against Sanders-Galvez and Purham are not being prosecuted as hate crimes under Iowa state law, which covers sexual orientation but not gender identity. However, a federal grand jury is reportedly being convened to investigate the murder as a possible hate crime, as federal law does cover gender identity.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions took the unexpected step of sending a federal attorney, Christopher Perras, to help prosecute Sanders-Galvez. Given that Sessions has rolled back protections for LGBTQ people more broadly, the move was viewed by some as a Band-Aid on the widespread discrimination that the Trump administration has helped facilitate against this community.
“I love the fact that they have intervened,” Katrina Johnson told HuffPost last month. But “it shouldn’t have taken for a child to lose his life, and for everybody to think it was a hate crime, for them to step up and do something,” she added, using the male pronoun to refer to Kedarie Johnson. “They need to continue to do something, even after this case is over.”
Katrina Johnson did not immediately respond to comment on Friday, but she wrote in a Facebook post that “JUSTICE HAS BEEN SERVED.”
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An early Ted Cruz supporter, President of Citizens United David Bossie told Breitbart News Daily SiriusXM host Stephan K. Bannon, “I hate to say it, but the Cruz campaign as a group was in a fetal position last night. They had to be just totally demoralized by that. And I love me some Ted Cruz.”
Bossie added, “Ted Cruz has to win Indiana at this point in order to stay with the message that he is a viable alternative to Donald Trump. If he loses Indiana, I want him to have a path forward, but I don’t know how he can have a path forward.”
Bossie went on to discuss the strength he is seeing in the Trump campaign, which he expects to see translate to the general election if the businessman secures the GOP nomination. “Donald Trump has shown so much strength and resiliency in every region across this country, from the Midwest to the Northeast to dominating the South and even out West. And I think he’s going to do very well in some of these upcoming states. I look at this thing as coming to the end. And Hillary Clinton has maybe even a tougher slog than the Republicans do,” Bossie said.
“But what Donald Trump has done, what Donald Trump is showing [is] his strength across the country,” Bossie continued. “And I do believe that Hillary Clinton is in for something that she never thought she would have to face, and that’s the Donald Trump that we see everyday. And that’s one of the reasons why this campaign has taken its twists and turns. But that’s because it’s organically about Donald Trump and by Donald Trump and that’s the strength of his message.”
Discussing Clinton, Bossie explained: “She’s not going to be able to physically withstand somebody eye-to-eye saying ‘Crooked Hillary’ and calling her out on her foundation and on her illegal activities at the State Department, whether it’s the security breaches or the email scandal, and Donald Trump is willing. And it’s one of the reasons why the American people have taken to him — because he is a fighter. They don’t necessarily need to agree with him on every single issue. They want someone in there who is going to flip the table over and take an ax to it. And that’s why he’s getting these votes in such enormous numbers.”
Breitbart News Daily airs on SiriusXM Patriot 125 weekdays from 6 AM to 9 AM EST.
Listen to the full interview with David Bossie below:
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Malaysia Airlines MH370: French satellites spot objects in missing jet search area
Updated
French satellites have detected images of "floating debris" in an area of the southern Indian Ocean which is currently being scoured for wreckage of missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370.
Malaysia's transport ministry said France passed on new satellite images showing "potential objects" in the so-called southern search corridor, about 2,500 kilometres south-west of Perth.
"Malaysia immediately relayed these images to the Australian rescue coordination centre," the ministry said in a statement.
The statement gave no details of the number, size or precise location of the objects shown in the French pictures.
Sorry, this video has expired Video: Peter Lloyd reports on French satellite images (ABC News)
The images will be the focus for search planes due to take off from the Pearce Air Force base in Perth this morning, with Chinese and Japanese military aircraft due to arrive to help out.
Flight MH370 went missing on March 8 en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people aboard, including six Australians.
Authorities last night completed a fourth day of sorties into the search zone, where they are now also searching for an object that China identified yesterday as being 22 metres long and 13 metres wide.
The object was spotted about 120 kilometres south-west of two possible objects seen on satellite images taken on March 16 and announced by the Australian Government on Thursday.
The Chinese satellite images were taken on March 18 by the high-definition Earth observation satellite Gaofen-1.
Eight aircraft were involved in Sunday's search over the southern Indian Ocean.
The Royal Australian Navy's HMAS Success is also in the search area, which has been extended to cover 59,000 square kilometres.
On Saturday, a civilian plane reported sighting a number of small objects close together in the search zone.
A P3 Orion aircraft flew over the area but could see nothing but seaweed.
The Orion dropped a marker buoy to track movement of the material and a merchant ship has been sent to locate and identify it.
Speaking from Papua New Guinea yesterday, Prime Minister Tony Abbott said one of the objects is reported to have been a wooden pallet.
"Obviously we have now had a number of very credible leads and there is increasing hope, no more than hope, that we might be on the road to discovering what did happen," he said.
Malaysia has enlisted 25 other countries to help hunt for the plane.
ABC/wires
Topics: air-and-space, disasters-and-accidents, accidents, malaysia, france
First posted
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× This page contains archived content and is no longer being updated. At the time of publication, it represented the best available science.
Over the past three decades, Saudi Arabia has been drilling for a resource more precious than oil. Engineers and farmers have tapped hidden reserves of water to grow grains, fruits, and vegetables in the desert.
The series of false-color images above show the evolution of agricultural operations in the Wadi As-Sirhan Basin, as viewed by satellites in 1987, 1991, 2000, and 2012. The images were captured by similar sensors—the Thematic Mapper and Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus—on three different Landsat satellites (4, 5, and 7). For scale, the agricultural fields in the images are about one kilometer (0.62 miles) across and use center-pivot irrigation.
The Landsat sensors detected light reflecting off the Earth in the short wave-infrared, near-infrared, and green portions of the electromagnetic spectrum. With this combination of wavelengths, new vegetation appears bright green while dry vegetation or fallow fields appear rust colored. Dry, barren surfaces (mostly desert) are pink and yellow.
The thirsty plants that rise out of the Arabian desert are quenched by water that dates back to the last Ice Age. In a more temperate past about 20,000 years ago, this “fossil” water filled aquifers that are now buried deep under the sand seas and limestone formations.
Saudi Arabians have reached this underground water source by drilling wells through sedimentary rock, as much as a kilometer beneath the desert sands. Although no one knows how much water lies beneath the desert—estimates range from 252 to 870 cubic kilometers—hydrologists believe it will only be economical to pump it for about 50 years.
Rainfall averages just 100 to 200 millimeters per year and usually does not recharge the underground aquifers, making the groundwater a non-renewable source. As of 2006, the country had 2.4 cubic kilometers of renewable fresh water resources at the surface, according to the Food and Agricultural Organization; consumption for human, industrial, and farming uses was 23.7 cubic kilometers per year. The volume of water used for desert agriculture tripled from about 6.8 cubic kilometers in 1980 to about 21 cubic kilometers in 2006.
NASA Earth Observatory image created by Robert Simmon and Jesse Allen, using Landsat data provided by the United States Geological Survey. Caption by Aries Keck and Michael Carlowicz. NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) jointly manage Landsat, and the USGS preserves a 40-year archive of Landsat images that is freely available data over the Internet.
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Illinois could face nearly $40 billion in lost federal Medicaid support over 10 years under a health care overhaul proposed last week by congressional Republicans and supported by President Donald Trump, a health industry spokesman told state lawmakers Thursday.
Three Illinois House committees heard testimony from experts on how major changes to Medicaid outlined in the American Health Care Act could affect the state's recipients. The GOP plan to replace former President Barack Obama's health care law would phase out an expansion of Medicaid and cap federal spending for the entire program going forward.
Illinois Health and Hospital Association spokesman David Gross testified that Illinois would lose at least $38 billion in federal Medicaid funding over the act's 10-year lifespan. The association arrived at this figure by taking Illinois' share of the nation's Medicaid beneficiaries and multiplying it by the $880 billion in reductions estimated by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office under the Republican plan. Gross said the cuts would jeopardize patient care.
Democratic Rep. Greg Harris of Chicago, who chairs the appropriations committee for human services, said one in four Illinois citizens receives Medicaid benefits and could be affected.
Illinois currently devotes $10 billion in state funds each year to Medicaid, or about one-quarter of the general fund. The federal government matches that amount.
Harris said lawmakers would need to find ways to fill the $4 billion-a-year hole.
"That's money the state has to come up with, out of tax dollars," Harris said. Otherwise, he said, Illinois would have to cover fewer people, offer fewer services or cut rates to care providers.
The Republican plan would phase out the Affordable Care Act's nationwide expansion of Medicaid to 11 million additional low earners. In Illinois, 650,000 citizens have gained coverage under the expansion, the federal match for which would begin to diminish in 2020 under the Republicans' proposal. Gross said two-thirds of those enrolled under the expansion could face restricted federal coverage by 2021 depending on fluctuations in income or other circumstances.
The overhaul would also cap federal support given to states for Medicaid recipients instead of matching whatever states decide to spend.
Republican Rep. Tom Demmer of Dixon said that although the Affordable Care Act succeeded in extending coverage, it has also led to increased premiums and restricted choices for individuals buying insurance on the state market.
Roberta Racove, a spokeswoman for the Chicago-based Sinai Health System, told lawmakers that Medicaid expansion made it easier for Sinai's network of charitable facilities to care for patients regardless of insurance status. Before the expansion, she said, 15 percent of Sinai patients were uninsured. That figure fell by more than half under the Affordable Care Act.
"The expansion has taken us to a new level," she said. "It's taken us beyond survival."
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FARMINGTON — A new Navajo Nation Council bill seeks to have sanctions imposed against the Teec Nos Pos Chapter and chapter officials for failing to implement a corrective action plan.
The corrective action plan is the result of a 2010 special review of the chapter and was developed to fix problems identified by tribal auditors.
Under the sanctions, the Office of the Controller would withhold 10 percent of the chapter’s budget and withhold 20 percent of payments issued to chapter officials.
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In a 2014 follow-up review of the corrective action plan, auditors found that the chapter continues to lack control over accounting activities, including unrecorded cash receipts and no assurance that all revenues were deposited into the chapter’s bank account.
Some of the findings in the follow-up review revealed that the chapter lacks a chapter resolution approving its operating budget for fiscal year 2014, as well as no detailed carryover budget from fiscal year 2013.
The chapter is not in compliance with tribal laws, rules and regulations, including those regarding the procurement process and travel authorization.
In the 2010 special review, auditors reported that $24,113 was paid in unauthorized stipends to chapter officials and the grazing officer.
Auditors reported that activity occurred after officials held chapter and committee meetings beyond the approved number of meetings appropriated by the tribe, and the chapter did not have all the meetings minutes on file to support the stipend payments.
In the follow-up review, a sample of 20 stipend payments was reviewed, and payments totaling $2,985 did not have approved claim forms.
Also reported is the continuing problem with the chapter reporting taxes to the Internal Revenue Service and needed improvements to the chapter’s accounting system.
Delegate Davis Filfred, who represents the Mexican Water, Teec Nos Pos and Tólikan chapters in Arizona, and Utah’s Aneth and Red Mesa chapters, is sponsoring the bill recommending the sanctions.
The bill will be eligible for committee action on Tuesday. It was assigned to the Resources and Development Committee, and the Budget and Finance Committee.
Noel Lyn Smith covers the Navajo Nation for The Daily Times. She can be reached at 505-564-4636 and [email protected]. Follow her @nsmithdt on Twitter.
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WASHINGTON: The move to end extension of H-1B visas would be "bad policy" and is contrary to the goals of a merit-based immigration system, the US Chamber of Commerce said on Saturday over the Trump administration's reported plan that could result in self-deportation of around 700,000 Indians.
The H-1B programme offers temporary US visas that allow companies to hire highly skilled foreign professionals working in areas with shortages of qualified American workers. But since taking office last January, President Donald Trump has been cracking down on the scheme.
The proposal to curb H-1B visa extensions which was part of Trump's 'Buy American, Hire American' initiative that he vowed to launch during his election campaign trail, is being drafted by the Department of Homeland Security, reports said.
"It would be tremendously bad policy to tell highly skilled individuals who are applying for permanent residency and have been working in the US for several years that they are no longer welcome," a US Chambers of Commerce spokesperson said.
"This policy would harm American business, our economy, and the country. Further, it is inconsistent with the goals of a more merit-based immigration system," the spokesperson said.
He was responding to reports that the administration is discussing a move to curb extensions to H-1B visa holders who have completed their two-three years of H-1B visa terms and have been receiving extensions because of their pending Green Card application status.
Such a move would impact some 5,00,000 to 7,50,000 highly skilled Indian technology professionals, academicians and research scholars in the US and result in their moving back to India.
Indian American Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi hoped the administration "immediately rejects" the proposal.
"I fully support efforts to reform the H-1B system, and while our priority must continue to be improving advanced training for our domestic workforce, ending H-1B visa extensions would kneecap our economy and encourage companies to further offshore jobs, instead of making those investments here. It would also tear families apart and hurt businesses here. I hope the administration immediately rejects this proposal," he said.
The US is currently facing a skills gap of over six million jobs, and companies are struggling to find talent to fill these open positions, Krishnamoorthi said.
"Educators and employers need to be working together to ensure that we are developing the skills at home in America to fill the job openings domestically, both today and in the coming years. My bill to reauthorise career and technical education programmes would help to close this skills gap, and the Senate needs to take up this bill that passed the House unanimously last June," he said.
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YULIN, China (Reuters) - Residents of China’s southern city of Yulin defended eating dog meat to celebrate the summer solstice on Thursday, as animal rights activists seek new ways to pressure organizers to cancel the annual festival.
The ten-day event, dubbed the lychee and dog meat festival by residents, has become a lightning rod for dog lovers, who every year confront those who buy, sell and eat canines.
In recent years, animal rights activists have raided slaughterhouses and intercepted truckloads of dogs in efforts to limit the number of animals killed.
Activists say the dog meat trade is inhumane and unhygienic, pointing to videos of dogs caught with wire lassos, transported in tiny cages and slaughtered with metal rods.
Festival-goers remain defiant.
“Yulin’s so-called lychee and dog meat festival is just a popular custom of ours. Popular customs themselves cannot be right or wrong,” Yulin resident Wang Yue told Reuters.
“Those scenes of bloody dog slaughter that you see online, I want to say that the killing of any animal will be bloody. I hope people can look at this objectively.”
Slideshow ( 13 images )
Dog meat is a traditional food in some areas of southern China, where it is believed to be good for the body in warm weather.
However, animal protection group Humane Society International said in a statement the festival was “manufactured” by the dog meat traders and that dog meat was not part of mainstream food culture in China.
The event is not sanctioned by Yulin authorities, but police told Reuters their efforts to “maintain stability” had reduced the number of activists in the city this year.
Opinions on Chinese social media were divided.
Calls from animal lovers to boycott or cancel the festival provoked a defense of local tradition and accusations that activists were disturbing public order.
International animal rights groups say putting pressure on the dog meat trade has become harder after China stepped up scrutiny of foreign groups by requiring them to register with police.
Slideshow ( 13 images )
Chinese activists are trying new tactics to convince authorities to end the dog meat trade.
Zhang Huahua, a university professor at the South China University of Technology in Guangzhou province, complained to Yulin authorities that the festival infringed environmental protection regulations.
“The messy slaughter of numerous dogs transported to Yulin without inspection severely damages public order, popular custom and the environment,” Zhang said in a letter seen by Reuters.
Authorities told Zhang her letter would be processed in line with regulations.
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little hard to get used to."
And what does Banks want most now? Retribution? Revenge? Gibson's head on a serving platter? No. He's not even demanding Gibson give the money back. While he is suing the state for $100 for each day he was falsely imprisoned,
what he wants back most is football.
Banks celebrates his exoneration and freedom with his mother, Leomia Myers. AP Photo/Nick Ut
Thanks to the best Tuesday of his life, he has now got a chance at it.
None of the four teams are offering any guarantees for a spot in training camp, nor is Banks asking for any.
"I'll make 'em happy," says Banks, who's been training non-stop since October. "After all I've been through these last 10 years, I can still do some things that will impress you."
Like dead-lift 545 pounds, box jump 55 inches flat-footed, broad jump 10-plus feet and run a 4.6 40, all at 6-foot-2 and 245 pounds. NFL trainer Gavin Macmillan, who has volunteered to train Banks for free, says he has a shot. "You see him run and you can see why USC wanted him."
And if the NFL doesn't pan out? Banks already has all kinds of job offers. One of them is to "work in the front office and explore other sports opportunities" for the Arizona Diamondbacks.
"I about fell out of my seat when I read that one," Banks said.
I don't know about you, but I can't remember another story that made me want to alternately punch something and hug something like this one. The way Banks has handled himself, without bitterness or bile, with grace and guts, makes you wish he were running the U.S. Senate. If it were me, I'd be stomping around, waving lawsuits and screaming, "I TOLD you I didn't do it!!!"
"I know my story makes people angry at first," Banks says. "That's where I was, too, at first. But where would it have gotten me to stay mad for 10 years? It's like when you're a little kid and you cry about having to clean your room. You can cry and cry, but it doesn't get your room cleaned."
Brian Banks' room is clean again. His heart is spotless. He's holding on to nothing but his dreams. He lost a full decade of his life and now all he wants in exchange is an NFL jersey.
C'mon, Miami Dolphins. Who's had more "Hard Knocks" than Brian Banks?
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Joe Russo, co-director and producer of Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame with his brother Anthony, recently shared some updates on a few of the highly-anticipated projects they currently have in development at AGBO. Speaking with Collider’s Steve Weintraub in an exclusive conversation about the upcoming Netflix movie Extraction, Russo teased some details about the current status of their live-action adaptation of the 1977 animated series Battle of the Planets, as well as an animated series based on Magic: The Gathering for Netflix and a series adaptation of Grimjack for Amazon.
“It’s not going to be a direct adaptation of the series,” Russo said of Battle of the Planets. “It’s going to be our own story that we tell surrounding a group of genetically altered kids who are involved in a space war… That could take months of gestating, and trying to figure out what the new mythology is. And then we commit that to a bible, and then from that bible we do some artwork as exploration, and once we have artwork that we’re inspired by we then commit that to a script. So we’re in the bible phase for Battle of the Planets at the moment.”
Battle of the Planets was an Americanized version of a Japanese cartoon series titled Science Ninja Team Gatchaman, about a team of young fighters called G-Force tasked with defending Earth from intergalactic enemies. It was not dissimilar from Voltron, in that G-Force flew one giant spaceship that contained several smaller, equally righteous vehicles. It’ll be interesting to see what the Russos’ take on the series ends up being, but blockbuster space battles seem firmly within their wheelhouse.
Meanwhile, Grimjack, based on the sci-fi / fantasy comic book series about a trans-dimensional mercenary, is currently in the script phase, with Russo calling the script “fantastic” and indicating that it has been submitted to Amazon for notes. Finally, he reveals that Magic: The Gathering, the animated series based on the popular collectible card game published by Wizards of the Coast, is also in the script phase. However, he notes that animation has a much longer prep period than live-action projects, which means we probably won’t see the series anytime soon. Check out Russo’s comments in the video below.
Finally, here’s Joe Russo talking about a possible Community movie, here’s what Russo had to say about Tom Holland’s work in Cherry, and here’s his update on the next three films he’s doing with his brother Anthony.
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After 35 years at the company — the last six of them as CEO — Target’s top exec Gregg Steinhafel has stepped down less than half a year after the retailer was the site of a massive data breach that compromised credit card and personal information for more than 100 million customers at the height of the holiday shopping season.
“It has been an honor and a privilege to lead this great brand and work alongside what I believe is the best brand in retail,” wrote Steinhafel, who was also the company’s President and Chairman, in his statement explaining his decision to step down effective immediately.
Last fall, hackers were able to access Target’s in-store card payment processing system via the network of a third-party HVAC contractor. Beginning around the busy Black Friday shopping weekend, and continuing through mid-December, cards swiped at Target stores around the country were unwittingly collecting and transmitting customers’ information to the cybercriminals.
Relative to the size of the breach, the damages to customers was minimal, as many affected consumers canceled cards that may have been compromised. However, these millions of new cards and accounts came at a huge price to the banks and credit unions, some of which have filed suit against Target to recoup expenses.
“The last several months have tested Target in unprecedented ways,” continues Steinhafel. “From the beginning, I have been committed to ensuring Target emerges from the data breach a better company, more focused than ever on delivering for our guests. We have already begun taking a number of steps to further enhance data security, putting the right people, processes and systems in place. With several key milestones behind us, now is the right time for new leadership at Target.”
In addition to the data breach disaster, Steinhafel was CEO during the early months of Target.com’s relaunch in 2011. With frequent crashes, poor customer service, mysterious inventories, and missed delivery dates, Target’s first truly independent foray into e-commerce was a major mess, resulting in the early exit of Target.com President Steve Eastman only a few months after the site’s relaunch.
Target’s Chief Financial Officer John Mulligan is taking over the reins from Steinhafel at President and CEO, at least temporarily, while the board searches for a new top executive. Boardmember Roxanne S. Austin has been named as interim nonexecutive chair of the board.
“The board is deeply grateful to Gregg for his significant contributions and outstanding service throughout his notable 35-year career with the company,” reads a statement from the retailer’s board.
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Death penalty for drug dealers? Count Trump in
John Bacon | USA TODAY
Show Caption Hide Caption Trump tells Pennsylvania: 'Your steel is coming back' US President Donald Trump on Saturday told supporters in Moon Township, Pennsylvania: 'your coal is coming'. He was speaking during a campaign event for Republican Rick Saccone ahead of next Tuesday's special election.
Drug dealers kill people, destroy families and might deserve the death penalty or life in prison for their crimes, President Trump says.
Trump, speaking at a rally Saturday in Pennsylvania for congressional candidate Rick Saccone, said he got the idea from the leaders of China and Singapore. The U.S. criminal justice system, Trump said, is too soft on drugs.
“You kill 5,000 people with drugs because you’re smuggling them in and you are making a lot of money and people are dying. And they don’t even put you in jail,” Trump said. “That’s why we have a problem, folks. I don’t think we should play games.”
Trump said he recently asked the president of Singapore if that country has a drug problem.
"He said 'We have a zero tolerance policy. That means if we catch a drug dealer, death penalty,'" Trump said.
More: Trump stumps for GOP candidate in Pennsylvania: 'We have to win'
More: Will Trump be ready for North Korea meeting?
More: This week in Trump: The full Nunberg, porn star lawsuit and North Korea
Trump said he wasn't sure whether the nation would be accepting of such a harsh penalty. But he said drug dealers destroy families.
"We can't just keep setting up blue ribbon committees" that do nothing but "talk, talk, talk," Trump said.
Trump has floated the idea before. Less than two weeks ago, Trump suggested "very strong" penalties to help address the nation's growing problem with opioid addiction.
"Some countries have a very, very tough penalty — the ultimate penalty," Trump said. "And, by the way, they have much less of a drug problem than we do."
Last May, Trump congratulated Filipino President Rodrigo Duterte for a "great job" in his crackdown on drugs. Duterte has boasted about personally shooting and killing at least three crime suspects. Human rights groups and the United Nations have condemned Duterte's vigilante-style campaign that has left thousands of suspected drug dealers and users dead.
Trump acknowledged Saturday that his idea might have dissenters.
"Probably you'll have some people who say 'Oh, that's not nice," Trump said. "But we have to do something."
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match feels so satisfying. Grab the box with one hand, tilt it to slide the matches out, grab one, rotate the box, and strike it. Perhaps most importantly: everything works as it should. Countless VR games fail to recognize gestures or otherwise mess up simple concepts, but Wilson's Heart always works the way it is supposed to.
Sure, sometimes the in-game hands are at impossible angles, but it's a small price to pay to avoid a common frustrating with the medium. There are also newspapers and comic books strewn around for the player to read for some world building and entertainment, but since all small text is really hard to read in VR, I mostly just looked at headlines and pictures.
Somehow I got this far without mentioning that this game focuses a lot on puzzles. The primary focus here is solving puzzles, adventure game style. Collecting items from the surrounding areas and figuring out their uses provides the most common form of progression. There isn't an inventory in the traditional sense, but Wilson can store items as he collects them and they will show up when they need to be used. You may be thinking "that takes all the fun out of solving the puzzle!" but in reality, it's just cutting to the chase. By the time you need to use the thing on the other thing, you know exactly what to do and it would be meaningless to have to open an inventory just to take out the obvious item. Puzzles are not obtuse and arbitrary, so solving them feels grounded and important.
There's even combat! And it's exciting! Wilson himself gets a handful of abilities as the game progresses (thanks to his heart-orb-thingy), and using them feels satisfying and even requires some skill. It's impressive how many great ideas Twisted Pixel jammed into Wilson's Heart without making it feel overbearing or shallow. Everything has a purpose and feels fleshed out.
This is a VR game that will inspire others to make their own VR games. It's a high-quality product that makes me upset it's an Oculus exclusive. I still think that VR games have a long way to go, but Wilson's Heart is a strong foot forward towards realizing the true impact virtual reality can have.
It doesn't rely on jump-scares to freak out the player but instead opts to make them uneasy and uncomfortable with its environment and brilliant setpieces. If you have the capacity to play Wilson's Heart, do it. Then send me a PM so we can talk about all the super cool spoilery moments that are unmatched in the medium and genre.
[This review is based on a retail build of the game and Oculus Rift hardware provided by the publisher.]
Wilson's Heart reviewed by Patrick Hancock
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The U.S. military is building an energy weapon that can blow up improvised bombs before militants do. But it may be some time before the device is used in Afghanistan. Not only is the weapon too bulky for the rugged terrain there, but "civilians could be killed if the weapon is activated over widespread areas," USA Today reports.
Since the Iraq insurgency began in earnest, the Pentagon has spent billions of dollars on ways to harness the electromagnetic spectrum to beat improvised explosive devices, or IEDs. Nearly every vehicle now deployed by the military has a radio frequency jammer that cuts off explosives' remote triggers. Electronic warfare aircraft spoof some of those signals, and set off the IEDs from on high. Everything from Humvee-mounted lasers to man-made lightning guns have been tried out as bomb-zappers.
USA Today doesn't provide many details about this particular "highly classified technology," other than saying it "bypasses the triggering device of an IED and detonates its explosive." But the article does note that the ray gun was used at checkpoints in Iraq in 2005 and 2008 and "requires a tractor-trailer-size vehicle" to move it around.
That's too large for Afghanistan – something the military is trying to fix. Improvised bombs are, by far, the number one killer of troops in the conflict there. General James Mattis, head of the U.S. Joint Forces Command, would even like to see the weapon mounted on an aircraft. "This is an offensive capability that will change the face of this war," he tells the paper. (Of course, if civilians happen to be in the way when bombs are detonated by the zapper, that could be a major problem.)
Research on the weapon is being conducted by the Navy, which has a long-standing interest in bomb-blasters. By 2005, researchers at the Naval Surface Warfare Center's Dahlgren Laboratory were already deep into a project called NIRF (short for Neutralizing Improvised Explosive Devices with Radio Frequency). The device produced a very high-frequency field, in the microwave range, to take out an IED's electronics. During a test early that year, the "generator that creates the radio frequencies damaged a counter-IED component... in effect, frying itself," Aviation Week reported at the time. But by fiscal year 2008, the Navy was asking for $11 million extra for the system.
In June of last year, the Office of Naval Research launched an effort to destabilize explosives "at the molecular level." In September, the Dahlgren lab opened a "Directed Energy Warfare Office" that evaluates real-life ray guns ability to take out improvised bombs.
Photo: XADS
See Also:
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So, lately I’ve been thinking a lot about pirates, and if I were a pirate whether I’d prefer to have an eye patch or a peg-leg. At first I thought that I’d probably like to have an eye patch because I just like the way they look, but then I though what if somebody is charging at me from my left side and I can’t see that well out of my left side because that’s the eye that has a patch over it. And because I can’t see them I get stabbed or something. Then I thought maybe I’d change my option from eye patch to peg leg. But then I though what if that same guy who stabbed me because I had an eye patch was chasing me, and I couldn’t run as fast as him because one of my legs was a chunk of wood? He’d probably catch up with me and kill me either way. So, in conclusion I think that if I had to pick any pirate thing to have I’d pick a parrot on my shoulder. No worry of being killed with a parrot on your shoulder. If anything he could warn you of impending doom through some sort of code I’d teach him.
Being able to talk to animals would be sweet. Can you imagine how much being able to talk to a bear would help you out if you were ever being attacked by one? You could just say, “Hey, Bear. What’s the deal?” and he’d think, “whoa! This guy’s speakin’ my language.” Then you could explain to him that you have no reason to be attacked this way and that if the two of you could just sit and talk about things, he’d probably see how wrong he was to ever attack you in the first place. You’d never have to worry about being attacked by any sort of animal again. Except maybe a shark. A shark couldn’t hear you ‘cause you’d be under water and if you tried to talk to him you’d drown.
If I had the choice to have any super power, it would definitely be the ability to breathe under water. Most people pick flying for their number one super power but I figure, what’s so great about flying? So you get to get from one place to the other really fast, big deal. I can do that in my truck. Breathing under water enables you to explore the deepest, darkest parts of the world, and possibly even talk to sharks.
Well, I have to go hang out at Corner Gas now. Catch ya later.
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A friend recently mentioned that she was planning to visit the famous rock shelters at Bhimbetka in Madhya Pradesh. These sandstone caves are famous for their rock art and stone tools, ranging in age from the Palaeolithic to more recent times. The site is looked after by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI).
I remembered my own trip to these shelters over three years ago. This is a photo I’d taken then – of a plaque in front of a cave where Palaeolithic stone tools had been found. It describes the grand story of human evolution.
Underlined in yellow is the explanation for the evolution of our dexterous hands. I am not highlighting the language but the very Lamarckian-sounding mechanism. If the claim is that hands capable of creating sophisticated tools evolved just by the continuous handling of stone, then this is evolution occurring through inheritance of acquired characteristics, just like a blacksmith passing on his musculature to his children. This is not a viable mechanism of evolution. Physiological changes acquired due to a life experience are not passed on to progeny. Our gametes are sequestered from our somatic cells. I strongly suspect that a lot of people still conflate inheritance of acquired characters with natural selection.
The very first sentence – “Millions of years after Ramapithecus, the species Australopithecus and its subspecies came into existence” – is confusing. As is another plaque that shows the classic linear march of hominin evolution from a more primitive looking ape to modern humans. In it, Ramapithecus appears to be an early ancestor of humans.
Australopithecus, a genus and not a species, did appear millions of years after Ramapithecus, but there is no ancestor-descendant relationship between the two. Ramapithecus was initially identified as a Miocene ape and a possible ancestor of humans. Its range was the Himalayan foothills, leading to some excitement that the human family’s roots could be traced to the Indian subcontinent. But more fossil finds have changed this early interpretation.
Ramapithecus is not even considered a valid taxon anymore. The fossils named Ramapithecus are now subsumed under the genus Sivapithecus. The latter genus includes a great variety of Asian ape species. The lineage is more closely related to the ancestors of the orang utan and not to living African apes or the hominin family.
This is just a poor show by the ASI. They need to urgently update the information they are providing the public.
This article was originally published on Suvrat Kher’s blog. It has been reproduced here with permission.
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!
Smart family
Ellen:
When we purchased ARRI GB in 1995, they had products called “SmartPack” and “SmartRack.” [Technical Director of R&D at ETC Ltd] Adam Bennette worked for ARRI, and when he joined ETC, he said: “Let’s go with SmartPack again.” There was some resistance, because it was already an existing product, but we decided that because no one in the US was familiar with the desk, we’d be okay with that name. It was a bit of a problem for Tech Services in Europe, because they’d have to ask customers who called in if they had an old SmartPack or a new SmartPack.
Sarah:
SmartFade ML was supposed to be “SmartMove,” but right when we were going to announce it, Apollo ‘stole’ the name and came out with the Smart Move gobo rotator.
It’s been difficult to come up with names for the Smart family, because so many companies have come out with “Smart” stuff.
Ellen:
Don’t forget that we have a “DumbBar,” too. That’s a SmartBar with nothing in it. It’s just a bar to hang fixtures.
Nomad
Sarah:
We haven’t had to change product names very often, but Nomad is one. We did patent searches and everything, and thought that “Nomad” was safe. It wasn’t, because Stage Technologies had a Nomad controller. There was a concern about which product would come up first in Google search results, so we changed “Nomad” to “ETCnomad.”
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>><<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
There’s your backstage peek into the history of ETC product names. I’ll leave you with the answer to a question I know you’ve asked at some point: ELTS2, CEM3, cRRFU, EBDK, iRFR… What’s with all the acronyms?
The truth? They’re so much simpler than coming up with a product name. “Second-Generation Emergency Lighting Transfer System” gets the point across immediately and “ELTS2” is so much easier to say. What else would you expect from a company called “ETC?”
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Twain
Especially the execution of the first of those three expression is done very slow.
Improvements
With the first results of the benchmark I opened the ticket rust-lang/regex/350 to get feedback regarding my findings. Andrew Gallant alias BurntSushi gave me great feedback with some improvement proposals.
One improvement is to use the SIMD feature of the regex crate. This feature is currently available in the Rust nightly built, so I have to install the nightly toolchain too. I adjust the projects cmake scripts to detect whether a nightly compiler is used and the SIMD feature is supported. So the rust toolchain can be switched with rustup default nightly-x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu and the tool has to be reconfigured and build again to get the new results.
The chart shows that the expressions ∞|✓ and (?i)Twain benefit by using the SIMD feature, but not the expression [a-q][^u-z]{13}x. This expression requires backtracking. The Rust regex crates uses a finite state machine based algorithm, which lacks for back-references and backtracking.
Matches
Regarding the found matches I found some deviations. At first, the libraries oniguruma and tre do not support Unicode category expressions like \p{Sm}. This expression matches all mathematical symbols like = or |. The Rust regex crate matches additionally the symbol ∞.
Hyperscan returns more matches than other engines, e.g. 977 for the expression Huck[a-zA-Z]+|Saw[a-zA-Z]+ whereas all other engines are finding 262 matches. Hyperscan reports all matches. The expression Saw[a-zA-Z]+ returns the following matches for input Sawyer :
Sawy
Sawye
Sawyer
All other engines report just one match: Sawy (non-greedy semantics) or Sawyer (greedy semantics).
Conclusion
The Rust regex crate is now something about 2 years old, but tends to edge mature engines like PCRE2 and Hyperscan. Depending on the used expressions the Rust regex crate is a good choice for pattern matchings. Thanks to all contributors of the regex crate for their awesome work.
Related work
The regex crate contains it’s own benchmark harness with a lot expressions and support for:
PCRE
PCRE2
RE2
Oniguruma
TCL
This benchmark can be used to get another view on the performance of the engines. Please see the bench subdirectory of the crates repository.
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Rich people sometimes gamble on hiding away their funds, however, often because they're behaving irrationally and vindictively as their marriage falls apart, according to attorney John Slowiaczek, president-elect of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers.
"Generally, people who engage in what we will say is this bad behavior are greedy, devious, narcissistic, manipulative, sociopathic," he said. "All the traits that sometimes make a very successful and valuable businessman or woman are traits that don't often make a good spouse. The thought process is, I've gotten away with a lot of bad things, and I can get away with this one."
Of course, it's possible to move money or own assets abroad legally. And American judges often can't order foreign banks or governments to give up assets held by American customers. In those cases, the court might order the spouse who owns the foreign assets to release the money him or herself. If they refuse, they can face steep fines and jail time.
"People talk about doing jail time like it's going on vacation," said Sziklay. "It's not vacation, especially for white-collar criminals. You put them in jail and you'll be surprised by how quickly they break. It's a pretty scary place for the typical white-collar guy."
Other times spouses in divorce proceedings use multiple trusts, shell companies, and other legal machinations to make it hard and expensive for the court and spouse to track down the money, explained Kessler. Sometimes that leads people to negotiate a divorce settlement that brings the costly and emotionally draining fight to an end.
"The person going through a divorce says, 'What can I do to end this now?'" said Kessler. "There is something invaluable in divorce. And that something is closure."
Developments like the Panama Papers leak and the US government's crackdown on American customers of Swiss banks should have convinced wealthy people by now to declare their foreign funds, said Michael Sardar, an attorney at the New York law firm of Kostelanetz & Fink who specializes in helping clients approach the US government to disclose their illegal foreign accounts.
But Sardar knows some people don't take his advice for various reasons — including because they think their husband or wife will someday want to take half of their hard-earned riches.
"If nobody knows about it, and nobody finds out about it... The problem is, how well can you sleep?" asked Sardar. "Every year you file that tax return, there's that question. Do you have a foreign account? Each year you say no, it's harder to conceal that from the IRS. Every year, you're magnifying and increasing the problem."
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Most agile software teams have a serious imbalance in technical and managerial agility.
The imbalance begins early, as many teams and organizations believe they will be agile simply by adopting agile management practices like sprints, standup meetings and storypoint estimations.
I liken those three management practices to training wheels.
Training wheels make it possible for your kid to experience the instant gratification of riding a bike without having to learn how to balance on two wheels.
When it’s time to take off one or both of the training wheels, or raise them up so they don’t directly touch the ground, your kid has to confront the challenging task of learning to balance.
This time is often filled with a great deal of fear and desire to return back to the ease of riding with training wheels.
Balance is essential to riding a bike, yet it’s hard to learn after you’ve already been successfully peddling yourself about with training wheels.
Thankfully, there is a better way.
The new way requires first learning to safely balance on a short, moving bike without peddling and only adding peddling into the mix after balance and movement have been mastered.
Watch how my own daughter learned to ride her bike in the space of two days using this approach:
Agility in software development requires learning to balance key technical and managerial risks in your process.
For example, if your software has many defects and they are preventing you from focusing on important new functionality, you likely need to address the risk by learning and practicing test-driven development.
If you find yourself routinely slipping deadlines and missing targets, you likely need to learn how to do evolutionary software design, including the practice of splitting user stories, working on high-risk/high value items first and practicing what I call bargain hunting.
If you find your development slowed to a halt by having lost people who were knowledge silos (i.e. solo members of your team who are the only ones who know some part of your code), you would do well to address the problem via pair- or mob-programming.
If you find that the architecture of your software product is fragile and/or burdensome, make sure that your backlog isn’t controlled by a single, non-technical product owner who has no clue about the disastrous effects of technical debt. (And consider reading my blog, Community, Not Product Owner).
Chances are that slowness in your ability to deliver useful, high-quality software relates to an imbalance in your agile practices and values.
By learning to balance technical and managerial concerns early, you’ll have a far easier ride on your path to software development agility.
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Anti-gay Russian member of parliament Mikhail Degtyarev, who wants the Russian government to offer free “gay cures” to all of its homosexually-inclined citizens, apparently has another pet issue: the scourge of menstruation.
Degtyarev, a family-values wonderboy all of 32 years of age, says that menstruation is not simply a “medical” problem, but a “societal problem” as well. You see, women “often” call ambulances while having menstrual cramps, Degtyarev explains.
So Degtyarev is pushing legislation that would give women two days off per month during those “critical days” when they’re menstruating.
Why? Well, rather than paraphrase Degtyarev, let’s hear it directly from the horse’s, er, mouth:
“In this period, the majority of women experience psychological and physical discomfort. Often the pain for the fair sex is so intense that they are forced to call an ambulance.” [emphasis added]
Now, I grew up with a mom and two sisters. And the monthly visit from their “friend” was rather a non-event in our house. Certainly no one was “often forced to call an ambulance.” But maybe that’s just us – you know those stoic Greeks.
More from Degtyarev:
“Strong pain induces heightened fatigue, reduces memory and work-competence and leads to colorful expressions of emotional discomfort,” reads a copy of the bill published on Degtyarev’s website. “Therefore scientists and gynecologists look on difficult menstruation not only as a medical, but also a social problem.”
It sounded pretty wacky to me, but hey, I’m man enough to know that I’m no Mikhail Degtyarev when it comes to understanding the social problem of menstruation. So I messaged a friend, had her read what Degtyarev was proposing, and asker her if I was missing something.
Her response was colorful: “OMG, it’s wildly offensive. Insane. INSANE.”
She added: “It is another mechanism for discriminating against women.”
But what about the ambulances? Do she and her friends “often” call the ambulance while menstruating?
“No, it’s not common.”
She sounded a bit ticked. Perhaps it’s just one of those critical days.
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always criticised violence in my speeches but the way the trouble in just two per cent of the area is blown up and used against us should be countered. Arundhati Roy paints Gujaratis as rapists and then goes scot-free by apologising. Isn't it an insult to Gujarat?
What do you make of Shankarsinh Vaghela leading the Congress?
A sinking Congress is banking on a straw. The Congress had no leadership of its own so they have given its top post to a [former] BJP man.
Do you see a Hindutva wave in Gujarat?
Gujaratis have decided to teach a lesson to the merchants of death. They will not allow Gujarat to be taken over by them. Gujarat is a border state and we can't allow the weakening of our security.
Will this election be fought on a Hindutva versus casteist card?
In Gujarat, the poison of casteism was injected in the name of the KHAM [Kshatriyas, Harijans, Adivasis and Muslims] theory. Gujaratis rejected it and turned towards the unity of society. Casteist forces have been rejected in Gujarat, the people's mood is anti-casteist.
What is the economic scenario in the state after the riots?
After Godhra we received Rs 8,000 crore worth direct foreign investment. General Motors, Shell, British Gas Company...
People who know you well claim you are not really a believer of Hindutva.
We have been taught cultural nationalism. We don't distinguish between Hindu rashtra and Bharat rashtra. I believe no Hindu can be anti-secular. I am secular. We believe God is one, there are different roads that lead to him. But you are not interested in debating Hindutva. Your reference point while talking about Hindutva is communal violence or Imam Bukhari.
The Gujarat riots have damaged our stand on coercive diplomacy.
Absolutely wrong. It has strengthened our stand. What happened in Godhra supports our contention how innocents are being killed ruthlessly. Gujarat has helped India convince the world community how terrorism is damaging us.
I am talking about the riots that followed.
I told you that no civil society can accept this. The innocent Sikh was murdered after 9/11. Why? Because he looked like the terrorists. If the educated in America can get provoked, why use a different yardstick to evaluate Gujaratis?
Part II: 'All of you want a magic wand in Gujarat'
ALSO READ:
The Gujarat Elections 2002
The Gujarat Riots
Design: Dominic Xavier
The Rediff Interviews
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The official website for the television anime of Hashigo Sakurabi's Dakaretai Otoko 1-i ni Odosarete Imasu. (I'm Being Threatened by the Handsomest Man) manga revealed the anime's staff, additional cast member, and October premiere on Monday.
Naoyuki Tatsuwa ( Nisekoi - False Love, Gourmet Girl Graffiti ) is directing the anime at CloverWorks, and Yoshimi Narita ( Saint Seiya Omega, Our love has always been 10 centimeters apart. ) is in charge of series composition. Minako Shiba ( Noir,.hack//SIGN, Black Butler ) is designing the characters, and is also credited as chief animation director alongside Senri Kawaguchi and Yu Kurihara.
Miyu Yamamoto is the color key designer. Satory Hirayanagi is the art director. Koyuki Koyama is the director of photography. Yuusuke Noma and Yūto Karasawa are the CG directors. Michi Takigawa is the editor. Masaru Yokoyama is composing the music, and Satoshi Motoyama is the sound director.
The anime will premiere in October on the Tokyo MX, Gunma TV, Tochigi TV, and BS11 channels.
The anime's official Twitter account also revealed that Wataru Hatano will voice the character Kiyotaka Arisu (seen below). The character only recently debuted in the original manga.
The rest of the cast will feature the same cast as an earlier drama CD:
Yūki Ono as Junta Azumaya
Hiroki Takahashi as Takato Saijyo
Takuya Satō as Chihiro Ayagi
as Chihiro Ayagi Yūma Uchida as Ryō Narumiya
as Ryō Narumiya Kousuke Toriumi as Kazuomi Usaka
In the manga's story, Takato Saijyo has reigned as the idol industry's "Most Huggable" for five years, that is, until freshman actor Junta Azumaya. Takato was always considered brusque while Azumaya's smile is winning over admirers by comparison. The whole fiasco drives Takuto to over indulge in alcohol and his actions catch the attention of the last person he wants to see. To his surprise, Azumaya uses this new info to blackmail Takuto for physical affection.
Sakurabi launched the manga in Libre Shuppan's Monthly Magazine Be x Boy in July 2013. Libre Shuppan published the manga's fifth volume on March 30. The manga has more than 2 million copies in print.
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Stay on Top of Emerging Technology Trends Get updates impacting your industry from our GigaOm Research Community
Ah, Germany: the home of data protection law; a bastion for the privacy-minded in these crazy days of international surveillance and hackery. Or is it? The German government and intelligence services have already been sued over alleged privacy violations in cooperation with the NSA, and now leaked documents have described plans for monitoring social networks in real-time.
Süddeutsche Zeitung, NDR and WDR have turned up secret documents belonging to the Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND), Germany’s counterpart to the NSA. It seems the BND is jealous of the digital espionage capabilities of the NSA and the U.K.’s GCHQ, and wants to up its game.
The documents warn that, if the BND doesn’t get the €300 million ($409 million) it needs to run expanded surveillance activities until 2020, Germany will fall behind even Italy and Spain in the spook stakes. They also suggest the spies hope to get their funding in the coming weeks.
According to the reports, the BND wants to analyze streaming data in real-time from forums and services such as Facebook(s fb), Twitter(s twtr) and Flickr(s yhoo), collect and store more mobile metadata, and use software vulnerabilities for targeted hacking. The reports state targets would be outside Germany — indeed, targeted data must have a foreign element if the spies are to remain compliant with German law.
The BND already intercepts and analyzes a certain amount of internet data flowing through Germany, but has nothing like the NSA’s budget for effectively interrogating this data. Last July, a leaked NSA document seen by Der Spiegel showed how closely the BND works with the NSA, even using U.S. spy software.
The heads of the BND and other German intelligence agencies had previously said they were unaware of the NSA and GCHQ’s PRISM data collection program, through which those agencies obtain data from web firms. Revelations about the NSA spying on German leaders and populace have caused outrage in the country, which is due to its history quite sensitive about surveillance.
Earlier this week, though, it emerged that there would be no full investigation into mass surveillance nor the bugging of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s phone, due to lack of evidence. Prosecutors were unable to get any answers out of American or German spies, who pointed out that the most damning revelations about German surveillance came from one newspaper, Der Spiegel — and the newspaper refused to identify its sources (sometimes assumed to be Edward Snowden’s cache, but never confirmed or denied as such.)
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he said.
"If you tie it to an existing election, there is very little cost," Thomas said.
While it would be a scramble, Chaffetz's successor could be on the ballot for the Aug. 15 municipal primaries in the 3rd District, with final selection of a candidate in November's general election.
Those vying for candidacy would have to meet the standard eligibility requirements and collect 7,000 signatures to get on the primary ballot.
The 3rd District has 352,000 registered voters spread out through five counties — San Juan, Emery, Grand, Carbon, Wasatch — most of Utah County, including Provo, and the east side of Salt Lake County. The district covers more than 50 municipalities, and there are no geographic distribution requirements regarding the signatures.
Chaffetz's departure, rumored for a lucrative broadcasting deal with Fox News, has riled some GOP lawmakers who are angry that a possible quest for money is putting the party in such an untenable position.
"If it is just to go on to a different job, a more lucrative job, that will be very offensive to me" and other lawmakers, Niederhauser said Wednesday.
That lawmakers are scrambling to respond to Chaffetz's expected departure shouldn't be a surprise.
The last time the issue came up in Utah politics was 1929, when a sitting representative died while in office, Herbert said. At the time, the representative died in December and political leaders opted to wait until the next election — the following November — to fill the vacancy.
Thomas said the cost associated with holding a stand-alone election dominated the debate, especially given it was shortly after the stock market crash leading to the start of the Great Depression — the largest global economic crisis of the 20th century.
When it comes to party delegates picking potential replacements for Chaffetz or a special election, it appears the governor has public opinion on his side.
A new UtahPolicy.com poll shows that 76 percent of Utah voters prefer candidates selected by an election process rather than by party delegates.
The Alliance for a Better Utah issued a statement Thursday in support of Herbert's stance on a special election.
“We are grateful the governor is placing an emphasis on allowing voters to be involved in choosing their next representative," said Chase Thomas, policy and advocacy counsel for the government watchdog group.
"As this unfolds over the coming weeks, our hope is that this election is conducted transparently, with fairness for all involved, and that any disagreements will be solved quickly so that the constituents of District 3 will soon have a new congressman representing them in Washington, D.C.”
Contributing: Dennis Romboy, Jared Page
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tlebutt, King escorted Evangelista to Desert Springs Hospital, where the heavyweight underwent a battery of tests. Evangelista passed them all and King responded, as was his wont, with a rambling press conference. “I want to introduce all of the outstanding fighters on this great card,” King said. “But before I do that I want to tell you about a cad. We have been, in recent days, beleaguered, beset with rumors, all the work of that sinister and diabolical Hitler of boxing, a scurrilous character whose paranoia has carried him to the brink of insanity.”
Insanity might have been inviting Evangelista to Las Vegas for anything more than baccarat or blackjack. The only notable heavyweight Spain had produced since the days of Paulino Uzcudun (who was Basque) had been Jose Urtain, a national phenomenon whose record was studded with, shall we say, friendly opposition. And Evangelista had the added disadvantage of being an import, brought to Madrid from Uruguay by Kid Tunero in the early 1970s. With his feathery blow-dried hairdo, his oversized shirt collars, and his gold neck chain, Evangelista looked like he was ready for the break of dawn at Studio 54 or Danceteria. Nevertheless, Evangelista, 23-2-1, was riding a nine-bout winning streak entering his doomed challenge of Holmes; its only highlight was a stoppage of Jean Piere-Coopman, “The Lion of Flanders,” a man who had fortified himself with champagne before—and during—his fiasco against Muhammad Ali in 1976.
Unlike Coopman, who only wanted to hug and kiss Ali whenever he could, Evangelista at least said some of the right things. “Larry Holmes,” he warned, “will find out I’m a different fighter than the man who fought Ali.” This, in a sense, was true. Against Ali, Evangelista was merely a straight man, the target of more pranks than punches; against Holmes, poor Evangelista was a flagellant, lashed from round to round, until, finally, he was counted out in the seventh. To score the knockout blow, Holmes, 28-0, had pulled a fair imitation of a signature Jersey Joe Walcott move. He was walking away, almost casually, from an Evangelista in pursuit, when he suddenly stopped and whipped a roundhouse right that sent the man who had lasted fifteen rounds with Muhammad Ali crashing to the mat. In the end, it was a fitting homage. After all, Walcott had spent bruising years scrambling to the top, just like Larry Holmes.
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.
Mr Abe supports Japan retaining nuclear power; 55 per cent of voters say they hope nuclear power will be abolished.
"I'm not sure that nuclear policy right now is a prime deciding point for a lot of voters," Mr Miller said.
"So even though some of them may be sceptical of the Abe administration's approach to nuclear energy, it seems it is not enough of a game-changer to change their vote."
Young people — where are they?
Ayana Ohara is 18 and will be voting for the first time at this election. ( ABC News: Rachel Mealey )
Japan does not have compulsory voting. At the last national election, about 50 per cent of eligible voters turned out to vote. Of those people, two-thirds were aged over 60.
This means that Mr Abe was elected by a quarter of the eligible voters.
The Asahi poll shows that of voters aged between 18 and 29, 41 per cent are in favour of Mr Abe, followed by 13 per cent for the Party of Hope and 6 per cent for the Constitutional Democratic Party.
"For young people, the most important thing is employment. Japan is doing really well in that field when compared with other countries," Naohiro Yashiro, dean of Showa Women's University's global business department, told Reuters.
"This is not young people turning more conservative, but wanting to keep the status quo."
But there is a problem getting young people all the way to the ballot box. At the last national election, only 33 per cent of people in their 20s voted.
Kazumi Sugiura is trying to turn that around by encouraging students at her university to have their say.
She is part of a group called Vote at Chuo! (the name of the university) and has — for the past three weeks — been stopping students on the university campus and encouraging them to vote.
"I want young people to go and vote. I want them to show whether they're happy with the current politics, whether they're supportive or not," she said.
"I tell them that it's really easy to vote. Just go, write down a name and put it in the box. I say, it's very easy," she said.
Ayana Ohara is 18 and visits the Vote at Chuo! booth. She will be voting for the first time at this election. But she stands out from her group of friends.
"I don't talk about the election with my friends. I don't have many friends who are interested in politics. I talk about it with my family, not so much with friends," she said.
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“To be asked that question is to persecute one group of human beings, because sin is something we are all guilty of.
“If you’re not a Christian, what does sin mean? It’s to be accused of something, it’s condemnatory. We’re talking different languages.
“Maybe I could have explained that, and the Biblical teaching on sex and sexuality. But let’s be brutally honest, with the exception of programmes like this you don’t get more than 20 seconds to get your message across.”
PinkNews asked Sir Vince why he had appointed Mr Farron to his frontbench back in November.
Sir Vince said that he hoped for Farron to play a “substantial” role in the party’s future, telling PinkNews: “He’s obviously learnt from that unfortunate episode.
“As I say, he apologised, stepped down as leader, but he’s a very good liberal and genuinely a liberal. His voting record is exemplary on gay rights issues.
“He led the fight on refugees, is very strongly committed to the European project, [which] is the big issue of the day. He’s now committing himself to defending both his majority in parliament and on foreign affairs and on issues around the north of England.”
Sir Vince Cable told PinkNews at the time: “It was very unfortunate, the difficulties Tim had with squaring his Evangelical Christianity with the long-term commitment of the party to LGBT equality.
“It became an election issue among lots of supporters and lots of gay people.
“I don’t think it was handled very well… it did us quite a lot of political damage and we all know that. I am keen to get us back on track.”
Sir Vince added: “We do need [to be tolerant]. We are a party committed to equality and that includes gay rights, but the simple truth is we have millions of people in the country who are committed Christians, Jews, Muslims who have a different view.
“We need to stand our ground in defence of secular values, but understand that people are coming at this from a different point of view in religious terms. I don’t think the two are inconsistent.”
Mr Farron, who served as leader of the Liberal Democrats until 2017, was toppled by a row over gay sex – as the evangelical Christian was repeatedly probed about his beliefs.
Mr Farron quit as Lib Dem leader a few weeks later, after facing an internal party coup.
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MINNEAPOLIS, MN (BRAIN) — LeMond LLC will introduce three models of a limited edition road bike at the Interbike expo in Las Vegas next week. The bikes, made by Time in France, will be the first bikes that Greg LeMond has marketed under his name since his split with Trek Bicycle more than five years ago.
LeMond will unveil the bikes at Interbike at 9:30 a.m. next Wednesday, the show's opening day following two days of outdoor demos.
The three models will have color schemes based on LeMond's Tour de France victories in 1986, 1989 and 1990.
LeMond will be joined at the introduction by Campagnolo president Valentino Campagnolo. The three models will be outfitted with Campy's 80th Anniversary Record groups.
"My interest in the bicycle as a machine, with its design, details and innovative possibilities, never went away after I retired from racing in late 1994," LeMond said in a statement Thursday.
"For a time I lost my creative outlet, but like form coming back to a rider who was weakened, I have rediscovered my creativity and passion for the bike. I’ve traveled the world, observing carbon fabrication in more detail than ever before, and I’ve refined my ideas. When I landed in Vaulx-Milieu, France, to meet with Jean Marc Gueugneaud and Roland Cattin of Time Sport International earlier this year, I had done my due diligence. I spent countless hours traveling, sitting in meetings and standing on factory floors, but I saved Time for last for a reason: I would now be able to view everything they were doing through a discerning eye."
LeMond and Gueugneaud go back to 1985, when the young French engineer and designer built a carbon fiber bicycle for LeMond and his La Vie Claire teammate Bernard Hinault. After leaving Look, Gueugneaud launched TVT, a custom carbon fiber manufacturer, which provided production bikes for LeMond, Pedro Delgado and Miguel Indurain. LeMond won three Tours and one world championship on TVT framesets.
“I’m very fond of my history with Jean Marc and his bikes, but I needed to see what he and Roland had accomplished since the early ‘90s; I needed to see how they were doing it now,” LeMond said. “The level of design and craftsmanship poured into their products today is unsurpassed. The balance of strength, weight, durability and ride quality in what they build puts them atop the podium as the premiere carbon constructor.
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Assemblyman Tom Ammiano (D-San Francisco) Introduces Historic Legislation in Wake of State Fiscal Crisis
(San Francisco, C.A.) Assemblyman Tom Ammiano (D-San Francisco) today announced the introduction of legislation that would tax and regulate marijuana in a manner similar to alcoholic beverages. The bill, the first of its kind ever introduced in California, would create a regulatory structure similar to that used for beer, wine and liquor, permitting taxed sales to adults while barring sales to or possession by those under 21.
Estimates based on federal government statistics have shown marijuana to be California’s top cash crop, valued at approximately $14 billion in 2006 — nearly twice the combined value of the state’s number two and three crops, vegetables ($5.7 billion) and grapes ($2.6 billion). Massive “eradication” efforts, wiping out an average of nearly 36,000 cultivation sites per year, have failed to make a dent in this underground industry.
“It is simply nonsensical that California’s largest agricultural industry is completely unregulated and untaxed,” said Marijuana Policy Project California policy director Aaron Smith, who appeared with Ammiano and other officials at a San Francisco news conference to announce the legislation. “With our state in an ongoing fiscal crisis — and no one believes the new budget is the end of California’s financial woes — it’s time to bring this major piece of our economy into the light of day.”
Independent experts from around the world, from President Nixon’s National Commission on Marijuana and Drug Abuse in 1972 to a Canadian Senate special committee in 2002, have long contended that criminalizing marijuana users makes little sense, given that marijuana is less addictive, much less toxic and far less likely to induce aggression or violence than alcohol. For example, in an article in the December 2008 Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, Australian researcher Stephen Kisely noted that “penalties bear little relation to the actual harm associated with cannabis.”
With more than 26,000 members and 100,000 e-mail subscribers nationwide, the Marijuana Policy Project is the largest marijuana policy reform organization in the United States. MPP believes that the best way to minimize the harm associated with marijuana is to regulate marijuana in a manner similar to alcohol. For more information, please visit http://MarijuanaPolicy.org.
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Love Living DC is Washington’s #1 real estate team for dependable neighborhood expertise. In this episode, Realtor Jennell Alexander visits Soup Up, one of uptown’s most popular healthy dining destinations. She chats with owner Donna Henry to see what the Brightwood Park establishment is all about.
Pillar of Kennedy Street
One of the keys to the revitalization of the Kennedy Street NW corridor is the ingenuity of its small business owners. Soup Up is one of the shining retail stars of the Brightwood Park community. After incubating her craft in the Union Market food hall, owner Donna Henry established her own brick and mortar at 709 Kennedy Street NW. We visited with her recently to learn more about her story and the amazing selection of delicious foods that she offers.
Health and tastiness are the foundations of the Soup Up menu. The soups are low sodium, prepared with organic, locally grown, fresh vegetables, herbs and spices. They are made in small batches, from scratch. Their key principle is that no additives, preservatives, dairy or oil is ever used in their products. Vegan and gluten free soups are always available. Customers will experience the warmth of authentic homemade cooking with every spoonful.
More than just Soup
Ultimately, the soup is the star of the show here, but the Soup Up menu contain a variety of surprising delights. The hand-crafted spring rolls have options for Jerk Shrimp, Jerk Chicken, sweet yams and other fillings. The salads are on point and the sandwiches and wraps fulfill that everyday craving.
The brunch menu features flavorful waffles, omelets, loaded toasts and other classics. The shop creates Fresh pressed juices packed with fruits and veggies like kale, beets, carrot and wheatgrass.
Bottom Line
Soup Up is one of the city’s premier destinations for healthy, wholesome and delicious soups and other foods. Donna dug deep into her Caribbean heritage to craft an array of recipes full of homemade goodness. Stop by to check it out and tell them Jennell sent you!
The shop is open for lunch and dinner and provides catering services.
Soup Up
709 Kennedy Street NWWashington, DC 20011
Hours of operation are:Monday 11:00 am – 6:00 pm
Tuesday – Saturday 11 am – 8:00 pm
Sunday 11:00 am – 7:00 pm
You can check out their menu and learn more about this restaurant on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
If you would like your business or organization to be featured on the Love Living DC Show, give us a call at (202) 717-2276.
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KEEPING TRACK
Rain and mud might be making things messy in Southern California but it can improve your chances of finding what types of wildlife are in your area. Today we have a quick guide to animal tracks.
URBAN COYOTE COUNT
Looking for tracks now could be beneficial if there are coyotes in your area. The number of coyote sightings, and attacks in urban areas of California has increased in recent years. Coyote mating season is in late January through February and pups are born in March and April. Coyotes can be aggressive and protective during mating or when protecting litters of pups.
It is unknown if the drought contributed to the rise in coyote attacks in rural areas but even when their food supply is abundant their territorial range can be one to three square miles.
Coyote bites reported to California Department of Fish and Wildlife in Los Angeles and Orange counties:
2012: 3
2013: 1
2014: 4
2015: 11
2016: 10
COYOTE CACHER
The University of California cooperative Extension has created an interactive map (click here) where people can enter where and when they have encountered coyotes. The map below shows encounters of different types in the last 30 days around Southern California. You can list your sightings at ucanr.edu/sites/CoyoteCacher.
Coyote control: Call your county animal control office or the United States Department of Agriculture, California Wildlife Services state office at 916-979-2675.
AGGRESSIVE SEASON Breeding occurs once annually, typically in late January and in February, with pups born in March and April. Parents and offspring continue to remain in a family group for about six months. Before giving birth, the adults excavate one or more dens in the soil, occasionally expanding the burrows of other animals, but sometimes using hollow logs, rock piles, or culverts. Typically, even when denning in suburban areas, they choose sites where human activity is minimal. If disturbed, the parents may move the litter to an alternate den site.
The size of a litter of pups is normally 4 to 7 and may depend on the female’s nutritional status, which is a function of food availability and coyote population density. Pups will remain in a family group for about six months.
FINE PRINTS Coyote prints are often difficult to distinguish from dogs. Coyote prints often only show the claws on the middle two toes and they are usually much narrower than a dog print.
Sources: California Department of Fish and Wildlife, National Forest Service, University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources Photo: Wikimedia Commons
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Study Overseas ( Study Abroad Admissions )
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Several more names have emerged in the race to be Labour’s candidate in a safe London seat.
A local councillor, international development expert and former think tank boss are said to have applied for Lewisham West and Penge.
Ellie Reeves, a former member of Labour’s ruling national executive committee (NEC), is one of the favourites after applications closed yesterday.
The vacancy has been created by Jim Dowd’s decision to step down. He posted a majority of 12,714 in the south London constituency in 2015 which means it is expected to stay Labour despite the party’s poor position in the polls nationally.
Candidates will be appointed by a panel of NEC and regional board representatives.
The activists thought to have applied include:
Kevin Bonavia
The solicitor and Lewisham councillor is best known for his work with Syrian refugees and is a former chair of both the Young Fabians and Young Labour Lawyers. He was Labour’s candidate in Rochford and Southend East in 2010 and is a member of Unite.
Ibrahim Dogus
The entrepreneur and co-chair of SME4Labour is perhaps best-known for his role in the popular British Kebab Awards, which is attended by activists from across the party. He is also the founder director of the Centre for Turkey Studies.
Jane East
The international development worker contested Colne Valley seat in Yorkshire for Labour at the last general election. She has worked for Christian Aid for several years, including a spell in Nigeria.
Ian Kearns
The former deputy director of the IPPR, a left-leaning think tank, lives in Lewisham and is a former chair of the neighbouring Lewisham Deptford constituency Labour Party (CLP). He co-founded and previously directed the European Leadership Network, a pan-European NGO.
Ellie Reeves
The employment law barrister narrowly lost her place on the NEC last year, when a series of pro-Corbyn candidates won through, but is well-known in the capital due to her role as vice-chair of London Labour Party. She is married to John Cryer, chair of the parliamentary Labour Party (PLP), while Lewisham West and Penge is her home constituency.
Christian Wolmar
The transport expert and author who contested the Richmond Park by-election for Labour last year has thrown his hat in the ring. He has frequently spoken out over his belief that Brexit will be a “disaster” for the country.
Do you know of someone seeking selection in Lewisham West and Penge? If so then please email [email protected]
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About This Game
Man Meets Magic & Machine
Shadowrun: Dragonfall - Director’s Cut Features
New in the Director’s Cut
Steam Achievements!
Steam Trading Cards - collect your favorite Dragonfall characters
All-new alternate endings to the main campaign
Enhanced visual effects including splatter and dismemberment, improved animations, and optional post-processing effects
New bioware augmentations provide an extra edge on the battlefield… if you’ve got the nuyen
A variety of new items, cyberware & spells
Additional player customization options
Expanded character development for several side characters
Writing and design tweaks and polish throughout!
is a standalone release of Harebrained Schemes' critically-acclaimedcampaign, which first premiered as a major expansion for. The Director's Cut adds a host of new content and enhancements to the original game: 5 all-new missions, alternate endings, new music, a redesigned interface, team customization options, a revamped combat system, and more - making it the definitive version of this one-of-a-kind cyberpunk RPG experience.NOTE: Theis free to existing owners of theexpansion for. It will be automatically added to your Steam Library when the game is released.In 2012, magic returned to our world, awakening powerful creatures of myth and legend. Among them was the Great Dragon Feuerschwinge, who emerged without warning from the mountains of Germany, unleashing fire, death, and untold destruction across the countryside. It took German forces nearly four months to finally shoot her down - and when they did, their victory became known as The Dragonfall.It’s 42 years later - 2054 - and the world has changed. Unchecked advances in technology have blurred the line between man and machine. Elves and trolls walk among us, ruthless corporations bleed the world dry, and Feuerschwinge’s reign of terror is just a distant memory. Germany is splintered - a stable anarchy known as the “Flux State” controls the city of Berlin. It’s a place where power is ephemeral, almost anything goes, and the right connections can be the difference between success and starvation. For you and your team of battle-scarred shadowrunners, there’s no better place to earn a quick payday.Now, a new threat is rising, one that could mean untold chaos and devastation. One that soon has you and your team caught on the wrong side of a deadly conspiracy. The only clue: whispers of the Dragonfall. Rumors that the Great Dragon Feuerschwinge may still be alive, waiting for the right moment to return…
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Television tradesman Scott Cam has defended his $347,000 contract as National Careers Ambassador, arguing everyone is entitled to be paid for their work.
Key points: Scott Cam is being paid $347,000 for a 15-month contract as National Careers Ambassador
Scott Cam is being paid $347,000 for a 15-month contract as National Careers Ambassador The Federal Opposition has criticised his appointment, arguing there is little to show for his work since he started in October
The Federal Opposition has criticised his appointment, arguing there is little to show for his work since he started in October In a later exchange, Cam told a Sky News presenter his pay packet was "none of your business"
Both the Coalition and the celebrity builder have copped significant criticism from the Federal Opposition for the 15-month appointment.
Cam has only made one public appearance and a handful of social media posts and videos since he started in October.
Standing alongside Employment Minister Michaelia Cash on Tuesday, Cam denied suggestions his work to promote careers in trades did not constitute value for money for taxpayers.
"We work for a living, that's the Australian way, and we get paid for what we do," he said.
"I suppose my brand of 21 years as a national presenter on television is bringing some awareness to it.
"I need to provide for my family. I get paid for what I do."
Cam said his limited number of public appearances coincided with many TAFE campuses and institutions being closed for the summer break.
He argued he was about to start a tour of campuses around the country, and showing up to empty classrooms would have constituted a waste of taxpayer funds.
"This national tour is taking me away from my day-to-day job, so I think it's only fair that I get paid, like you get paid," he said to reporters in Sydney.
Scott Cam argues taxpayers are getting value for money out of him. ( AAP: Joe Castro )
Senator Cash described Cam, who hosts the Nine Network's renovation reality television program The Block, as Australia's "most well-known tradie".
Later, in a terse exchange on Sky News, Cam continued his defence.
"My management and the Government discussed the fee, that's none of your business, that's a commercial arrangement and how that came about is between my management, myself and the Government."
The Federal Government appointed the Gold Logie winner as National Careers Ambassador to encourage people to take up trade apprenticeships.
Cam will earn $262,000 between October 1, 2019 and the end of this financial year, with a further $85,000 paid next year.
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W could be boot from the official N3DS system only. Only genuine gamecards can be used in this CFW. The unauthorized copy of software or clone hardware in any form will NEVER be supported in NTR Mode.I personally will never support any kind of piracy. Using genuine gamecards is strongly recommended., please be aware of fraud downloads.NTR CFW is a custom firmware designed for New 3DS, with such features:Region-locked games could be launched in Home Menu directly.Press X+Y in games or Home Menu will show the NTR CFW Menu, to take screenshots or interact with plugins.Users can develop or install their own plugins with libntrplg, plugin will run in the background and is callable via NTR CFW Menu. (screenshot is a built-in plugin now)Debugging your plugins on wi-fi directly with NTR Debugger: http://gbatemp.net/threads/release-...st-public-real-time-debugger-for-n3ds.384858/ Manage your savegame of genuine gamecards, support migrating savegame from NTR 1.0 to NTR 2.x: http://gbatemp.net/threads/release-savegame-manager-plugin-for-ntr-1-0-2-0.384865/ This is an experimental feature and have some limits in current version:1 For most games, save/load must be started in the game scene, do not save/load in movies, menus, etc.2 The real-time savegame is only valid in current instance of game, the savegame won't be loadable after the game was closed or console was turned off.3 Load/save must be performed in the Home Menu while the game is paused, do not return to game until the operation is finished. (it may take about 30 seconds)4 Some games are totally incompatible with this feature.libntrplg for NTR CFW has been released with source code:The hello_world plugin is an example for developing plugins in home menu:LayeredFS Toolkit:This tool allows you build layeredFS translation package in a easy way.More examples will be released later.Microsd Transfer Application is not workable in NTR Mode, use it in OFW.1 Install the BootNTR.cia in Sysnand or Emunand, copy the ntr.bin into the sd card.2 Execute the BootNTR application in home menu then it will boots NTR CFW.BootNTR.cia and NTR files: https://github.com/44670/BootNTR/releases/tag/3.2
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want is to be accepted and for people to appreciate us for who we are — in makeup and out of makeup. I hope it opens up some eyes and hearts.
Did you get to work with the transgender community for this storyline?
There is some stuff coming up in future episodes.
What do you think makes the time right to tell this story?
Like it or not, it's real life. I think Fox is amazing for putting this on broadcast television. [Trans actress] Alexandra Billings played my wife when I did Pretty/Handsome and is in [Amazon's] Transparent. I was very inquisitive [when we worked together] and was trying to be respectful and dialed in with my character on that. Working with her was amazing. I pulled from that as well for Glee and remembered what we talked about.
Transgender fare has become increasingly common on TV but not broadcast. Why do you think Glee is the right show to explore this?
We know it will make a difference. Look at all the things that all the kids on our show have gone through, everything that Chris Colfer and Kurt have gone through. Of any show on broadcast, it should be a Fox show because they are the risk takers. I don't think even taking a risk is the right word. It's just real.
What has it been like for you to play this story? Do you feel a certain responsibility to the trans community?
Yeah, I do. I feel like with Beiste, since I came on in season two, all she has ever wanted is to be accepted for who she was and now who he is. I've always said words are pretty powerful and you have to be careful how you use them. The kids look up to characters on Glee as role models and I take it as a big responsibility because I want it to come across as accepting. I hate the word "accepting" because who the hell is anybody to not accept somebody for who they are? I just hope and pray tonight's episode leads to a lot more, whether it's trans, gay or any other work for trans actors and actresses.
This storyline is particularly timely given Leelah Alcorn's suicide. Do you have a message to send to others who may feel trapped in the wrong body?
Even for kids who are scared to come out: Talk to somebody. And if nobody will listen, you keep on until you find somebody who will listen. I just hope people take tonight's show with an open heart and come away with a full heart.
What did you think of Glee's big reveal? Sound off in the comments below. Glee airs Fridays on Fox.
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country that can help get you out of that southern twang, it definitely helps.”
Teams, and the league, try to make the transition to the NBA easier for all players, but internationals need some special attention. That could an interpreter and/or English lessons. There’s help with visas, green cards, housing, vehicles and other necessities. But there are things that can’t be arranged.
The Jazz opened the season with a league-high seven international players and seven other teams began with six. The Spurs have been one of the most active teams in the league when it comes to procuring international talent over the years.
“I think the acclimation into your team and into your structure helps, especially with language or cultural barriers, if there are people that are native speakers,” Spurs general manager R.C. Buford said. “Like just this year, when (Argentina native) Nico Laprovittola came and has a teammate like Manu from the national team. I’m sure that that aids in the comfort level of that adjustment.
“As opposed to Boban (Marjanovic, now with Detroit) coming from Serbia, who didn’t have anyone and whose wife was having a baby two months after the season starts.... Being away from your wife, who is having a child, creates its own challenges. Boban spoke good English, but it still wasn’t a native tongue for him. I’m sure he had a different acclimation process than somebody else.”
Jazz general manager Dennis Lindsey said there’s no doubt having players from the same country on the roster is a bonus.
“How would you feel if you were all of a sudden had to go to Paris, France to apply your trade?” Lindsey said. “Food is different. Lifestyle is different. Rhythm of the life is different. And you have someone there in market that is doing the same thing that you’re doing that you can share experiences with, whether it’s your current experiences or what’s going in the states.
“Rudy can speak his native tongue. He can talk about current events and politics and things that are going on in France.... There’s a relationship. But it wasn’t like the trade was consummated because we wanted Rudy to feel better.”
Though it has helped.
___
Follow Kareem Copeland on Twitter: www.twitter.com/KareemCopeland
___
AP freelancer Raul Dominguez contributed to this report.
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It is no secret that musician Neil Young is preparing to unveil a new digital music service and portable player device during a keynote at the SXSW conference this week. But the details have leaked in advance of his speech.
According to a press release published on fansite Neil Young News and picked up by industry blog Evolver.fm, Young will launch a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign for his new PonoPlayer device on 15 March, with early buyers getting a discount on its planned $399 price.
The device will be supported by an online music downloads store called PonoMusic, which will sell files at a higher resolution than rivals like Apple’s iTunes.
“It’s about the music, real music. We want to move digital music into the 21st century and PonoMusic does that. We couldn’t be more excited about bringing PonoMusic to the market,” said Young in a statement accompanying the announcement.
Young will act as chairman of PonoMusic, working with chief executive John Hamm, a fellow music industry veteran. “Our goal was to offer the highest quality digital music available from all the major labels with the world’s greatest sounding, user-friendly portable music player,” said Hamm.
“We’ve achieved our goal and we are excited to launch our Kickstarter campaign next week to invite music lovers everywhere to join the PonoMusic community and reserve a PonoPlayer for their own enjoyment.”
PonoMusic is working with US hardware firm Ayre Acoustics to produce the device, which will ship with 128GB of memory to store music, as well as accepting memory cards to boost its capacity. The company will also sell earphones and headphones from its website.
Young has been planning Pono for some time. In early 2012, he talked publicly about previous discussions with Apple boss Steve Jobs about a high-resolution audio version of that company’s iPod, although the talks never came to anything.
Young first announced his plans for Pono later that year including showing a prototype version of the device on a US TV chat show, before filing trademarks for the player and service in December 2012.
In September 2013, Young updated fans on his Facebook page, promising an early 2014 launch for PonoMusic. “The simplest way to describe what we’ve accomplished is that we’ve liberated the music of the artist from the digital file and restored it to its original artistic quality – as it was in the studio,” he wrote.
“Hearing Pono for the first time is like that first blast of daylight when you leave a movie theatre on a sun-filled day.”
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It's literally a plot straight off a rom-com.
AJ Tabangay was on an UberPool ride when his long time college crush hopped in.
Naturally, he freaked out and live-tweeted the whole event.
When your long time college crush is on the same Uberpool. 😭 — AJ Tabangay (@aarontabangay) June 20, 2016
"I can't breathe guys," says AJ before asking the Twittersphere what he should say to make small talk.
Hindi ako makahinga guys 😭 sobrang bango niya pls, baka yakapin ko na 😭 — AJ Tabangay (@aarontabangay) June 20, 2016
"Upon arriving [at] his pick-up point, I [saw] him from afar and my heart started pumping intensely, I couldn't believe it," AJ, who is based in the Philippines, told Mashable.
"When he entered, I pretended that it was nothing...[but I went on] a Twitter spree and constantly messaged my friends to devise a plan so I could converse with him. I ended up just feeling happy [and] giddy that I got to ride with him."
AJ's story, which happened last year, picked up some social traction, but has now become truly immortalised in an Uber ad.
"I got really shocked when Uber contacted me...I completely forgot about it [but now] I think the memory will stick for a very long time," he said.
The ad, titled Kilig, which translates to romantic excitement in Filipino — has since been viewed 2.4 million times, and attracted a stream of giddy comments.
"It happened to me couple of weeks ago...it's the driver that happens to be my long time crush, that [was the] very first time we had a conversation," said one comment on Facebook.
"From now on, I will use UberPool. No more UberX for me," another netizen added.
"Uber is the new Tinder," one said.
AJ's story is part of a campaign in which riders are asked to share stories about the trips they take on Uber.
"AJ's [story] was fresh yet totally relatable... and we felt it provided a glimpse into the different personalities you might encounter while on an UberPool ride," an Uber spokesperson told Mashable.
Uber also revealed that a follow-up video to AJ's story is due to go up on Thursday — so we'll wait with baited breath in the meantime to see what happens.
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GETTY Joe Formaggio promised to build a pig farm next to migrants' mosques
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More than 160,000 asylum seekers have been housed in Italy since the start of 2014, according to date from the interior ministry. Italy has been one of the first destinations along migrants typical routes for months, receiving thousands of new arrivals who continue to risk their lives to cross the Mediterranean on rickety smuggler’s boats.
But many have been critical of the welcoming of so many refugees - and now one Mayor from the town of Albettone in Vento has launched a scathing attack on the new arrivals. Speaking on La Zanzara on Radio 24, Joe Formaggio said: “Immigrants? If they send them to us, we will protect our houses. We are proud to be racists.”
GETTY More than 160,000 asylum seekers have been housed in Italy since the start of 2014
GETTY Italy has been one of the first destinations along migrants' typical routes
The mayor claims his city “exports brains and imports n*****s” who "are less intelligent than us, they are inferior”. Amid possible plans to open a mosque in the city, he claimed he would open a "large farm of pigs if they open a mosque here”. Mr Formaggio added: ”If refugees are sent here to Albettone, the barricades in Gorino will be seen as nothing. “Here we do not want immigrants, n*****s or gypsies. They have a lower IQ: history proves it.
Borders across the world Sat, March 19, 2016 See the structures that are intended to prevent migrants from crossing the borders across the globe. Play slideshow EPA 1 of 26 Hungarian Army patrol the area along the temporary border fence on the Hungarian-Serbian border
Here we do not want immigrants, n*****s or gypsies. They have a lower IQ: history proves it. Mayor of Albettone Joe Formaggio
“We have a shooting range and the highest number of licenses to carry weapons in the whole Veneto region. “And we do not want anyone to come and bother us. They risk their lives around us.” The comments were deemed so strong that the Secretary General of the Vicenza Chamber has been forced to intervene.
GETTY Mr Formaggio said he would oppose plans to build a mosque in his town
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Jaguars quarterback Nick Foles has been traded to the Chicago Bears for a fourth-round pick, as reported by Mike Garafalo.
The MVP of Super Bowl 52 spent just one season in Jacksonville. Foles signed for big money, only to see his job lost to Gardner Minshew following a fractured collar bone in Week 1.
Minshew is on a much more team-friendly contract and, on a team closer to rebuilding than contending, it makes sense to move on from a big contract like Foles. Chicago, in return, gets a veteran quarterback with experience in the postseason.
Foles will arrive in Chicago with a real chance to take the starting job from Mitch Trubisky.
The No. 2 pick back in 2017 saw his numbers plummet in 2019, throwing seven fewer touchdowns, just over 3,100 passing yards, and finishing with a passer rating of 83.0, 15.4 points below his career-high mark from 2018.
Trubisky struggled with decision-making and accuracy in 2019, causing the Bears offense to stagnate. The Bears ranked 29th in both yards-per-game and points-per-game. Trubisky finished the season ranked 28th in QBR and 32nd in yards-gained-per-pass-attempt.
Foles has previous experience with Chicago head coach Matt Nagy. Both were members of the Kansas City Chiefs before Foles’ return to Philadelphia. The familiarity and chemistry that Foles and Nagy have with one another will undoubtedly lead to a heated quarterback competition in Chicago.
Foles and Trubisky are very different players, so it will be interesting to see which style of play Coach Nagy prefers.
Foles was 0-4 as a starter in Jacksonville, and his last win as a starter was the infamous ‘Double-Doink’ game in the playoffs as a member of the Philadelphia Eagles.
The opponent: the Chicago Bears.
Foles is 27-22 as a starter in the regular season, with 71 touchdown passes against 35 interceptions, with a completion percentage of 61.9. In the postseason, Foles is exponentially better, sporting a 4-2 record with 11 touchdowns and five interceptions with a 68.1 completion percentage.
Both playoff losses were to the New Orleans Saints.
Chicago will be the fifth NFL team for Nick Foles. The journeyman quarterback has also spent time with the-now Los Angeles Rams, Kansas City Chiefs, Philadelphia Eagles, and Jacksonville Jaguars. The move to Chicago also reunites Foles with tight end Trey Burton, who was his quarterback for the “Philly Special” trick play in Super Bowl 52.
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Camping out 24/7 for return of imperiled soccer team trapped in Thailand cave: Reporter's notebook Time, everyone knows, is running out on them.
CHIANG RAI, Thailand -- Thousands of rescue workers, police, soldiers, electrical engineers, volunteers and journalists are camped out here in the muddy terrain of this mountainous Thailand province. It is where 12 Thai boys and their soccer coach entered the Tham Luang cave complex that now has them trapped.
An incredible collective effort is on display in a makeshift village while authorities offer emotional support for the parents and families who are in tents desperately waiting for their boys to come out of the cave after nearly two weeks.
It is hot and humid: -- 84 degrees with 79 percent humidity -- but a sense of hope prevails amid good spirits. I met a masseuse who said she wants to donate her skills to help hardworking rescuers relax.
An on-duty police officer who stopped journalists from trying to talk to the boys’ parents ushered our team to a tent nearby, handing out stuffed hot buns. It turns out he donated those 6,000 buns out of his own pocket.
Morale is still high Friday despite the death of a former Thai navy SEAL officer who lost consciousness overnight while SCUBA diving on his way back from delivering air tanks to a site near the boys.
Our translator explains the upbeat mood:
“Thai people are not afraid of deaths. Even at funerals we listen to music and try to be happy,” probably because Thai people are predominantly Buddhist, she says.
The most heartbreaking part of covering this story is to imagine what it would be like as a parent in waiting. They are glued to television screens in hopes of hearing news about any promising developments in the rescue operation.
Thai officials have been briefing the media once every morning at unspecified times and Thai navy SEALs have been posting videos and pictures of the boys and what’s going on inside the cave.
But that is about all we get throughout the day, leaving our appetites healthy for more information about the rescue operation.
For now, though, the most realistic option is to try to pump out as much water as possible to lower the water levels so the boys would at least float out of the cave fully breathing, instead of learning how to dive or swim.
Time, everyone knows, is running out. Heavy rain is expected this weekend, which means the boys must be rescued from the cave within a day or two.
Officials have not addressed a plan B and no one here at the site is talking about the what-ifs, although many must be wondering in quiet moments, what if.
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"Real Time" host Bill Maher went to bat for former Vice President Joe Biden on Friday night after a series of highly publicized gaffes by the Democratic frontrunner this week, which Maher referred to as "senior moments."
"You know he doesn't mean it," Maher said about Biden. "There's going to be some senior moments with Joe Biden. Don't we just have to get used to that?"
Maher said Biden's critics would likely argue that every verbal mistake is a sign that the 76-year-old Biden shouldn't become president. But Maher said he wasn't buying that argument.
MSNBC ANCHOR DEFENDS BIDEN AFTER LATEST GAFFE, SAYS TRUMP CAMPAIGN 'SEIZED ON A FEW WORDS'
"I really don't think there's a realistic link there," Maher said. "I don't think he's about to push the button or he thinks he's moving the remote and he blows up Russia. I don't."
He continued: "I'm just saying that we need to get used to the fact that if he's the nominee, that there's going to be some senior moments and we can't lose our s--- every time there's one."
During a fiery speech at the Iowa State Fair on Thursday, Biden told the crowd "We choose truth over facts" -- an apparent allusion to the left's allegations of deception from the Trump administration. Later on, he spoke to the Asian & Latino Coalition PAC urging everyone to "challenge" students in low-income neighborhoods.
"What we should do is, we should challenge these students in these schools. They have advanced placement programs in these schools," Biden said. "We have this notion that somehow if you're poor, you cannot do it. Poor kids are just as bright and just as talented as white kids."
After a very brief pause, Biden quickly continued speaking, adding: “Wealthy kids, black kids, Asian kids.”
Previously, Biden mistakenly said recent mass shootings had taken place "in Houston... and also in Michigan," instead of El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio.
One of Maher's Friday guests -- former Gov. Terry McAuliffe, D-Va. -- agreed with the comedian that Biden's slip-ups are no cause for concern in assessing his suitability for the Oval Office.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
McAuliffe -- a former chairman of the Democratic National Committee who also chaired campaigns for both Bill and Hillary Cliinton -- said Biden's occasional misstatements were preferable over the "10,000 lies" he claimed President Trump has made since taking office.
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WINNIPEG -- From now on when someone says it's as cold as Winnipeg, you may have to ask them to be more specific.
Winnipeg, Manitoba? Or Winnipeg, Mars?
A team of NASA scientists who are working with the Curiosity rover as it scans the red planet have named a small patch of rock "Winnipeg."
"It's been looking for water, essentially, evidence of past life and things like that. So Winnipeg is one of those spots along that scientific journey," Scott Young, an astronomer with the Manitoba Museum, said Friday.
The news was part of an online update of the Curiosity mission earlier this week. It said Winnipeg is a "target" in a ridge called the Murray formation. The area contains three targets, which are small areas which the rover examines in detail and then beams the information for analysis back on earth.
Young suspects the naming of target Winnipeg is a result of news stories several years ago that compared a particularly cold stretch of a Winnipeg winter with weather reports from the surface of Mars. It turned out Winnipeg was colder.
He said there are scientists from Winnipeg who've gone on to work for NASA who may remember fondly -- or shiver -- at their memories of the city's famously cold winters.
Curiosity has been taking pictures of the targets, then blasting bits of rock with a laser and noting the colour of the vapour to determine their composition. It's also looking at whether the layers of rocks and grains appear sedimentary, which would indicate water, or are wind-blown.
"You sort of take some close-up pictures. Then you drill into the rock. Then you stick your magnifying glass in there and look up close to see what you've uncovered. That's pretty much what they did to the area called Winnipeg," Young said.
"Of course that's where we hope they'll find some big discovery. But we'll have to see what happens."
He said the best clue would be to find some kind of fossil.
While Winnipeg, Mars, may actually be warmer some mornings than its Manitoba namesake, Young said that doesn't mean a Winnipegger would feel at home there.
For starters, he said those Winnipeg-like temperatures on Mars only exist a few centimetres above the soil surface. Above that, the atmosphere is so thin that it gets much colder very quickly.
"You wouldn't be able to breathe, there's not enough pressure so your blood would begin to boil. It would be a pretty nasty experience to be out on the surface of Mars," Young said.
"We can survive Winnipeg winters with proper dress. But that's just not possible on Mars, alas."
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Since Nafta came into effect in 1994, trilateral trade has quadrupled and investment across the continent has surged. Supply chains created by relatively high-cost producers in the United States and Canada and lower-cost producers in Mexico have enhanced the competitiveness of North American companies. Nafta has enabled Mexico to export products, not only people, a major United States and Mexican objective.
Nafta has been a net benefit for all three countries. Rapid technological change and significantly expanded trade with China have had a far greater impact on the working people of Mr. Trump’s base than Nafta.
Still, Nafta, which predates the smartphone era, needs modernizing. Electronic commerce is not covered by the agreement. Enhanced regulatory cooperation would improve productivity. And modern labor rights and environmental policies would update the agreement and enhance its appeal.
The Trump administration has three choices: walk away from Nafta altogether, which is what many Canadians think is the administration’s lightly disguised objective; insist on its onerous proposals in the hope that Canada or Mexico will accept the unacceptable or themselves abandon the talks; or negotiate in good faith for outcomes that benefit all parties.
Washington’s agreement last month to extend the negotiations until March is a hopeful sign. The Canadian government has made clear that it won’t abandon the talks even if they have to be kicked down the road past the 2018 Mexican presidential election and the midterm congressional elections in the United States. Canada will not provoke the Trump administration, but it also won’t fold under pressure.
If Nafta were to be abrogated, it would be costly for the Americans. Resentment of the United States by its major trading partners would mount, and cooperation across the board would suffer. Tariffs would be reimposed on United States imports and exports. Manufacturing jobs would be jeopardized in many of the states that elected Mr. Trump president. Global supply chains would be disrupted, making American (and Canadian and Mexican) industry less competitive with European and Asian companies.
Canada will take every opportunity to cooperate, but it will also adapt to life with a highly mercantilist neighbor. Canada will probably diversify trading partners, and double down on agreements with the European Union and the nascent 11-member Trans-Pacific Partnership. Further bilateral trade agreements will be forged with Japan and China, which is very interested in Canadian resources. Canada will partner with Mexico while waiting for the day that Washington is ready to rejoin its friends.
Congress has the constitutional power to regulate commerce with foreign nations. Better for congressional leaders to exercise that power now to prevent harm than to use it later to pick up the pieces after an entirely avoidable collapse of Nafta.
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put fair-minded constitutionalists on the bench.
Gillum recognizes that progressives are not as doctrinaire as conservatives. But he believes it will be possible to create a greater sense of urgency on the part of the enlightened voters (and enlightened potential voters) who in 2020 will decide not just the presidential race but also contests for control of the Senate. “The consequences are extremely great for the things that we care so much about,” he says, pointing to “Roe v. Wade…the environment…the Voting Rights Act…Citizens United.”
He says that able organizers and savvy political strategists have been trying for decades to use concerns about the courts to mobilize progressive voters. He credits the work that groups such as PFAW have done over the years as vital. It has created an infrastructure of activism. Now, he says, it’s time to build upon that infrastructure. “We have to make the issue of the courts relatable to everyday people,” he says. “We can’t give that ground anymore. This is the ground that we’re going to have to begin to fight very squarely on.”
Gillum is excited about the prospect of utilizing social media and even film projects to reach out to young voters, suggesting, “The documentary RBG is just one example of, I think, how new media can be used to just attract attention to what it means to have a court hanging on the thread of a singular justice.” And the veteran organizer talks about the importance of developing broader and more engaging messages. “Maybe it isn’t just a single issue,” he says. “Maybe it’s saying all of the things that we believe in, everything, all the gains that we’ve seen here, from civil rights to reproductive health, are at stake when we see such a far philosophical and ideological spin to the right on the courts.”
He is thinking hard about how to make a breakthrough, and he is ready to spend his political capital to get the job done. Asked if he would be interested in moderating a debate among the presidential candidates on the courts, he replied, “I’d be happy to have that conversation. I would broaden it out, obviously, to include the issues that are impacted by the courts. But I think it’s well past time for us to focus and center our attention there. For people who think it may raise the passions of the right, listen, they can’t be any more risen. They understand very well the implications of the courts. It’s time for our voters to get what it means.”
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Sarah Palin has canceled a Christmas interview with Matt Lauer, because NBC refuses to suspend or fire Martin Bashir.
Fox News’ paid media propagandist lapdog Howard Kurtz wrote,
The former Alaska governor and Fox News contributor was scheduled to sit down with Matt Lauer for a Christmas season interview. That’s now toast. Palin has now canceled Lauer’s scheduled trip to Wasilla, a source close to her tells me. It’s not because Palin is upset with Lauer or the “Today” show, but as a protest against NBC for not taking action against Bashir. In fact, Palin once sat in as a “Today”co-host. Tim Crawford, treasurer of Palin’s political action committee, had told NBC News President Deborah Turness and MSNBC President Phil Griffin that “Americans deserve to know that your network doesn’t condone violent and hateful rhetoric.”
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Sarah Palin is mad because Martin Bashir called out her racism, so she is canceling Christmas with Matt Lauer.
What will Lauer do now that he doesn’t have to go the whole way to Wasilla in December? This move hurts Palin more than NBC, but it is the next logical step in her desperate attempt to milk the Bashir thing for all it is worth in order to sell books.
Bashir did something that few people in the mainstream media have the guts to do. He called out her racism. Sister Sarah is offended because she got called out. As the governor, Palin was sued because she refused to sign the Juneteenth proclamation.
Since losing the 2008 election, Sarah Palin has spent years lobbing racist attacks at President Obama. Palin has accused the president of everything from shucking and jiving to being lackadaisical.
Sarah Palin deals in racism. Her constant references to slavery aren’t an accident.
NBC has already given way too much airtime to Palin. Sarah Palin is the one with the crappy Christmas book to push. It is the height of delusional arrogance for Palin to think that NBC will be hurt by her “protest.”
It isn’t 2008 anymore, Sarah. It’s over, and you need all the free airtime that you can get. After all, those ghostwritten books don’t sell themselves.
Martin Bashir’s comments were ugly, but he was talking about a person who embraces and glorifies all of the ugly things that divide our country. Bashir shouldn’t be punished. He should be praised and promoted for having the courage to speak the truth about Sarah Palin.
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Shares of Tesla Inc. turned lower on Monday, the first market session after the Silicon Valley car maker launched the Model 3, its electric car aimed at the masses, and promised a fast ramp-up for the sedan’s production.
The stock’s opened more than 2% higher, but such gains had evaporated by mid-morning. Later in the session, the shares traded lower, on pace to close at their lowest in more than two weeks.
Tesla TSLA, -5.59% late Friday delivered the first few Model 3s at an event in its Fremont, Calif., factory.
See also:Elon Musk gets the $35,000 Tesla Model 3 price tag he wanted — but extras cost more
The launch appeared to do little to move the market’s needle on Tesla, with no broad recommendation changes and the bulls remaining optimistic about the company’s prospects and bears equally entrenched.
Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk told reporters Friday that Model 3 reservations stood at more than 500,000, according to The Wall Street Journal. The company had announced soon after reservations opened last year that 373,000 people had put down $1,000 deposits to buy a Molde 3.
Analysts at KeyBanc wrote in a note Sunday Tesla would not commit to that figure, “other than to confirm that Musk did in fact provide it to the media.”
Analysts at Goldman Sachs called the event, which they attended, “a bit anticlimactic,” noting no noticeable changes in the car’s features from its earlier test versions.
The Model 3 “remains a de-contented, smaller version of the Model S; and the production vehicle showed no incremental (human-machine interface) features from the vehicle unveiled last year,” they said in a note Monday.
Read more:Tesla earnings: Will the Model 3 live up to the hype?
The Goldman analysts said they expect Tesla to post a larger-than-expected quarterly loss when the company reports Wednesday, saying they expect gross margins on vehicles to disappoint.
Can Tesla Live Up to Its Hype?
Analysts at Baird showed a little more faith in the Model 3, saying the sedan could outperform competitors at a competitive price, and production will now be a focus as Tesla targets positive gross margins on the vehicle in the fourth quarter.
Shares, however, may be under pressure after Wednesday results, they said, adding they would remain buyers on any weakness.
Analysts polled by FactSet expect the company to report an adjusted second-quarter loss of $1.87 a share on sales of $2.5 billion.
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Check out the newest release of vRealize Log Insight 4.6, available starting April 12, 2018! This release includes new features for the Log Insight server and agent, resulting in improvements in scalability, usability, and user access management.
Improved Scalability
Log Insight is now more scalable and supports up to 15 vCenters per node. It also supports sending SYSLOG over UDP. Importer support is now available for bzip and bzip2 archiving formats. Log Insight can now handle configurable compression for HTTP requests when an agent sends log events with the Ingestion API. Agents now can read logs from journald system service for log data in Linux distributions running systemd.
Better Usability
VMware has improved Log Insight’s usability in this release by introducing the ability to alert on dormant logs, allowing it to send an alert when a configured log source stops sending log events after a fixed amount of time. In addition, a capability has been added to export a full list of agents from the Admin->Agents page. Log Insight now supports receiving RAW event messages without headers. A new ability has been introduced to control the visibility of items on Dashboard widgets. The user can simply use Shift-Click to toggle and Option/Alt-Click to show all. You can now configure multiple destinations for an agent from the main configuration server. Lastly, the agent status now also includes information about the server(s) it sends logs to.
Enhanced User Access Management
Log Insight has enhanced its user management capabilities, allowing a search for users and delete multiple users. A new capability has been added to authenticate VMware Identity Manager (vIDM) local users. There are also additional APIs including those for creating alerts, deleting VIPs, and authenticating with vIDM.
The following defects have been fixed since the last release:
Upgrade fails when the /storage/var partition is full
When you do not provide a license on the License page, a tooltip for evaluation licenses is displayed
A bug leading to agent crash was fixed
Incorrect handling of copytruncate rotation scheme for log files in some circumstances
In summary, vRealize Log Insight 4.6 has seen numerous enhancements in scalability, usability and user access management since the last release. You can upgrade to 4.6 directly from vRealize Log Insight 4.5. If you are running an earlier version of vRealize Log Insight, you must first incrementally upgrade your installation to 4.5. Upgrade to version 4.6 starting April 12, 2018!
For more information about vRealize Log Insight 4.6, see the vRealize Log Insight 4.6 Documentation Center.
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G327.1-1.1 is the aftermath of a massive star that exploded as a supernova in the Milky Way galaxy. A highly magnetic, rapidly spinning neutron star called a pulsar was left behind after the explosion and is producing a wind of relativistic particles, seen in X-rays by Chandra and XMM-Newton (blue) as well as in the radio data (red and yellow). This structure is called a pulsar wind nebula. The likely location of the spinning neutron star is shown in the labeled version. The large red circle shows radio emission from the blast wave, and the composite image also contains infrared data from the 2MASS survey (red, green, and blue) that show the stars in the field.
No clear explanation is yet known for the unusual nature of G327.1-1.1, including the off-center position of the pulsar wind nebula seen in the radio data and the comet-like shape of the X-ray emission. One possibility is that we are seeing the effects of a shock wave bouncing backwards off of the shell of material – or envelope - swept up by the blast wave produced by the explosion, the so-called "reverse shock" from the blast wave. The pulsar is moving upwards, away from the center of the explosion, but the pulsar wind nebula is being swept towards the bottom-left of the image by the reverse shock wave that is also traveling towards the bottom-left. The direction of the pulsar's motion and of the reverse shock are shown in the labeled version.
The X-ray observations allow scientists to estimate the energy released during the supernova explosion and the age of the remnant, as well as the amount of material being swept up as the blast wave from the explosion expands. The faint bubble that the pulsar appears to be creating may also be revealing the fresh pulsar wind being blown into the region cleared out by the reverse shock.
A paper describing these results appeared in The Astrophysical Journal in February 2009 with Tea Temim of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA), Patrick Slane (CfA), Bryan Gaensler (University of Sydney), Jack Hughes (Rutgers) and Eric Van Der Swaluw (Royal Netherlands Meterological Institute) as authors.
Credits: X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO/T.Temim et al. and ESA/XMM-Newton Radio: SIFA/MOST and CSIRO/ATNF/ATCA Infrared: UMass/IPAC-Caltech/NASA/NSF/2MASS
> Read more/access larger images
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Four minutes and seven seconds ago, I was handed a great speech. It’s the greatest speech. I have people—the best, simply the best—the speechwriters—the best speechwriters. And they write the best speeches. This one is the best speech in the history of American politics—believe me. It’s the best. People are already talking, and I haven’t even given it yet. Just the best.
Of course, we all know that the crooked media isn’t going to tell you what I say in that speech. Great speech, by the way. Did I say it’s the greatest? But those liars are only going to tell you what Crooked Hillary wants you to hear. Am I right? Of course I’m right. I have the best mind for this.
I can’t even tell you that I’m going to sue all the lying women—which I am—that Crooked Hillary put up to accusing me—which she did—without the lying media reporting on it—which they will. Give me a break. Can’t a guy smear nasty lying women without making the front page of the failing New Your Times—and it is failing—bigly—believe me.
I mean, what does a guy gotta do to get his policies heard? Did you come here to get a lecture or chant “Lock her up?” Right? It’s a no-brainer. And do I get credit for giving you what you want to hear? Hardly. That—by the way—is why I’m suing every one of those liars. Did I mention that? Suing them all. Right after the election. Win or lose. Because, really, is there anything more important than getting even? Disgusting liars.
Oh—right—the policies. It’s…um…run that teleprompter back a minute. Right, right. First hundred days—lock her up, build the wall, kick out the Muslims. Oh yeah—drain the swamp. I like that one. That’s a good one—best slogan ever, by the way. People are talking about that, too. Look it up.
And somebody said there was a battle here or something. I’m pretty sure Patton or MacArthur won it. And that’s what we’re going to do, too. Get out and vote on November 28th—er…8th. We need to take back our country and make sure that government of me, by me, and for me shall make America great again!
Next Satire
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investigation of the Reid shooting. Ott and department officials stand behind the two.
"I would say that both officers have shown an ability to come to work each day and actually go out and do police work. These are trying times to be a police officer," Ott said, adding that it was only last August when city officers were shot at while probing a burglary that took place near the scene of a fatal drive-by.
Ott said he always worries about police officers being in the line of fire and that fear of a city officer being shot and killed has left him in "constant dread."
In video footage that purportedly shows Days spraying a handcuffed suspect with what appears to be pepper spray, those recording and others at the scene call out Days again and again by name.
"Why you macing me?" the victim asks while others call him a "crooked cop." Attempts to reach the person who recorded the video were unsuccessful.
Ott declined to speak about the video on Thursday, citing the ongoing investigation.
In court documents, Percy Patrick, of Division Street, claims Days approached him and told him to wait so he could run a warrant check. The man claimed the stop was illegal and went to walk away when Days "sprayed him" in the eyes. It's unclear if it was the same event shown on the video.
"We all wish there could be neighborhood walking beat officers in our neighborhoods, but city budgets, which are made up of taxes, no longer support such ideals," Ott said.
The Cumberland County Prosecutor's Office, which is investigating the use of deadly force following the Dec. 30 incident, has only said that the investigation is ongoing. During the stop, a handgun was "revealed," but no further information has been provided.
<a href="http://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/1502703/complaints-filed-against-bridgeton-police.pdf">Complaints filed against Bridgeton police officers Braheme Days and Roger Worley (PDF)</a> <br /> <a href="http://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/1502703/complaints-filed-against-bridgeton-police.txt">Complaints filed against Bridgeton police officers Braheme Days and Roger Worley (Text)</a>
---
Greg Adomaitis may be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @GregAdomaitis. Find the South Jersey Times on Facebook.
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Hamilton police are offering up $50,000 for anyone who can give them a solid lead into the baffling case of who killed Michael Sullivan.
Michael Sullivan, 51, was killed by a truck driver who chased him through the streets of the east end in 2013, police say. (Courtesy Hamilton Police)
The police services board voted Thursday to offer a reward in the death of Sullivan, a father of two with a disability who was killed on his bicycle in 2013.
It’s just the latest in a series of high-profile attempts to crack the case. Last year, police and Sullivan’s family held an event on Barton Street where Sullivan was killed on July 29, 2013. They invited the media in hopes that the attention would bring a lead.
Police still don’t have enough leads, said Chief Glenn De Caire during the board meeting.
“We do believe there are some people in the community who have information,” he said.
Here’s what police know:
Around 2:30 p.m. at Barton and Lottridge, Sullivan rode his bicycle by some people on the street. He had a brief exchange with them, and they said something to the driver of a black pickup truck. Some information was exchanged that was wrong, De Caire said.
Whatever it was, the driver chased Sullivan down city streets until they reached the rear lot of a restaurant supply store at 927 Barton St. E. The truck hit Sullivan so hard that he flew off his bicycle. He was found unconscious and taken to Hamilton General, where he was taken off life support on Oct. 29, 2013.
Police have the truck – a black Ford F150. But they still don’t know who the driver was, since the driver didn’t own the truck.
The driver was a man in his 20s or 30s with short hair.
Sullivan, 51, was living with his mom Gail in a house on Spadina Avenue at the time. He worked from home building or fixing things for other people. He rebuilt computers for underprivileged children. He fixed bicycles for people who didn’t have them.
Police have been conducting interviews, watching video surveillance and using other methods to answer key questions. One person – the one who gave the wrong information – has been charged with mischief.
Police believe, De Caire’s report says, that a reward will bring “new leads, investigative avenues and ultimately, to a successful conclusion.”
Anyone with information should call police at 905-546-3843 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS.
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able to move them again."
"You do not need a counterpart, you do it completely by yourself," adds Habibian.
To do this, there must be a way to block the coins on the dogecoin so that they can not be spent before being returned from the ethereum. But this is not the hardest part. What remains expensive in calculation proves that the dogecoin owner owns the ether coins on the other side.
They then performed a transaction on the Rinkeby testnet, sending the dogecoin to ethereum – and again using truebit under the hood, so that normally expensive proof is executed off-line, in a way much less expensive.
No estimate.
Despite the public debut of the scaling up project, the team behind truebit still has some work to do.
In this first version of the technology, the incentives are "greatly simplified," says Habibian.
In the technology that they have today, some participants behave in an "altruistic" manner. In other words, system verifiers do expensive calculations just to be nice.
And although it probably would not work in practice, the goal of truebit is to one day create a market where participants are paid to do computational work on their computers and contribute to correct results.
"People will go out of their own interests to run these calculations and earn money back," Habibian said.
So, when will all this be ready exactly? Habibian would not give an estimate of the time it will take to actually launch on ethereum.
"It is always difficult to make estimates like this because one of the rules of software engineering is:" As long as you think something is going to take, it will take three times longer ".
Still, he revealed Truebit's plans to publish new software programs iterating on this milestone in the coming months, now that the startup has teamed up with the start of the Aragon decentralization and ethereum LivePeer-based video service..
It is so that they think that technology will spread early, beyond the dogetheric, marking a big step for truebit – and potentially etheric as well.
As Habibian told CoinDesk:
"When it is done and that it is fully built, you can run any computation on ethereum."
Picture of Dogethereum via dogecoin subreddit
Leader in blockchain information, CoinDesk is an independent media company that strives to achieve the highest journalistic standards and adheres to a strict set of editorial policies. Do you want to offer your expertise or ideas for our reporting? Contact us at [email protected].
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June 6, 2006 -- 06-06-06, numerically -- was designated as the International Day of Slayer by an L.A.-based fan who wanted Slayerites to unite in celebration of all that is unholy and Slayer-iffic. The celebration is now entering its fourth year and Slayerholics are encouraged to stage 'Slay outs,' where they skip work in favor of listening to Slayer at full blast in their cars, homes, places of employ and any public space they prefer. Headphones are considered an offense to the movement!
The folks behind this cause did point out that national holidays in America aren't just about celebrating; they're about forcing it upon non-participants. I can't really argue with them on that one, so why not have a metalhead holiday revolving around Slayer?
Nevertheless, the International Day of Slayer is embarking on year four and fans are attempting to get the day accepted as a public holiday. You can support the cause by visiting NationalDayOfSlayer.org. Noisecreep rounded up guitarist Kerry King to get his take on the IDOS.
"I didn't know it was recurring," King told Noisecreep. "I thought it was only for 06-06-06. I've not kept up on it, but I think it's awesome. I am in the band, so it's not something that I follow like a fan would, but I think it's totally cool that fans have taken the time to maintain it!"
King was also quick to point out the humorous suggestions by the IDOS principals -- such as throwing a huge block party that clogs up a street in your neighborhood, blasting Slayer albums all evening and getting police cruisers and helicopters on the scene or spray painting Slayer logos on churches, synagogues or cemeteries -- should be taken in jest and not enacted seriously. "I can't say that I condone all that, but it's interesting. It's obviously tongue-in-cheek, but if the wrong person takes it seriously and does it, it'll get blamed on us. We have nothing to do with it!" So take those words from Mr. King to heart and celebrate IDOS responsibly.
King thanked the organizers for their steadfast support and said, "Keep it up. I think Slayer should have a national holiday! There are enough stupid ones out there, so why not have one for us?" Amen to that!
And what would Kerry King do to celebrate IDOS? "I'd have a party, either with me and my favorite bottle and whomever I want to hang with and bro with for a bro day or a hot chick, if it's that kind of day," King said.
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Waning popularity... About 13 per cent of newborn Australian boys are circumcised every year.
A trail-blazing legal ban on the circumcision of most baby boys is a step closer in Tasmania.
The Tasmanian Law Reform Institute today recommended the state impose a general prohibition on the circumcision of "incapable minors," except for well-established religious or ethnic reasons.
In a benchmark 101-page report, the institute also calls for legislation to clarify the legality of circumcisions done at the request of adults and "capable minors".
The institute's director, Kate Warner, said it was unclear whether non-therapeutic infant male circumcision was actually lawful.
“In the interests of certainty, the institute recommends that the law be clarified,” Professor Warner said.
The law ought to condemn the waning tradition of circumcising boys for secular, non-ethnicity related social reasons
Circumcision is a permanent genital modification involving at least a partial excision of the male foreskin, according to the institute.
The report said there was rarely, if ever, a medical reason for the circumcision of a newborn boy.
Yet more than 19,000 Medicare claims were lodged nationally in 2010 for circumcisions on boys under six months of age. The statistics suggest about 13 per cent of newborn Australian boys are circumcised annually.
"Non-therapeutic circumcision is performed for a variety of reasons, including socio-cultural, religious, aesthetic and prophylactic reasons," the report said.
The downsides of the procedure include significant pain and a potential reduction in sexual pleasure.
"Trauma from circumcision in childhood can also have a long lasting and significant effect on a person's mental health," the report said.
Benefits could include its cultural significance, particularly in Muslim and Jewish communities, and some reduced exposure to infectious disease.
But the report said the world's leading health policy organisations cautioned against attributing too much significance to circumcision's prophylactic effect for those who live in the developed world, stating, "No authoritative health policy maker in any jurisdiction with a frequency of relevant health conditions as low as that in Australia recommends circumcision as an individual or public health measure."
The report said the community was split over the merits of circumcising baby boys, but the institute concluded that for reasons of rational reform it should only be legal in the case of "widely and well-received" reasons.
"The law ought to condemn the waning tradition of circumcising incapable boys for secular non-ethnicity related social reasons."
A spokesman for the Attorney-General, Brian Wightman, said the state government was considering its response to the report.
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Leicester dwarf wrestling 'freak show' cancelled Published duration 12 September 2018
image copyright Extreme Dwarfanators Wrestling image caption The Extreme Dwarfanators Wrestling event was due to take place in Leicester in October
A charity has said it is "very pleased" a wrestling event involving people with dwarfism has been cancelled.
Extreme Dwarfanators Wrestling was due to take place in Leicester in October, but Morningside Arena dropped it due to the "tone of promotion".
The Restricted Growth Association (RGA) compared the event to a "freak show".
Organisers said the show was about people with dwarfism being equal and that the fighters were "pro athletes".
The Ferndown Leisure Centre, in Dorset, told the BBC it had also cancelled the event, but several other venues across the UK are still selling tickets.
A spokeswoman for the RGA said: "We are very pleased to hear that the [Morningside] arena took the time to listen to our concerns and we thank them for reconsidering their position."
image copyright Extreme Dwarfanators Wrestling image caption The event is still due to be held in Cardiff, Torquay, Swansea and Liverpool
Gillian Martin, from the RGA, said the event was a "Victorian spectacle" that harps back to "freak shows, carnivals, travelling troupes" for people to "poke fun" at those with disabilities.
"That tradition has almost entirely disappeared, but it still exists for dwarfism," she said.
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The charity feared the event could "exacerbate" verbal abuse, harassment, bullying and physical abuse towards people with dwarfism.
Skyler Ward, from Extreme Dwarfanators Wrestling, said it was both sport and entertainment and the wrestlers were "pro athletes".
"We are proving that anybody can get in that ring and can do what any big guy does," he said.
image copyright Extreme Dwarfanators Wrestling image caption Ticket holders for the Leicester event have been advised to contact the promoter
"There is nothing wrong with a little guy doing pro wrestling. It doesn't matter if you have dwarfism. According to them, they want to be equal.
"They are getting out there, they're wrestling and doing what they love."
A Morningside Arena Leicester spokesman said it prided itself on being "inclusive" and decided "due to the tone of promotion" it would be unable to host the event.
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The South Korean biggest crypto exchange by traded volume has announced on 22nd March 2018 about launching the first crypto index in the country.
Upbit has drawn the attention of citizens quickly and has grown as a crypto platform just as fast. The Korean’s largest cryptocurrency exchange is now launching the country’s first crypto index in order to provide investors more detailed information about market trends.
These are the four indices that Upbit plans to use
The project was entitled Upbit Crypto Index (UBCI). According to Business Korea, the index claims to “measure market conditions by suggesting a standard on coin quotes”, by using four market indices.
The four indices are:
Market Index: An index that shows the total amount of market capitalization, adjusts the assets ratio on the market and provides investors with useful information about all crypto currencies.
Sector Index: An index that segments the crypto coins according to their own characteristics.
Bitcoin Index: An index which is based on Bitcoin trading values; and
Strategy Index: An index that is used as an indicator of investor participation rules and portfolios verification.
Upbit is the South Korean crypto exchange leader by traded volume
The announcement of the Upbit crypto exchange’s launch was made on 27th September 2017 by Dunnamu, a startup platform for Fintech and the most popular stock trading service retailer. At launch, the Upbit platform offered services for one hundred crypto assets. Being a partner with Kakao Stock and even connected with the most popular messaging application in the country, called Kakao Talk which covers 93% of the South Korean population, Upbit has been able to offer unique services to customers.
Just a few months after opening, Upbit quickly became the largest crypto trading operator in South Korea. According to a report made public last month by a national party, Upbit seized 52.9% of the cryptocurrency trading national market.
The marketplace details of Bitcoin trading operations in South Korea over the last 24 hours is shown in the picture below:
The Dunamu’s President Lee Seok-Woo has compared the current phase of the crypto market with the standard financial ones. In conclusion, he stated that:
“The present situation of the cryptocurrency market is quite similar to the traditional financial market based on stocks and bonds in its early stage. Accordingly, as the market gets more sophisticated, the UBCI is expected to play an important role in this area in the future. We will also disclose the index rulebook and let the market evaluate it before long.”
Until April 2018, Upbit plans to release three indices, while the Strategy Index will be released later.
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