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| 6,200 |
This has to be one of the most biggest blunders in the history of Canadian political mail-outs.
There are multiple reports about Conservative MPs sending out flyers touting their programs that help the disabled enter the workforce. As part of their advertisement, they've included Braille letters.
As explained by the CNIB (Canadian National Institute for the Blind), the visually impaired read Braille by gently gliding their fingers over paper that has been embossed with a system of raised dots.
Unfortunately — on the the Conservative government ad — the dots weren't actually raised so the blind can't actually read it.
Oops!
[ Related: Twittersphere mocks Stephen Harper during cabinet shuffle announcement ]
The ad — which talks about removing "barriers for those who are excluded from the workforce" — has upset some people.
Jim Tokos, vice-president of the Canadian Council of the Blind, told the Ottawa Citizen that it was a "lacklustre effort" on the part of the Conservatives.
Jocelyne Nicolas, whose parents in Winnipeg received the flyer, told the Toronto Star that it was "shocking...that a party that big, and that well-funded, could be putting out something so ignorant."
It was also raised the ire of the Twitterverse.
#cdnpoli Strong, stable incompetence on tax $$. Conservative disability mailout uses braille that’s unreadable http://t.co/rHHot8xm4n — Glen type guy (@canadianglen) July 26, 2013
#CPC sends out flyer with fake Braille. http://t.co/iHYJJ3IWtZ Our country is being run by amateurs serving occasional platitudes #cdnpoli — Harold Pliszka (@hpliszka) July 25, 2013
Conservative Party shows respect for the blind with fake Braille on its flyer. http://t.co/INsi1co4da — Jay Hails (@yxeJay) July 27, 2013
Canadian Conservative flier about accessibility has a PICTURE of braille on it. It's like they pretend to care. http://t.co/4jPLe9Ro0Y — Darren Donahue (@darrendonahue) July 27, 2013
How does that old saying go?
You judge yourself by your intentions and others judge you by your actions.
Well, the intent with the Conservative Party's latest mail-out is good.
It's just that the final product didn't turn out as planned.
Are you a politics junkie?
Follow @politicalpoints on Twitter!
| 6,201 |
The Latest: Group asks Canada to stop Hawaii telescope money Hawaii Gov. David Ige's point person for talks with protesters blocking the construction of a giant telescope says he's organizing the first of many meetings with Native Hawaiian leaders
HONOLULU -- The Latest on demonstrations against a giant telescope in Hawaii (all times local):
4:35 p.m.
An indigenous group in Canada is asking the Canadian government to stop funding a giant telescope planned for Hawaii's tallest mountain.
The Canadian Press reports the Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs wrote Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Hawaii Gov. David Ige asking them to shut down the Thirty Meter Telescope project.
Canada is a partner in the $1.4 billion project along with universities in California and national observatories in China, India and Japan.
In April 2015, Canada said it would provide up to $243.5 million for the project over a 10-year period.
Protesters have been blocking a road for the last 10 days to prevent construction of the telescope on Mauna Kea's summit, which some Native Hawaiians consider to be sacred.
———
2:20 p.m.
Hollywood actor Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson is visiting Native Hawaiian protesters who are blocking a road to prevent the construction of a giant telescope on Hawaii's tallest mountain.
Johnson reached the protest camp on Mauna Kea as dancers performed hula and chants. He exchanged nose to nose greetings called honi with protesters and then went into a tent to meet elders.
Johnson spent part of his childhood in Honolulu. He is not Hawaiian, but is Samoan.
Johnson's production company Seven Bucks Productions is making a movie about the life of King Kamehameha the Great, the leader who first unified the Hawaiian Islands in 1810. Johnson will star in the title role.
———
2 p.m.
Hawaii Gov. David Ige's envoy for talks with protesters blocking the construction of a giant telescope says he's organizing the first of many meetings with Native Hawaiian leaders.
Hawaii County Mayor Harry Kim said in a phone interview Wednesday he wants to get people to work together for what he hopes will be a common goal.
He says there will be "a very splintered community" if that doesn't happen.
Kim recalled saying a silent prayer to help him "do the right thing for the right reasons" when the governor gave him the assignment.
The protest blocking a road to prevent construction crews from reaching Mauna Kea's summit is on its tenth day.
Hollywood actor and former Hawaii resident Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson is visiting the protest site.
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The city of New Orleans is having problems with vandals attacking monuments they don’t like. It has been going on since 2015 when Mayor Mitch Landrieu called on the city to remove 4 Confederate monuments.
Now vandals belonging to an anarchist group are on the loose targeting Confederate monuments that are not on city property. They have hit two monuments in the past week.
From WWL-TV:
An anarchist group called ‘The Real Meow Meow Liberation Front’ is taking credit for vandalizing a granite monument erected for a Confederate-era poet-priest. On Wednesday, the group published a photo of the spray-painted monument on a blog called, “It’s Going Down,” a site that describes itself as an anonymous outlet for groups with “anarchist, anti-fascist, autonomous anti-capitalist and anti-colonial movements” to “publicize and promote revolutionary theory and action.” The monument was erected in 1949 by the Louisiana Division of the United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC) in honor of Father Abram Ryan, a poet and chaplain of the South during the Civil War. It is located in the 400 block of Jefferson Davis Parkway and depicts a furled Confederate flag, along with the inscription “Furl that banner for ’tis weary, Round its staff tis dropping dreary, Furl it, Fold it — Let it rest!”
Meanwhile, these vandals have struck Mid-City. From the Mid-City Messenger:
The concrete bust of Col. Charles Didier Dreux in Mid-City was vandalized sometime overnight, and a familiar group of vandals claimed responsibility. The nose of Dreux’s concrete monument was chiseled off and the base spray painted with a Circle-A symbol – the common symbol for anarchy. There were fliers scattered around the base of the statue similar to those found around the vandalized Father Abram J. Ryan statue earlier this week. The fliers around Ryan encouraged passers-by to chisel away at the statue or douse it with paint. The Real Meow Meow Liberation Front – Professional Party Planning Committee claimed responsibility for the act. Dreux’s monument honors the first Louisiana Confederate field officer to be killed in the Civil War. The monument sits on Jefferson Davis Parkway, facing the former Jefferson Davis monument across from Canal Street.
Solving these crimes appears not to be a major priority of the New Orleans Police Department. After all, these acts of vandalism are being publicized and bragged about on social media.
This is just another reminder that the fight over monuments aren’t over. The ones who wanted Robert E. Lee gone never planned on stopping with just four monuments.
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Back in March, Teen Mom 2 fans were more than a little surprised to learn that Javi Marroquin was dating Madison Channing Walls.
It wasn't that Javi had moved on so quickly from his marriage to Kailyn Lowry that caught them off guard, but rather the unique set of problems raised by Walls' checkered past.
For starters, Walls is an MTV pseudo-star in her own right, having starred in a single season Real World spinoff titled Real World: Skeletons.
The show focused on its cast members' secrets, bringing them to light on national TV, which sounds like the stuff of mattress-soaking nightmares.
TM2 obsessives were surprised not only that Javi would get involved with another reality star after having vocally complained about the negative effects the spotlight had on his marriage, but also that he seemed unconcerned about his new girlfriend's particular "skeleton."
You see, Walls is a recovering heroin addict and her long history of substance abuse and petty crime were explored in-depth on Skeletons.
Considering Marroquin is still gearing up for what might well be an ugly custody battle with Kailyn, many found it strange that he would involve himself with a woman who had recently endured such tremendous difficulties.
Now, we know that Javi wasn't worried about Walls' addiction issues for the simple reason that he didn't know about them!
Yes, it's hard to believe that in an age in which you can find out the name of your Tinder date's first grade teacher before you even meet them, but Javi entered a relationship with a reality star without ever watching an episode of her show!
Marroquin made the mind-blowing reveal during a sit-down with Teen Mom 2 after-show host, Nessa:
"The biggest thing was I had a hard time reading motives and intentions, so when things started coming out in the tabloids, there were a lot of things I didn't know about," he explained.
"I didn't watch her season, so I guess she had a past, she overcame that past, and she didn't tell me about."
He went on to offer some nonsense about incompatible "intentions":
"I didn't know if her intentions were the same, as they were in the beginning, if that makes sense."
The confession is surprising for a number of reasons, not the least of which is that MTV stars aren't usually in the habit of admitting they don't watch other MTV shows.
Watch Teen Mom 2 online for the full run-down of dumb things Javi has said publicly.
Do it now, before network execs can his ass.
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Although the Chargers will call the StubHub Center home the next two seasons, Major League Soccer’s Galaxy will remain the stadium’s main tenant.
“The Galaxy is the main priority for StubHub Center,” said Brendan Hannan, the director of communication for the facility. “The Chargers’ NFL schedule will be built around the Galaxy schedule. The same will happen in terms of 2018.”
The MLS schedule was to be released Thursday afternoon. Last season the team played few Sunday home games.
The Galaxy will be one of seven MLS teams to share its stadium with a professional football team next season although the StubHub Center is one of only two with a grass field; the other is BMO Field in Toronto.
The facility owned and managed by entertainment giant AEG, which also owns the Galaxy, has played host to CIF football playoff games as well as events such as the CrossFit Games, the NFLPA Collegiate Bowl and ESPN’s X Games. Because of the damage done to the turf by those events, the grass at StubHub has been frequently replaced.
Hannan said the condition of the playing surface will be closely monitored when the Chargers begin playing there this summer, more than halfway through the MLS season.
“It will be StubHub Center and AEG and the Galaxy’s primary concerns to make sure that this remains the best field in Major League Soccer,” he said. “In regards to football lines, we don’t believe that there will be football lines for Galaxy games.”
Capacity for StubHub Center soccer games is listed at 27,000. Hannan said that capacity will be expanded to 30,000 for the Chargers, as it was for previous MLS Cup finals. The Galaxy hasn’t decided if it will make the extra seating available for regular-season MLS matches.
Scheduling conflicts could arise in November and December should the Galaxy reach the postseason, as it has done in each of the last eight seasons. The Galaxy would play as many as four postseason games at the StubHub Center and since home-field advantage in the MLS playoffs is determined by teams’ regular-season record, when – or if – those games will be played in Carson may not be determined until 72 hours before game time.
The Seattle Sounders had their playoff schedule interrupted last year when a home date conflicted with the regular-season game of the Seattle Seahawks, the Sounders’ roommates at CenturyLink Field.
“Those [dates] will be held as a priority for the Galaxy,” Hannan said.
[email protected]
Twitter: kbaxter11
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President Trump Donald John TrumpBiden on Trump's refusal to commit to peaceful transfer of power: 'What country are we in?' Romney: 'Unthinkable and unacceptable' to not commit to peaceful transition of power Two Louisville police officers shot amid Breonna Taylor grand jury protests MORE in a tweet on Monday repeated his criticism of Democrats, saying they are "getting NOTHING done in Congress."
"The Dems are getting NOTHING done in Congress! They only want a Do-Over on Mueller!" Trump wrote in a post during his four-day state visit to Japan.
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He also went after renewed calls for his impeachment, calling Democrats "Obstructionists."
"Impeach for what, having created perhaps the greatest Economy in our Country’s history, rebuilding our Military, taking care of our Vets (Choice), Judges, Best Jobs Numbers Ever, and much more?" Trump wrote. "Dems are Obstructionists!"
The Dems are getting NOTHING done in Congress! They only want a Do-Over on Mueller! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 27, 2019
Impeach for what, having created perhaps the greatest Economy in our Country’s history, rebuilding our Military, taking care of our Vets (Choice), Judges, Best Jobs Numbers Ever, and much more? Dems are Obstructionists! https://t.co/NrTIxU9ZnA — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 27, 2019
Democrats have increasingly called for an impeachment inquiry into the president after his administration defied several congressional subpoenas.
On Sunday, Rep. Steve Cohen Stephen (Steve) Ira CohenTennessee Rep. Steve Cohen wins Democratic primary Democrats exit briefing saying they fear elections under foreign threat Texas Democrat proposes legislation requiring masks in federal facilities MORE (D-Tenn.) publicly called upon Speaker Nancy Pelosi Nancy PelosiHoyer: House should vote on COVID-19 aid — with or without a bipartisan deal Ruth Bader Ginsburg lies in repose at Supreme Court McCarthy threatens motion to oust Pelosi if she moves forward with impeachment MORE (D-Calif.) to bring impeachment proceedings the president.
Last week, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff Adam Bennett SchiffPelosi, Democrats unveil bills to rein in alleged White House abuses of power Chris Matthews ripped for complimenting Trump's 'true presidential behavior' on Ginsburg Trump casts doubt on Ginsburg statement, wonders if it was written by Schiff, Pelosi or Schumer MORE (D-Calif.) suggested that impeachment proceedings could be a "tool" to get more information from the White House.
Trump last week walked out of a White House meeting with Democrats on infrastructure, saying he would not work with them until they stopped investigating him.
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Civet Cat Poop Coffee, the World's Most Expensive, Brews Up Animal Rights Controversy World's most expensive coffee has a controversial history.
-- The most expensive coffee in the world is harvested from a place where the sun don’t shine.
It’s an exotic delicacy called Kopi Luwak, made from coffee beans found in the droppings of the Indonesian civet cat. A single serving can go for as much as $90 in the US.
Historically, civets roamed free on coffee plantations, feeding on the coffee cherries at night. After the animals eat the flesh of the ripe coffee cherries, their digestive system apparently imparts a smooth body and aroma to the beans, which emerge whole on the other side. Their droppings are then collected, cleaned, roasted and brewed for coffee.
But these days, the vast majority of civet farms cage their animals to maximize production.
There have been several investigations into the treatment of captive civet cats on Kopi Luwak farms. Critics say keeping these animals isolated in cages, eating only coffee cherries is cruel, and leads to erratic behavior and self-inflicted injuries.
The Indonesian Civet Coffee Association acknowledges past animal cruelty but now says it has set minimum standards for raising civets humanly in captivity.
In 2013, PETA released a video of civets in captivity secretly filmed on various coffee farms in Indonesia and the Philippines. In the video, the civets are kept in small cages. They bob and sway, bite and scratch themselves and run around in circles.
ABC News traveled to a civet farm in Bali, Indonesia, and filmed similar conditions.
Many Kopi Luwak producers now profess to use droppings collected only from wild civets. These are brands sold in American specialty shops and on Amazon.com. But critics maintain it would be nearly impossible to sustain a viable business relying solely on wild supply.
Despite the controversy, Kopi Luwak maintains a strong appeal and an exorbitant price tag -- at one point commanding $250 per pound.
“In this case, quality is not the driving factor for price,” said coffee consultant and master taster, Rocky Rhodes. “It's supply, demand and hype.”
So "Nightline" asked Rhodes to put his theory to the test. He organized a blind tasting in which he and three other professional coffee tasters compared six different fancy specialty brands. Kopi Luwak came in fourth place. Not a ringing endorsement, considering it also costs 10 times more than the highest-ranking coffee they tested.
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A new, carbon-netural thermocell could harvest waste heat from power stations and convert it into electricity. Credit: Doug MacFarlane and Theodore Abraham
(Phys.org) —Harvesting waste heat from power stations and even vehicle exhaust pipes could soon provide a valuable supply of electricity.
A small team of Monash University researchers working under the Australian Research Council (ARC) Centre of Excellence for Electromaterials Science (ACES) has developed an ionic liquid-based thermocell. Thermocell technology is based on harnessing the thermal energy from the difference in temperature between two surfaces and converting that energy into electricity.
Led by Monash University researcher and Australian Laureate Fellow Professor Doug MacFarlane and Monash University PhD student Theodore Abraham, the collaborative project developed the thermocell device with the highest power outputs yet reported and no carbon emissions.
The new thermocell could be used to generate electricity from low grade steam in coal fired power stations at temperatures around 130°C. This would be implemented by having the steam pass over the outer surface of the hot electrode to keep it hot while the other electrode is air or water cooled.
Professor MacFarlane said the breakthrough included the development of a novel ionic liquid-based redox electrolyte.
"We have found that it can work at elevated temperatures typical of important heat sources, as opposed to water-based systems, which cannot operate at temperatures above 100 degrees Celsius," Professor MacFarlane said.
"The device offers the possibility of a cheap and flexible design suitable for harvesting waste heat in the 100- to 200-degrees Celsius range."
PhD student Theodore Abraham said that by using heat already produced in industrial processes that would otherwise be untapped, the thermocell is an attractive method of relieving some of the present reliance on fossil fuels.
"The major benefit of a thermocell is that it harnesses energy that is already readily out there; you're just harnessing energy that is otherwise lost to surroundings," Mr Abraham said.
Mr Abraham was supervised by Dr Jenny Pringle of Deakin University who said the development was a significant achievement for a PhD student.
"The advance we made with this system was that we are generating more electrical energy than any previous power cell in this temperature range," Dr Pringle said.
ACES Director Professor Gordon Wallace said that it took a multitude of skills to tackle complex issues as encountered here.
"Our unique research environment within ACES provides an opportunity to acquire these skills in a cutting edge research environment," Dr Wallace said.
Mr Abraham's research is published in the journal Energy and Environmental Science.
Explore further New solarclave uses nanoparticles to create steam
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Officials at the University of Louisville spent Thursday trying to meet a self-imposed Friday deadline to announce an interim head basketball coach and athletics director.It appears David Padgett, 32, is about to unexpectedly get the biggest opportunity of his life.Rivals.com's national basketball analyst Corey Evans, said it's a done deal.Evans is reporting that Padgett will be hired sometime in the next few days. Padgett was immediately on the short list to replace boss Rick Pitino after Pitino was removed and placed on leave, the first contractual step in being fired.The timing and his location made Padgett one of the favorites.Padgett is the highest-profile guy left on the staff who has not been linked to wrongdoing.READ: Federal indictment of James Gatto, Merl Code, Christian Dawkins, Jonathan Brad Augustine and Munish Sood.He is liked and trusted by the players, knows the system, is an ex-Cards player and a former team captain.Padgett could be introduced as early as Friday.To get breaking news alerts sent to your phone, download the WLKY app here.
Officials at the University of Louisville spent Thursday trying to meet a self-imposed Friday deadline to announce an interim head basketball coach and athletics director.
It appears David Padgett, 32, is about to unexpectedly get the biggest opportunity of his life.
Rivals.com's national basketball analyst Corey Evans, said it's a done deal.
This content is imported from Twitter. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.
Hearing that David Padgett will be named interim head coach at Louisville in the coming days, per source — Corey Evans (@coreyevans_10) September 28, 2017
Evans is reporting that Padgett will be hired sometime in the next few days.
Padgett was immediately on the short list to replace boss Rick Pitino after Pitino was removed and placed on leave, the first contractual step in being fired.
The timing and his location made Padgett one of the favorites.
Padgett is the highest-profile guy left on the staff who has not been linked to wrongdoing.
READ: Federal indictment of James Gatto, Merl Code, Christian Dawkins, Jonathan Brad Augustine and Munish Sood.
He is liked and trusted by the players, knows the system, is an ex-Cards player and a former team captain.
Padgett could be introduced as early as Friday.
To get breaking news alerts sent to your phone, download the WLKY app here.
| 6,209 |
Julian Assange’s WikiLeaks website on Thursday started publishing more than 100 US Department of Defense documents including the first prisoner treatment manual for Guantanamo Bay.
The latest release by the anti-secrecy site comes as Assange, who faces charges of rape and sexual assault in Sweden, remains holed up in the Ecuadoran embassy in London with what Quito says are health problems.
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Assange said in a statement that the newly released documents exposed military detention policies at camps in Iraq and at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba following the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.
Among the documents is the 2002 manual for staff at Camp Delta at Guantanamo, shortly after it was set up by US President George W. Bush to house alleged Al-Qaeda and Taliban detainees from the “war on terror”.
“This document is of significant historical importance. Guantanamo Bay has become the symbol for systematised human rights abuse in the West with good reason,” said Assange, the founder of the website.
He added: “‘The ‘Detainee Policies’ show the anatomy of the beast that is post-9/11 detention, the carving out of a dark space where law and rights do not apply, where persons can be detained without a trace at the convenience of the US Department of Defense.
“It shows the excesses of the early days of war against an unknown ‘enemy’ and how these policies matured and evolved, ultimately deriving into the permanent state of exception that the United States now finds itself in, a decade later.”
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US President Barack Obama vowed within hours of taking office in January 2009 that he would close Guantanamo Bay, saying it was acting as a recruiting tool for Islamist extremists.
But Obama has so far failed to do so in the face of deep opposition in Congress to moving inmates to the US mainland, and several people accused of involvement in the 9/11 plots are on trial at the camp.
WikiLeaks first enraged Washington in 2010 by publishing a flood of secret military files on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as a huge cache of diplomatic cables from US embassies across the world.
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Assange, 41, walked into the Ecuadoran embassy in London on June 19 seeking asylum in a bid to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he faces questioning over alleged rape and sexual assault.
He was granted asylum on August 16 but Britain has refused to grant him safe passage out of the country, and he remains in the embassy.
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Ecuador said on Wednesday it has requested a meeting with Britain to discuss the health of Assange, who it says is losing weight and suffering vision problems.
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, enter the preseason schedule screen for the teams from Step 9. Convert as many BYE weeks to FCS games as the game allows (should be 1 or two per team). Save the game and re-open it in the Dynasty editor. Switch the “User Control” of any teams from Step 9 that you don’t want to control from “User” back to CPU. Repeat Steps 9-13 if there are still teams left from Step 9. After converting all teams except the one you want to control back to “CPU”, return to the schedule tab and re-sort by #. There should now be 823 games. Re-import the schedule file. The schedule should now be updated. Save and close out of the Dynasty Editor, remove the.MC02 tag from the USR-DATA file, re-encrypt in Bruteforce and transfer the Dynasty file back to your PS3 Load up and enjoy! By: Arrowhead29
Rating Scale:
Editing Program Edits:
Spoiler
Memphis:
SS Carlito Gonzalez #29
USF:
ROLB Devon Stewart-Jones (Punctuation + Dreads)
Depth Charts:
Old Guides
Coach Edits:
Spoiler
By vikesfan059
What's Included: Correct Coaches (Including correct punctuation) - Complete!
Correct Ages/Alma Maters - Complete!
Updated Statistics (Rival Record, Top 25 Record, etc.)(Note: only for years spent as FBS HC/OC/DC) - Complete!
Updated Contracts - Complete!
Customized Run/Pass Percentages - Complete!
Correct Appearance - Complete!
Updated Playbooks - Complete!
Game Management rating based on average rank in lists (HCs only) - Complete!
Recruiting rating based on career average recruiting class score (HCs only) - Complete!
Coordinators ratings based on yards per play, points per play, and efficiency - Complete!
Customized Coach Skill Trees - Complete! By vikesfan059
(as of 1/8/18)Check: Memphis SS Carlito Gonzalez is #29(as of 2/21/18) [May need to auto-set depth charts]Check: Memphis SS Carlito Gonzalez is #29 PS3.zip (as of 1/8/18)Check: Memphis SS Carlito Gonzalez is #29 360 folder 1-8-18.zip (as of 1/8/18) [May need to auto-set depth charts]Check: Memphis SS Carlito Gonzalez is #29
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“Defending and extending the secular definition of the American state,” he has written, “became the (often unstated) core political priority of America’s organized Jewish community.” The emergence of the evangelical Christian “religious right” in the 1980s especially reinforced that belief.
The Catholic experience has had its share of nuance. Leslie C. Griffin, a professor of constitutional law at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, spoke recently of the way earlier generations of Catholics teased apart good and bad types of church-state separation. Good meant denying formal state power to Protestants. Bad meant refusing governmental aid and accommodation to Catholic institutions, especially parochial schools.
And while the Jewish organizational sphere developed largely along secular lines — Hadassah, Anti-Defamation League, American Jewish Committee to cite just a few examples — American Catholics advocated largely through overtly religious bodies such as the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.
Far from being predictably conservative, the bishops have taken liberal positions on issues such as nuclear arms, welfare overhaul and immigrant rights. Always, though, their positions have been put forth as the product of Catholic doctrine and social teaching, theology deemed a legitimate part of public debate.
“The Catholic Church has wanted separation in the sense we don’t want the king picking the bishops, but we also believed you could have cooperation in civil society,” said Richard W. Garnett, a professor of law at the University of Notre Dame. “Whereas in America, separation became a code for no money for Catholic schools or we don’t want religiously oriented morality shaping public policy.”
The divergent Jewish and Catholic sensibilities are measurable. In a 2007 survey by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, 43 percent of Catholics agreed that “government should do more to protect morality”; just 22 percent of Jews concurred. The survey also found that Catholics were more than three times as likely as Jews (33 percent to 10 percent) to attend a religious service weekly. Catholics are also twice as likely as Jews (55 percent to 27 percent) to rate religion as the most important or a very important factor in their lives, according to a 2012 survey by the Public Religion Research Institute.
All of which helps one make historical sense of the two court decisions. Yes, the conservative bent of the court has as much to do with the number of vacancies that happened to come up during Republican presidencies. Yes, too, Catholic identity does not trump every other personal or legal consideration. Justice Kennedy, usually part of the court’s conservative wing, cast the decisive vote last year to overturn the Defense of Marriage Act, giving a major victory to the movement for same-sex marriage.
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We ran like we would serve – Free to Lead. To protect that freedom, we fully disclosed every contribution. We accepted no contributions above $100. We accepted no PAC money, no Super PAC money, no corporate money, and no lobbyist money.
We assumed no debt and we end this campaign with money in the bank. Once again, we ran like we intended to serve. We received contributions averaging less than $50 each from thousands and thousands of Democrats, Republicans and Independents in all 50 states.
We were not included in a single one of the 23 nationally televised GOP debates, and yet received 7% of the popular vote in a national poll conducted just a few weeks ago. My team was amazing and I thank you.
America is a nation at risk. Job prospects are inadequate. Trade is neither smart nor fair. The tax code is unreadable and, I say, un-American. The budget is unsustainable. Small business must be re-vitalized. Energy has no strategy. Healthcare is not healthy. Banks are still too big to fail, and comprehensive immigration reform is a fantasy.
We can turn all these problems into opportunities, but we must begin our battle with the special interests who are content with the status quo. They don’t want change. They spend billions to keep their control. They own our political system. They bought it with their fundraisers for incumbents, and with jobs for the already powerful. They bought it with special favors and inside information for those who can return the gesture in amendments and legislation and earmarks. They finance the elections. They hire the politicians upon their retirement. And they own the two major political parties. It’s un-democratic and it’s simply un-American.
Look at the facts. 98% of the electorate does not give a penny to presidential or congressional campaigns. The money comes from Wall Street banks, corporate PACs, the labor union coffers, insurance and pharmaceutical companies, Big Oil, military defense contractors, miscellaneous PACs, Super PACs and the lobbyists. The money comes from all of these special interests, and what do they get in return? “Too big to fail” and the death of Glass-Steagall, insurance monopolies, pharmaceutical profit protection, no-bid contracts, $675 hammers for the military, earmarks, $5.1 billion in profits and pay no federal income taxes, subsidies for the wealthiest corporations, and all of the big givers first in line for any perks or favors.
The special interests give the money and they get a stacked deck in return. And what do we get? We get gridlock, corruption, a do-nothing Washington, and a Congress almost certain to be re-elected year after year.
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Trump wins Florida! Trump wins 99 delegates -- the most this year! Trump wins Illinois! Trump wins North Carolina. Trump wins Missouri. Trump wins the Northern Mariana Islands (wherever the hell they are).
But John Kasich narrowly wins his home state and the media treats it like we have a real race.
Trump had a giant night on Tuesday. The Ted Cruz who won the second highest number of delegates is barely mentioned.
The establishment now wants Kasich to be the challenger and Trump the stopper!
I like John and have known him for over 35 years. I am glad he won his home state of Ohio because he has been a good governor. But he's not going to be the 2016 Republican nominee.
He claimed Tuesday night that he is going to win Pennsylvania. He may not even qualify for the ballot in the Keystone State having failed to get the 2,000 signatures he needed. He has won nothing else this year and badly trails in delegates behind Trump and Cruz and even Rubio who correctly dropped out Tuesday night after losing his home state.
This contest is now down to Trump and Cruz. And I must warn John that Rubio, just four weeks ago, was the establishment favorite and has dropped like a rock ever since.
This is not the year to be the establishment favorite and by announcing that your convention team is composed of lobbyists and Washington campaign hacks (many of whom are my friends) it will add nothing to your efforts to win delegates.
John, your departure from this race is inevitable and the longer you delude yourself, the more painful it will be.
Trump is on his way to the Republican nomination. He didn't set the rules. The party did. And he played by them and won.
If Cruz can't stop him, the fantasy of a brokered convention is foolishness and isn't going to happen.
Equally important is this fact: the states Trump won Tuesday night are critical to a Republican win in November. Illinois is a Democratic state, but the others are swing states. Losing any of them: Ohio, Florida, Missouri or North Carolina makes it nearly impossible to get to the 270 electoral votes needed to beat Mrs.Clinton.
The two serious candidates left -- Cruz and Trump -- are totally different in their approaches.
Cruz has a great campaign team who can win close elections.
Trump has a great marketing team and the product is Donald Trump -- which so far is selling wide and far!
The common denominator for the two men is that the establishment wants neither of them. But if they want to beat Hillary in 237 days they must choose one of them and join all those people who are not the establishment but who are winning the contests fair and square.
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PLACERVILLE (CBS13) — A homeless haven in a neighborhood park is forcing the City of Placerville to take drastic action.
The homeless problem has become so bad at Lumsden Park that the city has decided to demolish the park’s public restroom, and cut off the water.
Debbie Soto brings her grandchildren to the playground at Lumsden Park. The park is located in a quiet corner of Placerville, lined with tall trees and with the problems that come with a homeless community that’s grown comfortable here.
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“No one in their right mind would use a toilet here,” Soto said. “There’s needles on the floor.”
READ: State Groundskeepers Attacked By Downtown Sacramento Homeless
Soto says she called the City of Placerville a year ago about the public restroom.
“Because I was completely blown away by the bathroom,” Soto said.
Now the City of Placerville has voted to demolish the restroom facility, leaving no running water for the public, after determining the structure has become a hiding place for illicit activity including drug use, sex trafficking, and repeated acts of vandalism.
READ: $1.5M Study Aims To Help Combat Sex Trafficking In Sacramento
Fires have also been a concern.
“They were having bonfires to keep it warm, and I’m like, ‘oh my god,'” Soto said.
People who live nearby say the homeless community has cost them a sense of safety on the surrounding streets. Fernando Esparza moved in recently and quickly discovered his tools were going missing overnight.
“I’m assuming the people who live here, they already knew that,” Esparza said. “But I wasn’t aware of it, you know, so I had to find out the hard way, unfortunately.”
READ: Modesto’s Tent City Becoming Model For Housing Homeless
He fears the problem is bigger than the bathroom.
“They’re going to stay here no matter what,” Esparza said.
The city Placerville’s homeless haven, a problem public park, and an effort to return its use to everyone who lives here.
“Well we can’t enjoy it,” Soto said.
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In August of 2017, millions peered through protective eyewear at the solar eclipse -- the first total eclipse visible in the continental United States in nearly 40 years. During the event, researchers from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and the University of Oxford watched radar to observe the behavior of birds and insects. Their findings have just been published in Biology Letters.
Using data from 143 weather radar sites in the continental U.S. -- 8 of which covered areas of eclipse totality -- researchers were able to "see" the behavior of wildlife during the eclipse, which produced conditions similar to sunset.
"It's not so easy to observe what wildlife are doing during an eclipse. It's dark," quips Cecilia Nilsson, lead author and Edward W. Rose Postdoctoral fellow at the Cornell Lab. "But using radar data we could actually monitor behavior on a very large scale. Overall, we saw a decrease in normal daytime activity."
Nilsson and her team looked at wildlife behavior in the air on radar two days before and after the eclipse and compared this activity with the behavior observed during the eclipse. They found that although typical daytime activity in the air decreased -- behavior such as foraging for food -- typical nighttime activity did not increase -- behavior such as high-flying migration.
This result was surprising. Instead of triggering night-time behavior, the sunset-like sky produced by the eclipse stifled activity. But Nilsson noted that insect and bird behavior during the increasing darkness could have been due to a general sense of confusion.
"They might be interpreting the eclipse as a storm. That could be the closest analogy to them," says Nilsson. "It's getting darker, it's getting colder, similar to a big thunderstorm on the way in."
At the eight sites that were within the path of totality, where there was complete darkness for a few minutes, something interesting occurred. "At some of these sites we saw a sudden burst of activity during the moments of totality. This could be insects or birds flushing into the air as a reaction to the sudden darkness," says Nilsson.
The eclipse of August 2017 provided a unique opportunity to study behavior patterns. Many bird species were in the beginning stages of their fall migration, and recent developments in computing power, big data processing, and machine learning set the stage for the completion of a much-needed continental-scale analysis.
The next solar eclipse over the continental U.S. is in the spring -- April 8, 2024 -- and Nilsson is looking forward to inspecting eclipse behavior among birds and insects once again.
"It could be really interesting to compare autumn activity to spring, she notes. "Hopefully we can get more information about what happens at sites in the path of totality."
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Six weeks ago, he was lost and alone — another pit bull abandoned in Ontario where it’s illegal to adopt a dog like him and humane societies sometimes left no choice but to put them down.
But things turned around for Chopper who was found by a stranger and brought to the London Animal Care Centre.
He was living the high life Thursday on a WestJet flight to his new foster family in Medicine Hat, Alta.
The “good news story,” according to city staff, happened after an historic year for London’s stray and abandoned animals, a year in which no healthy animal was euthanized.
“It’s all to implement council’s direction to be a pro-adoption, no-kill community,” bylaw manager Orest Katolyk said.
“Years ago we were euthanizing hundreds of animals. Last year we euthanized 92 wild and feral cats, but no healthy animals were euthanized for space. We hit a no-kill threshold,” he said.
By comparison, in 2014, the city euthanized 94 healthy animals due to lack of space to keep them and there were “no adoption opportunities,” said Katolyk.
To meet the no-kill direction from city council, London Animal Care and Control “transferred” (or adopted out) 463 animals within the city and 364 to communities outside London, said Katolyk.
For years, animal activists had complained London could do more to find shelter for healthy strays being euthanized. In December 2013, council agreed to a no-kill, or 90 per cent live release rate for strays mandate.
The strategy included work by the London Animal Care Centre, hiring of a municipal veterinarian and addition of a city-run cat adoption centre.
Chopper, a gigantic pit bull-mastiff mixed breed, was found wandering in the Pond Mills area Christmas Eve. After London Animal Care Centre put his picture and information on lost and found with no results, staff sought a rescue agency to take him.
Ontario’s pit bull ban went into effect in 2005. Existing pit bulls were allowed to remain in province, but breeding is banned as is adopting younger ones.
As a result, animal welfare agencies in Ontario have been working to build networks with rescue agencies willing to take abandoned pit bulls.
What happened with Chopper — headed to Prairie Pit bull Rescue — has happened many times the past 10 years, said Kent Lattanzio of Animal Care Centre. “We have built networking relationships across the country, including in Ontario that allows transfers of animals for adoption.”
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Richie McCaw has tipped Ireland coach Joe Schmidt as the man to take over from Steve Hansen for the All Blacks.
Hansen hasn't commented on whether he wants to stay on with the All Blacks after next year's World Cup, but if the team are crowned world champions for a third time in a row, Hansen may feel it's time to move on.
At an event for the All Blacks' sponsor AIG in London, McCaw said Schmidt would be a good person to replace Hansen, because how he's improved Ireland over the past five years.
GETTY IMAGES The former All Blacks captain Richie McCaw is an admirer of Joe Schmidt.
"There's no doubt that people admire what Joe has done with the Irish team," McCaw said at the event ahead of this weekend's test between England and the All Blacks at Twickenham.
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"He's been away for a while, but there's no doubt amongst the people who understand rugby that he has a very good way of looking at the game.
GETTY IMAGES Joe Schmidt has brought huge success to the Irish rugby team.
"I think everybody sits there hoping one day he'll come back and put himself back in the mix in New Zealand, and we get the benefit of all the experience he's had at an international level and obviously quite a few years successfully at club level as well.
"From Ireland's point of view, you want to try and lock him [Schmidt] in and from New Zealand's point of view, if Steve doesn't continue, they're going to want all the options on the table.
"It will be hard for Joe, because he wants to concentrate on doing a good job for the next 12 months, but if he wants to put his name in the hat, it will be pretty good to have a coach like that looking around."
When Schmidt left New Zealand in 2007, his coaching potential had yet to be realised.
He was Blues assistant coach in his final year in the country, under David Nucifora and helped them get to the semifinals that year.
But it was only when he became head coach of Leinster in 2010 that it became apparent that Schmidt was a world class coach.
When Hansen does step down, there could be quite a battle to be his successor, with current assistant coach Ian Foster being a possible replacement.
Warren Gatland is returning from Wales after the World Cup and would be keen on the job, while Scott Robertson and John Plumtree would be regarded as local candidates.
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If you’ve listened to the CFL Fantasy Podcast, you’d know that I’ve been somewhat of a skeptic of Johnny Manziel’s. But I’ll be the first to admit how many strides he’s taken in a very short period of time. It’s to the point now where I’m really excited to see how many more steps this guy has to take. Knowing how unique a trait Manziel’s raw athletic ability is, and knowing how much he’s grown in 2018, I’m fascinated to see what he might look like next year with a full offseason to get ready.
In that same vein, I’m really excited to see what William Stanback can do in 2019. Since taking over the reins as Montreal’s starting tailback, Stanback has been consistent and effective, if not spectacular. The more the Alouettes improve their passing attack, the more this benefits Stanback.
Let’s not mince words: Montreal has struggled to score this year. Because they’ve struggled moving the ball through the air for a vast majority of the season, a guy like Stanback hasn’t put up gaudy numbers, much like Tyrell Sutton prior to being traded. But with a progressing Manziel and a dangerous receiver like BJ Cunningham, there’s potential for Stanback to be part of a much more well-rounded offence next season.
Finally, let’s not forget about how far this defence has come this season. Branden Dozier is having a ridiculous year at safety and leads a secondary with playmakers like Tommie Campbell and Dominique Ellis in tow. With Henoc Muamba anchoring the middle of the field, you can see how the Als have brought their points against average down dramatically in the last six or seven games.
We have no idea what kind of moves Montreal will make this off-season, but the foundation is there to build a decent group around. I like their core of players heading into 2019, and I’m very curious to see what this team is all about next season. I don’t think I could have said that during the first half of this season.
DON’T SIT ON THE FENCE!
While both sides are pretty convincing, someone’s got to take it. Whose argument convinced you the most?
You can vote for this week’s winner both on CFL.ca and Twitter. Meanwhile, continue the conversation by tweeting @Fan960Steinberg and @TSN_Marsh.
The winner will be revealed in the following week’s Berg vs. Ferg.
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Ever wondered how the Pikachu mascot looks before someone enters the suit? Today we have an answer.
Twitter user PokeFans_Taiwan recently shared a photo of how the adorable Pikachu mascot looks like after someone comes out of it. Be warned though – this may scare the kids.
Wait for it….
and…. there you go.
Pikachu becomes a sad deflated pile of mess once its human operator leaves. But that’s natural.
We’ve spoken to someone who has worn an official Pikachu mascot in the past to find out more about the adorable Pikachu mascots. First things first – the Pikachu mascot is powered by a battery (surprise!). The battery is required to keep the suit inflated so Pikachu remains in its chubby state for 45 minutes to an hour.
It’s extremely dangerous if a faulty Pikachu mascot suit starts to deflate as it could suffocate the person wearing it. This happened during an official event in Japan and a group of men quickly escorted the Pikachu out of the public’s eye.
As to how long someone is able to stand inside the suit, it has never been more than 30 minutes. It’s really hot and stuffy inside! In fact, Pikachu mascot operators may bring a bottle of water or even a small electric fan to keep themselves cool.
As the Pikachu mascot evolved over the years (top left is the latest model), things improved over time. For instance, newer models allow the person wearing it to hear what people are saying outside. Older models didn’t have this capability as they were hard suits.
And if you were wondering how Pikachu started dancing and running about, it’s all thanks to a small strip of clear PVC surrounding the bottom of the Pikachu’s feet, allowing the operator to see where they’re walking. The Pikachu mascot’s eyes may seem to be opaque, but they aren’t from the inside. Inside the suit the operator is able to see clearly what’s outside. A mechanism allows the operator to control the movement of the ears.
Not everyone can wear the Pikachu mascot. The recommended height is 155cm, though some who are slightly taller managed to squeeze into the suit by crouching. The mascot is 20kg and the operator has to bear some of its weight on their shoulders through a harness.
So, what do you think of the Pikachu mascots now that you know these facts? Let us know in the comments below!
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The good news for Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Kris Letang is that the stroke he suffered last month won't end his hockey career. Now it's just a matter of when he's able to resume playing.
Meeting with the media on Thursday for the first time since the Penguins announced what took him from back in late January, Letang said that doctors told him, because of his young age (he's 26), he has a very high percentage of a normal recovery.
The morning the Penguins were to fly to Los Angeles last month, Letang's wife woke up and found him on the floor, unable to function. His mother-in-law, a nurse, was there and able to take care of him. It was when he finally arrived in LA, where he underwent a battery of tests, that it was revealed that he had suffered a stroke.
Immediately, his future flashed before his eyes.
"You think if you're going to be alright, if I'm going to have the chance to play hockey again," he said.
A month later, Letang said he has good days and bad days as he still deals with some symptoms from the stroke. Doctors also found a small hole in his heart that he was born with, but they aren't concerned about that and the focus is solely on dealing with the after-effects of the stroke.
For now, Letang can hold light work outs and has been around Penguins' practices in the last week, something that's helped his state of mind during his recovery.
"I don't want to hang out at home," Letang said. "It's fun to have my son and he's growing fast, but to be around the team and coming into the rink, working out, seeing doctors, I feel like I'm trying to make steps getting closer to come back at one point."
Letang said he will be staying on blood thinners and sometime in the next few weeks will meet with doctors to go through more tests in order to determine the next steps in his recovery.
“I was surrounded by great doctors,” he said. “They took great care of me. All of my questions were answered. I feel I'm making progress.”
Despite his future being unknown at the moment, Letang isn't closing the door on a return this season.
"If I have the chance to come back this year, it's going to be great.”
- - - - - - -
Sean Leahy is the associate editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!
Follow @Sean_Leahy
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On Friday's Cuomo Prime Time, CNN host Chris Cuomo finally addressed a couple of cases of Democratic party extremism on abortion as he defended New York's new law, supported by his brother, Governor Andrew Cuomo, that makes it easier to get late-term abortions, and he also decried the Republican-supported U.S. Senate bill against infanticide, calling it a "stunt" and "BS."
The issue was brought up by Donald Trump campaign member Rob Astorino in a debate with liberal CNN contributor and former Hillary Clinton campaign member Karen Finney when he pointed out that many conservatives support President Trump because he has acted in opposition to abortion.
Astorino recalled that Republicans are working against "an expansion of abortion" supported by Democrats, leading Finney to jump in and deny that such an "expansion" is happening. Astorino responded: "God, are you kidding me? Seriously? What happened in New York, what happens in Virginia, what's happening in Illinois --"
Downplaying the New York law's impact, Cuomo jumped in and confused Astroino with Rick Santorum as he responded: "The law in New York codifies Roe. You know that, Rick."
He then added: "I don't understand this. I mean, look, I get that that this is a touchy subject, and I get that people play to it different ways, but I don't understand why you say that it's anything more than codifying what's already the standard."
Cuomo seemed unaware of the argument that the new law defines the term "health" so vaguely that abortion doctors could easily abuse the definition of "health" to perform abortions for superficial reasons.
New York's change in law has also been blamed for making it so that domestic abusers of pregnant women would not be punished criminally specifically for causing the death of an unborn baby, thus helping them get lighter punishment.
Additionally, there is the argument that, in a late-term situation, there are not circumstances in which performing an abortion is better for the mother's health.
Cuomo soon dismissively added: Seems like a scare tactic to me. A lot of people stop me on the street and say, 'I didn't know that it was legal to kill a newborn baby. Why are you telling people that?"
He then brought up the Senate bill as he added: "Why do people believe that if a newborn baby -- a baby is born, a doctor can kill it unless the laws are changed? By that BS thing that Mitch McConnell brought up. Why would you want people to believe that?"
After Astorino wondered why Democrats did not just vote for it, Cuomo declared that they voted against it because it was a "stunt."
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The consortium building the city's $2.1-billion light rail system doesn't believe it's responsible for a sinkhole that swallowed a portion of Rideau Street in June 2016, precipitating a six-month delay of the project and costing the city an estimated $10 million.
At the first of its monthly LRT project updates Tuesday, the city's finance and economic development committee heard Rideau Transit Group (RTG) doesn't think it should pay the costs associated with the sinkhole.
Obviously, we have an opinion that it's a result of RTG and they have to take that responsibility... - Mayor Jim Watson
RTG has submitted something called a "relief event notice" for the sinkhole, along with a corresponding "delay event notice." They indicate the consortium believes the delay was not its fault, and shouldn't have to pay associated costs.
However according to a report commissioned by the city and released last year, while the precise cause of the sinkhole wasn't clear, the dramatic event wasn't the city's fault either.
RTG is apparently disputing that finding. It has not yet filed a formal complaint under the contract's dispute resolution process, and disagreements over costs are expected to be dealt with only after the project is completed.
Mayor remains confident
Mayor Jim Watson said he's still confident the city will recoup all the costs associated with the delay to the Confederation Line.
"I think that's to be expected — they'll take one position, we'll take another position," he told reporters after Tuesday's meeting.
"Obviously, we have an opinion that it's a result of RTG and they have to take that responsibility because that slowed them down and they're not meeting the date they gave us."
The city's senior staff reiterated Tuesday that it's possible cost disputes could end up in court, but because the city and RTG have a 30-year relationship — the consortium will service the LRT system for the next three decades, and provide 38 trains, as well as other work, for the Stage 2 — staff believe there is goodwill on both sides to come to a fair settlement.
Delay to cost city more than $10M
The LRT was supposed to be handed over to the city on May 24, but last month the city announced a new delivery date of Nov. 2.
The city has said the delay is costing it $2 million a month in expenses for things like running detours and keeping buses — and drivers — on the road longer than expected.
On Tuesday, the committee heard that those extra costs include OC Transpo losing out on $1.6 million in additional fare revenue it was counting on once the LRT was running.
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In this photo provided by El Vocero de Puerto Rico newspaper, a man who was detained in connection with alleged corruption, is transferred by FBI agents to the United States District Court of Puerto Rico in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Thursday, May 30, 2019. Three officials with Puerto Rico’s Senate were arrested by FBI agents Thursday and later charged by the U.S. territory’s federal prosecutor with alleged corruption for a case involving a scheme to defraud the legislature using "ghost employees." (Josian Bruno/El Vocero de Puerto Rico via AP Photo)
In this photo provided by El Vocero de Puerto Rico newspaper, a man who was detained in connection with alleged corruption, is transferred by FBI agents to the United States District Court of Puerto Rico in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Thursday, May 30, 2019. Three officials with Puerto Rico’s Senate were arrested by FBI agents Thursday and later charged by the U.S. territory’s federal prosecutor with alleged corruption for a case involving a scheme to defraud the legislature using "ghost employees." (Josian Bruno/El Vocero de Puerto Rico via AP Photo)
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Three officials with Puerto Rico’s Senate were arrested by FBI agents Thursday and later charged by the U.S. territory’s federal prosecutor with alleged corruption for a case involving a scheme to defraud the legislature using “ghost employees.”
Federal prosecutor Rosa Emilia Rodríguez said 18 charges were brought against Ángel Figueroa Cruz, director of the Senate Office of Government Affair; Isoel Sánchez Santiago, an assistant to the Senate president; and Chrystal Robles Báez, a contractor to the body.
“This kind of practice is not going to be tolerated where federal funds are involved,” Rodríguez told a news conference. The case comes as Puerto Rico suffers through an economic recession and continues to recover from devastating hurricanes.
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Officials in Puerto Rico and with the FBI say other similar cases are being investigated and did not exclude more people being charged.
The purported scheme involved the accused billing the Senate for professional services that were never provided.
The scandal has shaken Puerto Rico’s politicians and officials.
“We are surprised and saddened by the news,” Senate president Thomas Rivera Schatz wrote on social media. One of the accused, Sánchez Santiago, was an assistant to Rivera Schatz.
After learning of the arrests, Gov. Ricardo Rossello said his administration “will not tolerate or be an accomplice to any act of corruption wherever it occurs.”
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that have been compromised by terrorism.”
It’s a distinction Trump glossed over last month during his first joint appearance with his new running mate on CBS' 60 Minutes.
“Call it whatever you want,” he said. “We’ll call it territories, OK?”
Pence, meanwhile, chalked up any apparent disagreement to differences in how the two men communicate. “Clearly this man is not a politician,” he said. “He doesn’t speak like a politician.”
The nationally televised exchange was a small glimpse into how the relationship between the two candidates would play out over the coming weeks: Trump would continue his brash, unfiltered campaign style that many supporters find authentic, while Pence would sanitize Trump’s comments that skeptics say go too far.
That dynamic was evident at a Trump news conference last week. Amid concerns that Russia might have been involved in the hack of Democratic National Committee emails, he encouraged the hackers to also expose emails from Hillary Clinton's private server.
That same day, Pence released a statement saying that if Russia is interfering with U.S. elections, “both parties and the United States government will ensure there are serious consequences.”
The episodes suggest Pence will spend much of his time converting Trump’s incendiary comments into something easier to digest, said Andy Downs, director of the Mike Downs Center for Indiana Politics.
“There is no doubt part of what he will do is translate what Trump says to language that is appealing to establishment Republicans, especially social conservatives,” he said.
How successful that strategy will be remains unknown.
Some question whether Pence can survive the presidential campaign without being tainted by Trump's inflammatory comments.
"If Pence had a modicum of dignity or decency, he would tell the American people, 'I made a terrible mistake. Mr. Trump is so morally bankrupt and of such shabby character that I could not possibly serve with him,'" said Jennifer Rubin, a conservative columnist for the Washington Post. "Failing to do so, the same should be said of Pence."
But Murphy, who has known Pence for 40 years, said the first few weeks of Pence’s partnership with Trump have shown the governor's determination to stick to his principles.
“Donald Trump has made it clear he’s not going to change who he is,” Murphy said, “and the governor’s comments on these issues make it clear he’s not going to change who he is.”
Follow Tony Cook and Chelsea Schneider on Twitter: @indystartony and @IndyStarChelsea
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The AAP government is planning to give scholarships to 10,000 students with what it says is Rs.21 crore lying unutilized for years by the previous Sheila Dikshit government.
Improving the standard of education in the national capital has been declared as one of the top priorities of the over one-month old Aam Aadmi Party government, led by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.
"A lot of money was spent in the education sector by the previous Congress government, but in an unplanned manner. I am going to make an announcement soon that we will give scholarships to 10,000 students in the higher education sector," Delhi Education Minister Manish Sisodia said in an interview.
The measure would be a boon for poor students.
Sisodia said the earlier government had given scholarships to 100-150 students from poor backgrounds.
During a meeting last month with the department of higher education Sisodia had expressed displeasure at the state of affairs. He had pointed out that while there is provision for scholarships to underprivileged students which reduces the cost by 50 percent, last year only seven students benefited from it.
"You have money on you but you are not giving it to them," the minister told IANS, without naming the Congress government which ruled Delhi for 15 consecutive years.
"In the name of scholarships an amount of Rs.21 crore was lying with the government. There are students who need money," Sisodia added.
The minister said the previous regime had no plan in place to disburse the amount earmarked for scholarships. "There was no plan for disbursing the money. I asked the officials to draw up a plan," he said.
Sources in the government said they are going to draw up a proper plan and disburse the money over five years. "If we have money for the students, then why not give it to them. Why keep the money in the bank account," Sisodia said.
Sisodia, the de fact No.2 in the ruling AAP, also holds the charge of urban development but has set education as his top priority.
The AAP has promised to open 500 schools in the capital and the education minister, in a warning, has already made clear to private schools that education is not a sector for makikng profits.
The government has also launched a helpline where parents can register complaints pertaining to the nursery admission procedures. The minister also conducted a surprise inspection on a Delhi-government run municipal school and was shocked at the state of affairs and the poor quality of mid-day meal served to the children.
Gaurav Sharma can be contacted at [email protected]
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The New York Timesreports that the Trump administration very nearly launched an attack on Iran tonight before the president changed his mind:
As late as 7 p.m. Thursday, military and diplomatic officials were expecting a strike, after intense discussions and debate at the White House among the president’s top national security officials and congressional leaders, according to multiple senior administration officials involved in or briefed on the deliberations. Officials said the president had initially approved attacks on a handful of Iranian targets, like radar and missile batteries. The operation was underway in its early stages when it was called off, a senior administration official said. Planes were in the air and ships were in position, but no missiles had been fired when word came to stand down, the official said.
It is good that the president called off the insane plan to attack Iran, but there should never have been anything to call off. It is better that the president reversed himself at the last minute, but why was the reversal necessary? I said earlier that we would remain on the knife’s edge as long as Trump was committed to his bankrupt Iran policy, and tonight we can see just how thin the blade of that knife is. We very narrowly dodged the bullet of starting a war with Iran tonight, and it would have been a war started for the stupidest of reasons.
We happened to get lucky that Trump’s changeable nature worked in favor of stopping an illegal attack on Iran for the moment, but there is no telling if that will hold for more than a few days. The fact that Trump had previously signed off on an unauthorized and unnecessary military operation is a damning indictment of his judgment and proof of his contempt for the Constitution and Congress. For all of his claims that he didn’t want war with Iran, he was initially willing to endorse unjustified military action against Iran without Congressional authorization and without any other legal justification.
It is not up to the president to launch an attack against another state. Trump had no authority to order an attack. This episode is a good example of why the decision on when and where the U.S. goes to war is not entrusted to the arbitrary whims of a single man. The Constitution gives Congress the authority to decide such things, and only they can make that decision. This near-miss gives new urgency to the effort in Congress to repeal the 2001 AUMF and to block any funds for U.S. military action against Iran. The president’s advisers evidently prevailed on him to order an attack, and if they can do it once they can presumably do it again. The reversal tonight is at best temporary, and we would be extremely foolish to think that Trump has the fortitude or desire to withstand the pressure to escalate that the rest of his administration is putting on him.
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Image copyright Chris Lynch Image caption Chris had manic episodes of spending during his student years
Chris Lynch, 41, was a hard-drinking student when his debts began to build up and his life started to spiral out of control.
At one point he was was £35,000 in debt - and that's when anxiety and depression took hold.
"I didn't think I'd be alive long enough to pay if off. I could easily have ended up homeless or ending my life," he says.
The charity Mental Health UK says Chris's experience is not unusual - up to four million people could be at risk of poor mental health brought on by money problems.
In its recent survey of 2,000 people, many reported feeling stressed, anxious, isolated and depressed by financial worries and one in six admitted to having suicidal thoughts because of them.
While just under a third of people did not talk to anyone about their problems, half said they wouldn't know where to go for help.
Huge bills
Chris, from Chester, says he needed some kind of mental health support at university but there was nothing for him and his problems snowballed.
Despite doing a part-time job in a restaurant during his degree, he was spending all his wages and stacking up huge credit card bills.
Image copyright Getty Images
"I consolidated loans and was working 50 to 60 hours just to make the the minimum payments.
"During my 20s I was doing whatever it took to get through the day and the night," he says.
But he felt unable to cope and had what felt like a complete breakdown. By the age of 30, he had moved back in with his parents.
"I was still alive but I couldn't pay the rent.
"There were so many places that could have put the brakes on my problems," he says, looking back.
'People lose hope'
Sarah Murphy, associate director for advice, information and training at Mental Health UK, says the cycle of mental health and money problems can be vicious.
"Coping and managing money is difficult when you're ill, with schizophrenia or bi-polar disorder, for example.
"Even if you have no mental health issues, a change of situation such as redundancy can create a debt problem and people don't know where to go for advice so they start to lose hope."
The charity's mental health and money online advice service receives referrals from charities across the UK, as well as the national debt line.
But there is a "double stigma" in the UK around talking about money troubles and mental health, Sarah says, which makes people reluctant to seek advice.
Her advice is:
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Inuit families are taking to the ice Friday for a ‘sealfie’ protest against critics who they say have stigmatized the seal hunt — a tradition that members of the indigenous community argue is crucial to their way of life.
At the Inalquit curling ring in the Canadian Arctic territory of Nunavut, Inuit men, women and children are expected to don clothes and boots made from the animal’s hides for a group picture, inspired by the selfie phenomenon.
Pictures of Inuit people wearing sealskin started circulating on Twitter as a playful response to American TV host Ellen DeGeneres’ recent characterization of seal hunting as “atrocious” and “inhumane.” At first it appeared to be just the latest Internet meme or online activism. But the #sealfie campaign, coupled with new findings about food insecurity and a suicide epidemic, has cast a spotlight on a serious issue. Canada’s Inuit are in crisis, and they say seal hunting is one of the few traditions keeping their people and culture alive.
Canada’s once nomadic indigenous people are “a culture in shock,” said Inuit activist Aaju Peter. “You have to remember, we are one of the oldest living cultures,” she told Al Jazeera. “As climate change happens, the culture is changing because of imposed customs. And on top of that, it’s making it very hard for our hunters to feed the hungry.”
Approximately 32,000 people live in Nunavut, a vast, cold territory about the size of Mexico. Getting them food and supplies requires a fleet of ships and planes from southern Canada. Bad weather sometimes thwarts the deliveries, but when they do make it, the shipping costs are exorbitant. The cost is passed on to customers. Despite some government subsidies, shoppers have to pay about $10 for celery, $9 for two kilograms of sugar and $12 for instant coffee. In a community where unemployment is nearly twice the national Canadian average, at 12.5 percent, a lot of families are going without.
The Inuit in Nunavut are suffering more hunger and want than any other indigenous people in the developed world. Seventy percent of preschoolers live in food-insecure homes, with parents and children are regularly skipping meals, according to a new report by the Council of Canadian Academies.
Peter said that hunting seals provides vital meat to many Inuit communities in need. “Over the radio comes a hunter or wife saying, ‘If you want seal meat, come to this house.’ This is how the communities are surviving. The hunters are providing,” she said.
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to fully deliver the Journey's End update that we have in mind. So, we hope you will understand, and we will try to answer questions in this thread as we can. We know it has been a long time coming, and we are thankful for your continued patience, passion, and support while we keep at the hard work of making Journey's End an update that is truly worthy of being the finishing touch to Terraria!Terrarians we have an awesome announcement to share with all of you. For the first time ever, we are releasing a series of official collectible Terraria pins to the community! Each set will only have 100 metal pins total. There is a series number on each pin. We are starting with the Terra Blade, Meowmere, and Megashark.We will not be selling these pins, but instead we will only be giving them out to the community via very special events, rare giveaways, and our prize shop located on the official Terraria Discord server at Join the Terraria Discord Server! Each day in our official Terraria prize shop we will display 3 randomly chosen pins. Displayed pins will also show the corresponding series number in the collection. Series numbers closer to #1 will have a higher Prize Point cost. The pins are now live in the prize shop!The holiday season is upon us and we are celebrating by hosting a holiday build contest for a chance to win some of these ultra-rare Terraria collectibles. From December 15 until December 31 a seasonal Christmas game event will occur in Terraria. During this seasonal event Presents can be dropped by any enemy (1/13 or 7.7% chance), except for enemies spawned by statues. Hearts are also replaced by Candy Canes, and Mana Stars are replaced with Sugar Plums.In Hardmode, one of the items a Present can contain is the Snow Globe, which summons the Frost Legion. Defeating it enables the Santa Claus NPC, which spawns if valid housing is available, but only during the Christmas season.Using these holiday seasonal event items create an epic holiday themed Terraria build and share it with us on the official Terraria Discord server at Discord.gg/Terraria - please submit your build via the Submission Bot. The event submission period is December 15 until January 5. We will review the entries and announce the winners on social media.• It must be your own original work.• No NSFW submissions.• You must submit an image.• The build should be new without previously being posted onlineThe top 3 builds will win either a custom Terra Blade, Meowmere, or Megashark collectible. Remember that the only way to obtain these collectibles is through very special events, rare giveaways, and our prize shop located on the official Terraria Discord server at Join the Terraria Discord Server!
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Rockstar Games recently announced some interesting details about the upcoming GTA 5 release for PC and next-gen consoles while hinting about new wildlife, properties and player customisations coming to the re-mastered version.
Based on this theory, it is speculated that Rockstar might actually be planning to introduce the long-awaited House and Mansion customisation DLC in GTA Online as part of the re-mastered version in fall.
With GTA 5 PC version confirmed for a fall release, the game developer will have better opportunities to create mods and DLC content as consoles do not support modding capability. This is another big reason to expect House and Mansion DLC with the re-mastered edition of GTA 5.
In addition, it is speculated that gamers could enjoy a boat or a yacht as a property in GTA Online for the PC edition.
Do you think the House and Mansion customisation DLC will come to GTA Online as part of re-mastered PC edition? Please leave your comments below.
Rare Cars: Albany Manana (Lowrider) Location in GTA Online
A discerning GTA 5 tipster, DomisLive, has revealed an easy way to find the rarest cars such as Albany Manana in GTA Online.
The Albany Manana is one of the most-cherished cars in GTA 5 for its classy looks, lowrider style and open roof-top. This car is available in two variants: one with side-windows and the other without windows.
Here is how you find the car in GTA Online:
To find the Albany Manana, go to the specified location on the map, which is a car-parking area (as shown in the video).
One of these cars spawns during day time and the other one will spawn in the night.
Tip #1: You could pick one of these cars in the night and spend some time sleeping at a safehouse to move the time forward or finish some online mission before going back to this location.
You could pick one of these cars in the night and spend some time sleeping at a safehouse to move the time forward or finish some online mission before going back to this location. There is no exact known time for when the Albany Manana spawns at the designated location. However, if you are tired of waiting, then you could take one of your friends with you to the location and force this car to spawn.
Tip #2: The car is highly-customisable and supports fire decals, scrapers and a bunch of vibrant paint colours to suit your taste.
Albany Manana is reportedly the purest lowrider car and convertible that comes close to the original in San Andreas. So, it is definitely worth all the effort.
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Fans have been critical of Nintendo’s 2015 software lineup for some time now, and with Zelda U and Star Fox Zero both pushed back to 2016, it became what seemed like one of the worst lineups they’ve given fans in years. It turns out there’s merit to that, as this year’s Metacritic average for Nintendo is not only behind Microsoft and Sony’s, but it’s the worst score Nintendo’s had in a decade.
This was one of our talking points on
this week’s episode of Nintendo Week, our Nintendo-themed podcast here at Gamnesia. Check out the discussion video above for our analysis of why 2015 is such a poor year for Nintendo, in addition to some smaller discussions about why we have hope that 2016 is looking up, and what we can expect as Nintendo moves on from Wii U to their next console, the NX. Or, for a brief summary of the main talking point, just keep reading.
The low score is partly due to the last few months of poorly-received games like
Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash and Animal Crossing: Amiibo Festival, but it’s also partly due to the fact that their heaviest hitters from 2015 haven’t been as ambitious or as well-received as Nintendo is so well known for. This year’s headliners have been Splatoon, whose reception was bogged down by a lack of content at launch, and Super Mario Maker, which faced similar issues with course navigation and timed content. Not to mention that these are both narrower polished experiences than the grandiose titles that normally lead Nintendo’s software lineups, like 3D Mario and Zelda adventures or the all-star blast of Super Smash Bros.
If you like this video, you can
subscribe to Nintendo Week on iTunes, where we release new episodes every Wednesday, or you could check out the full episode embedded below. If you don’t like long-form podcasts, you can subscribe to us on YouTube, where our discussion segments are uploaded on Thursdays, and these select snippets from the rest of the podcast—which we call NWC—are uploaded throughout the week. If you like what you hear, we’d love it if you leave us a review on iTunes, where you can find episodes covering tons of other subjects, or send us your feedback! We’d love to know what you think of the show, and how you think we can improve it.
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A fight between MMA veteran Brian Ebersole (51-16-1, 1 NC) and Alan Jouban (11-3) was announced during the week for UFC Fight Night 68 in New Orleans on June 6th.
Since arriving in the UFC in 2011, Ebersole has proven to be one of the most entertaining fighters on the roster. From his ‘Fight of the Night’ battle with Chris Lytle in his debut, to his ‘Hairrow’ and to his win over Dennis Hallman (who was wearing speedo’s at the time). Joking aside, the 34-year-old is 5-2 in the UFC and has yet to be TKO’d in his entire career. He is an encyclopaedia of MMA knowledge and is one of the most experienced fighters in the UFC.
Jouban, a former male model and actor, made his debut late last year and has went 2-1 since with the two wins coming via first round KO’s. Overall the 32-year-old has nine via strikes and will be fighting in his native state of Louisiana for the first time since 2012.
After the fight got announced I sought out a comment from Ebersole regarding Jouban and the fight and this is what he had to say:
“He’s tall, tan, and handsome.
“I haven’t seen much of him just yet, but he’s a fit kid from all accounts and pushes a good pace. Was robbed in one fight, so he could/should be 3-0 in UFC. Impressive enough, that is. And his last fight, he elbowed my mate in the head, Richie Walsh, who isn’t my best friend, but I like him, and I’ll enjoy getting one back for him.
“I concede the weigh-in to Alan. He wins. No contest. He’s as pretty as can be, and his abs will surely shine. I never really look people in the eye at the “stare-downs” anyway, even with fans when we pose and do the showdown stuff—so that will come in handy, keeping me from getting distracted….. I don’t think I’ll be “tempted” to look him in the eye…
“I probably won’t notice his handsomeness too much, save the media bringing it to my attention. If my wife mentions it, it could become a distraction or a major motivator. Let’s hope I don’t have to find out, shall we…”
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Appearing Friday on CNN, Sen. Kamala Harris’s (D-CA) 2020 communications director insisted the White House hopeful remains “very clear” on her health care position despite repeated reversals on the issue.
Harris claimed Friday she misinterpreted a question during Thursday evening’s 2020 Democrat presidential debate about abolishing private health insurance. The California Democrat raised her hand when candidates where asked if their plans would “abolish their private health insurance in favor of a government-run plan.”
A partial transcript is as follows:
KATE BOLDUAN: Harris raised her hand last night to the question when asked by NBC “would you abolish private insurance in favor of a government-run plan?” She now says that the question that she was answering was about her own insurance. But Lily, we know that same question was a big moment the night before and it was clear then that the question was about abolishing all private insurance. Did she really not understand?
LILY ADAMS: I think when Lester said that it was there private insurance, she did mean to take that as her plan. I will just tell you that I don’t think she was parsing her words in the debate. I’m telling you what the transcript says. I’d be happy to look at it again. But I think she was clear. She’s been on a bill for a long time now, Bernie Sanders’ Medicare for All bill, that obviously preserves the options of supplemental private insurance for folks that need it. The conversations that she’s hearing with voters is “Am I going to be able to see my doctor?” 91 percent of doctors are in Medicare. I think that this is a place where maybe this is a conversation going on in the Washington bubbles a little outside of the step of what we’re hearing in Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, and Nevada.
BOLDUAN: Just because 90 percent of doctors, except Medicare right now, does not mean that they will forever, especially if the entire health care system is overhauled. On the most basic level, this is something like the third go-around of her having to clarify and facing questions on where is your position on Medicare for All where is the line and where do you stand. Is that not a problem?
ADAMS: I don’t think so. She’s been very clear. In fact, there’s a whole bill that she’s signed on to. That is her plan. Folks can go and read it, reporters can go and read it. What the political reporters try to do is make this into a box-checking exercise.
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crisis. The Fed is expected to cut rates at least once more this year and will be under added pressure following the latest yield curve inversion and stock market rout.
Economists also suggest that fear of recession, now coursing through the bond market, could itself make recession more likely. Consumer spending, job growth and wages remain healthy but once fear takes hold it can be a powerful driver to depress economic activity, making both businesses and individuals hold off on major investments.
“On the economics dashboard of doom, we have another flashing warning light,” economists at ING wrote in a note on Wednesday. “Overnight we have seen the inversion of the 2-10 year part of the Treasury yield curve, the first time this has happened since 2007 when the global financial crisis started to bite.”
Trump administration officials strongly reject the notion that the U.S. is heading for a recession. They say that continued strong jobs and wage growth will overcome any slowdown caused by uncertainty over trade. And they continue to maintain that Trump is working hard to overcome long-standing cheating by China on trade.
“There is no recession coming,” a senior White House official said on Wednesday. “The consumer is way too strong as are jobs and wages. I just don’t buy it.”
Some economists also argue that the inverted yield curve may not mean recession is coming this time. “This time is different” advocates argue that lower long-term bond yields in the U.S. — which usually signal that investors believe domestic economic conditions are going to get worse — are actually part of a global phenomenon. They note that yields are down around the world as central banks move to cut interest rates to try to stimulate growth. This may not suggest that the U.S. economy is about to stall out. And they warn against economic doom-saying becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy.
“The problem with using the inversion and the historical record is that the yield curve at present is not a referendum on the path of economic growth in the United States, but rather a function of goings on globally,” economists at RBC Capital Markets wrote in a note to clients. “We are not on recession watch because of this dynamic.”
But a more widely held view is that the inverted yield curve, while perhaps not a signal of imminent recession, is certainly not a positive signal.
“Of course it matters,” said Bernstein. “Whether recession starts in two weeks, or six weeks, or two years — or if we are already in one — it’s hard to see how one could become more bullish with an inverted yield curve.”
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The Ukrainian tactician Ivan "Johnta" Shevtsov is no longer a part of Winstrike, the organization has announced.
During Johnta's six-month tenure with Winstrike, the roster underwent big changes, seeing the departure of members that were key to the team's Major successes, including Kirill "Boombl4" Mikhailov, Aurimas "Kvik" Kvakšys, and David "n0rb3r7" Danielyan.
Johnta is back on the market after six months with Winstrike
Winstrike has since reformed and now features a Kazakh core of Abay "Hobbit" Khasenov, Aidyn "KrizzeN" Turlybekov, and Viktor "Lack1" Boldyrev, but their results haven't been impressive, most recently placing last at We! Play Forge of Masters S2 Finals after losses to GamerLegion and forZe.
The team's General Manager Adalyat Mamedov said that the "vision of the coach and players differed", causing the change:
"After the building of the new lineup and the month of work, we realized that the vision of coach and players differed on the work process and team’s style. It does not say anything bad about the coach or players, they just could not achieve mutual understanding and synergy. That happens and everyone in the team understood that it would be better to resolve this situation right away. In this regard, I regret to inform that from today Ivan ‘Johnta’ Shevtsov is no longer the coach of CS:GO lineup of the Winstrike Team.
"Johnta showed himself as a true professional, leader and mentor who knows the game very well. During his work in Winstrike, the team has grown tremendously, especially in tactics. We are grateful to him for the work he did and the team he gathered. We wish him glorious victories and I am sure that he will find a team which he will lead to big victories." - Winstrike General Manager Adalyat Mamedov
In a comment for HLTV.org, Johnta added that he is open to offers from any region, with ambition to bring his new team to the top:
"I'm open to offers no matter what region. I know I have needed experience and knowledge to bring any team to the top. If you have high goals and ambitions, let's talk. Contact me at [email protected]."
Winstrike are now:
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miss it. I think this model works well for laptops and other employee endpoints, but I prefer a stream of data for highly-available machines.
Sysdig is also a fantastic debugging tool, and I’ve used it pretty extensively. The main issue here is that sysdig requires a kernel module be loaded on each machine. Sysdig Falco looks to be useful, but they prefer to have detection running on each endpoint. As mentioned above, we prefer centralized rules that aren’t visible to the attacker logged in to a host.
Auditd has the advantage of having been around for a very long time and living in the mainline kernel. It is as ubiquitous a mechanism for syscall auditing as you’ll find in Linux-land.
What do we do with all these alerts?
We send them to an Elasticsearch cluster. From there we use ElastAlert to query our incoming data continuously for alert generation and general monitoring. You can also use other popular large scale logging systems for this, but (my opinion not the opinion of my employer disclaimer goes here) I have big fundamental problems with pricing structures that incentivize you to log less to save money.
How much log volume are we talking?
Short answer: It is highly variable.
Long answer: It depends which syscalls you log and how many servers you have. We log hundreds of gigabytes per day. This may sound like a lot, but as of this writing we have 5500-ish instances streaming data constantly. You should also consider over-provisioning your cluster to ensure that an attacker will have a difficult time DoSing your collection infrastructure.
Why rsyslog?
We have a lot of experience with rsyslog, and it has some nice properties. We highly recommend using version 8.20+, which has some bug fixes we contributed back to upstream. We could have let go-audit handle reliable delivery, but the advantages of doing so didn’t outweigh the benefit of using something that we’ve been using successfully for years.
What if someone turns it off?
You should be using canaries to validate data flowing in from each of your servers. Generating events that you expect to see on the other side is a useful way to validate hosts are reporting to you. Additionally, go-audit also has mechanisms to detect messages that were missed within a stream.
Thanks to
My teammate Nate Brown, for making go-audit much better.
Mozilla’s audit-go folks, for inspiring this project.
The numerous individuals who reviewed this blog post and gave feedback.
The Chicago Cubs, for winning the World Series.
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The 2019 Cadillac CT6 is no longer available to order with the turbo-charged 2.0L I-4 engine, Cadillac Society has uncovered.
There has been no official announcement by Cadillac on the matter, and requests for more information have gone unanswered. However, information provided by dealers to Cadillac Society shows the brand’s vehicle ordering system showing the 2.0L Turbo inline four-cylinder engine (production code LSY) as being “built out” and “no longer available” for the 2019 model year. The Cadillac CT6 online configurator confirms the reports. The 2.0L Turbo LSY engine replaced the last-gen 2.0L Turbo (production code LTG) for the 2019 model year and was rated at 237 horsepower and 258 pound-feet of torque.
That means that the 2019 Cadillac CT6 is left with three other engine choices:
Naturally-aspirated 3.6L V-6 (production code LGX) rated at 335 horsepower and 284 pound-feet of torque
Twin-Turbo 3.0L V-6 (production code LGW) rated at 404 horsepower and 400 pound-feet of torque
Twin-Turbo 4.2L V-8 Blackwing (production code LTA) rated at 500 horsepower and 574 pound-feet of torque
Cadillac CT6 models equipped with the 2.0L Turbo LSY engine were also the only models available in rear-wheel-drive / two-wheel-drive. As such, all three remaining engines in the CT6 are equipped with all-wheel-drive as standard. All engines in question are mated to a new 10-speed automatic transmission.
It’s currently unclear what’s behind the decision to discontinue the engine. From what we understand, there are two possibilities. The first is rather simple: Cadillac has simply decided to eliminate the engine from the engine lineup.
The second explanation is a bit more involved, and revolves around the theory that Cadillac’s parent firm, General Motors, is having trouble keeping up with internal demand for the turbo 2.0L LSY, which is an all-new engine that is being placed into many GM vehicles. As such, the decision was made to temporarily cease introducing the engine in the 2019 Cadillac CT6.
We’re certain that the change impacts the United States market, but are unclear whether it also extends beyond the U.S. to other markets – such as Canada, Mexico, China, Korea, the Middle East, Europe and Russia.
Stay tuned to Cadillac Society as we follow this story, as well as for ongoing Cadillac news coverage.
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Gun sellers are outsmarting Facebook and getting around the social media giant's ban on the sale of weapons.It's against Facebook's policy to post weapons, ammunition, or explosives for sale, but that's not stopping these prohibited items from being sold online on social media forums. An ABC11 viewer brought this to our attention after they said they would report each ad they found of a weapon for sale, but they claim the post remained for days or new ones would pop up.This viewer shared with us dozens of weapons listed for sale on Facebook. In the posts, the sellers don't actually show a weapon for sale or state that they have a gun for sale, instead, they list it as just a soft case, hard case or storage container for sale. We didn't find out what they were selling until we messaged the seller and they shared pictures of guns and crossbows for sale.Here is one example: The post is for an upgraded box for $1,000. The picture shows a box with toy cars on the box and around it, and the items sit on top of a play mat. Once we messaged the seller, he showed us what's really inside the box. It was this Glock.Another example is this Facebook ad for a soft case, which was listed for just $1. When we messaged the Facebook seller, he showed us pictures of this rifle for sale.Kaaren Haldeman with Moms Demand Action said that though Facebook did crack down on the sale of weapons at one time, it's clear that users have found a way around the rules."The problem is that you are giving license to anyone, from any background, with no background check to buy a weapon of mass destruction in this country," she said.In North Carolina, to buy a handgun, it is required by law to get a pistol purchase permit, but when buying and selling on Facebook, Haldeman said there are no checks in place to make sure laws are followed."You have no guarantee of a background check. You have no sense whether this person is being a responsible owner," Haldeman said. "Besides the possibility of buyers and sellers not following state law, there are also many unknowns about the weapon for sale. I don't know where the guns are from; I have no idea if the image they are presenting is what I'll be getting."I reached out to Facebook, and a company spokesperson said they've investigated and removed the content that violates their commerce policies.The spokesperson added,As for Haldeman she says it comes down to responsible gun ownership."When you do talk to responsible gun owners, they will tell you, they have no problem with a background check, they have no problem with an extended background check; they have no problem with the waiting period," she said.
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In life, you have two options
OPTION 1: Be strong and determine within yourself that you can achieve all you want to achieve because you believe you are strong enough to achieve all you want to achieve.
OPTION 2: Be weak and determine within yourself that you cannot achieve all you want to achieve because you believe that you are not strong enough to achieve all you want to achieve.
A wise man once said that you can never know how strong you are until being strong is the only option you have. I agree with his words because strong people don’t put limits to all they want to achieve. WHY? This is because when a man put a limit to all what he could do, he has put a limit to all he can do. DID YOU GET THAT?
When you have A, B, and C to do, and you believe you can do just A and B, you would realise that you would find it hard to do C. This is not necessarily because you cannot do task C, but because you have placed a big lid on task C and until you are ready to remove that lid, you would never be able to complete task C effectively.
You have great ideas inside of you, don’t be scared to bring them out, and don’t limit yourself as a result of fear and failure. You believe those ideas are not realistic when you have not even tried them. If it was worth thinking off, then it is definitely worth achieving.
Speak forth to your plans, bring life into them, and never tell yourself that you cannot do it. You have all the potentials you need to achieve all what you want to achieve, don’t limit this potential, don’t cage this potential, don’t starve this potential, don’t disrespect this potential.
Step out of your shell today, step out of your comfort zone, burn off the limits you have placed on yourself. Believe you can achieve all you want to achieve, believe you can achieve what they said is unachievable, believe you can do what they have said is not possible. You deserve to be great and there is nothing that deserves to limit you. Go beyond your good, go beyond your better, go for your best. Keep going because after your best comes yet another best.
Never say Never; never say it is impossible until it has proven to be impossible. Never set a limit on yourself until you have tried enough and never stop trying until you get the result you want. I can’t wait to see you at the top, but before then ensure that you burn off all your limits because I have burned off mine.
— Copyright © 2013 Seun Emmanuel Alaofin
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Tokyo (AFP) - The strongest typhoon to hit Japan in 25 years made landfall Tuesday, the country's weather agency said, bringing violent winds and heavy rainfall that prompted evacuation warnings.
Typhoon Jebi, packing winds of up to 216 kilometres (135 miles) per hour, made landfall around midday in western Japan near areas still recovering from deadly record rains earlier this summer.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe urged people to "evacuate early" and ordered his government to take all necessary measures to protect residents.
Japan's weather agency has issued warnings about possible landslides, flooding and violent winds, as well as high tides, lightning and tornadoes in a swath of western Japan including the major cities of Osaka and Kyoto.
With winds of up to 162 kilometres (100 miles) per hour at its centre, Jebi is classed as a "very strong" typhoon, the weather agency's chief forecaster Ryuta Kurora told AFP.
"This is (the strongest) since 1993."
In the hours before the storm made landfall, Shikoku, one of four Japanese main islands, was already experiencing "violent storms and the storms will get stronger and stronger," he added.
As the storm approached, Abe called a disaster response meeting and cancelled a trip to western Japan.
"I urge the Japanese people to take action to protect your lives, including preparing and evacuating early," he said.
He instructed his cabinet to "take all measures possible".
Local media warned that the wind speeds Jebi is packing are strong enough to bring down traditional-style wooden houses and power poles, and urged people in affected areas to avoid non-essential travel.
Evacuation advisories have been issued for more than 300,000 people in western Japan -- including 280,000 in the port city of Kobe -- with local officials setting up some 1,500 shelters, the central and local governments said in statements.
Primary and middle schools in affected areas are closed for safety reasons, while regional businesses also reacted quickly, with a major railway firm and Universal Studios Japan in Osaka shutting down for Tuesday.
Story continues
Nearly 600 flights were cancelled, including several international flights departing and arriving at Nagoya and Osaka, along with ferries connecting ports in western Japan.
Jebi has a similar trajectory to Typhoon Cimaron, which made landfall on August 23, disrupting transport links but causing limited damage and few injuries.
Japan is currently in its annual typhoon season, and is regularly struck by major storm systems during the summer and autumn.
The country has been sweating through a record, deadly heatwave that was preceded by record rainfall in parts of western and central Japan that killed over 200 people.
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The coronavirus economic relief bill being finalized in U.S. Congress will include a one-time $3,000 payment for families and allow the Federal Reserve to leverage up to $4 trillion of liquidity to support the nation's economy, U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Sunday.
Mnuchin, speaking in an interview on the "Fox News Sunday" television program, said the additional liquidity measures would allow the U.S. central bank to help a broad base of U.S. businesses to get through the next 90 to 120 days.
U.S. administration officials hoped to finalize the legislation on Sunday and see a vote on Monday, Mnuchin said, adding that further steps could be taken if the crisis did not abate in 10 to 12 weeks.
The virus has killed at least 325 and sickened more than 25,000 across the U.S., leading governors and mayors to shut schools, businesses and many aspects of American life.
Mnuchin said the U.S. economy would clearly take a hit from the virus but should rebound once it is contained.
"We need to get the money into the economy now. If we do that, we think we can stabilize the economy," he said.
Nearly one in four Americans, or 80 million, were under orders to close up shop and stay home as New York, California, Illinois, Connecticut and New Jersey instituted statewide lockdowns to try to contain the rapid spread of the highly contagious respiratory illness.
Mnuchin downplayed a question about a possible recession, calling it a "technical question" that was not "terribly relevant" in the current situation since the government was effectively shutting down large parts of the economy to slow the virus.
"When people focus on recessions, it's normally because of a prolonged economic environment," Mnuchin said. "This is a very unique situation that we've never had before. This is the government has self-imposed shutting down large parts of the economy. And as soon as we can get the medical situation under control, we're going to reopen it."
Combined with actions undertaken by the U.S. Federal Reserve and the administration, the prospective bill would have a $2 trillion net impact on a U.S. economy facing powerful headwinds spawned by the outbreak, according to White House officials.
Senate Minority leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat who met twice on Saturday with Mnuchin, agreed progress was being made.
"I'm optimistic we can get a deal," the New York Democrat told reporters on Saturday.
Once approved by the Senate, any measure would need to be voted on in the Democratic-led House before President Donald Trump could sign it into law.
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from Rs28.95 on July 2, 2018. However, from the start of this year TRG stock has lost 43.1% of its value, falling from Rs23.41 on January 1 to Rs13.31 on September 20.
Why? Because it was being dragged by the weight of the company’s bad financial performance, making billions in losses.
For the financial year 2018, TRG raked in revenues of Rs49.1 billion. It had a healthy gross profit margin of 29.2%, up 2,043 basis points from the previous year when it was just 8.8%. However, the company made losses from operations of Rs3.5 billion, which was an improvement from 2017 when company made losses from operations of Rs8.0 billion before taxes and finance costs. And that is before taxes and finance costs. The profit margin for 2018 was -7.2%, an improvement of 15.0% from the previous year (2017) when the operating profit margin was -22.2%.
TRG attributes its losses to investments for expansion of its Afiniti subsidiary. The Afiniti cost base during fiscal 2018 increased to Rs9.6 billion, up from Rs5.8 billion during fiscal 2017. To fund its expansion, Afiniti closed a debt funding round in financial year 2018 for a total of $60 million, which included the refinancing of prior debt. The Afiniti subsidiary is also a significant source of revenue for the business. For the financial year 2018, Afiniti business added Rs7.5 billion in revenues.
How to approach these companies as an investor
It is evident that the companies are flourishing financially, even TRG, which even though it is currently making huge losses, it is on track to profitability with its operating profit margins in the positive after a plunge in the negative for a few years.
While it is certain that the overall economy has affected investor sentiment that has pulled the share prices of these companies down, when the dust settles, the share prices are going to adjust to their actual value based on the financial performance of these companies. But for now, however, even the best of these businesses are not correctly reflected in the stock market.
Maha Jafer Butt, director of research at Capital Stake, tells Profit that the overall sentiment in the equity market is low and concerns about the overall economy have kept investor confidence and participation low in the market.
“With the interest rates so high, institutional investors are more inclined towards investment in T-bills (treasury bills), which are low risk compared to equities,” she says, adding that when sentiments improve, it is expected that the overall market will pick up and share prices shall recover.
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programs if the likely outcome would be Clinton’s reelection in 2020?
The potency of the veto power is overlooked
And what if Clinton — currently at least a 90 percent favorite in most presidential polls — wins but both the Senate and House remain Republican? One might well expect the first act of the Republican Congress to be the passage of legislation repealing Obamacare, and the first act of the Democratic president to be vetoing the legislation.
Clinton will win that battle for the simple reason that it takes a two-thirds vote of each house of Congress to override a presidential veto. For that reason, it’s not surprising that presidents have won approximately 95 percent of all veto battles — not to mention the fact that the very threat of a veto can be very important in molding legislation while in Congress.
Taking the veto power into consideration, it could be argued that in important ways we have a tricameral legislature, and not merely a bicameral legislature. Will a President Clinton be able to gain her nominees seats on the federal judiciary, including the Supreme Court, should the Senate remain Republican? Who knows, given that a Republican Senate wouldn’t even have to filibuster. They may, in the case of Judge Merrick Garland, refuse to hold hearings or, following perfunctory hearings, simply vote to reject any of Clinton’s nominees.
The twin problems of presidential overreach and political gridlock have structural roots. Yet it is virtually taboo to bring up, in mainstream discourse, any of the distorting aspects of our governmental structure. No one has asked either of the candidates, for example, if they think the United States might be better off with a parliamentary system of government. Most people — and certainly all mainstream journalists — would regard it as bizarre to waste valuable time during a debate to discuss such a hypothetical.
It is quite easy to portray Trump as an "anti-constitutional" candidate. It can well be doubted that he has ever seriously read or thought about the document, and he exhibits dangerously dictatorial tendencies that we hope are precluded by the Constitution. But we should realize that his candidacy also tells us things we might not wish to hear about the Constitution and its political order in the 21st century. In his own way, he may be the canary in the coal mine, and the question is whether we will draw the right lessons from his improbable candidacy and his apparent ability to garner the votes of at least 40 percent of the American public.
Sanford V. Levinson is a professor of law and government at the University of Texas Austin. His books include Framed: America's 51 Constitutions and the Crisis of Governance and An Argument Open to All: Reading 'The Federalist' in the 21st Century.
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In a great choice, Dave Grohl has been named the Record Store Day ambassador for 2015. You can see Grohl’s statement regarding the choice, below:
I found my calling in the back bin of a dark, dusty record store.
1975’s K-Tel’s Blockbuster 20 Original Hits by the Original Stars featuring Alice Cooper, War, Kool and the Gang, Average White Band and many more, bought at a small record shop in my suburban Virginia neighborhood, it was this record that changed my life and made me want to become a musician. The second that I heard Edgar Winter’s “Frankenstein” kick in, I was hooked. My life had been changed forever. This was the first day of the rest of my life.
Growing up in Springfield, Virginia in the 70’s and 80’s, my local independent record stores were magical, mysterious places that I spent all of my spare time (and money) in, finding what was to eventually become the soundtrack of my life. Every weekend I couldn’t wait to take my hard earned, lawn mowing cash down for an afternoon full of discovery. And, the chase was always as good as the catch! I spent hours flipping through every stack, examining the artwork on every cover, the titles and credits, searching for music that would inspire me, or understand me, or just to help me escape. These places became my churches, my libraries, my schools. They felt like home. And, I don’t know where I would be today without them.
More recently, I’ve been fortunate enough to have the opportunity to rediscover this sense of excitement, that magical feeling of finding something all one’s own, by watching my kids go through it. Let me tell you: Nothing makes me prouder than watching my daughters spin that first Roky Erickson LP one of them picked out for their very own on one of our weekend trips to the record store. Or to watch the reverence they have as they handle their Beatles vinyl. How carefully they replace the albums into their sleeves, making sure they’re placed back onto the self in the proper sequence. Watching them realize how crucial and intertwined every part of this experience is, I relive the magic of my earliest experiences with vinyl singles and albums, their artwork, liners notes etc. all over again and again.
I believe that the power of the record store to inspire is still alive and well, and that their importance to our next generation of musicians is crucial. Take an afternoon (and some hard earned lawn mowing money) and please support them.
You never know, it might change your life forever, too.
Dave
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VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan flew to Italy on Sunday ahead of talks with Pope Francis that are expected to center on Jerusalem after U.S. President Donald Trump recognized the holy city as the capital of Israel.
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan greets his supporters during a meeting of the ruling AK Party in Corum, Turkey January 28, 2018. Yasin Bulbul/Presidential Palace/Handout via REUTERS
Jerusalem is home to sites holy to the Muslim, Jewish and Christian religions, and Trump’s recent announcement that he would move the U.S. embassy to the city alarmed many allies, who say the decision could doom Middle East peace efforts.
Erdogan previously clashed with the pope when Francis, in 2015, became the first head of the Roman Catholic Church to publicly call the 1915 killing of as many as 1.5 million Armenians “genocide” -- something Turkey has always denied.
But the two men have found common ground over Jerusalem, speaking by phone after Trump made his announcement in December and agreeing that any change to the city’s status should be avoided.
Before leaving Turkey, Erdogan said the United States had isolated itself over Jerusalem, which the Palestinians want to share with the Israelis as their future capital.
“In the process ahead, come on and accept Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine. This is the point that is to be reached. We are now working for this,” he told reporters in Istanbul.
Erdogan is due to see the pope on Monday in what will be the first visit to the Vatican by a Turkish president in 59 years.
The two men are also expected to discuss the situation in Syria and Iraq as well as humanitarian aid and refugees.
Turkey last month sent troops into neighboring Syria to attack Kurdish YPG fighters near its southern border. Turkey sees the militia as a terrorist group and an extension of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), and has shrugged off criticism at home and abroad over the operation.
Demonstrations are expected in Rome to mark Erdogan’s visit and some 3,500 police and security forces will be on duty. In an interview with La Stampa newspaper, Erdogan dismissed the likely protests.
“I don’t speak to people who support terrorism. I only speak to those who fight it,” he was quoted as saying.
The Turkish leader is also due to meet Italian President Sergio Mattarella and Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni on Monday, as well as local business leaders.
“You are only 11th when it comes to the number of foreign companies active in Turkey, we need to improve that,” he told La Stampa.
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Johannesburg - A planned protest against the high cost of data crashed spectacularly when it became a trending topic on Twitter. The protest asked South Africans to do away with social media today under the hashtag #SocialMediaBlackout, but contradicted its purpose by becoming a top trend on a day meant to encourage users to boycott social networks.
Yesterday morning poet Ntsiki Mazwai’s called on South Africans to not buy data and not to log in to their social profiles, in an attempt to put pressure on cellphone providers such as Vodacom, MTN and Cell C to lower their data costs.
Internet analyst and expert, Arthur Goldstuck told Fin24 the fact that #SocialMediaBlackout trended made it apparent that the campaign had fallen short. “But in one respect the trend has highlighted the consumers’ frustration in dealing with the high cost of data.”
He ran a poll from his Twitter account, on the day of the blackout, asking: “Are you joining the #SocialMediaBlackout today? Yes, no, or haven't heard of it? Please choose one option below.” In three hours 47% of respondents said “I am not joining in”, 45% answered “I haven't heard of it” and 8% indicated that “I am joining in”.
Goldstuck believed Another reason that led to the campaign's failure, is the lack of preparation time beforehand. “A campaign like this normally takes weeks to prepare for whereas this campaign was attempted the day after on very short notice.”
He added that the campaign was not geared correctly to have maximum impact.
Do you think a #SocialMediaBlackout will aid in reducing the cost of data in South Africa? — Fin24 (@Fin24) June 21, 2017
“The real issue is that the heaviest data users tended to have a fixed ADSL or Fibre line. The most affected users use the least use of data because of its high cost. Many are prepaid users who use data off their airtime,” he said.
Goldstuck said that networks were punishing users who could not afford to buy bundles with out-of-bundle rates, which consumed more airtime from users.
“Data has fallen for the rich, but it is still punitive for the poor. There needs to be a more nuanced understanding. The issue that needs to be addressed is that data has to fall for the poor. Ad hoc data must come down dramatically, blunt uninformed campaigns need to stop. Instead campaigns with sharp edges has to be carefully crafted to address the real issue,” he said.
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Canadian Magazine Industry News
Cannabis Culture print edition burns out
Marc Emery
Due to unsustainable costs, publisher and well-known marijuana activist Marc Emery has decided to stop printing Cannabis Culture Magazine. However, in a message published on CannabisCulture.com dated March 25, Emery said that he and his staff will "continue to devote our time to changing the world and ending the war on drugs through the Cannabis Culture and Pot-TV websites, the CCHQ retail store, the BC Marijuana Party, and CC’s online mail order.
Of the 62,000 printed for issue #73, only 35,000 sold, meaning 27,000 got destroyed (which is typical with magazines, but very environmentally unfriendly). Now, with chaos in our distribution system, our potential sales would drop to under 30,000. The circulation revenue for that is a disappointing $44,000 per issue; advertising revenue is only providing $30,000 per issue, but it costs $64,000 to print 62,000 copies. It’s another $10,000 to ship to distributors, stores and subscribers. Those costs are covered by revenue from all sources, but the cost of producing the magazine is approximately $16,000 for material (writers and photographers), $32,000 for the staff of six people who work in 8-week cycles to produce the magazine, $4,000 an issue in promotion, posters, subscription cards, and much more that were not covered by revenue the magazine generated. Subscriptions never made money, and we never had more than 1,400 subscribers at any one time. Each magazine cost about $2 each to produce, plus 60 cents to ship in Canada, $1.50 to ship to USA, $3.00 abroad. Envelopes and packing took another 25 cents per issue.
Emery founded the Marijuana & Hemp Newsletter, which evolved into Cannabis Culture magazine, in 1994.
In his closure letter, Emery offered readers a close-up look at the magazine's troublesome financials:Because revenues were not meeting costs, Emery has had to pour $20,000 from his retail and mail order businesses into the magazine each month for the last three and a half years.Emery also noted that the bimonthly magazine medium—because of "the modern-day demand for immediate news and material"—was no longer meeting the needs of his audience."It’s clear that printed media is no longer sustainable or effective," Emery wrote. "If we focus on our online presence, we can raise revenue and be more efficient and competitive with information. We will continue our pioneering ways by taking advantage of our Pot-TV video capabilities and our extensive contacts and reputation around the world."
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If scientists were to discover, later this week, that an asteroid large enough to destroy the Earth will smash into the planet in a years’ time, humanity would have only one course of action, says former astronaut Russell Schweickart: “Make yourself a nice cocktail and go out and watch.”
That’s why the United Nations is forming an “International Asteroid Warning Group,” on the advice of an association of former astronauts, to share data about threatening asteroids. In a set of forthcoming recommendations, the Association of Space Explorers (ASE) will loosely outline the emergency steps that the UN’s longstanding Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space must take if the asteroid warning group identifies an extinction-level space rock on a collision course with Earth. (The best option, according to ASE, would be to crash a spacecraft into the asteroid to knock it off course.)
And right now, that’s a pretty big “if.” According to former astronaut Ed Lu, another ASE member, we have only discovered only 1 percent of the asteroids in space that are large enough to destroy a city. Lu, Schweickart, and several other ASE members are collaborating on technology to detect the wayward space rocks that threaten humanity. A non-profit they co-founded called B612 hopes to build and launch an infrared-detecting telescope into space to scan space for asteroids by 2018—something that is technologically possible, says Lu, although it’s never been done before.
ASE members decided to loop the UN in on their Armageddon-esque fears so that world leaders could coordinate an international strategy for dealing with apocalyptic asteroids. That way, any contingency plans won’t be biased in the favor of one country. “If something goes wrong in the middle of the deflection, you have now caused havoc in some other nation that was not at risk,” Schweickart says. “And, therefore, this decision of what to do, how to do it and what systems to use have to be coordinated internationally. That’s why we took this to the United Nations.” ASE members hope that in the near future, the UN can organize a test mission among members nations to practice the maneuvers that would be necessary to deflect an asteroid.
So to recap, the international checklist for avoiding world destruction reads as follows: Build a never-before-seen interplanetary space telescope, then get world leaders to collaborate on a selfless space mission to practice deflecting killer space rocks. That cocktail is sounding pretty good right about now.
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There’s no way around it. If you want to gain a competitive edge in UI/UX design, web development, or anything to do with mobile and desktop web apps, then you need to know Angular JS. Better yet, you need to know Angular 2, the latest version. This Angular 2 crash course will refresh your memory and get you updated on the essentials of the latest version. And if you’re just getting started with Angular JS, don’t worry this is the perfect introduction too.
Get Up to Speed with Angular 2
Understand Angular 2 and how it can help you as a developer
Code an Angular 2 project with an online IDE
Get to grips with Angular 2’s many powerful features
Improve your UI/UX design and development skills
Discover what’s new in the latest version of Angular
Upgrade your Programming Skills
With 71 lectures and 5 hours of content, this Angular 2 online course will give you a thorough understanding of how Angular 2 solutions are designed, administered, and developed. If you’re a web, mobile or service app developer, architect, UI designer, tester or administrator, or if you just want to know how to get Angular 2 projects up and running, then this is the course for you.
You don’t need any Angular 1 or UI experience to take this course, although if you’re familiar with creating web UIs with normal JavaScript tools (jQuery, Bootstrap, etc.), or object-oriented scripting languages like Java, C#, Python etc., you’ll already have a head start.
The course will begin with an introduction to TypeScript, the Cloud9 IDE and using Angular 2 modules. Then you’ll get stuck into Angular 2’s components, building a UI and binding your data. After that things get a little more challenging with a breakdown of advanced component concepts and component composition. From there you’ll jump into services, web services, and routing before setting up Angular 2 from scratch.
By the end of this course you’ll be able to set up and get going on your own Angular 2 projects quickly, easily, and efficiently.
About Angular JS
Angular is a development platform for building mobile and desktop web applications. It’s a structural framework that allows you to use HTML as your template language, and is JavaScript based. It has many high-power features like data binding and dependency injection that eliminates huge chunks of coding for the developer, making the process much more efficient and streamlined. It’s mostly maintained by Google and a wide network of users. Angular 2 is the latest version of the framework, first released in September 2014.
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The construction of Istanbul's new Syriac Orthodox church will be completed in two years, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said at the foundation-laying ceremony on Saturday.
"I see Mor Ephrem (Saint Ephraim) Syriac Church as a new richness for Istanbul," the president said in the city's Yeşilköy district on the European side.
Erdoğan highlighted that Turkey's door has been open to all people oppressed people, from Spain to Northern Africa. "Turkey hosts nearly four million Arabs, Kurds, Turkmens; Muslims, Assyrians, Ezidis, other groups from Syria, Iraq," Erdoğan said. He continued by saying that there is no place in the hearts or minds of the Turkish people for discrimination and there never will be.
"Like all their other issues, meeting the worship needs of the Assyrian community, the ancient children of our geography, is the duty of the state of the Republic of Turkey," Erdoğan said.
"We are a nation which has been ruling over this region for almost a millennium, and Istanbul for 566 years. Throughout this long history, our region has always been the heart of religious, ethnic, and cultural diversity, and most importantly of the conscience of humanity," he added.
"Although suffering in our region over the last 150 years has caused many troubles and much destruction, we have never wavered even an iota in our will to coexist. To us, anyone who has affection and loyalty for Turkey and contributes to [the country] is a first-class citizen," Erdoğan stressed.
He added that Turkey currently hosts nearly 4 million Arabs, Kurds, and Turkmens as well as Muslims, Assyrians, Ezidis and other groups from Syria and Iraq.
From Spain to North Africa, Turkey's gates and hearts have been open to all the oppressed, said Erdoğan, stressing: "There never was and never will be room for discrimination in our hearts and minds.
"The real target of terror groups and their allies is our common homeland, and the best way to disappoint them is to see our differences as our most important richness," Erdoğan said.
The new church will mark the first time a church is built from scratch in the Republic-era. The church will be constructed on an empty lot belonging to the municipality near the Italian Cemetery in Yeşilköy neighborhood of Bakırköy district, with a high concentration of the Syriac community.
There are 25,000 Syriac Christians in Turkey, approximately 18,000 of whom live in Istanbul, according to unofficial figures.
Assyrians are a community that traces its heritage back to ancient Mesopotamia. They speak a Semitic language distinct from Arabic.
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That seems like a value alignment problem right there, and one that I just don’t trust Facebook to navigate on behalf of the human race, thanks so much.
I’m with Russell. When mistakes happen at human scale and at human speed, they are at least human-manageable. After all, no one expects technology to come with no cost or downside. But AI is different from everything we’ve had before - different from cars, different even from nukes. This isn’t theoretical; OpenAI found this recently when agents invented emergent strategies that were supposed to not be possible or, indeed, not allowed by the system.
AI’s very nature is to find things we can’t - we already give up some of our autonomy every time we use AI. Russell says we need to “change the way we do AI.” Facebook is the prime example of why. Our values are more inconsistent, ambiguous, polarized and fluid than any AI designer can hope to input on our behalf. Our values are gamed by humans already - just look at how the social platforms have been made antisocial. The information social ecosystem is prime territory for an AI to find the perfect loophole, potentially one that we don’t want and can’t turn off. The mathematics inherent in AI doesn’t need anything as human as emotion or as biological as testosterone to enable an AI to develop a self-preserving strategy, where loss of human autonomy is an unintended side effect.
Perhaps the greatest irony in the whole debate is that of the role of uncertainty. One of the most important differences between AI and traditional technology is its probabilistic nature. Humans have a tough time with probability, it’s simply not an intuitive way to think for most people. Russell’s point isn’t that he’s certain that AI is or is not an existential threat to humanity. His point is that if it is, it represents a catastrophic outcome. This is the part that LeCun simply misses. It doesn’t matter that the chances are remote or that it’s likely way out in the future. For us humans, any chance should be too high.
LeCun’s perspective is likely influenced by his own objective - he’s paid by Facebook to make Facebook more profitable. He can do that by advocating for minimal control over AI development and maximal scope and scale for AI to act. It’s the exact scenario where it suits to downplay the danger of AI. It’s the exact reason we need to change how we develop AI and it should start with AI researchers being challenged to understand more about humans.
Other things this week:
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what happened last year was," he said. "They say, 'The teachers got fired because they're bad at their jobs.'"
There are multiple problems with the Department of Education's strategy here.
Problem One. The process to determine which schools are "chronically underperforming" relies primarily on test score data - these same tests that the President asserts we should not be teaching to. How can we continue to make such high stakes decisions using such flawed sources of data? Won't this continue to force the poorest schools to focus on test preparation to avoid this undesirable status?
Problem Two: Communities are systematically disempowered by these forceful interventions, which disrupt or destroy local schools. As was reported in Education Week recently, urban activists from around the country are beginning to take notice and organize around this issue.
Problem Three: The accountability system ignores external factors that affect student performance, such as levels of poverty, homelessness, hunger and violence, each of which have huge impacts on student achievement. Under this policy, it is the teachers and administrators alone at these schools who are held accountable. This narrow focus only provides us with scapegoats, rather than long-term solutions.
Problem Four: The schools targeted for these interventions are all afflicted by poverty, and mostly attended by students of color. These students already experience a high degree of disruption in their lives due to their economic circumstances and the often violent environments in which they live. Subjecting them to disruptive "forceful interventions" is a very bad idea. Labeling their schools failures, and stigmatizing the teachers and administrators who work with them is a poor way to foster respect for learning. As was revealed by research on school closures in Chicago, this does not yield improved outcomes for students.
We need to move away from the test-and-punish regime that is the hallmark of No Child Left Behind. President Obama is correct when he suggests that we need to move away from the high-stakes attached to standardized tests. For struggling schools, we need strategies that build on their strengths, and provide support in the least disruptive and most constructive manner possible. Congresswoman Judy Chu offered such an approach last summer, and the Forum of Educational Accountability has likewise offered a comprehensive alternative based on strengthening schools.
Once again, I believe it is Department of Education policy that is out of step with President Obama. We are organizing the Save Our Schools March and National Call to Action, with a march and rally on July 30th in Washington, DC, in order to suggest that our schools be guided by President Obama's vision, as expressed in his honest statement Monday. Please join us.
What do you think? Is the Department of Education carrying out President Obama's vision? Or are they still using high-stakes tests to punish schools?
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The Avalanche added more depth to their prospect pool in the Matt Duchene trade. But while it’s easier for Avs fans to watch Samuel Girard and Vladislav Kamenev in Colorado and San Antonio, respectively, some of you may not know who Shane Bowers is yet.
Bowers’s backstory is an intriguing one. A native of Halifax, Nova Scotia, he was drafted fourth overall by the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles in the 2015 QMJHL Draft, but elected not to follow in the footsteps of fellow Nova Scotians Sidney Crosby and Nathan MacKinnon and play in the league, instead choosing to keep his collegiate options open. With junior leagues in the Maritimes not heavily scouted, Bowers set his sights on the United States Hockey League and landed in Iowa with the Waterloo Black Hawks after receiving permission from Hockey Canada to play in the States.
The USHL can be ridiculously difficult to score in, especially for 16- and 17-year-olds, but no one told that to Bowers. After a very respectable first season in which he put up 33 points in 56 games and was named to the league’s Second All-Rookie Team, Bowers became one of the USHL’s marquee talents in year 2. Centering Wild draft pick Nick Swaney and undrafted Kevin Charyszyn, Bowers’s 22 goals and 51 points were good enough for top ten in the league, and the most among Canadians by a fair margin.
Bowers, who skated for Team Canada at the Under-17 and Under-18 levels, had offers from most of the top schools and chose to play at Boston University, a school with 12 draft picks on their current roster. Although the Terriers have struggled in the early going, Bowers has not, and as of November 8 has four goals and two assists while finding a consistent role on a line with Predators pick Patrick Harper and top 2018 Draft prospect, Brady Tkachuk.
In my one live viewing of Bowers thus far this season, an early-season game at Quinnipiac, I came away impressed. The game was very physical, but it did not take him off his game in the least, and he scored his first career goal in overtime crashing the net for a rebound.
I don’t know when exactly Bowers will sign his first NHL contract, but given his status as a first-round draft pick and that he’s now in the Colorado organization, it is probable that he will either turn pro after this season or following his sophomore campaign. I definitely see an NHLer in his future, and I think he will turn out to be an underrated piece of this blockbuster deal with Ottawa and Nashville.
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future independence referendum.
She told BBC Radio Scotland’s Good Morning Scotland programme: “We know that there were Labour people who supported Yes and we need to understand what that was and have that debate inside the party.
“It is for others to decide whether you then make it a free vote. People clearly exercised their vote in the ballot box anyway.
“If that’s a debate we should have inside the party, why not?”
Ms Lamont said that “on balance” she believed that joining forces with the Conservatives in the Better Together campaign had been the right thing to do, despite Labour’s subsequent disastrous defeat in May’s General Election.
Ms Dugdale has been clear that she and her deputy Alex Rowley will be in charge of Labour policies in Scotland after Ms Lamont quit claiming the party was being treated like a “branch office” under former leader Ed Miliband.
She said yesterday: “I’m the leader of the Scottish Labour party and the positions we’re going to take will be set here in Scotland by me - I think that’s what people in Scotland expect.”
Ms Dugdale has said she does not share new leader Jeremy Corbyn’s anti-Trident position, but takes the “multi-lateralist” view that the UK should only scrap its nuclear deterrent when other nuclear powers do the same. Ms Dugdale also distanced herself from Mr Corbyn’s plans to renationalise the energy companies insisting this was “not the priority” for the moment.
Senior Labour politicians have previously stood on opposite sides of the constitutional debate.
Brian Wilson, who went on to become a Labour energy minister under Tony Blair, campaigned against the party’s plans for Scottish devolution in the late 1970s. A few years earlier the party had also been split over the referendum on entering the EEC with senior figures such as Tony Benn and Michael Foot opposed to leader and Prime Minister Harold Wilson’s support for joining.
The latest poll of polls published by Professor John Curtice of Strathclyde University last week suggested the SNP is heading for a second overall majority in next May’s Holyrood vote. The nationalists have an average of 54 per cent, with Labour trailing on 22 per cent.
Professor Curtice said this was down to those backing independence last September – who included one in three of those who voted Labour in 2010 – wishing to “affirm” their choice by voting SNP.
This has given Ms Sturgeon’s party a foundation of support that “none of their opponents can match”.
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Dominator uses an intuitive layout that mimics the familiar setup of most guitar rigs, making it a breeze to use at all skill levels! The top panel features a noise gate to reduce noise problems, as well as the Stomp, Amp, and Cab sections, followed by a linear output control.
Amp Section
The heart and soul of Dominator is a two channel high gain monster!Dominator defaults to Channel B, which features parameters for Gain, Bass, Mid, Treble, and Presence.Channel A is engaged using the “CH.B” button on the left. When the “CH.B” is dark, Channel A is active. When “CH.B" is lit up, Channel B is active. Channel A features parameters for Gain, Bass, Mid, and Treble. Channel A’s Gain control can be used to switch between clean and distorted tones. Turning Channel A’s Gain below a value of 2 engages the Clean circuit. Turning Channel A’s Gain above a value of 2 engages the Distortion circuit. Included “ON” switch allows you to bypass the Dominator amp head, allowing you to just use the Stomp or Cab sections if desired.Each parameter in the Amp section can be automated, allowing for customization and flexibility!
Stomp Section
The Stomp section features 5 pedal slots, allowing you to choose between any combination of Dominator’s 10 included guitar pedals.Optional FX Loop allows you to place any pedal in the effects loop of Dominator’s amp head, allowing the pedal to process the output signal of Dominator instead of the input signal. Each pedal in the Stomp section can be automated, allowing for customization and flexibility!
Included Pedals
Boost: Adds a treble boost to the signal, controllable with one single knob! Screamer: Based on a legendary green overdrive pedal, Screamer can be used as a clean treble boost or to add overdrive!Compressor: A 4 parameter compressor designed to add sustain and attack to the incoming signal, or to manage the dynamics of the output when placed in the FX Loop. Distortion: A two parameter distortion unit that takes you from mild overdrive to nasty fuzzy metal tones!Chorus: A modulation monster that takes you anywhere from Classic Rock to Nu Metal and everywhere in between! The included mix knob allows you to fine tune just the right amount of the effect! Tremolo: Not just for surf rock anymore, this Tremolo pedal will add movement and contrast to your tone!Doubler: Not just a slight delay, this doubler splits the signal in two and changes the shape of one of them to create a convincing double tracked effect!
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You may not know the name Brendan Peters, but chances are you have seen him as a National Hockey League goalie.
OK, pretending to be a National Hockey League goalie.
Peters was the adorable doppelganger of Calgary Flames goalie Miikka Kiprusoff. He rose to hockey highlight fame beginning in 2005-06 by mimicking every move of the veteran netminder from the stands.
Literally, every move: Quirky warm-up routines, butterfly saves, even sprays from the water bottle. Kipper did it, Mini-Kipper followed. He had the uniform, the mask and an orange beard his father painted on his face for the complete effect.
The split-screen pantomime of Real Kipper and Mini-Kipper became a staple on NHL highlight reels and even earned Peters a trip to the NHL Awards (pre-Vegas). Here’s a TSN feature on the mini-goalie:
Now a Grade 11 student at Notre Dame High School, Peters hadn’t worn his full Kipper costume to a Calgary Flames game in four years. But with Kiprusoff expected to retire after this season; and with the Flames having only one home game left before the end of the season, Peters decided it was time to pay tribute to his idol one last time.
On Wednesday night at Scotiabank Saddledome, Miikka Kiprusoff defeated the Detroit Red Wings, while a slightly smaller “Miikka Kiprusoff” watched from the stands.
From Scott Cruickshank of the Calgary Herald:
“This is a thank you and a goodbye,” says Peters. “It feels good to strap on the pads one more time. I’d say that he and I share something special. I grew up watching Kiprusoff. I’ll never forget — nor should any other Flames fan — what he’s done for this franchise. “He’s been the heart and soul of this team, so I praise him for that.”
Check out what Peters looks like now.
Whether the Flames netminder calls it a career or not. Peters told Cruickshank that he simply wanted to say “thank you” to his favorite player.
“The reason I watch hockey is because of Kiprusoff. I loved watching him play, for sure. Yeah, I’m sad... but I’m going to be a Flames fan all my life.”
Not bad for a kid who once resented Kiprusoff for taking Roman Turek’s job …
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On March 22, we witnessed when spokeswoman of the House Nancy Pelosi proposed a law of the economic stimulus, in which she introduced a “digital dollar”.
Bad Economic Forecast, have already forced the US to thinking about use of the Digital US dollar
On March 22, we witnessed when spokeswoman of the House Nancy Pelosi proposed a law of the economic stimulus, in which she introduced a “digital dollar”.
The day after that, another proposal appeared that contained a concept that requires all member banks of the Federal Reserve to create their own digital wallets for the digital US dollar.
One of the fighters for the digital US dollar was also Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH). He fought very hard to be included in the third package of economic incentives.
According to the Senator’s plan, every citizen should be able to get a digital wallet in dollars called FedAccount.
. The account would be free of charge and used to receive money and perform all operations.
All FedAc accounts would be available at local banks and post offices.
Fees would be low or non-existent and no minimum balance would be requirements.
So we waited for the outcome of seeing the final stimulus package that Congress adopted last week.
Finally, the digital dollar unfortunately did not get into this package, but the US confirmed that it is interested and working to integrate systems.
It is said that the US has already joined in the advanced projects.
One of these is the Hyperledger consortium project, eThaler wants to create the central bank’s digital currency on the Ethereum blockchain.
“That’s a significant step, and I argue that such crisis situations always produce new ideas, and acceptance of new ideas, that will live on long after the coronavirus has burned through the world,” said Vipin Bharathan, chair of the Hyperledger identity working group
See official documents concerning the digital dollar and economic incentives:
To provide financial protections and assistance for America’s consumers, States, businesses, and vulnerable populations during the COVID-19 emergency and to recover from the emergency
Making emergency supplemental appropriations for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2020, and for other purposes
The text of Senator Brown’s bill
See also our article from yesterday:
Vice-President of International Monetary Fund talks about the Benefits and Risks of digital currency
Article created with the help of Forbes
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Japan. As a ruling class, samurai were entitled to a few privileges, one of which was Kiri-sute gomen, which was literally the right to cut down anyone of a lower class for any reason whatsoever, without reprieve. Samurai were free to exercise this right for the smallest infraction or slight against them, if they were feeling generous, they could just lop off a limb instead of killing someone for not saying thank you. Think of them like that guy with the wicked beard from Kill Bill, only instead of punching people to death they stabbed them.
Though this wasn’t a practice likely followed by all samurai all the time, just realize that they had the ability to kill anyone they felt like, for any reason, and no one could do anything about it unless they too wanted a brutal neck-stabbing. You have to admit, that’s kind of harsh.
1. Kim Jong-Il
Kim Jong-Il literally lived the dream of being a billionaire playboy who owned his own country. He was like that one person we all have on Facebook who does nothing but brag about how awesome their life is, only people actually believed everything he said because he was Kim Jong-Freaking-Il.
The list of all the crazy stuff Kim claimed to have done or invented is massive: he invented the hamburger, the weather was directly linked to his mood, and the first time he ever played golf he got 11 holes-in-one. How do we know that last one? A bunch of his guards signed sworn documents that they’d seen him do it.
We could go into the atrocities Kim committed, but there are enough of those on this list already. We think it’s far more amazing that he used his power and reach to basically write fan fiction about how awesome he was, then convinced his entire country to believe it. He was basically a rich spoiled child everyone was too afraid to scold. When he was travelling by armored train across North Korea, he had lobster airlifted to him every single day. When he wanted North Korea to have a film industry, he kidnapped a famous South Korean director, presumably single-handedly while fighting off a group of capitalist ninjas because at this point, why the hell not?
And that, ladies and gentlemen is the image we want to leave you with. Not people being tortured, not animal cruelty, but an elderly Korean man sitting in his giant mansion full of naked women, alcohol, and gold, wondering how he can make his life sound more interesting to people whose minds would be blown if you showed them an iPhone.
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When they work, the experience is blissful. You grab the charging case, slide it open, pop the earbuds out and fit them into your ears, and press play on your phone.
As earbuds go, they sound great, and they stay put in your ears thanks to foam tips that create a solid seal every time. (That also means you can listen at lower volumes; I was constantly two or three clicks lower on my phone’s volume with Earin than I am with my over-the-ear headphones.) You snap them in and out of a futuristic charging case that looks like the neuralyzer from Men In Black, red light and all.
When they work, the experience is blissful
There are also no wires that tangle or yank your phone off your desk or out of your hand. There’s no cord that’s so long that you have to ball it up and stuff it in your pocket, or buy an entirely new accessory just to maintain. Instead, you’re left with two small bits of plastic and metal that slip into (and more importantly, stay in) your ears, objects that conjure music from your phone like some sort of magic trick.
But that’s only when they work.
There are lots of little things about the Earin buds that contribute to a very inelegant user experience, and there was no mistaking that the Earin earbuds were made by an inexperienced startup.
The most egregious is also the first thing I noticed about the Earin earbuds. When you snap them into the cylindrical carrying case, a tiny red light signals that the earbuds are charging. That light operates in a binary manner — it only turns on or off. It can’t change colors, and it can’t blink or pulsate. When your earbuds are fully charged, the light turns off.
That’s a problem. Say you toss the earbuds in the case for a charge, and 10 minutes in, the light goes off. Did the earbuds’ charge really top off that quickly? Or is the case dead? There’s no easy way to know at a glance, and there’s also no way to know how much charge the case has left. The case can charge earbuds multiple times before it dies, which is good because their battery life hovers under 3 hours. But, on multiple occasions, I opened the case to find dead earbuds when I thought they were fully charged. (You can check the battery level of each earbud in the companion app, but not while they’re snapped into the case.)
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A popular superstition holding that owls are bad luck caused Arab farmers to refuse for quite some time to put up nesting boxes for the birds, even though they are widely used by Jewish farmers as a form of biological pest control.
But this attitude has begun to change of late, thanks to the efforts of an ornithologist from the Lower Galilee village of Iksal.
Open gallery view A Palestinian and an Israeli-Arab farmer holding a barn owl during a special seminar organized by the Israel Ornithology Center. Credit: Hagai Aharon
Samah Darawshe, of the Israel Ornithology Center, has managed to persuade Arab farmers in the Lower Galilee to put up dozens of nesting boxes over the last year, and dozens more are slated to go up soon. The results of the effort will be presented in two weeks at a Tel Aviv conference on regional economic cooperation sponsored by the Regional Development Ministry, which put up the money for the nesting boxes.
To date, Jewish farmers have put up some 2,700 nesting boxes, as owls eat a large number of agricultural pests. As such, they constitute an alternative to pesticides. The ornithology center, run by the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel, also managed to persuade Jordanian farmers to put up nesting boxes.
To convince Israeli Arab farmers to overcome their fears, Darawshe launched a major informational campaign. "We held special seminars for people in the villages," he related.
"I spoke with students at the schools, and also with imams. I even did a search of religious sources and found that the Prophet Mohammed rejected superstitions against animals, including owls. And there were imams who agreed to speak about the importance of using owls in their Friday sermons."
One of the first farmers to agree to try out the owls was Salah Omari of Sandala. Two years ago, he put up two nest boxes, one of which produced "the first owl nest in an Arab community," Darawshe said.
Later, Darawshe persuaded the Mekorot Water Company to put up 52 nesting boxes along the route of the National Water Carrier in the Beit Netofa Valley, five of which attracted nesters ("that's considered a success," he explained ). This gradually reconciled local Arab farmers to the idea.
His next success was getting 30 boxes put up in Kafr Kana, west of Beit Netofa. No nests had been built yet, but owls had begun to check out the boxes, Darawshe said.
Residents of Bueina-Nujeidat also recently agreed to accept nesting boxes, and Darawshe now plans to work on other villages in the area.
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Jobless claims jump to 5-month high
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The number of first-time filers for unemployment insurance rose to the highest level since late February last week, according to a weekly government report released Thursday.
There were 484,000 initial jobless claims filed in the week ended Aug. 7, up 2,000 from an upwardly revised 482,000 the previous week, according to the Labor Department's weekly report.
That's the highest number since the week ended Feb. 20, when 486,000 people filed for first-time benefits.
Economists surveyed by Briefing.com had expected new claims to fall to 465,000.
Initial claims have been stuck in the the mid- to upper- 400,000s since November.
"It's just more of the same," said John Canally, an economist with LPL Financial. "This data doesn't break out of the range, and that's going to continue until companies can see their way to adding some jobs."
Canally points to the latest productivity numbers released in a separate report on Tuesday that show companies may have stretched their employees too thin. The Labor Department said worker productivity fell 0.9% in the second quarter, the first decline in 18 months.
That data may mean employers need to start hiring again. But instead, companies have been spending on new equipment and capital - rather than their payrolls - as they remain skeptical of the economic outlook, he said.
"Companies have the cash. Their profits are good. They have credit if they need it. They just haven't been willing to step up new hiring," Canally said.
Continuing claims: The government said 4,452,000 people continued to file unemployment claims for their second week or more, during the week ended July 31, the most recent data available.
That's down from an upwardly revised 4,570,000 the week before.
Standard unemployment benefits usually last 26 weeks, and the continued claims number does not include those who have moved into state or federal extensions, or people whose benefits have expired but may still be without a job.
Meanwhile, the four-week moving average for weekly initial claims was 473,500, up from 459,250 the previous week.
The Labor Department tracks the four-week moving average of the weekly figures to smooth out the volatility of the measure.
The national unemployment rate currently stands at 9.5%.
State by state: Jobless claims in six states increased by more than 1,000 in the week ended July 31, the most recent state data available. Claims in Wisconsin increased the most, by 1,901.
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This is an artist's rendering of the Swift spacecraft with a gamma-ray burst going off in the background. Credit: Spectrum Astro
Astronomers in Japan, using an X-ray detector on the International Space Station, and at Penn State University, using NASA's Swift space observatory, are announcing the discovery of an object newly emitting X-rays, which previously had been hidden inside our Milky Way galaxy in the constellation Centaurus.
The object -- a binary system -- was revealed recently when an instrument on the International Space Station named MAXI (Monitor of All-Sky X-ray Image) on the Exposed Facility of the Japanese Experiment Module "Kibo" caught it in the act of erupting with a massive blast of X-rays known as an X-ray nova. The MAXI mission team quickly alerted astronomers worldwide to the discovery of the new X-ray source at 2:00 a.m. EDT on 20 October, and NASA's Swift Observatory quickly conducted an urgent "target-of-opportunity" observation nine hours later, which allowed for the location of the X-ray nova to be measured accurately.
"The collaboration between the MAXI and Swift teams allowed us to quickly and accurately identify this new object," said Jamie Kennea, the Swift X-ray Telescope instrument scientist at Penn State University who is leading the Swift analysis. "MAXI and Swift's abilities are uniquely complementary, and in this case have provided a discovery that would not have been possible without combining the knowledge obtained from both."
The Swift detection confirmed the presence of the previously unknown bright X-ray source, which was named MAXI J1409-619. "The Swift observation suggests that this source is probably a neutron star or a black hole with a massive companion star located at a distance of a few tens of thousands of light years from Earth in the Milky Way," said David Burrows, professor of astronomy and astrophysics at Penn State and the lead scientist for Swift's X-ray Telescope. "The contribution of Swift's X-ray Telescope to this discovery is that it can swing into position rapidly to focus on a particular point in the sky and it can image the sky with high sensitivity and high spatial resolution."
This is a view of MAXI attached to the Japanese Experiment Module - Exposed Facility (JEF). This photo was taken during STS-127 / Expedition 20 Joint Operations. Credit: Image courtesy of NASA
"MAXI has demonstrated its capability to discover X-ray novae at great distances," said Kazutaka Yamaoka, assistant professor at Aoyama Gakuin University and a member of the MAXI team. "The MAXI team is planning further coordinated observations with NASA satellites to reveal the identity of this source."
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Minnesota Senator Al Franken went on The Late Show with David Letterman to discuss the backlash against the host’s home state over Governor Mike Pence’s decision to sign the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
“This was a very bad move,” Franken said. “At lot of this is about the fact that in 1964, we settled the idea that you have to serve people even if you’re biased in some way [against them].”
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“The problem here is that LGBT Americans don’t have the same rights that pretty much everyone else has. You can’t discriminate against someone in employment because they’re black or they’re Jewish — but you can, in many states, if they’re LGBT.”
“We’ve got to end that,” he said. “Do a national law saying, ‘you can’t do that.'”
“What I don’t understand,” Letterman replied, “is that they’re human beings, so when aren’t they generally protected the same way all human beings are generally protected?”
“That’s a very good question,” Franken said. “It’s amazing we’re so backward about this. I have a bill, for example, on LGBT students who get bullied. Their parents should have the right to call the principal and make sure this doesn’t happen.”
“So we’ve made a tremendous amount of progress in this area,” he continued, “so this is kind of a disgrace what happened [in Indiana].”
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“Here’s what I want to know,” Letterman interjected. “I love Indiana, I want to be buried in Indiana — and I know I’ve embarrassed the state many, many times. What can I do now to make the governor feel uncomfortable.”
“As a matter of fact,” Franken replied, “there’s an open seat there. Senator Dan Coats said he’s not running. When young people come to me and say, ‘how do you become a United States senator?’ I say, ‘do about 35 or 40 years of comedy, and then run for the Senate.’ So I think you should run.”
Letterman is retiring later this year, and will be replaced by former Colbert Report host Stephen Colbert.
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Watch the entire interview below via The Late Show with David Letterman on YouTube.
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Rabri Devi (file photo)
IRCTC tenders scam: In a huge blow to RJD leader and former Railway Minister Lalu Yadav, the Enforcement Directorate on Friday issued notice to his son Tejashwi Yadav and wife Rabri Devi, asking them to appear on November 20 and November 24 respectively in IRCTC hotel scam. Former Bihar chief minister and wife of RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav, Rabri Devi, had earlier skipped two summonses from ED in this case.The ED had earlier questioned her son and former deputy chief minister Tejashwi Yadav for about nine hours in connection with this case. The CBI has also recently recorded the statement of Tejashwi Yadav and Lalu Prasad in this case.
The ED had registered a criminal case against the Lalu Prasad family members and others under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) sometime back. It had earlier questioned a few people in this case including the wife of former UPA minister P C Gupta. The agency had taken cognisance of a CBI FIR in this regard to initiate its own criminal complaint.
In July, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had registered a criminal FIR (first information report) and conducted multiple searches against former Bihar chief minister Lalu Prasad and others. The ED will investigate the alleged “proceeds of crime” generated by the accused, purportedly through shell companies, officials had said.
Rabri Devi, Tejashwi Yadav and others will be probed by the agency under charges filed in the Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR), the ED equivalent of a police FIR. The case dates back to the time when Lalu was the railway minister in the UPA government. Others named in the CBI FIR include Vijay Kochhar, Vinay Kochhar (both directors of Sujata Hotels), Delight Marketing company, now known as Lara Projects, and the then IRCTC managing director P K Goel.
The CBI FIR alleges that Prasad, as Railway minister, handed over the maintenance of two IRCTC hotels to a company after receiving a bribe in the form of prime land in Patna through a ‘benami’ company owned by Sarla Gupta. The FIR was registered on July 5 in connection with favours allegedly extended to Sujata Hotels in awarding a contract for the upkeep of the hotels in Ranchi and Puri and receiving premium land as ‘quid pro quo’. The ED, under the PMLA, has powers to attach and confiscate tainted assets and it is expected that the agency will initiate such a move once it makes progress in the case.
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Last updated on.From the section Darts
Eric Bristow had been involved with Sky Sports' darts coverage since the early 1990s
Warning: The following article contains language that readers may find offensive
Former darts world champion Eric Bristow has lost his role with Sky Sports after suggesting football abuse victims are not "proper men".
Bristow asked on Twitter why victims did not "sort out" their abusers "when they got older and fitter".
More than 20 ex-footballers have made allegations of child sex abuse.
"He was a contributor to our darts coverage in the past but we will not be using him in the future," said a Sky spokesman.
Newcastle United said they had dropped Bristow "immediately" from a scheduled appearance at St James' Park on 6 December and "will not work with Eric Bristow in the future".
Former Crewe player Steve Walters, one of the footballers to have come forward, said he was "disgusted" by Bristow's remarks.
Several former footballers have waived their right to anonymity in order to go public and raise awareness of alleged historical abuse in football, a step which has won praise from politicians, sport administrators and abuse charities.
At least eight police forces are now investigating allegations of historical sexual abuse.
Bristow, who was made an MBE in 1989, suggested that darts players were "tough guys" and footballers "wimps".
He added the victims should not be able to look themselves in the mirror for not "getting their own back" on their abusers in adulthood.
In addition to his comments on sex abuse victims, Bristow caused anger by conflating paedophiles with homosexuals in a tweet that read: "Might be a loony but if some football coach was touching me when I was a kid, as I got older I would have went back and sorted that poof out."
Bristow has since deleted each of those tweets.
Duncan Craig, chief executive of the charity Survivors Manchester, said he has reported Bristow's tweets to Staffordshire Police as a "hate crime".
The charity, which supports male victims of sex crimes, now has Walters as an ambassador.
Craig said of Bristow: "His comments are absolutely appalling.
"Bristow is ill-educated but that's not a crime. However, calling someone derogatory homosexual terms is a hate crime in my view.
"The reason many men don't speak out is because they feel less of man, feel judged, feel ashamed. Bristow is perpetuating those myths to his 93,000 followers - that's why I'm taking such a strong stance."
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to steady the craft.
By December 9 it was apparent that preparations for the launch of Gemini 6A were proceeding ahead of schedule and that launch could take place a day early on December 12. In preparation for this launch, Borman fired Gemini’s thrusters for 78 seconds to raise its perigee to 299 kilometers. A second burn a half orbit later lowered the apogee to 303 kilometers. Gemini 7 was now in its “circular” orbit to wait for the arrival of Gemini 6.
By the next day, the temperature inside the Gemini 7 crew cabin had risen to an uncomfortable 29.4° C and once again the issue of spacesuits was raised. Because of various delays, Borman had remained in his spacesuit since launch while Lovell had spent the previous four days in the relative comfort of his undergarments. Finally after Borman’s multiple requests, the crew was instructed late in the afternoon to switch suit modes – Lovell had to put his suit back on while Borman was finally allowed to remove his. Borman would finally have a chance to cool off and get a comfortable night’s sleep. The next day, the long duration crew performed more experiments and made preparations for the launch and rendezvous of Gemini 6.
The story continues in “Rendezvous in Space: The Gemini 6 Launch Abort“.
Follow Drew Ex Machina on Facebook.
Related Video
Here is 8 mm movie footage by Peter Faulkner (with a synched soundtrack) of the NBC coverage of the launch of Gemini 7.
Related Reading
“Rendezvous in Space: The Gemini 6 Launch Abort”, Drew Ex Machina, December 12. 2015 [Post]
“The Unflown Mission of Gemini 6”, Drew Ex Machina, October 25. 2015 [Post]
“Eight Days or Bust: The Mission of Gemini 5”, Drew Ex Machina, August 21. 2015 [Post]
“The Forgotten Mission of Gemini 4”, Drew Ex Machina, June 3, 2015 [Post]
“The Mission of Gemini 3”, Drew Ex Machina, March 23, 2015 [Post]
General References
David Baker, The History of Manned Space Flight, Crown Publishers, 1981
Barton C. Hacker and James M. Grimwood, On the Shoulders of Titans: A History of Project Gemini, SP-4203, NASA History Division, 1977
David J. Shayler, Gemini: Steps to the Moon, Springer-Praxis, 2001
“Gemini 7/6”, NASA Press Release 65-362, November 29, 1965
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for the final regular season home series of the year against the LSU Tigers. Advanced tickets are sold out for Saturday’s game, but tickets remain for Thursday and Friday. For those coming on Saturday, arrive early to help us honor our Razorback seniors and celebrate our live mascot Tusk IV, who will be retiring at the end of the 2018-19 competitive year.
From Senior Day Sweep to SEC Tournament
This past weekend, our softball team celebrated Senior Day in style with a sweep of No. 23 Auburn. Five Razorback seniors were honored before the Razorbacks topped the Tigers 5-2 on Sunday. Coach Courtney Deifel and the Razorbacks earned the No. 9 seed in this week’s SEC Softball Tournament in College Station, Texas. Arkansas will face No. 8 Georgia tomorrow with the winner to meet No. 1 Alabama. Award Winners
What a night it was at the 2019 HOGSPY Awards! More than 30 student-athletes, coaches and staff members were recognized as part of the annual showcase of the best of the best in Razorback Athletics. The evening culminated with Maria Fassi winning the first Champion for Life award, an award recognizing overall excellence by a Razorback senior. Thanks to former Razorback and Food Network star Eddie Jackson for emceeing this special event.
Congratulations to 2019 SEC Women’s Golf Individual Champion Maria Fassi and SEC runner-up Kaylee Benton. Fassi became only the second Razorback to win the SEC women’s golf individual title, along with LPGA star Stacy Lewis who won the title in both 2005 and 2008. To re-live Maria’s memorable week at The Legends Course at Greystone Country Club, be sure to watch this championship video.
Welcome Jordyn Wieber
Late last month, we were excited to welcome Olympic gold medalist and UCLA assistant Jordyn Wieber as the head women’s gymnastics coach at the University of Arkansas. Jordyn is a familiar name in the gymnastics community after a prolific career as a competitor, including earning a gold medal as part of Team USA in the 2012 Olympics. Since finishing her competitive career, Wieber has served as an assistant for legendary UCLA coach Valorie Kondos Field, helping lead the Bruins to the 2018 NCAA Championship. Jordyn has hit the ground running and is already working to build on the tremendous foundation for our program that was built by recently retired Coach Mark Cook in the past 17 seasons. In case you missed it, here are a few highlights from her first week on the job, including a memorable debut at Baum-Walker Stadium. Meeting the Team
Introductory Press Conference
HogPod Interview
First Pitch/Flip at Baseball
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then chances are, he’ll win the runoff.
How well Moore needs to do in each county to win the runoff Share of vote Moore and Strange won in the Aug. 15 primary and how well Moore needs to do to maintain his statewide advantage, by county View more! The benchmarks are calculated by taking Moore’s margin in each county and subtracting out his 6-percentage-point statewide margin. Source: Alabama Secretary of State
To maintain his lead from the first round, Moore will need to continue to rack up huge margins in rural areas. Specifically, he’ll need to do well in the southeast corner of the state, in counties like Geneva and Houston. Strange, meanwhile, will hope to cut down on Moore’s rural advantage and rack up huge margins of his own in urban areas such as Jefferson and Madison counties.
Of course, whoever wins on Tuesday will still need to win a Dec. 12 general election against Democrat and former U.S. Attorney Doug Jones. Normally, that would be a fait accompli in deep-red Alabama. No Democrat has won a Senate election in the state in 25 years, and Trump beat Hillary Clinton there by 28 percentage points in 2016.
Indeed, either Moore or Strange would be favored against Jones, though perhaps not by as much as you might think. Trump’s approval rating in Alabama is above 50 percent, and two Emerson College general election polls have both Republicans leading Jones. But Emerson’s polling has been mixed. The group’s most recent poll gave Moore a 22 percentage point lead and Strange a 13 point advantage over Jones. Their survey earlier this month however, put Moore and Strange ahead by less than 5 points. That same poll found Trump’s approval rating at just 52 percent, a significant dropoff from the 62 percent of the vote he earned while running against Clinton.
Jones’s odds are probably better if Moore ends up as the Republican nominee. Moore has a history of making controversial comments, including saying that homosexuality should be illegal. He’s also been removed from his job at the Alabama Supreme Court twice for disregarding higher court rulings. Moore’s past actions and words may not have hurt him much in the primary, but a general election is a different ballgame. Moore’s controversial past may be why he won election to the state supreme court in 2012 by just 4 percentage points. That same year, Republican Mitt Romney beat Democrat Barack Obama by 22 percentage points in Alabama. In other words, Moore has a history of undershooting the presidential lean of the state.
Alabama is a red state, so Moore is a favorite on Tuesday and would be the favorite in December. But he could also plausibly lose either race.
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The council was told the companies would have their rates bill reduced by €1.852m next year.
The Government has said it will provide the local authority with a one-off rebate of €1.3m to help negate the loss.
But it still leaves the council with a €500,000 shortfall next year, as well as finding €1.85m in 2017.
Fianna Fáil councillor Kevin O’Keeffe had standing orders suspended at a meeting in County Hall to discuss the fallout.
He said the Government should be more accountable for the move, while his party colleague councillor Seamus McGrath said it represented “a serious hit”.
He said the “impact for future years will be grave unless the Department of Environment compensate local authorities for the loss”.
“These are cuts to rates for the big companies. These are not the high-street butcher or baker,” said Sinn Féin councillor Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire. “This is a rates cut for big business.”
“These are mega-rich companies making large profits. Will they pass on the savings they’ve made now to their customers?”said Fianna Fáil councillor Frank O’Flynn.
“I assume that these companies are controlled by regulators and these savings will be passed onto consumers.
“I accept the concern that the Government commitment to pay back €1.3m only covers next year,” said Fianna Fáil councillor Gerard Murphy.
Council chief executive Tim Lucey said the income reduction in rates from 2017 onwards concerned him as it was also intended the staff payroll would be increasing by then.
“The fact is we have a net reduction of €500,000 next year and in 2017 we will be down €1.852m,” said Mr McGrath.
Mr Lucey said the loss of that money could be recouped with a 2% rate rise for other businesses. But he said his hands were tied as the council had decided not to increase rates for the next five years.
He hoped there could be an increase in buoyancy in the economy which might launch more new businesses and, possibly, increase the rates income. However, less optimistic councillors believed the shortfall would probably lead to a reduction in some of the services they provide the public.
Following a proposal by Mr McGrath it was agreed to write to the Government to seek more money to compensate for the loss of revenue.
“The department must make up the shortfall in funding over the next number of years,” he said.
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Have you noticed any ghosting or burn-in with your 15.6-inch MacBook Pro Retina displays? Does your Pro’s Retina display “suffer from brightness, color and image display flaws?” If so, you could benefit from a class-action suit one MacBook Pro owner filed against Apple for faulty Retina displays made by LG.
Ghosting is usually more common on Plasma televisions and e-readers. It’s when a silhouette of what was just on-screen remains behind when you turn off the screen or watch something else, and it’s been plaguing some MacBook Pro owners with Retina displays produced by LG, as you can see in this side-by-side comparison by berryloui. (Samsung is the other supplier of Retina screens for MacBook Pros, and they’ve been relatively problem-free.) Judging by the almost 370,000 views of the “MacBook Pro Retina display burn-in” thread on the Apple Support forum, it seems there are a lot of Pro owners out there who paid top dollar for what they thought would be the best screen on the market, but turned out to be highly problematic.
As reported by Law360 and 9to5Mac, fellow MacBook Pro owner Beau Hodges just filed a class-action lawsuit against Apple on Wednesday, claiming that MacBook Pro customers have no way of knowing ahead of time whether they are purchasing a unit with a LG or Samsung display. In his complaint, Hodges also alleged that Apple must be aware of the difference in quality and performance between the two brands, even though, “None of Apple’s advertisements or representations discloses that it produces the computers with display screens that exhibit different levels of performance and quality.”
He is seeking unspecified damages for MacBook Pro owners with LG-made Retina screens in the United States, but it is a bit too early to start breaking out the champagne just yet. After all, we don’t know if this case will get tossed out by the judge, or what Apple’s response may be. It seems most Pro owners who have problems with their Retina displays are already able to ask for a Samsung-made screen replacement, just by walking into an Apple Store, so what would Apple do differently to settle the suit? Even if Apple issues a mass recall of MacBook Pros with LG-made displays, it would be such a hassle to have to be temporarily without your laptop while it goes in for repair that it would hardly feel like a victory for consumers. We’ll be following this case as it develops, so stay tuned!
(Image via berryloui’s YouTube video)
Editors' Recommendations
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A56-year-old Black Pompano Beach, Florida man was fatally shot and killed on Friday evening in a police involved shooting that occurred in the victim’s backyard, The New Times Broward Palm-Beach reports.
Gregory Frazier, the identified victim, was shot multiple times by three White officers who responded to the scene after Frazier’s sister Deborah called the police to his home. Deborah claims Frazier and her daughter were arguing. When police arrived, the argument was over and Frazier was in the backyard eating a plate of fries and chicken wings.
Pompano Beach man shot, killed by Broward Sheriff's deputies ID'd as Gregory Frazier, 55 https://t.co/Gol3yduuMq pic.twitter.com/PsaRFhXGAW — Sun Sentinel (@SunSentinel) September 11, 2016
Police say Frazier was holding a knife, but Deborah says it was a Swiss Army knife that he carried on a daily basis.
Frazier’s nephew, Quartaze Woodard, was also at the scene and told the New Times that officers arrived and ordered Frazier to get down on the ground. Frazier responded, “Leave me alone.” After a second order with the same response, Woodard said officers opened fire. Frazier was then handcuffed while he lay on the ground.
Once officers realized that Frazier was non-responsive, they attempted to revive him with CPR. The Broward County Sheriff’s Office has not confirmed the number of shots fired.
Frazier’s sister Deborah expressed extreme grief and regret for calling the authorities. “I never would have called the cops if I’d known this was going to happen,” she said. “They just came in and started shooting right away.”
The New-Times reports the officers were placed on administrative leave while the BSO opens an internal investigation, but Sarahca Peterson, a local activist and friend of the Frazier family, says that is not enough. Peterson wants the officers in Pompano Beach to better reflect the community in which they serve. “There has to be change. They need to face criminal charges,” she said. “If I kill someone, I’m going to jail. They shouldn’t be out there on the streets.”
SOURCE: New Times Broward Palm-Beach, PHOTO CREDIT: Getty, Twitter
SEE ALSO:
NEWS ROUNDUP: Trump Hosted Fundraiser For Florida Attorney General After She Dropped Investigation Against Him…AND MORE
Longtime Friends Launch Mobile Showering Service In Palm Beach County, Florida
Also On NewsOne:
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At school we were taught about the glorious past of Muslims. We read about the wars that we won. We were taught about our ‘martyrs’. We cheered for our cricket team. Every cricket match against India was treated like a war. I was taught nothing positive about the 100 years of united India under British rule. Our history books erased the memories of Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs, Zoroastrians, Jews and Christians. They were replaced by the contributions of ‘glorious’ Muslims. The aristocratic Mughal were celebrated, the Westernised Turks were glorified and the Central Asian conquerors were cherished.
My history books said nothing about the Rajputs who were the real builders of Lahore and the direct ancestors of many families in Punjab. Those books spoke nothing about Rani Lakshmi Bai, the Rani of Jhansi; Mangal Pandey or Tantya Tope who fought gallantly against the East India Company in 1857. They spoke nothing of Bhagat Singh, Udham Singh, Sukhdev and Kartar Singh for their efforts for liberation. While my Urdu textbook contained generous excerpts of poetry from the likes of Iqbal and Hali, it completely forgot to mention Firaq Gorakhpuri. Yes, all memories of united India were erased from my mind.
There was some mention of how Muslims of India were subjected to oppression by the Indian National Congress, particularly during the years of Congress ministries. But the textbooks completely forgot to highlight that the Congress was a secular party and many of its leaders were Muslims, too. My school did not teach me that our leaders, including Mohammad Ali Jinnah, would stand up to defend a freedom fighter like Lokmanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak; that Mr Jinnah was born into an Ithna-Asheri Shi’ite family; and that he lived as a tolerant, liberal individual and favoured secularism. I have grown up saluting a founder who adorned the Jinnah cap and sheerwani and looked rigid and Islamic. I was never introduced to the liberal, secular man who dressed elegantly and enjoyed reading Shakespeare.
As I explored the world of books on my own and met people of different communal backgrounds, I came to know that I have much in common with people on the other side of the border. The hatred was an effort in futility. I hope that one day, our textbooks will discard the sentiments of hatred and teach our children the truth. As an independent thinker, I know that the disease of intolerance can only be treated at the grassroots level and we need to fix the problem at its root.
Ayesha Aizaz Qureshi
Published in The Express Tribune, August 28, 2012.
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PARIS (Reuters) - The shareholders of AccorHotels ACCP.PA on Friday granted former French President Nicolas Sarkozy a seat on the board of Europe's largest hotel group, and rejected a bid to block long-term shareholders from getting more double voting rights.
FILE PHOTO: The logo of French hotel operator AccorHotels is seen on top of the company's headquarters in Issy-les-Moulineaux near Paris, France April 22, 2016. REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes/File Photo
Chairman and CEO Sebastien Bazin reiterated at the annual shareholders meeting that double voting rights were a good way to foster loyalty and stability among shareholders..
“We have a solid and extremely diversified shareholder basis,” he said.
Europe’s largest hotel group has seen some big changes in its shareholder base recently, with investors from China, Saudi Arabia and Qatar now holding a combined 29 percent stake.
Soon, these shareholders - which include Chinese competitor Shanghai Jin Jiang 600754.SS - could qualify for double voting rights under the company's rules.
This led critics, including French shareholder advisory group Proxinvest, to say this could give them more control over the company without having to pay a premium for that advantage.
Proxinvest had advised a group of 14 shareholders, led by Paris-based investment firm PhiTrust and representing 2.3 percent of AccorHotels’s capital, which had filed a proposal to block the further granting of double voting rights.
The proposal needed a two-thirds majority to be approved but received just 52.36 percent of the votes cast at the meeting.
Chinese group Jin Jiang is Accor’s biggest investor with 12.58 percent of the shares and 11.22 percent of the voting rights, having built its stake since late 2015.
French media reports in June 2016 that the Chinese firm could gradually seek to gain more control over Accor drove President Francois Hollande to state publicly that AccorHotels should retain a diverse group of shareholders. [nL8N18Y2SE)
Sarkozy also chairs the newly created international strategy committee of AccorHotels. His board appointment was announced in February.
Bazin on Friday quashed speculation that Sarkozy’s nomination could be a way to help limit Jin Jiang’s influence.
“Nicolas Sarkozy is not in any way a brake (to Jin Jiang), his nomination is not related to our Chinese shareholder,” he said.
Sarkozy, who led France for five years from 2007, lost his bid for another presidential term in November after coming third in the primaries of his centre-right party.
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The ACC and Big Ten were rejected. The Big East is going nowhere despite overtures from those power conferences.
It has reached a contract extension to continue to play its postseason tournament at the Garden for at least the next decade, as first reported by The Post Sunday morning. The extension is for two years, going through 2028, though there was an opt-out for both sides after 2022. According to a source, the Big East will pay significantly more in the new contract.
“We have renewed our vows,” Big East commissioner Val Ackerman said during a press conference during Sunday’s Holiday Festival at the Garden. “For the Big East, this building is home. It’s in our DNA. It’s who we are.”
The ACC and the Big Ten had been in contact with the Garden to potentially play their conference tournaments there, according to sources, putting pressure on the Big East to act. But now, they’ll either have to play them a week early, like the Big Ten did last year, or go somewhere else. The ACC has played its tournament at Barclays Center each of the last two years and is scheduled to return to Brooklyn in 2022.
“The Garden and the Big East are synonymous with each other. The Big is a part of the fabric of Madison Square Garden and Madison Square Garden is a part of the fabric of the Big East,” said Joel Fisher, the executive vice president of MSG Marquee Events. “The Big East is a pillar on our calendar. People plan their social calendars around coming to the Big East Tournament.”
During the press conference, Ackerman presented Fisher with a commemorative basketball autographed by the league’s coaches, presidents and athletic directors. St. John’s coach Chris Mullin also was part of the press conference, just an hour before the Red Storm faced Princeton.
“It’s the right thing to do,” Mullin said. “It is our home. It’s wonderful for the conference.”
Unlike the Big East, which has played its tournament at MSG every year since 1983, the Big Ten and ACC rotate their sites. That rotation won’t include the Garden for the next decade at least unless either conference plans to move theirs up.
“There was a lot of talk around the other conferences, and we were honored that they were interested,” Fisher said. “All of these conferences needed to know for the future, so the timing made sense for us to lock it down.
“It’s nice to be wanted, but the Big East and us feel loyalty means a lot.”
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Cheyanne and James Chalkley were both arrested after bruises were found on the children by authorities: Bexar County Jail
A father in Texas has been arrested after he was accused of subjecting his two daughters to a campaign of horrific abuse.
James Howard Chalkley is accused of making his five-year-old daughter brush her teeth with faeces and wear a shock collar, and flushing his 10-year-old daughter's head in a toilet.
The 32-year-old from Converse, Texas has been charged with one count of injury to a child while his wife Cheyanne Chalkley, the children’s stepmother, has been charged with two counts of injury to a child.
As reported by the Dallas News, authorities were alerted to the abuse on 19 September when the five-year-old girl reached for a box of crayons at school, exposing bruising on her lower back.
At first she said she didn’t know how she got the bruises but her 10-year-old sister told a Bexar County sheriff’s investigator that their father spanks them when they misbehave, according to an arrest warrant.
The CPS removed the two girls and their three-year-old brother from the family home.
During interviews and medical exams the two older children revealed more about the abuse they had suffered.
The 10-year-old had bruises on her upper thighs and buttocks and said her father and step mother hit her with belts, their hands and “switch” made from sticks from a tree in their garden.
The statement also said sometimes the sticks had thorns and on at least one occasion her father shoved her head into a wall.
The child also recalled an incident when her father asked her stepmother if he was too hard on the children. Cheyanne Chalkley reportedly replied that if they were her own kids she would hit them more.
She said Chalkley also held her head in the toilet, flushed it and did the same to her younger sister.
The five-year-old said her father also used a shock collar on her, like the kind for dogs and made her wear it on her arms, legs and back which left green marks on her skins, the affidavit stated.
She also said the adults would “take turns” when spanking her.
James Chalkley was arrested on 5 October. The CPS had previously been in contact with the family twice, once in September 2016 when the children were left unsupervised and then in January 2017 when Chalkley allegedly sprayed the children, who were naked, with cold water outside the house on a cold day.
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the exclusivity talk:
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If you understand these conversation models and have them handy, you can relax more into the dating process, knowing you can have the exclusive talk when the time is right and handle things at each step of the way.
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Suu Kyi refuses to give a timeline on the repatriation of 700,000 Rohingya, saying it depends on Bangladesh.
Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi has defended her government’s actions in Rakhine state which have forced more than 700,000 Muslim-majority Rohingya to flee their homes and seek refuge in neighbouring Bangladesh.
Speaking at a lecture in Singapore in which she reviewed her first two years in power, Aung San Suu Kyi refused to recognise the atrocities committed by the Myanmar military and instead justified her government’s campaign against the beleaguered Muslim community.
“We, who are living through the transition in Myanmar, view it differently than those who observe it from the outside and who will remain untouched by its outcome,” she said, in an apparent response to criticism of how her government has handled the plight of the Rohingya.
The UN has described the Myanmar military’s campaign in Rakhine as “textbook ethnic cleansing“, and journalists and human rights groups who have reported from the region have documented widespread rape, killing, and destruction of homes by government troops.
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Despite this, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate has refused to condemn the violence and even refuses to refer to the ethnic group by its name.
Many Buddhists in Myanmar believe that the Rohingya are Bengalis who migrated to the country illegally during the British rule in the subcontinent, and have rejected their claims that their roots in the region that go back centuries.
Since 2012, incidents of religious intolerance and incitement against Muslims have increased across the country, with the Rohingya frequently attacked and portrayed as a “threat to race and religion”.
No timeline for return
Speaking on Tuesday, Aung San Suu Kyi also said it was difficult to say when the Rohingya would be able to return, and appeared to cast blame on Bangladesh for the delay.
“It’s very difficult for us to put a timeframe on it by ourselves unilaterally, because we have to work with Bangladesh in order to do that”.
Myanmar’s government has signed several agreements on preparing for the return of the Rohingya, but UN agencies have accused it of dragging its feet, and human rights groups are concerned that the safety of returning Rohingya cannot be assured.
The UN, which hasn’t been granted access to Rakhine since August 2017, fears the returning refugees won’t be given freedom of movement if they return.
Knut Ostby, a UN resident and humanitarian coordinator in Myanmar, said the repatriation agreement had been beset by repeated delays and authorities had yet to allow them access to the region.
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Trump displayed a similar instinct following the New York attack, appealing to fear of the assailant’s Muslim background. In a flurry of tweets on Tuesday evening, Trump immediately denounced, as a “Democratic” invention, the “diversity lottery” immigration program that allowed the attacker to live in the United States. Leave aside that George H.W. Bush signed the lottery program into law, or that all Senate Democrats (along with 14 Republicans) supported ending it during the 2013 debate over comprehensive immigration reform. The key is that Trump’s reaction betrayed two central components of his political identity: his instinct to view any crisis more as an opportunity to divide than to unite, and how reflexively he portrays immigrants as a threat.
Trump is far from the first Republican tugged toward that dark star. But the party has sent mixed signals about how far it will follow him. On the one hand, this year’s attacks from Virginia gubernatorial candidate Ed Gillespie on so-called “sanctuary cities” and the Central American gang MS-13 have set a template for Trump-like anti-immigrant messages that many Republicans are likely to adopt in the midterms. On the other, Trump has struggled to build momentum for a bill to cut legal immigration in half, and he’s had trouble unifying congressional Republicans behind his demand for a border wall (which faces majority public opposition).
On immigration, Republicans appear genuinely divided—mostly by geography, partly by ideology—over how closely to join Trump in targeting whites most uneasy about the new arrivals. That hesitance is understandable given that, by 2020, minorities are likely to constitute a majority of all Americans under age 18.
But on taxes, congressional Republicans are placing an equally narrow bet. With Trump’s intermittent support, the GOP is advancing a tax plan aimed at a few voters at the pinnacle of the income pyramid. Although the numbers may change somewhat in the new House plan, the most comprehensive nonpartisan analysis of the GOP’s original blueprint found that it would shower fully four-fifths of its benefits on the top 1 percent of earners by 2027.
By diverting so much federal revenue to that one group, Republicans are ensuring future conflict with others. That lopsided allocation leaves them offering only small tax cuts to working-class voters, as well as possible tax increases to many upper middle-class families already recoiling from Trump’s behavior and cultural agenda. Their plan ensures they will pursue deep cuts in domestic discretionary programs that invest in the productivity of the increasingly diverse future generations—including programs in education and scientific research. It also means they will face growing demands from their fiscal hawks to cut entitlements, which benefit the predominantly white older population whose votes underpin their electoral coalition.
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Notice anything weird about your News Feed today? Scores of users are confused by typically smarmy “Friends on Facebook” messages that are celebrating 46 years of friendship. It appears to be a Unix glitch of colossal proportions.
Don’t freak out. The world is not going to end because Facebook’s servers are confused about the New Year. In fact, as one developer points out, it’s most likely an issue with Unix time, also known as Epoch time. This system counts the number of seconds that have elapsed since January 1, 1970, so there’s a good chance that an error might’ve restarted the clock on this particular Facebook feature. (That’s almost exactly 46 years ago.) The glitch is not unlike the Y2K bug that hand-wringing sysadmins feared would crash computer systems around the world a decade and a half ago.
The precise explanation behind this timestamp kerfuffle remains unclear. However, another developer thinks he knows what happened. As Microsoft engineer Mark Davis explained on Facebook:
…to those of you unaware, the Unix Epoch (aka the date that has an internal value of ‘0’ on a Unix system) is 1/1/1970, which based on time zone adjustments, can become a random hour on 12/31/1969. Which is 46 years ago today. Now, you might be wondering, so what? Why is it in my Facebok feed? Well, if you click on your “memories” page, you’ll see a subset of you friends listed as having a 46 year old Facebook memory today. Scrolling through my list, it’s the people I’ve been friends with on Facebook for a very long time - chances are, the “friends with since” feature was implemented AFTER I became friends with those people. And as such, it’s stored in the database as ‘0’ rather than the actual date. The developer who wrote the “friends with since” memories algorithm should have added a case ‘WHERE friendsWithSinceDate!= ‘0” or something along those lines. But they didn’t so those people appear in today’s query.
In fewer words, somebody screwed up. The explanation makes good sense, too. The person in the screenshot from my own Facebook page is someone I’ve been friends with since 2005, well before this feature existed.
We’ve reached out to Facebook for more information about the oopsie and will update this post when we hear back. In the meantime, Happy Nerdy New Year, nerds!
[Greg Otto, Yuri Victor]
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State Rep. John Walker rejects the city’s apology for his arrest yesterday and complains at the city’s decision to pursue a charge against an associate in his law firm.
It’s about race, Walker, the 79-year-old civil rights lawyer, says. He is right, of course. When a white officer goes out of her way to complain about remarks Walker made about white officers at the jail after his arrest, it’s emblematic of an overwhelmingly white force that overwhelmingly chooses white flight suburban cities in which to live (and many get subsidized city transportation to do so). They don’t think the city is safe and they think the schools, with their black majority student bodies, also are unsuitable for their children. (A majority of black officers live here.) It is also true that a black man arrested for what Walker did wouldn’t get nearly the consideration that a smart, seasoned, feaarless black lawyer received in 24 hours.
I understand some new officers were part of the complement of at least eight officers on the scene at the arrest of Walker. The FOP has been careful in its response to events. It gets along with the chief reasonably well. He is black, by the way. The vets know that obnoxious people with cameras, however vexing, are exercising constitutional rights. It could be, as some suggest, that Walkers’ young associate went too far in injecting himself into an arrest scene and Walker did not. But I, too, await the arrival of video to form some stronger impressions.
John Walker is, no doubt, a provocateur. As he has every right to be. It is hard to imagine the state of black people in Arkansas today without some of the victories he’s won.
The letter today also indicates the matter won’t recede quickly or easily. If your browser can’t scale up the letter to City Manager Bruce Moore and Police Chief Kenton Buckner above, it says:
I cannot in good conscience accept your apology for the unlawful actions of the arresting officers yesterday by the Arkansas Arts Center. I also cannot accept the disparate treatment of my college Mr. Omavi Shukur. I appreciate hour effort to address the matter by providing further training to your officers. However, you must also recognize the issue of racial bias that is pervasive in some quarters of the police department. It happens that the two officers who arrested us yesterday are white. The black officers did not speak to us and appeared to be taking orders. I understand that this may [sic] due to seniority but it still has a grave negative impact on the Little Rock black community’s relationship with the LRPD, of which our arrest is but one example.
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Puerto Siles
We arrived in the small town of Puerto Siles hoping to continue along a road through the amazon, to the eastern part of the Beni state, however much to our dismay all roads in the area remained washed out from the wet season.Fortunately, as the Spanish name states, Puerto Siles is a port, a small river port that rests on the very large 'Rio Mamoré'. We immediately began making inquiries about boats, only to be told by the commander of the naval base that we should take a swim in the river to clean up and speak to him about it later. Hot, sweaty and dirty, we took his adviceAnother problem we discovered shortly thereafter was that there was no accommodation in Puerto Siles. This had us rather worried as for this trip all of our camping gear was left behind. Thankfully we met Damien and after a little bartering, he agreed to let us stay at his house for 50 Bolivianos each, about $8. His house was interesting to say the least, he had certainly accumulated a lot of stuff over the years.Damion was a keen hunter and had his rifle hanging on the wall. At one point he sent us off on a mission to buy him some bullets when we told him we were heading to San Joaquin for supplies. He would hunt at night time and the last time we saw him we shared our goodbyes and then he rode off into the darkness on his bicycle with the rifle slung over his shoulder. To this day I can't decide whether it was either a very funny or a very sad moment.Next to the port was the naval base run by Commandante Sanchez, a real asshole. Not only did he lie to us causing us to miss the first boat and wait 2 more days, he forced us to pay a bribe of $10 each for a silly paper which he had just invented the need for, unfortunately we couldn't argue as he wouldn't let us board the boat without it. His final act of treachery was to ask for a sip of my rum and coke on the Friday evening when we departed, only to walk off when I wasn't watching and never return with it.We would relax during the day, either resting in our hammocks or swimming in the river. At night we would go to bed very early to escape the millions of mosquitoes. Repellent has little to no effect and they can even get you through your clothes.Like the problem with accommodation, there were no restaurants either. Therefore in order to feed ourselves we would visit an indigenous family whom lived up the river and they would prepare our food. Much to our surprise, they even served us some Piranhas from the river!After three days doing nothing around Puerto Siles, a boat finally came
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Facebook temporarily removed multiple advertisements from Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s presidential campaign that called for breaking up tech giants, including Facebook itself. The Massachusetts Democrat’s campaign placed the ads Friday on Facebook. The affected ads, which were nearly identical and included a video, directed Facebook users to a petition on Warren’s website asking them “to support our plan to break up these big tech companies.” The proposal is part of Warren’s recent announcement to “unwind anti-competitive mergers,” such as Amazon with Whole Foods and Facebook with Instagram. “Three companies have vast power over our economy and our democracy. Facebook, Amazon and Google. We all use them,” the ads read. “But in their rise to power, they’ve bulldozed the competition, used our private information for profit, and tilted the playing field in their favor.”
Sanjana Karanth/HuffPost Screenshot of the ad that Facebook temporarily took down. The ad has since been restored.
Politico first noticed Monday that Facebook had taken down some of the ads, with the social media giant explaining, “This ad was taken down because it goes against Facebook’s advertising policies.” A Facebook spokesman couldn’t confirm to HuffPost exactly when the company took down the ads but said they were back up on the website as of Monday evening. “We removed the ads because they violated our policies against use of our corporate logo,” Facebook said. “In the interest of allowing robust debate, we are restoring the ads.” The policy in question says that Facebook ads cannot use the company’s corporate logo in posts. The ads featured a video with a thumbnail displaying Facebook’s logo. The policy also requires that ads not use the Facebook brand in a way that makes the social media company a prominent feature. Not all of Warren’s advertisements against tech giants were removed. More than a dozen other related Facebook ads that featured photos of Warren instead of the video stayed on the platform. BuzzFeed reported that several former and current Facebook employees disapproved of the company’s policies and Facebook’s decision to remove the post. Warren responded to the ad removals on Monday evening, highlighting the danger of Facebook’s ability to remove messages from its critics.
Curious why I think FB has too much power? Let's start with their ability to shut down a debate over whether FB has too much power. Thanks for restoring my posts. But I want a social media marketplace that isn't dominated by a single censor. #BreakUpBigTechhttps://t.co/UPS6dozOxn — Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) March 11, 2019
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Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Jim Murphy says Scottish Labour will create a "future fund" of £1,600 for teenagers not in education
Teenagers who do not go to university would receive £1,600 to spend on what they "need to get on in life", Scotland's Labour leader has pledged.
Jim Murphy told his party conference that he was keen to help those young Scots "destined to enter the world of work straight from school".
He also said his party would build more houses and double the number of classroom assistants.
The Edinburgh conference was the final one before the election on 7 May.
Mr Murphy explained that if there was a Labour government at Westminster after May it would make changes to tax relief on pensions which would result in an extra £200m for Scotland.
Any seat that the SNP take from the Labour Party is an enormous step towards David Cameron clinging on to power in Downing Street in May Jim Murphy, Scottish Labour leader
He said he wanted some of that additional spending to go on a "future fund" for 18 and 19-year-olds not at university, college or in a modern apprenticeship.
Mr Murphy believes that £1,600 per young person could be used on:
training
setting up a business
driving lessons
or buying work tools.
He told his party's conference: "We have always said that the opportunities enjoyed by those who get to university shouldn't come at the expense of those who don't.
"In higher education in Scotland a young person gets an average of £1,600 spent on their fees.
"But what of those thousands who don't go to university, or who don't gain similar investment from the nation through college or an apprenticeship.
"They shouldn't get left behind."
Mr Murphy added that in the "next few days" his party would set out more plans about supporting young Scots.
'Stop Cameron'
The speech to conference contained a warning message over voting SNP.
Mr Murphy told activists there: "In this forthcoming election there's only one organisation that can save David Cameron in Scotland. That's the SNP.
"The fact is that any seat that the SNP take from the Labour Party is an enormous step towards David Cameron clinging on to power in Downing Street in May."
The Scottish leader, who was elected to the post three months ago, also attacked the Conservatives.
He said: "If we don't stand up to Tory austerity no-one else will.
"If Scotland doesn't help prevent Cameron from getting into Downing Street, think of what it means for those families who are struggling to get by on foodbanks."
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Photo: Joe Lingeman
When Danny Bowien opened the first New York location of Mission Chinese in 2012, Angela Dimayuga, his head chef at the time, asked if she could install a fish tank in the dining room. She’d grown up going to Cantonese restaurants, she says, and felt it would be an easy way to reference them. Plus, the whole place felt very ’80s already; sticking a tank — which she filled with Glofish tetras (seen above, $8 at theifishstore.com) and Chen Chen & Kai Williams–designed acrylic pedestals — between the cream-colored banquettes made sense. In the seven years since Mission opened, there’s been an uptick in fish-tank installations across the city, according to Emily Kamelhar of Okeanos Aquascaping, the company responsible for the installation of a “skylight pond” in the recently reopened Brant Foundation. Seawitch, a nautical-inspired dive in Greenwood Heights, built a 120-gallon tank filled with blue-green chromis and yellow tangs; Blue + Black, a Carroll Gardens barbershop, installed a naturalistic, Japanese-inspired aquarium. Last fall, the Playboy Club reopened with a 450-gallon tank, and across town, La Mer at Saks Fifth Avenue recently unveiled a slightly more subdued L-shaped version. Below, all the parts to build a Reagan-era style at-home tank, from gaudy cherry-red beads to LEDs that simulate the moon.
Necessities
Décor
Top Fin Aquarium Decoration $5 Photo: Courtesy of vendor Night + Market puts these glassy red beads in its tank instead of gravel. $5 at PetSmart Buy
Fish
Flameback Angelfish $65 Photo: Courtesy of vendor The Playboy Club imported a school of angelfish from Japan for its saltwater tank. $65 at Live Aquaria Buy
Albino Cory Catfish $3 Photo: Courtesy of vendor/WEB USE ONLY. Dimayuga kept a pair of albino cory catfish, both of which she named Mary-Kate Olsen. $3 at PetSmart Buy
Plants
*This article appears in the May 27, 2019, issue of New York Magazine. Subscribe Now!
The Strategist is designed to surface the most useful, expert recommendations for things to buy across the vast e-commerce landscape. Some of our latest conquests include the best acne treatments, rolling luggage, pillows for side sleepers, natural anxiety remedies, and bath towels. We update links when possible, but note that deals can expire and all prices are subject to change.
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Sheep numbers drop to the lowest they have been since 1943.
New Zealand's sheep numbers have plummeted to where there are now only six for each person living here.
Figures released from Statistics New Zealand showed the country had dropped below 30 million sheep for the first time since 1943.
There used to be 22 sheep per person in New Zealand when the number peaked at 70.3 million in 1982 and the population was 3.18 million. Now there's only six sheep for each person.
READ MORE: Massey University study reveals feelings of empathy in sheep
Agriculture statistics manager Neil Kelly said the number had fallen to 29.8 million at June 30, 2014, a 3 per cent fall from 2013, or 983,000 fewer sheep.
This coincided with the dairy cow herd increasing 3 per cent over the same period to just under 6.7 million. Most of the increase had come from the South Island with 148,000 more cows and heifers, while numbers were up by 67,000 in the North Island.
The trend falls in line with many sheep and beef farms being converted to dairy operations over the past decade.
The main dairy cattle increases had come from the key dairying regions of Waikato, Canterbury and Southland with increases of 67,000 in the North Island and 148,000 in the South Island.
Sheep numbers fell more in the North Island - down 596,000 - than the south. The North Island had 14.4 million sheep and the south 15.4 million,
Manawatu-Wanganui and Otago have the largest regional flocks of 5.3 million followed by Canterbury (5 million), and Southland (4.3 million). Canterbury, however, had the highest fall, down 255,000 (5 per cent).
China and the United Kingdom remained key destinations for lamb exports with 94,000 tonnes of lamb to China and 60,000 tonnes to the UK.
The South Island dairy herd had been increasing since 2005 and accounted for 40 per cent of the national herd, compared with 27 per cent in 2005
Southland led the cow spike with 85,000 more dairy cattle - up 14 per cent - followed by Waikato and Manawatu-Wanganui.
The total number of beef cattle had declined slightly.
The number of deer also fell below 1 million for the first time, decreasing by 70,000.
Deer numbers were at their peak at 1.8 million in 2004, but had been declining since 2009.
The figures came from the 2014 Agricultural Production Survey, which involved farmers and foresters in New Zealand and was conducted in conjunction with the Ministry for Primary Industries.
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Google-Branded Touch Chromebook Planned
Production of a touchscreen Chromebook is underway, reports Taiwanese financial newspaper.
New Chromebook: A Visual Tour (click image for larger view and for slideshow)
Google is said to be preparing to launch a 12.85-inch Chrome OS touch-based notebook with electronic stylus that will be sold under its own brand.
The Chinese language Commercial Times, based in Taiwan, has published reports indicating that Google awarded a touchscreen contract to electronics maker Wintek and that Compal Electronics will be responsible for assembling a Google-branded notebook using the touchscreens.
Google declined to comment.
The report indicates that Compal will begin shipping the devices by the end of the year, continuing through the first quarter of 2013. The initial run is said to be relatively small -- 20 million units.
[ Read Samsung Chromebook: Hands-On Review. ]
That would be a huge shipment by last year's standards. In November 2011, Taiwan-based Digitimes said that Acer had sold only 5,000 Chromebooks and that Samsung had sold even fewer. Google has not reported how many Chromebooks have been shipped or are in use, but Sundar Pichai, senior VP of Chrome, has in the past stressed that Google is committed to Chrome OS.
Google's Android devices have been selling a bit better: Asus, which makes the Google-branded Nexus 7, last month said that Nexus 7 sales approached a million a month in its third quarter.
But Google's persistence with Chrome OS — or perhaps just the affordable pricing of Chrome OS devices and an expanded set of retail partners — might be starting to pay off. Samsung's recently revised Chromebook continues to be the top-seller in Amazon's laptop category, a position it has maintained for the past two weeks.
Although Google has yet to officially confirm its plans, its engineers and product managers acknowledged at its recent Chromebook media event that future Chrome OS devices might include touchscreens, not to mention a tablet.
This is hardly a secret: The Chromium website makes it clear that Chrome OS engineers are exploring tablets and a touch screen UI. The only question is when devices that support touch interaction will be made available.
The open-source Chromium code, which forms the basis of the Chrome OS, includes many references to touch-based interaction. In addition, one Google software engineer contributing touch-based code to Chromium recently noted that he is beginning to implement the W3C Pointer Events spec — which provides a single mechanism to handle mouse clicks, finger touches, and pen interaction — in Chrome.
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South Africa's Julius Malema "unshaken" by court charge Published duration 26 September 2012
media caption The BBC's Andrew Harding describes "extraordinary scenes" outside Julius Malema's court appearance
South Africa's firebrand politician Julius Malema has told supporters he is "unshaken" after being charged in court with money laundering.
Addressing an enthusiastic crowd of hundreds outside the court in Polokwane, Mr Malema vowed to continue his fight for "economic freedom".
The case against him relates to a government tender awarded to a company partly owned by his family trust.
Mr Malema, who has been granted bail, says the case is politically motivated.
There was a heavy police presence outside the court from early in the morning, and long stretches of barbed wire fencing were put in place.
image copyright Reuters image caption Mr Malema turned round to greet his supporters in court
Hundreds of supporters danced and sang songs denouncing President Zuma as they awaited Mr Malema's appearance.
Many held up placards saying "Hands off our leader".
He is accused of using his former position as the leader of the ANC's Youth League to enrich himself and his business partners.
'What you see is what you get'
The BBC's Andrew Harding, outside court, says it had been widely anticipated that Mr Malema would face a broader raft of charges - including corruption and fraud.
The single charge came as a surprise to his supporters, and adds weight to the view of some that the case against him has been rushed, our correspondent says.
The court appearance comes less than a week after a warrant for his arrest was issued.
Bail was set at 10,000 rand (£750). He is next due in court on November 30 in order to give the prosecution time to prepare their case.
Nine others have been charged alongside Mr Malema.
Emerging from court, Mr Malema said "what you see is what you get".
He then announced that he intended to visit a mine on Thursday in order to push for a wage strike.
He has been vocal in urging workers to make the mining sector "ungovernable" following the shooting of 34 miners in Marikana province by police in August.
Julius Malema is well-known in South Africa for his fiery populist rhetoric and lavish lifestyle, describing himself as an economic freedom fighter.
The 31-year-old politician was thrown out of the ANC in April, accused of sowing divisions in the party.
He is a fierce critic of his former ally, Jacob Zuma, recently attacking the president over his handling of the Marikana miners' strikes.
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European Union Terror Fears Drive New Crackdown on Bitcoin Across Member States
Citing pretext to end all pretexts, “terrorism,” European Union legislators moved Friday, December 15 to impose tighter controls on the world’s most popular cryptocurrency, bitcoin, through trading exchanges and related businesses.
Also read: Rise of the Bitcoin Politician: Austin Petersen’s Scrappy Run for US Senate
European Union Moves Against Bitcoin
The European Union has updated its landmark 2015 legislation, Fourth Anti-Money Laundering Directive, to include bitcoin and related businesses in its withering two-year-old creation of registering company owners for easier access by EU authorities.
Věra Jourová, European Union Commissioner for Justice, confirmed: “Today’s agreement will bring more transparency to improve the prevention of money laundering and to cut off terrorist financing.”
According to Reuters, “Bitcoin exchange platforms and ‘wallet’ providers that hold [bitcoin] for clients will be required to identify their users, under the new rules which now must be formally adopted by EU states and European legislators and then turned into national laws.”
Bitcoin has been a tear the entire year, causing governments worry about adoption and potential seigniorage loss, as well as taxation hits, more than public pronouncements regarding the digital asset’s use for terror. Nevertheless, the drafted legislation was in direct response to attacks in Brussels and Paris over the last two years, lawmakers claimed.
Deutsche Welle detailed the legislation in five parts: “Requires platforms that transfer bitcoin and ‘wallet’ providers that hold cryptocurrencies for clients to identify users; Limits use of pre-paid payment cards; Raises transparency requirements for company and trust owners; Allows national investigators more access to information, including national bank account registers; Grants access to data on the beneficiaries of trusts to ‘persons who can demonstrate a legitimate interest,’” it explained.
Ireland, Cyprus, Britain, Malta, and Luxembourg all mounted various levels of opposition during negotiations, as these countries in particular are well known to court financial technology companies.
Underscoring less terror and more tax-related concerns, many news outlets also cited revelations contained in the Panama Papers and Paradise Papers, which essentially flouted avoiding EU revenue grabs (celebrities and large companies were outed), embarrassing regulators and legislators alike.
The update has to be ratified by members states and then processed regionally by early 2019.
Will the EU’s new set of rules impact bitcoin? Let us know in the comments below.
Images via Pixabay, EU.
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Fifty-four years after he accidentally wandered across the eastern frontier into India following the 1962 war with China, a Chinese soldier has returned home to Xi’an to a hero’s welcome.
“I’m finally home!” Wang Qi (77) sobbed as he arrived at Xi’an’s airport in an emotional reunion carried on state television in China.
“Today is my happiest day in 54 years. Finally I have come back to this beautiful lovely country. Words cannot express how I feel now,” he said as he hugged his tearful brothers and sisters.
He was accompanied by his son, Vishnu Wang (35), daughter-in-law Neha and grand-daughter, Khanak Wang. His Indian wife Shushila, however, stayed behind in India as she was ill.
Building roads
Mr Wang had been a surveyor with the Chinese military following the brief war with India in 1962 and had been building roads for the Chinese army when he strayed into Indian territory at Assam.
“I had gone out of my camp for a stroll but lost my way. I was tired and hungry. I saw an Indian Red Cross vehicle and asked them to help me. They handed me over to the Indian army,” he said.
Mr Wang was moved around between various jails for seven years after he was jailed for espionage, before his release in 1969.
He ended up in a remote village in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, where he married and worked in a flour mill, living in poverty and sending many letters to his family in Shaanxi province expressing his desire to come home.
Mr Wang began the process of applying for the necessary documents to leave India in 1977, but he only received a passport in 2013. He was never granted Indian citizenship.
Finally back
It was a report by the BBC that highlighted his plight on Chinese social media and expedited efforts to get him a passport.
Arriving in his home city of Xianyang, he was met by crowds carrying banners. The reunion took place on the same day as China’s Lantern Festival, a day that traditionally represents reunion.
“After all these years, he is finally back,” Wang Shun, who had prepared a quilt for Mr Wang, told the Xinhua news agency. “We bought the furniture in this room many years ago.”
A local villager Wang Ming said Mr Wang had not changed much.
“I can still recognise him... All of us in the village have been waiting for his return, and we are just happy that he made it.”
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Queens community members rallied in Corona Plaza on Aug. 11 against ICE raids and to build the movement for immigrant rights. The rally demanded an end to mass raids and called for “Liberation, not deportation!”
Organizers were responding to U.S. immigration raids on numerous Mississippi food processing plants Aug. 7, arresting 680 mostly Latino workers in the largest workplace sting in at least a decade.
“We are here to come together and defend one another– we are here to fight. If ICE comes to Queens we’re going to make sure everyone has the information necessary to defend themselves, the information that can help make sure they don’t take you away, because this is a community of immigrants and we are staying here!” said organizer and Queens native Cathy Rojas. Half of the 2.4 million people in Queens were born in another country.
Organizers gave out leaflets breaking down these rights, such as the requirement that in order to legally enter your apartment ICE agents must have a warrant signed by a judge.
The rally organizers are shifting conversations on immigration to highlight the U.S. government’s training of dictators and paramilitary death squads across Latin America, causing widespread violence through coups, such as the 2009 coup in Honduras, and causing people to flee. Speakers also pointed to the damage caused by NAFTA, for example, devastating Mexico’s rural economy by flooding markets there with U.S. products.
“Immigrants work in some of the most difficult and dangerous jobs in this country. Immigrants pay taxes, but are barred from social services. And why are they here? Because of American imperialism, which has caused massive destruction all so capitalists can get even richer. As socialists, we stand with the working class across borders and are committed to defending our communities from these raids and, ultimately, to building a new system where the wealth of society belongs to those who produce it—the workers,” said the organizers’ statement.
Called by the Party for Socialism and Liberation, the rally sought to amplify mass peoples’ movement, building on a legacy of immigration organizing successes from the fight for amnesty by DACAs (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival), and drawing inspiration from the major mobilizations in 2006 against racist anti-immigrant bills.
The speakout and outreach are part of a wave of organizing in Queens and throughout the country in response to the spike in mass deportations, waged under Democrat and Republican presidents alike that became even more inhumane under President Trump. As atrocities including children dying and being trafficked continue, many activists call not just to abolish ICE and racist immigration policies, but to address the fundamental issue of U.S. empire driving displacement in the first place.
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Scientists at the Universities of York and Leeds have made a significant discovery about the cause of the destruction of ozone over oceans.
They have established that the majority of ozone-depleting iodine oxide observed over the remote ocean comes from a previously unknown marine source. The research team found that the principal source of iodine oxide can be explained by emissions of hypoiodous acid (HOI) – a gas not yet considered as being released from the ocean – along with a contribution from molecular iodine (I2).
Since the 1970s when methyl iodide (CH3I) was discovered as ubiquitous in the ocean, the presence of iodine in the atmosphere has been understood to arise mainly from emissions of organic compounds from phytoplankton—microscopic marine plants.
This new research, which is published in Nature Geoscience, builds on an earlier study which showed that reactive iodine, along with bromine, in the atmosphere is responsible for the destruction of vast amounts of ozone – around 50 per cent more than predicted by the world's most advanced climate models – in the lower atmosphere over the tropical Atlantic Ocean.
The scientists quantified gaseous emissions of inorganic iodine following the reaction of iodide with ozone in a series of laboratory experiments. They showed that the reaction of iodide with ozone leads to the formation of both molecular iodine and hypoiodous acid. Using laboratory models, they show that the reaction of ozone with iodide on the sea surface could account for around 75 per cent of observed iodine oxide levels over the tropical Atlantic Ocean.
Professor Lucy Carpenter, of the Department of Chemistry at York, said: "Our laboratory and modelling studies show that these gases are produced from the reaction of atmospheric ozone with iodide on the sea surface interfacial layer, at a rate which is highly significant for the chemistry of the marine atmosphere.
"Our research reveals an important negative feedback for ozone – a sort of self-destruct mechanism. The more ozone there is, the more gaseous halogens are created which destroy it. The research also has implications for the way that radionucleides of iodine in seawater, released into the ocean mainly from nuclear reprocessing facilities, can be re-emitted into the atmosphere."
Professor John Plane, from the University of Leeds' School of Chemistry, said: "This mechanism of iodine release into the atmosphere appears to be particularly important over tropical oceans, where measurements show that there is more iodide in seawater available to react with ozone. The rate of the process also appears to be faster in warmer water. The negative feedback for ozone should therefore be particularly important for removing ozone in the outflows of pollution from major cities in the coastal tropics."
Explore further Destruction of greenhouse gases over tropical Atlantic
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A Coquitlam motorcycle owner is speaking out after someone vandalized his prized Harley-Davidson cruiser.
“I know it’s a noisy bike,” Rob Supeene told CTV News, adding that, while he’s had it modified, he does his best to keep the exhaust sounds to a minimum.
“I don’t crack the throttle. I don’t open it up. I literally push it off the driveway and down the alley,” he said.
At least one of those neighbours, however, didn’t seem to appreciate the din along Catherine Avenue when Supeene leaves for work at 6 in the morning.
A week after he’d moved in, Supeene said he awoke to found someone had slashed the motorcycle’s seat, scratched the gas tank, and left a handwritten note that read: “If this wakes me up early morning again, it will get much worse.”
“[I took it] as a threat,” he said. “I don’t see how you could take it any other way.”
Supeene then installed a surveillance camera in case whoever left the note came back.
And it seems his effort paid off. On Tuesday, Supeene woke up to a sticky mess covering his 2013 Wide Glide.
“It literally stripped the paint right off the rear fender,” Supeene said. “It’s ruined the bike.”
Footage from the security camera revealed a person carrying a paint can.
“The first comment that came out of my mouth was ‘I got you, you S-O-B,’” Supeene said, describing his reaction to the act of vandalism as “shock, disgust, anger.”
Supeene called the RCMP, who wouldn’t comment on the case, but his neighbours had plenty to say.
“I think it’s terrible,” neighbor Ross James told CTV News. “I mean, why do people do things like that?”
“It’s ridiculous. It’s stupid,” said Nathan Valecourt.
Supeene estimates the damage to his bike could cost up $10,000 to fix. While insurance should cover most of that amount, he’s worried the vandal could come back.
“How far are you going to go?” he asked. “Stop. Grow up.”
With files from CTV Vancouver’s David Molko
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A policeman has been shot dead by two attackers on a motorbike on the outskirts of Sousse, the Tunisian coastal city where a jihadi gunman killed 38 tourists in June. Three officers were targeted in the shooting, one of whom was hit and later died, according to the Tunisian interior ministry.
The officers are believed to have been shot at with a rifle while they were waiting for transportation to the nearby town of Kairouan from the low-income neighbourhood of Hay Zohour.
Rafik Chelly, secretary of state for national security, said: “Unknown assailants fired on three policemen on a road. One of them was hit and died in hospital.” He added that an investigation was under way but was not able to clarify if the attack was the work of jihadi. An interior ministry spokesman said the two other policemen were unharmed, contrary to an earlier report from Wataniya-1 television.
The attack comes less than two months after a gunman killed 30 Britons and eight other foreign tourists at the Mediterranean resort of Port El Kantaoui in Sousse, an attack for which the Islamic State jihadi group claimed responsibility.
Counter-terrorism officers from Scotland Yard said earlier this month they had linked that attack by Seifeddine Rezgui with the March attack on the Bardo museum in the country’s capital, in which 21 tourists and a policeman were killed. Commander Richard Walton, head of Scotland Yark’s counter-terrorism command, said: “We are now linking evidentially the Bardo museum investigation in Tunisia, that attack, with the Sousse investigation. We have written to the coroner advising him of the connection between the two.”
Survivors reveal heroism of Sousse hotel staff as Tunisia attack unfolded Read more
Tunisian authorities have arrested 159 people in relation to the 26 June shooting, with 15 charged with terrorism-related offences. The Tunisian president, Beji Caid Essebsi, decreed a state of emergency in the country after the incident, with Tunisia’s prime minister, Habib Essid, telling parliament: “We are engaged in a ferocious war against terrorism to protect lives and property, defend the republican regimes. We would not have felt obliged to decree the state of emergency if we were not convinced that our country was facing numerous terrorist plans to destabilise the country.”
Since its 2011 revolution, Tunisia has faced an upsurge in jihadiviolence that has cost the lives of dozens of soldiers and police. As many as 3,000 Tunisians are feared to have gone to Iraq, Syria and Libya to fight with militant groups, raising fears of returning jihadis plotting attacks on home soil.
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with respect to current real-world information, such as major events, opinion polls, demographic statistics, economic reports, and shifts in trends,” according to a working paper on the system.
In recent years, other scientists have conducted research and even experimentation in attempts to show actual evidence of the Simulation. Heads turned last year when theoretical physicist S. James Gate announced he had found strange computer code in his String Theory research. Bound inside the equations we use to describe our universe, he says, is peculiar self-dual linear binary error-correcting block code.
A team of German physicists has also set out to show that the numerical constraints we see in our universe are consistent with the kinds of limitations we would see in a simulated universe. These physicists have invoked a non-perturbative approach known as lattice quantum chromodynamics to try to discover whether there is an underlying grid to the space/time continuum.
So far their efforts have recreated a minuscule region of the known universe, a sliver of a corner that is but a few femtometers across. But this corner simulates the hypothetical lattice of the universal grid, and their search for a corresponding physical restraint turned up a theoretical upper limit on high-energy particles known as the Greisen–Zatsepin–Kuzmin, or GZK cut off. In other words, there are aspects of our universe that look and behave as a simulation might.
With news that there are two anonymous tech billionaires working on a secret project to break us out of the Matrix, it’s hard to know whether we should laugh or scream in horror. Simulation talk is great epistemological fun and metaphysical amusement of the highest order, but it may speak to an underlying anxiety regarding the merging of our reality with machines, or an underlying existential loneliness. It’s even been posited as a solution to the Fermi Paradox. Why haven’t we met aliens? Well, because we live inside a world they built.
Our earth is marooned in a cosmic void so vast it would take our current Deep Space I propulsion system an astonishing 81,000 years to reach the nearest star — in a galaxy of hundreds of billions, which is, itself, just one of hundreds of billions. The thought that it’s all 1s and 0s rendered by a futuristic microprocessor is philosophically sexy but, perhaps, sociologically lazy.
That there is anxiety about reality being manufactured in a society obsessed with simulated pleasure and mediated experience isn’t altogether surprising. It’s the ultimate, though perhaps accidental, expression of resistance to a culture steeped in consumerism and artificial growth.
Creative Commons / Anti-Media / Report a typo
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NASCAR’s West Coast swing continues this weekend with a visit to the 2-mile Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California.
Cup and Xfinity Series teams will be in action, with the weekend capped off by Sunday’s Auto Club 400.
For Friday, wunderground.com forecasts partly cloudy skies, a high of 81 degrees and no chance of rain.
For the start of Saturday’s Xfinity Series race, the forecast is for sunny skies and a high of 70 degrees.
On Sunday, the forecast for the start of the Cup race is cloudy skies, a high of 54 and a 39% of rain.
Here’s the full weekend schedule with TV and radio info:
(All times are Eastern)
Friday, Feb. 28
Noon – 10 p.m. – Xfinity garage open
1 – 9 p.m. – Cup garage open
3:05 – 3:55 p.m. – Xfinity practice (FS1)
4:05 – 4:55 – Cup practice (FS1, Motor Racing Network)
5:02 – 5:27 p.m. – Final Xfinity practice (FS1)
5:35 – 6:25 p.m. – Final Cup practice (FS1, MRN)
Saturday, Feb. 29
10 a.m. – 4 p.m. – Cup garage open
11:30 a.m. – Xfinity garage opens
1:05 p.m. – Xfinity qualifying; one car/single lap (FS1)
2:15 p.m. – Xfinity driver-crew chief introductions
2:35 p.m. – Cup qualifying; one car/single lap (FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)
3:30 p.m. – Xfinity driver introductions
4 p.m. – Production Alliance Group 300; 150 laps/300 miles (FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)
Sunday, March 1
11:30 a.m. – Cup garage opens
1:30 p.m. – Driver-crew chief meeting
2:50 p.m. – Cup driver introductions
3:30 p.m. – Auto Club 400; 200 laps/400 miles (Fox, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)
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a victim blaming piece of shit as well as a hypocrite.
Laurel dies and on her deathbed tells Oliver that Felicity is the best thing for him despite the fact she loved him too. The writers wanted to 10000000% make sure that we all know that Felicity is The Girl ™ and anyone at all that might’ve potentially maybe been competition just pales in comparison, my guy.
Diggle is traumatized by the situation with his family and Felicity makes YET ANOTHER INSULTING, DISRESPECTUL “JOKE” AT OLIVER’S EXPENSE by saying Diggle is “one illegitmate child away from a great Oliver Queen impersonation”, making another dig at William, yknow the kid that she dumped Oliver over, the one Oliver didnt know about himself until shortly before she did, the kid that Oliver had to say goodbye to, before he’d even gotten the chance to be a dad to, in order to keep him safe. (But she loves Oliver so much guys! Honest! So totally cares about his wellbeing and whats best for him, even at the detriment of herself, I swear!)
TL;DR in conclusion, Felicity is a misogynist tool that the writers have been employing from day one. Its a common trope in fiction. She’s the token female character that all other females get compared to/dismissed for. They pit women against each other at every available oppprtunity and have Felicity become this untouchable writers-pet that is never called out and can never be wrong and she’s just so great and can do everything and everyone loves her and no one seems to question any of the horrible things she does because she is so righteous in her writers-pet bubble!
And because she’s a woman they try and champion this as ground-breaking and feminist, when its actually extremely misogynist and anti-feminist, especially when you consider that if the tables were turned and OLIVER was the one doing all this shit to Felicity, then people would be out for blood and screaming misogyny from the rooftops, but because Felicity herself is a woman, they think that it makes her exempt.
But felicity isnt a woman, she’s not real, she’s a puppet being controlled by men and theyre using a female character to get away with misogyny.
The whole idea of The Girl ™ and the concept that one female character has to be the 'Alpha’ and something happens to every other female to prove that she is clearly The Best of the women, is always inherently misogynist and exists to fasciliate pitting women against each other.
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About RK Audio: Family Owned & Operated Since 2008!
Welcome to the RK Audio — your destination for the best gear to help you get the sound you’re after. We offer free shipping our online selection of installation equipment including, Live Sound, DJ Gear, microphones, recording for band and orchestra, accessories, and more. You’ll even find an unmatched selection of open-box gear that ships lower 48.
Many of our products provides 10% discount. If you see a better price contact us at by calling 516-597-5450 or drop us an email.
Because of our buying power and low overhead on all the top brands, you’re sure to find all the best gear at the guaranteed lowest price.
No matter your experience level or musical preference, our small team of experienced will help you find the right piece of gear for your band, ensemble or music venue. Whether you’re just getting started making music, or you're a working professional, RK Audio has what you need to help make the sounds in your head a reality.
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enemy of capitalism.
Jones is bitterly aware that people regard property speculators like himself as parasites. Those people are just jealous socialists, he seethes, and the most abhorrent of them are those who suggest he should have to pay tax on the money he makes while doing no work and creating no value. It’s hard to think of a prominent right-wing or neoliberal economist who hasn’t advocated a land tax or a property tax or a tax on capital, specifically to prevent people like Jones sucking wealth out of the productive economy, but to his mind people like Smith, von Hayek, Friedman are just socialists, all of them socialists. Is it any coincidence, he demands, that when the communists seized control of China, landlords were seen as the great evil?
But by the end of the book he concludes, gloomily, that a tax on capital is probably inevitable. The socialists will eventually come for investment property income and when that happens the time will come to sell up and get out. As with so many of Jones’ predictions this did not come to pass. The tax-free status of property investment endures; when the OECD urged Michael Cullen to introduce a capital gains tax he instantly dismissed it as “political suicide”; Labour ruled it out yet again prior to the last election. Perhaps not coincidentally, New Zealand’s MPs have their own class of specially legislated private superannuation schemes where they can own property investments without disclosing them, and which are heavily subsidised by the taxpayer.
Towards the end of Capital in the Twenty First Century Thomas Piketty proposes a progressive tax on wealth as a way to make capitalist economies more meritocratic and productive. It would be zero or nominal for small businesses and typical homes but rise for higher amounts of wealth, and as I struggled to the end of Jones on Property in which the author fantasises about a property-owning revolution in which politicians are marched to the guillotine, I found myself fantasising about an asymptotic wealth tax that rose until, when you reached Jones’ level of affluence – about $750 million, according to some estimates – became downright confiscatory.
And on the day of its introduction, I daydreamed on, we could celebrate by having people like Jones, all our suddenly reduced property speculators and financiers, get up and mow the lawns and polish the cars of teachers and nurses and drivers and retail workers and office clerks: everyone who actually works for a living. I let the book fall to the table where the breeze ruffled the pages like an invisible hand, and dreamed about Parasite Gratitude Day.
The Spinoff Review of Books is proudly brought to you by Unity Books.
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