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One day we will be old and so will our music. What is new and hip will eventually become vintage and nostalgic. New ears will search for what we once took for granted, discover the relics we obsessed over, uncover the artists that achieved our affection. They will hunt down the acclaimed albums, trying to hear what we heard, and of course, they'll turn first to albums. Sadly, though, just downloading albums and mixtapes only tell a part of the story, especially in the digital age.
The rappers and musicians of today release music that exist only online. Forced to release tunes for free because of sample clearance issues or spur-of-the-moment SoundCloud uploads that are worthy of album placement, how many records have been lost due to dead links on ZShare? How many freestyles didn’t survive MegaUpload’s massacre? There are songs I found through Limewire that I’ll never find again. Will my children know of Frank Ocean’s "Acura Integral" after finding Channel Orange? Childish Gambino’s "Centipede" is incredible, but will it disappear due to not finding a home on Because The Internet?
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A “Best of Drake” LP could be made by the loosies he’s liberated throughout the years. We were tortured by “Make Me Proud” as a lead single while” Heat of the Moment” is thrown into the ocean of too much music. "5AM in Toronto" should’ve been on Nothing Was The Same the same way "9 A.M In Dallas" should’ve been on Thank Me Later. I blame the Jai Pual’s sample for the reason why "Dreams Money Can Buy" was a promotional single and not on Take Care’s final track listing. It’s the Drake song that embodies everything we wanted from Drake. Initially, this is the song that excited me for Take Care. 40’s drums hit like baby dynamite. Drake was in his zone, he’s boastful and sincere, rapping with his chest out while his heart is sewn to an expensive sleeve. It’s a must hear for every present and future Drake fan.
I remember Wayne when he was the greatest. When he was rapping like how my uncle saw Mike Tyson before being knocked out by Evander Holyfield. If the next gen kids only know Wayne for "Lollipop," "How To Love," and beefing with Young Thug, that’s like only knowing Mayweather for being knocked out by Pacquiao (or vice-versa, we'll see which way the fight goes). Who will educate the kids of how Wayne would snatch beats and pummel them with bars? He was outrageous, rapping like a man possessed. I hope the second Dedication and the third Drought survives like the Carter albums but what about Lil Weezy Ana Vol 1, No Ceilings, and Blow with Juelz Santana? There are too many features to name, too many verses to recall, but I pray they don’t stop searching once they hear I Am Not A Human Being I & II. One of his most underrated tapes is the Drought Is Over 2, leaked records that possibly could’ve been included on Carter III. Imagine if "I Feel Like Dying" was on his most anticipated album? What about the heartfelt “Something You Forgot”? One of my personal favorites, "La La La" is Wayne at his finest. It’s a tragedy that what could influence a generation of rappers will likely suffocate under the weight of Wayne's enormous catalog.
Chance The Rapper is an offspring of Wayne’s Golden Era. You'll find the proof if you dig through his SoundCloud, bypassing the critically acclaimed Acid Rap, skip over the incredible #10day, overlook the greatness that is The Social Experiment, and you’ll find a freestyle over “No Worries” entitled “I Ain’t Word.” Nathan considers this one of his favorite Chance songs, and it’s easy to see why. He’s rapping like a hyperactive acrobat, the outstanding wordplay and infectious energy showcases everything impressive about Chance. It’s almost like he injected the best qualities from “Juice” into the Detail beat. That’s not the only song that isn’t widely known but worthwhile. His remix of Tinashe’s "Ecstasy" is tough, I’m not a huge fan of the original, but Chance sprinkles magic all across her hit record. He has a way of overwhelming records with his presence, it’s not your song by the time his verse ends. What about the Vic Mensa featured “Suitcase”? It’s not their best collaboration, but it’s a damn good one. That one time Joey Bada$$ and Chance got together and discussed Wendy and Becky? Will the next generation even know "Tap Dance" ever happened? We barely appreciate the music he’s been outputting, once Surf hits the internet next week, these little drops will be considered insufficient.
When I say "Mount Olympus" is one of K.R.I.T’s best records, I’m not referring to the bonus cut on Cadillactica. The enormous record was released on his SoundCloud originally but had to be reprised for the album due to sampling complications, sucking away the cinematic vigor that matched Krizzle's thunderous performance. He made a response to Kendrick that became a lightning bolt that electrified fans and naysayers. A true gladiator. It wasn’t just "Mount Olympus," every song that was released during KRITweek is excellent. It’s criminal that "Lac Lac" was treated as a bonus record when it’s much more and "New Agenda" had potential to be a big record for K.R.I.T if pushed correctly. Tell me "Wolf On Wall Street" isn’t exceptional? Those drums? That flow? Played on the right speakers the earth will shake. These are the kind of records that are expected from K.R.I.T, heavy drums, booming bass, and sweet southern lyricism. Who knows why they didn't make an album, probably sample issues, but you can't know K.R.I.T.'s best music without knowing those songs.
Soulful samples and J. Cole go together like double stuff Oreos and milk. When I first heard him rap over a loop of Lauryn Hill’s "Nothing Even Matters" I couldn’t play it enough. He sounds at home with his feet kicked up, much like when he soared on “Too Deep For The Intro.” Another Cole favorite that’s been lost in his celebrity is “Like A Star,” impressive storytelling that samples Corinne Bailey Rae. It might be remembered for a slight jab at Diggy, but Cole rapping over David Ruffin’s "The Double Cross" on "Grew Up Fast" is a scorcher. I can’t forget "Kenny Lofton," Canei Finch samples The Manhattans and it’s a Jermaine gem. We always mention "Beautiful Bliss," but "Winter Scheme" is Cole and Wale sparring like titans. Yet, it failed to appear on either album. One of my biggest issues with Born Sinner was the lack of soul, that’s his sound, but the noteworthy records are packaged in EPs that likely won’t be remembered. Sad. Very sad.
Kanye won’t have to worry, his music will be studied in schools across the world. College courses dedicated to dissecting College Dropout and Late Registration. It's easy to imagine children gravitating to Graduation strictly based off the colorful bear on the cover. 808s & Heartbreak and his Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy will birth artists for generations but what about the songs that came during the G.O.O.D Friday series? Will the songs released in 2010 survive in a future with flying cars and robots? Only three of the records made it to Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, leaving a bunch of jewels on the internet. “Take One For The Team” and Christmas In Harlem” can be lost in the dark abyss for eternity but what about "Lord, Lord, Lord"? It’s one of the few times Mos Def has used his G.O.O.D Music membership card. “Don’t Look Down” is the home to one of my favorite Big Sean verses ever. A song with Raekwon and Justin Bieber exists, "Runaway Love" has to be considered a national treasure for that reason alone? J. Cole on "Looking For Trouble" is the second coming of "Beautiful Bliss," “Christian Dior Denim Flow” and “Chain Heavy” are better than half of the records on Cruel Summer. There’s only two Child Rebel Soldier songs in existence, "Don’t Stop" is one. It wasn’t the first weekly series but arguably the most consistent in immaculate quality. Kanye’s throwaways will shame full albums.
When Kendrick dropped “Control” the outrage sent ripples through the industry. I laughed, knowing the industry would’ve melted down if he waited until he was critically acclaimed to drop his freestyle over “Monster.” That record would’ve made him the eye of the storm. He raps with boastful pride, so confident in his abilities as a rapper he claims the title of best rapper alive, promised to bomb on Obama if necessary, told Wayne to swallow his pride, proclaimed that Jay should’ve retired, and went on a spree of naming rappers that shouldn’t bust any more rhymes. Lupe, Eminem, Nas, Kanye, shooting at all the big dogs. It’s the song that made me a fan, his display of fearless lyricism lead me to download everything I could find, including “Look Out For Detox.” You won’t find it on Overly Dedicated or Section80, but one listen is all it takes for you to hear the hunger of a juggernaut rapping rampant. The kind of song you make to prove your elite level.
Despite being featured on BJ The Chicago Kid’s Pineapple Now-Laters, “His Pain” is a song that should’ve been featured on a Kendrick album. It’s an important record, the Kendrick Lamar that appears on this song isn’t seen often. He’s full of guilt, full of doubt, the song structure is brilliant with lyrics that can only be considered beautiful melancholy. Over the sullen piano keys, Kendrick vents to listeners like a patient to a psychologist. I can’t discuss legendary loosies without mentioning "Cartoon and Cereal." If there was one song that represented a good kid in mad city, this is the one. It should’ve made the album. The song is chaotic, a calamity. This is what growing up in Compton sounds like. Somehow, Kendrick summoned the greatest Gunplay verse in the history of Gunplay verses. It’s almost chilling like he was possessed. If there was one Kendrick song everyone must hear, this is the one. The Young Jeezy featured "Westside, Right On Time" and the J. Cole produced, "The Jig Is Up" are honorable mentions.
She's still fairly new but my favorite SZA records weren't featured on her well-received EP. "Teen Spirit" is the song that comes to mind when I'm craving tunes from the TDE songstress. "Sobriety," a song released just a few months ago is easily one of her best records, I hope it's attached to something bigger. She grabs Jill Scott for a feature and it sits on a SoundCloud between ScHoolboy Q's "Studio" remix and Ab-Soul's "These Days." Why? Sway, I need answers.
I could sit for hours labeling all the masterpieces that were gifted without packaging. All our favorite artists have littered the internet with jewels that didn’t make it inside the album treasure chest. Songs that will never make it to radio and never be heard in clubs. I’d be surprised if streaming services upload every song released. Pray that Audiomack and SoundCloud live forever because music links die, and blogs say goodbye. Let’s be honest, the best song wasn’t the single, the best songs never made the album. How will they survive? Who will make sure the next generation hears the music that mattered the most, even if that song never made it into the history books?
By Yoh, aka the Child Rebel Blogger, aka @Yoh31 |
Although the game is now two years old, it should still be effective given its use of (mostly) monochromatic and 2D visuals. For PlayStation owners, the developer says it's improved "plenty of rough edges," making it easier to reach and recognise the points where the narrative branches in different directions. "This makes a huge difference in the experience," Infinitap creative director Matt Gilgebach says. The updated version will also run at a "targeted" 1080p and 60 frames per second with antialiasing, which should make the environments and character models a little sharper.
Finally, the PlayStation titles will support cross buy and cross save at launch -- so if you own both pieces of hardware, you can switch between the two at any time and continue playing, no questions asked. Just have a pair of headphones ready when you switch to the Vita version, because the spooky soundtrack thoroughly deserves a decent set of cans. |
Last year, Eldad and Audrey Hagar found Fiona -- sick, blind, flea-infested and covered in grime -- in a trash heap in South Los Angeles.
"She was just so defeated," said Eldad Hagar, who captured the rescue on video, said. "Blind, filthy, everything was going against her. There seemed to be no hope there."
Eldad Hargar, 36, and his wife, Audrey, 37, who are the founders of Hope For Paws, a Los Angeles-based animal rescue organization that takes in abused and neglected animals, gathered the traumatized dog in their arms and immediately took her home. They shaved off her matted fur and cleaned off the dirt -- thus beginning Fiona's miraculous transformation.
Thanks to a nationwide fundraising effort spearheaded by the Hagars, hundreds reached into their pockets, and Fiona received a $4,000 eye surgery that replaced the lens in one of her eyes, partially restoring her vision. (Unfortunately, her other eye had been too badly damaged by glaucoma to be saved.)
The Hagars' video of Fiona's rescue and recovery has since gone viral. The YouTube page has more than 48,000 hits and a number of news organizations have reported her story.
Following the surgery, Fiona -- a poodle mix -- was adopted and according to Eldad Hagar, is "doing amazing." The couple hope that Fiona's story will inspire others to help abandoned animals.
"We're so happy that people are watching this and learning," Eldad Hagar said. "We want people to react to this. Next time you see an animal on the street, call someone or do something. If you can't help, then get help."
Often, he said, all they need is a bath. "The change is instant," he said. "You can take a dog off the street or out of a shelter who is absolutely terrified and you just give them a bath and show them some attention. They feel so much better, immediately. It's so incredible. "
Hagar and his wife rescue several animals a week in the Los Angeles area. He frequently videotapes the rescues and posts them on his YouTube page.
For the past four years, the couple have been fostering the animals they rescue (about 500 of them) in their home, cage-free, until they are adopted.
"I really want to encourage more people to foster dogs. It really does not take that much effort," said Hagar, who is fostering five at the moment. "It's so rewarding to take an animal from the worst conditions possible and to see them go from there to what Fiona became at the end. It's amazing."
"That's why we call the organization 'Hope For Paws', because there is hope," he continued. "We just need to make it happen."
For more information, go to the Hope For Paws website or Facebook page.
Check out more photos of Fiona before and after her rescue below. |
UPDATE 12/7/17: Tickets are now available at https://disneyland.disney.go.com/events-tours/after-dark/
UPDATE 11/20/17: Ticket and event information is now available at https://disneyland.disney.go.com/events-tours/after-dark/
When night falls, the Disneyland Resort lights up with even more magic – and beginning next year, you will be able to experience this enchanting time with a new series of events. Disneyland After Dark kicks off January 18 with its first after-hours event – Throwback Nite!
Step back in time to the ‘50s and ‘60s for a taste of the classic after-dark experience at Disneyland. Come dressed in your best to enjoy the Happiest Place on Earth under a million twinkling lights, swinging to the tune of the bands and enjoying your favorite rides in the cool moonlight ‘till the clock strikes 1 a.m.!
Original attraction posters of Disneyland experiences from yesteryear welcome you as you commemorate the evening with special photo locations – and unlimited digital downloads are included with your event admission! Live music and dancing bring the bygone era to life throughout the park, and the sky lights up with an exclusive showing of “Fantasy in The Sky” fireworks. Guests will receive a commemorative lanyard and a vintage-inspired park map that will highlight the special experiences taking place throughout the evening.
This trip down memory lane will truly be one for the ages! Tickets for Throwback Nite will be available on Disneyland.com for Disneyland Resort Annual Passholders beginning Nov. 30 and for general public beginning Dec. 7.
And this is just the first in an ongoing series of unique events! Each Disneyland After Dark “nite” will be a can’t-miss experience featuring specialty entertainment, themed food, collectible merchandise and more. Keep an eye on Disneyland.com to learn about this and future Disneyland After Dark events. |
Summary: Researchers generate microglia from stem cells derived from the skin. They believe their findings could help advance the understanding of the role microglia plays in Alzheimer’s.
Source: UC Irvine.
UCI-led study to advance understanding of the role of microglia in Alzheimer’s disease.
Using human skin cells, University of California, Irvine neurobiologists and their colleagues have created a method to generate one of the principle cell types of the brain called microglia, which play a key role in preserving the function of neural networks and responding to injury and disease.
The finding marks an important step in the use of induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells for targeted approaches to better understand and potentially treat neurological diseases such as Alzheimer’s. These iPS cells are derived from existing adult skin cells and show increasing utility as a promising approach for studying human disease and developing new therapies.
Skin cells were donated from patients at the UCI Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center (ADRC). The study, led by Edsel Abud, Wayne Poon and Mathew Blurton-Jones of UCI, used a genetic process to reprogram these cells into a pluripotent state capable of developing into any type of cell or tissue of the body.
The researchers then guided these pluripotent cells to a new state by exposing the cells to a series of differentiation factors which mimicked the developmental origin of microglia. The resulting cells act very much like human microglial cells. Their study appears in the current issue of Neuron.
In the brain, microglia mediate inflammation and the removal of dead cells and debris. These cells make up 10- to 15-percent of brain cells and are needed for the development and maintenance of neural networks.
“Microglia play an important role in Alzheimer’s and other diseases of the central nervous system. Recent research has revealed that newly discovered Alzheimer’s-risk genes influence microglia behavior. Using these cells, we can understand the biology of these genes and test potential new therapies,” said Blurton-Jones, an assistant professor of the Department of Neurobiology & Behavior and Director of the ADRC iPS Core.
“Scientists have had to rely on mouse microglia to study the immunology of Alzheimer’s disease. This discovery provides a powerful new approach to better model human disease and develop new therapies,” added Poon, a UCI MIND associate researcher.
Along those lines, the researchers examined the genetic and physical interactions between Alzheimer’s disease pathology and iPS-microglia. They are now using these cells in three-dimensional brain models to understand how microglia interact with other brain cells and influence Alzheimer’s disease and the development of other neurological diseases.
“Our findings provide a renewable and high-throughput method for understanding the role of inflammation in Alzheimer’s disease using human cells,” said Abud, an M.D./Ph.D. student. “These translational studies will better inform disease-modulating therapeutic strategies.”
About this neuroscience research article
Source: Tom Vasich – UC Irvine
Image Source: NeuroscienceNews.com image is adapted from the UC Irvine news release.
Original Research: Full open access research for “iPSC-Derived Human Microglia-like Cells to Study Neurological Diseases” by Edsel M. Abud, Ricardo N. Ramirez, Eric S. Martinez, Luke M. Healy, Cecilia H.H. Nguyen, Sean A. Newman, Andriy V. Yeromin, Vanessa M. Scarfone, Samuel E. Marsh, Cristhian Fimbres, Chad A. Caraway, Gianna M. Fote, Abdullah M. Madany, Anshu Agrawal, Rakez Kayed, Karen H. Gylys, Michael D. Cahalan, Brian J. Cummings, Jack P. Antel, Ali Mortazavi, Monica J. Carson, Wayne W. Poon, and Mathew Blurton-Jones in Neuron. Published online March 28 2017 doi:10.1016/j.neuron.2017.03.042
Cite This NeuroscienceNews.com Article
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Chicago UC Irvine “Skin Stem Cells Used to Generate New Brain Cells.” NeuroscienceNews. NeuroscienceNews, 25 April 2017.
<http://neurosciencenews.com/skin-brain-stem-cells-6501/>. UC Irvine (2017, April 25). Skin Stem Cells Used to Generate New Brain Cellse. NeuroscienceNew. Retrieved April 25, 2017 from http://neurosciencenews.com/skin-brain-stem-cells-6501/ UC Irvine “Skin Stem Cells Used to Generate New Brain Cells.” http://neurosciencenews.com/skin-brain-stem-cells-6501/ (accessed April 25, 2017).
Abstract
iPSC-Derived Human Microglia-like Cells to Study Neurological Diseases
Highlights
•Fully defined and efficient generation of human microglial-like cells from iPSCs
•Whole-transcriptome and functional validation of iPSC-derived microglia (iMGLs)
•Novel in vitro and in vivo applications for studying neurological diseases
•iMGLs can be used to interrogate AD gene function
Summary
Microglia play critical roles in brain development, homeostasis, and neurological disorders. Here, we report that human microglial-like cells (iMGLs) can be differentiated from iPSCs to study their function in neurological diseases, like Alzheimer’s disease (AD). We find that iMGLs develop in vitro similarly to microglia in vivo, and whole-transcriptome analysis demonstrates that they are highly similar to cultured adult and fetal human microglia. Functional assessment of iMGLs reveals that they secrete cytokines in response to inflammatory stimuli, migrate and undergo calcium transients, and robustly phagocytose CNS substrates. iMGLs were used to examine the effects of Aβ fibrils and brain-derived tau oligomers on AD-related gene expression and to interrogate mechanisms involved in synaptic pruning. Furthermore, iMGLs transplanted into transgenic mice and human brain organoids resemble microglia in vivo. Together, these findings demonstrate that iMGLs can be used to study microglial function, providing important new insight into human neurological disease.
“iPSC-Derived Human Microglia-like Cells to Study Neurological Diseases” by Edsel M. Abud, Ricardo N. Ramirez, Eric S. Martinez, Luke M. Healy, Cecilia H.H. Nguyen, Sean A. Newman, Andriy V. Yeromin, Vanessa M. Scarfone, Samuel E. Marsh, Cristhian Fimbres, Chad A. Caraway, Gianna M. Fote, Abdullah M. Madany, Anshu Agrawal, Rakez Kayed, Karen H. Gylys, Michael D. Cahalan, Brian J. Cummings, Jack P. Antel, Ali Mortazavi, Monica J. Carson, Wayne W. Poon, and Mathew Blurton-Jones in Neuron. Published online March 28 2017 doi:10.1016/j.neuron.2017.03.042
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NICOLA STURGEON'S Dad has failed in his bid to join his wife and daughter in elected office after losing a council by-election.
Robin Sturgeon, an engineer, has been a prominent member of the SNP and local activist for a number of years.
He was standing in the Irvine West by-election caused by the election of SNP councillor Ruth Maguire as an MSP in May.
(Image: Steve McKendrick)
He was defeated by Louise McPhater of Labour.
The First Minister’s mum Joan Sturgeon is also a councillor for a neighbouring word in Irvine, and as the provost in North Ayrshire.
Ironically, Sturgeon's loss could cost his wife that position, as the leadership of the council is in doubt, with Labour leapfrogging the SNP as the largest party.
Councillor McPhater was elected after the other 5 candidates were knocked out under the STV system.
(Image: Steve McKendrick)
Sturgeon had won the most amount of first preference votes, with 1,164 to 1,029, but he didn’t receive enough secondary votes from supporters of other parties to get over the line.
This morning, the First Minister that she was 'very proud' of her dad's efforts in fighting what MSP Maguire called a positive campaign.
Among Labour activists, there was instant argument about whether Jeremy Corbyn's leadership had contributed to the gain, or whether McPhater's win had come in spite of it. |
In Sweden, it’s obligatory to eat coffee and cake. No, really.
At many companies it’s mandatory for all workers, from Malmo to Stockholm, to have a designated time during the day to sit down and do fika.
Fika — which roughly translates from Swedish as drinking coffee, munching sweet treats and chatting — is as much a part of the working day in Sweden as emailing and fixing the printer.
It’s like going to the pub in other countries.
“It’s deeply ingrained in our culture.” said Matts Johansson, founder of Da Matteo, a coffee chain based in Gothenburg. “Most Swedes have fika several times a day, whether it’s at the weekend or during the week. It’s about spending time with people, eating lovely homemade baked goods and drinking great coffee. It’s like going to the pub in other countries.”
Many Swedish firms have mandatory fika breaks and employees are given free hot drinks. But do all these regular chat breaks make for a more efficient workforce?
There isn’t a caffeine index as such, but the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) does publish productivity data.
Analysing productivity by employee in 38 countries, 2014 data reveal Sweden comes in at a respectable number 11. Sweden’s coffee-quaffing neighbour Norway is the second most productive nation, behind champs Luxembourg, while the workhorses of the US are fourth. Long-lunching France is seventh — far ahead of Japan (20th) and Korea (30th), two countries known for long work hours.
Going global
Coffee breaks are so important to the Swedish that even the country’s mega-brand, Ikea,has a paragraph about on its corporate website: “More than a coffee break, fika is a time to share, connect and relax with colleagues. Some of the best ideas and decisions happen at fika.”
Andreas Astrom, from the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce, agrees.
“Swedish management style differs to most other countries. It’s flat and not very hierarchical," Astrom said. "When you have flat structures it's important to listen to everyone and through the communal nature of fika, chatting between employees and management is encouraged. It’s a great way to get everyone’s views on how companies are run."
If I can do this right, I can be another Richard Branson, become a fika billionaire.
And more recently, the trend has gone global. These days the aspirational, affluent, New Yorker, Londoner or Sydney-sider doesn’t just pop out of the office for coffee — they might sneak 15 minutes and go for fika. It’s less about grabbing a shot of caffeine on the go and more about scheduling pauses in to the day.
Lars Akerlund has built a business empire on fika. He relocated to New York City from Sweden in 2001, opening his first cafe, FIKA, near Central Park in 2006. He now has 17 cafes with another two on the way. One of the most popular menu items is a coffee and home-made cake or chocolate. It’s something that lends itself to savouring rather than devouring on the hop. So what inspired his burgeoning empire?
“I loved New York but when I moved here, outside the chain stores I couldn’t find a good coffee. The West Coast was full of great places for an espresso, so I knew there was potential. I saw a huge gap in the market and I thought, if I can do this right, I can be another Richard Branson, become a fika billionaire.”
Some people thought we were Swiss and asked for chocolate.
Akerlund didn’t just want to bring great coffee to New Yorkers, he wanted to give them a new perspective on life.
“With fika, the idea is to sit and enjoy your coffee and bun, even it’s for 10 minutes," Akerlund said. "In New York it was all about grab and go but I thought that if I offered something really good I could change people’s way of doing things, make them stop and relax.”
He got up at 4am every day to bake everything fresh. The coffee was from a speciality roaster in Brooklyn and chocolates were made on site. So how did New Yorkers react?
“At first some objected to the price. We were charging $2 for a drip coffee when they could get it for $1 next door," said Akerlund. "So I gave them a free cup. They liked it and came back.”
In Manhattan at least, FIKA has become an institution and it even has its own award-winning chocolate factory — the chain’s salted caramel won gold in the 2014 International Chocolate Awards. Perhaps, though, Akerlund’s biggest achievement is persuading busy New Yorkers to take a breath and stop during the working day, Swedish style.
Fika has also left its mark in Australia. While the sun shines on the improbably beautiful sand of Manly beach, Sydney, a little corner of Sweden sits snugly around the corner. In 2013, Fika Swedish Kitchen opened its doors to a bemused public, as co-founder Diana Chirilas explains.
“We initially catered to mainly Swedish expats. Aussie-born locals poked their heads in and said ‘Swedish, what do you mean Swedish?’," she said. "Some people thought we were Swiss and asked for chocolate.”
Changing tastes and attitudes
But attitudes are changing, Chirilas said.
“Everything Scandinavian is trendy. There are Nordic movies and TV dramas, Swedish design shops have opened and people are curious," she said.
In Walthamstow, suburb in London, Swedish café Bygga Bo has taken the idea behind Fika and extended it to incorporate an entire lifestyle.
“Bygga Bo means ‘to build a nest’ and for me fika means cosy, relaxed and homely,” said Malin Hamilton, who opened the shop with husband James in 2013.
“We started the business by opening up our own house as a fika pop-up with coffee and cakes. It went well and we decided to do it full-time. We now have a Swedish lifestyle shop with a bit of everything including ceramics, candles and clothes so people can have that fika feeling whenever they want.”
Fika tradition A traditional fika consisted of seven homemade cakes. But is that overkill in today’s grab-and-go workplace? “Historically you’d have seven different kinds of cakes and it was a kind of competition as to who made the best,” said Johansson. “Now you don’t have to go to those lengths but some people still do. It really depends on how ambitious you are.”
Husband James says there’s also been a change in consumers’ expectations, with people tiring of mass-market products and requesting one-off, carefully crafted goods.
“Fika fits into that mentality. We bake all our cakes, the accessories we sell are all handmade and people really appreciate it. They see it as aspirational.”
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The U.S. Department of Education today announced the official FY 2011 two-year and official FY 2010 three-year federal student loan cohort default rates (CDR). The national two-year cohort default rate rose from 9.1 percent for FY 2010 to 10 percent for FY 2011. The three-year cohort default rate rose from 13.4 percent for FY 2009 to 14.7 percent for FY 2010.
The Department is replacing its CDR calculations from two-year to three-year calculations as required by the Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008. Congress included this provision in the law because more borrowers default after the two-year monitoring period; thus, the three-year CDR better reflects the percentage of borrowers who ultimately default on their federal student loans.
The FY 2010 three-year cohort default rate is the second that the Department has issued, following the release of last year’s FY 2009 three-year cohort default rate. Under the law, only three-year rates will be calculated starting next year. At that time, three 3-year rates will have been calculated (FY 2009 published in 2012, FY 2010 published in 2013, and FY 2011 published in 2014).
“The growing number of students who have defaulted on their federal student loans is troubling,” U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said. “The Department will continue to work with institutions and borrowers to ensure that student debt is affordable. We remain committed to building a shared partnership with states, local governments, institutions, and students—as well as the business, labor, and philanthropic leaders—to improve college affordability for millions of students and families.”
To ensure that students are aware of the flexible income-driven loan repayment options available through Federal Student Aid (FSA), this fall the Department will expand its outreach efforts to struggling borrowers to inform them about the different plans. The Department has also released new loan counseling tools to help students and families make more informed decisions about planning for college. Students and families can visit www.studentaid.gov for more information.
Calculation and breakdown of the rates
For-profit institutions continue to have the highest average two- and three-year cohort default rates at 13.6 percent and 21.8 percent, respectively. Public institutions followed at 9.6 percent for the two-year rate and 13 percent for the three-year rate. Private non-profit institutions had the lowest rates at 5.2 percent for the two-year rate and 8.2 percent for the three-year rate.
The two-year CDR increased over last year’s two-year rates for both the public and for-profit sectors, rising from 8.3 percent to 9.6 percent for public institutions, and from 12.9 percent to 13.6 percent for for-profit institutions. CDRs held steady for private non-profit institutions at 5.2 percent. The three-year CDR increased over last year’s three-year rates for both the public and private non-profit sectors, rising from 11 percent to 13 percent for public institutions, and from 7.5 percent to 8.2 percent for private non-profit institutions. CDRs decreased for for-profit institutions, slipping from 22.7 percent to 21.8 percent.
The two-year default rates announced today were calculated based on a cohort of borrowers whose first loan repayments were due in FY 2011 (between Oct. 1, 2010 and Sept. 30, 2011), and who defaulted before Sept. 30, 2012. More than 4.7 million borrowers from nearly 6,000 postsecondary institutions entered repayment during this window of time, and more than 475,000 defaulted on their loans, for an average of 10 percent.
The three-year rates announced today were calculated based on the cohort of borrowers whose loans entered repayment during FY 2010 (between Oct. 1, 2009, and Sept. 30, 2010), and who defaulted before Sept. 30, 2012. More than 4 million borrowers from over 5,900 postsecondary institutions entered repayment during this window of time, and approximately 600,000 of them defaulted, for an average of 14.7 percent.
Sanctions
No sanctions will be applied to schools based on the three-year rates until the CDRs have been calculated for three fiscal years, which will be with the release of the FY 2012 rates next year. Until then, sanctions will continue to be based on the two-year CDR only.
Certain schools are subject to sanctions for having two-year default rates of 25 percent or more for three consecutive years, or over 40 percent for one year. As a result, these schools will face the loss of eligibility in federal student aid programs unless they bring successful appeals. Please click here for more information about possible sanctions: http://www2.ed.gov/offices/OSFAP/defaultmanagement/cdr2yr.html
The Department provides extensive assistance to schools to help minimize institutional cohort default rates. FSA provides a variety of training opportunities to the higher education community, including webinars and online training, participation in state, regional and national association training forums, and through face-to-face training events such as the FSA Training Conference for Financial Aid Professionals. In addition, any school with a three-year CDR of 30 percent or more must establish a default prevention task force and submit a default management plan to the Department. There were 221 schools that had three-year default rates over 30 percent.
Borrowers who need assistance in repaying their federal student loans can visit www.studentaid.gov or can contact the holders of their loans to learn about repayment options. For help locating their loan holders, borrowers may access www.nslds.ed.gov or contact the Federal Student Aid Information Center at 1-800-4-FEDAID (1-800-433-3243).
Information on the national student loan cohort default rate, as well as rates for individual schools, states, types of postsecondary institutions, and other sectors of the federal loan industry are available at www.fsadatacenter.ed.gov. |
This is both election season and peak sugarcane crushing time in Uttar Pradesh (UP). While it is only natural that poll-related developments hog the headlines now, one quiet revolution — which has transformed the fortunes of the state’s biggest and most politically-sensitive industry — has, however, gone largely unnoticed. It is about a cane variety, Co 0238, that has made a huge difference to UP’s 115-odd sugar mills and its 25 lakh-plus cane growers.
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Till the 2012-13 season (October-September), UP farmers hardly cultivated this high-yielding cane variety that also gives higher sugar recovery for mills. In 2013-14, an area of 72,623 hectares was covered under it, rising to 1,76,763 hectares and 4,02,719 hectares in the next two seasons. The result: average sugar recovery, which was only 9.18 per cent of cane crushed in 2012-13, went up to 9.26, 9.54 and 10.62 per cent in the seasons that followed.
In the current 2016-17 season, Co 0238 would account for 7,28,604 hectares or 35.5 per cent of UP’s total sugarcane area. “I expect recovery for the whole season (crushing will go on till April-end) to be at par with last year’s. Heavy rains in September, which led to water-logging in the low-lying cane belts of central and eastern UP, may bring down the average to below the originally anticipated 11 per cent,” notes Bakshi Ram, director of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research’s Sugarcane Breeding Institute at Coimbatore and breeder of the wonder variety.
For an idea of what Co 0238 has done for UP, one could assume a 1.25 percentage point increase in average sugar recovery owing to this variety. In the 2016-17 season, mills in the state are likely to crush about 750 lakh tonnes (lt) of cane. The higher recovery, then, translates into 9.375 lt of extra sugar production, which, at an average ex-factory price of Rs 35 per kg, is worth over Rs 3,280 crore. This is the additional revenue that Bakshi Ram’s variety would be contributing to UP mills in this season alone!
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The impact is even more palpable at an individual mill level. Take Dwarikesh Sugar Industries Ltd (DSIL), which was among the early promoters of Co 0238. In the 2012-13 season itself, the company got 1,171 hectares and 323 hectares cane area under its Bundki and Bahadarpur factories in Bijnor district covered under the variety. By 2015-16, these respective acreages had reached 17,503 hectares and 7,649 hectares. This season, Co 0238 has covered 24,509 hectares or nearly 88.5 per cent out of the Bundi mill’s total cane area of 27,714 hectares, with the corresponding figures for Bahadarpur being 13,581 hectares, 51 per cent and 26,672 hectares, respectively.
The end-result: The Bundki plant’s sugar recovery, which averaged 10.32 per cent in 2012-13, increased to 12.12 per cent in 2015-16, while similarly rising from 10 per cent to 11.77 per cent for the Bahadarpur unit. “The average recovery in this season would be 12.4 per cent at Bundki and 12 per cent for Bahadarpur,” projects S.P. Singh, chief general manager, DSIL.
The increased recoveries — amounting to roughly two percentage points for DSIL’s two Bijnor factories — is linked to the cane’s ‘early-maturity’ character. Farmers in UP plant cane during February-April, which is ready for crushing in 11-12 months. Further, there is a 9-11 month ‘ratoon’ crop that grows from the stubble of the previously-harvested plant cane. Early maturity refers not to the crop’s duration, but sucrose accumulation. These, for Co 0238, reach 15-16 per cent levels in the ratoon cane by November and by mid-January for the plant crop. This is not the case with the ‘general’ varieties, where the same sucrose accumulation levels are achieved only after mid-December for the ratoon and from March for the plant cane (not all sucrose in the cane is recovered as sugar; the unrecovered part goes into molasses used by distilleries).
“The advantage with early-maturing varieties is that you get high recovery from November and all through the crushing season. Already 85 per cent of our cane area in Bahadarpur is under early varieties like Co 0238 and CoJ 85, while it is 91 per cent-plus for Bundki. We want to push this to 100 per cent by 2018-19,” adds Singh. The UP government has fixed a state advised price (SAP) of Rs 315 per quintal for early-maturing cane, as against Rs 305 for general varieties.
But mills haven’t been the sole beneficiaries from Co 0238. Farmers have also gained because of the higher yields from this variety. Before Co 0238, the cane varieties cultivated in northern India were all ‘medium-thin’, with the average diameter of each stick at 2-2.25 cm. Co 0238, by contrast, is ‘medium-thick, whose individual cane sticks have a diameter range of 2.5 to 3 cm. While increased thickness confers greater yields, it can, however, also mean reduced sugar recovery. “Breaking this negative correlation was a challenge. What we needed was a medium-thick variety that would give higher yields to growers and simultaneously more sucrose content for mills early in crushing season,” explains Bakshi Ram.
According to Sukhbir Singh Nijjer, a 25-acre farmer from Jogipura village in Bijnor’s Dhampur tehsil, his cane yields from general varieties like CoS 767 and CoS 8432 used to average 40-50 quintals per bigha or 50-62.5 tonnes/hectare (5 bigha=one acre; 12.5 bigha=one hectare). But with Co 0238 and trench planting — making raised beds on fields and sowing the cane seeds (‘setts’) on the furrows at four feet row-to-row distance, which enables better tillering than through conventional flat-bed planting at narrow two-feet spacing — these have gone up to 100-120 quintals a bigha or 125-150 tonnes per hectare.
Some growers like Nijjer and Meghraj Singh Chauhan, who cultivates 13 acres at Alampur Ganvadi village in the same tehsil, are even experimenting with autumn planting of Co 0238. This crop, planted in mid-September and of 15 months duration, gave Nijjer a yield of 175 quintals per bigha (218 tonnes/hectares) when he harvested it early this month on one acre. The wide spacing with trench planting, moreover, allows a short-duration crop of potato, cauliflower, cabbage, chilly or mustard to be planted along with the cane on the raised beds and harvested by February-March. “Last February, I harvested 40 quintals of potato on my one-acre plot under autumn-planted Co 0238. It more than made up for the extra three-month duration for the cane,” says Chauhan. He expects his about-to-be harvested 20-feet tall cane — normal cane grows to 10-12 feet — to easily yield 150 quintals a bigha or 187.5 tonnes per hectare.
Even the average reported yields of 80 tonnes hectare for Co 0238 work out 15-20 tonnes more than that for CoS 767, till recently the most widely cultivated cane variety in UP till recently. At the SAP of Rs 315/quintal, the additional income to farmers from that comes to Rs 47,250-Rs 63,000 per hectare. Mills, too, would gross a revenue of Rs 420 from producing 12 kg of sugar from one quintal of cane at Rs 35/kg, as against Rs 350 from 10 kg earlier. It gives some leeway, then, to pay the SAP, which wasn’t possible with 9.25-9.5 per cent recovery rates.
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Co 0238 couldn’t also have come at a better time. India’s sugar production this season may fall to 210-220 lt, compared to 252 lt for 2015-16, on the back of lower output in Maharashtra (from 85 to 50-51 lt), Karnataka (41 lt to 23-24 lt). Uttar Pradesh could, however, see an increase from 68.5 lt to 78-80 lt. That, together with higher ex-factory realisations, sugar recoveries, cane yields and SAP, is something the state’s millers and growers certainly wouldn’t mind — after four torrid years and ahead of Assembly elections. |
I have now been in parliament for eight weeks. Once I had overcome the initial euphoria of the general election, the political student in me could see what must happen. We must work with all parties across the opposition benches, particularly Labour. After all, we are fighting one of the most ideological governments the UK has seen.
It was by surprise that the first opportunity to do this was actually on an amendment put forward by a backbench Tory rebel challenging his own government. William Cash put forward an amendment which would have applied the same purdah arrangements that govern ministerial and official announcements, visits and publicity during general elections to the campaign period before the EU referendum.
Mhairi Black attacks housing benefit cuts in maiden Commons speech Read more
As depressing as it is that the Conservatives have a majority in parliament, it is worth remembering that the majority is very slim by historical standards. The SNP did not only believe in the argument put forward in the amendment, but we also viewed this as an opportunity to defeat the government on a key issue. All 56 of us trooped through the lobby alongside 25 Tory rebels to discover only four Labour members alongside us. Four.
An opportunity to defeat the government that Labour so fervidly claim to oppose, yet they abstained and allowed the government to defeat us. Similarly, in the first few weeks they failed to join us in the lobbies as we attempted to end the austerity agenda in the Queen’s speech.
It seems that Labour just do not like voting alongside the SNP – whatever the issue.
I, like so many members of the SNP, come from a traditional socialist and Labour background. The general election result was, of course, crushing for Labour MPs south of the border as well as north, and the wounds are still very open and very sore. I understand that it must have come as a shock to many Labour members that the apparently safe haven and Labour-voting Scotland had overwhelmingly and consciously rejected the party that once ruled the roost.
The SNP is not the sole opposition party – but neither is Labour. We share those opposition benches together
I fully appreciate that simply on a human level it must be a blow to see so many colleagues, and often friends, losing their jobs. But, as my SNP parliamentary colleague Tommy Sheppard once said, they must get over it.
I know there are Labour MPs with constituencies like mine, with beliefs like mine and with desires for a better society like mine. It is now time to build upon these shared goals.
We are in a new session of parliament now. Already we have seen a glimpse of the brutal cuts and ideological endeavours of this government, with more still to come.
Whether we like it or not, the SNP is not the sole opposition party – but neither is Labour. We share those opposition benches together and it is through them that we must oppose, not abstain. We – that is all the opposing parties together – had a chance to defeat the government in its first few weeks. Labour did not take that chance. However, there is a hand of friendship being outstretched across those benches; I hope that Labour is prepared to take it. |
In this post I’d like to illustrate how one can use infinite games to prove theorems about the real numbers. I’ll begin with a game-theoretic proof that the set of real numbers is uncountable, following the exposition in this paper of mine. This will lead us somewhat unexpectedly into the realm of descriptive set theory, where we will discuss how games are used in cutting-edge explorations of the Axiom of Choice, the Continuum Hypothesis, and the foundations of second-order arithmetic. In a sequel post I will discuss how infinite games can be used to study Diophantine approximation, with applications to complex dynamics.
Countable versus uncountable infinities
When my daughter was 5 years old, she asked me if there is just one infinity. I proudly kissed her on the forehead and told her what an excellent question that was. I told her no, infinity comes in many different flavors. I pretty much left it at that, but since she’s 10 now, here are some more details for her. (The reader familiar with the basics of set theory can move on to the next section.)
Georg Cantor proposed the following fundamental definition:
Two sets and are said to have the same cardinality if it is possible to find a one-to-one correspondence between elements of and elements of .
For finite sets, this just means that and have the same number of elements. However, for infinite sets the notion of cardinality is much harder to grasp. For example, the set of natural numbers and the set of even natural numbers have the same cardinality, even though the latter is a proper subset of the former! Indeed, the association gives a one-to-one correspondence between and . To get a feeling for the “paradoxical” nature of this, consider the Hotel Cantor, which has an infinite number of rooms labeled Due to a large convention of lawyers, the hotel is completely booked. Suddenly, a similarly large group of doctors arrives. The manager, a mathematician, figures out a way to accommodate everyone. He moves the lawyer in room 1 to room 2, room 2 to room 4, room 3 to room 6, etc. and then fills in the odd-numbered hotel rooms with the doctors. (Insert your favorite joke here.)
A set is called countable if it has the same cardinality as . In other words, the elements of can be “counted” 1,2,3, etc. An infinite set which is not countable is called uncountable. It is not at all obvious that uncountable sets exist — but they do. In fact, as Cantor showed, the set of real numbers is uncountable. What follows is a proof of this fact which — while not suitable for most 5-year-olds — is nevertheless quite simple and (in my opinion) enlightening.
The Cantor game
Alice and Bob decide to play the following game (invented by Grossman and Turett) on the real number line. A subset of the unit interval is fixed, and then Alice and Bob alternate playing real numbers. Alice moves first, choosing any real number strictly between 0 and 1. Bob then chooses any real number strictly between and 1. On each subsequent turn, the players choose a real number strictly between the previous two choices. Let (which exists since the sequence is monotonically increasing and bounded above). Alice wins the game if , and Bob wins if .
If is finite, a moment’s thought shows that Bob has a winning strategy. We claim that if is countably infinite, then Bob still has a winning strategy. To see this, enumerate the elements of as Consider the following strategy for Bob. On his move, he chooses if this is a legal move (i.e., if ), and otherwise he chooses any allowable number for . So for each , either or . We conclude that , and hence Bob wins.
On the other hand, if then clearly Alice wins no matter what either player does. It follows that (and hence the set of real numbers) is not countable.
A generalization to perfect sets
There is a generalization of this result, and method of proof, to perfect sets. A subset of is called perfect if it is non-empty and equal to its set of limit points. In the paper referenced above, I show that if is perfect then Alice has a winning strategy. The proof is based on the following definition: for a subset of , let denote the set of right limit points of , i.e., those points such that for every , the interval contains an element of .
Exercise 1: If is perfect, show that the infimum (greatest lower bound) of belongs to .
Exercise 2: If is perfect and , then for every the interval contains an element of .
It follows easily from these two facts that if is perfect then Alice can always choose regardless of what Bob does. Since is closed, and thus Alice has a winning strategy. We therefore get a game-theoretic proof of the following well-known result in point-set topology:
Every perfect set is uncountable.
An open question
Does one of the two players always have a winning strategy, regardless of which subset of [0,1] we start with? I don’t know the answer. However, I suspect that the answer depends on which model of set theory we work with. This might seem like a bizarre statement to make, but in fact such dependencies abound in modern set theory. Two prototypes are the Continuum Hypothesis (CH), which asserts that every infinite subset of is either countable or has the cardinality of the reals, and the Axiom of Choice. Thanks to work of Kurt Gödel and Paul Cohen, we know that there are models of set theory in which these assertions are true, and models in which they are false.
Going back to the Cantor game, it is well-known that Borel subsets of have the perfect set property, meaning that every subset is either countable or contains a perfect set. (The perfect set property can be thought of as a weak version of the Continuum Hypothesis.) It follows that the Cantor game is determined (i.e., one of the two players has a winning strategy) whenever is Borel. On the other hand, it is also known that if we assume the Axiom of Choice then there exist non-Borel subsets of which do not have the perfect set property. My guess — maybe one of the readers of this blog can prove it — is that if we assume AC then there exist subsets of for which the Cantor game is not determined. On the other hand, if we assume the Axiom of Determinacy (see the next section) instead of the Axiom of Choice, then I would guess that the game is determined for all subsets of .
Philosophical interlude
One of the primary motivating questions in mathematical logic, ever since the work of Gödel and Cohen, is: “If a statement is neither provable nor refutable under ordinary mathematical assumptions, how do we decide if it is true?” Perhaps the notion of truth is too elusive and we should not try to settle such questions at all? But as mathematicians we somehow feel committed to deciding truth. Perhaps what we really need to decide, then, is which new assumptions are most reasonable.
The Axiom of Choice is accepted as true by most working mathematicians, but it has some severely counterintuituive consequences like the Banach-Tarski paradox (which is related to the existence of sets of reals which are not Lebesgue measurable). If we don’t like some of the consequences of the Axiom of Choice, why do we assume it? The main reason is that mathematics loses much structure if we don’t — the Axiom of Choice is used to prove that every vector space has a basis, or that every proper ideal in a commutative ring with identity is contained in a maximal ideal. And we would like to believe that the “pathologies” which show up in the Banach-Tarski paradox are not relevant in everyday mathematics. But how to make this precise?
In 1905, Lebesgue asked “Can one name a non-measurable set”? This led the mathematician Luzin to lay the foundations of what is now called descriptive set theory. What sets should be considered describable? A reasonable candidate are those sets of reals which can be built up from intervals using the basic tools of analysis: countable unions, countable intersections, and projections. More formally, a subset of is called projective if it can be obtained in finitely many steps from a Borel subset of some by applying the basic operations of taking complements and projections (i.e., forgetting certain coordinates). Every Borel set is projective, but the class of projective sets is much larger. The projective sets are exactly the sets which are definable (i.e., expressible by a formula) in second-order arithmetic (which unlike first-order arithmetic allows quantification over sets of natural numbers, not just over numbers themselves.) Thus one can, in a precise sense, think of projective sets as the ones which are “describable”.
Luzin pronounced in 1925 that “one does not know and one will never know” the answer to Lebesgue’s question. This turned out to be prophetic. In the 1930’s, Gödel showed that it is consistent with ZFC that there are projective sets which are not Lebesgue measurable. And in the 1960’s, Solovay used Cohen’s forcing method to show that it is consistent with ZFC that every projective set of reals is Lebesgue measurable. So in a precise sense, the statements “every describable set of reals is Lebesgue measurable” and “the Continuum Hypothesis is true” are independent of the standard axioms of set theory. But this does not signal the end of the story. Modern set theory attempts to resolve such ambiguities by introducing new axioms. Gödel wrote in 1947 that “[the Continuum Hypothesis] must be either true or false, and its undecidability from the axioms as known today can only mean that these axioms do not contain a complete description of reality.” He went on to write:
…even disregarding the intrinsic necessity of some new axiom, and even in case it had no intrinsic necessity at all, a decision about its truth is possible in another way, namely, …by studying its “success”… There might exist axioms so abundant in their verifiable consequences, shedding so much light upon a whole discipline, and furnishing such powerful methods for solving given problems… that quite irrespective of their intrinsic necessity they would have to be assumed at least in the same sense as any well established scientific theory.
Determinacy games
Infinite games play a prominent role in modern set theory, in the form of various determinacy axioms. Fix a subset of , and consider the following infinite game (due to Mycielski and Steinhaus) between Alice and Bob. Alice begins by playing a binary digit , then Bob plays a binary digit , then Alice plays a binary digit , and so on. The resulting sequence of moves determines the binary expansion of a real number . Alice wins if , and Bob wins otherwise. A famous and difficult theorem of Donald Martin asserts that the game is determined whenever is a Borel set (see this post by Tim Gowers for a detailed discussion of Martin’s theorem). The Axiom of Determinacy (AD) states that this game is determined for every choice of .
A diagonalization argument shows that the Axiom of Determinacy is inconsistent with the Axiom of Choice. On the other hand, using AD one can prove many non-trivial theorems about the real numbers which are known to be false assuming the Axiom of Choice, including:
Every subset of is Lebesgue measurable.
is Lebesgue measurable. Every subset of has the perfect set property.
Because AD is inconsistent with AC, and for various other reasons, AD is not usually considered a “reasonable” axiom to take as part of the foundations of mathematics. However, certain variants of AD are taken quite seriously by logicians. The most prominent of these is the axiom of projective determinacy (PD), which asserts that our game is determined whenever is a projective set. The projective determinacy axiom, unlike AD, is not known to be inconsistent with the Axiom of Choice. Many natural propositions expressible in the language of second order arithmetic are independent of ZFC but are provable from projective determinacy, and it is difficult to find natural statements in second-order arithmetic which are independent of PD. Moreover, projective determinacy is known to follow from certain large cardinal axioms, such as the existence of infinitely many Woodin cardinals. For these reasons and others, logicians such as Hugh Woodin believe that the Peano axioms plus PD is the proper foundation for second-order arithmetic. As Woodin writes in this paper:
Projective Determinacy is the correct axiom for the projective sets; the ZFC axioms are obviously incomplete and, moreover, incomplete in a fundamental way. Assuming Projective Determinacy, there are no essential uses of the Axiom of Choice in the analysis of [the structure of second-order arithmetic]. The only known examples of unsolvable problems about the projective sets, in the context of Projective Determinacy, are analogous to the known examples of unsolvable problems in number theory: Gödel sentences and consistency statements.
There is a lively debate going on about such things, which the reader can learn more about in this excellent article from Quanta magazine. It describes how, during a recent meeting at Harvard, scholars largely agreed upon two main contenders for additions to ZFC: forcing axioms and the inner-model axiom “V=ultimate L.” According to Peter Koellner of Harvard: ““If forcing axioms are right, then the continuum hypothesis is false. And if the inner-model axiom is right, then the continuum hypothesis is true.” This is above my pay grade so I will not attempt to say anything intelligent about this debate myself. But I welcome comments from readers of this blog!
Concluding remarks
1. The infinite game which we used to prove the uncountability of the reals comes from a problem posed by Jerrold Grossman and Barry Turett in the February 1998 Mathematics Magazine. I came up with the results mentioned above as part of a homework assignment for the students in my Math 25 class at Harvard in Fall 2000. I published these observations as a short paper in Mathematics Magazine; it was reprinted in the book Mathematical Wizardry for a Gardner. In the paper, I wrote “This argument is in many ways much simpler than Cantor’s original proof.” What I had in mind was Georg Cantor‘s famous diagonal argument, but I have since learned that this was not Cantor’s original proof! An exposition of Cantor’s first proof, which in fact shares much in common with the above argument, can be found in this paper by Knapp and Silva. Inspired by my game theory proof, they also discuss a different game which ‘encodes’ Cantor’s diagonalization argument. An alternate exposition of my proof can be found in this blog post.
2. In my discussion of the foundations of set theory, I benefited greatly from Woodin’s paper referenced above as well as from some old notes by Dan Seabold, a former classmate at Berkeley. |
After weeks of testimony in the much-anticipated “Bridgegate” trial, Bridget Anne Kelly, the former deputy chief of staff to Chris Christie, finally took the stand to testify in her defense. Facing criminal charges for her alleged involvement in the 2013 scandal, Kelly asserted that she believed the lane shutdown on the George Washington Bridge was just intended to be a traffic study—and that the New Jersey governor gave the scheme his stamp of approval.
The origins of the Bridgegate scandal can be traced back to a single e-mail authored by Kelly, which famously read, “Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee.” Those eight words set off a maelstrom of controversy and confusion that ultimately landed Kelly in court after it was revealed that former Christie staffers had engineered a traffic jam to punish the mayor of Fort Lee for not endorsing the New Jersey governor. Earlier this month, the prosecution’s star witness, David Wildstein, who previously pleaded guilty to masterminding the plot, testified that Christie not only knew about the lane shutdown, but laughed about it and participated in a cover-up. In her testimony on Friday, Kelly, too, alleged that Christie knew about the plot.
In court, the former Christie ally said that the plan was described to her as a traffic study, and that she was unaware of the true motivations behind the decision to close off lanes on the bridge—the same defense her alleged co-conspirator Bill Baroni gave last week. According to The New York Times, Kelly claimed that Wildstein told her that the study would cause “tremendous traffic problems” in Fort Lee, and that she told Christie about the Port Authority’s planned traffic study the day before she sent the infamous “traffic problems” e-mail.
Christie was issued a criminal summons earlier this month by a New Jersey judge who ruled that there was probable cause to investigate the onetime presidential hopeful for his involvement. Christie, however, has vehemently denied his involvement. “The simple fact is the Governor had no knowledge of the lane realignments either before they happened or while they were happening,” Brian Murray, Christie’s press secretary, told Vanity Fair in a statement following the ruling. The governor is scheduled to appear in court at the end of next month. |
Famous shipwrecks include:
the Titanic shipwreck;
the shipwrecks of the Armada of Philipp II of Spain;
the sunken fleet of Kublai Khan off Japan;
the ships of Christopher Columbus;
the Spanish galleons that connected America to Spain; and
the Greek Antikythera wreck.
The cargo of some shipwrecks can be of special interest to the arts. Many precious statues have been found in ancient Greek and Roman wrecks and are now exposed in museums. The Antikythera wreck contained exquisite marble and bronze statues. While the marbles where badly damaged by the saltwater, the bronzes, including the well-known Antikythera Youth, were recovered thanks to conservation efforts. Also, several more modern ships, such as the Vrouwe Maria and the Lusitania, carried invaluable works of art when they sank.
Block-ships and wreck barriers
A block-ship is a ship deliberately sunk to prevent passage through a river, bay, or canal. Some block-ships were sunk to defend waterways against the entry of attacking enemy forces. Some, however, were also sunk by attacking forces to prevent the exit of a defending navy.
Examples include:
The HMS Thetis, Iphigenia and Intrepid, which were scuttled during the Zeebrugge and Oostende attack in 1918 to prevent the port from being used by the German navy,
The 10th century naval barricade near Skuldelev in the Roskilde Fjord, set up to protect the important Roskilde trading center,
The Swedish ship barrier consisting of 20 wrecks deliberately sunk in 1715, in Greifswald Bay off the island of Rügen, on the Baltic Sea coast of Germany.
Aircraft wrecks
The oceans, rivers and lakes of the world not only hold shipwrecks, but also the remains of other means of transportation, such as airplanes from various wars and from accidents of civil aviation.
They can be of considerable historic importance, as for instance: |
A senior Iraqi military commander announced that four notorious commanders of the ISIL terrorist group have been killed in the country's security forces' preemptive attack in the Western part of Anbar province.
"4 senior ISIL commanders, including 2 Saudi nationals were killed in Al-Baghdadi region in Anbar province when they came under the Iraqi forces' attack on the terrorist group's military base," Iraqi volunteer forces (Hashd al-Shaabi) commander Qatri al-Obeidi said.
He reiterated that the killed commanders were from the first generation of ISIL in Western Anbar province.
On Saturday, the Iraqi Air Force targeted ISIL's gatherings at the country's border with Syria, leaving scores of the terrorists dead, including a commander from Chechnya.
At least 30 ISIL terrorists, including a commander from Chechnya, were killed in the Iraqi warplanes' bombardments in Western Anbar.
The air attack also destroyed 14 vehicles of ISIL.
Reports also said on Saturday that Hashed al-Shaabi forces repelled three attacks by the ISIL on strategic regions in Anbar province, inflicting heavy losses and casualties on the terrorists.
The ISIL terrorists attacked Haditha and Brawneh regions in the Eastern and Northern parts of Anbar province, but they were forced back by Hashed al-Shaabi forces.
Meantime, the Iraqi security forces in Anbar province repulsed ISIL's attack on a security post about 160 kilometers to the West of al-Ramadi, killing one ISIL terrorist and injuring many others in fierce clashes.
The ISIL terrorists also tried to attack the security forces in Bou Ziyab and al-Jarishi regions, but they were beaten back by the Iraqi forces backed by the Iraqi army's artillery and fighter jets.
Six terrorists were killed and three others were wounded in the third attempt to attack the Iraqi forces' military positions.
The terrorists' military hardware also sustained heavy damage in clashes with the Iraqi army. |
Growing up, I don't particularly recall Ant-Man being very popular as many of the other heros we've recently seen in the Hollywood spotlight these last few years. However, Marvel has been producing very entertaining super-hero movies. So, I had both reserved & hopeful expectations even against the tendency to hold an optimistic stance the size of Ant-Man himself. I mean, c'mon! The visualization/concept of an itty-bitty, teeny-weeny, intsy-wintsy man with the super powers to victoriously combat 6-7 foot or 150-200+ pound villains, and even more to battle on the field of a child's play room is sooo hard to take seriously & not laugh at the ridiculousness. But Marvel played on that tendency to wince your face at Ant-Man with a chuckling grin, and they playfully incorporated it into the film's humor. Most of the humor was well translated. However, many times it just seemed like the studio was trying too hard to be funny. The movie gets off to a slow start and eventually picks up, but never quite reaches that satisfactory expectation you'd have if it were like Iron-Man, Thor, or Cap. Am. Winter Soldier. The script was at times redundant, the story excessive in non-essentials, and [the most damaging] predictable. You might actually find yourself yawning a few times during the movie and wondering, "What the heck?! I like Marvel movies, why am I loosing focus?" Part of that could be that the score/music wasn't as good either. But on the larger scope, the studio tied Ant-Man into the Marvel universe quite plainly and left an unstrung string for the next Marvel film, be it in the next Ant-Man or in another Avengers movie. Overall, Ant-Man was decent and this steelbook casing makes for a decent (nothing fancy or epic about it) addition to your Marvel steelbook collection. I just wish it also included the DVD, but does not :( My letter grade: B-
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Republican Congressman Paul Ryan appeared on Fox News Sunday ready to scold President Obama and Democrats for not putting forth a specific budget plan, like he had, that could have tackled the debt crisis and avoided a credit rating downgrade. Yet Chris Wallace reminded Ryan that Republicans are not blameless in the reasoning behind why S&P downgraded the rating of the nation’s debt.
Ryan offered his interpretation of S&P’s action:
“It’s because Washington has not got it’s fiscal house in order. And to me, this is just more vindication of our actions. We passed a budget which according to somebody from S&P yesterday would have prevented this downgrade from happening in the first place.”
Wallace shot back, “isn’t that a little like the doctor saying I did the operation perfectly but the patient died?” Ryan laughed, but Wallace continued and reminded Ryan that a major consideration factoring into S&P’s conclusion was the “the failure to compromise” in Washington. Ryan did admit both parties are to blame, but argued that ultimately Democrats are still more to blame since they are the ones “unwilling to reform the programs that are the cause of our future debt problems.”
Watch the clip from Fox News below:
Have a tip we should know? [email protected] |
Considering the strange nature of this tale, we simply can’t launch into this without a little background information. The sheer insanity of the story might permeate through your computer screen and cause you to question your own grasp on reality. Let’s take a few baby steps, shall we?
Lucian’s True History is a blatant parody of celebrated classical epics like The Odyssey and The Iliad. Homer may occasionally dabble in mythology, but Lucian indulges to the point of absurdity. His stories include, among other things, space travel, men riding on the backs of vultures, space centaurs, vegetable themed warriors, and an all out war between the inhabitants of the moon and the sun.
The irony of Lucian’s True History, rather obviously, is that it is an epic tale where absolutely nothing is true. The author tells us as much himself…
“For now I make the only true statement you are to expect- that I am a liar. This confession is, I consider, a full defence against all imputations. My subject is, then, what I have neither seen, experienced, nor been told, what neither exists nor could conceivably do so. I humbly solicit my readers’ incredulity.” -Lucian (True History)
This ironic humor is only heightened by the narrator, a man who continues to profess the accuracy of his tale even as the stories become more and more unbelievable.
“Any one who doubts the truth of this statement has only to go there himself, to be assured of my veracity.” -Lucian (True History)
Why was such a tale ever crafted in the first place? Well, Lucian tells us that just like an athlete must occasionally rest from his training, so to must intellectuals take a break from the philosophy and literature of high-minded individuals. It’s kind of like when you stop doing actual work around three in the afternoon and start watching cat videos on the internet.
Since we have discussed some rather serious philosophical topics the past few weeks, I thought it might be a good change of pace if we looked at something that didn’t question the essence of reality or consider the truest form of virtue. For once, let’s look at something that is, and let’s be honest, a bit silly.
The tale begins innocently enough. The narrator tells us that he set out on a quest to explore the lands beyond the Pillars of Hercules (the Strait of Gibraltar) with a crew of fifty men and a ship that was well equipped for a long and arduous journey.
For the first day the ship traveled serenely through the waters and managed to keep sight of land. However, on the dawn of the second day the wind rose to a gale and the seas turned dark. The wind took hold of the sails and, being unable to navigate, the crew was carried away by the torrent for eleven long weeks.
Lucius tells us that the crew then landed upon a mysterious island. Upon investigating the island, they found a pillar upon which was inscribed,
“Heracles and Dionysus reached this point.”
Continuing on, the explorers came upon a river that flowed red with wine. They found fish living within the waters and learned that eating the creatures would cause a man to become drunk.
The explorers met other incredible sights. They witnessed creatures with the torsos of women, but tree trunks where a woman’s legs would be. They sprouted vines from the tips of their fingers and embraced the travelers and kissed them upon the lips. While the men were amused with the creatures at first, they found that whoever embraced the tree-women for too long would suddenly be transformed into a tree himself. After two explorers were transformed to a pile of vines, the remaining men ran back to the ship in horror and set sail immediately.
Okay, so that wasn’t so crazy. Compared to other ancient myths, a mysterious island with a river of wine and tree-women monsters are par for the course. But Lucian isn’t done, he is just getting warmed up.
Rather than calm seas and a return trip home, the explorers are swept up by a tornado and carried to dizzying heights. For an entire week they are carried upward by the winds. On the eighth day, the explorers come upon a shimmering island surrounded by glistening air instead of water. It did not take the explorers long to realize they had landed on the moon.
Before long, the explorers are discovered by soldiers riding on the backs of giant vultures. The men are detained and brought to the court of the king of the moon. Before long, the explorers are discovered by soldiers riding on the backs of giant vultures. The men are detained and brought to the court of the king of the moon.
A man named Endymion, the moon king, recognizes the explorers as Greeks. He confides in them that he too is mortal and had begun his life on earth. It was only after falling asleep one night that he mysteriously was transported to the moon and had become ruler of the country.
Rather than enslaving or punishing the Greeks, Endymion asks them to join him on a rather lofty military campaign.
“And if I am victorious, he added, ‘in the campaign which I am now commencing against the inhabitants of the Sun, I promise you an extremely pleasant life at my court.’ We asked about the enemy, and the quarrel. ‘Phaethon,’ he replied, ‘king of the Sun (which is inhabited, like the Moon), has long been at war with us.” – Lucian’s True Histories
As strange as this all sounds, and it sounds pretty strange, this is still an ancient Greek epic. And no Greek epic, whether it be The Iliad or Voyage to the Moon, would be complete without an epic battle. But Lucian’s battle is one that is so massive and so ridiculously fantastic that it makes the Trojan War look like a playground skirmish.
Lucian’s explorers assent to the King’s proposal. They saddle up upon the backs of the giant horse-vultures and take their places in the ranks of the other warriors.
Lucian tells us that moon’s army contained nearly 100,000 soldiers; 80,000 of these soldiers were mounted on the backs of horse-vultures. The remaining 20,000 men were mounted on Salad-wings. These latter creatures are monstrous birds whose wings resemble the lettuce leaves that we see on earth.
In addition to these numbers, there are 30,000 archers who ride on the backs of giant fleas. Additionally, there are 50,000 infantrymen known as “Wind-coursers.” These warriors fly through the air using their oversized shirts as sails.
There are spiders the size of an Aegean island that stretch their webs across the vastness of space. The warriors of the moon walk on these web bridges and prepare for battle against the forces of the sun.
70,000 Ostrich-slingers and 50,000 Horse-cranes were said to have been on their way from a neighboring star, but they did not arrive in time to see battle. Lucian does not bother describing these warriors as he, rather unfortunately, did not witness them with his own eyes.
The forces of the sun are equally numerous and equally outrageous. There are Sky-gnats, archers who sling large turnips, dog faced men who ride on flying acorns, and vegetable themed soldiers who use mushrooms as shields and asparagus stalks as spears.
The battle commences!
“The Sunite left at once broke without awaiting the onset of the Horse-vultures, and we pursued, slaying them. On the other band, their right had the better of our left, the Sky-gnats pressing on right up to our infantry. When these joined in, however, they tumed and fled, chiefly owing to the moral effect of our success on the other flank. The rout became decisive, great numbers were taken and slain, and blood flowed in great quantities on to the clouds, staining them as red as we see them at sunset.”
Victory seems all but assured for the forces of the moon. Just as defeat seems unavoidable for the sun army, much needed reinforcements arrive.
Cloud-centaurs, flying horse/human hybrids from the milky way, arrive from nowhere and attack the disarrayed moon forces. The army or Endymion is defeated and the human explorers are taken as hostages. Cloud-centaurs, flying horse/human hybrids from the milky way, arrive from nowhere and attack the disarrayed moon forces. The army or Endymion is defeated and the human explorers are taken as hostages.
This is a grim sight indeed. Our heros are taken as prisoners, the moon forces are crushed, and it seems that this tale might end with death for our explorers. Very fortunately, Endymion seeks peace with Phaeton, the king of the sun.
It is agreed that all hostages will be released to their homelands, neither country will pursue violence against the other, and the moon king will pay a yearly tribute of ten thousand jars of dew to the king of the sun.
Our heros are returned to the moon. The king asks them to stay and live out their years among his people. It would seem, however, that our explorers have had quite enough of lunar warfare and request that they be sent home.
The king reluctantly agrees. After some feasting and celebration, our narrator and his men are returned to earth.
Lucian’s story continues in a similarly outrageous fashion back on earth. Our explorers are swallowed by a whale that measured 200 miles long, they discover a sea of milk and an island of cheese. They even discover a mystical island upon which can be found the heroes of the Trojan war and even Homer himself.
You may be scratching your head at all of this. Like I said, it is one of the strangest pieces of literature I have ever read. It is also considered the very first science fiction text, and for that reason remains of curious interest to classical enthusiasts like ourselves. |
In the August 2012 Mining Engineer and Geologist Licensure Examinations, majority of those among the top 10 passers are from UP
Published 9:12 PM, August 17, 2012
MANILA, Philippines - Graduates from the University of the Philippines (UP) topped the latest Mining Engineer and Geologist Licensure Examinations.
In the list released by the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) on Friday, August 17, among the top 10 passers in both exams are 7 mining engineering graduates and 6 geology graduates from UP.
PRC said that 57 out of 67 passed the Mining Engineer Licensure Examination, while 78 out of 141 passed the Geologist Licensure Examination. Both exams were held on August.
The exam topnotchers are the following:
Mining Engineer Licensure Examination
Mikhail T. Serrano (UP Diliman) - 88.30 Jerrold King V. Magtagnob (UP Diliman) - 88.00 Haiza S. Pigkaulan (Palawan State Univ.) - 86.55 Carlo D. Javarez (Palawan State Univ.) - 86.05 Vic Anthony S. Vizcarra (UP Diliman) - 85.75 Kayzer C. Llanda (UP Diliman) - 85.35 Donald Mel T. Odilao (UP Diliman) - 84.75 Jason D. Esmero (UP Diliman) - 84.30 Jesse Lance L. Reyes (UP Diliman) - 84.20 Jamil G. Matanog (Palawan State Univ.) - 84.05
Geologist Licensure Examination
Merari Benjamin Rosaroso (UP Diliman) - 85.10 David Carlo S. Austria (Adamson Univ.) - 85.00 Maria Elizabeth S. Laus (UP Diliman) - 84.00 Emar G. Basilan (Partido State Univ. - GAO) - 82.70 Stephen P. Panol (UP Diliman) - 82.30 Americus D. Perez (UP Diliman) - 82.10 Mel Anthony A. Casulla (Adamson Univ.) - 81.70
Babylin L. Ranario (Mapua Institute of Tech. - Manila) - 81.70 James Andrew M. Leong (UP Diliman) - 81.40 Allen June B. Buenavista (Univ. of Southeastern Philippines-Davao) - 81.20 Kevin L. Garas (UP Diliman) - 81.00
Here's the complete list of exam passers:
Mining Engineer Licensure Examination
ABANTAS, FAHAD SHARIEF
ABRIGO, RONALD TOBAWON
ALFARO, MARY ANN PEARL QUIMQUE
AMIL, YUSUF EMRAN CAGADOC
ANGGI, AL-BENRASHER SAPPALI
BAIRULLA, HATRAN SARIOL
BANZON, RENEL JOSE SALES
BARA-ACAL, ANSHAMER DIMASANGCA
BARA-ACAL, ANSHAWER DIMASANGCA
BARCELONIA, PHILLIP CANA
BAUTISTA, ERWIN LORENZO
CANTERO, RAPHAEL ERIC TOLENTINO
CEREDON, EDGARDO DELOLA
DIGOL, JAKE LINCUNA
DIMASAR, ABDULAZIS DALOMABAO
DUBDUBAN, RAMON NICOLAS DELA ROSA
ESMERO, JASON DOLLER
ETULLE, LEOJENEN CABELIN
FLORES, VINZON JOSHUA SOBREJUANITE
FUROG, JANICE BINATLAO
GIOLAGON, JERICKO FRANZ SANCHEZ
INSIANG, MUSARAPA TIMPOLOK
JAVAREZ, CARLO DUSONG
JUANERIO, JAYPEE DEBANDINA
JULIAN, SEBASTIAN III DARAL
LAGRADA, WILLIAM QUIALQUIAL
LLANDA, KAYZER CARREON
LLEMIT, JEZREEL REX SAJULGA
MACAPOBRE, EDUARDO JR CABILES
MAGTAGNOB, JERROLD KING VALDEZ
MAKALILAY, SAMER LUMANSAG
MARAMAT, MARCK MARANAN
MARCAIDA, MARJORIE DE LIMA
MATANOG, JAMIL GESULGA
MENDOZA, JEAN CARLEEN MARGERY
MITRAN, ARBIE AIZEL TOLENTINO
MORTELLA, LITO LEUTERIO
NAGPACAN, JONNEL FABIAN
ODILAO, DONALD MEL TAGNIPEZ
PAGLALA, MUSLIMIN ZUMAKEL
PALMES, ROQUE BASIYA
PARIAN, JAN CARLO LORENZO
PIGKAULAN, HAIZA SAPAL
QUIMQUE, LUISITO JR MAHINAY
REYES, JESSE LANCE LAGMAN
RIVO, DONALD BASINILLO
RODRIGUEZ, CREAD CRISTOBAL
SADSAD, DENNIS BAUTISTA
SERRANO, MIKHAIL TOLENTINO
SILONGAN, NASER LUMAMBAS
SON, GEORGE MENCHAVEZ
SUICO, KENNETH ALOVERA
TAGUBA, RICHELLE ANN ARMADA
TANABE, HAZEL BAYATAN
TORRES, RAFFY DIMACISIL
UNGGEL, JOHARY SALIBO
VIZCARRA, VIC ANTHONY SANDAJAN
Geologist Licensure Examination
ABELLANOSA, JERAHMEEL MACEDA
ABRIGO, VINCENT JO MARK JABOLA
ABRIOL-SANTOS, MARIA BIANCA ISABEL VILLANUEVA
ABSIN, ESHE SENARILLOS
ACOSTA, ARIEL AUSTIN ATOK
ALCONERA, PETER PAUL MANLA
AUSTRIA, DAVID CARLO SAN PEDRO
AWID, RANDYSON MARIÑO
BALIDO, MARK JIM GALAPIR
BANSILOY, ROWENA FLORES
BARREDO, JANICE INDOC
BARRIENTOS, ERWIN CULLA
BASILAN, EMAR GUEVARA
BENAVIDES, PAOLO ANDRE DELA PEÑA
BIEN, ANTHONY VILLASQUEZ
BOQUILON, JEZZA MAY ALIPAO
BUAGAS, JUN REY SABANAL
BUENAVISTA, ALLEN JUNE BERMEJO
CALAMOHOY, MARLON AZUELO
CALANGI, GILBERT WONG
CALANNO, SHEILA MAY MANIEGO
CANTA, CLARIS TORRES
CAO, RONNIE ASPE
CASULLA, MEL ANTHONY ASIS
CELLONA, GENESIS DIMAKILING
CERIO, MADELAINE CEREZO
CRISTOBAL, RONNA MANRIQUE
CUBALAN, MARY GRACE SAYRE
DAYAO, BRENT JAMES ELIGADO
DE ASIS, DEANNE LUPIAN
DE VERA, JOEY ELNAR
DELOS REYES, LEOVIGILDO JR DE OCERA
ESCARO, ROBERT VICTOR BRIGUERA
FLORES, ANGELA ARCILLA
GAHISAN, KIM BALSOMO
GALANG, JAN ALBERT MACARIO BRIONES
GALIDO, ELAINE LIPAO
GARAS, KEVIN LARIOSA
GONCER, HIZLE GALAURA
GONZALES, PAOLO ROSS DELA CRUZ
IRORITA, KRYZTAL IRISH NACIS
ISIP, MARCIUS ELAEO GIBE
LA ROSA, MARK ADRIAN MERCADO
LAMANILAO, MARTIN III AJITO
LAMSON, JENA JOIE NICOLAS
LAUS, MARIA ELIZABETH SAN DIEGO
LEONG, JAMES ANDREW MONTON
LLAGAS, VANESSA ANDREA VIDAL
LLANES, FRANCESCA VELARDE
LOBINO, FERDINAND BRAVO
MACUTE, EVE WILLA MAY DALMACIO
MANCENIDO, CHRYSELLE ULTIMA ORTIZ
MANTILLA, MELVIN ANGUB
MARASIGAN, JANELLE IRIS SUNGA
MARCUAP, HARLY LIMLINGAN
MELCHOR, MIZRAIM JR GOMEZ
MELODIAS, MARA CARENINA CANDA
MENDAJE, RUEL JR COGONON
MILAY, LEO DILIG
MIRABALLES, MARK NIÑO LOBAS
NOTARION, AL REY SALE
PANOL, STEPHEN PANOTES
PARCON, RHYZA RUTH TELLANO
PELLEJERA, NICANOR III BARRIENTOS
PEREZ, AMERICUS DE CHAVEZ
PORCEL, JANET PALCON
RANARIO, BABYLIN LABAD
REYES, JONATHAN KIT CACALDA
RIVERA, MICHAEL JOHN APARECE
ROSAROSO, MERARI BENJAMIN
SAJULGA, JAYRALD ELVIÑA
SAMANIEGO, IRVIN BALTAZAR
VILLACORTA, CANDICE CAMILLE ANDRES
VILLAMOR, DAVID RODRIGUEZ
VILLANUEVA, NAPOLEON JR DIZON
YCON, MARK ARJAY ADREMESIN
YU, CONCHITINA CLEOFE CLOMA
ZARATE, MARY JOY CELINE AVELINA
- Rappler.com |
In October 2014 as the Market plunged, I devised a strategy to make money buying SVXY call options. To get up to speed, read part 1 and part 2.
I also recommend checking out DRT trading …I just found this site today and it is perhaps one of the best websites on index option trading strategies, with thousands of backtests.
One reason why I like going long SVXY over shorting VXX is because you don’t lose all your investment if you’re wrong. Buying VXX puts or shorting VXX can cause a total loss – or even more if you’re short – but buying SVXY may only entail a 50% loss at worse. It’s seldom worse than that. Second, gains going long SVXY (and its cousin XIV) can be much bigger and faster than shorting VXX.
For example, if VXX is at $30 and you’re short $10,000 worth of VXX (about 333 shares) and the price plunges to $15, you’ve made $5k. But if you’re long $10k SVXY, SVXY will double (corresponding to VXX falling in half) and you will have $10k potential profit, which is obviously better. One way to get around this is to keep adding to your VXX short on the way down, but it requires some calculations to figure out how much VXX add at fixed price intervals, which I’m too lazy to do right now. But in a rapidly moving market with gaps, adding to your short may not be feasible.
As for my strategy, SVXY nearly doubled since October 2014, but it has singe plunged 50% from $98 to $49. The VIX spiked as high as 53 and has since fallen back to 25.
(click to enlarge)
As I discuss in part 2, the log property of volatility is kicking in, meaning that subsequent price declines in SPX/SPY aren’t causing big spikes in volatility. The market could make new lows, but the VIX won’t hit $53 again unless there is another 2008. That means it’s time to buy SVXY on the dip, since SVXY seems to be impervious to future price declines provided SPX doesn’t fall too much too quickly.
If you have a $30k account, I would recommend putting $15k (50%) in SVXY at $47 (closing price as of 9/9/2015), as per my strategy. When it doubles take some profit (which will be updated in a future post when that happens).
For $15,000, buy 3 deep-in-the-money $25 Jan 2016 SVXY calls for $22 apiece, $6600 total. The delta is .91, which is very close to owning the shares outright. What’s great about deep-in-the-money is you are effectively buying SVXY at half price while capturing all the upside, save $450 of extrinsic value. As shown in yellow, the $25 Jan 2016 SVXY calls:
If SVXY keeps falling, defer to part 2. |
60 Minutes: Families of crew detained in Lebanon ask public not to judge the situation
Updated
The families of a Channel Nine television crew detained in Lebanon have released a joint statement asking the public not to judge the situation until all the facts are known.
Key points: Families of detained 60 Minutes' crew "keeping their sprits up"
Public asked not to judge situation until all the facts are known
Lebanese authorities are looking after crew
Australian mother Sally Faulkner and four members of a 60 Minutes crew are facing abduction charges after they allegedly tried to take Ms Faulkner's children off a street in Beirut.
The family of the Channel Nine employees said they understood their relatives were "keeping their spirits up and are being well looked after by the Lebanese authorities".
They said they were comforted to know their loved ones were "in good health" but described the situation as "a living nightmare" and said "it's hard to imagine it could be any tougher".
"But if we have one message it's that people who have been so quick to judge should at least wait until all the facts are known. We haven't spoken to our partners since before they were arrested," the statement said.
"Very few of the facts are clear at this stage. If we don't have all the facts, how can anyone else?"
The statement also said some of the families had not been able to tell the children of the detained crew what was happening as it was not an easy conversation to have with a five or seven-year-old.
They said they were "anxious and worried sick" but maintained the television network has been giving them daily updates.
The statement said the crew was covering an important story but acknowledged that something went wrong.
It is understood Ms Faulkner has asked estranged husband Ali Elamine to drop Lebanese abduction charges against her in exchange for her renouncing all claims to custody and cooperating in getting a divorce.
If Mr Elamine agrees to drop the charges, Ms Faulkner will give up sole custody granted to her by the Family Court in Australia.
Mr Elamine got his own custody ruling from a religious court in Lebanon, but it is not clear when it was issued.
The ABC has been told the Lebanese judge does not view the recovery as a kidnapping, but rather as a mother trying to reunite with her children.
Ms Faulkner hopes for the right to see her children whenever she wants in Lebanon, Australia or a third country.
If Mr Elamine agrees to drop charges against Ms Faulkner, she would likely be released on bail and it could reduce the severity of charges against all involved.
Ms Faulkner's Lebanese lawyer Ghassan Moghabghab said Ms Faulkner was in the car when alleged operatives of Child Abduction Recovery International grabbed her son and daughter off a Beirut street and bundled them into the waiting car.
The team made a clean getaway, but was caught not long after the fact. Soon after, the boy and girl were returned to the father and Ms Faulkner and the 60 Minutes crew were arrested.
Topics: law-crime-and-justice, courts-and-trials, family-law, international-law, australia, lebanon
First posted |
Bradley Beal with fans at Yogogi Park in Tokyo last week. (Courtesy of NBA)
Talk to a Washington Wizards executive about the franchise’s future and Bradley Beal is included as a foundational piece alongside John Wall in the back court. The assumption is Beal and Wall will have at least a few more years to grow together and help propel the Wizards to heights not reached since the Carter administration.
Yet Beal’s inclusion is not a foregone conclusion. Beal is a restricted free agent this summer, meaning the NBA’s 29 other teams can offer him a contract once free agency starts on July 1 and the Wizards would have 72 hours to match. Beal reiterated he wants to stay in Washington in a telephone interview from Tokyo last week, but at the right price. That price is a maximum contract.
“I want to be valued the right way,” Beal, 22, said from Japan, where he visited as part of a promotional tour for the NBA and attended a playoff viewing party with fans. “I feel like I’m a max player and that’s what I’m looking for. If Washington can’t meet that requirement then I may be thinking elsewhere. I’m pretty sure that they probably won’t [let me go]. At the end of the day, that’s where I want to be. I think a deal will probably get done but you just never know.”
The exact amount for a maximum contract for Beal will depend on the league’s salary cap next season. Initial projections pegged the figure at $90 million – a $20 million jump from last season — but league executives have been using $92 million as the number and it could increase even further. As a four-year veteran, Beal could earn up to 25 percent of the cap. If the cap is $92 million then a max deal would pay him $23 million next season.
The Wizards have two factors going in their favor: They’re the only team that can sign Beal to a five-year deal (other teams can only go up to four years) and they can exceed the salary cap to retain him because they own his Bird Rights, which allow teams to go over the cap to re-sign their own free agents, provided they have been with the club for at least three years.
Washington offered the 6-4 Beal a contract extension before the NBA’s Nov. 2 deadline for fourth-year players, but it wasn’t the max so Beal declined it and the two sides agreed to wait until the summer. The Wizards’ decision to not give Beal a max extension in October was strategic: By waiting until July, Beal’s cap hold is just over $14 million, as opposed to over $20 million had he been given the max extension. The difference will give Washington more wiggle room in their attempt to lure a top-tier free agent or trade for a high-priced star and fill the remainder of the roster. It is the same strategy the San Antonio Spurs chose with Kawhi Leonard a year ago and the Detroit Pistons are using now with Andre Drummond.
But Beal’s injury-plagued season complicates matters. He played a career-low 55 games and was hindered by another stress injury to his right fibula, his fourth in four professional campaigns.
“I hear about it all time, but that doesn’t define me as a player,” Beal said. “That won’t stop me from growing as a player and it won’t stop me from being who I am. The injury thing, that’s behind me. I’m moving forward. I’m past it. I’m focused on my career from here on out. Hell, Steph Curry was hurt his first four years. Look at him now. John [Wall] was hurt his first three or four years. Look at him now. I’m not worried about it. People are going to say what they want to say. At the end of the day, it’s not going to affect me or the money.”
The injury history could be a concern for teams, perhaps enough to prevent them from making him one of the highest-paid players in the sport. But Beal’s talent and potential – he turns 23 in June and has averaged 21.2 points in 21 career playoff games – makes the possibility of him garnering a max contract very likely in an unprecedented market.
If Beal does return to the Wizards, he’ll have a new coach in Scott Brooks, who replaced Randy Wittman. Despite Beal’s contract status, the two met for lunch in Los Angeles recently.
“It was a good move. In some ways he’s similar to Witt,” said Beal, who was not consulted during the coaching search. “He allows his players a lot of freedom on the offensive end but he’s a defensive-minded coach. I got to pick his mind a bit and he’s great. I got a great feel for him. He’s really a player’s coach. He loves to be hands-on. He loves to develop guys and get his guys better.
“On top of that, he’s a proven coach. He’s shown that he can win and he’s shown that he can get his players to the finals. That’s exciting. It’s great to be in a situation to have a coach with that experience. He’s been there before. We’ve been in the playoffs, too. So put those two together and hopefully we make something work.”
Beal said he’ll begin his offseason workout regimen at the beginning of June and it will include more weight lifting than in previous summers. From there, his future isn’t as clear but he prefers a return to Washington.
“I want to be” in Washington,” Beal said. “I do. It just comes down to July 1st. I want to think about it a little bit, but this has been home for me. It’s great to have our core back and a new coach. So things are changing. It’s just up to me and the front office to get it done.” |
It's not exactly a Joe Namath-style guarantee of victory, but Ethan Finlay gave the Portland Timbers an early bit of bulletin-board material in an interview with Sports Illustrated's “SI Now” on Monday.
Asked by host Maggie Gray to break down potential weaknesses of his team's MLS Cup opponents, the Columbus Crew SC winger predicted rich attacking opportunities for the Black-and-Gold when they clash with the Timbers' rearguard.
“I think we really match up well with them defensively,” said Finlay. “Our front four, the mix-up we have of different types of players we have and our strengths – I love my matchup with [Jorge] Villafana. No one in the league can cover Kei Kamara, he's the best guy in the air.
“Federico Higuain is probably going to be licking his chops, because he's the man that controls the tempo.”
Conversely, Finlay was highly complimentary of Portland's front line.
“Offensively, they're a really strong team. A guy in Darlington Nagbe, who just got his first [US] national team cap, controls the tempo of the game for them along with [Diego] Valeri, who has had some really great seasons in the past, and Adi's a handful up top,” he said following a brief discussion of his own USMNT ambitions.
“So they're definitely a handful going forward, but I think we feel the same way about our group. The way we've been playing defensively has been great and I think we've been one of the best teams in this playoff stretch defensively, so we hope to continue that come Sunday.”
Portland allowed 36 goals in 34 regular-season matches, tied for third-fewest in the league, while Crew SC scored 58, second-best in MLS.
Get Columbus news at ColumbusCrewSC.com
In the postseason, PTFC have conceded five goals in five games, and notched clean sheets in both legs of their Western Conference Semifinal meeting with Vancouver. Columbus' playoff numbers are nearly identical, as they've allowed four goals in four games thus far, including a crucial shutout of New York in the first leg of the Eastern Conference Championship.
Columbus will welcome Portland to MAPFRE Stadium for MLS Cup 2015 on Sunday (4 pm ET; ESPN, UniMás, TSN and RDS2 in Canada). |
Ever-heavier downpours threaten mainland America with harder rain as a consequence of global warming. US cities need to be ready.
LONDON, 11 December, 2017 – For the US, harder rain is on the way: America’s summer thunderstorms are about to get stormier. Later this century, the notorious mesoscale convective storms of middle America will not just darken US skies: they will dump as much as 80% more water on the farms, highways and cities of the 48 contiguous states.
Mesoscale thunderstorms cover an area of around 100 kilometres: these have been on the increase, both in frequency and intensity, in the last 35 years and new research suggests that, as the world warms, their frequency could triple.
“The combination of more intense rainfall and the spreading of heavy rainfall over larger areas means that we will face a higher flood risk than previously predicted,” said Andreas Prein, of the National Centre for Atmospheric Research in the US, who led the study.
“If a whole catchment area gets hammered by high rain rates, that creates a much more serious situation than a thunderstorm dropping intense rain over parts of the catchment. This implies that the flood guidelines which are used in planning and building infrastructure are probably too conservative.”
Thunderstorms already cost the US around $20bn a year in flash floods, landslides, debris flows, high winds and hail. Dr Prein and his colleagues report in Nature Climate Change that what they call “observed extreme daily precipitation” increased in all parts of the US from 1958 to 2012: that is because rising temperatures mean more evaporation, and at the same time a greater atmospheric capacity for moisture.
“The floods of the future are likely to be much greater than what our current infrastructure is designed for”
US President Donald Trump has made it clear that he doesn’t believe in global warming and has promised to withdraw the US from the global climate pact agreed by 197 nations in Paris in 2015.
But research, much of it from US government agencies, suggests that climate change is happening anyway, and that US cities are at risk. The latest computer simulations suggest that the number of extreme summer storms in some parts of the US could have increased fivefold by the century’s end.
Even the eastern seaboard could be hit: intense storms over an area the size of New York City could drop 60% more rain than the heaviest now. And this could add up to six times the annual discharge of the Hudson River.
The finding should come as no great surprise. Climate scientists have repeatedly warned that climate change, driven by global warming as a consequence of the profligate combustion of fossil fuels that dump ever greater levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, could bring ever greater extremes of heat and rain.
More Harveys
Recent research has predicted that the kind of rainfall delivered by Hurricane Harvey over Houston in Texas could become much more frequent, and Atlantic communities are more likely to be pounded by hurricanes and superstorms.
Other long-term studies have predicted that coastal flooding could create a new class of climate refugees, within America itself. The latest study is a reminder that civic authorities, and the administration itself, need to prepare.
“This is a warning signal that says the floods of the future are likely to be much greater than what our current infrastructure is designed for,” Dr Prein said.
“If you have a slow-moving storm system that aligns over a densely populated area, the result can be devastating, as could be seen in the impact of Hurricane Harvey on Houston.” – Climate News Network |
German Chancellor Angela Merkel and the German national football team following a World Cup match. None of these people have an irrational fear of locker room nudity. Photo by Guido Bergmann/Bundesregierung via Getty Images
In a recent disquieting article for the New York Times, Choire Sicha investigates a curious new challenge for gyms: Some men want to shower and change without ever being publicly nude, and they expect their gyms to build locker rooms that accommodate that desire. Drawing upon the experiences of gym managers and architects, Sicha explains that over the last quarter-century, men have grown increasingly uneasy with being naked in the locker room. While older men generally remain comfortable being undressed among others, younger ones insist on maximum privacy, pining for a way to strip, shower, and change clothes without even a flash of nudity.
There are probably all kinds of fascinating cultural and ethnographic factors behind this shift, which I hope others will explore. But to my mind, this problem can be resolved quite quickly—with a gentle reminder that if you are not comfortable being naked around other people, you are not a real adult.
As a child and a teenager, public nudity is scary. Puberty does strange things to our bodies, and we spend much of our younger years fretting about the development (or lack thereof) of our secondary sex characteristics. That is why schools should not force children and teens to take group showers: The practice fosters anxiety and bullying and deprives children of some bodily autonomy. It makes good sense to encourage teens to grow comfortable with their changing bodies in private.
But there is really no rational reason to remain afraid of public nudity once you are an adult. Your body looks more or less like everyone else’s, especially everyone else with the same sex. The fear driving men to slide their underwear on under their towels is rooted squarely in insecurity, an insecurity about one’s body and genitals picked up during pubescence. That’s fine—we all have insecurities—but that doesn’t make the insecurity healthy. It makes it an irrational phobia, one that should be conquered, not accommodated. (Trans people, who may face a legitimate threat of harassment should they disrobe, are the only adults who have a rational basis for avoiding public nudity.)
The process of conquering irrational phobias picked up during youth is typically called “growing up.” Many children are afraid of sharks, but we do not let them veto a family beach trip. Many preteens are afraid of being teased in the classroom, but we do not let them quit school. Many teenagers are afraid of seeming uncool if they don’t drink, but we don’t give them a fake ID and a keg. Instead, we help young people work past their fears and take control of their lives: by wading into the ocean a few inches at a time; by ignoring or reporting the idiot who mocked you; by incentivizing responsible behavior for teens who drink little or no alcohol.
Because adults are mostly free to make their own mistakes, our society permits them to suffer from untreated phobias. We all know people who are scared to fly or pet a dog or leave the house. We cannot force them into therapy—but we should also refuse to alter our own habits to accommodate their neuroses.
The race to build nudity-free locker rooms demonstrates the dangers of countenancing and accommodating adult phobias. It normalizes unhealthy behavior (body shame and consciousness) and pressures others to adopt that behavior. Adults who are nervous about being naked around other adults are not rational and should not be treated as though they are. They are scared and insecure—and the only way they can work around their fear is to face it directly. I thought the standard locker room forced everyone to do just that, but Sicha writes otherwise:
Each day, thousands upon thousands of men in locker rooms nationwide struggle to put on their underwear while still covered chastely in shower towels, like horrible breathless arthropods molting into something tender-skinned. They writhe, still moist, into fresh clothes.
This is absurd. What, exactly, are these men afraid of? Other people seeing their genitals? If so, why? What is objectively frightening about that possibility? Are they afraid of being judged? If so, that distant (and pretty benign) possibility certainly does not justify modifying their behavior. Are they afraid gay men will leer at them? If so, I wish to assure them that we do not care what your nude body looks like. In fact, if anything, gay men are exceedingly self-conscious about not looking at other men’s private parts, since we are often (and unfairly) assumed to be creepily voyeuristic.
Gyms, and well-adjusted adults, should not let these childish anxieties dictate their decisions. Fear of nudity is a socialized trait, and it can be resolved by forcing yourself to be naked in a locker room. Once you’ve dared to remove your towel for a few moments on two or three occasions, you will stop being an apprehensive child and start being an actualized adult. You will be freed from the illogical chains of body consciousness. And, best of all, you will no longer be one of the breathless trembling molting arthropods who want to force their pubescent insecurities on the rest of us. |
Copyright by WCMH - All rights reserved
NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ (AP) - A Rutgers University professor was taken to a New York City hospital for a psychiatric evaluation after university police claimed he made threats to kill white people, authorities said Wednesday.
But Kevin Allred said the comments he made in class and on Twitter in the days after Donald Trump won the presidential election were just rhetorical political statements. He claims school officials were trying to intimidate him for exercising his free speech rights.
New York police said they were contacted by Rutgers police about the alleged threats. Allred, who is white, was taken to the hospital Tuesday night and released later that night. Allred said he wasn't arrested or handcuffed, but was told he didn't have a choice about going to the hospital.
In postings on Twitter, Allred said the dispute stems from comments he made about whether conservatives would care as much about gun rights if guns were used to kill more white people. He also cited another tweet that showed an American flag being ignited.
Allred also sent a tweet questioning the school's response to Trump's election last week: "hey Rutgers, did you send out an email addressing the fears of MANY RU students for their safety in Trump's amerika yet? did i miss it?"
Allred did not immediately respond to a request for comments sent through Twitter on Wednesday. But he told the New York Daily News that he spent two hours at the hospital before doctors agreed he had no psychological issues.
"The doctors were like 'This is ridiculous, why did they bring you here?'" Allred told the newspaper. "And I said, 'That's what I thought but they told me they had to do it.'"
Rutgers spokesman E.J. Miranda said Wednesday the university's police department "responded to a complaint from a student and took all appropriate action." He said the school would have no further comment on the matter.
Allred has drawn attention in the past for teaching a women's and gender study class titled "Feminist Perspectives: Politicizing Beyonce."
YES, my 2nd amendment tweet was incendiary but completely w/in free speech. ZERO direct threat involved. posed as a rhetorical question. - Kevin Allred (@KevinAllred) November 16, 2016 |
Last week, the United States Senate convened hearings on amending the Constitution to “better regulate” political spending. With a two-thirds vote needed in both Houses of Congress, no one expects any amendment to pass. Yet, fundamental reform is absolutely needed — and possible.
The core problem with our democracy today is that we have outsourced the funding of campaigns to the tiniest fraction of the 1 percent. As congressmen spend between 30 and 70 percent of their time raising campaign cash, they focus their efforts on no more than 150,000 Americans. The numbers for Super PACs are even more astonishing: In the 2012 election cycle, 132 Americans contributed 60 percent of the SuperPAC money spent in all races. In no conceivable way does this tiny fraction of political donors represent America.
If Congress were really serious about fundamental reform, they could fix this problem tomorrow, with a simple majority vote, by enacting legislation that would change how campaigns are funded. There are two perfectly acceptable proposals that would achieve this result: Democrats offer a proposal of matching funds to candidates who wage small-dollar-funded campaigns, and some Republicans propose to provide tax credits or vouchers to candidates who wage small-dollar-funded campaigns. Through either of these proposals, Congress has the power to remove the current dependence on the tiniest fraction of the 1 percent, and replace it with the dependence that President James Madison promised it would have — “on the People alone.”
Yet too many politicians are afraid to even mention this obvious, and obviously simpler, solution to the problem of American democracy. So we have decided to create a SuperPAC called the Mayday PAC to force Congress to face the obvious. More than a year ago, we asked experts to calculate the cost of winning a Congress in 2016 that would pass fundamental reform. That number was big. But essential to the plan was to pilot the idea in 2014. We would run a reform-based campaign in five districts, testing what works, and when we win, terrifying the rest of Congress about the potential for this SuperPAC to rally citizens to demand reform.
The cost of the 2014 pilot was estimated at $12 million. And so on May 1, we launched an experiment to see whether we could raise money through a Kickstarter campaign for at least half. We set an initial goal of $1 million in 30 days. Insiders thought this was impossible, but with the help of 13,000 supporters, with a median contribution of just $50, we crossed the $1 million mark in 13, not 30, days. That $1 million has now been matched — by two of Silicon Valley’s greatest innovators, Reid Hoffman of Linked-In and Peter Thiel, cofounder of Paypal; two of the Internet’s greatest venture capitalists, Brad Burnham and Fred and Joanne Wilson, of Union Square Ventures; and the curator of TED, Chris Anderson.
We just launched the second challenge — $5 million in 30 days. And if we succeed in that too, then we will launch the first stage of this fight to force Congress to address the immediate source of the real corruption in this democracy — not so much whether Target or ExxonMobil can speak, but the way politicians raise the money to fund their campaigns.
This is the hard work that Congress should be doing. It’s easy to hold hearings on resolutions that everyone knows will fail. It takes leadership to force debate on ideas that no one believes can pass — but must pass. That’s the leadership that Lyndon Johnson demonstrated, both in the Senate in 1957, and as President, when he forced a reluctant South to finally accept equal rights. That’s the leadership that this nation needs again. And deserves.
Lawrence Lessig is the Roy L. Furman Professor of Law and Leadership at Harvard Law School, director of the Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics at Harvard University, and founder of Rootstrikers, a network of activists leading the fight against government corruption.
Mark McKinnon is a Republican strategist who served as chief media advisor to George W. Bush. |
The automotive magazine, "Top Gear Russia," accidentally published a photo of a classified Russian submarine, according to news reports.
The Centre for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies, a Moscow-based think tank, was the first to report on the image of the classified deep-water sub known as the AC-12 Project. The news was subsequently picked up by such news outlets as Slon Media and Business Insider.
The magazine apparently organized a photo shoot on the shores of the White Sea for the Mercedes-Benz GL450, a full-size sports utility vehicle, and didn't realize it had captured the stealthy submarine cruising on the surface of the water in the background.
The vessel, nicknamed, "Losharik" after a children's movie, is part of the Russian navy's Northern Fleet, according to the Russian think tank. The magazine image of Losharika may be the highest-quality open source photo of the boat to date.
Russia over the past decade has reorganized its military forces, including its Northern Fleet, in part to protect its interests in the Arctic. The fleet falls under a formation called Northern Fleet-United Strategic Command, which includes forces on the border with Norway and in the high Arctic, according to published reports. |
It has been eight years since we last say Jason Vorhees murdering teenagers on the big screen, but that will soon change. The long-in-development reboot of the Friday the 13th franchise is scheduled for release this October and it looks like shooting will start soon. The movie is reportedly casting and will be shooting in Georgia this Spring.
The news comes courtesy of Bloody Disgusting, who report that casting is currently underway in order for production on the new Friday the 13th movie to start in March. Bloody Disgusting noted that the fan site F13Franchise is also backing up that report, saying that pre-production is currently underway in Conyers, Georgia, which would line up with what producer Brad Fuller said in an interview from late 2016. Here is what F13Franchise had to say about the production.
"The reason that the production in Conyers is interesting is that Platinum Dunes is scheduled for shooting in that town starting in March and lasting through to May. That leads us to believe a good majority of filming should take place in that area. (On a side note, we tried to get the official start date, but were unable to get a solid confirmation.) Another interesting bit of information about Conyers is that it is just under 12 miles away from Covington, Georgia where Jason Lives: Friday The 13th Part VI was filmed!"
No cast members for the new Friday the 13th have officially been announced, but it will probably be a relatively low-budget affair and will likely utilize a lot of unknown actors and actresses, which is often the case with horror movies. If the movie is going to shoot in March, it seems like there is plenty of time for the creative team to get the cast in place and give Jason some new people to dispatch with his signature machete. This project has been through the ringer over the past few years, so fans may want to temper their excitement until the cameras actually start rolling, but it looks like things are on track.
There was a time where it seemed like this Friday the 13th reboot was going to be done as a found footage movie, but producers Brad Fuller and Andrew Form debunked that last year. They did state in an interview with Collider that the movie will shoot primarily in Georgia, which gels with this new report, and that the movie will be a "hard R," which means Jason can get super violent. Also, the movie won't be in 3D or IMAX when it is released, which should help to keep it a little less gimmicky. They are also trying very hard to make this movie stand on its own and not get bogged down with the history of the other movies in the franchise. It is also said that this project will showcase Jason's family, including his mother Pamela and his father Elias, who has been referenced previously in the franchise.
Related: Fully Funded Friday the 13th: Vengeance Fan Film Is a Jason Lives Sequel
The Friday the 13th reboot is being directed by Breck Eisner (The Crazies) with a script from Aaron Guzikowski (Prisoners). Friday the 13th has a prime October 13, 2017, release date, landing right before Halloween and releasing on an actual Friday the 13th. We will be sure to keep you up to date as more details on the project become available. |
Usually when you hear “worm” used when it relates to technology, it refers to malware, but researchers at MIT found the inspiration for their latest creation from the real kind.
The device, dubbed Lineform, is a slithering, shape-shifting soft robot capable of handling a wide variety of common tech-related tasks. Designed by MIT Tangible Media Group, the serpentine-style peripheral is a reimagining of cords and wires if they could come to life.
Ken Nakagaki, an Interaction Designer at MIT Media Lab, told the Daily Dot that he was thinking of a new shape-changing interface after joining the group last year. He settled on about as simple a shape as is imaginable: a line. “The origin of the idea was coming from the notion of daily line-based materials such as string, wire or rope,” he said.
“A lot of questions came up in my mind. ‘What if these material can transform to any kind of shape? How would our computer or tools around us change? How can we design interaction with such material?’ Through investigating the possibility of such material, we realized that the form of ‘line’ can play a quite impressive role,” when it comes to interfaces.
The foundation for Lineform comes from other snake robotics technology. Thin, flexible bots have previously been presented as an option for medical procedures, placing a microscopic camera in places that would otherwise require invasive surgery to see. Snake-like characteristics have also been the inspiration for other bots that could be used for search-and-rescue or exploratory operations to navigate challenging terrain and tight corners.
Using the existing technology as a starting point, the researchers at MIT crafted the Lineform prototype.
“The hardware consists of a series of motors so that the overall shape can be rendered by controlling each motor’s angle,” Nakagaki said. The motors are controlled by an Arduino Mega microcontroller board, and the entirety of the bots’ mechanical guts are covered by a black spandex skin.
Don’t worry, despite its similarities to a snake, Lineform doesn’t shed its skin—in fact, it counts on pressure sensors embedded in the spandex to detect touch data.
Nakagaki refers to Lineform as an “actuated curve interface” that has a plethora of potential applications. Because of its unique ability to change shape on the fly, Lineform can be anything from an expressive data cable that shimmies to show the data moving through it to a high-tech stencil that can form any shape.
Nakagaki suggested it could do anything from simulate a smartphone-style touchscreen surface that can be tapped and swiped, to form itself into the shape of a phone and be used to make calls (with the proper technology wired in, of course).
Nakagaki said he and his fellow researchers developed two different prototypes with different sets of specifications and sensors equipped to each. “Having prototypes with different specs, we intend to show a wide range of possibilities for the actuated curve interfaces,” he explained.
While Lineform is the latest work to come out of the Tangible Media Group, the team has been hard at work for several years to create new ways for people to interact with technology.
Driven by a vision to “seamlessly couple the dual world of bits and atoms by giving dynamic physical form to digital information and computation,” the researchers under Professor Hiroshi Ishii previously created a display that can render virtual content physically so users can tangibly interact with digital information. Earlier this year, the group revealed Social Textiles—shirts that display information about the wearer and connect people with similar interests.
Lineform goes well beyond the Tangible Media Group’s previous works. In the paper detailing the device, the researchers note they specifically chose not to detail the implementations they came up with in hopes of inspiring further research and development for the technology.
There is just one major problem facing Lineform; as a device predicated on improving how people interact with technology, it has to actually get people to want to interact with it. When researchers demonstrated the device, they found it would often “startle users when it quickly changes form.”
That’s perhaps not all that surprising, given how common a fear of snakes is; some research suggests one in every three adults suffer ophidiophobia, the fear of snakes. According to a study published in Biological Psychology, there is evidence to suggest that a fear of snakes is an evolutionary association—the human brain is just wired to dislike snakes.
Nakagaki said that’s an issue they plan on addressing. “Further research on designing comfort motion or utilizing soft actuators might be required so that user would not be afraid to directly interact with them,” he said.
H/T Gizmodo | Photo via MIT |
There’s no excuse for bullying.
“They’re weird!/They’re not normal!”
That’s your opinion, not a fact. What you really mean is “They’re not like me”. They’re not hurting anyone by not being like you.
“They’re cringey!”
Again, it’s just your opinion, and they’re not hurting anyone. Cringe culture is pointless anyway.
“They’re annoying!”
Once again, just your opinion. If you think someone’s annoying, why not just stay away from them? No need to be rude.
“They’re autistic!”
Shame on you. Get out of my face.
“They’re fat!/They’re ugly!”
And you’re shallow. So what if you don’t like the way someone looks? It’s not your place to make them feel bad about it.
“They’re [any non-straight sexuality]!”
Get out of my sight. This is the 21st century.
“They’re trans!”
See above.
“They’re just seeking attention!”
You don’t know that for a fact. And even if they really are seeking attention, you don’t have the right to shame them.
“It’s funny to pick on them!”
Shame on you if you think bullying is funny. Get a life.
“I was just joking around!”
That’s no excuse. There are other ways to have fun that don’t involve putting other people down.
“Words can’t actually hurt anyone!”
Wrong. Words do hurt, and sometimes they can hurt more than actual physical injury.
“I’m not a bully, they’re just too sensitive!”
Not everyone reacts the same way. If you weren’t so rude, there wouldn’t be anything for the victim to be “sensitive” about.
“I’m just speaking the truth!”
Honesty is great. But you can be honest and say what you think without being rude about it. There’s a fine line between ‘brutally honest’ and ‘downright rude’.
“I have freedom of speech!”
You do. But if you’re using your ‘freedom of speech’ to bully and shame others, then you’re abusing it.
“But-”
No.
I don’t care what ‘reason’ you pull out of your ass to try to justify bullying, it’s invalid. Bullying, whatever the reason is, is unnecessary, cruel, and totally pointless.
If you bully someone, you’re basically telling them:
“You don’t deserve to be happy”
“You’re inferior to me”
“Your feelings are a joke”
Is that really what you want to be telling people?
Is that really how you want to make people feel? |
Dependency Inversion in C Using Function Pointers
The recent Arqua analysis of the Linux kernel has generated a few questions to me on how to untangle tangled dependencies. Here are a few ways to invert dependencies in C using function pointers.
Let’s have a look at a simple example of a system with two files:
Client.c
void clientNotify(int notification) { printf("Notification %i
", notification); } static void clientDoAction() { serverDoAction(4); } int main() { clientDoAction(); return 0; }
Server.c
void serverDoAction(int notifications) { int i; for (i = 0; i < notifications; i++) { clientNotify(i); } }
The server here notifies the client of an action as many times specified in the parameter to serverDoAction. When running Arqua on this system we get the following result:
As we can see in the image the two files Server and Client has a tangled dependency. It is because the notification back to the client is a static direct call to the client function notifyClient. This type of dependency is not healthy because of several reasons:
The server can only server one static client and is not reusable.
The server is not testable without that specific client. Isolating the code for mocking becomes impossible. Strictly speaking this is an important special case of reusability.
Both files needs to be understood in order to do changes to only one. If not, the risk to introduce recursive calls, memory leaks etc. increases. The control abstraction made when creating the two files has thus failed. It could still be a relevant data abstraction, protecting internal types.
This tangle can easily be resolved using dependency inversion. In C dependency inversion can be done using function pointers. In our example we need to make sure that the server somehow gets a function pointer to call at notification time. The trick is to find a good way to pass this function pointer on to the server. There are a few ways to do this:
Statically initialize the server with the function pointer
Passing the function pointer to the server function as a parameter
Creating a server instance and pass the function pointer as a parameter to the constructor of the server.
Static initialization
The simplest way to invert the dependency while keeping the existing API is to initialize the server at startup with all its needed dependencies. In our case we need to initialize it with a function pointer type. This is done in the new function serverInit. This function stores the globally initialized function pointer in the variable gNotifier:
static void(*gNotifier)(int) = 0; void serverInit(void(*notifier)(int)) { if (notifier) { gNotifier = notifier; } }
The globally set function pointer now needs to be used by serverDoAction. We need to change the direct call to clientNotify to a call to the variable gNotifier instead, giving us this new serverDoAction function:
void serverDoAction(int notifications) { int i; for (i = 0; i < notifications; i++) { gNotifier(i); } }
The usage of the server is still the same, however we need to make sure that initServer is called before we start to use serverDoAction. In a real system this type of static initialization is more commonly setup outside of the client in a separate subsystem responsible for system wiring. In our limited example we can instead add this to the main function in the client file:
int main() { serverInit(clientNotify); clientDoAction(); return 0; }
These changes now gives us a different result when running Arqua on the system:
As we can see the dependency from the server to the client has now been removed and the structural quality is up to 100%.
It is possible to create a more robust server component by making sure that gNotifier is always initialized to a real function doing nothing, similar to the Null Object Pattern:
static void serverNullNotifier(int a) { //Default behavior } static void(*gNotifier)(int) = serverNullNotifier;
Now calling the server will always work, even if we have not changed the default behavior in serverNullNotifier.
The static initialization method makes the server independent of the client and enable us to test the server isolated. It is however the most primitive of the three methods. In a big system it is easy to make the mistake of having multiple clients who tries to initialize and use the server. Some systems uses a system wiring subsystem to be the only one to initialize but for a less error prone and reusable server we need to take it a step further.
Function Pointer Parameter
If we really would like to be able to call the server from multiple clients the static initialization method is not enough. To enable this we need to change the way we interact with the server. The first option is to change the function serverDoAction only, adding the function pointer as a new parameter:
void serverDoAction(void(*notifier)(int), int notifications) { int i; for (i = 0; i < notifications; i++) { notifier(i); } }
The function serverDoAction now calls the parameter notifier instead of doing the static call to clientNotify. The client also needs to be changed since the signature of the server function has changed. Now we send clientNotify as a parameter instead:
static void clientDoAction() { serverDoAction(clientNotify, 4); }
Running Arqua again gives us another result:
Again we have removed the tangle and in this case we have only one dependency from client to server since we have no static initialization call.
Server Instances
Another way to enable multiple clients is to rewrite the static server into a server object that can be instantiated for each client. This becomes extra handy when:
Having multiple function pointers that the server needs to call.
Needing to share server behavior between clients, where some can even be agnostic to what notifier is being used, as a primitive form of polymorphism.
When implementing support for server instances we need a few more server functions; a constructor and a destructor, using a new server object type:
struct _Server { void(*notifier)(int); }; Server *serverCreate(void(*notifier)(int)) { Server *server = malloc(sizeof(Server)); if (server) { server->notifier = notifier; } return server; } void serverDestroy(Server *server) { free(server); }
The doServerAction now needs to operate on this new server object type, calling the member notifier instead of clientNotify:
void serverDoAction(Server *server, int notifications) { int i; for (i = 0; i < notifications; i++) { server->notifier(i); } }
The client also needs to be changed, now to create, destroy and use the new server object type:
static void clientDoAction(Server *server) { serverDoAction(server, 4); } int main() { Server *server = serverCreate(clientNotify); clientDoAction(server); serverDestroy(server); return 0; }
Note that the client internal function clientDoAction does not have to know anything about what notifier being used. In the case of using function pointers as parameters this was not possible. We can now create independent client subsystem that cares only about when serverDoAction should be called and not what the server instance will do.
Running Arqua a last time on this system gives us another result:
Example From The Linux Kernel
Let’s go back to the Arqua analysis of the Linux kernel and take a look at the kernel/power directory:
The quality of each file looks good, but there is a tangle between the files main.c and suspend.c. Arqua reports the two dependencies from main.c to suspend.c as the bad dependencies. This is just a guess; Arqua assumes that the smaller dependency of the two is the cause of the tangle. When we look in the files we can see that we have the following dependencies from main.c to suspend.c:
state_store calls pm_suspend
state_show calls valid_state
The dependencies in the opposite direction looks like this:
suspend_finish calls pm_notifier_call_chain
suspend_prepare calls pm_notifier_call_chain twice
Now, it is actually possible to invert any of the dependencies between these files. Especially in the case of only having a few dependencies in each direction it might not be obvious what to do. Often the dependency is caused by a larger structural problem. When looking at the whole power subsystem it becomes clear that a bigger refactoring is really needed to resolve this in a good way, but for the sake of the example, let’s just focus on the tangle itself and not the big picture. Let’s try an use an easy way to resolve these dependencies, using the static initialization method above:
Looking at main.c again we see that pm_init is called when the system is started. We can let this function initialize suspend.c also, and add the injection of pm_notifier_call_chain here:
static int __init pm_init(void) { ... suspend_init(pm_notifier_call_chain); ... }
The suspend_init function needs to be declared in suspend.h. The input parameter to suspend_init is a function pointer matching the signature of pm_notifier_call_chain:
extern void suspend_init(int(*notifier)(unsigned long));
The new suspend_init function in suspend.c will look like this:
static int(*notifier)(unsigned long) = NULL; void __init suspend_init(int(*init_notifier)(unsigned long)) { notifier = init_notifier; }
Last thing to do is to remove the static calls to pm_notifier_call_chain:
error = pm_notifier_call_chain(PM_SUSPEND_PREPARE);
to a call to the injected dependency:
error = notifier(PM_SUSPEND_PREPARE);
Running an Arqua analysis again gives us a report without the previous tangle:
The Q score has increased, from 84% to 92%, and the structure of the directory has now been slightly improved.
Summary
Any tangled dependency can be untangled using dependency injection as in the examples above. It usually creates a much clearer separation of responsibilities and more reusable code. When untangling a structure it is important to look at the bigger picture and really see what the problem at hand is. In the kernel example above the tangle has indeed been resolved, however the configuration of the system is still equally complex, activating other parts of the system such as hibernation exposes even more similar tangles etc. Continuously working with keeping a system untangled eventually gives the experience needed to make the right refactoring decisions. |
President-elect Donald Trump at a meeting with tech leaders at his tower in Manhattan. Drew Angerer/Getty Images President-elect Donald Trump took a swing at Vanity Fair on Thursday, one day after the magazine published a scathing review of Trump Grill, the restaurant in the Manhattan high-rise where he lives and works.
"Has anyone looked at the really poor numbers of @VanityFair Magazine. Way down, big trouble, dead! Graydon Carter, no talent, will be out!" Trump wrote on Twitter, referring to the magazine's longtime editor.
On Wednesday, Vanity Fair reporter Tina Nguyen, a political reporter whose coverage of Trump has skewed overwhelmingly negative, published a scathing review of Trump Grill.
Save the employees, no element of Trump Grill was spared, from the food to the decor to the inconsistent spelling of the restaurant's name (at different times referred to as "Trump Grill" and "Trump Grille").
Nguyen wrote that the food tasted "like an M.S.G.-flavored kitchen sponge lodged between two other sponges." The bathroom, she said, mimics "the experience of desperately searching for toilet paper at a Venezuelan grocery store."
The review said the cocktails "seemed to be concocted by a college freshman experimenting in their dorm room," while the steak was "overcooked and mealy, with an ugly strain of pure fat," and "slumped to the side over the potatoes like a dead body inside a T-boned minivan."
Despite the brutal critique, Nguyen is hardly the first to skewer the food at Trump Grill.
Earlier this year, Eater determined that food at the restaurant was "chronically afraid to take chances, food for timid people with digestive problems." New York magazine said "countless restaurants trump this spot." And restaurant reviewers at The Wall Street Journal apologized to the cows that were slaughtered to produce the cheeseburger and steak sandwich at Trump Tower.
Trump has a long history of criticism of Carter, who needled Trump while serving as the editor of the now-defunct Spy magazine, referring to Trump as a "short-fingered vulgarian" and mocking his penchant for ostentatious displays of wealth and status.
"To this day, I receive the occasional envelope from Trump," Carter wrote last year. "There is always a photo of him— generally a tear sheet from a magazine. On all of them he has circled his hand in gold Sharpie in a valiant effort to highlight the length of his fingers.
"I almost feel sorry for the poor fellow because, to me, the fingers still look abnormally stubby."
Vanity Fair didn't respond to a request for comment on Trump's tweet. |
Four Army servicemen have been arrested on suspicion of preparing acts of terror, after allegedly belonging to a banned neo-Nazi group National Action.
The four men − a 22-year-old from Birmingham, a 32-year-old man from Powys, a 24-year-old from Ipswich and a 24-year-old from Northampton, have been arrested on suspicion of members of a proscribed organisation.
The four are being held at a police station in the West Midlands.
An Army spokesperson said: "We can confirm that a number of serving members of the Army have been arrested under the Terrorism Act for being associated with a proscribed far right group.
"These arrests are the consequence of a Home Office Police Force led operation supported by the Army.
"This is now the subject of a civilian police investigation."
A number of properties are being searched in connection with the arrests which were pre-planned. |
A Greenpeace investigation shows that a prominent American fisheries scientist took millions of dollars in funding from fishing industry groups without publicly disclosing it.
Warming and acidifying waters. Massive bleaching of corals. Collapsing fisheries. Pollution from oil, chemicals, plastics, and human waste. The oceans and ocean life are in trouble, and most scientists in the field agree. To begin to turn it around, civilization needs to look at the state of the oceans with sober and clear eyes. Now a Greenpeace investigation shows that a prominent scientist — one who has presented a rosier picture of the oceans than most of his peers — has accepted millions in research funding and additional consultancy payments from fishing industry groups without disclosing it to the public or the venues that publish his work.
Dr. Ray Hilborn, a professor at University of Washington's School of Aquatic and Fisheries Sciences has made a career of contradicting the science that shows increasingly declining fish stocks across the globe. His maverick position has earned him a unique status within ocean science. And, unsurprisingly, it has won him many fans within industry. Dr. Hilborn's work has often been promoted when the industrial fishing industry has sought to defend its worst practices, including bottom trawling. And as someone often cited in industry-funded public relations efforts, he has become the go-to scientist for contrarian opinions on fishing impacts.
Dr. Hilborn's extensive catalog of publications has propelled him to wide recognition. They also seem to have insulated him from criticism. The results of Greenpeace's recent Public Records Act requests to Hilborn's employer the University of Washington will undoubtedly force the science community to reassess the latitude they have shown the professor for years. Records show that Dr. Hilborn has taken more than $3.5 million in corporate funding for research. He has also received an untold sum from a long career as a consultant to industry. And while some of his peers suspected, few if any of them knew for sure.
While inquiries into Dr. Hilborn's conduct are still ongoing, a number of ethical concerns have been brought to light. Dr. Hilborn's failure to disclose funding sources violates the policies of many of the journals in which he has published — the journals that have effectively made his career. Failure to disclose that funding is also a violation of the ethical standards of academic science, as it creates an inaccurate perception among scientific peers and the public that Dr. Hilborn's research has no potential financial bias.
Documents show that between 2003 and 2015, Dr. Hilborn received $3.56 million from 69 distinct fishing or seafood companies and corporate interests, including Trident, the South African Deep Sea Trawling Association, and the International Seafood Sustainability Foundation, which, despite its name, is the trade association for the industrial tuna fleet. Documents also show that in the same period, Dr. Hilborn received payments as a consultant from a number of industry groups, including FishAmerica Foundation, the New Zealand Seafood Industry Council, At-Sea Processors Association, the BC Underwater Harvesters Association, and ExxonMobil.
Dr. Hilborn has earned a reputation — and a lot of money — as a critic of the widely held views that unsustainable fishing is harming our ecosystems. He has also been a vocal critic of efforts to strengthen regulations. By presenting himself as a scientist without conflicts of interest, rather than a well-paid advocate for the fishing industry, he has hindered effective policy discussions and delayed urgently needed reforms. Among some of the most egregious public examples include:
In a 2014 Op-Ed in the New York Times titled “Let Us Eat Fish,” Hilborn called scientific data on overfishing “exaggerated.” The piece advocates for revisions to the Magnuson-Stevens Act, an effective piece of legislation that has helped rebuild American fish stocks from New England to California. Dr. Hilborn calls for turning over a greater share of management to fisheries councils, which are overwhelmingly populated by representatives of industry. Dr. Hilborn's byline states that he is a professor at University of Washington but makes no mention of his ties to industry.
In 2010, Dr. Hilborn co-wrote correspondence in the esteemed journal Nature, in which he advocated for the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC). In 2012, he co-authored a paper in the highly-regarded PLOS One saying that the MSC “accurately identifies healthy fish stocks and conveys reliable information on stock status to seafood consumers.” In previous years, Dr. Hilborn received outside income from TAVEL Certification Inc. and Scientific Certification Systems, both certification companies employed by the MSC. In neither cases were his ties to MSC-related companies revealed, clear violations of both journals' policies — and the standards of academic science.
A 2013 piece in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science (PNAS) makes the case that dams are not a cause of Chinook salmon decline in the Columbia River. Dr. Hilborn disclosed no conflict of interest, despite having received income as a consultant for the San Luis Delta Mendota Water District, a powerful water agency representing agribusiness downstream of the Columbia that benefited from those very dams. Again, neither Dr. Hilborn nor the article disclosed this conflict of interest.
Dr. Hilborn has repeatedly been a detractor of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) and the widely held belief that global overfishing is devastating fish populations worldwide. In articles in PNAS and Science on the respective issues, Dr. Hilborn does not disclose any conflict of interest. However, Dr. Hilborn received income as a contractor from private industry groups to “evaluate alternative designs for marine protected areas,” and has, as mentioned, been the recipient of much funding from fishing industry groups. In the case of the article in Science, extensive acknowledgments of foundation and public funding were made, yet there was no mention of Dr. Hilborn's industry ties.
There are many more examples of failures to disclose conflicts that we know about, and our researchers are continuing to investigate. Additionally, Dr. Hilborn's violations may extend past his own science to compromise his extensive work as a reviewer and editor for scientific journals. As gatekeeper of knowledge and scientific understanding, we believe conflicts of interest such as the ones documented should be automatic grounds for disqualification. Dr. Hilborn served as a member of the Board of Reviewing Editors for Science for nearly eight years. He was also associate editor of the Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences from 2002-2013. He is currently a Guest Editor at PNAS, and on the Editorial Boards of the journals Fish and Fisheries and Reviews in Fish Biology and Fisheries.
Greenpeace expects further revelations in the weeks to come. In the meantime, we are filing letters with each of the journals for which we have evidence of Dr. Hilborn's failure to disclose conflicts of interest. We are also pushing the University of Washington to conduct its own investigation of Dr. Hilborn. In the grand tradition of harmful industries buying science to support their destructive practices — from tobacco to the fossil fuel industry — Dr. Hilborn and the fishing industry have peddled in doubt for too long. It is time for them to be stopped and real science to prevail.
John Hocevar is the Oceans Campaign Director at Greenpeace US. |
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The live-action Rugrats movie is coming and it's going to be the most amazing (and disturbing) movie of 2012!
Actor Alia Shawkat Actor Mae Whitman Actor Michael Angarano Writer Ryan Perez Director/Show Lead Ryan Perez Actor Nathan Barnatt Cinematographer Antonio Scarlata Actor Sarah Ramos Producer Ally Hord Sound Designer BoTown Sound Hair and Makeup Kat Bardot Costume and Wardrobe Laurel_Pochucha Costume and Wardrobe Aubrey Binzer Set Designer Ayse_Arf
Starring Alia Shawkat, Mae Whitman, Michael Angarano, Sarah Ramos & Nathan Barnatt
Written and Directed by Ryan Perez
DP: Antonio Scarlata
Produced by Ally Hord
1st AD: Greg Kindra
1st AC: Ray Lee
Sound: BoTown Sound
Gaffer: David Cronin
Grips: Jordan Downey, Raul Riveria, Marcus McDougald
Art: Ayse Arf
Art Assist: Ameila Brooke, Caity Birmingham, Liz Garner
Key Make Up: Kat Bardot
M/U: Assists Erin Nichols
Wardrobe: Laurel Pochucha, Aubrey Binzer
Production Stills: Tiffany Roohani
PA’s: Liz Lanteri, Andrew Grissom, Reaves Washburn |
DeLorean DMC-12 Barn Find Reading time: about 2 minutes. American
Cars
Project Vehicles
Retro
Despite the low production numbers and somewhat tainted history of the DeLorean DMC-12, it’s unquestionably one of the most instantly recognisable motor cars of all time. One of the most famous and visually arresting features is the stainless steel body work, so when we came across this bright red DeLorean on eBay we were understandably curious about its provenance.
It’s widely known that only a very small number of Deloreans left the factory without unblemished stainless steel body work, a few were painted gold and there were some test cars made with plain black panels as training vehicles for the production line workers. Exactly how this red one came to be red is unclear, the listing explains that the original owner’s daughter liked the colour and the car so it’s likely that he bought the car and had it painted privately.
Regardless of how the car came to be the colour it is today, it saw very little time out on the road before it was covered and parked in a large shed. It remained untouched for over 30 years and is now an interesting DMC-12 time capsule, I’ve never seen an original DeLorean interior this tidy and the driver’s seat almost always have blemishes – largely because every time the owner stops for gas a line of people form all wanting to get their photograph taken sitting in the car.
The current owner acquired the car from the original owner earlier this year, it’s had a few thousand spent on it to get it running and back in good condition and is now being offered for sale on eBay with the bidding sitting at $26,000 (at the time of writing, with 2 days left on the auction).
It isn’t stipulated whether this car still has its stainless steel panels under the paint, or whether they were removed for painting – If they were removed the car with be a fair bit lighter than your average DMC-12 and if they’re still in place it wouldn’t be a huge job to remove the paint and get the steel brushed back into original condition.
If you’d like to see more images or place a bid, you can visit the eBay listing here.
Hat tip to Barnfinds. |
The Millennial Conformist
Or How to Learn to Love Stupidity Without Really Trying
LADY BIRD REVISITED
BY COLE SMITHEY
Since being drawn toward the magnetic Tomatometer to give “Lady Bird” a better grade than this flawed film deserved I’ve been watching and discussing French Films (“Le Samorai,” “My Golden Days,” “Murmur of the Heart,” “Rendez-Vous,” and “Les Valseuses”) with my podcast partner Mike Lacy on our series LA GRANDE BOUFFE (THE BIG FEAST). Context, it’s always there. Each of these French films blow “Lady Bird” out of the water. French Cinema is reliable. Watching “Lady Bird” in the midst of such powerful films was a lesson in hack work vs. quality Cinema. Admittedly, it took a second viewing of "Lady Bird" to catch the part where Greta Gerwig breaks an essential rule of dramaturgy regarding reliable protagonists. Saoirse Ronan's character is reliably unreliable in this department.
In preparation for our podcast discussion of “Lady Bird,” I went to my local 86th Street cinema on the Upper East Side and watched Greta Gerwig's over-hyped movie a second time. I discovered a litany of bogus character traits for the title character that paint a picture of an entitled, conniving, cheating, vapid, disloyal, snotty, conformist white girl going through a phony personality crisis so she can put-on her next “Basic” (à la “Ingrid Goes West”) identity as one more white female college student in New York City with rocks in her head.
Lady Bird’s (Saoirse Ronan) objectives of getting laid and going to college far away from her parents are the plot engines that drive the film’s narrative.
A red flag goes up during the opening of the movie when Lady Bird jumps from the speeding car her mom is driving because she (Lady Bird) can’t handle having the conversation. Lady Bird isn’t just immature; she’s suicidal. Still, no psychiatric exam, therapy, or medication follows for our manic (possibly bi-polar or manic depressive) high school student with a nasty attitude. You might expect a serious response from a mom (Laurie Metclaf) who works as a shrink, but you will be sorely disappointed.
A cast on her broken arm is all Lady Bird needs to judge Danny (Lucas Hedges), a closeted gay boy she briefly dates before abandoning him after catching him kissing another boy. It will [ostensibly] take a few years for Christine (Lady Bird) to purchase her LGBT glasses. In the meantime it's just the "Me, me, me, me, me" all-day song).
She goes on to dump her best friend Julie (Beanie Feldstein) in favor of hanging out with insufferable preps.
Lady Bird gives up on the school play because she has no patience for Danny's burgeoning sexuality. Never mind that Danny and the school play are the most interesting things Lady Bird has going on in her life. She doesn't have any sense of loyalty to her own best friend. She is a dolt who also happens to be a poor judge of character.
Oh, and the whole poverty thing, it's just a ruse. Who is anyone kidding? This family is not poor in any real definition of the word. The girl goes to a private school for crying out loud.
The fact that Lady Bird prefers “dry-humping” to penetration could be a potential deal-breaker for some would-be suitors.
The biggest coincidence between my own history with grading this movie comes after Lady Bird steals and ditches her teacher’s notebook containing all of his class records. Lady Bird’s expulsion-taunting subterfuge allows her and her fellow students to tell the teacher his or her current grade based on the honor system. Lady Bird lies in order to squeak her grade from a “C+ or a B-“ to a B. It is this precise lie that allows Lady Bird to get into college. You couldn’t exactly call Lady Bird a model student, “bad animal” is more like it. She isn't even a narcissist for a good cause; Lady Bird's super-objective is to be the ultimate conformist. Her taste in music speaks volumes. Alanis Morissette and Dave Matthews tells you all you need to know.
The story is set in 2002, before there were surveillance cameras everywhere. If Lady Bird pulled such a stunt in 2017, she’d be expelled from school and going to community college in her parents’ back yard.
So it is that narrative cracks spread far and wide in our anti-heroine of limited ethical and intellectual abilities. Lady Bird earns our disrespect when she insults her Ivy League-graduated step-brother Miguel (Jordan Rodrigues) after being accepted into UC Davis. Rather than being happy about getting accepted into such a respected college, Lady Bird throws a spoiled brat temper tantrum and tells Miguel that the only reason he got accepted into Harvard was because he was a minority. Miguel rightfully calls Lady Bird a “racist,” as the film goes permanently off the rails. Why is the audience being asked to empathize with a racist? There's something fishy going on here.
Nobody can say all that they know. There are many more defects in "Lady Bird" than I have mentioned here, but alas those secrets are safe with me since I'm evidently the only film critic around who sees "Lady Bird" for the misguided film it is.
I suspect that many audiences who return to "Lady Bird" will be disappointed at how the movie stands up on a second viewing. It's a much worse movie the second time around, I promise you.
Let there be no confusion about my grading of “Lady Bird.” It is a movie that fails on the most important level of maintaining empathy with its faux non-conformist protagonist of dubious intent. The film's failings are masked by an obtuse use of music, quick-cutting, and some over-leveraged emotional gesturing between the mother and daughter to play to a viewer’s heartstring as the lasting theme of the movie. Deceit is the actual theme of the movie.
Don’t believe me? Watch “Lady Bird” twice and you will see everything I’ve expressed here. If I had it to do all over again, I’d give “Lady Bird” a D minus.
LADY BIRD: BAD ANIMAL — THE SUPERCUT
If you didn't think Lady Bird was the most Trumpian character in the history of Cinema, you will certainly be convinced after watching this video.
LA GRANDE BOUFFE (THE BIG FEAST) PODCAST
Mike holds Cole's feet to the fire as Cole lays out character flaw after character flaw for Saoirse Ronan's asinine persona in what is already one of the most overrated films of all time.
MAGIC HAT BREWING'S #9 provided a nice buzz to the discussion. You can read the print essay (THE MILLENNIAL CONFORMIST — OR HOW TO LEARN TO LOVE STUPIDITY WITHOUT REALLY TRYING), watch the video essay, and listen to the podcast. Since Cole is the only film critic to spell out "Lady Bird's" flaws, at least he doesn't hold back.
Subscribe to the podcast on iTunes and follow us on SOUNDCLOUD. And tell your friends!
Help keep Cole Smithey writing reviews, creating video essays, and making podcasts. Click on the button to pledge your support through Patreon.
Groupthink doesn't live here, critical thought does.
My original review follows.
Although dramatically flat, Greta Gerwig’s coming-of-age directorial debut covers its Mumblecore tracks with jabs of humor and a breeze of earthy authenticity.Set in Sacramento, California (Gerwig’s hometown), the story focuses on the fraught relationship between Lady Bird (a.k.a. Christine — played by Saoirse Ronan) and her overworked mother Marion (Laurie Metcalf), whose emotions run hot or cold. Marion’s Scorpio tendencies are exacerbated by the family’s unemployed father Larry (wonderfully played by Tracy Letts in a thankless role).
The armpit city of Sacramento will forever be indebted to Greta Gerwig for making it seem like a much better place than it is to live.
It’s Lady Bird’s senior year at a private Catholic girls’ high school from which our self-named heroine attempts to assert as much independence as her small town surroundings will allow, which is to say more than any kid living in 2017 should expect.
Participating in the school play sets up a romantic endeavor with Lucas Hedges’s Danny, a boy with a secret. Talk about being mad about the wrong boy, Lady Bird is no judge of character or of sexual affiliation.
Other social opportunities arrive as predictable let-downs for our girl-with-a-problem. Even losing her virginity occurs with a whimper. Lady Bird (“Amelie” reference — check) wants/needs to get as far away from her mother, and Sacramento, as possible. You can’t blame her one bit.
But to be clear, "Lady Bird" is far from a perfect film, it's just not the mumblecore disaster you'd expect from Greta Gerwig — one of the mumblecore movement's prime progenitors. There are dozens of coming-of-age films that far outweigh this lightweight contender. Think "Kes" or "Murmur of the Heart." Greta Gerwig has a long way to go as a filmmaker before she can pretend to approach a Ken Loach or a Louis Malle, much less Céline Sciamma's tour de force "Girlhood" from 2015.
If Lady Bird were true to her character, she'd never speak to her mother again after asking mom for the "number" that represents the amount of money she spent raising her so that she (Lady Bird) can pay her back and have nothing to do with her ever again. Lady Bird's mom earned that amount of disgust from her daughter; she deserved it. Lady Bird doesn't have the courage of her convictions after all. If ever there was a signature mumblecore trait, this is it.
"Lady Bird" is a mediocre film about moving toward institutional conformity. I the words of the poet/singer/author Jim Carroll, "It ain't no contribution to rely on the institution to validate your chosen art or to sanction your boredom and let you play out your part."
Rated R. 94 mins. (C+) (Three stars — out of five / no halves)
This review was amended on 1/24/18. COMING SOON — THE LADY BIRD EPISODE OF LA GRANDE BOUFFE (THE BIG FEAST) PODCAST where I explain why "Lady Bird" really deserves a D.
Help keep Cole Smithey writing reviews, creating video essays, and making podcasts.
Groupthink doesn't live here, critical thought does.
Click on the button to pledge your support through Patreon. |
About Alex Day
Is It Alex Day Today?
It's Alex day on the 16th of June.
Alex Day' is by our calculation on: June the 16th. The first time we detected Alex Day was the 13th of June 2015 and the most recent detection of references to Alex Day was 1 year, 8 months ago.
We're now tracking the sentiment around every mention of Alex day to show how people feel about Alex. See if people like Alex here. We're detecting how Alex affects other things more widely than just being a celebrated day. See how Alex affects company share prices.
There were many celebrations relating to national holdiays written about on social media that our algorithms picked up, on the 16th of June. In total we detected 67 total unique days being shared such as Flip Flop Day which had 2,175 people talking about it, or Fudge Day having 570 tweets. A random sample of which are shown below.
National days on the 16th of June
How Is The Date For Alex Day Calculated?
The day shown for 'National Alex Day' is based off how much chitter-chatter and buzz there was on June 16, 2017 across social media making references to 'Alex Day'. Our algorithms examine all of the references to National Days across social media and updates whatnationaldayisit.com hourly, with our homepage displaying the current national day, including others such as: Lobster, Aboriginal or Mascot Day. This crowdsourcing of data method to assess the National Alex Day date is used as opposed to being connected with any Government sacntioned lists :D Hurrah for democracy by concensus!
I'd Like To Promote National Alex Day
We've put together the following resources full of nifty tips on how to increase the reach of Alex Day. The resources include: graphs, badges, and resources on what steps to take to boost Alex Day's visibility. Get The Badge It's Alex Day
On June 16th
Can I Register Alex Day?
We don't have an international authority or governmental remit to declare any officially celebrated "national Alex day". We only aim to programatically reflect what 'National Day' it is based of what The Internet Says It Is. We believe this is much more fun as it reflects the nature of how the most amusing / interesting national days are often created organically and grow based off popular social trends and sharing, as such we don't add new days to our database unless they are organically observed on social media.
Is it National Alex Day Everywhere?
Yes? No.. Sort of | Maybe ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
What's really intersting is how whilst some National Days like National Daughters Day are seemingly celebrated internationally irrespective of geography, some very popular days (That often become the No. 1 National Day on our homepage) are in fact locally very specific and are offical holidays celebrated on a Country's national calendar. Take National Rambutan Day for instance, Rambutan is a popular Souteast Asian fruit and not seen so much in the UK, Europe or the USA. Some regionally specific trends subsequently become immensely popular internationally and worldwide, partly fuelled by widely shared 'National Days', National Pabebe Wave Day being one such example.
Hang On, It Was National Alex Day Already This Year..!?
Yes, this is strangely enough entirely possible. The date shown for National Alex Day can change, if for instance several hundred people tweeted about Alex Day in early April, then in May a few thousand people tweeted about Alex day, then the date shown for National Alex Day, could come up twice :D
We have also detected mentions of Alex day on; |
On Saturday, Times of India and Economic Times prominently carried a report each on how the income of BJP’s Rajya Sabha candidates in Gujarat had experienced phenomenal jump. According to the report, the party’s president, Amit Shah in particular, has had his income jumped by a whopping 300%.
Although the report said that the income of Congress nominee, Ahmed Patel, too had increased, it was the detail on Shah that caught everyone’s attention the most.
The Times of India Report (below), authored by Himanshu Kaushik and Kapil Dave, said that Shah’s assets had grown by 300% in the last five years.
The same report also informed how Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Smriti Irani conceded in her election affidavit that she had yet to complete her bachelor’s degree.
However, within hours of the story going viral on social media, the links to both ToI and ET mysteriously disappeared from the web. (Please see the screenshots below)
The Economic Times story was titled ‘Here’s how much Gujarat’s top 4 Rajya Sabha candidates are worth today.’
However, while the original link still throws up in Google search (see above), upon clicking the link, one ends up on the below page with the message ‘404 ERROR.’ (see below)
While the papers may have removed the link, the social media users have been equally quick to post the screenshots of the original reporting in the newspaper. And this has begun to gain plenty of attention with the topic dominating the conversation on Twitter.
Journalist Karnika Kohli wrote, “Story by @KapildaveTOI on Amit Shah’s assets has mysteriously vanished from the TOI.in http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/ahmedabad/shahs-assets-grew-by-300-in-five-years/articleshow/59815414.cms … Just another Saturday.”
Story by @KapildaveTOI on Amit Shah’s assets has mysteriously vanished from the TOI.in https://t.co/QDJ7ZeZN2K Just another Saturday ??♀️ pic.twitter.com/pUX4f30PgN — Karnika Kohli (@KarnikaKohli) July 29, 2017
Joy Das, a prolific social media user who also works in ad agency, wrote, “The Journalist is lucky. Only the Article about Amit Shah’s Assets has disappeared…”
The Journalist is lucky. Only the Article about Amit Shah’s Assets has disappeared… https://t.co/aozB6qiCU3 — Joy (@Joydas) July 29, 2017
Little later in the day, it emerged that DNA website, part of the Zee Media Group, too had removed the link to the story.
The Centre’s Narendra Modi government has often been accused of welding too much clout over the functioning of the press, thereby allegedly curtailing their ability to function independently. Many media insiders have pointed out how failure to ‘comply’ with the government order have led to both sacking of the reporters in question and withdrawal of ads worth crores of rupees.
The independence of media or lack of it under the Modi government has often been compared with the days under Emergency. Although, the members of the government have denied these allegations. |
When most people think of someone living in a van down by the river, either Matt Foley, Motivational Speaker or some dude whose biggest accomplishment was going to every Dead show between 1976 and 1994 are invariably the sort that come to mind first.
But I lived in a van cerca de un rio for two years, and I was young, reasonably attractive (to a special few, anyway), and gainfully employed. And let's face it, I owned my own home and didn't have to sign a lease. I was master of my own destiny and it was awesome!
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What do you do when you live in a van? You have parties in it, on it, and around it, light things on fire outside of it, and brag/lie about how many chicks you've lured into it. It's the ultimate mobile headquarters for any young man's life.
So the van wasn't actually a van, but a Class C motorhome, and the river wasn't a real river, but a rotten egg-smelling slough. I'd have killed for a real river.
At least the Pacific Ocean was a lot closer than was the slough. It's sparkling blue water was just across the street, as a matter of fact. The RV was parked next to a run down house in Isla Vista, Calif. — a student ghetto attached to the University of California, Santa Barbara — where thousands of 18- to 25- year old women live. I don't have to tell you what that means.
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Let's see, Southern California beach, girls everywhere, my own room connected to electricity, running water, and a house full of good friends... Now you can see why it kicked so much ass.
The idea to live in some kind of a camper van or trailer wasn't new to me. When I was a dredging company surveyor (we built beaches and dug holes in river bottoms — a different story for another time), one of the other guys on my crew always insisted on living in this really crappy 1979 Dodge van-based Tioga RV while we were out on jobs all over the East and Gulf Coasts. The rest of us accepted the luxury of rented beach houses while he pocketed several thousand dollars a year in per diem checks. His rolling home was small, but it had a good layout inside, and could have been a pretty cool place to live but for the fact that he didn't really keep it up. He also never seemed to find access to electricity and water, so his winters were, well, chilly. It wasn't for me.
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But a few years later, during the summer of 2007, when I was the Santa Barbara County Parks Department's 20-something beach lifeguard supervisor, I remembered his idea and thought to myself, "Self, that'd be a great way to save money."
The idea was reinforced by the guards who worked for me up at Jalama Beach, a remote (and awesome) county park sandwiched between Point Conception, a handful of huge ranches, and Vandenberg Air Force Base, the Air Force's space and missile mecca. It's about an hour from Santa Barbara, so they would usually spend three or four days at a time up there, living in an old travel trailer donated by a veteran ranger who lived at the park. Every time I traveled up there to check in on them, I looked at the old trailer, the wheels in my mind spinning madly.
I had recently moved into a sublet with a bunch of guys I'd met on Craigslist, and the one whose room I was staying in (a room I shared with another cool, but very messy dude) was coming back to claim his space at the end of the summer. It just so happened that Dave, the trailer-donating veteran park ranger, was moving out of his park quarters after 13 years there and into a little cottage in a town a few miles away. That meant he had to get rid of all of his junk, including a weathered, but pretty decent 24-foot 1978 Holiday Rambler RV.
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Although its sunbeaten exterior had seen better days — the metal parts were covered with light rust splotches that looked like leprosy and most of the plastic trim was warped or dry rotted — its interior was a 70s disco party waiting to happen. In more or less mint condition, it sported shag carpet on the floors and ceiling, wood paneling, ostentatiously embroidered upholstery, and a faux brick kitchen backsplash with plastic tarnished-brass-look outlet covers. Even though I never intended to drive it, the Ford van chassis upon which the aluminum body sat struck my gearhead chord. It had an unmuffled 460 cid V8 and a C6 transmission feeding a massive dual rear axle. But past its mechanical attributes, it had spirit, too. Maybe it was because there were always people in it doing things and carrying on and living life — it felt like a passive living thing.
The Rambler, as it came to be known amongst my friends, was fantastic, and I immediately let Dave know that I was interested in taking it off his hands. Dave is one of those old school guys who doesn't like to sell things unless they're in perfect working order, so I had to wait all summer while he fixed some fuel line issue and slapped on six new tires. But finally, September came and he was ready to let it go, just in the knick of time, for $1,200. After having paid $600 per month to share a small room in a run down house with another dude, having my own room — one that I could move somewhere else if I wanted to — was a dream come true.
And the best part? The roomies hadn't really factored an extra head into their already complex rent sharing scheme. There were already three guys living in the main house — a 1940s vintage hovel that had been moved from downtown, added to, and set up as one of Isla Vista's original beach cottages — two in a converted tool shed, two in a mildewy room behind the garage, and one in a tiny, uninsulated aluminum garden shed dubbed "le petit chateau." It was decided that I would pay the cleaning lady until they could cook up something better. She came once or twice per month, and charged $60 to do her best to scrape away caked on, stale beer-smelling grime and haul off piles of trash that inevitably returned two or three days later. I was A-OK with that arrangement. Did I mention that the Pacific Ocean was across the street and the place was swarming with coeds?
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I decided right off the bat that driving the Rambler, ever, even for a little vacation to another beach somewhere, was a terrible idea. Not only had getting it smogged at a local repair shop been a traumatic experience (I lost my friggin' room for a day, plus it was huge and not that fun to drive), but I had set up my books, a record player and a stack of LPs, even a lava lamp and some other things you find perched on bookshelves and end tables, and didn't feel like moving them once they were positioned. Also, let's not forget that a 460-powered Class C doesn't exactly get the best fuel economy. It pretty much gets the worst. And what if I wrecked it? I'd lose my princely accommodations and have to sleep on a couch that a million people had shagged/vomited on until I could find something better. No thanks.
So it sat, more or less in the same place for two years. And what a time it was. Isla Vista is one of the craziest party towns in America, but the Rambler was an island of calm on an Isle of mayhem. During the time that I lived there, I definitely partook in some of the festivities, but there were times when I was feeling mellow and preferred to listen to music, read, or hang out with a few quiet friends. Often, when the main house hosted raging parties, there would always be a handful of people seeking refuge from the madness who would filter into the Rambler to chill out for a while.
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By the end of my time there, the sounds of breaking glass, fights, urine splashing on the ground outside my window, and girls shrieking, "Shut. The fuck. UP, bitch!" did nothing to ruffle the serenity I felt reading a good book or just laying there, staring pensively at the shag on the ceiling.
One of my roommates agreed that it was the quietest place in town, and made a nest in there when he was studying for finals each semester. It was peaceful, but better than the campus library because the comforts of home were handy. I'd often arrive home from a long day of work at the Santa Barbara Independent (I'd been fired from my job with the county before I even got the thing in the driveway, but that, too, is another story) to find him perched on its wildly patterned couch alongside a stack of books and energy drinks.
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For my part, it was a perfect living space. It had a queen-sized bed, a large couch and some swivel chairs, a place for my stereo, a kitchenette, a functional bathroom, a closet for my clothes, and enough room to sleep, work, exercise, stretch out, and host six or seven (or sometimes an absurdly higher number more) people. One thing was for certain, in such a small space, things had to be kept shipshape and in Bristol fashion, lest I end up like my slovenly colleague from the dredging company days.
Other than the time when heavy winter rains caused a short in the wiring that shocked the shit out of me when I tried to pull the door handle, the Rambler weathered this debaucherous storm without incident. One time some drunk chick clambered up onto the roof with a Costa Rican guy and inadvertently stepped through one of the skylights (I fixed it with duct tape, naturally), but I didn't have to do much to it other than reseal the roof seams and one of the windows, put in a new battery, and rebuild its craptastic Rochester carburetor. I didn't even bother with the last two items until it was time to sell it.
I was a few years older than most of my housemates, so there were friends in my age range who resisted coming out to I.V. to visit. But those who did never regretted it (or forgot why they were supposed to through the pounding hangover). Once, a friend of mine from college had the balls to fly out from the East Coast. When he arrived assumed the standard position: Standing around stiffly like white guys, talking about work and trying to ignore the fact that we were surrounded by college students. But eventually, the drinks began flowing, and the years receded until we were running around screaming like 15-year-olds on an illicit bender. I'm pretty sure an upholstered chair got set on fire that night. That dude works for the Department of Commerce now, so believe me when I tell you that neither Barack Obama nor Mitt Romney can do anything for the government. It's fucked.
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Despite the fact that girls of all ages didn't seem to mind hanging out in the old RV that some people told me would be the antithesis of a pussy magnet (it must have been the Christmas lights I'd hung inside), the time eventually came when one of them became my girlfriend and let me know in no uncertain terms that she preferred if I didn't live in a motorhome in a raucous student district. So I moved in with her, but the RV came with me — much to her chagrin — beginning its third life as a guest bedroom, my home office, and a party lounge for Santa Barbarians of all ages. The records on the turntable gradually changed from Black Sabbath and the James Gang to Stan Kenton and Herbie Hancock. Wine and cocktails edged out Keystone tallboys as the crowd of boozy Rambler patrons increased in age by several years. But there were still good times had by many in there over the next year, although I rarely ever slept in it anymore.
All good things come to an end, and so it was for the Rambler. Having broken up with the largely RV-averse girlfriend (she really didn't like having it parked in front of her house) and having made the decision to move to New York City for a year, the time had come to part ways with the venerable party-on-wheels. It spent most of a summer sitting on my boss's ranch, so the only creatures living in it were some mice who made a nest out of the kitchen sink and some toilet paper they found in one of the cupboards.
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Right before moving east, I cleaned up the mess the critters had made and sold the Rambler to a young hippie couple who said they wanted to live in it while they were attending Santa Barbara City College. I kept my fingers crossed that the old, undoubtedly dry belts and hoses would hold up until they got wherever they were headed. I'd told them that it was in "original condition," and what that meant, but you never know when someone as excited as they were to buy it is really listening. But I figured that the statute of limitations on my responsibility for its mechanical condition ended once I had cash in hand and they'd driven out of sight. That should have been the end of it, but the Rambler made a cameo appearance about six months later.
The RV-hating ex-girlfriend manned the front desk at an office located at the end of a cul-de-sac that was a popular spot for real van dwellers to post up. She hated the sight of the collection of dilapidated vans usually assembled there so much that she often called the city to have them towed away. Nevermind that they were somebody's home, they were unsightly in front of a respectable business wedged between greasy industrial outfits and low income housing.
Already settled into Manhattan life's maddening pace, I received an unexpected text from her. It said something to the effect of: "The Rambler is following me. It's been outside of my fucking office for a week." Not having found a driveway to park it in, the young hippies I'd sold it to took the Rambler to the most obvious place they could think of.
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I don't know. Maybe the thing does have a soul, and came back to avenge her disrespect toward it and other defenseless beater RVs. Probably not. But it was a great platform for all of the different kinds of human drama that unfolded in it over the three years that I owned it. At the end of the day, you can't ask much more than that of an inanimate object.
Photo credit: Marissa Leigh Salem; Benjamin Preston; Liznasty; Claire Norman |
Tasos Markou and his fiancé, Maria, were on their sofa avoiding Greece’s summer heat when a video of a man carting a toddler in a green wheelie bin turned up in their social media feeds. The place looked familiar: a Mediterranean coastal village, a street sign in Greek.
“Lesvos!” said Maria.
The clip showed the man climbing a steep road in the midday sun. The child was alive. More people were walking the roads, or slumped against buildings, or laying spread out on verges and shading themselves with jackets or thin cotton sheets.
Refugees had been making the sea crossing from Turkey since the 2003 invasion of Iraq, but this was something bigger. In the summer of 2015, tourists on Greek islands began sharing videos of people landing on beaches or wandering into town from the mountain roads. An internet news channel compiled the mobile-phone footage.
Lois Simac.
Tasos put his laptop down and turned to Maria. “I need to go there,” he said.
In 2015, more than 800,000 refugees crossed the Aegean Sea to Greece, up from 40,000 the previous year. News media showed images of discarded fluoro-orange lifejackets and PVC boats bulldozed into massive piles on the island of Lesvos. Greek freelancer Tasos Markou was one of the first photographers to share those dramatic images with the world. His photos were published in major British papers and across Europe.
A signal for help
You can buy a factory-direct child’s lifejacket online for US $4.14 apiece. Shipping is free to most destinations. Some Turkish apparel shops have switched to selling lifejackets exclusively. Even kebab vendors saw an opportunity, and started hanging them above their counters. The orange colour is a signal for help; it communicates the courage and desperation of people on the move, hopes dashed at the borders while the rest of us watch on feeling powerless.
Lifejackets also allow us to think through global political and material circumstances. The strategic desire for control of fossil fuels in the Middle East gave rise to colonial interference, to new borders and conflicts; the burning of those fuels has increased the volatility of the climate, which influenced the severity of the drought preceding the uprising against Assad in Syria. The industrial use of petrochemicals and the globalised workforce made plastic lifejackets cheap enough to be used in sea crossings by hundreds of thousands of people fleeing war in Syria and Iraq.
Tasos Markou
Populist fear and anger are fuelled by more than economic and cultural insecurities. For more than a decade, experts have issued warnings about resource scarcity and the disruptive consequences of climate change. I want to try to consider our anxieties and fears, displacement and migration, with the social and the environmental combined.
A concept in the natural sciences offers a way to bring these strands together: the Anthropocene. Some scientists argue that humankind’s activities – deforestation, soil erosion, chemical pollution, species extinctions and greenhouse gas emissions – have altered Earth’s systems so much that we have entered a new geological epoch. The concept pushes our imaginations to think in vast timescales and expands debate beyond climate change to include the many other environmental pressures we face.
However, the Anthropocene narrative makes political claims that flatten historical difference, casting all people as responsible for problems the privileged created. If we can return contingency to the Anthropocene it will be a richer concept for thinking about our current circumstances.
On Lesvos
I first emailed Tasos last year when I sought permission to reproduce one of his photos. We began corresponding, and when I learnt he was continuing to document the plight of refugees in Greece I asked to interview him. We spoke regularly on Skype over several months.
In June 2015, Tasos flew from Thessaloniki to Lesvos with 500 euros in his pocket. He and Maria had been saving the money for a holiday. It was more than Maria earned in a month as a home-care nurse, but she urged him take his camera and go. Tasos headed north to the closest point to Turkey.
It took Tasos two hours to drive the island’s winding and mountainous roads to Skala Sikamineas, a fishing settlement at the coast. By then night had fallen.
The wind blew hard and Tasos thought he could hear voices on the sea. It was only the waves. He was about to head for a guesthouse when he looked down and saw traces of arrivals on the beach and rocks. Shoes, passports, backpacks, T-shirts, plastic water bottles and lifejackets. Hundreds of lifejackets.
Tasos Markou
“I realised this was not just rubbish,” said Tasos. “Each jacket meant a human life, a story of a crossing.”
The next morning, Tasos drove the rough roads along the northern coast and into the mountains. He saw people emerge from parks, fields and roadsides. Refugees and migrants had to walk 60 kilometres south to the port of Mytilene, where they could be assessed and issued with papers before boarding a ferry to mainland Greece and, from there, into northern Europe.
Some journalists and Lesvos locals were offering rides to the walkers. Tasos asked if he could help. Drivers were supposed to call the police and register their name, car make, licence plate, car-hire company, pick-up point and destination – a procedure designed to prevent smugglers exploiting refugees.
“My car was filled with people, against the roof, out the windows,” said Tasos.
By the time he made it to Mytilene it was 36 degrees. There were queues of men in their underwear at the public shower. Families sat under trees or statues or beside walls. Some tourists wound down their car windows, took a snap and drove on. Others handed food and water to exhausted people. Tasos followed the example. He spent the next three days buying water, interviewing and taking photos across Lesvos. Most of the refugees were from Syria; many were from Iraq and Afghanistan.
Tasos Markou
After three days Tasos’s money was gone. This was something you couldn’t understand in a single news article, thought Tasos. He was determined to follow the story.
Stripping social causes
The 15-year drought in the Levant that preceded the Syrian civil war was likely the worst in 900 years, according to NASA. Still, since the beginning of the conflict, some scientists and media have overstated the link. This has led to misguided conclusions about people, climate and migration.
In March 2017, ABC’s Four Corners aired an American documentary titled The Age of Consequences. It posed climate change and migration as risks to United States national security. The film warned of more terrorism and hordes of climate change refugees overwhelming countries and causing the collapse of states.
Refugees and migrants have often been represented as dangerous for wealthy nations and as “agents of chaos in the Middle East”, wrote Alex Randall of the UK Climate Change and Migration Coalition. The standard narrative for Syria is that the drought forced farmers off the land, food prices rose and competition for resources among rival groups led to violence. Some campaigners on climate change have used populist fears over refugees as a tactic to try to build support for action on emissions.
Randall pointed out that drought and social grievances in Syria didn’t cause people to turn on each other – it united them. Different groups began mingling in urban centres in a way that Assad’s regime had tried to prevent. This led to protests and co-operation, which Assad’s authoritarian government responded to with violence.
Tasos Markou
To avoid “reducing our future to climate”, in the words of Mike Hulme, professor of climate and culture at King’s College London, the concept of the Anthropocene could serve as a shorthand way for introducing broader ecological changes and historical timescales.
But the problem with the Anthropocene narrative is that it strips the social causes from ecological disruption. Not everyone is responsible for the Anthropocene and not everyone will experience it equally.
Paul Crutzen, the Nobel Prize-winning atmospheric chemist who popularised the term, suggested the invention of the steam engine during the Industrial Revolution should be considered the start of the new epoch: the switch to fossil fuels “shattered” an energy bottleneck.
Humanities scholars approach this from a different angle: human ecologists Andreas Malm and Alf Hornborg ask what the motivations were for investment in steam. Only the very wealthy could afford steam engines, and they “pointed steam power as a weapon” at colonies in Africa and the New World, extracting material resources and labour in plantations, mines and factories, completely reorganising ecological and social relationships.
The Anthropocene was founded on global inequity. Some have suggested “Capitalocene” as a more accurate moniker.
Moments of hospitality
On 20 August 2015, Tasos drove to Idomeni, a Greek town near the border with the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and a gateway to the “Balkans route”. It’s from here that refugees and migrants followed train tracks into Macedonia, northwards across the Balkan countries, and finally into Germany.
Tasos saw hundreds of people gathered on the rail lines. The Macedonian government had called a state of emergency and rolled barbed wire across the border. It wanted to slow the flow of people. Military and anti-terror troops stood at the border next to armoured vehicles. Tasos said they aimed guns and yelled, “Go back to Greece”.
People jumped with every new explosion and burst of gunfire. It began pouring rain and some sheltered under cardboard. Tasos was afraid. He hadn’t seen the crowds angry and confused before. He was covered in mud and his lens was destroyed. Stun grenades cracked in the distance.
A young man from Kashmir took Tasos’s arm and offered him shelter under a concrete railway culvert. The men gave him biscuits, water and cigarettes.
Tasos Markou
The photos that agencies and newspapers wanted were of human drama in extreme moments: people falling from boats, pulling children from the sea, landing on the beach with tears of fear and joy. Tasos began to wonder if these images helped. He wondered how he could convey moments such as the hospitality under the culvert.
In October Tasos returned to Lesvos. The small island was now receiving 200,000 people per month. The cemetery in Mytilene was running out of space. Camps were over capacity.
“People slept in boxes, old fridges, whatever they could find,” said Tasos.
Remarkably, international and Greek volunteers, authorities, locals and refugees collaborated to hold it all together. Fishermen in the northern village of Skala Sikamineas spent every night in their boats, guiding refugees to the shore, diving into the water and rescuing people. Women handed out sandwiches and fruit. They washed clothes and looked after children. They hugged and kissed those who made the crossing.
Tasos Markou
Tasos drove volunteers from Skala Sikamineas to a cape at the northernmost point of the island. There, beneath the Korakas Lighthouse, the beach gave way to sharp rocks and cliffs. It was the most dangerous place to land on Lesvos from the sea. Many died in the attempt.
Tasos worked with two American volunteers who wore wetsuits and dragged lifejackets from the ocean and shoreline. The older one, Jeff, had holidayed on Lesvos with his parents in the 1980s. When he saw reports about the crisis he came over to help. The other American, Max, was trekking in Nepal in 2015 when the earthquake struck. He helped in the aftermath and it changed his life.
Tasos Markou
“We spent the days collecting lifejackets, and the nights helping people arriving on the beaches,” said Tasos. He saw a man collapse with hypothermia. He saw a hand rise from the ocean, waving for help.
Jeff and Max told Tasos to stop feeding the daily news and follow his own path. Tasos began to question whether he could continue as a photojournalist. Previously, some papers had used his photos out of context. News stories appeared one day and were gone the next. He wanted to be able to provide more depth.
I decided it wasn’t enough to just be a good person. You have to act. Lesvos changed me. It would change anyone who comes here.
Thinking about the different reception these refugees and migrants would have received in Australia or the UK, I asked Tasos why Greece, suffering as it is from austerity measures, was so generous. He said, “In Greece, we all have a story.”
Tasos’s great-grandfather was injured fighting the Germans in World War II. When a Nazi officer was killed, the Germans began massacring whole villages in the north. They burned the hospital where Tasos’ great-grandfather was being treated. Tasos’s grandfather was left an orphan; a family took him in, and when he was older he worked in Germany illegally, saving enough to build a house back in Greece – the house in which Tasos’s father was raised.
“We know about displacement,” said Tasos.
‘First in my heart’
In March 2016 the European Union, alarmed by rising popularism and right-wing nationalism, signed a controversial deal with Turkey to prevent further refugee and migrant crossings to Greece. Anyone who arrived after that date would be sent back to Turkey. In exchange, Turkey would receive more assistance for the nearly three million refugees it was hosting. The Balkan route was closed permanently.
Tasos was in Idomeni volunteering. “When we told the guys that the border was closed they didn’t believe it. They refused to leave.”
More people arrived at the bottleneck, swelling the makeshift camp to 12 000. Portable toilets overflowed. The Greek military delivered firewood but couldn’t meet demand. Refugees burned whatever was at hand to keep warm. They searched fields for food. Children shivered in the wet. A UN spokesperson described the situation as “misery beyond imagination”. Fences went up in Macedonia, Serbia, Slovenia, Hungary and Germany. Journalists dubbed it the “rise of the mesh curtain”.
“We weren’t the European Union anymore,” said Tasos.
Tasos Markou
Volunteers and NGOs set up a network of storage facilities in the area, paying cheap rent for empty farm buildings. Tasos packed boxes, distributed food and translated from Greek to English. Greek authorities began transferring people to better-equipped camps in the cities. Around 50 000 displaced people were stranded in Greece after the EU–Turkey deal.
On Lesvos, people continued to take selfies to let loved ones know they’d made it to Europe.
“They didn’t realise they hadn’t made it to Europe,” said Tasos. “They made it to Greece.” No one knew how long they would be stuck there.
The series of photos that Tasos did sell – the aerial shots of half a million lifejackets piled up on Lesvos – provided enough money for him to continue volunteering. He thought a photography workshop might help occupy people during the wait. French photographer Lois Simac had a similar idea, so they partnered to run a twelve-week course in Thessaloniki. The camp there was set up in an abandoned paper factory from which it derived its name, Softex. Petroleum fumes drifted from the nearby oil refinery.
Only Syrians could pitch their tents inside the Softex building while Moroccans, Algerians, Eritreans and others slept in nearby disused train carriages without power, water or heating. Just over a thousand people stayed at the site.
Tasos Markou
Twelve participants signed up to the photography workshop. They named it Crossroads and decided to develop an exhibition. One of the keenest students was 20-year-old Mohammad from Syria. Tasos said that after each lesson Mohammad would be the first to email his assignments and results of experiments with the new techniques he’d learnt. Previously he’d spent a lot of time keeping to himself and drawing allegorical pictures about war. Now he was interacting. Tasos was impressed with his photographic work.
“I draw it first in my heart, and then I take the photo,” Mohammad told Tasos.
Mohammad was from a city in northern Syria that had expanded in the 1920s as a French military post. It was home to many Kurds, as well as Armenians who had fled the genocide, and Assyrians who fled Iraqi nationalists in the 1930s. Since the Syrian conflict began, the city had been the site of four major battles and control changed between Kurdish, ISIS and Assad-government fighters.
Tasos couldn’t help thinking about the people in Europe saying, “Why don’t they stay and fight?”
“Fight for what?” asked Tasos. “And for whom? There is no point dying for someone else’s war.”
‘They say you turn boats around’
The winter in Thessaloniki in 2016–17 was the most severe in 30 years. The pipes at Tasos’s apartment froze and burst. The city had to provide carted water. At the Softex camp, people warmed their hands around the building’s exterior vents. In the months since the closure of the Balkan route most of the Syrians at Softex had been relocated within Europe. Authorities allowed the Algerians and Moroccans to move from the abandoned trains into the Softex building.
I’d asked Tasos to question his workshop participants about Australia.
“First, I must ask you something,” he said to me, his face grave. “They say you turn boats around in the sea. Is this true?”
Tasos couldn’t believe it. Maybe it was because Greece is a seafaring country of many islands that this came as a shattering moral violation.
“They say Australia is a no-go zone,” said Tasos. “That it’s worse than Trump’s America.” Our political parties would be pleased this message made it to Syria.
Tasos said the refugees he spoke with have no intention of travelling to Australia. They want to stay closer to family in Europe. Most hope to return to Syria if the country still exists.
Tasos Markou
A month later Tasos said he had bad news. “Mohammad was beaten. He’s been in hospital for days.”
The uncertainty was weighing on the migrants and refugees. Money had run out and there was no way of making more in Greece. It was unlikely that anyone who was not Syrian would be granted permission to stay in Europe. Some in the camps preyed on the vulnerable. There were reports women had been sexually assaulted at the Softex camp and elsewhere in Greece. Mohammad was bashed with an iron bar.
“He’s such a sensitive guy,” said Tasos. “He would never fight back.”
There were tensions within the workshop group over the future of the Crossroads project. They didn’t have enough money to hire a translator so had to rely on volunteers and friends. Tasos and Lois were spending their time writing exhibition proposals and seeking legal advice.
On Lesvos, members aligned with the Greek neo-Nazi party Golden Dawn threw a Molotov cocktail at a café helping refugees. Unlike many parts of Europe, the Greek people hadn’t turned against the refugees and migrants yet, but they had started to ask how the government could manage.
Photos crossing borders
In 2016, writer James Bradley gave a moving lecture on the role of the arts in an age of global ecological transformation. He said he is uncomfortable with the term Anthropocene because “its assertion of human primacy reiterates the blindness that got us here”. Whatever we call it, said Bradley, we must recognise that something is different and the world we are creating presents challenges to every aspect of our societies.
I think bright-orange lifejackets say a lot about our times. They are sold to desperate refugees fleeing conflict, poverty and ecological disorder for the security of Europe, the US and Australia. The refugees come from places that the wealthy countries are bombing in wars that are, in part, a legacy of Europe’s late-imperialist carve-up of territory, of forced migrations, Cold War geopolitics, exploitation of fossil fuels and the rise of the privatised corporate war economy under the auspices of the “War on Terror”.
If we saw the larger forces at play, it might be possible to treat migration as an adaptation to the challenges of the Anthropocene rather than as a security risk.
By April this year, about half of the Crossroads participants had been relocated within Europe. Some of them met up with former Softex camp volunteers in France, Finland and the Netherlands. People have asked Tasos why he is helping 12 refugees when there are thousands stranded in Greece.
Tasos Markou
“Ask those 12 people if their lives have changed,” said Tasos. “If everyone helped one person we’d all be happy.”
In May 2017, the Crossroads exhibition began to tour major cities, including Barcelona, Copenhagen, Izmir and Dubai. The first showing outside of Greece was in Vienna. Mohammad and the other refugees weren’t permitted to travel for the opening night so they used Skype to participate in a forum with the gallery audience. I asked Tasos if the group was excited.
“The guys had mixed feelings,” said Tasos. “They saw their photos travelling to places they can’t.” Their photos, they noted, moved faster than refugees.
POSTSCRIPT: The day before I submitted this essay Tasos, emailed with an update. Mohammad’s application had been decided, and he will be relocated to Norway.
This is an edited version of an essay republished with permission from Perils of Populism, the 57th edition of Griffith Review. You can read other essays from The Perils of Populism here.
For more information on Tasos Markou’s work visit http://www.tasosmarkou.net/ |
Former Defense Secretary Robert Gates was right when he suggested that the WikiLeaks revelations were “embarrassing” and “awkward.” But his assessment — and that of so many other government officials — stems from the magnitude of what he left unsaid.
These revelations are not merely embarrassing. They also contain evidence of government actions and policies that are an abuse of power and that violate international human-rights standards to which we as Americans are committed.
For instance, through the information coming from WikiLeaks documents, the public is now aware of “FRAGO 242” — an official order not to report evidence of prisoner abuse by Iraqi security forces. This policy violates the United Nations Convention Against Torture, which was ratified by Congress in 1994. The treaty explicitly requires allegations of cruel or inhuman treatment to be investigated and brought to a halt.
In recent days, WikiLeaks has released cables that show government officials helped conceal the heinous execution of family members of suspected combatants in Iraq. The site of the murders, which included the execution-style slaying of two children and three infants, was obliterated by a subsequent coalition airstrike.
Taken as a whole, the material shows a pattern of concealing abuse by both U.S. and coalition forces. The information revealed by WikiLeaks is thus a critically important tool for those who seek to uphold basic human-rights standards and the professional conduct of U.S. military forces.
These revelations also bring our system of classification into question. Although Pfc. Bradley Manning has not yet been brought to trial, President Barack Obama has publicly declared that the former U.S. Army intelligence analyst “broke the law” by allegedly sending this restricted information to WikiLeaks.
Many civilians — and a surprising number of military personnel — are unaware that this system of classification is not grounded in any law passed by Congress. In fact, the entire edifice that allows the use of classification rests solely on the basis of executive orders that have been renewed and modified by various presidents. The ability to restrict information from the public is essentially an unchecked assertion of executive power.
However, according to Obama’s policy for classification of government documents (Executive Order 13526), there are several situations under which government information must never be classified. The government cannot use classification procedures “to conceal violations of law, inefficiency, or administrative error; prevent embarrassment to a person, organization, or agency … or prevent or delay the release of information that does not require protection in the interest of the national security.”
Administration officials have not provided any evidence that these WikiLeaks revelations have harmed our national security. They have, however, acknowledged that some of the material is personally, and professionally, embarrassing.
But they continue to act as if evidence of illegal or otherwise unethical behavior simply does not exist.
If online conversations attributed to Manning are accurate, it appears that his self-described “turning point” came when his own commanding officer refused to acknowledge clear evidence of an abuse of power. According to these conversations, Manning says he was told to investigate 15 Iraqi academics who had been brought in for questioning by Iraqi security forces, for the crime of supposedly printing “anti-Iraqi literature.”
After running the printed material through a translator, Manning realized that it was actually an article titled “Where Did the Money Go?” which sought to expose corruption within Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s Cabinet. Manning’s commanding officer is said to have told Manning to “shut up” and find out how he could bring in more detainees. The message was clear: He could not rely on the chain of command to address evidence of wrongdoing.
This incident would be consistent with other revelations that have since emerged from the WikiLeaks embassy cables. Several diplomatic cables express concern about al-Maliki’s politicization of his security forces, using them to abuse political opponents.
In July, the Red Cross and a group of Iraqi parliamentarians asked for an investigation into an alleged torture facility being run by one of al-Maliki’s elite units in Baghdad’s Green Zone. That same month, the Special Inspector General for Iraqi Reconstruction issued a report that noted more than $17 billion in funds that have gone missing.
The pattern of ignoring or otherwise concealing clear evidence of abuse has become so familiar that, to many, it now seems normal. But pretending that problems don’t exist won’t make them go away.
A recent report from the Council of Europe, which convenes the European Commission on Human Rights, stated that the current “deficit of transparency” among Western security and intelligence institutions leaves no choice but for the public to rely on whistle-blowers to hold governments accountable.
Instead of punishing and silencing alleged whistle-blowers like Manning for revealing uncomfortable truths, we should honor their courage to stand up for what’s right.
That’s all we should ask any American to do.
Ann Wright is a 29-year veteran who retired as a U.S. Army Reserve colonel and who later served as a U.S. diplomat in nine countries and deputy ambassador in four U.S. embassies. She is a member of the Advisory Board for the Bradley Manning Support Network. |
👑👑👑 We can’t wait for you to read the first three chapters from THREE DARK CROWNS by Kendare Blake! It’s a new, dark fantasy about three sisters—triplets—each with her own magic, who were separated when young but will meet again on their 16th birthday when they will fight to the death to be Queen.
Mirabella is a fierce elemental, able to spark hungry flames or vicious storms at the snap of her fingers. Katharine is a poisoner, one who can ingest the deadliest poisons without so much as a stomachache. Arsinoe, a naturalist, is said to have the ability to bloom the reddest rose and control the fiercest of lions.
Who lives? Who dies? Who wins this battle for the throne? Start reading the first three chapters of THREE DARK CROWNS now!
Three dark queens
are born in a glen,
sweet little triplets
will never be friends
—
Three dark sisters
all fair to be seen,
two to devour
and one to be Queen
The Queens’ Sixteenth Birthday
December 21
Four months until Beltane
GREAVESDRAKE MANOR
A young queen stands barefoot on a wooden block with her arms outstretched. She has only her scant underclothes and the long, black hair that hangs down her back to fend off the drafts. Every ounce of strength in her slight frame is needed to keep her chin high and her shoulders square.
Two tall women circle the wooden block. Their fingertips drum against crossed arms, and their footsteps echo across the cold hardwood floor.
“She is thin to the ribs,” Genevieve says, and smacks them lightly, as if it might scare the bones farther under the skin. “And still so small. Small queens do not inspire much confidence. The others on the council cannot stop whispering about it.”
She studies the queen with distaste, her eyes dragging across every imperfection: her hollow cheeks, her pallid skin. The scabs from a rubbing of poison oak that still mar her right hand. But no scars. They are always careful about that.
“Put your arms down,” Genevieve says, and turns on her heel.
Queen Katharine glances at Natalia, the taller and elder of the two Arron sisters, before she does. Natalia nods, and the blood rushes back to Katharine’s fingertips.
“She will have to wear gloves tonight,” Genevieve says. Her tone is unmistakably critical. But it is Natalia who determines the queen’s training, and if Natalia wants to rub Katharine’s hands with poison oak one week before her birthday, then she will.
Genevieve lifts a lock of Katharine’s hair. Then she pulls it hard.
Katharine blinks. She has been prodded back and forth by Genevieve’s hands since she stepped onto the block. Jerked so roughly at times that it seems Genevieve wants her to fall so she can scold her for the bruises.
Genevieve pulls her hair again.
“At least it is not falling out. But how can black hair be so dull? And she is still so, so small.”
“She is the smallest and the youngest of the triplets,” Natalia says in her deep, calm voice. “Some things, Sister, you cannot change.”
When Natalia steps forward, it is difficult for Katharine to keep her eyes from following her. Natalia Arron is as close to a mother as she will ever know. It was her silk skirt that Katharine burrowed in at the age of six, all that long way from the Black Cottage to her new home at Greavesdrake Manor, sobbing after being parted from her sisters. There was nothing queenly about Katharine that day. But Natalia indulged her. She let Katharine weep and ruin her dress. She stroked her hair. It is Katharine’s earliest memory. The one and only time Natalia ever allowed her to act like a child.
In the slanting, indirect light of the parlor, Natalia’s ice-blond bun appears almost silver. But she is not old. Natalia will never be old. She has far too much work and far too many responsibilities to allow it. She is the head of the Arron family of poisoners, and the strongest member of the Black Council. She is raising their new queen.
Genevieve grasps Katharine’s poisoned hand. Her thumb traces the pattern of scabs until she finds a large one and picks it until it bleeds.
“Genevieve,” Natalia cautions. “That is enough.”
“Gloves are fine, I suppose,” Genevieve says, though she still seems cross. “Gloves over the elbows will give shape to her arms.”
She releases Katharine’s hand, and it bounces against her hip. Katharine has been on the block for over an hour, and there is much day still ahead. All the way to nightfall, her party, and the Gave Noir. The poisoner’s feast. Just thinking of it makes her stomach clench, and she winces slightly.
Natalia frowns.
“You have been resting?” she asks.
“Yes, Natalia,” says Katharine.
“Nothing but water and thinned porridge?”
“Nothing.”
Nothing to eat but that for days, and it may still not be enough. The poison she will have to consume, the sheer amounts of it, may still overcome Natalia’s training. Of course, it would be nothing at all if Katharine’s poisoner gift were strong.
Standing on the block, the walls of the darkened parlor feel heavy. They press in, given weight by the sheer number of Arrons inside. They have come from all across the island for this. The queens’ sixteenth birthday. Greavesdrake usually feels like a great, silent cavern, empty save for Natalia and the servants; her siblings, Genevieve and Antonin; and Natalia’s cousins Lucian and Allegra when they are not at their houses in town. Today it is busy and decked with finery. It is packed to purpose with poisons and poisoners. If a house could smile, Greavesdrake would be grinning.
“She has to be ready,” Genevieve says. “Every corner of the island will hear about what happens tonight.”
Natalia cocks her head at her sister. The gesture manages to convey at once how sympathetic Natalia is to Genevieve’s worries and how tired she is of hearing about them.
Natalia turns to look out the window, down the hills to the capital city of Indrid Down. The twin black spires of the Volroy, the palace where the queen resides during her reign, and where the Black Council resides permanently, rises above the chimney smoke.
“Genevieve. You are too nervous.”
“Too nervous?” Genevieve asks. “We are entering the Ascension Year with a weak queen. If we lose . . . I will not go back to Prynn!”
Her sister’s voice is so shrill that Natalia chuckles. Prynn. It was once the poisoners’ city but now only the weakest reside there. The entire capital of Indrid Down is theirs now. It has been for over a hundred years.
“Genevieve, you have never even been to Prynn.”
“Do not laugh at me.”
“Then do not be funny. I do not know what you are about sometimes.”
She looks again out the window, toward the Volroy’s black spires. Five Arrons sit on the Black Council. No less than five have sat on it for three generations, placed there by the ruling poisoner queen.
“I am only telling you what you may have missed, being so often away from council business, coaching and coddling our queen.”
“I do not miss anything,” says Natalia, and Genevieve lowers her eyes.
“Of course. I am sorry, Sister. It is only that the council grows wary, with the temple openly backing the elemental.”
“The temple is for festival days and for praying over sick children.” Natalia turns and taps Katharine beneath the chin. “For everything else, the people look to the council.
“Why do you not go out to the stables and ride, Genevieve?” she suggests. “It will settle your nerves. Or return to the Volroy. Some business there is sure to require attention.”
Genevieve closes her mouth. For a moment, it seems that she might disobey or reach up toward the block and slap Katharine across the face, just to relieve her tension.
“That is a good idea,” Genevieve says. “I will see you tonight, then, Sister.”
After Genevieve has gone, Natalia nods to Katharine. “You may get down.”
The skinny girl’s knees shake as she climbs off the block, careful not to stumble.
“Go to your rooms,” Natalia says, and turns away to study a sheaf of papers on a table. “I will send Giselle with a bowl of porridge. Then nothing else besides a few sips of water.”
Katharine bows her head and drops half a curtsy for Natalia to catch from the corner of her eye. But she lingers.
“Is it . . . ?” Katharine asks. “Is it really as bad as Genevieve says?”
Natalia regards her a moment, as though deciding whether she will bother to answer.
“Genevieve worries,” she says finally. “She has been that way since we were children. No, Kat. It is not so bad as all that.” She reaches out to tuck some strands of hair behind the girl’s ear. Natalia often does that when she is pleased. “Poisoner queens have sat the throne since long before I was born. They will sit it long after you and I are both dead.” She rests her hands on Katharine’s shoulders. Tall, coldly beautiful Natalia. The words from her mouth leave no room for arguments, no space for doubt. If Katharine were more like her, the Arrons would have nothing to fear.
“Tonight is a party,” says Natalia. “For you, on your birthday. Enjoy it, Queen Katharine. And let me worry about the rest.”
Seated before her dressing mirror, Queen Katharine studies her reflection as Giselle brushes out her black hair in long, even strokes. Katharine is still in her robe and underclothes and is still cold. Greavesdrake is a drafty place that clings to its shadows. Sometimes, it seems that she has spent most of her life in the dark and chilled to the bone.
On the right side of her tableau is a glass-sided cage. In it, her coral snake rests, fat with crickets. Katharine has had her since she was a hatchling, and she is the only venomed creature Katharine does not fear. She knows the vibrations of Katharine’s voice and the scent of her skin. She has never bitten her, even once.
Katharine will wear her to the party tonight, coiled around her wrist like a warm, muscular bracelet. Natalia will wear a black mamba. A small snake bracelet is not as fancy as one draped across one’s shoulders, but Katharine prefers her little adornment. She is prettier; red and yellow and black. Toxic colors, they say. The perfect accessory for a poisoner queen.
Katharine touches the glass, and the snake lifts her rounded head. Katharine was instructed to never give her a name, told over and over that she was not a pet. But in Katharine’s head, she calls the snake “Sweetheart.”
“Don’t drink too much champagne,” Giselle says as she gathers Katharine’s hair into sections. “It is sure to be envenomed, or stained with poisoned juice. I heard talk in the kitchen of pink mistletoe berries.”
“I will have to drink some of it,” says Katharine. “They are toasting my birthday, after all.”
Her birthday and her sisters’ birthdays. All across the island the people are celebrating the sixteenth birthday of the newest generation of triplet queens.
“Wet your lips, then,” says Giselle. “Nothing more. It is not only the poison to be mindful of, but the drink itself. You are too slight to handle much without turning sloppy.”
Giselle weaves Katharine’s hair into braids, and twists them high upon the back of her head, wrapping them around and around into a bun. Her touch is gentle. She does not tug. She knows that the years of poisoning have weakened the scalp.
Katharine reaches for more makeup, but Giselle clucks her tongue. The queen is already powdered too white, an attempt to hide the bones that jut from her shoulders and to disguise the hollows in her cheeks. She has been poisoned thin. Nights of sweating and vomiting have made her skin fragile and translucent as wet paper.
“You are pretty enough already,” Giselle says, and smiles into the mirror. “With those big, dark doll’s eyes.”
Giselle is kind. Her favorite of Greavesdrake’s maids. But even the maid is more beautiful than the queen in many ways, with full hips, and color in her face, blond hair that shines even though she has to dye it to the ice blond that Natalia prefers.
“Doll’s eyes,” Katharine repeats.
Perhaps. But they are not lovely. They are big, black orbs in a sickly visage. Looking into the mirror, she imagines her body in pieces. Bones. Skin. Not enough blood. It would not take much to break her down to nothing, to strip away scant muscles and pull the organs out to dry in the sun. She wonders often whether her sisters would break down similarly. If underneath their skin they are all the same. Not one poisoner, one naturalist, and one elemental.
“Genevieve thinks that I will fail,” Katharine says. “She says I am too small and weak.”
“You are a poisoner queen,” says Giselle. “What else matters but that? Besides, you are not so small. Not so weak. I have seen both weaker and smaller.”
Natalia sweeps into the room in a tight black sheath. They should have heard her coming; heels clicking against the floors and ringing off the high ceilings. They were too distracted.
“Is she ready?” Natalia asks, and Katharine stands. Being dressed by the head of the Arron household is an honor, reserved for festival days. And the most important of birthdays.
Giselle fetches Katharine’s gown. It is black and full-skirted. Heavy. There are no sleeves, but black satin gloves to cover the poison-oak scabs have already been laid out.
Katharine steps into the gown, and Natalia begins to fasten it. Katharine’s stomach quivers. Sounds of the party assembling have begun to trickle up the stairs. Natalia and Giselle slide the gloves onto her hands. Giselle opens the snake’s cage. Katharine fishes out Sweetheart, and the snake coils obediently around her wrist.
“Is it drugged?” Natalia asks. “Perhaps it should be.”
“She will be fine,” Katharine says, and strokes Sweetheart’s scales. “She is well-mannered.”
“As you say.” Natalia turns Katharine to the mirror and places her hands on her shoulders.
Never before have three queens of the same gift ruled in succession. Sylvia, Nicola, and Camille were the last three. All were poisoners, raised by Arrons. One more, and perhaps it will become a dynasty; perhaps only the poisoner queen will be allowed to grow up and her sisters will be drowned at birth.
“There will be nothing too surprising in the Gave Noir,” Natalia says. “Nothing that you have not seen before. But just the same, do not eat too much. Use your tricks. Do as we practiced.”
“It would be a good omen,” Katharine says softly, “if my gift were to come tonight. On my birthday. Like Queen Hadly’s did.”
“You have been lingering in the library histories again.” Natalia sprays a bit of jasmine perfume onto Katharine’s neck and then touches the braids piled onto the back of her head. Natalia’s ice-blond hair is fashioned in a similar style, perhaps as a show of solidarity. “Queen Hadly was not a poisoner. She had the war gift. It is different.”
Katharine nods as she is turned left and right, less a person than a mannequin, rough clay upon which Natalia can work her poison craft.
“You are a little skinny,” Natalia says. “Camille was never skinny. She was almost plump. She looked forward to the Gave Noir as a child to a festival feast.”
Katharine’s ears prick at the mention of Queen Camille. Despite being raised as Camille’s foster sister, Natalia almost never talks about the previous queen. Katharine’s mother, though Katharine does not think of her that way. Temple doctrine decrees that queens have no mother or father. They are daughters of the Goddess only. Besides, Queen Camille departed the island with her king-consort as soon as she recovered from giving birth, as all queens do. The Goddess sent the new queens, and the old queen’s reign was ended.
Still, Katharine enjoys hearing stories about those who came before. The only story about Camille that Natalia tells is the story of how Camille took her crown. How she poisoned her sisters so slyly and quietly that it took them days to die. How when it was over they looked so peaceful that had it not been for the froth on their lips, you would have thought they had died in their sleep.
Natalia saw those peaceful, poisoned faces for herself. If Katharine is successful, she will see two more.
“You are like Camille, though, in other ways,” Natalia says, and sighs. “She loved those dusty books in the library too. And she always seemed so young. She was so young. She only ruled for sixteen years after she was crowned. The Goddess sent her triplets early.”
Queen Camille’s triplets were sent early because she was weak. That is what the people whisper. Katharine wonders sometimes how long she will have. How many years she will guide her people, before the Goddess sees fit to replace her. She supposes that the Arrons do not care. The Black Council rules the island in the interim, and as long as she is crowned, they will still control it.
“Camille was like a little sister to me, I suppose,” Natalia says.
“Does that make me your niece?”
Natalia grips her chin.
“Do not be so sentimental,” she says, and lets Katharine go. “For seeming so young, Camille killed her sisters with poise. She was always a very good poisoner. Her gift showed early.”
Katharine frowns. One of her own triplets had showed an early gift as well. Mirabella. The great elemental.
“I will kill my sisters just as easily, Natalia,” Katharine says. “I promise. Though perhaps when I am finished, they will not look like they are sleeping.”
The north ballroom is filled to the brim with poisoners. It seems that anyone with any claim to Arron blood, and many other poisoners from Prynn besides, has made the journey to Indrid Down. Katharine studies the party from the top of the main stairs. Everything is crystal and silver and gems, right down to glistening towers of purple belladonna berries wrapped in nets of spun sugar.
The guests are almost too refined; the women in black pearls and black diamond chokers, the men in their black silk ties. And they have too much flesh on their bones. Too much strength in their arms. They will judge her and find her lacking. They will laugh.
As she watches, a woman with dark red hair throws her head back. For a moment her molars—as well her throat, as if her jaw has come unhinged—are visible. In Katharine’s ears polite chatter turns to wails, and the ballroom is filled with glittering monsters.
“I cannot do this, Giselle,” she whispers, and the maid stops straightening the gown’s voluminous skirts and grasps her shoulders from behind.
“Yes you can,” she says.
“There are more stairs than there were before.”
“There are not,” Giselle says, and laughs. “Queen Katharine. You will be perfect.”
In the ballroom below, the music stops. Natalia has put up her hand.
“You’re ready,” Giselle says, and checks the fall of the dress one more time.
“Thank you all,” Natalia says to her guests in her deep, rolling voice, “for being with us tonight on such an important date. An important date in any year. But this year is more important than most. This year our Katharine is sixteen!” The guests applaud. “And when the spring comes, and it is the time for the Beltane Festival, it will be more than just a festival. It will be the beginning of the Year of Ascension. During Beltane, the island will see the strength of the poisoners during the Quickening Ceremony! And after Beltane is over, we will have the pleasure of watching our queen deliciously poison her sisters.”
Natalia gestures toward the stairs.
“This year’s festival to begin, and next year’s festival for the crown.” More applause. Laughter and shouts of agreement. They think it will be so easy. One year to poison two queens. A strong queen could do it in a month, but Katharine is not strong.
“For tonight, however,” Natalia says, “you simply get to enjoy her company.”
Natalia turns toward the steep, burgundy-carpeted stairs. A shining black runner has been added for the occasion. Or perhaps just to make Katharine slip.
“This dress is heavier than it looked in my closet,” Katharine says quietly, and Giselle chuckles.
The moment she steps out from the shadow and onto the stairs, Katharine feels every pair of eyes. Poisoners are naturally severe and exacting. They can cut with a look as easily as with a knife. The people of Fennbirn Island grow in strength with the ruling queen. Naturalists become stronger under a naturalist. Elementals stronger under an elemental. After three poisoner queens, the poisoners are strong to the last, and the Arrons most of all.
Katharine does not know whether she ought to smile. She only knows not to tremble. Or stumble. She nearly forgets to breathe. She catches sight of Genevieve, standing behind and to the right of Natalia. Genevieve’s lilac eyes are like stones. She looks both furious and afraid, as if she is daring Katharine to make a mistake. As if she relishes the prospect of the feel of her hand across Katharine’s face.
When Katharine’s heel lands on the floor of the ballroom, glasses raise and white teeth flash. Katharine’s heart eases out of her throat. It will be all right, at least for now.
A servant offers a flute of champagne; she takes it and sniffs: the champagne smells a little like oak and slightly of apples. If it has been tainted, then it was not with pink mistletoe berries, as Giselle suspected. Still, she takes only a sip, barely enough to wet her lips.
With her entrance over, the music begins again, and chatter resumes. Poisoners in their best blacks flutter up to her like crows and flutter away just as quickly. There are so many, dropping polite bows and curtsies, dropping so many names, but the only name that matters is Arron. In minutes the anxiety begins to squeeze. Her dress suddenly feels tight, and the room suddenly hot. She searches for Natalia but cannot find her.
“Are you all right, Queen Katharine?”
Katharine blinks at the woman in front of her. She cannot remember what she had been saying.
“Yes,” she says. “Of course.”
“Well, what do you think? Are your sisters’ celebrations as glorious as this?”
“Why no!” Katharine says. “The naturalists will be roasting fish on sticks.” The poisoners laugh. “And Mirabella . . . Mirabella . . .”
“Is splashing around barefoot in rain puddles.”
Katharine turns. A handsome poisoner boy is smiling at her, with Natalia’s blue eyes and ice-blond hair. He holds his hand out.
“What else do elementals enjoy doing, after all?” he asks. “My queen. Will you dance?”
Katharine lets him lead her to the floor and pull her close. A beautiful blue-and-green Deathstalker scorpion is pinned to his right lapel. It is still slightly alive. Its legs writhe sluggishly, a grotesquely beautiful ornament. Katharine leans a bit away. Deathstalker venom is excruciating. She has been stung and healed seven times but still shows little resistance to its effects.
“You saved me,” she says. “One more moment of fumbling for words and I would have turned to run.”
His smile is attentive enough to make her blush. They turn around on the floor, and she studies his angular features.
“What is your name?” she asks. “You must be an Arron. You have their look. And their hair. Unless you have dyed it for the occasion.”
He laughs. “What? Like the servants do, you mean? Oh, Aunt Natalia and her appearances.”
“Aunt Natalia? So you are an Arron.”
“I am,” he says. “My name is Pietyr Renard. My mother was Paulina Renard. My father is Natalia’s brother, Christophe.” He spins her out. “You dance very well.”
His hand slides across her back, and she tenses when he ventures too close to her shoulder, where he might feel the roughness from a past poisoning that toughened her skin.
“It is a wonder,” she says, “given how heavy this gown is. It feels as though the straps are about to draw blood.”
“Well, you must not allow that. They say the strongest poisoner queens have poison blood. I would hate for any of these vultures to steal you away, looking for a taste.”
Poison blood. How disappointed they would be, then, if they tasted hers.
“‘Vultures’?” she says. “Are not many of the people here your family?”
“Yes, precisely.”
Katharine laughs and stops only when her face drops too near the Deathstalker. Pietyr is tall, and taller than her by almost a head. She could easily dance looking the scorpion in the eyes.
“You have a very nice laugh,” says Pietyr. “But this is so strange. I expected you to be nervous.”
“I am nervous,” she says. “The Gave—”
“Not about the Gave. About this year. The Quickening at the Beltane Festival. The start of everything.”
“The start of everything,” she says softly.
Many times Natalia has told her to take things as they come. To keep from becoming overwhelmed. So far it has been easy enough. But then, Natalia makes it all sound so simple.
“I will face it, as I have to,” Katharine says, and Pietyr chuckles.
“So much dread in your voice. I hope you can muster a bit more enthusiasm when you meet your suitors.”
“It will not matter. Whichever king-consort I choose, he will love me when I am queen.”
“Would you not rather they loved you before then?” he asks. “I should think that is what anyone would wish—to be loved for themselves and not their position.”
She is about to spout the appropriate rhetoric: being queen is not a position. Not just anyone can be queen. Only her, or one of her sisters, is so linked to the Goddess. Only they can receive the next generation of triplets. But she understands what Pietyr means. It would be sweet to be cared for despite her faults, and to be wanted for her person rather than the power she comes with.
“And would you not rather that they all loved you,” he says, “instead of just one?”
“Pietyr Renard,” she says. “You must have come from far away if you have not heard the whispers. Everyone on the island knows where the suitors’ favors will go. They say my sister Mirabella is beautiful as starlight. No one has ever said anything half so flattering about me.”
“But perhaps that is all it is,” he says. “Flattery. And they also say that Mirabella is half mad. Prone to fits and rages. That she is a fanatic and a slave to the temple.”
“And that she is strong enough to shake down a building.”
He eyes the roof over their heads, and Katharine smiles. She had not meant Greavesdrake. Nothing in the world is strong enough to tear Greavesdrake from its foundation. Natalia would not allow it.
“And what about your sister Arsinoe, the naturalist?” Pietyr asks casually. They both laugh. No one says anything about Arsinoe.
Pietyr turns Katharine again around the dance floor. They have been dancing a long time. People have begun to notice.
The song ends. Their third, or perhaps their fourth. Pietyr stops dancing and kisses the tips of the queen’s gloved fingers.
“I hope to see you again, Queen Katharine,” he says.
Katharine nods. She does not notice how silent the ballroom has become until he is gone, and the chatter returns, bouncing off the south wall of mirrors and echoing until it reaches the carved tiles of the ceiling.
Natalia catches Katharine’s eye from the center of a cluster of black dresses. She ought to dance with someone else. But the long, black-clothed table is already surrounded by servants like so many ants, setting the silver trays for the feast.
The Gave Noir. Sometimes, it is called “the black glut.” It is a ritual feast of poison, performed by poisoner queens at nearly every high festival. And so, weak gift or not, Katharine must perform it as well. She must hold the poison down past the last bite, until she is shut safely in her rooms. None of the visiting poisoners can be allowed to see what comes after. The sweat and the seizures and the blood.
When the cellos begin, she almost runs to leave. It seems too soon. That she should have had more time.
Every poisoner who matters is in the ballroom tonight. Every Arron from the Black Council: Lucian and Genevieve, Allegra and Antonin. Natalia. She cannot bear to disappoint Natalia.
The guests move toward the set table. The crowd, for once, is a help, pressing close in a wave of black to push her forward.
Natalia instructs the servants to reveal the dishes from under their silver covers. Piles of glistening berries. Hens stuffed with hemlock dressing. Candied scorpions and sweet juice steeped with oleander. A savory stew winks red and black with rosary peas. The sight of it makes Katharine’s mouth run dry. Both the snake on her wrist, and her bodice, seem to squeeze.
“Are you hungry, Queen Katharine?” Natalia asks.
Katharine slides a finger along Sweetheart’s warm scales. She knows what she is supposed to say. It is all scripted. Practiced.
“I am ravenous.”
“What would be the death of others will nourish you,” Natalia continues. “The Goddess provides. Are you pleased?”
Katharine swallows hard.
“The offering is adequate.”
Tradition mandates that Natalia bow. When she does, it looks unnatural, as if she is a clay pot cracking.
Katharine sets her hands on the table. The rest of the feast is up to her: its progression, its duration and speed. She may sit or stand as she likes. She does not need to eat it all, but the more she eats, the more impressive it is. Natalia advised her to ignore the flatware and use her hands. To let the juices run down her chin. If she were as strong a poisoner as Mirabella is an elemental, she would devour the entire feast.
The food smells delicious. But Katharine’s stomach can no longer be fooled. It tries to twist itself shut and cramps painfully.
“The hen,” she says. A servant sets it before her. The room is heavy, and so full of eyes, as it waits. They will shove her face into it if they have to.
Katharine rolls her shoulders back. Seven of the nine council members stand close at the front of the crowd. The five who are Arrons, of course, as well as Lucian Marlowe and Paola Vend. The two remaining members have been dispatched as a courtesy to her sisters’ celebrations.
There are only three priestesses in attendance, but Natalia says that priestesses do not matter. High Priestess Luca has forever been in Mirabella’s pocket, abandoning temple neutrality in favor of believing Mirabella to be the fist that will wrest power away from the Black Council. But the Black Council is what counts on the island now, and priestesses are nothing but relics and nursemaids.
Katharine tears white meat from the plumpest part of the breast, the meat that is farthest from the toxic stuffing. She pushes it through her lips and chews. For a moment, she is afraid she will be unable to swallow. But the bite goes down, and the crowd relaxes.
She calls for the candied scorpions next. Those are easy. Pretty, sparkling sweets in golden sugar coffins. All the venom is in the tail. Katharine eats four sets of pincers and then calls for the venison stew with rosary peas.
She should have saved the stew for last. She cannot get around its poison. The rosary peas have seeped into everything. Every sliver of meat and drop of gravy.
Katharine’s heart begins to pound. Somewhere in the ballroom, Genevieve is cursing her for a fool. But there is nothing to be done. She has to take a bite, and even lick her fingers. She sips the tainted juice and then cleanses her palate with cold, clear water. Her head begins to ache, and her vision changes as her pupils dilate.
She does not have long before she sickens. Before she fails. She feels the weight of so many eyes. And the weight of their expectations. They demand that she finish. Their will is so strong that she can nearly hear it.
The pie of wild mushrooms is next, and she eats through it quickly. Her pulse is already uneven, but she is unsure whether that is from the poison or just nerves. The speed at which she eats does a good impression of enthusiasm, and the Arrons clap. They cheer her on. They make her careless, and she swallows more mushrooms than she intends. One of the last chunks tastes like a Russula, but that should not be. They are too dangerous. Her stomach seizes. The toxin is fast and violent.
“The berries.”
She pops two into her mouth and cheeks them and then reaches for tainted wine. Most of it she lets leak down her neck and onto the front of her gown, but it does not matter. The Gave Noir is over. She slams both hands down onto the table.
The poisoners roar.
“This is but a taste,” Natalia declares. “The Gave Noir for the Quickening will be something of legend.”
“Natalia, I need to go,” she says, and grasps Natalia’s sleeve.
The crowd quiets. Natalia discreetly tugs loose.
“What?” she asks.
“I need to leave!” Katharine shouts, but it is too late.
Her stomach lurches. It happens so fast, there is no time even to turn away. She bends at the waist and vomits the contents of the Gave down onto the tablecloth.
“I will be all right,” she says, fighting the nausea. “I must be ill.”
Her stomach gurgles again. But even louder are the gasps of disgust. The rustling of gowns as the poisoners back away from the mess.
Katharine sees their scowls through eyes that are bloodshot and full of water. Her disgrace is reflected in every expression.
“Will someone please,” Katharine says, and gasps at the pain, “take me to my rooms.”
No one comes. Her knees strike hard against the marble floor. It is not an easy sickness. She is wet with sweat. The blood vessels have burst in her cheeks.
“Natalia,” she says. “I’m sorry.”
Natalia says nothing. All Katharine can see are Natalia’s clenched fists, and the movement of her arms as she silently and furiously directs guests to leave the ballroom. Throughout the space, feet shuffle in a hurry to leave, to get as far from Katharine as they can. She sickens again and pulls on the tablecloth to cover herself.
The ballroom darkens. Servants begin to clear the tables as another twisting cramp tears through her small body.
Disgraced as she is, not even they will move to help her.
WOLF SPRING
Camden is stalking a mouse through the snow. A little brown mouse has found itself in the middle of a clearing, and no matter how quickly it skitters across the surface, Camden’s large paws cover more ground, even when she’s sunk up to her knees.
Jules watches the macabre game with amusement. The mouse is terrified but determined. And Camden looms over it, as excited as if it were a deer or a large chunk of lamb instead of less than a mouthful. Camden is a mountain cat, and at three years old, has reached her full, massive size. She is a far cry from the milky-eyed cub who followed Jules home from the woods, young enough then to still have her spots, and with more fuzz than fur. Now, she is sleek and honey gold, and the only black left is on her points: ears, toes, and the tip of her tail.
Snow flies in twin shoots from her paws as she pounces, and the mouse scurries faster for the cover of the bare brush. Despite their familiar-bond, Jules does not know whether the mouse will be spared or eaten. Either way she hopes that it is over soon. The poor mouse still has a long way to run before it reaches cover, and the chase has begun to look like torture.
“Jules. This isn’t working.”
Queen Arsinoe stands in the center of the clearing, dressed all in black as the queens do, looking like an inkblot in the snow. She has been trying to bloom a rose from a rosebud, but in the palm of her hand, the bud remains green, and firmly closed.
“Pray,” Jules says.
They have sung this same song a thousand times over the years. And Jules knows what comes next.
Arsinoe holds out her hand.
“Why don’t you help?”
To Jules, the rosebud looks like energy and possibilities. She can smell every drop of perfume tucked away inside. She knows what shade of red it will be.
Such a task should be easy for any naturalist. It should be especially easy for a queen. Arsinoe ought to be able to bloom entire bushes and ripen whole fields. But her gift has not come. Because of that weakness, no one expects Arsinoe to survive the Ascension Year. But Jules will not give up. Not even if it is the queens’ sixteenth birthday, and Beltane is in four months’ time, falling like a shadow.
Arsinoe wiggles her fingers, and the bud rolls from side to side.
“Just a little push,” she says. “To get me started.”
Jules sighs. She is tempted to say no. She should say no. But the unbloomed bud is like an itch that needs scratching. The poor thing is dead, anyway, cut off from its parent plant in the hothouse. She cannot let it wither and wrinkle still green.
“Focus,” she says. “Join me.”
“Mm-hmm.” Arsinoe nods.
It does not take much. Hardly a thought. A whisper. The rosebud pops like a bean skin in hot oil, and a fat, fancy-petaled red rose uncurls in Arsinoe’s hand. It is bright as blood, and smells of summer.
“Done,” Arsinoe declares, and sets the rose on top of the snow. “And not bad, either. I think I did most of those petals at the center.”
“Let’s do another,” says Jules, fairly certain that she did it all. Perhaps they should try something else. She heard starlings while on the path up from the house. They could call them until they filled the bare branches around the clearing. Thousands of them, until not a single starling remained anywhere else in Wolf Spring, and the trees seethed with black, speckled bodies.
Arsinoe’s snowball hits Camden in the face, but Jules feels it as well: the surprise and a flicker of irritation as the cat shakes the flakes from her fur. The second ball hits Jules on the shoulder, just high enough for the exploding snow to find its way into the warm neck of her coat. Arsinoe laughs.
“You are such a child!” Jules shouts angrily, and Camden snarls and jumps.
Arsinoe barely dodges the attack. She covers her face with her arm and ducks, and the cougar’s claws sail over her back.
“Arsinoe!”
Camden backs off and slinks away, ashamed. But it is not her fault. She feels what Jules feels. Her actions are Jules’s actions.
Jules rushes to the queen and inspects her quickly. There is no blood. No claw marks or tears in Arsinoe’s coat.
“I’m sorry!”
“It’s all right, Jules.” Arsinoe rests a steadying hand on Jules’s forearm, but her fingers tremble. “It was nothing. How many times did we push each other out of trees as children?”
“That is not the same. Those were games.” Jules looks at her cougar regretfully. “Cam is not a cub anymore. Her claws and teeth are sharp, and fast. I have to be more careful from now on. I will be.” Her eyes widen. “Is that blood on your ear?”
Arsinoe takes off her black cap and pulls back her short, shaggy black hair. “No. See? She didn’t come close. I know you would never hurt me, Jules. Neither of you.”
She holds her hand out, and Cam slides under it. Her big, deep purr is the cougar’s apology.
“I really didn’t mean to,” says Jules.
“I know. We are all under strain. Don’t think on it.” Arsinoe slips her black cap back on. “And don’t tell Grandma Cait. She has enough to worry about.”
Jules nods. She does not need to tell Grandma Cait to know what she would say. Or to imagine the disappointment and worry on her face.
After leaving the clearing, Jules and Arsinoe walk down past the docks, through the square toward the winter market. As they pass the cove, Jules raises her arm to Shad Millner standing in the back of his boat, just returned from a run. He nods hello and shows off a fat brown sole. His familiar, a seagull, flaps its wings with pride, though she doubts that the bird was the one who caught the fish.
“I hope I don’t get one of those,” Arsinoe says, and nods at the gull. This morning, she called for her familiar. Like she has every morning since leaving the Black Cottage as a child. But nothing has come.
They continue through the square, Arsinoe kicking through slush puddles and Camden lollygagging behind, unhappy about leaving the powdery wild for the cold stone town. Winter ugliness holds Wolf Spring in a firm grip. Months of freezing and partial thaws have coated the cobblestones with grit. Fog covers the windows, and the snow is mottled brown after being walked through by so many mud-covered feet. With the clouds hanging heavy overhead, the entirety of the town looks as though it is being viewed through a dirty glass.
“Take care,” Jules mutters as they pass Martinson Sisters’ Grocery. She nods toward empty fruit crates. Three troublesome children are ducked down behind them. One is Polly Nichols, wearing her father’s old tweed cap. The two boys she does not know. But she knows what they are up to.
They each have a rock in their hands.
Camden comes to Jules’s side and growls loudly. The children hear. They look at Jules and duck lower. The two boys cower, but Polly Nichols narrows her eyes. She has done one naughty thing for every freckle on her face, and even her mother knows it.
“Do not throw that, Polly,” Arsinoe orders, but that seems to make it worse. Polly’s little lips draw together so tightly that they disappear. She jumps from behind the crates and throws the rock hard. Arsinoe blocks it with her palm, but the stone manages to skip off and strike the side of her head.
“Ow!”
Arsinoe presses her hand to the spot where the stone struck. Jules clenches her fists and sends Camden snarling after the children, determined to plant Polly Nichols onto the cobblestones.
“I’m fine, call her back,” Arsinoe says. She wipes the line of blood away as it runs down to her jaw. “Little scamps.”
“Scamps? They are brats!” Jules hisses. “They should be whipped! Let Cam tear up Polly’s ridiculous hat, at least!”
But Jules calls Camden, and the cat stops at the street corner and hisses.
“Juillenne Milone!”
Jules and Arsinoe turn. It is Luke, owner and operator of Gillespie’s Bookshop, looking smart in a brown jacket, his yellow hair combed back from his handsome face.
“Small of stature but large of lion,” he says, and laughs. “Come inside for tea.”
As they enter the shop, Jules stretches up on her toes to quiet the brass bell above the door. She follows Luke and Arsinoe past the tall, blue-green bookshelves and up the stairs to the landing, where a table is set with sandwiches and a tray of buttery yellow cake slices.
“Sit,” Luke says, and goes to the kitchen for a teapot.
“How did you know we were coming?” Arsinoe asks.
“I have a good view of the hill. Mind the feathers. Hank’s molting.”
Hank is Luke’s familiar, a handsome black-and-green rooster. Arsinoe blows a feather off the table and reaches for a plate of small muffins. She picks one up and peers at it.
“Are those shiny black bits legs?” Jules asks her.
“And shells,” Arsinoe says. Beetle muffins, to help Hank grow new feathers. “Birds,” she remarks, and sets the muffin down.
“You used to want a crow, like Eva,” Jules reminds her.
Eva is Jules’s grandma Cait’s familiar. A large, beautiful black crow. Jules’s mother, Madrigal, has a crow as well. Her name is Aria. She is a more delicately boned bird than Eva, and more ill-tempered, much like Madrigal herself. For a long time, Jules thought she would have a crow too. She used to watch the nests, waiting for a fuzzy black chick to fall into her cupped hands. Secretly, though, she had wished for a dog, like her granddad Ellis’s white spaniel, Jake. Or her aunt Caragh’s pretty chocolate hound. Now, of course, she would not trade Camden for anything.
“I think I would like a fast jackrabbit,” Arsinoe says. “Or a clever, black-masked raccoon to help me steal fried clams from Madge.”
“You will have something far more grand than a rabbit or a raccoon,” Luke says. “You’re a queen.”
He and Arsinoe glance at Camden, so tall that her head and shoulders are visible over the tabletop. Queen’s familiar or not, nothing could be more grand than a mountain cat.
“Perhaps a wolf, like Queen Bernadine,” Luke says. He pours tea for Jules and adds cream and four lumps of sugar. Tea for a child, the way she likes it best but is not allowed to drink at home.
“Another wolf in Wolf Spring,” Arsinoe muses around a mouthful of cake. “At this rate, I’d be happy to have . . . one of the beetles in Hank’s muffins.”
“Don’t be pessimistic. My own father did not get his until he was twenty.”
“Luke,” Arsinoe says, and laughs. “Giftless queens don’t live until they’re twenty.”
She reaches across the table for a sandwich.
“Maybe that is why my familiar hasn’t bothered,” she says. “It knows I will be dead, anyway, in a year. Oh!”
She has dripped blood onto her plate. Polly’s thrown rock left a cut, hidden in her hair. Another drop falls onto Luke’s fancy tablecloth. Hank hops up and pecks at it.
“I had better go clean this up,” Arsinoe says. “I’m sorry, Luke. I’ll replace it.”
“Do not think of it,” Luke reassures her as she goes to the bathroom. He puts his chin in his hands sadly. “She’ll be the one crowned at next spring’s Beltane, Jules. You just wait and see.”
Jules stares into her tea, so full of cream that it is almost white.
“We have to get through this spring’s Beltane first,” she says.
Luke only smiles. He is so sure. But in the last three generations, stronger naturalist queens than Arsinoe have still been killed. The Arrons are too powerful. Their poison always gets through. And even if it does not, they have Mirabella to contend with. Every ship that sails to the northeast of the island returns telling tales of the fierce Shannon Storms besieging the city of Rolanth, where the elementals make their home.
“You only hope, you know,” Jules says. “Like I do. Because you don’t want Arsinoe to die. Because you love her.”
“Of course I love her,” says Luke. “But I also believe. I believe that Arsinoe is the chosen queen.”
“How do you know?”
“I just know. Why else would the Goddess put a naturalist as strong as you here to protect her?”
Arsinoe’s birthday celebration is held in the town square, beneath great black-and-white tents. Every year the tents heat up with food and too many bodies until the flaps have to be opened to allow the winter air in. Every year, most of the attendees are drunk before sundown.
As Arsinoe makes her way through, Jules and Camden follow closely. The mood is jovial, but it takes only a second for the whiskey to turn.
“It’s been a long winter,” Jules hears someone say. “But the madness has been mild. It’s a wonder more fishers haven’t been lost on their boats, taken a gaff to the side of the head.”
Jules presses Arsinoe past the conversation. There are many people to see before they can sit down to their own food.
“These are very well done,” Arsinoe says, and leans down to sniff a vase holding a tall spray of wildflowers. The arrangement is layered with the pinks and purples of hedge nettles and showy orchis. It is as pretty as a wedding cake, early bloomed by the naturalist gift. Each family has brought their own, and most brought extra, to decorate the tables of the giftless.
“Our Betty did them this year,” says the man nearest Arsinoe. He winks across the table and beams at a blushing girl of around eight, wearing a newly knit black sweater and a braided leather necklace.
“Did you, Betty? Well, they are the finest ones here, this year.” Arsinoe smiles, and Betty thanks her, and if anyone notes that a little girl can do such elegant blooms when the queen cannot open one rose, they do not let it show.
Betty’s eyes brighten at the sight of Camden, and the big cat walks close to let her pet and stroke her back. The girl’s father watches. He nods respectfully at Jules as they go by.
The Milones are the most prosperous naturalists in Wolf Spring. Their fields are rich and orchards bountiful. Their woods are full of game. And now they have Jules, the strongest naturalist in some sixty years, it is said. For these reasons and more, they were chosen to foster the naturalist queen and must take on all the responsibilities that go with it, including playing host to visiting members of the council. Something that does not come naturally.
Inside the main tent, Jules’s grandmother and grandfather sit on either side of the honored guest, Renata Hargrove, a member of the Black Council sent all the way from the capital city of Indrid Down. Madrigal ought to be there too, but her seat is empty. She has disappeared, as usual. Poor Cait and Ellis. Trapped in their chairs. Granddad Ellis’s cheeks will be sore later, from holding such a fake smile. On his lap, his little spaniel, Jake, grins a grin that looks less like friendliness and more like bared teeth.
“They only sent one representative this year,” Arsinoe says under her breath. “One out of nine. And the giftless one, at that. What do you think the council is trying to say?”
She chuckles and then pops an herb-roasted, buttered crab claw into her mouth. Arsinoe hides everything behind the same easygoing smirk. She makes eye contact with Renata, and Renata inclines her head. It is not much of an acknowledgment. Barely enough, and Jules’s hackles rise.
“Everyone knows her seat on the council was bought and paid for by her giftless family,” she growls. “She’d lick the poison off Natalia Arron’s shoes if she asked.”
Jules glances at the few priestesses from Wolf Spring Temple who have decided to attend. Sending one council member is an insult, but it is still better treatment than Arsinoe has received from the temple. High Priestess Luca has not come to her birthday even once. She went to Katharine’s, occasionally, in the early years. Now it is only Mirabella, Mirabella, Mirabella.
“Those priestesses should not show their faces,” Jules grumbles. “The temple should not choose sides.”
“Take it easy, Jules,” Arsinoe says. She pats Jules’s arm and changes the subject. “The sea catch is impressive.”
Jules turns to the head table, thoroughly stocked with fish and crabs. Her catch forms the centerpiece: an enormous black cod accompanied by two equally huge silver stripers. She called them from the depths early that morning, before Arsinoe had even gotten out of bed. Now they lie on piles of potatoes, onions, and pale winter cabbage. Most of their juicy fillets have already been picked clean.
“You shouldn’t brush it aside,” Jules warns. “It matters.”
“The disrespect?” Arsinoe asks, and snorts. “No, it doesn’t.” She eats another crab claw. “You know, if I make it through this Ascension Year, I would like a shark as my centerpiece.”
“A shark?”
“A great white. Don’t be cheap when it comes to my crowning, Jules.”
Jules laughs. “When you make it through the Ascension, you can charm your own great white,” she says.
They grin. Except for her severe coloring, Arsinoe does not look much like a queen. Her hair is rough, and they cannot keep her from cutting it. Her black trousers are the same ones she wears every day, and so is her light black jacket. The only piece of finery they could get her into for the occasion was a new scarf that Madrigal found at Pearson’s, made from the wool of their fancy, flop-eared rabbits. But that is probably for the best. Wolf Spring is not a city of finery. It is of fishers and farmers and folk on the docks, and no one wears their fine blacks except on Beltane.
Arsinoe studies the tapestry hung behind the head table and frowns. Normally, it hangs in the town hall, but it is always dragged out for Arsinoe’s birthday. It depicts the crowning of the island’s last great naturalist queen. Bernadine, who weighed orchards heavy with fruit when she passed, and had an enormous gray wolf for a familiar. In the weaving, Bernadine stands below a tree sagging with apples, with the wolf beside her. In the wolf’s jaws is the torn-out throat of one of her sisters, whose body lies at Bernadine’s feet.
“I hate that thing,” Arsinoe says.
“Why?”
“Because it reminds me of what I’m not.”
Jules bumps the queen with her shoulder. “There is seed cake in the dessert tent,” she says. “And pumpkin cake. And white cake with strawberry icing. Let’s find Luke and go have some.”
“All right.”
On the way, Arsinoe pauses to chat with people and to pat their familiars. Most are dogs and birds, common naturalist guardians. Thomas Mintz, the island’s best fisher, gets his sea lion to offer Arsinoe an apple, balanced on its nose.
“Are you leaving?” Renata Hargrove asks.
Jules and Arsinoe turn, surprised Renata has bothered to come down from the head table.
“Only to the sweets tent,” Arsinoe says. “May we . . . bring something back for you?”
She glances at Jules awkwardly. No member of the Black Council has ever shown any interest in Arsinoe, despite being annual guests at her birthday. They eat, exchange pleasantries with the Milones, and depart, grumbling about the quality of the food and the size of the rooms at the Wolverton Inn. But Renata looks almost happy to see them.
“If you go, you will miss my announcement,” Renata says, and smiles.
“What announcement is that?” Jules asks.
“I am about to announce that Joseph Sandrin’s banishment is over. He is already set to return to the island and should arrive in two days.”
Sealhead Cove laps at the end of the long wooden dock. The weathered, gray boards creak in the brisk wind, and the rippling, moonlit sea mirrors the quiver of Jules’s breath.
Joseph Sandrin is coming home.
“Jules, wait.” Arsinoe’s footsteps rattle across the dock as she follows Jules to the point, with Camden trotting reluctantly alongside. The cat has never cared for the water, and a thin, bent wooden board does not seem to her the most trustworthy barrier.
“Are you all right?” Jules asks, out of habit.
“What are you asking me for?” Arsinoe asks. She tucks her neck down against the wind, deep into her scarf.
“I should not have left you.”
“Yes you should have,” Arsinoe says. “He’s coming back. After all this time.”
“Do you think it’s true?”
“To lie about this, at my birthday celebration, would take more nerve than even the Arrons have.”
They look across the darkening water, across the cove, past the submerged sandbar that protects it from the waves and out into the deeper currents.
It has been more than five years now since they tried to escape the island. Since Joseph stole one of his father’s daysailers and helped them try to run away.
Jules leans against Arsinoe’s shoulder. It is the same reassuring gesture they have done since they were children. No matter what their attempted escape has cost them, Jules has never regretted trying. She would try again, if there were any hope at all.
But there is none. Beneath the dock, the sea whispers, just like it did against the sides of their boat as it held them captive in the mists that surround the island. No matter how they set the sails, or worked the oars, it was impassible. They were found, cold and scared, and bobbing in the harbor. The fishers said they should have known better. That Jules and Joseph might have made it, to be lost at sea, or perhaps to find the mainland. But Arsinoe was a queen. And the island would never let her go.
“What do you think he is like, now?” Arsinoe wonders.
Probably not still small, with dirt on his jaw and under his fingernails. He will not be a child anymore. He will have grown up.
“I am afraid to see him,” says Jules.
“You are not afraid of anything.”
“What if he has changed?”
“What if he hasn’t?” Arsinoe reaches into her pocket and tries to skip a flat stone across the water, but there are too many waves.
“This feels right,” she says. “Him coming back. For this. Our last year. It feels like it was supposed to happen.”
“Like the Goddess has willed it?” Jules asks.
“I did not say that.”
Arsinoe looks down and smiles. She scratches Camden between the ears.
“Let’s go,” says Jules. “Catching a chest cold won’t improve the situation.”
“Certainly not, if your eyes get red and your nose swells.”
Jules shoves Arsinoe forward, back toward the marina and the long winding road up to the Milone house.
Camden trots ahead to bump against the backs of Arsinoe’s knees. Neither Jules nor the cat will sleep much tonight. Thanks to Renata Hargrove, every memory they have of Joseph is coursing through their heads.
As they pass the last dock, Camden slows, and her ears flicker back toward town. A few steps ahead, Arsinoe laments the lack of strawberry cake in her stomach. She does not hear. Jules does not either, but Camden’s yellow eyes tell her that something is wrong.
“What is it?” Arsinoe asks, catching on.
“I don’t know. A scuffle I think.”
“Some drunks left after my birthday, no doubt.”
They jog back toward the square. The closer they get, the faster the big cat moves. They pass Gillespie’s Bookshop, and Jules tells Arsinoe to knock and wait inside.
“But, Jules!” Arsinoe starts, except Jules and Cam are already gone, racing down the street, past the now-empty, flapping tents and toward the alley behind the kitchen of the Heath and Stone.
Jules does not recognize the voices. But she recognizes the sound of fists when they begin to swing.
“Stop!” she shouts, and jumps into the middle of the fray. “Stop it now!”
With Camden by her side, the people reel backward. Two men and a woman. Fighting over she does not care what. It will cease to matter in the morning, after the ale wears off.
“Milone,” one of the men sneers. “You’re a bully with that cougar. But you are not the law.”
“Aye, I’m not,” Jules says. “The Black Council is the law, and if you keep on, I’ll let them have you. Let them poison you out of your wits, or maybe even to death, in Indrid Down Square.”
“Jules,” Arsinoe says, and steps out of the shadow. “Is everything all right?”
“Fine,” says Jules. “Only a brawl.”
A brawl, but an escalating one. There is a small club in the drunk woman’s fist.
“Why don’t you look after the queen,” the woman says, “and get out of here.”
The woman raises the club and swings. Jules jumps back, but the end of it still catches her on the shoulder, striking painfully. Camden snarls, and Jules clenches her fists.
“Idiot!” Arsinoe shouts. She steps between Jules and the woman. “Do not push her. Do not push me.”
“You?” the drunk man asks, and laughs. “When the real queen comes, we’ll offer her your head on a pike.”
Jules bares her teeth and lunges. She gets him square in the jaw before Arsinoe can grab her arm.
“Send him to Indrid Down!” Jules shouts. “He threatened you!”
“So let him,” Arsinoe says. She turns and shoves the man, who holds his bleeding jaw. Camden is hissing, and the other two back off. “Get out of here!” Arsinoe yells. “If you want your chance at me, you’ll have it! They all will, after Beltane is over.”
ROLANTH
The pilgrims gather beneath the north dome of Rolanth Temple, their lips sticky from bites of caramel cake or sweet chicken skewered with lemons, their shoulders wrapped in billowing black cloaks.
Queen Mirabella stands at the altar of the Goddess. Sweating, but not from heat. Elementals are not bothered much by temperature, and if they were, no one inside could complain of being warm. Rolanth Temple is a weather queen’s temple, open to the east and west, the roof supported by beams and thick marble columns. Air moves through no matter the season, and no one shivers, except for the priestesses.
Mirabella has just filled the air with lightning. Gorgeous, bright bolts, crackling across the sky and crashing down in thick veins on all sides. Long, repeated strikes that brightened the interior like day. She feels elated. The lightning is her favorite. The lightning and the storms, the electricity coursing through her blood—it vibrates down to her bones.
But from the looks on the faces of her people, one would think she had done nothing at all. In the orange candlelight, their wide-eyed expectation is plain. They have heard the whispers, the rumors of what she can do. And they would see it all. The fire, the wind, the water. They would have her shake the earth until the pillars of the temple crack. Perhaps they even want her to shear off the entire black cliff and cast it into the sea so the temple can drift in the bay below.
Mirabella snorts. Someday perhaps. But just now it feels like a lot to ask.
She calls the wind. It blows out half the torches and sends orange sparks and embers flying from the braziers. Screams of delight fill her ears as the crowd pushes joyfully out of the way.
She does not even wait for the wind to die before raising the flames on the last of the torches, high enough to scorch the mural of Queen Elo, the fire breather, where she stands depicted on her gilded barge, burning an attacking fleet of mainland ships to the bottom of Bardon Harbor.
And still they would have more. Gathered together they have turned giddy as children. There are more in attendance than she has ever seen, packed into the temple and pressed into the courtyard outside. High Priestess Luca told her before the ceremony started that the road to the temple glowed with the candles of her supporters.
Not all who have come are elementals. Her gift has inspired other followers as well, naturalists and some who carry the rare war gift. Many who have no gift at all. They come desiring to see the rumors proved true, that Mirabella is the next queen of Fennbirn and that the long reign of the poisoners has come to an end.
Mirabella’s arms tremble. She has not pushed her gift this far in a very long time. Perhaps not since she first came to Rolanth and to the Westwoods, when she was parted from her sisters at six years old and tried to batter down the Westwood House with wind and lightning. She glances at the shallow reflector pool to her right, lit prettily with floating candles.
No. Not water. Water is her worst element. The most difficult to control. She ought to have done that first. She would have, had her mind not been so clouded by her nerves.
Mirabella looks across the crowd to the back, where High Priestess Luca huddles against the curve of the south wall, layered in thick robes. Mirabella nods to her from beneath her dripping brow, and the High Priestess understands.
Luca’s clear, authoritative voice cuts through the din.
“One more.”
The crowd is suggestible, and in moments murmurs of “one more” weave with cheers of encouragement.
One. Just one more element. One more display.
Mirabella reaches down deep, calling silently to the Goddess, giving thanks for her gift. But that is only temple teaching. Mirabella needs no prayers. Her elemental gift coils in her chest. She takes a breath and lets it go. A shockwave passes under their feet. It rattles the temple and everyone in it. Somewhere a vase falls over and shatters. People outside feel the reverberation and gasp.
Inside the temple, finally, the people roar.
She draws her sister’s blood with a pair of silver shears. What was meant to simply trim her hair has instead shorn off an ear.
“Is this a nursery rhyme, Sister?” her sister asks. “Is this a fairy story?”
“I have heard it before,” Mirabella says, and studies the crimson stain. She drops the ear into her sister’s lap and runs her fingertip along the shears’s sharp edge.
“Careful not to cut yourself. Our queenly skin is fragile. Besides, my birds will want you whole. Eyes in your head and ears attached. Do not drink. She has turned our wine to blood.”
“Who?” Mirabella asks, though she knows very well.
“Wine and blood and back again, inside our veins and into cups.”
Somewhere through the tower a little girl’s voice sings; it rises up the stairs and round and round like a noose tightening.
“She is not my sister.”
Her sister shrugs. Blood rolls down in a slow waterfall from the open hole on the side of her head.
“She is and I am. We are.”
The shears open and close. The other ear falls into her sister’s lap.
Mirabella wakes with her mouth tasting of blood. It was only a dream, but a vivid one. She almost expects to look down and see pieces of her sisters clenched in her fists.
Arsinoe’s ear landed so softly in her lap. Though it was not really Arsinoe. So many years have gone by that Mirabella does not even know what Arsinoe looks like. People tell her that Arsinoe is ugly, with short, straw-like hair and a plain face. But Mirabella does not believe it. That is only what they think she wants to hear.
Mirabella kicks her sheets aside and takes a long drink of water from the glass on her bedside table. The sprawling estate of Westwood House is quiet. She imagines that all of Rolanth is quiet, even though the sunlight tells her it is nearly noon. Her birthday celebration went long into the night.
“You are awake.”
Mirabella turns toward her open door and smiles weakly at the petite priestess who has stepped into her room. She is a small thing, and young. The black bracelets on her wrists are still real bracelets, not tattoos.
“Yes,” Mirabella says. “Just.”
The girl nods and comes inside to help her dress, along with a second initiate who had been hidden in her shadow.
“Did you sleep well?”
“Quite,” Mirabella lies. The dreams have gotten worse of late. Luca says that is to be expected. That it is the way of the queens, and after her sisters are dead, the dreams will stop.
Mirabella holds very still as the priestesses brush her hair and put her into a comfortable dress after the night’s revelry. Then finally, they step back into the shadows. They are always with her, the priestesses. Even in Westwood House. Ever since the High Priestess saw the strength of her gift, she has been under temple guard. Sometimes, she wishes they would disappear.
She passes Uncle Miles in the hallway that leads to the kitchen, pressing a cold compress to his forehead.
“Too much wine?” she asks.
“Too much of everything,” he says, and bows clumsily before going back toward his room.
“Where is Sara?”
“In the drawing room,” he answers over his shoulder. “She has not moved from there since breakfast.”
Sara Westwood. Her foster-matron. A kind, devout woman, if a bit prone to worrying. She has cared for Mirabella well, and is quite gifted, specializing in the element of water. When Mirabella settles into the sitting room for tea, Sara’s moans occasionally echo up the stairs from where she is likely reclined on the drawing room sofa. Overindulgence has its price.
But the night was a success. Luca said so. All the priestesses said so. People of Fennbirn will talk of it for years. They will say they were there when the new queen rose.
Mirabella puts her feet up on the green velvet chair opposite the couch and stretches out. She is spent. Her gift feels like rubber in her stomach, wobbly and uneasy. But it will come back.
“That was quite a show, my queen.”
Bree leans against the door and then lazily twirls inside. She flops down beside Mirabella on the long satin couch. Her shiny, chestnut-and-gold hair is loose from its usual braid, and though she too looks exhausted, it is only the best kind.
“I hate it when you call me that,” Mirabella says, and smiles. “Where have you been?”
“Fenn Wexton was showing me his mother’s stables.”
“Fenn Wexton.” Mirabella snorts. “He is a laughing fool.”
“But have you seen his arms?” Bree asks. “And he did not do so much laughing last night. Tilda and Annabeth were there for a while. We took a jug of honeyed wine and lay on his barn roof under the stars. Nearly fell through the rotted thing!”
Mirabella gazes up at the ceiling.
“Perhaps we could have smuggled you out,” Bree says, and Mirabella chuckles.
“Bree, they put bells on my ankles. Large, rattling bells, like I was a cat. Like they thought I was going to sneak off.”
“It is not like you have not disappeared before,” Bree says, and grins.
“Never for anything so important!” Mirabella protests. “I have always been dutiful, when it matters. But they always like to know where I am. What I am doing. What I am thinking.”
“They will come down on you even harder now that the Ascension Year approaches,” says Bree. “Rho and those priestess guards.” She rolls over onto her stomach. “Mira, will you ever be free?”
Mirabella looks at her slantways.
“Do not be so dramatic,” Mirabella says. “Now, you ought to go get cleaned up. We have a dress fitting this afternoon.”
The loose stair on the staircase creaks six times, and moments later, six tall priestesses file into the room. Bree makes a displeased face and stretches languorously.
“My queen,” says the nearest girl. “High Priestess Luca wishes to see you.”
“Very well.” Mirabella stands. She thought it would be some less-pleasant errand. But it is always good to visit Luca.
“Be sure to have her back for her fitting this afternoon,” Bree says, and waggles her fingers in a lazy good-bye.
Mirabella doubts she will see Bree for the rest of the day. Dress fitting or no, nothing much can keep Bree from doing exactly what she wants, and as the beloved only daughter of Sara Westwood, no one has ever much bothered to try. It would be easy to resent Bree for her freedom if Mirabella did not love her so dearly.
Outside, Mirabella keeps a brisk pace, her subtle jab at the priestesses who guard her so closely. Most of them are as hung-over from her birthday as Sara, and the jarring walk turns them slightly green.
But it is not terribly cruel. Westwood House is close to the temple. When Mirabella was younger, and more able to slip her guard, she would sometimes sneak out to visit Luca alone, or to run along the temple grounds out to the dark basalt cliffs of Shannon’s Blackway. She misses that space. That privacy. When she could walk with a slouch or kick stones aimed at trees. When she could be wild as an elemental queen is meant to be.
Now, she is surrounded by white robes. She has to crane her neck over the shoulder of the nearest just to catch a glimpse of the city below. Rolanth. The elementals’ city, a sprawling center of stone and water running fast from the evergreen hills. Channels run between buildings like arteries to ferry people and cargo inland from the sea through a system of locks. From this height, the buildings look proud and white. The channels nearly blue. She can easily imagine the way the city once shone, when it was rich and fortified. Before the poisoners took the throne and the council and refused to let go.
“It is a lovely day,” Mirabella says to break the monotony.
“It is, my queen,” says one of the priestesses. “The Goddess provides.”
They say no more. Mirabella knows not a one of her escorts by name. So many priestesses have come to Rolanth Temple of late that she cannot keep up with the new ones. Luca says that temples across the island are experiencing the same bounty. The strength of Mirabella’s gift has renewed the island’s faith. Sometimes, Mirabella wishes that Luca would attribute fewer things to the strength of her gift.
Luca meets her in the temple proper rather than upstairs in her rooms. The old woman opens her arms. She takes Mirabella from the priestesses and kisses her cheek.
“You do not look so very tired,” she says. “Perhaps I should have made you work the water last night, after all.”
“If you had, you would have seen nothing,” Mirabella replies. “Or I may have drenched someone by accident.”
“By accident,” Luca says wryly. When she first met Luca, Mirabella tried to drown her by summoning a water elemental out of Starfall Lake and sending it down the High Priestess’s throat. But that was a long time ago.
Luca slips her hands back beneath her layers of robes and fur. Mirabella does not know what gift Luca had before she became a priestess, but it was not the elemental gift. She is far too vulnerable to the cold.
A priestess passing by nearly stumbles, and Luca’s arm shoots out fast to steady her.
“Be careful, child,” Luca says, and the girl nods. “Those robes are too long. You are going to hurt yourself. Have someone hem them.”
“Yes, Luca,” she whispers.
The girl is only an initiate. She can still fail at serving the temple. She can still change her mind and go home.
The girl walks slower to the south wall, where three more have gathered to restore Queen Shannon’s mural. The original painter captured the queen exceptionally well. Her black eyes peer out of the wall, focused and intent despite the rain and storm that obscure the lower half of her face.
“She was always my favorite,” Mirabella says. “Queen Shannon and her storms.”
“One of the strongest. Until you. One day your face will eclipse hers on the wall.”
“We should hope not,” replies Mirabella. “None of these murals depict times of peace.”
Luca sighs. “Times are not so peaceful now, with decades of poisoners in the capital. And the Goddess would not have made you so strong if you were not going to need that strength.” Luca takes her by the arm and leads her around the southern dome.
“One day,” she says, “perhaps after you are crowned, I will take you to the War Queen’s Temple in Bastian City. They have not murals there but a statue of Emmeline—bloody spear above her head, and arrows—suspended from the ceiling.”
“Suspended from the ceiling?” Mirabella asks.
“A long time ago, when the war gift was strong, a war queen could move things through the air, just by the sheer force of her will.”
Mirabella’s eyes widen, and the High Priestess chuckles. “Or so they say.”
“Why have you asked to see me, High Priestess?”
“Because a task has arisen.” Luca turns from the mural and clasps her hands. She walks north, toward the Goddess’s altar, and Mirabella falls in beside her.
“I wanted to wait,” she continues. “I knew how tired you would be, the day after such a spectacle. But try as I may to keep you young, and to keep you here with me in this quiet place, I cannot. You have grown. You are a queen, and unless your gift has expanded to stop time, the Quickening is coming. We can no longer put off the things that need doing.”
She puts her soft hand on Mirabella’s cheek. “But if you are not ready, I will put them off anyway.”
Mirabella places her own hand over Luca’s. She would kiss the old woman’s head were the priestesses not there watching. No High Priestess has ever shown favor to one queen as Luca has to her. Or caused such scandal as to leave their chambers in Indrid Down Temple and install themselves closer to their favorite.
“I am ready,” Mirabella says. “I will happily do whatever you require.”
“Good,” Luca says, and pats her. “Good.”
The priestesses walk Mirabella far out beyond the temple grounds, through the evergreen forest and toward the basalt cliffs above the sea. Mirabella has always loved the salt air, and enjoys the light breeze, and kicking her legs out fully in her skirt.
When they came to claim her from the temple, they did not tell her what they wanted. Priestess Rho leads the escort, so Mirabella thinks that it is probably to go on a hunt. Rho always leads the hunts. Every initiate in the temple is fearful of her. She has been known to strike the ones who displease her. To be a priestess is to have no past, but Mirabella is certain that Rho possesses the war gift.
Today, though, Rho is grim and sober. The priestesses carry their hunting pikes but have brought no accompanying hounds. And all the good game runs are far behind them, deeper into the woods.
They reach the cliffs and continue on to the north, farther into the rock than Mirabella has ever gone before.
“Where are we going?” Mirabella asks.
“Not much farther, my queen,” says Rho. “Not much farther at all.” She taps the priestess to her left. “Go on ahead,” she says. “Make sure all is ready.”
The priestess nods and then runs up the path to disappear around a corner.
“Rho? What are we doing? What am I to do?”
“The Goddess’s bidding and the queen’s duty. Is there ever anything else?” She looks over her shoulder at Mirabella and smiles meanly, and her hair peeks out from under her hood, bloodred.
The fall of their boots is loud against the stone and gravel, but it is steady. None but the girl tapped to scout ahead will go any faster, no matter how Mirabella tries to change their pace. She quickly stops trying, feeling the fool, like a bird fluttering against a cage of robes.
Ahead, the trail turns, and they round the corner and move farther into the canyon of dark rock. Mirabella catches her first glimpse of whatever it is they have brought her for. It does not look like much of anything. A gathering of priestesses in black-and-white robes. A tall brazier, burning something hot that hardly smokes. And a barrel. When the group hears them coming, they turn and stand in a row.
None of them are initiates. Only two are novices. One of the novices is dressed strangely in a simple black shift, with a blanket across her shoulders. Her brown hair hangs loose, and despite the blanket, her skin looks cold and very pale. She stares at Mirabella with wide, grateful eyes, as if Mirabella has come to save her.
“You should have told me,” Mirabella says. “You should have told me, Rho!”
“Why?” Rho asks. “Would it have made any difference?” She nods for the girl to step forward, and she slips out from under the blanket and walks ahead barefoot and shivering.
“She makes this sacrifice for you,” Rho whispers. “Do not disgrace her.”
The young priestess kneels before Mirabella and looks up. Her eyes are clear. They have not even drugged her against the pain. She holds out her hand, and reluctantly, Mirabella takes it, and stands numb as the girl prays. When she is finished, the girl stands and walks to the cliff face.
It is all there. Water in the barrel. Fire in the brazier. The wind and the lightning, always at her fingertips. Or she could quake the rocks and bury her. Perhaps that would be painless, at least.
The girl who would become a sacrifice smiles at Mirabella and then closes her eyes, to make it easier. But it is not easier.
Impatient, Rho nods to a priestess beside the brazier, and she lights a torch.
“If you do not do it, my queen, then we will. And our way will be slower than yours.”
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In the end, all I could tell the guy was, “I agree with you. I just don’t eat animals.”
During our flight from Portland to Denver, two major differences between us had come up: He was a hunter, and I was a vegetarian. I listened from the window seat, two days removed from a backpacking trip in the Wallowa Mountains in Oregon. He told me he mostly hunted elk and ate what he killed, and noted that the meat he hunted was healthier for him than anything he could buy in a store. I nodded and said, “I know.”
He said you can make all these trips to Whole Foods and buy organic beef, or you can do what he does, and shoot one elk and feed yourself all year. I said, “I’m with you,” and continued to nod my head.
“I just don’t eat animals,” I said finally. “But I have nothing against hunting at all.”
It was a classic New West conversation, I thought, one guy trying to reassure the other that he’s not the wild-eyed Ted Nugent type of hunter, the other trying to communicate that even though he’s a vegetarian, he’s not a militant, anti-hunting activist.
I liked that guy, because he had clearly spent a lot of time thinking about the morality of hunting and where was the best place for him to get the meat he loved to eat. I felt he’d put as much thought into why he ate animals as I’d put into why I didn’t eat animals. That isn’t always the case when I meet new people, and they ask: “So … why don’t you eat meat?”
Vegetarianism can be chosen for political, philosophical, ethical or just plain contrarian reasons, depending on the person involved. So when someone asks you why, it can get awkward.
I try to give a benign answer. I usually say “I like animals” or “I don’t eat animals.” I don’t preach, don’t act like I’m up on the moral high ground. I don’t like to argue. I haven’t eaten meat in six and a half years, and I’m not going back anytime soon.
Chances are that you eat meat -- most people do -- and that’s fine with me. But the answer to, “Why don’t you eat meat?” is exponentially more contentious than the answer to, “Why don’t you eat Brussels sprouts?” So sometimes I tell people about a bear I saw in the Tetons a few years ago.
Nick and I were walking along Cascade Creek after an early morning of slogging up and over the Paintbrush Divide, and we had several more miles to go. We bounced down the trail, chatting and kicking up dust. Then I saw what I thought was a marmot crawling down a boulder field. But it wasn’t a marmot; it was a grizzly cub. “Whoa,” I said.
We backed up, maybe 100 feet away from the bear. We waited as he picked his way over rocks in the late-morning sunshine. He ambled up to the base of a thick evergreen tree, and suddenly, he was four feet up in it, claws stuck in the bark, hanging on as casually as Spider-Man.
It was a great moment. I feel a mix of awe, caution, fear and curiosity whenever I see any animal in the wild, and maybe you’ve felt something similar, rushing to find your camera and shoot as many photos as possible, while also knowing that you might have to drop everything and run for your life.
Watching that grizzly is why I don’t eat animals. I can’t make a good argument about why that bear is different from a cow. I can’t look at them both and say one of them is “meat” and the other one isn’t. To me, if a cow is meat, so is that grizzly. And so is your dog.
A hunter’s relationship with animals is different, of course, but as I’ve found in a few conversations, it can involve similar awe and reverence for animals as well as a meditative relationship with nature that’s developed over many hours spent sitting in one spot and waiting for an animal to walk into range. I’ve never experienced that; when I see wild animals, it happens at a lucky moment, because I’m walking through their habitat and our paths have crossed, not because I’ve spent long hours becoming invisible in their landscape. But deep down, hunters and I seem to share the same feelings about the wild.
I understand that vegetarianism won’t work on a global scale, and I understand that we evolved by eating animals. But being a vegetarian makes sense to me, just the way being a carnivore probably makes sense to you.
We can both agree that the mythical West we learned about in cowboy movies is gone now, if it ever existed. We’re a region of yogis, rock climbers, kayakers, hunters, cyclists and ATV users, oil industry workers, conservationists, vegetarians and omnivores. And sometimes, we end up sitting right next to each other on an airplane -- where we have a friendly conversation.
Brendan Leonard is a contributor to Writers on the Range, a service of High Country News (hcn.org). He lives in Denver, Colorado.
Note: the opinions expressed in this column are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of High Country News, its board or staff. If you'd like to share an opinion piece of your own, please write Betsy Marston at [email protected]hcn.org. |
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Al Hartmann | The Salt Lake Tribune Bears Ears buttes sit high over the surrounding canyon country in San Juan County. The form Scott Sommerdorf | The Salt Lake Tribune Kenneth Maryboy speaks to U.S. Interior Secretary Sally Jewell, right foreground, du AP File Photo Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, warns that terrorists can exploit the refugee relocation program. Steve Griffin | Tribune file photo Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, says if President Barack Obama does declare a Bears Ears National Mon Scott Applewhite | AP file photo Utah Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, said Thursday that the only ones he has talked to that suppor Scott Sommerdorf | Tribune file photo Utah Gov. Gary Herbert on Thursday said he talked to Denis McDonough, chief of staff to P Brett Prettymann | Tribune file photo Photographer explores the high forested plateau country near the Bear's Ears in San Juan C Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune The Bears Ears, seen on the horizon, and its surrounding areas in southeastern Utah, ar Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune Utah Governor Gary Herbert in his office at the State Capitol Building in Salt Lake City, T |
New “old school” wet shavers often face a bewildering assortment of products they want to try. And the price range for these products can range from the ridiculously inexpensive to the positively obscene. But there’s one thing everyone needs to buy themselves:
Time.
“Buy” the time to shave properly and your shave will improve not matter what products you use (well, almost all). That includes the time you take before you shave, while you shave, and after you shave. Luckily, the time you “spend” can be made enjoyable so it’s more of a pleasant diversion rather than a painful chore.
Preparing The Face
Doctors will tell you that it can take up to three minutes to properly hydrate your skin for a shave. “Buy” the time to gently clean your face with lots of warm water and a facial soap that’s easy on the skin. No deodorant or body bars here, please! Many will strip off too much of the natural skin oil needed for a sufficiently lubricated road for the razor to drive on. There are products that are made specifically to clean the skin before shaving–Musgo Real Glycerine Lime Oil Soap , Lucky Tiger Face Wash , and even the Gillette Fusion ProSeries Thermal Face Scrub come to mind–but even a simple, glycerin-based face soap will help. Be sure to pay attention to the neck, often over-looked when washing the rest of the face.
Lathering
Taking the time to build and apply lather is the next area that you should “buy.” The time you “spend” here is going to be variable, depending on things like the particular product, the type of shaving brush, and even the mineral content of your water. But do not rush the process–it takes however long it takes to make a good lather. Practice…make a few “test lathers” to get the hang of it. Yes there are a few short cuts to a better lather but even then you will need to take the time to experiment with them before getting it right. One great thing about the lathering process is being able to bring in your other senses to the party. Enjoy the feeling of warm, fragrant lather on your face!
Shaving
Remember, your goal is not so much to remove hair as to reduce it. “Spend” the time shave properly. Don’t swipe at your face with half-asleep strokes–“pay” attention to what you’re doing! Sure, you might be able to “save” a little time by using a cartridge razor with a pivot (assuming you want to “pay” the extra price!) but there is no substitute for good shave technique.
Post-Shave
Finally, don’t forget to “spend” some time on keeping your skin in good condition after the shave. Carefully wash any lather residue off your face then apply an after shave product that is good for your skin. Maintaining your skin may seem unnecessary when you’re younger, but using a quality balm to heal and protect your skin will “pay you dividends” in the future.
So there you have it. “Spend” the time necessary for a good shave and you will reap the benefits!
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The modern movie musical is a tough nut to crack, for every Evita there’s a Chicago, every Mamma Mia! there’s a Sweeney Todd, for every Les Miserables there’s a Nine. The movie musical is a hot property when award season comes around, and in recent years across the board oscars have been given to varying musicals (Les Miserables, Chicago, Frozen, Tangled and so on) and they’ve also done well at the box office.
But their success is because of two things; they’re animated films, which always do well at the box office, or they’re adaptations of famous stage shows (normally by Andrew Lloyd Webber). However, following the Golden Globe wins for La La Land you’d be forgiven for expecting an old school Gene Kelly-style musical.
It’s not that simple, unfortunately. There’s no denying that Damien Chazelle, writer-director of the frankly brilliant Whiplash, clearly has an affinity for music, telling the story of a drummer through the mangle of a sports movie. In La La Land, Chazelle puts a simple couples drama through an old school musical mangle, but it’s far less effective.
Despite the musical numbers that open the film being genuinely great (Another Day of Sun is a highlight), before long the film starts to forget it’s a musical. While the first act is all singing, all dancing, there’s a lack of singing and dancing in the middle and end sections. It wouldn’t be a problem if the musical aspect wasn’t so pitch perfect and enjoyable. Similarly, the film also falls back on repeating motifs; not even musical ones, just conversations.
The songs are great, they really capture that old style of Hollywood musicals, but when your leading man is a hipster who’s also a little bit of a dick, it’s hard to get involved. It’s not that Ryan Gosling is awful, he’s not, but he’s not really a romantic lead in the mould of Kelly (The Notebook notwithstanding). Gosling fits the more serious and silent or smart-alec types of James Dean; his past work in Drive, Only God Forgives and The Place Beyond the Pines making him better suited to rugged roles.
Emma Stone on the other hand is perfectly cast in her role as an aspiring actress and nails the wide eyed idealism that leading ladies had. It’s no real stretch for her against the drama and comedies she’s already done, and the film really hinges on how appealing she is as a performer.
Unfortunately, the film wastes some really talented supporting roles; namely JK Simmons (he disapproves of Gosling’s music – also not his tempo), as well as the thoroughly talented Callie Hernandez (who saved Blair Witch) and brings charm to this film as well.
While the music in it is great (City of Stars is a great song) and the dance numbers are beautiful, there is an element of wanting a bit more of a feel good musical, and less of a melancholic deliberation of the failures of life, and the opportunities we miss. There is also a problem in that the film spends a lot of time posturing about the fall of jazz music , and how the way it changes being a bad thing, which makes Chazelle sound more and more like a hipster also. After all, jazz is still thriving (as all music is) and the old fashioned way of making movies is still perfectly alive and well. Did a silent film not win Best Picture a few years back? Are traditional dramas not being made? After all, this season alone is seeing many human based drama films.
There’s a nobility in what Chazelle is trying to do here, but there’s also a missed opportunity to do a big, unashamed musical as opposed to one that starts with promise and then falls into just a drama with a guy singing the same song. Still, it’s a good second effort from Mr Chazelle, and the leads do give it their all, so hopefully there’ll be more original movie musicals out there, until then, this will do. |
I don’t think anyone expected or could have anticipated the success of Supernatural from the outset. The show’s durability was tested time and again, and each time it survived against the odds of cancellation. It's remarkable to me how consistent the viewership has stayed throughout the years - always averaging at least 2 million viewers according to Nielsen ratings.
In a 2014 TVLine interview Misha Collins remarked that, “Originally [Season] 5 was going to be the end of it. The story arc was designed to end at Season 5. Now, here we are going into Season 10.”
We’re on Season 12 now, folks.
Shows manage to survive on television this long in large part because of their dedicated fanbase. Supernatural is no exception. Supernatural fans are equal parts crazy, awesome, and passionate. They’re the writers of fan-fics, the Dean Winchester cosplayers, and the Misha Collins GISHWHES’ers. We buy the merchandise, go on cross-country treks recreating the most memorable hunts of the Winchesters and of course attend every convention possible.
Supernatural fans get angry if you’ve snubbed their favorite character or fan theory, but are quick to forgive and bond over a mutual respect for the fandom and each other. Everyone doesn’t always get along but they remember what brought them together in the first place.
Sometimes in life you discover a community that’s greater than the sum of its parts. Over time that kind of community becomes a family, gathered around common interests despite their diverse backgrounds. Supernatural has such a community and family. It’s a family that always has your back. And they’ll always keep fighting.
If you need anything, anything at all, #SPNFamily is here for you. <3 #FamilyAlwaysHasYourBack https://t.co/0eFgJz14WZ — To SPNFamily /w Love (@SPNLoveBot) October 23, 2016
Yes, there are attractive leading ladies and lads, fast cars, harrowing action and horror galore. That all played a part in bringing us here but it isn’t why many Supernatural fans stay. In Part 2 I spent a lot of time talking about how the cast and crew have built up a culture of acceptance and support. They’ve started and supported charities, fund-raised and literally built a school, involved the community and changed lives in the process.
When was the last time you heard of any fan community volunteering alongside cast members like Misha Collins and Osric Chau to travel to Nicaragua to help build a school? They led the charge and we supported them every step of the way. (The dreamy glint in Jensen Ackles' eyes probably helped.)
Sure, there are parts of the show that don’t always work...like plots that are dull or jokes that fall flat. Yet ultimately it's the moments of friendship and solidarity on and off screen that mean the most. It’s perhaps the largest piece of the puzzle of why fans around the globe keep coming back. Supernatural has become more than just a show. It’s a family. It didn’t start out that way, but season by season it grew. It was never perfect but it's ours.
The show didn't hit the mainstream in the way sitcoms like The Big Bang Theory did, but that never mattered. What Supernatural fans lack in numbers they make up for in enthusiasm. It’s a shared dream between cast and fans, one we’ll never be fully ready to wake up from.
I think that building a community like this was enabled in part by how genuine the cast is. Jared Padalecki doesn’t hide his depression and anxiety, ultimately declaring to fans across the globe that you are not alone. What he's done is acknowledge that we’re all human and that it's okay to struggle with depression and anxiety - there's still hope as long as you keep fighting. Fans have returned that honesty and humanity in kind.
@kirbywrites #AKF gave me a sense of belonging, & enabled me to at last shrug off the shame of mental illness.My tattoo is my pledge to #AKF pic.twitter.com/2vMLRm0GWU — Jilly #AKF#YANA#LYF (@jillyrulz) October 10, 2016
Hop on Twitter sometime and you’ll find a treasure trove of convention photos featuring fans with their favorite members of the cast. Many of the photos are paired with anecdotes of how the show has changed their life for the better. The cast has always embraced the community - and that love is returned in spades. A great example of the relationship the show and fans have is the 200th episode, “Fan Fiction.” It’s a musical love letter to the fans and jam-packed with fourth wall breaking references and humor.
In a PopSugar interview Jared Padalecki commented, "I love meeting a fan of the show in whatever arena. When someone says, "Hey, I have seen all the episodes," I am like, "F*ck, you have dedicated a lot of your life to the show. I have too; we have that in common."
And he's right. We've watched Jared, Jensen, and the rest of the cast grow alongside us.
Jared continues, "Anyone is welcome to come in whenever they want and however they want, but I think the best way to get involved is to start at day one. ...We are all in it together and we have all been down these roads so many times together, and that is what the show is about.”
That long road has led us to the beginning of Season 12. None of it could ever be possible without the fans - it's very much a symbiotic relationship. Without viewers, the talented men and women of Supernatural wouldn’t be able to keep blessing our lives with season after season. They have our backs and we have theirs in return. Because of this, I don't see how Supernatural's impact could ever end...even if someday the show itself does. The lasting impact of Supernatural is the way it's transformed the fans for the better. That's a legacy that too few creative endeavors can ever hold to be true.
Thank you to the entire cast and crew past and present and to all the fans for the many wonderful years of Supernatural we've enjoyed together. To everyone that has stuck with me across these three parts of my Supernatural series, thank you so much. Until next time...stay wayward and always keep fighting.
The CW’s Supernatural airs on Thursdays at 9:00 pm (ET). |
Polish – the hardest language to learn in the world
What is the hardest language to learn for English Speakers? Take a guess; it is not Chinese or Japanese. It is Polish. Polish has seven cases and Polish grammar has more exception than rules. German for example has four cases all which are logical, seem to have no pattern or rules; you have to learn the entire language. Asia languages usually do not have cases, or at least like that.
Look at Mr. Wise Old Owl get stumped the Polish language.
Polish – hardest language pronunciation
The Pronunciation is eons harder than Asia language as it usually has long tong twisting consonants. For example a Polish sentence might look like this:
W Szczebrzeszynie chrząszcz brzmi w trzcinie i Szczebrzeszyn z tego słynie.
Wyindywidualizowaliśmy się z rozentuzjazmowanego tłumu.
Further Polish people rarely hear foreign speak their language and with no accent or regional variation than pronunciation must be exact or they will have no idea what you are talking about.
So the next time you have heard someone has learned Polish have some respect. Polish is the hardest language to learn. But the truth is I doubt you will hear a native English Speaker, speak Polish beyond a few phrases. Can it be learned? Yes you can How to learn a language like I did. People do, it just takes humility.
Here is my argument that dispels the myth of Asian or other languages the most difficult
The Polish language has a Latin Alphabet, but the free ride stops there. Just how hard is Polish to speak? Well consider this, I have studied Polish most of my life, my parents speak Polish and I lived in Poland for about a decade and my wife is Polish, I have citizenship. Oh and some more, I have a passion for learning and even a nack, yet I would not say I speak the Polish language anything close to perfect. Here is how to a friend of mine learned the hardest language in the world. If I were to study French, Spanish or even Chinese I think I would gain a command of the spoken language that would surpass my ability in Polish perhaps in months. Norman Davies a lifelong champion of Poland has made a similar comments. It is not just the crazy grammar, or pronunciation, it is that the people who use it are so soft-spoken.
Many people will argue that other languages are more difficult based on some official textbook understanding of linguistics. Hogwash, they ignore the most vital component in this ranking formula, that is the culture where it is spoken. For me it an unbelievable oversight. They perpetuate a paradigm of lies based on skewed weights and measures.
American English vs Polish – the way people speak determines how accessible a language is to being absorbed
Here is a concrete example. If you have ever heard some American coming from a club chances are you heard their rounded American English vocalized all the way from down the street, and that would be the girls, mind you. In contrast Slavic people, maybe because of their experience with communism like to stay in the shadows and conversations are almost in whispers. Or perhaps they are just more modest and there is not such a premium placed on self-assertion. It is very refreshing to be in a group and everyone is not trying to impress the other.
A linguistic group’s social conventions regarding openness, receptiveness and how people communicate with each other and foreigners, is the most important aspects of language learning. It is eons more important than grammar or the script they use.
Consider this metaphor, it is like comparing a group of friends inviting and welcoming vs an elitist closed club that has little conversation. This is only a metaphor or analogy to convey a point. Where would you learn more? Similarly it is easy to go to the USA or converse with people in English as the English speaking culture is extroverted. That alone makes it a breeze to learn.
In contrast Slavic countries are good people but there is not a lot of boisterous openness. If you try to speak their language they will switch to English. It is just the culture or laugh and switch to English.
If you take a class in the language it is geared toward grammar rules and lessons. This is what they were taught in a post communist Eastern European classical education with a focus on form, than practicality.
It is the culture’s attitude, even is subconscious that determines if a language is child’s play or arduous. Polish are polite and kind but they are not even aware how introverted the culture is, which makes a formidable hurdle for your Broca’s and Wernicke’s area.
Again not that any of this is wrong or bad, it is just an obstacle that many people do not calculate when they are drawing up a list of the hardest languages in the world.
This is just one aspect of one single word in Polish, there were not enough interactions to place on the tree. Can you imagine how your brain would grow with an education in this language.
What about pronunciation?
When it comes to pronunciation, I remember when I first started to study Polish, my own family, who understood the context could not make out what I was saying. They were use to me still could not understand me. The Polish ear is not accustom to foreigners speaking their languages so they reject any sound that is not precisely native. This was not the case when I attempted to speak other languages like French, Spanish, Chinese with strangers. Basically when you try to communicate with a Pole and your pronunciation is off by an increment, you will be shut down. Therefore, pronunciation is interdependent on the cultural aspect of language.
Grammar seven cases and uncountable exceptions
Grammar in Polish is hard but what makes it harder is similar to the above, if your grammar is less than exact you get a wall. It is less so than with pronunciation, but think about how many foreigners speak English poorly and no one bats an eye. Well in Poland you miss a case than you get a smirk. They are just not use to foreigners speaking Polish.
Again this is not a criticism of the culture at all, I love the people and country, it is just all the world does not interact like Americans do with linguistic, flexibility, extraversion and assimilation.
Lechitic languages or Western Slavic languages are universally laborious because of the grammar, but have had many friends to learned it and it is worth the effort. If you can speak on your brain is opened up to new experiences and you would be part of that inner circle, plus there are many beautiful girls in Eastern Europe to connect with, I am just being honest. |
An Indiana legislative committee is backing a bill allowing police departments to withhold video from police body cameras.
The House government committee voted unanimously Tuesday to advance the bill to the full House for consideration.
The bill places the burden on those seeking video to prove that its release is in the public interest and doesn't create risk of harm or prejudice in ongoing court cases. It also requires police to retain video for 180 days.
Republican Rep. Kevin Mahan of Hartford City tells The (Muncie) Star Press that his proposal gives discretion to police departments but allows for a judge to review denied requests.
Public access advocates say the bill leaves the public "blind" to what the body cameras record and gives police incentive to not release videos.
(Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.) |
Like me, you've probably stayed awake countless nights wondering, "Did the Brits ever make plans for a nuclear landmine, powered by chickens?"Well, dear reader, I'm here to tell you that the answer is yes. At least, according to the UK's National Archives.
Conceived during the Cold War, the seven tonne device was the size of small truck and was designed to be buried or submerged by a British Army retreating from Soviet forces. The landmine had a plutonium core surrounded by high explosive and would have been detonated by remote control or timer, causing mass destruction and contamination over a wide area to prevent subsequent enemy occupation.Scientists working on the project realised that the bomb could fail in winter if vital components become too cold, so they explored ways of keeping the inner workings warm. One proposal put forward consisted of filling the casing of the nuke with live chickens, who would give off sufficient heat, prior to suffocating or starving to death, to keep the delicate explosive mechanism from freezing. Despite the potential importance of chickens to the project, the mine was codenamed 'Blue Peacock'.
Each mine was expected to produce an explosive yield of 10 kilotons, about half that of the atom bomb the US dropped on the Japanese city of Nagasaki in 1945...Blue Peacock was to consist of a plutonium core surrounded by a sphere of high explosives, all encased in steel. The design was based on Blue Danube, a free-fall nuclear bomb weighing several tonnes that was already in service with the Royal Air Force. But Blue Peacock, weighing over seven tonnes, would have been much more cumbersome.The steel casing was so large that it had to be tested outdoors in a flooded gravel pit near Sevenoaks in Kent. If questions were asked, Nuclear historian David Hawkings says the army's cover story was that it was a container for "an atomic power unit for troops in the field". In July 1957, army leaders decided to order 10 Blue Peacock mines and to station them in Germany.Hawkings describes their plans for deploying the weapons in the event of an imminent Soviet invasion as "somewhat theatrical". One problem was that the mines might not work in winter if they became too cold, so the army proposed wrapping them in fibreglass pillows.In the end, the risk from radioactive fallout would have been "unacceptable", says Hawkings, and hiding nuclear weapons in an allied country was deemed "politically flawed". As a result, the Ministry of Defence cancelled Blue Peacock in February 1958. (via Linkfilter and Improbable Research)
"The mines were to be left buried or submerged by the British Army of the Rhine. They would then have been detonated by wire from up to five kilometres away or by an eight-day clockwork timer. If disturbed or damaged, they were primed to explode within 10 seconds ," New Scientist explains. |
CINCINNATI -- In less than a year, some of Ohio’s sickest residents should legally have a new drug to consider: medical marijuana.
The state's newly created Medical Marijuana Control Program is under a Sept. 8, 2018 deadline to fully roll out the new law. Already, hundreds of new rules have been crafted to regulate the budding industry.
But hundreds more decisions are still pending.
“The state has a really tight timeline. There’s no room for error,” said James Gould, chairman of Green Light Acquisitions, a Cincinnati-based holding firm for medical marijuana-related ventures.
But with less than year to go, Ohio still has lots of work ahead.
James Gould
Among the biggest items still to be decided: Who will be able to grow, process, test and sell medical marijuana across Ohio.
More than 180 wannabe marijuana farmers have applied to be one of 24 licensed cultivators. By November, the state’s expected to announce which of those applicants will be awarded the 12 licenses for large operations and 12 for smaller farms.
Applicants have tens of thousands of dollars riding on their bet to become part of what some have estimated will become the country's largest medical marijuana market.
“Ohio has the potential to be a serious heavyweight in this industry,” said Chris Walsh of Marijuana Business Daily, a Colorado-based news and research firm. “In terms of patient counts and retail revenues, Ohio could become a behemoth."
RELATED: Meet some of the people who might become Ohio’s medical marijuana farmers
Large cultivators had to pay a non-refundable $20,000 application, and will face a $180,000 licensing fee and $200,000 annual operating fee if approved. Smaller operations paid a $2,000 application fee and must pay an $18,000 licensing fee and a $20,000 annual renewal fee. Money raised from those fees will pay for the Medical Marijuana Control Program.
Farmers who are chosen must be ready to immediately launch their new ventures. Marijuana can take up to 14 weeks to harvest. That doesn't include the time it takes to turn the plants into consumable and state-approved medical products, or the time it will take for dozens of new marijuana-based firms to get their businesses off the ground.
It all adds up to a massive time crunch, Gould said.
“Work your way backwards (from September 2018), and you damn well better know how to build a building," said Gould, who has applied for a large cultivator licenses. "You have to know how to build a business. You have to know how to grow, how to get it transported, have no contamination and proper controls over traffic and security.”
“We’re hoping we can avoid a bottleneck”
Starting next year, patients are supposed to be able register online for a medical marijuana card, which comes with a $50 fee. Patients who are approved for medical marijuana must have one of 26 qualifying conditions and have doctor's recommendation. A final date hasn't been set for when the registry will be open.
Doctors who want to be certified to recommend the drug to their patients must complete two hours of training.
Testing the final products is also a key link in the supply chain. Testing facilities must check the drugs for fungus and verify the level of THC, which is the part of marijuana that makes users feel high.
Ohio’s law requires that a state-based university or college handle the testing. So far, just Hocking College in Nelsvonville has applied for the job.
Medical marijuana plants inside the grow site for Altitude Wellness Center in Garden City, Colorado. Emily Maxwell | WCPO
Whether one college will be able to handle all the testing for the state remains a big concern for industry observers.
“It’s definitely one of the areas we’re watching closely," said Thomas Rosenberger, a spokesman for the National Cannabis Association of Ohio . "We’re hoping that we can avoid a bottleneck. Everything so far has been on pace to meet the deadlines, but there is still a lot of watching and waiting at this point.”
Growing and processing Ohio’s medical pot
Recently, rules were finalized that will allow 60 dispensaries to operate across the state. The rules dissect Ohio into districts – with a designated number of dispensaries per district.
Hamilton County will make up a newly created Southwest Ohio District 1, where up to three dispensaries can operate. Warren, Clinton and Clermont Counties make up Southwest District 5. Across all three counties just one dispensary will be allowed to open.
Marijuana plants inside the grow site for Nature's Herbs & Wellness Center in Garden City, Colorado. Emily Maxwell | WCPO
Decisions won’t be made until early next year on who will be awarded licenses for dispensaries.
But before medical marijuana can hit the shelves in Ohio, the plant has to be processed into an allowable form of medical pot.
Under the law, which Ohio’s legislature passed last September, patients with qualifying conditions will be able to buy a 90-day supply of medical pot in the form of oils, patches, edibles and plant materials for vaporizing. Smoking the drug will still be illegal.
Ohio is expected to award at least 40 processing licenses. Those applicants, which can begin to apply next month, face a $10,000 application fee and $100,000 annual renewal fee.
Some firms like Gould’s are applying to grow, process and dispense the drug.
“It’s hard for me, waiting for other people to decide the fate of this industry in Ohio,” Gould said. “We can get it done. We can have product in the stores by September. I would be not only amazed, but upset if we are not picked.” |
The Gear Live and G Watch are, in most ways, virtually identical. They have the same processor and storage; they’re almost identical in weight and thickness. (They’re both a little bigger than the Pebble Steel, for what it’s worth, but not by any noticeable margin.) They’re water-resistant enough that you can shower with them on, and sturdy enough to take hiking. The only truly unique feature of any consequence is the Gear Live’s heart-rate monitor, which is a nice addition to the step-counter you’ll find in either device.
The Gear Live is by the far the flashier device, with chrome edges and a power button on the right side. (It comes in a cool-looking Red Wine color, too.) It looks like a radically simplified version of the Gear 2. The G Watch, on the other hand, is astoundingly nondescript. It’s a black (or white) rectangle that goes on your wrist, and exactly nothing more. It is, however, a slightly more wearable device than the Gear Live: Samsung’s watch has a rigid, rubber strap with two teeth that are hard to snap into place, and a curved shell that feels a little chunky on my wrist. The G Watch is more flexible and more comfortable. Luckily both are standard 22mm straps, and you can change either one to something more interesting.
Both get most of their design flair from their watchfaces: there a few available on both devices, and several more individual to each. LG’s are far catchier, cooler, and more modern. Of course, I prefer Samsung’s 1.63-inch AMOLED display, with its darker blacks and brighter whites, to LG’s slightly washed out 1.65-inch LCD. But since Samsung’s screen is slightly sharper (320 x 320 pixels instead of 280 x 280), all the touch targets are a little smaller and harder to tap. Using either one in bright sunlight is basically impossible, though, and yet somehow they’re both distressingly bright in the dark — to the point where you’ll have to cover your wrist or risk being called out.
Both the G Watch and Gear Live batteries always last a full day, even with constant use, and would occasionally last through part of the next. They’ll last a few days if you never touch them, but these are devices you’re meant to charge every night, in their awkward cradles next to your smartphone. That’s a feature I hope gets better in other watches, and quickly.
For all intents and purposes, these two watches are the same device
They have tiny tradeoffs, but in every way that matters, the G Watch and Gear Live are the same. Neither is anything like a handsome watch, neither will ever be mistaken for anything more expensive or classic. These watches are designed to get out of the way and let Android Wear work, to be as innocuous as possible and just do their job.
That’s the fundamental miscalculation about these devices. They’re not meant to be inconspicuous. It’s the software that’s meant to disappear, to only materialize when it’s useful and necessary. The strangest part about testing these watches was the sheer volume of time that went by without my doing anything. I loved getting flight status updates on my way to the airport, and saying "OK Google Now" and then texting a friend was really handy. When it works it’s exactly what I always wanted the Pebble Steel to be: aware, awake, and always guessing what I’m looking for. Most of the time, however, these smartwatches are just watches. |
AP Photo Democratic senators: No harm in Trump-Clinton recounts They appear more open to the Green Party-led effort than Hillary Clinton's camp.
As Republicans lob new attacks at Democrats for participating in a presidential recount bid, Democratic senators who face tough reelection fights in states won by Donald Trump say there’s no political downside to relitigating the outcome in three states.
The Democratic senators appear more accommodating to the recount effort — in public, at least — than allies of Hillary Clinton, who are irked at the million-dollar fundraising push by failed Green Party nominee Jill Stein. Most of the Democrats denied the recount would distract from their plans to craft an affirmative agenda while battling Trump, even as the GOP signals that it plans to try to hang Stein’s dead-end bid around their necks. The lawmakers are neither cheering nor trashing the effort.
Story Continued Below
Sen. Joe Manchin, recently added to the Democratic leadership team as a voice of potential collaboration with Trump, noted in an interview that “I understand this process” as a former West Virginia secretary of state — the official typically charged with overseeing elections.
“I’d like to think that all the secretaries of state I know … are really running a good election process,” Manchin added. “They want to do it, and do it right. But a person has a right to ask for [a recount]. And that’s what’s going to happen.”
Manchin faces reelection in 2018 in a state Trump carried by 42 points, making him a top target for the GOP. National Republican Senatorial Committee spokeswoman Alleigh Marre slammed him for an “early showing of blind loyalty” to his party.
“When presented with his first post-election test of independence, Senator Manchin has chosen to stand by idly while fellow Democrats undermine the electoral process and challenge results devoid of evidence,” Marre said.
Stein’s campaign went to court on Tuesday to try to force Wisconsin officials to complete their statewide recount by hand, a move that could inject further costly delays into a process estimated to cost $3.5 million. Recount efforts in Pennsylvania and Michigan are more uncertain, with a court hearing scheduled for next week in the former state and a Stein petition still yet to be filed in the latter state.
Pennsylvania Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.), another of the 10 Democratic senators up for reelection in Trump-won states, said in a brief interview that “people are certainly free to pursue” a recount, “but obviously you have to transition.”
Michigan Sen. Debbie Stabenow, a member of Democratic leadership whose state was formally declared for Trump only on Monday — by a margin only 10,704 votes out of more than 4.7 million cast — also defended the recount.
"While I have not heard of any irregularity that would affect the outcome of the presidential election in Michigan, it is the right of every candidate to seek a recount,” Stabenow said in a statement.
Some Republicans, meanwhile, are aligning with Trump aides in criticizing Clinton and Stein for squandering time and resources in the three recount states. "They're putting a stain on our state and our electoral system," Rep. Sean Duffy (R-Wis.) told CNN on Tuesday.
Wisconsin Sen. Tammy Baldwin, another new member of Democratic leadership gearing up for reelection in a Trump state, "sees no evidence that voting machines were hacked in Wisconsin and she doesn’t believe a recount will change the outcome," spokesman John Kraus said by email. Still, Kraus said, the senator "appreciates the work of local election officials to eliminate any doubt people may have about the integrity of the vote."
Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.), also facing reelection in a state Trump turned red, described the recount as a reasonable way of dispelling "any doubt" about the election's outcome.
Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), who faces voters in 2018 as part of a potentially punishing electoral map for the party, called for more scrutiny of Russia's activities during the campaign but said, "I don't have much opinion on the recount."
"We're not doing it, we're not funding it, we're not paying for it," Brown added. |
Men who experience sexual harassment are far more likely than women to induce vomiting and take laxatives and diuretics - purging - in an attempt to control their weight, according to a new psychology paper.
The survey was one of the first to examine the effects of sexual harassment on body image and eating behaviors in both women and men, and to learn that men are significantly more likely to engage in purging "compensatory" behaviors at high levels of sexual harassment.
It's no surprise that women self-report more sexual harassment and greater overall weight and shape concerns and disordered eating behavior (such as binge eating) but the finding among men was a surprise. They surveyed 2,446 college students, including 731 men, about sexual harassment, body image and eating behaviors.
"Traditionally, there has been a misperception that men are not sexually harassed," said lead author NiCole Buchanan, associate professor of psychology at Michigan State University. "And while women do experience much higher rates of sexual harassment, when men experience these kinds of behaviors and find them distressing, then you see the same types of responses you see in women – and in the case of compensatory behaviors, even more so."
Sexual harassment comes in many different forms and can lead to symptoms of anxiety and depression, concerns about body image and dysfunctional eating. Buchanan said there may be certain features of sexual harassment that are particularly powerful in triggering purging behaviors in males and that further research is needed to examine this possibility.
Eating disorders are increasing among men in the United States, particularly younger men, yet the vast majority of prevention programs are designed for girls and women, the study noted.
"Although boys and men have lower rates of weight/shape concerns and eating disturbances, these issues are still significant and warrant intervention," Buchanan said.
Published in Body Image |
Today’s Nintendo Digital Event sent ripples through the company’s fan base when Eiji Aonuma took a moment to introduce the direction being taken for Zelda Wii U.
We drooled at the sumptuous art direction, celebrated that it was breaking conventions to become more open-world, but precisely who was the young hero that we saw in the trailer. Was it Link?
Apparently, it may not be. Queried by VentureBeat, Aonuma responded: “No one explicitly said that that was Link” followed by a smile and laugh. Connections to Link’s opening blue garb in The Wind Waker were also met with a smile, but the Zelda series producer wouldn’t be pushed for more information.
That leaves us to speculate once again until Nintendo tell us more. What do you think?
Related |
A small black drone hovered over Louis Armstrong Stadium during a US Open tennis match in New York Thursday night, before crashing into the stands and forcing play to be briefly interrupted. As the Associated Press reports, the drone crashed toward the end of a second round match between 26th-ranked Flavia Pennetta and Monica Niculescu. Daniel Verley, a 26-year-old teacher from Brooklyn, has been arrested for allegedly flying the drone. He faces charges of reckless endangerment and flying a drone outside of a legal area.
Play was interrupted between points as police examined the black drone, which broke into pieces after landing in an empty part of the stadium at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing, New York. A spokesman for the US Tennis Association tells the AP that no one was injured in the incident, adding that no one has authorization to operate drones over the tennis center.
"I was a little bit scared, I have to say," Pennetta said afterward. "I mean, with all the things that happen now in the world, I'm imagining, 'Okay, it's a bomb.' That was my first reaction. I think it's normal to think something like that." The drone can be heard buzzing overhead with Pennetta serving at 5-3 in the second set, before crashing with a loud clang.
Drones have increasingly become a security concern at outdoor sports venues and other live events. In 2014, a drone carrying an Albanian nationalist flag interrupted a European Championship qualifying match between Albania and Serbia, sparking an on-field scuffle that forced the match to be abandoned.
Thursday's incident left both players startled, but Pennetta eventually regained her composure to serve out a 6-1, 6-4 win.
Update September 4th, 7:43AM ET: This article has been revised to include news of the suspect's arrest. |
A Texas professor is making waves on social media after protesting the state's campus carry law by wearing protective combat gear to class.
San Antonio College geography instructor Charles K. Smith went to his class last week sporting a camouflaged bulletproof vest and helmet. He said he wore it because he doesn’t feel safe.
“It definitely makes me feel uneasy that there are more firearms on campus than there should be,” Smith told mySA.com. “[Dressing this way] was just a statement on how I felt.”
Campus Carry, which was signed into state law in 2015 and officially implemented into Texas community colleges on Aug. 1, allows individuals with a conceal license to carry a handgun on college premises. The law went into effect at 4-year institutions in 2016.
A photo of Smith wearing the combat gear was shared on Facebook, which generated a flurry of comments in favor of and against the professor.
“I realize students were carrying guns on campus illegally, but now it’s legal to do so. It increases the chances of something happening,” said Smith, who also acknowledged that no one had pulled a gun on him in his 10 years at the college.
“Used to, when they got mad at me, they had to go home to get the gun and had time to cool off. Now they will have it with them,” he added.
Smith said he’s concerned about an argument breaking out and one of the participants having a gun.
“My assumption is that you will have more people carrying guns – that will lead to problems. It always has,” he said. “There is nothing on this planet worth a human life.”
James “Hot Mustard” Velten, who posted the photo on Facebook, told Fox News on Tuesday that response on campus has been mostly positive.
"Many professors admire his statement about campus carry," he said. "Many professors don't feel safe because of the law."
Velten also told mySA.com that Smith was a passionate professor.
“Around people like that, you tend to listen a bit more,” he said.
Smith said his protest has nothing to do with San Antonio College, as they are following the law. He said he ran his plans by local police and the administration beforehand.
“Some of them were okay and some of them weren’t, but it's freedom of speech,” he said. |
Once upon a time, fairy tales were dark fables designed to scare children into good behavior. This is the story of one American author who thought kids deserved better.In December 1900, L. Frank Baum was a struggling, 44-year-old writer living in Chicago with his wife and four children. Christmas was only days away, and Baum was desperately searching for a way to buy presents for his family.On a whim, Baum went downtown to ask his publisher for a royalties’ advance for the five books he’d written that year. He walked out with a check for one of the books, and promptly stuck it in his pocket. He didn’t bother to take a look at it.When Baum arrived home, his wife, Maud, was ironing a shirt. He reluctantly handed her the check, and at the same moment, they both discovered that it was for $1,423.98—roughly $40,000 today. Paralyzed with disbelief, Maud burned a hole through the shirt.That book, of course, was The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.Lyman Frank Baum was born in 1856 in Chittenango, New York. As a child, his weak heart limited his capacity for rough-and-tumble play. So, despite being the seventh of nine kids, he spent most of his childhood alone, indoors, and dreaming.As a young man, Baum leapt like a flea from career to career. By his early 30s, he’d been a journalist, a printer, a postage-stamp dealer, and a champion poultry breeder, which led him into publishing, with his trade journal The Poultry Record. He also ran his own theater company, where he wrote, directed, and acted in his own plays.Then, in 1881, Baum met his leading lady—Maud Gage, a sophomore at Cornell. But Maud’s mother, Matilda, disapproved of the union. Matilda Gage was a feminist who marched alongside Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony in the women’s suffrage movement. She saw Baum as a flake who’d never amount to anything, and she told her daughter she’d be a “darned fool” to marry the itinerant actor. Yet, Baum’s charm, sincerity, and uncanny ability to tell fantastic stories were no match for Matilda, and he soon won her over. He also became a feminist.Frank married Maud in 1882, but troubles were around the corner. Baum’s theater company went belly-up, and without local prospects, he looked west for opportunity. In 1888, he moved his family to the Dakota Territory, where he opened a store in the town of Aberdeen. (Years later, when Baum wrote descriptions of the Kansas prairie in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, he was actually describing South Dakota.) His shop, Baum’s Bazaar, sold Chinese paper lanterns, Bohemian glass, gourmet chocolates, and other exotic items. But Baum overestimated the frontier’s demands for novelty shopping. In a few short years, he’d gone bust yet again.At this point, L. Frank Baum was 35 with no career. He headed east for Chicago, where he received guidance from an unexpected source: his mother-in-law. Matilda Gage convinced Baum to pursue his one true talent, telling stories. In Aberdeen, children had stalked Baum, demanding story hour from the raconteur. Kids loved his tales because they weren’t thinly disguised morality lessons. Instead, Baum’s stories were fantasies filled with candy, toys, magic, and adventure. Heeding Matilda’s advice, Baum decided to give writing a try.In 1899, Baum teamed up with illustrator W.W. Denslow and published Father Goose, His Book, a collection of pictures and verse. The collaboration worked so well that it inspired Baum and Denslow to try their hands at a full-length novel.As a child, Baum had loved the European fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm, but he loathed the dark, grisly endings. He envisioned a new American fairy tale in which ingenuity and spunk paid off. In Baum’s words, he wanted to create a world where “wonderment and joy are retained, and the heartache and nightmares left out.”It was a great idea, but what would he call this utopia? Family legend holds that Baum scanned his office for ideas. While staring at his filing cabinet, he drew inspiration from a label on the bottom drawer marked “O-Z.”Baum’s book was turned down by every major publishing house. Finally, a distribution company agreed to take on the novel about Oz, but only if Baum and Denslow agreed to shoulder the printing expenses. The bet paid off. Today, the masterful integration of color illustrations and text is heralded as a pioneering achievement in literature, a precursor to the graphic novel. Denslow’s drawings were unique in that they not only reflected the plot, but also furthered it. His vibrant pictures spilled over from one page to the next.More importantly, children loved Baum’s story. By the end of 1900, Maude had burned a hole through her husband’s shirt, and The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was the best-selling book in America.Over the next 20 years, Baum would pen more than 70 books under several pseudonyms. Unfettered by gender restrictions, he often wrote under female names, including Suzanne Metcalf, Laura Bancroft, and Edith Van Dyne. Baum also tried his hand at science-fiction, demonstrating a knack for predicting the future on par with H.G. Wells. A running theme in Baum’s work was the triumph of technology over distance and time, and many of his fictional inventions—televisions, satellites, cell phones, laptops—eventually became realities of everyday life.In 1902, Oz was transformed into a Broadway musical, shortened simply to The Wizard of Oz.At first, Baum was taken aback by some of the changes. For instance, Dorothy’s faithful companion on the stage wasn’t Toto, but a cow named Imogene.But when the play became a Broadway hit, Baum softened. He tried to return to the theater to produce his own plays, but all his efforts, including The Whatnexters and The King of Gee Whiz, were flops. He also tried his hand at a vaudeville show, “Fairylogues and Radio Plays,” but that foundered, too.The truth was that Baum wanted to stop writing about Dorothy and do something new. He intended for the sixth Oz book, The Emerald City of Oz, to be the last in the series. In the story, Baum seals off his fairyland, proclaiming it unreachable from the outside world. But when a film project he was pursuing collapsed, Baum quickly found himself strapped for funds again. He wrote another Oz book, and from then on, Dorothy and the gang kept resurfacing every time Baum needed to pad his wallet.In 1919, Baum died of the same heart condition that had kept him indoors as a child. But even death couldn’t stop the Oz stories from flowing. Baum wrote the 14th book in the series, Glinda of Oz, on his deathbed, and it was published posthumously. After that, various authors churned out 26 official sequels, which have been translated into 22 languages, from Tamil to Serbo-Croatian.In 1939, the Oz legacy hit a turning point when MGM released The Wizard of Oz movie. Based on Baum’s original storyline, the plot and characters remained relatively faithful to the book, although there were plenty of changes, too. Most of the quotables (“And your little dog, too!”) were Hollywood additions, as were the musical numbers and dancing little people. There were some changes to the story, as well. Dorothy’s slippers, which were silver in the book, were changed to ruby in the movie to show off the new technology of color film.The key difference between the two versions is that in the movie, Dorothy’s adventure was “all a dream,” while in Baum’s book, Oz was very much real. In fact, later in the book series, Uncle Henry and Auntie Em move to the Emerald City to dine off jeweled plates and converse with talking animals. As it turned out, nobody really wanted to go home to Kansas.
(Image from the NeatoShop)
The movie established Dorothy, the Tin Man, the Scarecrow, and the Cowardly Lion as cultural icons. Flying monkeys and yellow brick roads became part of the national psyche, and today, Oz’s popularity shows no sign of waning. The movies, the spin-offs, the Broadway musicals, the plays, and—more recently—the pop-up book just keep cropping up. Much like Dorothy and the gang, Baum took the long way to finding his true calling, but there’s no denying that he left behind an enduring legacy. By writing the quintessential American fairy tale, Baum proved that even late bloomers living in their own fantasy world are entitled to happy endings.
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The article by Kelly K. Ferguson is reprinted from the May- June 2010 issue of mental_floss magazine.Be sure to visit mental_floss ' website and blog for more fun stuff! |
jQuery 1.7 Beta 1 Released
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If you hadn’t heard, jQuery Conference 2011 is taking place in Boston later this week. We’ve put together a little something we like to call jQuery 1.7 Beta 1 that we’ll be talking a lot more about at the conference. It’s got a lovely bunch of new features and significant bug fixes–more than 50 of them at last count.
You can get the beta from the jQuery CDN:
Please help us by dropping this code into your existing application and letting us know if anything no longer works. Please file a bug ticket and be sure to mention that you’re testing against jQuery 1.7 BETA 1.
Also be sure to explore all the new features and see if your favorite pet-peeve bug has been fixed. If you wait until the final release to do your testing it will be too late!
As always, we want to encourage everyone from the community to try and get involved in contributing back to jQuery core. We’ve set up a full page of information dedicated towards becoming more involved with the team. The team is here and ready to help you help us!
Oh, you probably want to know what changed, right? Addy Osmani has made a great start with his recent post, so let’s cover the stuff that isn’t on his list.
New Event APIs: .on() and .off()
Over time, jQuery has evolved three ways to attach events to elements: .bind() , .live() , and .delegate() . Underneath it all, though, the three event APIs call the browser’s event system; that can lead to surprising interactions. For example, $(document).unbind("click") will remove all .live("click", ...) events, since those delegated events are attached to document . (This is also why you should use event namespaces.)
Our current event APIs aren’t going away soon, but to address the inconsistencies we’ve introduced a new and simple pair of event methods that can do the work of all three:
$(elems).on(events, selector, data, fn); $(elems).off(events, selector, fn);
If a selector is provided, it’s a delegated event; otherwise it’s directly bound. All the features of the old APIs are there; for example events can be a space-separated string of event names and/or namespaces, or it can be an object where the keys are events and the values are event handler functions. Here are some examples of how the old methods map into the new ones:
Old API New API $(elems).bind(events, fn) $(elems).on(events, fn) $(elems).bind(events, { mydata: 42 }, fn) $(elems).on(events, { mydata: 42 }, fn) $(elems).unbind(events, fn) $(elems).off(events, fn) $(elems).delegate(selector, events, fn) $(elems).on(events, selector, fn) $(elems).undelegate(selector, events, fn) $(elems).off(events, selector, fn) $(selector).live(events, fn) $(document).on(events, selector, fn) $(selector).die(events, fn) $(document).off(events, selector, fn)
Form Change and Submit Events in IE 6/7/8
These old Internet Explorer versions are likely to be haunting us for some time, so we’ve spent a while trying to improve their behavior. Event delivery performance has been greatly improved for them, but the biggest change is that we are using a different approach to fix their non-bubbling and broken form events. As a result we were able to greatly simplify and shorten the special events code. These events should work without any problems–even better than before, since we closed about a half-dozen related bugs–but please keep your eyes open for any unusual behavior.
Animation Improvements
Before version 1.7, if you stopped an animation before it completed it could create a situation where the element being animated would never return to its full size; it would essentially be stuck at the height that it was when the animation was stopped. We’ve fixed that by remembering the original dimensions before the animation starts so that they can be used later. This eliminates a major annoyance in using certain animations, particularly toggling ones.
.removeData() Enhancements
Addy mentioned this one as well, but the .removeData() API now lets you pass either a space-separated string of names or an array of names to be removed. Since spaces were previously allowed in data names, the code first checks for the exact name as you specified it before splitting the string on spaces. That way, no existing code should break as a result of this enhancement.
jQuery 1.7 BETA 1 Change Log
Here is a complete list of changes made for the 1.7 BETA 1 release.
Ajax
#9399: Deprecate jqXHR.success and jqXHR.error
Attributes
#5479: removeAttr: remove multiple attributes
#10278: checkboxEl.attr(‘checked’) returns stale value after checkboxEl.click()
Core
#6485: Solution for HTML5 in IE
#7102: Register jQuery as a CommonjS async module
#9453: $.inArray does not support fromIndex
Css
#10267: IE8 and window is(‘:visible’) crashes
Data
#7323: Allow removing multiple data keys at once with $.fn.removeData
#8909: $(element).data() will scan all attributes more than needed.
#8921: jQuery private data should stay private
Deferred
#8856: Request: deferred.isUnresolved()
#9033: try{ } finally{ } error in IE8
#9398: Proposal for Improved Deferreds
Effects
#5684: Effects: exception in animation callback causes endless loop
#6150: .stop sometimes doesn’t clear .delay
#6641: Calling stop() within animation finished callback causes other animations to freeze
#8685: Animations should keep track of animation state in order to properly address stacked animations
#9280: Allow multiple effect queues for animate()
#9548: animate does not work with fill-opacity css property for svg elements
Event
#3368: event.metaKey should be assigned to event.ctrlKey on Non-Mac only
#6170: jQuery(window).scroll(); causes IE* to scroll to 0,0
#6319: Regression: stopPropagation inside change handlers in IE is incorrectly applied to keydown event
#6386: support data argument for live events via “event.special.live.add”
#6593: IE8: DOM 0 event handler called twice when a separate handler is attached via jQuery
#6667: submit event doesn’t delegate in IE* under certain conditions
#6705: focus() causes focus event to be handled twice in IE8
#6903: special events need a way to determine whether they are being bound with .bind vs .live/.delegate
#6942: JQuery.event.fix causes unnecessary reflows in IE when handling key events
#7139: “hover” event alias should work for .bind as well as .live
#7161: Submit event on a form element not unbound properly in IE
#7444: Submitting form with “Enter” instead of button click on ie8 or ie7 triggers live submit event twice.
#8157: Focusing an already focused text field will prevent the change event from firing in IE
#8728: Event ‘mouseenter’ not firing when the element being left is removed on leaving
#8789: Meta: Event Property Hooks
#8858: Special events – _default method doesn’t have access to the `data` argument of the trigger method
#8866: IE8 input[type=file] delegated change event files only on blur
#8982: bind(“unload someOther”) => on unload, handler is not executed only once.
#9069: when hover over a child of an element, mouseleave fires when using live or delegate
#9279: delegate() bind does not handle mouseover/mouseout and mouseenter/mouseout correctly for selected elements
#9393: Unify and DRY out event system
#9593: Delegated submit event is not instanceof jQuery.Event in IE
#9724: Infinite loop in trigger function when window.parentNode is a DOM element
#9901: event.handleObj.namespace incorrect when using .delegate
#9933: jQuery.fn.toggle() should store state in private data object
#9951: Wrong order in .trigger() when DOM is modified in a handler
Manipulation
#6782: carefully allow more strings to use innerHTML
#7037: Duplicate mouseover and mouseout events added to cloned element.
Selector
#5637: Boolean (and Empty) Attribute Selectors Fail
#7128: attribute selector is inconsistent between qSA and Sizzle due to use of DOM properties
#9261: Has Attribute not working in filter/children/siblings
#9570: Selector $(‘form[name=”..”]’) returns zero elements in IE8 under some conditions
#10178: $(window).is(“a”) >> Uncaught TypeError: Cannot call method ‘toLowerCase’ of undefined
#10315: Sizzle ignores seed argument when using positional selectors
Support |
Live life to the fullest quotes on Everyday Power will encourage you to go for everything you want from life. Many times we say what we want, but we don’t put in the effort and time to actually get it. Many times we say we want to live without regret but we hold onto the fears and worries that keep us caged.
Living life to the fullest doesn’t mean living reckless. It doesn’t mean ‘go crazy’. It means that you never really know what you’re capable of until you go for it! And going for it means taking intelligent risk, setting unreasonably high goals and daring to learn from everything!
We hope these live life to the fullest quotes shed new perspective on the actions you are currently taking towards having the best life you can possible have. The human sprit is stronger than you may think! Let yours live fully!
Enjoy!
Live Life To The Fullest Quotes
1.) It’s the game of life. Do I win or do I lose? One day they’re gonna shut the game down. I gotta have as much fun and go around the board as many times as I can before it’s my turn to leave. -Tupac Shakur
2.) The good times of today, are the sad thoughts of tomorrow. –Bob Marley
3.) In times of great stress or adversity, it’s always best to keep busy, to plow your anger and your energy into something positive. –Lee Iacocca
4.) Hard times don’t create heroes. It is during the hard times when the ‘hero’ within us is revealed. -Bob Riley
5.) “I don’t want to get to the end of my life and find that I have just lived the length of it. I want to have lived the width of it as well.” ― Diane Ackerman
6.) “Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all.”
― Helen Keller
7.) “Do something instead of killing time. Because time is killing you.”
― Paulo Coelho
8.) “My expectations were reduced to zero when I was 21. Everything since then has been a bonus.”― Stephen Hawking
9.) “You look ridiculous if you dance
You look ridiculous if you don’t dance
So you might as well
dance.”
― Gertrude Stein
10.) “I finally figured out the only reason to be alive is to enjoy it.”
― Rita Mae Brown
11.) “When you kill time, remember that it has no resurrection.”
― A.W. Tozer
12.) “Perfection of character is this: to live each day as if it were your last, without frenzy, without apathy, without pretence.”
― Marcus Aurelius
13.) “At the end of the day, let there be no excuses, no explanations, no regrets.” ― Steve Maraboli
14.) “Death twitches my ear;
‘Live,’ he says…
‘I’m coming.” ― Virgil
15.) “We don’t have tomorrow, yet. All we have is this moment. And…what are you going to do with it?” – Jeff Moore
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Starting Clojure
Date: This event took place live on May 01 2012
Presented by: Chas Emerick
Duration: Approximately 60 minutes.
Cost: Free
Questions? Please send email to
Description:
This webcast will be part tutorial, part demonstration of getting started with programming in Clojure. Specifically, a development environment will be set up from scratch based on Eclipse and Leiningen (the most common Clojure project management tool), and a new Ring web application will be constructed with flexible routes and templating.
Much of the presentation — especially the demonstration of key Clojure concepts such as functional composition, immutable data structures, and interactive REPL-oriented programming — will apply equally to other development environments (such as IntelliJ IDEA, emacs, vim, or others) as well as to domains other than web development.
About Chas Emerick
Chas Emerick is the founder of Snowtide Informatics, a small software company in Western Massachusetts where he is the technical lead for PDFTextStream, a PDF content extraction library for Java and .NET. He has been a consistent presence in the Clojure community since early 2008, has had contributions included in the core language, been involved in dozens of Clojure open source projects, and speaks regularly on Clojure, document automation technologies, and the business of software. Chas writes about Clojure, software development practices, entrepreneurship, and other passions at cemerick.com. |
Original KISS guitarist Ace Frehley was interviewed on this past Friday night's (November 1) edition of Eddie Trunk's "Eddie Trunk Rocks" radio show on New York's Q104.3 FM. A few excerpts from the chat follow below (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET).
On possibly being inducted — along with his fellow original KISS members — into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame next spring:
Frehley: "I'm happy that I'm gonna be inducted — most likely — next year, in April, in New York City, and it should be a great event. There's no way [KISS bassist/vocalist] Gene [Simmons] can put a lid on it. I mean, what's he gonna do?"
On Gene Simmons' recent comments in an interview in which he compared being in a band with Frehley and original KISS drummer Peter Criss to having "cancer in your system" which must be cut out "as fast as you can":
Frehley: "I don't know what's up with Gene. He used to say to me in the '70s, every time I did something stupid, he'd go, 'Ace, you're shooting yourself in the foot again.' Well, he's been shooting himself in the foot for years.
"Gene's living in the past. He's become a caricature of himself. I mean, from the very beginning, his only motivation was money. The guy has no friends; he's not respected by his peers; he's pissed off thousands of fans; he's never had a hit single, like I've had. I had the most successful Gibson signature-series guitar in history. He didn't. It goes on and on. He took the safe route: he never got loaded, he never partied. I took the same route Elvis Presley took and [Jimi] Hendrix and Keith Richards and Jim Morrison… it's endless. I have all this life experience and thank God I can live to talk about it. What's he gonna talk about? All he can do is badmouth other people."
On his refusal to appear in what's being billed as the definitive KISS documentary, "You Wanted The Best You Got The Best", an officially sanctioned film which is being directed by Alan G. Parker:
Frehley: "I don't know. I found it very weird that, instead of getting a call from Gene or [KISS manager] Doc McGhee or [KISS guitarist/vocalist] Paul [Stanley], because they're behind this documentary, instead of getting a call from them, I get a call from my bodyguard, and he got a call from KISS' bodyguard about me doing an interview for this documentary. They tried to go through the back door — probably because they don't wanna pay me any money, as usual, and it left a bad taste in my mouth, and I just passed on it. You want me to do a documentary? Let me know how much money you're making, give me my fair share, and I'll sit down and talk. You don't wanna do it that way? Forget about it… If KISS is behind the documentary, Paul and Gene are making the lion's share of the funds."
On reports that he is fighting a foreclosure action on on his home in Yorktown in Northern Westchester County, New York, 35 miles from New York City, the $735,000 mortgage on which the guitarist reportedly stopped paying on March 1, 2011:
Frehley: "I left the house over two and a half years ago. My attorney is taking care of it. It's not in foreclosure. Things got blown out of propotion. Somebody didn't take care of what they were supposed to do. And my attorney is taking care of it. But, basically, I'm out in California now, and I have people living on that property, taking care of it, and they've been showing it to people who are interested in possibly purchasing it. And the whole thing was kind of a misunderstanding."
On how he likes living in California:
Frehley: "I've lived in New York my whole life. A lot of people used to come out to California and say, 'Hey, what are you doing? You are a traitor.' But since I've been out here, I don’t see myself coming back. I like the climate. I couldn't do the winters anymore. Once you hit 60, it's, like, get me outta here." |
Noelle Chesley, an associate professor of sociology at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, told the Chicago Tribune that the implanting of microchips under the skin in a person’s hand, in order to conduct commercial transactions, is the wave of the future. “We are going to be combining technology in our bodies,” Chesley said.
Chesley was responding to the microchip implant technology unveiled this month by the Wisconsin technology company Three Square Market, also known as 32M. The company threw a “chip party” at its River Falls headquarters, in which 41 of its 85 employees volunteered to have a microchip implanted in their hands. The chips will allow them to open doors and even buy snacks in the company’s breakroom, simply by waving their hands in front of a computer scan, using the implanted chip located between the thumb and the forefinger.
This is the first appearance in the United States of such technology, which has already been launched in Europe — where it is often used to purchase train tickets. Patrick McMullan, chief operating officer for Three Square Market, said he and another executive learned of the technology used in Sweden, by Biohax, when the duo took a business trip to Europe.
McMullan explained what he saw as the benefits to the new technology: “We see this as another payment and identification option that not only can be used in our markets but our other self-checkout/self-service applications that we are now deploying which include convenience stores and fitness centers.”
The company envisions the market expanding for their “new” technology. Actually, the technology has been around for over a decade. In 2004, VeriChip was approved by the Food and Drug Administration for chips that could be implanted in arms in order to store medical records. Some doctors argued for the technology’s use because it would make it easier to track a patient’s medical history, especially if they are unconscious or otherwise unresponsive. The product was unable to generate enough sales, however, and was discontinued.
But it did cause Marlin Schneider, a Wisconsin state representative at the time, to lead the charge for a law that banned mandatory implants. He feared that some employers would make allowing the chip’s implantation a condition of employment, or that prisons would impose it on inmates. Schneider thought such usages would be just a start, arguing, “Eventually, people will find reasons why everyone should have these chips implanted.”
California, Missouri, North Dakota and Oklahoma also banned mandatory chip implantation.
Although 32M cannot legally force its employees to be “tagged,” yet, the company’s chief executive officer Todd Westby extolled the virtues of the chips, noting that employees can use their chips to make paper copies, to log onto their computers, and to store health information. He also believes that the use of implanted microchips will expand greatly.
“Eventually,” Westby predicted, “this technology will become standardized, allowing you to use this as your passport, public transit, all purchasing opportunities.”
Writing in Forbes, Eric Mack expressed some concerns. “Clearly, it’s imperative for any individual who values their privacy and basic agency to own everything that goes into their body. I can imagine a future in which there’s plenty of pressure from employers to have chips like the ones 32M is offering implanted, even if it’s technically voluntary.”
A coal miner in West Virginia was ordered two years ago by his employer to use a hand scanner to clock in, but the miner won a lawsuit, arguing that the scanner was “the mark of the beast” mentioned in the biblical Book of Revelation. Danielle Paquette of the Washington Post quoted a man, Cordarrel Lyrek, who traveled from Minneapolis to Wisconsin earlier this month to protest against the microchips of Three Market Square, as warning, “It says in the Bible that’s a sign of the beast. But it’s not only about that. It’s about invading people’s privacy.”
This concern is based on a passage in Revelation (chapter 13, verses 16-17), which reads, “He [the “False Prophet,” working for the Beast, or Antichrist] causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, and that no one may buy or sell except one has the mark.” (Emphasis added.)
Christian theologians have offered various and sundry explanations as to what John meant, but this much is clear: any person or oligarchical power able to control all commerce would be antithetical to a free society, creating a totalitarian nightmare. If some power can control your every transaction — they control you. And, if a person’s economic activity is regulated to the point of every transaction, the person or group so regulating can achieve totalitarian control greater than anything dreamed of by Hitler, Stalin, or Mao. It also makes it easy for the government to track every purchase a person makes. A government that tracks all phone calls and monitors all e-mails will certainly want to track all of your economic activity — all in the name of fighting terrorism, drug-dealing, or other crime, of course.
Arguments of convenience can certainly be made (and no doubt will be) for the microchip making the carrying of cash, checks, or credit cards unnecessary. But if the only way that buying and selling can take place is through a microchip in one’s hand (or forehead, presumably if a person does not have a hand), then all it takes for totalitarianism is for the government to have control of those transactions. The technology may very well be morally neutral, but its use by a tyrant intent on controlling the population makes it frightening.
For those concerned about Real ID, which is basically an effort for a national identification card, an identification system tied to a person’s body is the next logical step.
Photo of microchip implant: AP Images |
Baylor's Title IX coordinator has resigned, the university announced late Monday night. Patty Crawford stepped down from a position she had held since November 2014.
The university released the following statement, announcing the resignation:
“Baylor University tonight announces the resignation of Patty Crawford as the University’s Title IX Coordinator. Our understanding is that Patty was disappointed in her role in implementing the recommendations that resulted from the Pepper Hamilton investigation. The University is grateful for Patty’s leadership in establishing fair and equitable Title IX processes that are also supportive of the needs of survivors. We will always seek to continuously improve and are confident that the very capable Title IX staff will continue the important work of educating, supporting and responding to the needs of those impacted by interpersonal violence.”
Baylor has been mired in a sexual assault scandal for months, after a number of football players were accused of assaulting women over the past several years. Head Coach Art Briles was terminated in the fallout, as was President Ken Starr and Athletic Director Ian McCaw.
The university has said they will not be making any Baylor spokespeople available for interview at this time.
Copyright 2016 WFAA |
Twenty-twelve was a big year for ichthyosaurology. For me, it was my first full academic and calendar years as a PhD student at the University of Bristol studying ichthyosaurs. It also marks the 15th month of this blog’s existence and this will be the 35th post. That averages to more than one each month, which pleases me as there have been many occasions when I didn’t feel that I’ve lived up to my promises. Not that this means that I have.
So what about now? As this will be one of the first posts of 2013, why not cover some of my, and (mostly) others, work from the past year, as well as my plans for the next. Prepare to be dazzled!
Ichthyosaurs in 2012
The so-called ‘ichthyosaur renaissance’ is continuing in full swing with many people working on many exciting things. Last year saw new specimens unearthed and described, and at least five new species and three new genera named officially: Acamptonectes densus (Fischer et al. 2012), Stenopterygius aaleniensis (Maxwell, Fernández and Schoch 2012), Temnodontosaurus azerguensis (Martin et al. 2012), Cryopterygius kristiansenae and Palvennia hoybergeti (Druckenmiller et al. 2012). From all the research that came out last year, here’s a few pieces on some of the findings.
Stenopterygius galore
January was a bumper month, and great way to start the year. Erin Maxwell (2012a, b) published studies on the genus Stenopterygius from the Lower Jurassic Posidonienschiefer (Posidonia Shale) of southwestern Germany. Stenopterygius is certainly the most numerous and probably the most completely known ichthyosaur. Huge amounts of material have been found of this genus and now fill collections in the Museum für Naturkunde, Stuttgart, Urwelt-Museum Hauff in Holzmaden and many others besides. Examples can be seen in Heinrich Mallison’s recent post from his Palaeontology of SW Germany series. Having such an excellent record lends itself to detailed studies in the biology of Stenopterygius.
Species level metrics
Having so much material available frequently leads to an excess of enthusiasm in naming species, as has happened so often in ichthyosaurs. Maisch (2008) cleaned up the taxonomy of Stenopterygius into three species: S. quadriscissus, S. triscissus and S. uniter along with the erection of Hauffiopteryx typicus. The differences between these species are there, but are often subtle and depend frequently on the preservation – as in so many fossils. Using morphometrics – statistical variation in shape – Maxwell (2012a) showed that each species clearly occupies their own separate morphospace: each species is morphologically different (fig. 1). The area each species occupies on this graph also shows the variation within the species. S. quadriscissus is by far the most common and, as expected, shows the greatest variation, whereas S. triscissus and S. uniter don’t show as much. The effect of growth from juveniles to adults can also be seen: the four stars in the S. quadriscissus space mark two specimens of associated adults and juveniles. The large difference along the x-axis shows that size (mostly body length) dominates this variation, but that other changes (y-axis and other components) change noticeably too.
Aalenian treat
The Middle Jurassic (Aalenian–Callovian; 174–163 Ma) is largely devoid of ichthyosaur fossils worldwide. The Late Callovian Oxford Clay formation is full of Ophthalmosaurus and ichthyosaurs from the Bajocian–Bathonian (170–166 Ma) of South America are known (Fernández 1994, 1999). Stenopterygius aaleniensis (the ‘Aalenian Stenopterygius’) (Maxwell, Fernández and Schoch 2012) is the first conclusive remains from the Aalenian (174–168 Ma), not just of an ichthyosaur, but also of a marine reptile generally (i.e. plesiosaurs, pliosaurs and crocodiles too). This newly described specimen (fig. 2) is found in a similar area to those from the Posidonienschiefer, albeit in higher strata. The three-dimensional specimen has its head stuck out at a completely different angle to the rest of its body, giving a good all-around view; very important in ichthyosaur taxonomy, but made it difficult to incorporate in the two-dimensional morphometric study of the Posidonienschiefer Stenopterygius (Maxwell 2012a).
Cretaceous ichthyosaurs … “the Empire strikes back?”
That is the second part of the brilliantly titled article by Zammit (2012) looking at the diversity of ichthyosaurs in the Cretaceous. For a long time, there was only one genus – Platypterygius – to which almost all Cretaceous ichthyosaurs were assigned. Platypterygius currently contains seven or eight species because of this, although more have come and gone in the past. This is no longer the case: Platypterygius still dominates the diversity, and is in need of the same type of revision that Stenopterygius went through recently (Maisch 2008). However, now there are numerous other genera to accompany it.
This process began relatively recently, with the finding of Caypullisaurus bonapartei (Fernández 2001, 2007) and more recent reports have increased that with Maiaspondylus lindoei (Maxwell and Caldwell 2006b), Athabascasaurus bitumineus (Druckenmiller and Maxwell 2010), Aegirosaurus leptospondylus? (Fischer et al. 2011a), Sveltonectes insolitus (Fischer et al. 2011b) and Acamptonectes densus (Fischer et al. 2012). Along the way material and descriptions of Platypterygius have also been reviewed and revised (e.g. Fernández and Aguirre-Urreta 2005; Maxwell and Caldwell 2006a; Kolb and Sander 2009; Maxwell and Kear 2010; Adams and Fiorillo 2011; Fischer 2011; Pardo-Pérez et al. 2012).
Fischer et al. (2012) discussed the effect of this more recently realised diversity. Their elegantly simple graphs (fig. 3) show that there is low to no extinction in ichthyosaur species over the Jurassic–Cretaceous boundary (145 Ma). It’s also apparent that no new clades arose following the Kimmeridgian/Tithonian either. This implies one or two scenarios:
Late Jurassic and Cretaceous ichthyosaur lineages had extremely long lifespans.
The lineage and diversity data is incomplete, either due to incorrect assignment of species (lumping many together) or through incomplete sampling (no one’s bothered to look for any).
The latter of these is mentioned in the body text (Fischer et al. 2012, p. 22), with particular reference to the ‘wastebasket’ nature of Platypterygius and the poor rock record of the earliest Cretaceous. However, the conclusion remains: ichthyosaurs show stability in their diversity over the Jurassic–Cretaceous boundary and through the earliest Cretaceous. The age-old question of why they became extinct towards the end of the Cenomanian (94 Ma) stands.
A few new specimens
Along with Stenopterygius aaleniensis mentioned above, a few more ichthyosaurs took their turn in the spotlight. These add to our knowledge about the occurrences and biology these groups and the ecology they belonged to.
Lower Jurassic
Ichthyosaurus communis finds are common along the coast between Lyme Regis and Charmouth (Dorset, UK); at least common for ichthyosaur finds. The preservation of the material can be spectacular – close to that seen in the Posidonienschiefer – but all too often it falls short. A specimen described by Bennett et al. (2012) does look a bit of a mess (fig. 4), but it’s still an informative mess! This specimen contains enough detail to be assigned to I. communis, making this the youngest definite example of that taxon. It was found in Pliensbachian age (191–183 Ma) rocks, whereas I. communis was previously known only from the Rhaetian–Sinemurian ages (208–191 Ma). There are also a number of fish remains preserved in the gullet region giving a glimpse of this ichthyosaur’s lifestyle.
The new species Temnodontosaurus azerguensis was named based on material from the Toarcian (183–174 Ma) of France (Martin et al. 2012). Again, this is another impressive specimen, for its preservation and its size, at the best part of 8 m long (fig. 5). The Toarcian is the age in which the Posidonienschiefer was deposited, making this specimen about, but slightly younger than the – three of the four – Stenopterygius discussed above. As Temnodontosaurus go, T. azerguensis is weird – which seems to be the fad for new ichthyosaurs nowadays: weird is good. There were no teeth found with the specimen and the snout is long and thin and with reduced dental grooves. This compares with the “large size … and massive dentition” (Martin et al. 2012, p. 1002) usually associated with Temnodontosaurus. Being from later in the Toarcian also means this ichthyosaur is from after the Toarcian Oceanic Anoxic Event. This ‘stagnation’ of the ocean occurs as oxygen levels in the ocean fall; fish and invertebrates then die and there is a bloom in decay bacteria, which then causes a further reduction in oxygen levels. An event like this leaves its trace in black, organic-rich strata, like the Posidonienschiefer. Few ichthyosaur remains are known from this time; whether this new species marks a post-event radiation cannot be determined.
While it may not be a new species, coverage of a Leptonectes with associated embryos is still exciting (Lomax and Massare 2012) (fig. 6). This was much closer to (my) home, being found only in Street (Somerset, UK), however the specimen is housed in the Sedgwick Museum, Cambridge; a little further a travel. Embryos have been known in ichthyosaurs for a long time (see this famous Stenopterygius (fig. 7)), but this is the first occurrence in Leptonectes.
Upper Jurassic
The Upper Jurassic had a boost in attention towards the end of this year. I’ve covered the discovery of Cryopterygius kristiansenae and Palvennia hoybergeti in a post last year (Druckenmiller et al. 2012; ‘In the land of Svalbard…’). Also published was a description of some new material of Arthropterygius sp. from Argentina. Curiously, Arthropterygius was only previously known from Canada (Maxwell 2010) – several thousand miles away today, and not much less in the Jurassic. As shocking as this may seem, it isn’t unheard of: examples of Ophthalmosaurus are known the (western) world over; from England (Seeley 1874; Kirton 1983), Mexico (Buchy 2010) and Argentina (as Ancanamunia; Rusconi 1948; Kirton 1983; Fernández and Maxwell 2012). Modern Grey Whales also travel great distances – from their tropical birthing grounds towards the Arctic for feeding.
Palaeobiology
Besides naming new ichthyosaurs, a few papers discussed the palaeobiology of these animals both during life and after death. Rothschild, Xiaoting and Martin (2012) looked at decompression syndrome (‘the bends’) in ichthyosaurs from the Triassic in comparison to post-Triassic. Evidence for the bends can be seen in the state of the bones of ichthyosaurs: build-up of nitrogen in the bones blocking blood vessels and killing cells causes deformities (fig. 8). The findings show that Triassic ichthyosaurs – along with Stenopterygius – apparently lived a more sedate life than most of their Jurassic and Cretaceous relatives (see Rothschild, Xiaoting and Martin 2012, tbl. 1). The authors suggest several reasons for this increase in the bends in later ichthyosaurs:
Later ichthyosaurs, particularly the thunniform (tuna-shaped) group are more adapted to deep-diving so will be more affected by repeated decompression as they surface to breath (Motani, Rothschild and Wahl 1999).
Triassic ichthyosaurs dominated the top tiers of the food web whereas Jurassic and Cretaceous ichthyosaurs faced more predation from sharks, pliosaurs and marine crocodiles (Fröbisch et al. 2013).
2013). Fast-swimming teleost fish evolved in the Late Jurassic and Early Cretaceous, which may have caused more accidental decompression in hunting. This may be associated with a more endothermic (‘warm-blooded’) metabolism (Bernard et al. 2010).
Incidentally, it was this article, along with its comments and replies (Hayman 2012; Rothschild 2012) that led to John Tennant at Green Tea and Velociraptors to write a letter.
Nakajima, Houssaye and Endo (2012, accepted and published online) gave more insights on early ichthyosaur biology. This study on Utatsusaurus hataii – one of the earliest and most basal ichthyopterygians – looked at the bone structure in the ribs and humeri of two specimens. The results suggest rapid growth and possibly raised metabolic rates: early in their evolution – and so soon after the Permo-Triassic extinction event (within 6–8 Ma) – these ichthyosaurs were already developing the characters that made them successful for 160 Ma. That Utatsusaurus had paddles and a long, finned tail was already known. The high growth and metabolic rates, along with spongy inner bone structure, hints at a pelagic (open ocean) lifestyle and palaeoecology.
To conclude the past year in ichthyosaur research, a look at their taphonomy. This takes us back, as has happened so often this year, to the Posidonienschiefer and exploding carcasses (Reisdorf et al. 2012). In recent years, the phenomenon of exploding whale carcasses has gained several hits, particularly from Inside Natures’ Giants and on YouTube (vid. 1). These incidences have led to the postulation that some of the scattered ichthyosaur remains found could be due to this cause (e.g. Böttcher 1989; Martill 1993; fig. 9). Explosions of carcasses in modern whales tends only to happen when there’s something around to disturb the carcass – frequently a person with a harpoon (vid. 1, fig. 10).
The carcass itself will tend to sink and – in deep enough water – the pressure will prevent explosion. The alternative mechanism Reisdorf et al. (2012) suggest is the sediments and currents. Slight currents would have been free to move the bones around in the nebulous ‘soupy substrates’ that made up the seabed (Martill 1993). Velocities of only 0.2–0.4 m/s (<1 mph; a very slow walking pace) would’ve be enough to move around the flank and belly ribs and the paddle bones causing such preservation.
Conclusions
This concludes my brief (really?) look at the published ichthyosaur research from 2012, but has not been comprehensive for the amount of research, or the summaries themselves. Twenty-thirteen has already seen ichthyosaur articles published (e.g. Fröbisch et al. 2013; Maxwell and Dececchi 2013), preview manuscripts (e.g. Nakajima, Houssaye and Endo 2012) and more that are currently in preparation.
I know what I did last year
From other peoples’ work to what I’ve been doing. As I began with, 2012 was my first full (calendar) year in my PhD and a year later I feel I’ve made progress: I’m almost getting to the results stage! My original plans (here, here and here) have changed somewhat due to feasibility, time and material constraints, but the gist remains the same.
Taxonomy
The largest part of this year has been taken up with describing those ichthyosaurs from the Middle and Upper Jurassic. Fortunately, I was awarded several grants from the Palaeontographical Society, the Geological Society of London, the Systematics Association and the Bob Savage Memorial Fund. This money was spent between August and today on visits to various museums. My visit to Leicester received its own post, but I also went to the Hunterian Museum, Glasgow, Sedgwick Museum, Cambridge, University Museum of Natural History, Oxford and the Natural History Museum, London. I still have to visit Peterborough Museum in the coming weeks.
All this travelling was, for the most part, in search of as much of the material of Ophthalmosaurus from the Leeds Collections that I could find. I’ve only mentioned these collections briefly and they deserve to have more detail on them: one of my tasks for this year. All this travelling led me to over 300 specimens referred to Ophthalmosaurus, covering every (known) bone in its body (fig. 11).
In some select places, particularly the Natural History and Sedgwick museums, there were those more elusive treats Brachypterygius and Nannopterygius. In Cambridge, I came across the giant skull originally named Grendelius (fig.) and London has the difficult to see skeleton of Nannopterygius (fig.) This last is still causing me access problems due to its position (~6 m up on a wall), but this should hopefully be resolved later this year.
The descriptions of these three ichthyosaurs are largely complete in draft form. The basis was taken from Kirton (1983), as I’ve mentioned before, and I’ve checked and added much to it. Much that now needs to be done revolves around editing this into a manuscript, and writing the introductory and discussion sections.
Phylogeny
When I haven’t been doing stuff with ichthyosaurs descriptions, I’ve been working on their relationships. This is continuing as originally planned, and I now have a set of characters and the first stages of a matrix, which is progressing well. The collection, comparing and construction of this has been time consuming because it requires detailed qualitative understanding of the ichthyosaurs themselves (all 101 species, and counting) and the characters themselves. Because the characters I’ve collected are derived from several sources, their purposes and nature can be very different. These wrinkles have to be resolved before any analysis can take place; this is where I am now.
Other odd jobs
Much of the studies that I wrote about in ‘My PhD: Part 3’ require a complete, robust phylogeny; hence have not been properly started yet. It is also here that some of the greatest changes have happened. I had hoped to use some three-dimensionally preserved ichthyosaur skulls (e.g. those from Caine and Benton 2011), CT scanned, as the basis for a finite element analysis of their jaw mechanics. Unfortunately, due to the complexity of the skulls (50+ elements), the problems of modelling sutures (where these elements meet) and it taking a long time to build these models, it doesn’t seem feasible to do this (yet).
Instead, following the suggestion of one of my supervisors, Emily Rayfield, I’ve been looking at the related modelling of fluids (computational fluid dynamics). The idea with this will be to use two-dimensional body silhouettes to look at the efficiency of ichthyosaurs’ motion through the water. This is very much in the designing/planning/guessing stage. I’ve run some preliminary simulations (fig. 14) just to look at how, and if, the model works. Next will be to compare with flume experiments (e.g. Ferry and Lauder 1996) to make the results are realistic. Eventually this can be combined with the phylogeny to see if there are any trends through ichthyosaur evolution.
Everything else
Outside of my research, 2012 offered the chance to go to several meetings:
Big Palaeontology was this year’s Lyell Meeting at the Geological Society (29 March), featuring talks on topics ranging from specimen databases and virtual palaeontology through to fossil code and palaeontology of the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site.
was this year’s Lyell Meeting at the Geological Society (29 March), featuring talks on topics ranging from specimen databases and virtual palaeontology through to fossil code and palaeontology of the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site. The Symposium of Vertebrate Palaeontology and Comparative Anatomy was held in Oxford (10–15 September), but unfortunately I could only spend a day there.
Besides meetings, I also gave a few talks (sorry, these were on my research):
29 November: Large-scale evolutionary trends in ichthyosaurs, departmental presentation; extended for the West of England Geologists’ Association on 15 January 2013.
Full ahead Cap’n
So what does the year ahead hold for me? Currently I’ve spent the best part of the last month not writing this blog post, and the last two days writing all 3000+ words of it, which has been good for affirming my ability to write (the amount of editing and making images notwithstanding). As last year had much work on the descriptions of Ophthalmosaurus, Brachypterygius and Nannopterygius, this month I’ve largely put that aside, until after visiting Peterborough. On the other hand, I am in the process of writing a proposal for a Society of Vertebrate Paleontology Memoir I’ve looked at many places to publish, with the criteria of quality, circulation and accessibility (not in that order). PLOS ONE looked promising (thanks to Darren Naish for the suggestion), but unfortunately they just won’t accept monographs (large, complete bodies of work, which this will be). The SVP memoir series offered the best mix of these three criteria; should it be accepted, it will come out in 2014.
I have however picked up on creation the character list and matrix for my phylogeny, looking to complete this within ~two months. So many other things will be born from this and take up so much of the rest of my year – a flurry of projects, as I like to think of it.
With all this work going on and (hopefully) being completed, 2013 is looking like a busy and rewarding year. I am expecting to have my first peer-reviewed publications, first conferences talk(s) and poster(s) and be largely on the way to completing my PhD.
Three years? I can do it in that!
Roll on 2013.
References
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When the Senate Intelligence Committee passed the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act by a vote of 14 to 1, committee chairman Senator Richard Burr argued that it successfully balanced security and privacy. Fifteen new amendments to the bill, he said, were designed to protect internet users' personal information while enabling new ways for companies and federal agencies to coordinate responses to cyberattacks. But critics within the security and privacy communities still have two fundamental problems with the legislation: First, they say, the proposed cybersecurity act won't actually boost security. And second, the "information sharing" it describes sounds more than ever like a backchannel for surveillance.
On Tuesday the bill's authors released the full, updated text of the CISA legislation passed last week, and critics say the changes have done little to assuage their fears about wanton sharing of Americans' private data. In fact, legal analysts say the changes actually widen the backdoor leading from private firms to intelligence agencies. "It’s a complete failure to strengthen the privacy protections of the bill," says Robyn Greene, a policy lawyer for the Open Technology Institute, which joined a coalition of dozens of non-profits and cybersecurity experts criticizing the bill in an open letter earlier this month. "None of the [privacy-related] points we raised in our coalition letter to the committee was effectively addressed."
The central concern of that letter was how the same data sharing meant to bolster cybersecurity for companies and the government opens massive surveillance loopholes. The bill, as worded, lets a private company share with the Department of Homeland Security any information construed as a cybersecurity threat "notwithstanding any other provision of law." That means CISA trumps privacy laws like the Electronic Communication Privacy Act of 1986 and the Privacy Act of 1974, which restrict eavesdropping and sharing of users' communications. And once the DHS obtains the information, it would automatically be shared with the NSA, the Department of Defense (including Cyber Command), and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.
Unfiltered Oversharing
In a statement posted to his website yesterday, Senator Burr wrote that "Information sharing is purely voluntary and companies can only share cyber-threat information and the government may only use shared data for cybersecurity purposes." But in fact, the bill's data sharing isn't limited to cybersecurity "threat indicators"—warnings of incoming hacker attacks, which is the central data CISA is meant to disseminate among companies and three-letter agencies. OTI's Greene says it also gives companies a mandate to share with the government any data related to imminent terrorist attacks, weapons of mass destruction, or even other information related to violent crimes like robbery and carjacking. The latest update to the bill tacks on yet another kind of information, anything related to impending "serious economic harm." All of those vague terms, Greene argues, widen the pipe of data that companies can send the government, expanding CISA into a surveillance system for the intelligence community and domestic law enforcement.
If information-sharing legislation does not include adequate privacy protections, then...It’s a surveillance bill by another name. Senator Ron Wyden
"CISA goes far beyond [cybersecurity], and permits law enforcement to use information it receives for investigations and prosecutions of a wide range of crimes involving any level of physical force," reads the letter from the coalition opposing CISA. "The lack of use limitations creates yet another loophole for law enforcement to conduct backdoor searches on Americans—including searches of digital communications that would otherwise require law enforcement to obtain a warrant based on probable cause. This undermines Fourth Amendment protections and constitutional principles."
Even when it comes to cybersecurity data-sharing, privacy advocates say CISA would give companies a legal loophole to mix users' personal information into the "cyber threat indicators" they pass on to federal agencies. The bill does have a provision designed to filter "personally identifiable information" out of that data. But it's far too weak as written, says Julian Sanchez, a research fellow at the CATO institute. He points to the language in the bill that calls on companies to "to assess whether [a] cyber threat indicator contains any information that the entity knows at the time of sharing to be personal information of or identifying a specific person not directly related to a cybersecurity threat and remove such information."
That "knows at the time of sharing" phrase, Sanchez argues, means that companies can share personal information they haven't yet proven to be unrelated to a cyber threat. And that's especially impractical given CISA's purpose of spreading initial warnings of a possible threat quickly enough to prevent it, often before it's been fully analyzed. Take the example of a distributed denial of service attack designed to knock a target website offline with a stream of junk data. Sophisticated DDOS attacks often impersonate legitimate traffic, raising the risk that innocent traffic—and identifying IP addresses—would be included in data shared with the government. "At the time of sharing it will be very unclear if it’s innocent activity," says Sanchez. "And there’s no obligation to do due diligence to figure out if it's innocent or isn’t."
We’ve tried the CISA experiment, and we know it doesn’t really work. Robert Graham
The bill's authors have been careful to note that it doesn't compel companies to give any data to the government. A member of Senator Burr's legislative staff repeated in an email to WIRED that it merely provides a "framework" for voluntary data sharing, and added that business groups like the Financial Services Roundtable and the National Cable & Telecommunications Association have already expressed their support for the bill. "Bottom line – the bill doesn’t give any government agency additional authority to collect information," wrote the spokesperson.
Careful companies, of course, could in fact choose to safeguard their users' privacy beyond the requirements of CISA. But Cato's Sanchez argues that many companies seeking CISA's security benefits will take the path of least resistance and share more data rather than less, without comprehensively filtering it of all personal information. "The easiest, fastest way to share information is to select all and copy-paste. Every additional filter is an extra effort," he says. "There’s no incentive to combat the tendency to err on the side of oversharing."
More False Warnings Than Real Threats
For those who value security over privacy, CISA's surveillance compromises might seem acceptable. But questions persist about whether CISA would even do much to improve security. Robert Graham, a security researcher and an early inventor of intrusion prevention systems, says CISA will lead to sharing of more false positives than real threat information. Skilled hackers, he says, know how to evade intrusion prevention systems, intrusion detection systems, firewalls, and antivirus software. Meanwhile, most data alerts from systems shared under CISA will be false alarms. "If we had seen the information from the Sony hackers ahead of time, we still wouldn’t have been able to pick it out from the other information we were getting," Graham says, in reference to the epic hack of Sony Pictures Entertainment late last year. "The reality is that even if you have the information ahead of time, you really can’t pick the needle from the haystack."
Graham points to the more informal information sharing that already occurs in the private sector thanks to companies that manage the security large client bases. "Companies like IBM and Dell SecureWorks already have massive 'cybersecurity information sharing' systems where they hoover up large quantities of threat information from their customers," Graham wrote in a blog post Wednesday. "This rarely allows them to prevent attacks as the CISA bill promises. In other words, we’ve tried the CISA experiment, and we know it doesn’t really work."
In his statement excoriating CISA last week, Senator Ron Wyden—the only member of the intelligence committee to vote against the bill—agreed. He wrote that CISA not only lacks privacy protections, but that "it will have a limited impact on US cybersecurity."
But Wyden went further than calling CISA ineffective. Citing its privacy loopholes, he questioned the fundamental intention of the legislation as it's currently written. "If information-sharing legislation does not include adequate privacy protections then that’s not a cybersecurity bill," he wrote. "It’s a surveillance bill by another name."
Read the full bill's text, with changes from last week's amendments highlighted by the Open Technology Institute, below.
CISA bill text with OTI redlines |
Gov. Jerry Brown doesn’t plan to push for legal pot. (Rich Pedroncelli/AP)
SACRAMENTO — The billowing cloud of legal second-hand marijuana smoke may waft into California from Colorado on the Santa Ana winds, or south from Washington state, but Gov. Jerry Brown (D) isn’t going to be the one pushing to legalize the drug for recreational usage here.
In an interview Friday, Brown acknowledged that a legalization measure is likely to be on the ballot at some point, given California’s long tradition of direct democracy through the initiative process. But, he said, he will take a wait-and-see approach after marijuana was made legal in Colorado and Washington.
“I do think America’s under a certain amount of competitive pressure. We like to think of ourselves as the leading power, and we’re an aging 4 percent of the world’s 7.2 billion people. So I think we have to stay alert and heads up. I don’t know if everybody’s going to pot that that’s going to be a positive path forward,” Brown said.
He added: “But I mean I’m a tolerant fellow, and let’s see how — maybe the Rocky Mountain high will provide some kind of inspiration. But I’d rather let them test it first, in the laboratories of democracy called the states. But this is a pretty liberal state, and I’m sure there will be people raring to put something on the ballot at some point.”
California voters passed Proposition 215 in 1996, becoming the first state to legalize marijuana used for medicinal purposes (New York will become the 21st state to allow legal medical-marijuana use later this year). Brown’s predecessor, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R), signed a measure in 2010 decriminalizing possession of an ounce or less.
The state produces more marijuana than any other state in the country, by far. California’s marijuana crop was valued at nearly $15 billion in 2006, according to the pro-legalization group DrugScience.org — more than the next three largest-producing states in the country combined.
Brown won’t be pushing to take advantage of that fact. “I’m not leading any charge for further chemical interactions,” he said. “We’ve got an awful lot of that going on right now, starting with Ritalin with little kids.” |
The role of genetically modified (GM) crops for food security is the subject of public controversy. GM crops could contribute to food production increases and higher food availability. There may also be impacts on food quality and nutrient composition. Finally, growing GM crops may influence farmers’ income and thus their economic access to food. Smallholder farmers make up a large proportion of the undernourished people worldwide. Our study focuses on this latter aspect and provides the first ex post analysis of food security impacts of GM crops at the micro level. We use comprehensive panel data collected over several years from farm households in India, where insect-resistant GM cotton has been widely adopted. Controlling for other factors, the adoption of GM cotton has significantly improved calorie consumption and dietary quality, resulting from increased family incomes. This technology has reduced food insecurity by 15–20% among cotton-producing households. GM crops alone will not solve the hunger problem, but they can be an important component in a broader food security strategy.
This is an open-access article, free of all copyright, and may be freely reproduced, distributed, transmitted, modified, built upon, or otherwise used by anyone for any lawful purpose. The work is made available under the Creative Commons CC0 public domain dedication.
Introduction
Food security exists when all people have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food. Unfortunately, food security does not exist for a significant proportion of the world population. Around 900 million people are undernourished, meaning that they are undersupplied with calories [1]. Many more suffer from specific nutritional deficiencies, often related to insufficient intake of micronutrients. Eradicating hunger is a central part of the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals [2]. But how to achieve this goal is debated controversially. Genetically modified (GM) crops are sometimes mentioned in this connection. Some see the development and use of GM crops as key to reduce hunger [3], [4], while others consider this technology as a further risk to food security [5], [6]. Solid empirical evidence to support either of these views is thin.
There are three possible pathways how GM crops could impact food security. First, GM crops could contribute to food production increases and thus improve the availability of food at global and local levels. Second, GM crops could affect food safety and food quality. Third, GM crops could influence the economic and social situation of farmers, thus improving or worsening their economic access to food. This latter aspect is of particular importance given that an estimated 50% of all undernourished people worldwide are small-scale farmers in developing countries [7].
In regard to the first pathway, GM technologies could make food crops higher yielding and more robust to biotic and abiotic stresses [8], [9]. This could stabilize and increase food supplies, which is important against the background of increasing food demand, climate change, and land and water scarcity. In 2012, 170 million hectares (ha) – around 12% of the global arable land – were planted with GM crops, such as soybean, corn, cotton, and canola [10], but most of these crops were not grown primarily for direct food use. While agricultural commodity prices would be higher without the productivity gains from GM technology [11], impacts on food availability could be bigger if more GM food crops were commercialized. Lack of public acceptance is one of the main reasons why this has not yet happened more widely [12].
Concerning the second pathway, crops with new traits can be associated with food safety risks, which have to be assessed and managed case by case. But such risks are not specific to GM crops. Long-term research confirms that GM technology is not per se more risky than conventional plant breeding technologies [13]. On the other hand, GM technology can help to breed food crops with higher contents of micronutrients; a case in point is Golden Rice with provitamin A in the grain [14]. Such GM crops have not yet been commercialized. Projections show that they could reduce nutritional deficiencies among the poor, entailing sizeable positive health effects [15], [16].
The third pathway relates to GM crop use by smallholder farmers in developing countries. Half of the global GM crop area is located in developing countries, but much of this refers to large farms in countries of South America. One notable exception is Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) cotton, which is grown by around 15 million smallholders in India, China, Pakistan, and a few other developing countries [10]. Bt cotton provides resistance to important insect pests, especially cotton bollworms. Several studies have shown that Bt cotton adoption reduces chemical pesticide use and increases yields in farmers’ fields [17]–[20]. There are also a few studies that have shown that these benefits are associated with increases in farm household income and living standard [21]–[23]. Higher incomes are generally expected to cause increases in food consumption in poor farm households. On the other hand, cotton is a non-food cash crop, so that the nutrition impact is uncertain.
Here we address this question and analyze the impact of Bt cotton adoption on calorie consumption and dietary quality in India. Bt cotton was first commercialized in India in 2002. In 2012, over 7 million farmers had adopted this technology on 10.8 million ha – equivalent to 93% of the country’s total cotton area [10]. For the analysis, we carried out a household survey and collected comprehensive data over a period of several years. This is the first ex post study that analyzes food security effects of Bt cotton or any other GM crop with micro level data. |
Is Stanford running back Christian McCaffrey one of 2016's top-three Heisman Trophy candidates? Not according to "Campus Insiders," which leads with McCaffrey's name only to leave him off its list.
McCaffrey broke Barry Sanders 27-year-old record for all-purpose yards in a single season and finished second in 2015 Heisman Trophy voting -- some would say controversially -- behind Alabama running back Derrick Henry.
Christian McCaffrey had 2,019 yards rushing, 645 yards receiving and 1,200 return yards last season. Kyle Terada/USA TODAY Sports
So who ranks ahead of McCaffrey? LSU running back Leonard Fournette, Clemson QB Deshaun Watson and Florida State running back Dalvin Cook.
Hmm.
Well, reserve your outrage because this take is justifiable in one significant way -- if you subscribe to the Heisman being reduced to the "Best Player on the Best Team" award.
It's almost certain that Clemson, Florida State and LSU will be ranked ahead of Stanford in preseason polls. In fact, Mark Schlabach does just that in his most recent "Way-Too-Early Top 25."
Further, there's a connection to these candidates being listed ahead of McCaffrey and potential national ranking: offensive experience surrounding said Heisman contenders. Clemson welcomes back eight starters on offense. Florida State has all 11 coming back. LSU will surround Fournette with nine returning starters.
Stanford? It's rebuilding on offense with just six starters returning. Most important, McCaffrey won't have a four-year starter at quarterback handing and throwing him the ball like he did with Kevin Hogan last season. He also will be working behind a rebuilding offensive line. If defense is relevant here in terms of the Cardinal's ultimate prospects, Stanford has questions there, too -- particularly with its front seven.
While the Cardinal has arrived as a "reload not rebuild" team -- see a No. 8 ranking with Schlabach -- it doesn't figure to be widely viewed as a national title contender until the new starters distinguish themselves as A-list players.
That said, it's likely that just about every Heisman Trophy watch list will include McCaffrey near if not at the top. Why? Because he's so darn good.
As far as ranking Pac-12 running backs, he tops the list. |
Walkin' in a Winter Wampaland A great sweater for your holiday Christmas party
Especially if your boss is evil
Design goes all around the sweater
Long, long ago in a galaxy a little ways away, the holiday we know as Christmas was celebrated quite differently. Under the auspices of the Emperor, Christmas is called "Day of Spending." The main goal is to spend as much on Imperial gift items as possible. The head icon of this holiday is Santa Vader (a.k.a. Darth Claus). And each house is expected to have at least one depiction of Santa Vader. Because we care, we offer you this one.
The Santa Vader Christmas Sweater is just what it sounds like - a small tribute to the holiday's most maleficent overlord. If you've been a good little kid, he'll bring you a small present. If you've been a bad little kid, Santa Vader will bring you something awesome. And if you've been bad enough, maybe he'll take you on as his apprentice.
Vader in a Santa hat on the front of this red, 100% acrylic sweater. Pattern of TIE Fighters, AT-ATs, and snowflakes 360° around the sweater and arms. Hand wash cold. Dry flat. Imported.
Sizing Table
Note that these are the measurements of the garment. |
Close to 100 students at the city’s premier public high school received text messages with answers to this month’s Regents exams, students and teachers said yesterday.
Students said the alleged ringleader at Stuyvesant HS in Battery Park City — 16-year-old junior Nayeem Ahsan — was someone who regularly sent out photographs of test questions and answers to his classmates.
He also got answers sent in return, they said.
“This kid prided himself on doing this sort of thing. He’s been doing it for a long time,” said Catalina Piccato, a 16-year-old junior. “He’s been lamenting being caught on Facebook.”
Asked about rumors that Ahsan’s motivation might have been money, Piccato and other students dismissed it.
“There normally isn’t money involved when it comes to cheating,” she said.
Ahsan — busted with a cellphone full of answers to three tests while taking the June 18 Spanish Regents exam — had also distributed answers to the recent Physics Regents exam, according to classmates.
“He compiled an answer key. He sent out those answers to some 90-odd students,” said junior Leopold Spohngellert. “Somehow, the administration got a hold of this.”
Principal Stanley Teitel, who went through Ahsan’s text messages after catching him using a cellphone during last week’s exam, told parents of dozens of students that their kids “had engaged in text messaging involving the various June 2012 Regents with students taking the exam.”
He said their kids’ social privileges would be revoked in the coming school year — including being barred from school clubs and sports teams, and the senior perk of going off-campus for lunch.
Ahsan, by contrast, is being forced to transfer to another school this summer.
“As principal, I find this very disturbing,” Teitel wrote in a letter to those parents last week. “I find this breach of integrity very serious and hope you will talk with your child about the need to remain honest and preserve their academic goals at Stuyvesant and beyond.”
Yet some teachers complained that students aren’t disciplined consistently enough when it comes to cheating or having their cellphones in class.
“Cheating is a problem at Stuyvesant. On several occasions I have caught students cheating while I was proctoring an exam,” said Spanish teacher Milton Diaz.
“There is a lack of consistency in disciplinary measures used to address this problem,” he added.
State officials wouldn’t say whether the cheating was reported to them, as required, and the city Department of Education said it didn’t learn of the allegations until this week.
The DOE’s Office of the Special Commissioner of Investigation is looking into the incidents.
Additional reporting by Lorena Mongelli and Christa Nianiatus |
In case you haven’t yet heard of the so-called Monsanto Protection Act — which was buried deep in the spending bill recently passed by Congress to avert a government shutdown and signed into law by President Obama on Tuesday — it’s a horrific piece of legislation that is tantamount to a huge corporate giveaway to the agricultural biotech giant Monsanto.
Don’t be fooled by the phony baloney, consumer-friendly name it’s been dubbed — the Farmer Assurance Provision; the deceptively titled piece of legislation not only won’t help farmers, it’s bad for the rest of us. The general crux of the bill is that it essentially bars the federal courts from stopping the planting or sale of genetically modified or engineered seeds, even if they are shown to cause severe and adverse health risks.
Here’s the full text of the Monsanto provision, which is located in Section 735 of H.R. 933:
Sec. 735. In the event that a determination of non-regulated status made pursuant to section 411 of the Plant Protection Act is or has been invalidated or vacated, the Secretary of Agriculture shall, notwithstanding any other provision of law, upon request by a farmer, grower, farm operator, or producer, immediately grant temporary permit(s) or temporary deregulation in part, subject to necessary and appropriate conditions consistent with section 411(a) or 412(c) of the Plant Protection Act, which interim conditions shall authorize the movement, introduction, continued cultivation, commercialization and other specifically enumerated activities and requirements, including measures designed to mitigate or minimize potential adverse environmental effects, if any, relevant to the Secretary’s evaluation of the petition for non-regulated status, while ensuring that growers or other users are able to move, plant, cultivate, introduce into commerce and carry out other authorized activities in a timely manner: Provided, That all such conditions shall be applicable only for the interim period necessary for the Secretary to complete any required analyses or consultations related to the petition for non-regulated status: Provided further, That nothing in this section shall be construed as limiting the Secretary’s authority under section 411, 412 and 414 of the Plant Protection Act.
Basically, this amounts to a win for Monsanto, a leading producer of genetically engineered seeds, and a major loss for the rest of us.
But more than that, as the International Business Times noted, the provision — though it will be in effect for only six months — sets a dangerous precedent in that it sends a message to already powerful corporations that they can skirt consumer safety protections just by getting Congress on their side.
Here’s some more scary facts about the Monsanto Protection Act from the International Business Times’ list of five “terrifying things to know” about the provision:
2.) The provision’s language was apparently written in collusion with Monsanto. Lawmakers and companies working together to craft legislation is by no means a rare occurrence in this day and age. But the fact that Sen. Roy Blunt, Republican of Missouri, actually worked with Monsanto on a provision that in effect allows them to keep selling seeds, which can then go on to be planted, even if it is found to be harmful to consumers, is stunning. It’s just another example of corporations bending Congress to their will, and it’s one that could have dire risks for public health in America. 3.) Many members of Congress were apparently unaware that the “Monsanto Protection Act” even existed within the bill they were voting on. HR 933 was a spending bill aimed at averting a government shutdown and ensuring that the federal government would continue to be able to pay its bills. …4.) The President did nothing to stop it, either. On Tuesday, Obama signed HR 933 while the rest of the nation was fixated on gay marriage, as the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral argument concerning California’s Proposition 8. But just because most of the nation and the media were paying attention to gay marriage doesn’t mean that others were not doing their best to express their opposition to the “Monsanto Protection Act.” In fact, more than 250,000 voters signed a petition opposing the provision. And Food Democracy Now protesters even took their fight straight to Obama, protesting in front of the White House against Section 735 of the bill. He signed it anyway. Read more
— Posted by Tracy Bloom. |
American Superbike champion Josh Herrin has been dropped by the AirAsia Caterham team and replaced by Ratthapark Wilairot.
Rookie Herrin has struggled to match the podium and pole pace of team-mate Johann Zarco, failing to score a point in his ten grand prix starts.
"We have decided to replace Josh with Ratthapark. It was not an easy decision but it was necessary in order to try to bring better results on that side of the garage," said team manager Johan Stigefelt.
"We are here to be competitive with two riders and the expectations were made clear from the start of the season. Unfortunately these goals have not been met, despite our best efforts and support to Josh.
"We wish Josh all the best for the future and at the same time welcome Ratthapark to our team. I am happy that Ratthapark is joining us as we know he has the ability to battle for the points and can help us to gain good results, so let's now see how we can improve for the final six races of the season."
Thai rider Wilairot competed in Moto2 until midway through the 2013 season, with a best finish of fourth place at Assen in 2010, before announcing his immediate retirement - only to return to international competition in 2014 as part of the Core PTR Honda team in the World Supersport Championship.
Wilairot then made a GP return when he was called up to replace the injured Herrin at Jerez, finishing 19th.
"Firstly I have to say thank you very much to Tony Fernandes, Mia Sharizman, Johan Stigefelt and AirAsia for giving me this big present to ride in Moto2 until the end of the season. Also I want to thank CORE and PTR who have allowed me to do my favourite career," said Wilairot, who 'retired' from grand prix midway through last year, then moved to WSS.
"I am feeling fresh and excited to get back into the Moto2 garage, especially with the AirAsia Caterham Moto Racing Team. I made one race at Jerez already this year with them and I really enjoyed it! All the people in the team are working hard and helped me a lot with everything; it's like a big family.
"I hope to repay them for this opportunity by doing a good job and achieving positive results for the remaining six races. In Jerez we worked well together and gained valuable information for set up with the Caterham Suter bike, so I am confident that we can build on this.
"My target is to score points and finish in the top fifteen. I will open the gas and get near to the top guys." |
Yesterday I got my invite to join the Ubuntu One Windows Beta. I thought I’d show off some screenshots.
The installer is a small 12MB .msi installer and installation of it is straightforward.
Setting up your Ubuntu One account after installation is just as easy on Ubuntu: you open the app, enter your Ubuntu One sign in details and connect.
Once installed and logged in it sets about doing its job: syncing your Ubuntu One account to Windows. Despite a ‘known issue’ of slowness in the initial sync mine was very fast – but then I don’t have a lot in my Ubuntu One account ;)
During the sync the tray icon becomes animated. A nice little touch.
In this first beta you can only ‘sync’ your main Ubuntu One folder. This is placed in your ‘My Documents’ directory. Support for sync outside of the Ubuntu folder is targeted for future releases.
Windows options
So far only a sync interval options is available to configure but more features are heading to the Windows port including: –
Account sync upon file change
Further account information
Ability to sync folders outside of the main ‘Ubuntu One’ folder
Sync contacts, notes and bookmarks
And more curiously this: –
Tomboy is already available for Windows whilst Banshee, as of yet, has no official windows build available for download.
One other thing to note about UbuntuOne on Windows is that it automatically adds itself to the Start up items.
For more information on Ubuntu One for Windows and how to join in the beta testing point your browsers to voices.canonical.com/ubuntuone/?p=689 |
Armenia is the Chess Olympiad 2012 champion ! The team of Armenia – Levon Aronian, Sergei Movsesian, Vladimir Akopian, Gabriel Sargissian, and Tigran Petrosian – won the gold medals in Istanbul after collecting 19,0/22,0 Match points. The team of Russia (silver medal) finished with the same match points, but worse tiebreak. Third place is for the team of Ukraine (bronze medal), who won against China in the last round.
This is the third Olympic title of Armenia after winning the gold in 2006 and 2008.
Update: Board standings
Board 1: Levon Aronian (Gold), Radoslaw Wojtaszek (Silver), Teimour Radjabov (Bronze)
Board 2: David Navara (Gold), Anton Filippov (Silver), Gata Kamsky (Bronze)
Board 3: Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (Gold), Vladimir Akopian (Silver), Sergey Karjakin (Bronze)
Board 4: Vladislav Tkachiev (Gold), Abhijeet Gupta (Silver), Daniel Fridman (Bronze)
Board 5: Dmitry Jakovenko (Gold), Bartlomiej Macieja (Silver), Konstantine Shanava (Bronze)
Videos: Round 1 / Round 2 / Round 3 / Round 4 / Round 5 / Round 6 / Round 7 / Round 8 / Round 9 / Round 10
Interviews: Anna Muzychuk / Wesley So / Eric Hansen / Irina Krush / Greek national team / Alexander Ryazantsev / Abhijeet Gupta / Wang Hao / Levon Aronian / Pontus Carlsson / Rafael Leitao / Rustam kasimdzhanov
Armenia wins Chess Olympiad 2012
The multiple Olympic champion Armenia started the Chess Olympiad race as expected. Bolivia and Bangladesh fell victims to the powerful machine with 3:1 and 4:0 scores.
The next rounds were more difficult with Spain, the Philippines, and Ukraine as opponents. Exactly there Armenia employed their key team strategy – win one game, draw the others. Aronian beating Vallejo, Sargissian winning against Dimakiling, and again Aronian defeating Ivanchuk were just 3 game points, but were worth 6 match points in the standings.
With things going so well for the Armenian team, they tried to play a secure draw against their main opposition, Russia. Sargissian and Akopian secured their 1/2 point early, but just then Aronian’s position fell apart against Kramnik and Armenia was against the ropes. It was up to Movsesian to save the team, and after a hard struggle on board 2 Armenia got the desired 2:2 score.
The match against Russia clearly exhausted the team of Armenia, and they were up against the powerful China the next round. The hero of the previous day Movsesian was defeated and Armenia lost the match 2,5:1,5.
When everyone was wondering what will happen psychologically with Armenia, they reacted in the best possible way. The team concentrated and achieved victories against Uzbekistan, Germany, and Netherlands in a convincing manner – Naiditsch, Giri, Dzhumaev, Meier, and Kvon all tasted Armenia’s power on the board.
The last round was also successful for the 2006 and 2008 Olympic champions. They defeated the team of Hungary, with Movsesian taking the full point on board 2, and won their third Olympic gold medal.
Video round 11 |
Stora Enso Oyj (Swedish: Stora [stuːra] and Finnish: Enso [enso]) is a manufacturer of pulp, paper and other forest products, headquartered in Helsinki, Finland. The majority of sales takes place in Europe, but there are also significant operations in Asia, South America and the United States. Stora Enso was formed in 1998, when the Swedish mining and forestry products company Stora AB merged with the Finnish forestry products company Enso Oyj. In 2017, the average number of employees was 26,200.[4][5][2] For 2015, Stora Enso was ranked seventh in the world by sales and fourth by earnings, among forest, paper and packaging industry companies. For the first two quarters of 2018, the company was ranked second by net earnings among European forest and paper industry compenies.[6][7] The corporate history can be traced back to the oldest known preserved share certificate in the world, issued in 1288. Based on this, some observers consider Stora Enso to be the oldest limited liability company in the world.[8][1]
History [ edit ]
Stora Enso was formed by the merger of Swedish mining and forestry products company Stora and Finnish forestry products company Enso Oyj in 1998.[5]
History of Stora [ edit ]
The oldest preserved share in the Swedish copper mining company Stora Kopparberg ("great copper mountain") in Falun was issued in 1288. It granted the Bishop of Västerås 12.5 percent ownership, and it is also the oldest known preserved share in any company in the world. The corporate status of the company was further recognized in 1347, when King Magnus IV of Sweden granted it a charter. Some observers consider that these facts make Stora and its successor Stora Enso the oldest existing corporation or limited liability company in the world.[8][1][9]
For some periods during the 17th century, the mine provided two thirds of the world production of copper. In the 18th century, the copper mining gradually decreased in importance, and therefore, in 1731, the company bought its first iron ore mine. By the 1860s, iron ore was economically more important to the company than copper.
Stora Kopparbergs Bergslags AB was incorporated as a modern shareholder company in 1862. Towards the end of the 19th century, it diversified from mining and entered pulp and paper production. In the 1970s, most of the mining and steel mill operations of the company were divested, and the focus changed to forestry-related activities. In 1984, the company name was shortened to Stora AB. The copper mine closed down in 1992.
In 1997, the year before the merger with Enso, Stora had 20,400 employees and a turnover of 44.5 billion SEK. The company owned 2.3 million hectares of forest of which 1.6 million hectares (an area larger than Connecticut) in Sweden and the rest in Canada, Portugal and Brazil. It also produced 7.5 TWh of mostly hydroelectric power.
A 1997 article in Harvard Business Review praised Stora's ability to adapt to changing circumstances over the centuries.[1][9]
In 1998, the company merged with Enso to form Stora Enso.
History of Enso [ edit ]
Headquarters built for Enso-Gutzeit Oy in the port area of Helsinki, designed by Alvar Aalto , 1962
Enso-Gutzeit Oy was founded in the 19th century in Norway as W. Gutzeit & Co. by Wilhelm Gutzeit; a native of Königsberg, he was a step-cousin of the industrialist Benjamin Wegner and had moved to Norway to work as Wegner's secretary. Gutzeit's son Hans Gutzeit moved the company to Finland, where it became the largest forestry company in the country.
Enso-Gutzeit Osakeyhtiö bought A. Ahlström Osakeyhtiö's forest industries at Varkaus in December 1986. In 1995 a decision was made to merge two state owned forest giants together. The merger materialized next year when Enso-Gutzeit Oy and North Finland based Veitsiluoto Oy formed Enso Oyj.
In 1998, the company merged with Stora to form Stora Enso.
History of Stora Enso [ edit ]
After the merger, Stora Enso expanded its operations by acquiring wood products businesses and bought paper merchant businesses in Europe. In 2000 the company bought Consolidated Papers in North America. Stora Enso also slowly expanded its operations in South America, Asia and Russia.
In 2000, Stora Enso acquired the North American pulp and paper manufacturer Consolidated Papers for EUR 4.9 billion.[10] The acquisition has, in hindsight, been noted in the financial press as a massive value destroyer.[11][12] In the same year, Stora Enso and AssiDomän formed a joint company, Billerud AB, to produce packaging paper.
In 2002, Stora Enso started investigating the possibility of establishing plantations and production facilities in Guangxi, China.[13][14] In the same year, the company was the fifth largest pulp and paper manufacturer in terms of revenue, and in 2005, it was the world's largest pulp and paper manufacturer in terms of production capacity.[citation needed]
In recent years[when?] the company has gone through heavy restructuring. The North American operations were divested in 2007 to NewPage Corporation. Stora Enso has sold and closed down some of its mills in Finland, Sweden and Germany. The closure of a plant in Kemijärvi in 2008 and subsequent events were subject to significant Finnish media coverage.[15][16][17]
In 2009, Stora Enso entered into a joint venture in Uruguay, called Montes del Plata, with access to 250,000 hectares of woodland and the intention to build a large-capacity mill.[18][19][20] The mill started operating in June 2014.[21]
In 2010, Stora Enso acquired a 30 percent stake in the Chinese printed paper packaging manufacturer Inpac. The ownership stake was later increased to 51 percent, and in 2016, to 90 percent.[22][23][24][25][26]
In September 2012, Stora Enso signed an agreement with Packages Ltd., the largest packaging company of Pakistan, to set up a joint venture named Bulleh Shah Packaging (Pvt.) Ltd. at Kasur, Pakistan. The ownership stake for Stora Enso was 35 percent. In 2017, the stake was sold back to Packages Ltd., at a loss of EUR 19 million.[24][4][27][28][29]
Between 2006 and 2014, the share of paper products of the total sales decreased from 62 percent to 38 percent, while packaging and wood products increased their shares of the revenue, as the company, according to Bloomberg News, was "betting on renewable packaging as online shopping grows." In 2015, the Financial Times and Bloomberg News reported that Stora Enso was investing in biomaterials and renewable construction products as possible future growth areas.[21][30][1][31]
In 2017, the Financial Times reiterated that a focus on renewable packaging, biomaterials and construction products formed part of the strategic direction of Stora Enso, while also reporting that the revenue from paper had decreased further to 30 percent of the total sales.[32]
In 2018, Stora Enso, along with 23 other Finnish and Swedish companies, formed a joint venture named Combient for research and knowledge sharing in the areas of artificial intelligence, deep learning, big data and automation.[33][34]
Examples of notable products launched in 2017 and 2018 are cardboard-based packaging under the name EcoFishBox as an alternative to polystyrene boxes for transportation of fresh fish, industrial-scale supply of lignin under the name Lineo as an alternative to phenol-based adhesives, and prototypes of biodegradable drinking straws.[35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46]
Market [ edit ]
Products and services by division [ edit ]
As of 2018, Stora Enso offers products and services through five corporate divisions. The 2017 sales figures and relative contributions to group earnings by division are listed below. In July 2017, the Financial Times reported that the current and foreseeable market conditions were such that forestry industry companies in general received and could be expected to receive comparatively low shares of their profits from paper production.[2][4][32]
Sales by division 2017, million EUR External Internal Total Share of group operational EBIT Consumer board 2,501 15 2,516 28% Packaging solutions 1,230 25 1,255 17% Biomaterials 1,096 387 1,483 26% Wood products 1,573 96 1,669 11% Paper 2,857 63 2,920 13% Other 788 1,702 2,490 5%
Consumer board [ edit ]
The Consumer board division (previously, before 2015, part of a division called "Renewable packaging") sells varieties of paperboard for packaging of dry and liquid products, including food, as well as for graphic printing purposes.[47][21]
Packaging solutions [ edit ]
The Packaging solutions division (previously, before 2015, part of a division called "Renewable packaging") sells corrugated fiberboard, other types of paperboard used in production of packaging containers, as well as complete packaging boxes and equipment and services related to packaging production.[47][21]
Biomaterials [ edit ]
The Biomaterials division sells pulp, as well as additional products that can be extracted biochemically from wood and other sorts of biomass.[47]
Wood products [ edit ]
The Wood products division (previously, before 2015, called "Building and living") sells construction materials and fuels that have been produced using wood as a raw material.[47][21]
Paper [ edit ]
The Paper division (previously, before 2015, called "Printing and reading") sells paper for commercial printing and office use, as well as services for the printing industry, such as paper supply management.[47][21]
Sales by region [ edit ]
In 2017, the regional sales distribution was as follows.[4]
Region Share of sales 2017 Europe 74% Asia 18% North America 3% South America 2% Other countries 3%
Operations [ edit ]
Stora Enso has the majority of its operations Europe but also a significant presence in the Americas and Asia. The following table lists the number of employees and the corporate divisions by region.[4]
Country/region Employees 2017 Divisions Finland 6,700 In Europe, all divisions are represented Sweden 5,100 Poland 2,000 Germany 1,100 Russia 1,100 Other European countries 3,800 Total for European countries 19,800 United States 100 Biomaterials Brazil 420 Biomaterials Uruguay 330 Biomaterials China 5,300 Consumer board, Packaging solutions, Paper Laos 130 Other (wood supply unit)
Headquarters [ edit ]
The Stora Enso Headquarters in Helsinki was designed 1959-1962 by Alvar Aalto as the head office of Enso-Gutzeit Oy. The building has been in use since 1961. In 2008, Stora Enso sold the building to the German property company Deka Immobilien GmbH for €30 million and started renting the building from WestInvest InterSelect (part of Deka Group), while also declaring its intention to move to other rented premises in the Helsinki area. As of 2016, Stora Enso is still headquartered in the same building.[48][49][50][51]
Joint ventures [ edit ]
Veracel is a joint venture between Stora Enso (50 percent ownership) and Fibria in Brazil.[24]
In Uruguay, Stora Enso (50 percent ownership) and Arauco operate the Montes del Plata joint venture.[24]
Governance [ edit ]
Key people [ edit ]
Since 2014, Karl-Henrik Sundström (born 1960) has been the CEO of Stora Enso.[52] Previous CEOs were Jouko Karvinen (from 2007 to 2014) and Jukka Härmälä (from the creation of Stora Enso in 1998 to 2007).[21][53][54]
At the Annual General Meeting on 28 March 2018, the following persons were elected as members of the board of directors.[55][56]
Name Year of birth Jorma Eloranta (chairman) 1951 Hans Stråberg (vice chairman) 1957 Anne Brunila 1957 Elisabeth Fleuriot 1956 Hock Goh 1955 Christiane Kuehne 1955 Antti Mäkinen 1961 Richard Nilsson 1970 Göran Sandberg 1955
Ownership [ edit ]
As of September 2018, the Finnish state is, through the state-owned Solidium fund, the largest owner by number of shares, while the Wallenberg family foundations, through FAM AB, is the second largest. These two owners are also the largest ones by number of votes, controlling approximately equal amounts.[3]
Largest owners by votes (30 September 2018) Percent of shares Percent of votes Solidium Oy 10.7 27.3 FAM AB 10.2 27.3 Social Insurance Institution of Finland 3.2 10.1 Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Company 1.2 3.6 Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Company 2.7 2.2 MP-Bolagen i Vetlanda AB (incl. Stiftelsen Seydlitz Småland) 0.8 2.1 Erik Johan Ljungberg's Education Foundation 0.5 0.8 Swedbank Robur Funds 1.1 0.4 Bergslaget's Healthcare Foundation 0.3 0.3 The State Pension Fund (Finland) 0.9 0.3
Language [ edit ]
Following the merger, English became the lingua franca of the company. A study of the implications of this for the effectiveness of Stora Enso's internal business communication, published in the academic journal Business Communication Quarterly, concluded that the analyzed communication "seemed to work well".[57]
Controversies [ edit ]
Cartel [ edit ]
Metsä Group and Stora Enso received a sentence in value of €500,000 for forming a cartel in 2001.[58]
Accusations of wrongful accounting [ edit ]
The North American part of the group was sold in 2007 to NewPage Corporation with a net loss of about 4.12 billion dollars.[clarification needed] According to a Swedish television documentary, there have been accusations that to cover the loss, the accounting was manipulated, which was revealed in 2010.[59][clarification needed] The documentary also claims that huge[vague] dividend payments were made illegally and top management was aware of that fact and on purpose manipulated numbers to be able to pay dividends.
Gerard Goodwyn, the company's head of accounting who spoke publicly about the accounting mistake, was fired in 2010.[60]
In 2013, Stora Enso published a report written by independent law firms, which the company had commissioned to investigate the accusations. According to the report, the investigations performed did not find any evidence of illegal acts or wrongful financial reporting, apart from mistakes that had already been communicated and corrected by 2009.[61][62] The findings of the investigations were also been reported to the Finnish Financial Supervisory Authority, which found no reason to take further action. In articles commenting on the report, the Finnish newspaper Helsingin Sanomat stated that they had been contacted by the source of the accusations in 2010 but that, after attempting to confirm the accusations, they had not considered that there were sufficient grounds for a news story.[63][64]
Environmental concerns [ edit ]
Eucalyptus cultivation of Stora Enso has been discussed critically,[65] especially in relation to the 2011 documentary film Red Forest Hotel.[66]
Nova Scotia Forest Industries, the Canadian corporate identity of Stora Forest Industries (as it was known in the day)[67] in 1983 was pursued in the Nova Scotia Supreme Court—case name Palmer v Nova Scotia Forest Industries—and did emerge victorious. The case went on to influence the practice of Canadian environmental law.[68] What neighbours objected to was the spraying of the dioxin 2,4,5-T Agent Orange pesticide.[69]
Human rights concerns [ edit ]
The Swedish program "Kalla fakta" reported in 2014 that Stora Enso used child labor in its activities in Pakistan, and that the company had been aware of it since 2012.[70] In response, the company denied that child labor existed directly in the operations of its joint venture partner in Pakistan, but admitted that it was present in its supplier networks. It stated that its partner, Bulleh Shah Packaging, was taking short-term action to remedy the situation in areas where child labor was known to exist, and was also working to mitigate child labor in the long term by addressing its root causes. In 2017, Stora Enso divested its business interest in Pakistan.[71][4][27][28][29]
Corporate responsibility [ edit ]
In April 2015, Stora Enso entered into a partnership with ILO, with the aims of progressively eliminating child labor from the supply chain in Pakistan and promoting decent work conditions.[72][73][74][75] The experiences in Pakistan have also prompted Stora Enso to appoint an executive vice president for sustatainability to its group leadership team, and to include sustainability managers in its division leadership teams.[52][76]
In September 2014, Stora Enso began a collaboration with Save the Children around children's rights. The collaboration concerned policies and processes with regard to supply chain issues in Pakistan, as well as supply network evaluation in India. However, Stora Enso exited the Indian market in 2015 and sold its joint venture stake in Pakistan in 2017. The active collaboration with Save the Children lasted until 2016.[77][78][25][27][28][29][79][80]
In 2016, Stora Enso qualified for inclusion on the "Climate A list" of the CDP environmental organization, a status awarded to 193 of 1,839 companies sampled.[81][82][83]
Stora Enso was the main sponsor of the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 2017 in Lahti. The company provided the games with items made of renewable materials, including two spectator shelters built from cross laminated timber elements, which were subsequently donated to the host city.[86]
See also [ edit ] |
This page documents Catholic Church sex abuse cases by country. The Catholic sexual abuse scandal in Europe has been documented by cases in several dioceses in European nations. Investigation and widespread reporting were conducted in the early 21st century related to dioceses in the United States of America; several American dioceses were bankrupted by settlement of civil lawsuits from victims. A significant number of cases have also been reported in Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and countries in Europe, Latin America, Africa and Asia.[1]
In 2001, lawsuits were filed in the United States and Ireland, alleging that some priests had sexually abused minors and that their superiors had conspired to conceal and otherwise abet their criminal misconduct.[2] In 2004, the John Jay Report tabulated a total of 4,392 priests and deacons in the U.S. against whom allegations of sexual abuse had been made. The numbers of reported abuse allegations and court cases has increased worldwide since then.
The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) has asked for detailed information on the full extent of child abuse worldwide by priests, monks and nuns. It has also asked how the Vatican prevents abusers from contacting additional children and how the Vatican ensures that known crimes against children are reported to the police. In the past there were issues over the Church hierarchy failing to report abuse to law enforcement and allowing abusers further contact with children. 1 November 2013 was set as a deadline for receiving the information.[3]
Prevalence [ edit ]
In a statement read by Archbishop Silvano Maria Tomasi in September 2009, the Holy See stated, "We know now that in the last 50 years somewhere between 1.5% and 5% of the Catholic clergy has been involved in sexual abuse cases", adding that this figure was comparable to that of other groups and denominations.[4]
A Perspective on Clergy Sexual Abuse by Catholic Dr. Thomas Plante of the Catholic Santa Clara University and volunteer clinical associate professor at Stanford University states that "approximately 4% of priests during the past half century (and mostly in the 1960s and 1970s) have had a sexual experience with a minor" which "is consistent with male clergy from other religious traditions and is significantly lower than the general adult male population which may double these numbers".[5][6] Plante's article was based on a study done by John Jay College. It was compiled solely from numbers provided by leaders of U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, which paid John Jay College to do the study.[7] According to an article reported in Newsweek magazine, the figure for adult abuse of children in the Catholic Church is similar to that in the rest of the adult population.[8]
After widespread publicity about the abuse, in 2013 Barbara Blaine, of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), stated, "We are confident that the ICC will see sufficient evidence that high ranking Catholic officials are still knowingly enabling predators to harm and endanger children across the world, while concealing these heinous crimes even more effectively." A group had filed charges in the International Criminal Court (ICC) against the Catholic Church for what it said was crimes against humanity because of its policy on this issue.[9][10] The ICC refused to investigate. SNAP representatives note there most Catholics were found in the Third World, where child molestation is more easily concealed. They argued that it was necessary to guard against "the tempting assumption that the worst of this scandal is somehow behind us."[10]
Africa [ edit ]
Kenya [ edit ]
In 2009 several people accused an Italian priest working in the country of sexual molestation. The Church assured them it was investigating the case, but that did not appear to happen. Kenyan police said they found no evidence and believed Sesana is innocent.[11]
In 2010 a young woman alleged that a Catholic priest had raped her but the police and Church authorities had failed to follow up the allegations.[12]
The 2011 Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ) documentary "A Mission To Prey" publicised Kenya's clerical abuse cases, saying they should have been handled with more transparency. It was discovered that this program mistakenly alleged that Fr. Kevin Reynolds was an abuser, causing him to be removed from his home and his parish ministry. RTÉ has subsequently apologised for this programme and has stated that Fr. Reynolds was innocent of the charges stated. RTÉ has allowed continued access to this programme online, while upwards of 32 slander and libel cases are pending in reaction by alleged abusers.[13][14]
In 2011 a Dutch bishop in Kenya was reported to be under probe over alleged sex abuse. He was alleged to have abused a minor 18 years before while serving as a priest in Ngong diocese.[15] He was retired by the church.[16]
Tanzania [ edit ]
St Michael's Catholic Boarding School, Soni, Tanzania
A prominent United Kingdom member of the order, Fr Kit Cunningham, together with three other priests, were exposed after Cunningham's death as paedophiles.[17][18][19][20] While at Soni, Cunningham perpetrated sexual abuse that made the school, according to one pupil, "a loveless, violent and sad hellhole". Other pupils recall being photographed naked, hauled out of bed at night to have their genitals fondled, and other sexual abuse.[18][19] Although known about by the Rosminians before Cunningham's death in 2010, the abuse was not reported by the media until 2011.[21][22][23][24][25] Formal action was launched by a group of former pupils who filed a civil suit at the civil court in Leicester, UK on 20 March 2013.[26]
Settlement
The audited financial statements for the year ending 5 April 2015 report under the heading “Legal and safeguarding related costs" that "Last year’s report referred to legal claims which had been brought against the Charity concerning the welfare of children between approximately 1940 and 1985. A settlement has now been reached in relation to these claims." The Charity was liable also for the claimants' legal fees. The matter has had a significant impact on the Charity’s finances with payment of their legal and settlement costs amounting to a total GBP 1,746,523 for the year.[27]
Asia [ edit ]
East Timor [ edit ]
In 2019, an American missionary Richard Daschbach, expelled because allegations of child abuse.[28]
Philippines [ edit ]
In 2002 the Catholic Church apologized for sexual abuses, including adultery, homosexuality and child abuse by 200 priests over the previous 20 years. [29]
In 2003 at least 34 priests were suspended in a sex abuse scandal involving sexual harassment of women. Twenty men were from a single diocese. [30]
In 2011, a priest accused of sexually abusing a 17-year-old female minor was sheltered by his Bishop, despite calls for his surrender to civil authorities. [31]
In 2017, a priest was arrested in Marikina City for attempting to have sex with a 13-year-old girl.[32]
India [ edit ]
In 2002, Mathew N. Schmalz noted that Catholic Church sexual abuse cases in India are generally not spoken about openly, stating "you would have gossip and rumors, but it never reaches the level of formal charges or controversies." [33]
In 2014, Raju Kokkan, the vicar of the Saint Paul's Church in Thaikkattussery, Thrissur, Kerala, was arrested on charges of raping a nine-year-old girl. According to Kerala Police, Kokkan had raped the child on several different occasions, including at least thrice in his office during the month of April. Kokkan promised to gift the child expensive vestments for her Holy Communion ceremony before sexually assaulting her. The abuse was revealed after the victim informed her parents that she had been raped by Kokkan on 25 April 2014. The priest subsequently fled to Nagercoil in the neighbouring state of Tamil Nadu, and was arrested by police on 5 May. Following the arrest, the Thrissur Archdiocese stated that the vicar had been removed from his position within the Church. Between February and April 2014, three other Catholic priests were arrested in the state of Kerala on charges of raping minors. [34] [35]
In 2016, the Catholic Church reappointed a convicted and jailed priest in the Ootacamund Diocese in Tamil Nadu, with little regard for victims rights and children's safety. [36] [37]
In 2017, Father Robin or Mathew Vadakkancheril of St Sebastian church in Kannur was arrested in Kochi on the charge of repeatedly raping a 15-year-old girl who later gave birth to a child. The baby is reported to have been taken to an orphanage without the mother's consent. [38]
In 2018, after much public outcry, Bishop Franco Mulakkal was arrested on 21 September by the Kerala Police. The Vatican had just 'temporarily' relieved him from his pastoral responsibilities. The nun who complained against Bishop Franco had mentioned to the police that he had repeatedly had unnatural sex with her on multiple occasions between 2014 and 2016.[39]
Europe [ edit ]
Austria [ edit ]
Archdiocese of Vienna
In 1995 Hans Hermann Cardinal Groer stepped down as head of the Catholic Church in Austria following accusations of sexual misconduct. In 1998 he left the country. He remained a Cardinal.[40]
Belgium [ edit ]
There have been several abuse cases in Belgium.
Diocese of Antwerp
Former parish priest Bruno Vos of Nieuwmoer parish in Kalmthout was officially charged with rape of a minor by the Belgian judiciary. He was also alleged to possess child pornography.[41]
Croatia [ edit ]
Archdiocese of Zagreb
Ivan Čuček was convicted [42] in 2000 of sexual abuse of 37 young girls, and sentenced to three years in prison. This term was later reduced by the Supreme Court[43] to one-and-a-half years.
Archdiocese of Rijeka
Drago Ljubičić, a Catholic priest on the isle of Rab, was convicted and sentenced to three years in prison for molesting five teenage boys. He will be the first Catholic priest in Croatia to serve prison time for sexual abuse.[44] When asked by Catholic press agency Glas Koncila (prior to scandal) why children avoid going to church, he blamed the 'strong influence of communism on island Rab'.[45]
Archdiocese of Zadar
Nediljko Ivanov, former vicar of Bibinje, is the first priest in Croatia which has been convicted for pedophilia by a church court. Ivanov was first suspected in 2012 when four of his victims reported him to the State's Attorney Office for pedophile activities that occurred in the period from 1983 to 1991. Ivanov wasn't prosecuted in a civilian court due to statute of limitations of legally prescribed 15 years, because cases have been reported in 2012 or six years after the statute of limitations went into power. Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith was also informed about the case, but it did not use its authority to remove a pedophile priest from the Church. Church Court ruled that Ivanov can still serve Mass, but was sentenced to fasting, prayer and was ordered to apologize to the victims that he sexually abused. One of the victims stated in 2014 that he finds the judgment satisfactory because everyone know about Ivanov being a pedophile, but he doesn't consider sentence to be fair. Ivanov lives in a home for retired priests in Zadar.[46][47][48]
France [ edit ]
In February 2019, Pope Francis alluded to the closure of a religious order due to the 'sexual slavery' of the nuns within it.[49][50][51][52][53][54][55][56] Some sources identify the congregation he intended as a part of the Community of St. Jean.[50][51] The Vatican's Press Office however claimed that "sexual manipulation had occurred within this women’s religious congregation, not actual sex slavery."[57]
Seine et Marne
Henri Lebras was sentenced to ten years for the rape of a twelve-year-old boy between 1995 and 1998.[58]
Germany [ edit ]
In February 2010 Der Spiegel reported that more than 94 clerics and laymen have been suspected of sexual abuse since 1995. Thirty had been prosecuted because legal time constraints related to the occurrence of alleged crimes prevented prosecution of older cases.[59] In 2017, it was further reported that at least 547 members of the prestigious Domspatzen choir in Regensburg were physically or sexually abused between 1945 and 1992.[60]
In September 2018 a report was leaked that reported that 3,677 children in Germany, mostly boys under age 13, were sexually abused by Catholic clergy members over the past seven decades". About 1,670 church workers, or 4.4% of the clergy, had been involved in the abuse which is "shocking and probably just the tip of the iceberg" according to Germany's Federal Justice Minister Katarina Barley[61] The report was not fully independent of the church and likely understated the activity, as journalists have been forbidden from looking at church files which could contain more reports of abuse.[62] The full report was officially released by the German Catholic Church on 25 September, and included an apology by Cardinal Reinhard Marx, Bishop of Munich and Freising and head of the German Bishops’ Conference, and other German Bishops.[63][64][62][65] The incidents were reported to have happened between the years 1946 and 2014.[62] The report's author criticised the Church for denying him access to other Catholic institutions, including children's homes and schools, which could consequently not be included.[66][65] It was also reported that local dioceses destroyed some files containing more reports of sex abuse.[62][62] Some of the "predator priests" were transferred to other parishes in order to avoid scrutiny.[62]
Ireland [ edit ]
Archdiocese of Dublin
Several priests convicted of abusing children in the United States were Irish nationals, notably Patrick Colleary, Anthony O'Connell and Oliver O'Grady.
Diocese of Ferns
The Ferns Inquiry 2005 – On 22 October 2005 a government-commissioned report compiled by a former Irish Supreme Court judge delivered an indictment of the handling of clerical sex abuse in the Irish diocese of Ferns.
Italy [ edit ]
The Italian Government has a treaty with the Vatican that guarantees areas of immunity to Vatican officials, including bishops and priests. This has made it difficult to get accurate figures as to how many priests and other religious officials are alleged to have committed sexual abuse. [67]
Three former students have claimed abuse and 65 former students signed statements saying that they or other students were abused by Catholic priests when attending the Antonio Provolo Institute for the Deaf, a Catholic school for deaf children in Verona, Italy. The abuse is alleged to have occurred from the 1950s to 1980s, and was reportedly conducted by 24 priests, including the late bishop of Verona.[68]
Malta [ edit ]
Eighty-four allegations had been made as of April 2010. Lawrence Grech, one of many alleged victims, complained that he was abused in an orphanage. Grech complained in 2010 that the Church had been investigating cases for seven years without doing enough that is effective. The pope spoke personally to Grech and other victims, praising their courage in coming forward. [69] [70] [71] A Maltese court found that Fr Charles Pulis and Fr Godwin Scerri sexually abused children, and sentenced the two men to six years and five years in prison, respectively. The church officially regretted the delays before investigations; it promised to remove Fr Pulis from the priesthood. [72]
A Maltese court found that Fr Charles Pulis and Fr Godwin Scerri sexually abused children, and sentenced the two men to six years and five years in prison, respectively. The church officially regretted the delays before investigations; it promised to remove Fr Pulis from the priesthood. Fr. Anthony Mercieca, who was accused by former Florida Congressman Mark Foley of molesting him as a teenager and has admitted "inappropriate encounters", now lives in Malta.[73]
Netherlands [ edit ]
Since 1995 the church established new procedures to receive reports of sexual abuse. Alleged victims can notify a central church institution, called Secretariaat Rooms-Katholiek Kerkgenootschap (SRRK). The church made this change in response to charges of alleged cases of sexual abuse by religious members of the Roman Catholic Church.[74][75]
In 1993, Father H.H.M. Jansen was denounced for sexual abuse during his activities as military pastor and as a faculty member of the seminary of Rolduc.[76]
On 14 May 1998 damages of €56.800 were paid by the diocese of Rotterdam to the victim of sexual abuse by a diocesan priest; this was part of a settlement to avoid civil prosecution.[77]
Father J. Ceelen, pastor of the parishes of Lieshout and of Mariahout (municipality of Laarbeek), quit his post after allegations of sexual abuse on 1 September 2005.[78]
In February 2010 Salesians were accused of sexual abuse in their juvenate Don Rua in 's-Heerenberg. Salesian bishop of Rotterdam van Luyn pleaded for a thorough investigation.[79]
In 2011 the Deetman Commission, acting on the 2010 request of the Conference of Bishops and the Dutch Religious Conference, reported on its inquiry into abuse cases from 1945 to 2010 affecting children entrusted to the care of the church in the Netherlands.[80]
Norway [ edit ]
Georg Müller, a former Catholic bishop in Trondheim, Norway, has admitted to sexually abusing an altar boy in the 1980s when he served as a priest there. Müller, who retired as bishop in 2009, said there were no other victims.[81][82]
Poland [ edit ]
In 2013 a succession of child sex abuse scandals within the church, and the poor response by the church, became a matter of widespread public concern. The church resisted demands to pay compensation to victims.[83][84] On September 27, 2018, however, Bishop Romuald Kamiński of the Diocese of Warsaw-Praga stated that local church leaders had completed work on a document to address the Polish Catholic Church on the abuse of minors and suggest ways to prevent it.[85] According to Archbishop Wojciech Polak, the head of Poland's Catholic Church, the document will also include data on the scale of priestly sex abuse in Poland.[85] However, it will not be made public until later in the year.[85]
Archdiocese of Poznań
In March 2002 the Archbishop of Poznań, Juliusz Paetz, stepped down following accusations, which he denied, of sexually molesting young priests.[86]
Diocese of Płock
In early 2007 allegations surfaced that former Bishop Stanislaw Wielgus (later very briefly Archbishop of Warsaw) was aware that several priests in his former diocese of Płock were sexually abusing minors.[87]
Diocese of Warsaw-Praga
On September 27, 2018, Warsaw-Praga Bishop Romuald Kamiński apologized to those who had been victims of sexual abuse in his Diocese.[85]
Slovenia [ edit ]
Archdiocese of Ljubljana
Franc Frantar - detained in 2006[88] for sexual abuse of up to 16 minors. He was later sentenced to five years in prison.[89] He initially escaped prosecution by escaping to Malawi to work there as a missionary, but returned to Slovenia after an Interpol warrant was issued.
Sweden [ edit ]
Diocese of Stockholm
One child was sexually abused by a priest several years in the late 1950s. When the child raised the issue at the time, the priest was protected and the abuse was kept quiet by the church. The victim finally reported the abuse to the Stockholm diocese in December 2005. The victim demanded a public apology from the church. In June 2007 Sweden's Catholic church made a public apology in two newspapers.[90]
United Kingdom [ edit ]
Abuse affairs have also affected several UK dioceses.
England [ edit ]
Archdiocese of Birmingham [ edit ]
Father Alexander Bede Walsh was sentenced to 22 years in prison in March 2012 for serious paedophile offenses[clarification needed] against boys. Walsh used religion to control his young victims, telling one boy that drinking alcohol would get him to heaven, and another believed that the abuse was the hand of God touching him, for example. One young victim was driven to a suicide attempt.[91][92][93][94] Walsh had a previous conviction for computer indecency.[95]
James Robinson worked in parishes in the English Midlands and when an accusation of child abuse happened in the 1980s, the Roman Catholic Church allowed him to escape to the United States though they knew about an "unwholesome relationship" the priest had with a boy. Robinson remained free for over 20 years till in the first decade of the 21st century he was extradited back to the UK to face charges. Robinson has received a 21-year prison sentence for multiple paedophile offenses.[96][97] The Roman Catholic Church paid Robinson up to £800 per month despite knowing the allegations against him.[98]
There are widespread accusations of physical abuse, emotional abuse and sexual abuse of unprotected children at Father Hudson Home, Coleshill, Warwickshire. There are even allegations that vulnerable children disappeared inexplicably. According to reports, priests and nuns were the perpetrators.[99][100]
Diocese of Shrewsbury [ edit ]
In December 2012, staff at the Christian Brothers school St Ambrose College, Altrincham, were implicated in a child sex abuse case involving teaching staff carrying out alleged acts of abuse both on and off school grounds, although no current staff are said to be involved.[101] More than fifty former pupils contacted police, either as victims of, or witnesses to, sexual abuse. The alleged sexual abuse, including molestation of children while corporal punishment was administered, stemmed from 1962 onwards and continued over four decades.[102]
Archdiocese of Liverpool [ edit ]
Archdiocese of Southwark [ edit ]
Diocese of Arundel and Brighton [ edit ]
In July 2000 the head of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales, Archbishop Cormac Murphy-O'Connor (later a cardinal), acknowledged he had made a mistake while he was Bishop of Arundel and Brighton in the 1980s by allowing a pedophile to carry on working as a priest. The priest at the center of the controversy, Father Michael Hill, was jailed in 1997 for abusing nine boys over a 20-year period.[86]
Diocese of Plymouth [ edit ]
William Manahan OSB, the Father Prior of a Buckfast Abbey Preparatory School was convicted of molesting boys in his school during the 1970s. [103]
In 2007, two former Benedictine monks from Buckfast Abbey were sentenced for sexually abusing boys.[104][105]
Benedictines [ edit ]
Belmont Abbey [ edit ]
In 2004 former priest John Kinsey of Belmont Abbey, Herefordshire, was sentenced at Worcester Crown Court for 5 years for sexual assaults on schoolboys in the mid-1980s.[106][107]
Buckfast Abbey School [ edit ]
In 2007 two former monks from Buckfast Abbey were sentenced for sexually abusing boys.[104][105]
Kiltegan Fathers [ edit ]
Jeremiah McGrath of the Kiltegan Fathers was convicted in Liverpool in May 2007 for facilitating abuse by Billy Adams. McGrath had given Adams £20,000 in 2005 and Adams had used the money to impress a 12-year-old girl who he then raped over a six-month period. McGrath denied knowing about the abuse but admitted having a brief sexual relationship with Adams. His appeal in January 2008 was dismissed.[108]
Diocese of Middlesbrough [ edit ]
James Carragher, principal of the former St. William's residential school, Market Weighton owned by the Diocese of Middlesbrough, was jailed for 14 years in 2004 for abusing boys in his care over a 20-year period.[109] The principal and the chaplain (Anthony McCallen) at the school were both given prison sentences in 2016. The sentencing judge said:
The victims were effectively trapped and there was no escape from you. They were confused, frightened and in turmoil. It has blighted their lives and each of you had contributed significantly to their misery. [Victims endured] severe long-term, continuing psychological harm as a result of what you did[110]
Over 200 former pupils at St William's say they were abused there. Many former pupils are suing for compensation. The school catered for boys with emotional and behavioural problems.[111]
Ealing Abbey, St Benedict's School [ edit ]
In 2009 a monk of Ealing Abbey and former headmaster of the junior department of its associated school, St Benedict's, was sentenced to eight years in prison for sexually abusing boys.[112]
Scotland [ edit ]
Child sex abuse has affected many different Scottish diocese and the credibility of the Church has been damaged. Some Catholics lost faith due to the scandal.[113]
One notable case was an unnamed woman many times locked in a darkened room by a sexually abusive nun who was her carer. Aged 8 she told a priest about the abuse during Confessions. After that the priest and the nun raped her together. There are allegations that at Fort Augustus Abbey there were physical beating, verbal humiliation and sexual abuse. Carlkemp prep school, a feeder school preparing younger pupils for Fort Augustus is also implicated. The Guardian and the BBC both reported complaints that the Scottish Church hierarchy did not cooperate fully over investigations of child sex abuse.[114] Alan Draper of Dundee University accused the Scottish Catholic Church of reluctance to expose priests leading double lives including those accused of sex abuse. Draper revealed bishops knew of 20 cases from 1985 to 1995 but refused to bring in experts. Draper wants relevant files given to a judicial enquiry.[115] Public offers of support from the Church for abuse victims are met with private lack of support and an adversarial attitude when legal action is involved. Draper alleges this contrasts with protection, therapy and financial help traditionally provided for abusers. Draper commented, "The latest statement makes no mention of assessing what support has been provided to survivors. It is window dressing yet again. They have learned nothing."[116]
Victims describe The McLellan Report into child sex abuse as a whitewash.[117] The McLellan Report fails to state which bishops and priests were responsible over decades of child sex abuse and in Scotland, which members of the hierarchy knew about abuse without acting, and ordered victims not to be supported. Some guilty priests will be given the job of introducing safeguards in their parishes while it is feared denial and corruption will continue in the Church.[118] Flaws in the procedures for addressing sexual abuse highlighted in the report include different rules and standards in different dioceses and lack of central guidance on sanctions, abuse victims being left out when central policies were drafted and disregarding United Nations definitions of abuse.[119] There was a culture of cover-up where words were not met with actions.[113][120]
Archdiocese of St Andrews and Edinburgh [ edit ]
Complaints were made that Cardinal Keith O'Brien was guilty of predatory sexual acts against various junior clerics. O'Brien admitted unspecified sexual misconduct.
Diocese of Motherwell [ edit ]
In 2016 Fr. John Farrell, Retired priest of the Diocese of Motherwell,[121] the last Head teacher at St Ninian's Orphanage, Falkland, Fife, was sentenced to five years imprisonment. His colleague Paul Kelly, a retired teacher from Portsmouth, was given ten years, both were convicted of the physical and sexual abuse of boys between the years 1979 and 1983. More than 100 charges involving 35 boys were made.[122] Farrell and Kelly were members of the Irish Christian Brothers when the crimes were committed at the orphanage which closed in 1983. According to The Times, it is believed this was the largest historical abuse case ever tried in Scotland.[123]
Wales [ edit ]
Archdiocese of Cardiff [ edit ]
North America [ edit ]
Canada [ edit ]
Archdiocese of St. John's
In the 1990s, criminal proceedings began against members of the Christian Brothers in Newfoundland.
Mexico [ edit ]
Fr. Marcial Maciel (1920–2008) founded the Legion of Christ, a Catholic order of priests originating in Mexico. Nine former seminarians of his order accused Maciel of molestation.[127] Maciel maintained his innocence of the accusations.
United States [ edit ]
Archdiocese of Anchorage
In 2007, the Society of Jesus made a $50 million payout to over 100 Inuit who alleged that they had been sexually abused. The settlement did not require them to admit molesting Inuit children, but accusations involved 13 or 14 priests who allegedly molested these children for 30 years.[128] In 2008, the Diocese of Fairbanks, a co-defendant in the case, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, claiming inability to pay the 140 plaintiffs filing claims against the diocese for alleged sexual abuse by priests or church workers during this period.[129][130][131]
Archdiocese of Boston
Allegations of sexual misconduct by priests of the Archdiocese of Boston, and following revelations of a cover-up by the Archbishop of Boston, Cardinal Bernard Francis Law, became known in 2004, causing Roman Catholics in other dioceses of the United States to investigate similar situations. Cardinal Law's actions prompted public scrutiny of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and the steps taken in response to past and current allegations of sexual misconduct by priests. The events in the Archdiocese of Boston became a national scandal.
Archdiocese of Chicago
Daniel McCormack, a self-confessed sexually abusive priest was sentenced to five years in prison for abusing five boys (8–12 years) in 2001.[132]
Diocese of Crookston
Rev. Joseph Palanivel Jeyapaul was charged with molesting two teenage girls at a Catholic church in Greenbush, Minnesota, a small rural town near the Canada–United States border. The abuse occurred in 2004, and charges were filed in 2006 and amended in 2007.[133] Without facing legal punishment, Jevapaul returned to his home diocese in Ootacamund, India, where today he works in the church’s diocesan office. A Roseau County, Minnesota attorney is seeking to extradite the priest from India in a criminal case involving one of the girls.[134] The Archbishop of Madras, India (Madras is now called "Chennai") has asked Jeyapaul to return to the US to face the charges.[135] Jevapaul has said that he will not fight extradition if the US seeks it.[136]
Diocese of Davenport
On 10 October 2006, the Diocese of Davenport filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.[137]
Archdiocese of Denver
In July 2008 the Archdiocese of Denver paid a settlement of $5.5 million to 18 claims of alleged sexual abuse perpetrated by two clerics between the years of 1954 and 1981.[138]
Archdiocese of Dubuque
In 2006 the Archdiocese settled a number of claims of sexual abuse, and the Archbishop offered a personal apology.[139]
Diocese of Fall River
Father James Porter was a Roman Catholic priest who was convicted of molesting 28 children;[140] He admitted sexually abusing at least 100 of both sexes over a period of 30 years, starting in the 1960s.[141] Bishop Sean O'Malley settled 101 abuse claims and initiated a zero-tolerance policy against sexual abuse. He also instituted one of the first comprehensive sexual abuse policies in the Roman Catholic Church.[142]
Diocese of Honolulu
Reverend Joseph Bukoski, III, SS.CC., Honolulu, Hawaii, a member of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary was canonically removed in 2003 as the pastor of Maria Lanakila Catholic Church in Lahaina by Bishop Francis X. DiLorenzo for allegations relating to sexual improprieties some 30 years earlier. Fr. Bukoski issued a written public apology to his victim on 12 November 2005.
Reverend Mr. James "Ron" Gonsalves, Wailuku, Hawaii, Gonsalves the administrator of Saint Ann Roman Catholic Church in Waihee, Maui, pleaded guilty on 17 May 2006 to several counts of sexual assault on a 12-year-old male. Bishop Clarence Richard Silva has permanently withdrawn his faculties and has initiated laicization proceedings against Deacon Gonsalves with the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
Archdiocese of Los Angeles
The Archdiocese of Los Angeles agreed to pay out 60 million dollars to settle 45 lawsuits it still faces over 450 other pending cases. According to the Associated Press, 22 priests were involved in the settlement with cases going back as far as the 1930s.[143] 20 million dollars of this was paid by the insurers of the archdiocese. The main administrative office of the archdiocese is due to be sold to cover the cost of these and future lawsuits. The archdiocese will settle about 500 cases for about $600 million.[144]
Diocese of Memphis
The Diocese of Memphis reached a $2 million settlement with a man who was abused as a boy by Father Juan Carlos Duran, a priest with a history of sexual misconduct with juveniles in St. Louis, Panama, and Bolivia.[145]
Archdiocese of Miami
Since 1966, the Archdiocese of Miami Insurance Programs have paid $26.1 million in settlement, legal, and counseling costs associated with sexual misconduct allegations made by minors involving priests, laity and religious brothers and sisters.[146]
Archdiocese of Milwaukee
A 2003 report on the sexual abuse of minors by clergy in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee revealed that allegations of sexually assaulting minors had been made against 58 ordained men.[citation needed] By early 2009, the Archdiocese of Milwaukee had spent approximately $26.5 million in attorney fees and settlements. Under Archbishop Timothy Dolan the archdiocese was able to avoid bankruptcy from lawsuits.[147]
A Wisconsin priest, the Rev. Lawrence C Murphy, who taught at the former St. John School for the Deaf in the Milwaukee suburb of St. Francis, Wisconsin from 1950 to 1974, allegedly molested more than 200 deaf boys. Several U.S. bishops warned the Vatican that failure to act on the matter could embarrass the church. Murphy was moved by then Milwaukee Archbishop William E Cousins to Superior, Wisconsin, a small city near Lake Superior, where he spent his final 24 years working with children in parishes, schools and a juvenile detention center. He died in 1998. As of March 2010, there were four outstanding lawsuits against the Archdiocese of Milwaukee in the case.[148][149]
Diocese of Oakland
In 1981, the former Rev. Stephen Kiesle was convicted for tying up and molesting two boys in a California church rectory.[150] From 1981 to 1985, Bishop John Stephen Cummins, who oversaw Kiesle, contacted the Vatican about laicizing him. Then-cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the future Pope Benedict XVI, responded by letter that the case needed more time, as it was "necessary to consider the good of the Universal Church" and "the detriment that granting the dispensation" could provoke among the faithful. In 1987, the Vatican laicized Kiesle. The letter was widely regarded as evidence of Ratzinger's role in blocking the removal of pedophile priests.[151][152] Vatican officials responded that that interpretation rested on a misreading of the letter, in which the issue was not whether Kiesle should be laicized but whether he should be granted the dispensation he had requested from the obligation of chastity. By refusing to grant such a dispensation right away in the Kiesle case, Ratzinger was actually being tough with an abuser, not lax.[153][154]
Archdiocese of Omaha
During his tenure as the Bishop of Helena, Montana, Archbishop Elden Francis Curtiss chose to reassign a priest who had been accused of pedophilia in 1959, later admitting that he had not properly examined the church's personnel file on the individual concerned. Curtiss faced similar criticism in 2001 in regard to a priest accused of accessing child pornography. Curtiss, it was alleged, had failed to bring the case to the attention of the authorities, and had chosen to send the priest for counseling and to reassign the priest, removing him from his high-school teaching position but reassigning him to a middle-school.[155]
Diocese of Orange, California
On 3 January 2005 Bishop Tod Brown of the Diocese of Orange apologized to 87 alleged victims of sexual abuse and announced a settlement of $100 million following two years of mediation.
Diocese of Palm Beach
Joseph Keith Symons resigned as ordinary in 1998 after admitting he molested five boys while he was a pastor.[156] Symons' successor, Anthony O'Connell, resigned in 2002, after admitting that he, too, had engaged in sexual abuse.
Catholic Church in Pennsylvania
Archdiocese of Philadelphia Main article: Sexual abuse scandal in the Catholic archdiocese of Philadelphia According to a 2005 investigation, while serving as assistant vicar for administration in 1996, Bishop Cistone was involved with silencing a nun who tried to alert parishioners at St. Gabriel parish about abuse by a priest. According to the report, there were several other instances of priest sexual abuse that Cistone was complicit in covering up.[157] In February 2011, Monsignor William Lynn, former secretary of the clergy for the Philadelphia Archdiocese, was charged with child endangerment, marking the first time that a high-ranking official has been charged since the eruption of sex abuse scandals nearly ten years prior.[158] Lynn was found by a grand jury to have placed pedophiles in posts involving contact with children, which led directly to the sexual assault of two boys. Three priests and one teacher face rape charges.
Diocese of Peoria
Coadjutor Bishop John J. Myers of Peoria was among the two-thirds of sitting bishops and acting diocese administrators that the Dallas Morning News found had allowed priests accused of sexual abuse to continue working.[159]
In 2005, Rev. Francis Engels pleaded guilty to molesting a Peoria altar boy on trips to Milwaukee in the early 1980s.[160]
Diocese of Phoenix
On 21 November 2005, Monsignor Dale Fushek of the Diocese of Phoenix was arrested and charged with 10 criminal misdemeanor counts related to alleged inappropriate sexual contact with teens and young adults.[161]
Archdiocese of Portland (Oregon)
The Archdiocese of Portland filed for Chapter 11 reorganization on 6 July 2004, hours before two abuse trials were set to begin.[citation needed] Portland became the first Catholic diocese to file for bankruptcy. An open letter to the archdiocese's parishioners explained the archbishop's motivation.[162]
Archdiocese of San Antonio
John Salazar was sentenced to life in prison for sexually assaulting an 18-year-old parishioner.[163]
Diocese of San Diego
On 27 February 2007, the Diocese of San Diego filed for Chapter 11 protection, hours before the first of about 150 lawsuits was due to be heard.[citation needed]
Diocese of Savannah
In October, 2009, the diocese of Savannah paid $4.24 million to settle a lawsuit which alleged that Lessard allowed a priest named Wayland Brown to work in the diocese when Lessard knew that Brown was a serial child molester who posed a danger to children.[164]
Diocese of Spokane
Under Bishop William S. Skylstad the Diocese of Spokane declared bankruptcy in December 2004. As part of its bankruptcy, the diocese has agreed to pay at least $48 million as compensation. This payout has to be agreed to by the victims and a judge before it will be made. According to federal bankruptcy judge, Gregg W. Zive, money for the settlement would come from insurance companies, the sale of church property, contributions from Catholic groups and from the diocese's parishes.[165]
Diocese of Stockton
Fr. Oliver O'Grady molested multiple children in Stockton.[166] The 2006 documentary Deliver Us from Evil is based on accusations that Bishop Roger Mahony knew that Oliver O'Grady was an active pedophile.[167]
Diocese of Tucson
The Diocese of Tucson filed for bankruptcy in September, 2004. It reached an agreement with plaintiffs, which the bankruptcy judge approved on 11 June 2005, specifying terms that included allowing the diocese reorganization to continue in return for a $22.2 million settlement.[168]
Bishop Michael J. Bransfield resigned, effective immediately, in September 2018 over unspecified allegations of sexual misconduct.[169]
Oceania [ edit ]
Australia [ edit ]
Archdiocese of Sydney
Ross Murrin: Catholic brother pleaded guilty to sexually abusing eight male students.[170]
Archdiocese of Melbourne
There were several cases of sexual abuse in the Melbourne Archdiocese.
Michael Charles Glennon: former diocesan priest, sentenced to at least 15 years in jail for sexually abusing four Aboriginal boys between 1984 and 1991. [171]
Gerry Francis Ridsdale: convicted in 1994, he pleaded guilty on 46 sexual offenses. [172]
Wilfred James Baker: sentenced to four years in prison (parole after 2 years) for crimes involving eight boys. [173]
David Daniel: sentenced to six years' jail, with parole after 4½ years, for molesting four boys, a girl and an adult male. [174]
Paul Pavlou: convicted on 29 June 2009 of committing an indecent act with a child under 16 and of being knowingly in possession of child pornography. He was sentenced to an 18-month jail sentence suspended for 24 months and to a two-year community based order. He was registered on the Sex Offenders Register for 15 years. These offences occurred in 2005–2006 while he was the priest at Healesville in the Archdiocese of Melbourne. [175]
Francis Klep SDB: convicted of indecent assault in 1994, and charged with an additional five counts. He moved to Samoa, but in 2004 the Samoan government made moves to deport him from the country after becoming aware of the previous conviction and charges.[176]
New Zealand [ edit ]
The abuse scandal at the Marylands School is an important chapter in the clerical abuse affairs in New Zealand but other cases have also emerged.
South America [ edit ]
Argentina [ edit ]
Julio Grassi was found guilty (by a three-judge panel of the Criminal Court Oral 1 Morón) of one count of sexual abuse and one count of corrupting a minor in the "Happy Children’s Foundation".[177]
Archdiocese of Santa Fe de la Vera Cruz
Allegations of sexual abuse by Archbishop Edgardo Storni on 47 young seminarists surfaced in 1994, and were published in 2000.[178] This led to a victim from a 1992 incident coming forward, followed by a conviction for eight years in December 2009.[179]
Brazil [ edit ]
Diocese of Anápolis
Fr. Tarcísio Tadeu Spricigo was arrested after his checklist for choosing victims was found and given to police. He had molested children in at least five parishes. [180] [181] [182] The case was one of those featured in an episode of the BBC's Panorama documentary series titled Sex Crimes and the Vatican and became an example of the Vatican's policies regarding pedophile priests. [183] In November 2005 he was sentenced to a prison term of over 14 years. [184] [185]
The case was one of those featured in an episode of the BBC's documentary series titled and became an example of the Vatican's policies regarding pedophile priests. In November 2005 he was sentenced to a prison term of over 14 years. Fr. Felix Barbosa Carreiro was arrested and charged with child sexual abuse in the northeastern state of Maranhão after police seized him in a hotel room with four teenage boys.[186]
Archdiocese of Penedo
In 2010 Authorities in Brazil began an investigation into three priests after a video allegedly showing a priest sexually abusing an altar boy was broadcast on the SBT television station.[187]
Chile [ edit ]
Archdiocese of Santiago
José Andrés Aguirre Ovalle, aka "Cura Tato", was found guilty of nine sexual abuse charges by the highest court of this country. In 2004 Aguirre was sentenced to 12 years in jail. At the beginning of this trial, the Catholic Church was sentenced to pay 50 million in damages to the victims, but then this sentence was revoked by the supreme court. [188]
Ricardo Muñoz Quinteros, priest of Melipilla, was charged in 2010 with eight cases of sexually abusing minors, including his own daughter. Quinteros is also being investigated for producing pornographic material involving children. [189]
In 2010, the Catholic Church began an investigation into sexual abuse allegedly committed by Fr. Fernando Karadima, after four people came forward with allegations of abuse. [190] He was found guilty and convicted by the Vatican in 18 February 2011. He was sentenced to a life of prayer and penitence, banned from any contact with his ex parishioners and forbidden to perform any priestly ministry in public or private except for mass by himself. Karadima has not acknowledged any wrongdoing. [191] On September 28, 2018, Pope Francis issued a communique ordering the defrocking of Karadima [192] [193]
He was found guilty and convicted by the Vatican in 18 February 2011. He was sentenced to a life of prayer and penitence, banned from any contact with his ex parishioners and forbidden to perform any priestly ministry in public or private except for mass by himself. Karadima has not acknowledged any wrongdoing. On September 28, 2018, Pope Francis issued a communique ordering the defrocking of Karadima In 2018, a lawsuit was filed against the Archdiocese of Santiago for allegations of covering up sex abuse committed by Karadima[194]
Diocese of Valparaíso
Eduardo Olivares Martínez, was found guilty of a five sexual abuse against underprivileged minors. In 2006 was sentenced to 3 years in jail and to pay 15 million pesos in damages. [195]
In 2010, Juan Henríquez Zapata was indicted for using minors for sex services.[196]
Diocese of Rancagua
Jorge Galaz Espinoza, former Director of El Pequeño Cottolengo, was found guilty of repeated violations against two mentally disabled minors. In 2005 Galaz was sentenced to 15 years in jail.
Diocese of Punta Arenas
Jaime Low Cabezas, was found guilty of a sexual abuse against a 15-year-old minor. In 2009 Low was sentenced to 3 years in jail.
Víctor Hugo Carrera, was found guilty of a sexual abuse against one underprivileged minor. In 2005 Carrera was sentenced to 541 days in jail and to pay 2 million pesos in damages to the family of the victim. The case involved the bishop of the diocese, who was accused of protecting Carrera and facilitating his escape to Bolivia, where he lived for two years.[197]
Marist Brothers Education Facilities
Cristián Precht Bañados, was suspended from ministry from 2012-2017 after he was found guilty of sexually abusing minors and vulnerable adults. Was later defrocked by Pope Francis in 2018 [198]
Manuel Ortega, was found guilty of molesting boys.[198] In 2012 Ortega was sentenced to 32 years in prison.[199] Died in 2015[198]
Peru [ edit ]
In 2007, Daniel Bernardo Beltrán Murguía Ward, a 42-year-old Sodalitium Christianae Vitae (SCV) consecrated layman was found by the National Police in a hostel in Cercado de Lima with a 12-year-old boy, of whom he was taking sexually explicit pictures. The boy was initially lured by Murguía Ward in Miraflores, where he was given Pokémon figures in exchange for photos of his intimate parts. When Murguía Ward was caught, he had paid the boy 20 soles ($7 USD) for his services in the hostel. The police have reported that pictures of two other boys were also found on Murguía Ward's camera and that the boy has claimed he received oral sex from Murguía Ward. These charges have been denied by the accused. Murguía Ward has since been removed from the SCV for his alleged misconduct.[200][201][202]
See also [ edit ] |
The short video included here suddenly appeared on Facebook Monday evening, shortly after the events occurred.
The cell phone footage shows about 25 or 30 young people involved in a street brawl…in traffic..on Henry Johnson Boulevard near the Livingston Avenue intersection, It reportedly occurred around 5:20 in the afternoon as people were headed home from work. You can see the people involved in the fight did not seem concerned about the traffic, where they were, or if anyone were videotaping the nonsense. Because of the time of day, it’s probable this was not an after school fracas. The battle involves males and females. In fact, it seems the young women were the most rambunctious, violently pulling hair and knocking their targets off their feet onto the pavement. The person who posted this video wrote on Facebook that for the most part motorists travelling through the fight, did nothing. One woman driver got out, it’s reported, but had no luck in quelling the public and violent outburst.
As an African American man of my generation, seeing this kind of behaviour is troubling, and if I must say, a bit embarrassing. In my years covering the City of Albany for CBS 6, I reported on many after school eruptions in which bands of black youth would break into battles on the street in broad daylight. In those days, the late 90’s and early 2000’s, the Albany School District initially said ‘not on my turf’ and kept moving. Eventually school administrators acknowledged what was going on ‘in’ school was propelling the after school fights. I saw one street battle that continued even with he presence of police on horseback. Some students were apprehended and detained that day. Eventually, with a severely heightened police presence, the melees dwindled down.
What happened Monday on that Albany street is a puzzle at this moment. It could have been a girl vs. girl neighborhood battle gone ballistic. Facebook comments connected to the link I saw produced deep concern amoung people living in that section of the city. The Albany Police were called to the scene but apparently they could not control the crowd. One person who claims she witnessed this first hand said a cop told her ‘what do you want me to do, call the National Guard?’
This kind of behavior in the inner city is difficult. When it happens in student neighborhoods, on days like the so-called ‘kegs and eggs’ when cars are smashed and turned over, it gets the attention of City Hall. Big time. |
CLOSE A new study by a Northwestern University neurobiologist shows the effects of jet lag on professional baseball players. USA TODAY Sports
A Mariners pitcher delivers a pitch. (Photo11: Jennifer Buchanan, USA TODAY Sports)
A new study finds that jet lag takes a profound toll on pro baseball teams, especially those playing at home rather than on the road. Pitchers who have recently crossed multiple time zones perform noticeably worse than those who stayed put, and the cumulative damage is not trivial, researchers report in Monday’s Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The impact “is large enough to essentially negate the home-field advantage,” says study co-author Ravi Allada, a neurobiologist at Northwestern University and a Chicago Cubs fan. He and his colleagues found that jet lag affects both home and away teams, “suggesting it was a real effect, and significant in terms of the size of that effect.”
Athletes have long blamed jet lag for poor performance. World-champion sprinter Maurice Greene, for example, said it contributed to losses in European and Japanese races in the early 2000s. “My body feels asleep,” Greene told reporters.
Baseball players are not immune, as previous research has shown, and Allada and his colleagues wanted to pinpoint the precise skills affected by jet lag. So the researchers examined more than 45,000 major-league games played from 1992 to 2011, using statistical methods to disentangle the effect of jet lag vs. the effect of the reality that “some teams are really good … and other teams are not so good. I won’t name them,” Allada says.
Baserunning aggression - or lack thereof - was an area that particularly jumped out.
The results showed that jet-lagged players running the bases in their home stadiums tended to steal fewer bases and register fewer doubles. Jet lag might erode decision-making, aggressiveness or some other trait involved in a batter’s determination to try to round an extra base, Allada says.
Jet-lagged batters playing at someone else’s stadium, however, didn’t have the same problem. It’s not clear why, but lifestyle may be the culprit. When players fly home, they often return to families and long to-do lists, both potential enemies of sleep.
The most powerful effect of jet lag, though, afflicts home and away teams alike. Jet-lagged pitchers give up more home runs than pitchers who aren’t struggling to adjust to multiple time-zone shifts, the study shows. Either way, teams may want to more strongly consider sending their pitchers to a distant game site early to give them time to adjust, Allada says.
The new analysis is “a stand-out study” for dissecting exactly how jet lag affects performance, says W. Chris Winter, a neurologist in Charlottesville, Va., who works with several sports teams and has written a forthcoming book about sleep problems. The finding that pitching is especially affected makes sense to Winter.
“Throwing a 96-mph fastball exactly where you want is probably the toughest thing going on out there on the field, outside of that batter trying to hit it,” he says.
Teams are already working to minimize the effects of jet lag. And the league is taking notice too: Major League Baseball's new collective bargaining agreement calls for more day games played on so-called getaway days beginning in 2018, allowing players to arrive sooner in their next city. |
Allen Campbell works as the personal chef for Tom Brady, Gisele Bundchen, and their children. —Courtesy of Allen Campbell
Allen Campbell has never been anything but a chef. After graduating from Newbury College, the Chelmsford native went on to stints at the Boston Harbor Hotel, the Bay Tower Room, and Mistral. While living in Miami—where he worked at the Gansevoort Hotel—Campbell became obsessed with plant-based diets.
Miami also is where he met his current employers: Tom Brady and Gisele Bundchen.
Ahead, Campbell talks about what it’s like to feed New England’s superhero quarterback and his family, the secret ingredient in his raw vegan version of fruit roll-ups, and the many ingredients he won’t ever touch.
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1. This seems like a dream job for a private chef. How did you end up in this role?
Campbell: Tom and Gisele—they were my first family. I had never been a private chef. I always worked in restaurants and hotels.
Around the time I met them, I had started really focusing on plant-based diets, because that’s where all the nutrition is. Their previous chef came from a very similar perspective, and they wanted something similar to their old chef. Even from the start, it was just such a great match between what they wanted and my philosophy.
In the beginning, I just picked their brains as much as I could. I was trying to pull feedback from them, saying “You need to tell me if something isn’t good.’’ And then I just started making food. They were just really laid back—that’s how they are.
2. You mentioned that your philosophy was a great match with what they were looking for in a chef. How would you describe your philosophy as a chef?
Campbell: My philosophy starts in my own life, and with my own lifestyle and eating habits. I make conscious decisions to buy local and organic, and to stay away from GMOs, and to think about the future of the planet and the future of humans.
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I took a plant-based nutrition course earlier this year. It was an online course through Cornell, and it’s taught by a doctor named T. Colin Campbell, who’s behind “The China Study.’’
My philosophy is that a plant-based diet has the power to reverse and prevent disease.
Campbell prepares a meal in the chef’s kitchen at Brady and Bundchen’s Brookline home. —Courtesy of Allen Campbell
3. How does that philosophy translate in terms of what you cook for Tom, Gisele, and the kids?
Campbell: So, 80 percent of what they eat is vegetables. [I buy] the freshest vegetables. If it’s not organic, I don’t use it. And whole grains: brown rice, quinoa, millet, beans. The other 20 percent is lean meats: grass-fed organic steak, duck every now and then, and chicken. As for fish, I mostly cook wild salmon.
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It’s very different than a traditional American diet. But if you just eat sugar and carbs—which a lot of people do—your body is so acidic, and that causes disease. Tom recently outed Frosted Flakes and Coca-Cola on WEEI. I love that he did that. Sugar is the death of people.
4. What ingredients don’t you use?
Campbell: No white sugar. No white flour. No MSG. I’ll use raw olive oil, but I never cook with olive oil. I only cook with coconut oil. Fats like canola oil turn into trans fats. … I use Himalayan pink salt as the sodium. I never use iodized salt.
[Tom] doesn’t eat nightshades, because they’re not anti-inflammatory. So no tomatoes, peppers, mushrooms, or eggplants. Tomatoes trickle in every now and then, but just maybe once a month. I’m very cautious about tomatoes. They cause inflammation.
What else? No coffee. No caffeine. No fungus. No dairy.
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The kids eat fruit. Tom, not so much. He will eat bananas in a smoothie. But otherwise, he prefers not to eat fruits.
Maki style vegetable sushi prepared by Campbell for Tom & Gisele’s children. —Courtesy of Allen Campbell
5. Do the kids eat the same things Tom and Gisele eat?
Campbell: Yeah, I mean pretty much. Vivi was only nine months when I started, so I gave her first food. And 90 percent of the time they all eat the same thing. I cook for the kids, but Gisele makes Benny’s lunch to take to school. She packs that herself.
Yesterday I made veggie sushi for the kids. I’ve been doing that a lot lately. It’s brown rice, avocado, carrot, and cucumber. The kids like [it] maki-style, so the rice is on the outside. And I do it with a ponzu sauce, which is uzu and tamari. [I use] tamari because we stick to gluten free for everything.
For snacks, I make fruit rolls from bananas, pineapple, and spirulina. Spirulina is an algae. It’s a super fruit. I dehydrate it. I dehydrate a lot of things. I have three dehydrators in their kitchen. I also make raw granola and raw chocolate chip cookies.
6. What are some recent meals you’ve cooked for the family?
Campbell: I’m all about serving meals in bowls. I’ve just did this quinoa dish with wilted greens. I use kale or Swiss chard or beet greens. I add garlic, toasted in coconut oil. And then some toasted almonds, or this cashew sauce with lime curry, lemongrass, and a little bit of ginger. That’s just comfort food for them.
I’ll do a menu a day or two in advance for the whole week so they can see what [I’m making]. And I keep [the menu] in the kitchen on the counter somewhere, but I just started doing that. They don’t really ask for specific things. They really are laid back.
Lentil buckwheat footballs, prepared as the Patriots season got underway this fall. —Courtesy of Allen Campbell.
7. How different are Tom’s meals before games compared to what he normally eats?
Campbell: I always have it in mind, if [Tom] has a game—but it’s never dictating what I would cook. It’s really not different. The only real difference [in terms of the kinds of things I cook] is seasonal. In the wintertime, it’s going to be more red meat and more soups and root vegetables. And in the summer, they eat lighter, so I’ll make raw lasagna and more salads.
8. Do you do the grocery shopping? Where do you shop?
Campbell: I do all the shopping. In a perfect world, I would go to only farmers’ markets. But I do a lot of shopping at Whole Foods, too. And I buy meats at The Butcher Shop in the South End—Barbara Lynch’s place. And Siena Farms. I live in SOWA, so I hit those guys at the farmers’ market on Sunday.
Campbell shopping for produce at Siena Farms in Boston’s South End neighborhood. —Jean Nagy / Boston.com
9. What’s an average workday like for you?
Campbell: So, it varies depending on whether [Tom and Gisele] are home. I used to travel with them sometimes. Not so much now. If they’re gone for a long period of time, I’ll contact wherever they’re staying and give the resort or whoever the lowdown on what they like to eat. And when they aren’t around, I have other clients and I consult at restaurants.
If they’re around, I get up, and then I meditate sometimes. I do some yoga, then I hit the gym. Depending on the day, I sometimes shop before I go over [to their house]. So I get to their house at maybe 11 and serve lunch at 12:30. Then I will usually shop again, and cook and then serve dinner between 5:30 and 6. Then I leave by 7.
10. What it’s like to be feeding two people whose bodies are so crucial to their crafts?
Campbell: I think that’s what makes [the job] so gratifying for me. If I was cooking for anyone else who didn’t respect and appreciate my food as much as they did, it wouldn’t be as gratifying for me. I think that’s what makes me happy at the end of the day. I get to really do what I want, and they get to benefit.
Interested in learning more about what goes on behind the scenes with Tom and Gisele? Check out this profile of one of Brady’s closest confidantes.
Know someone in Boston who you’d like to see featured in a future Q&A? Email me at [email protected]. |
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Aug. 13, 2016, 2:28 PM GMT / Updated Aug. 14, 2016, 1:24 AM GMT By Elizabeth Chuck
At least three people are dead and more than 1,000 others had to be rescued by boat, high-water vehicles and by air from "unprecedented, historic" floods swamping Louisiana, the governor and authorities said Saturday.
The rains deluged a 911 call center in one parish, left at least one person missing, and prompted Gov. John Bel Edwards to declare a state of emergency Friday.
On Saturday authorities in St. Helena Parish on Saturday rescued a man hanging on to a tree in floodwaters but found the body of his wife upstream, the sheriff's office said. More rain was forecast for parts of Louisiana on Saturday.
"This is certainly not over. The rain continues to fall in the areas that have been most impacted already. This is a very slow-moving, low pressure system," Edwards said at a news conference. "Because these are record floods, we don't know how wide the water is going to get in these areas."
Flash flood warnings were in effect again Saturday for portions of south-central Louisiana and southwest Mississippi, with an additional two to five inches of rain possible, meteorologists said. Altogether in the next 24 hours, as much as five to eight inches of rain could fall on already soggy areas of south-central Louisiana, according to The Weather Channel.
"It's going to get a whole lot worse before it gets better," Weather.com meteorologist Tom Moore said.
In Livingston Parish, where more than 20 inches of rain fell in 24 hours, a 911 communications center flooded — forcing authorities to relocate emergency operations. The call center was back up and running with little interruption, officials said.
More than 169,000 sandbags were delivered to the parish. Residents were urged to evacuate.
"We need you to help us get you out. This is not a mandatory evacuation, but it's absolutely urgent," Livingston Parish President Layton Ricks said at a news conference Saturday. "This is the worst event I have ever seen."
Despite being inundated, no residents in the parish had been killed by the water, Ricks said.
"We need you to help us get you out. This is not a mandatory evacuation, but it's absolutely urgent."
But Livingston Parish Sheriff Jason Ard said rescue personnel were having trouble reaching some residents.
"We're going to come for you. We won't forget about you," Ard, wearing knee-high boots, told reporters Saturday morning. But he emphasized the importance of getting to higher ground.
"If you even think you need to evacuate, evacuate. Get out of there," he said.
There were three deaths Friday and Saturday elsewhere in the state. At least one man remained missing.
In St. Helena Parish, sheriff's officials rescued a man clinging to a tree in flood waters by State Highway 1045 and the Tickfaw River Saturday afternoon, and found the body of the man's wife further upstream, the sheriff's office said.
Also in St. Helena Parish, the body of Samuel Muse, 54, of Greensburg, was found Friday evening after his Chevy pickup truck was swept off Louisiana State Highway 10, officials said. His truck was still underwater as of Saturday.
Authorities said Muse was one of several people they were attempting to rescue off the highway, but they weren't able to get to him in time. Searchers continued to look for a man reported missing near Highway 10 in Darlington, the sheriff's office said.
The body of William Mayfield, 68, was recovered from a flooded ditch in the city of Zachary Friday after he slipped and drowned, according to the East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff's Office.
The National Guard was sent to north-central Louisiana Friday to rescue residents trapped in their homes. Several children were rescued in Zachary after their bus swerved off the road and landed in a ditch with at least four feet of water, the Baton Rouge Advocate reported. No one was hurt.
By Saturday, the number of people who had been rescued from their homes and cars — and in some cases, from trees they were clinging to — was "well over 1,000," Gov. Edwards said. More than 100 pets had also been rescued.
Both the Comite River near Baton Rouge and the Amite River near Denham Springs, east of the state capital, were forecast to set record crests over the weekend. As of Friday at 9 a.m., the Tickfaw River, on the Mississippi border, was already at its highest level ever recorded.
Images on social media showed roads awash in floodwaters.
Even the governor was not immune from the rains. He and his family were forced to relocate after the basement of the Louisiana Governor's Mansion in Baton Rouge flooded, said spokesman Richard Carbo.
Floodwaters inundate the Louisiana Governor's Mansion in Baton Rouge. The basement of the mansion has flooded and the governor's family was relocated to another place to live until the situation is resolved, officials said. Louisiana Governor's Office
Meanwhile, in Mississippi, more than 50 people were taking refuge in a shelter after their homes in Crosby were deluged after 10 inches of rain fell.
"We woke up and the water kept on coming," Leroy Hansford, 62, of Gloster, Mississippi, told The Associated Press. "It came up to my waist." |
Jury finds Vonore lesbian couple intentionally set fire to home, claimed it was hate crime Copyright by WATE - All rights reserved Video
VONORE (WATE) - The community rallied behind a same-sex couple after their home burned to the ground, but in a twist, a jury found the couple intentionally set fire to their house.
After five days, a jury found Carol Anne and Laura Stutte deliberately set fire to their home, blaming the fire on their neighbor. On May 13, 2011, the Stutte's insurance company filed the lawsuit in federal court saying they found evidence the couple deliberately set fire to their property and claimed the insurance money.
In September of 2010, the Stuttes said the fire was a hate crime after the word "queer" was spray painted on their garage. They filed a lawsuit claiming their neighbor, Janice Millsaps, harassed them and even used the same derogatory word in the months leading up to the fire. They say they felt like they were targeted because they were lesibans. Millsaps filed a counter lawsuit against the couple, denying she harassed the couple or set the fire. |
US President Barack Obama whas elcomed the imminent start of talks between Israel and the Palestinians, but urged both sides to approach them with honesty.
"The most difficult work of these negotiations is ahead, and I am hopeful that both the Israelis and Palestinians will approach these talks in good faith," he said on Monday.
Obama thanked his own top diplomat, Secretary of State John Kerry, for organising the talks, which were to begin later Monday in Washington with an initial exchange between top negotiators.
Israel's chief negotiator, Tzipi Livni, speaks while at the UN
"I am pleased that Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Abbas have accepted Secretary Kerry's invitation to formally resume direct final status negotiations and have sent senior negotiating teams to Washington for the first round of meetings," Obama said.
"This is a promising step forward, though hard work and hard choices remain ahead."
Israeli and Palestinian teams arrived in Washington earlier on Monday for preliminary talks towards a formal re-opening of negotiations after years of stalemate.
US Secretary of State John Kerry held a press conference in which he named Martin Indyk, the former US ambassador to Israeli, as the new Middle East peace envoy.
Indyk is a veteran of US involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
He was a senior official in the Clinton administration, which oversaw a failed summit in 2000 after which violence erupted in Israel and Palestinian territories.
'Difficult process'
Kerry also said that many difficult choices lie ahead during the talks and that he would seek to establish "reasonable compromises" between the two sides.
"It is no secret this is a difficult process. If it were easy, it would have happened a long time ago," Kerry said.
"It is no secret, therefore, that many difficult choices lie ahead for the negotiators and for the leaders as we seek reasonable compromises on tough, complicated, emotional and symbolic issues," Kerry told reporters.
Gill Hoffman, political correspondent for The Jerusalem Post, told Al Jazeera, "We've seen over the last few months Netanyahu is sounding more like Livni, taking a more dovish approach."
"Israel has already gone far [to get to the table], it already withdrew from every inch of the Gaza Strip."
Al Jazeera's Rosiland Jordan, reporting from Washington, said Indyk has been involved in previous talks, and someone "both the Israelis and Palestinians trust."
"Both sides are willing to give Indyk a chance to push them for the long term prospect of peace for their people," our correspondent said.
"Many of the players taking part are well known to each other."
The Israelis will be represented by Livni and Yitzhak Molcho, and the Palestinians will be represented by chief negotiator Saeb Erekat and Mohammad Shtayyeh.
Kerry has long seen the talks as a top priority as he believes without a solution, peace in the wider region cannot be restored.
Israel's chief negotiator Tzipi Livni said early on Monday as she left for Washington that talks would be complex and that she was leaving "cautiously but also with hope".
Palestinian negotiators also departed after the Israeli cabinet acceded to Palestinian demands and agreed to release 104 Palestinian prisoners, some of whom have been jailed for decades.
The Israeli president, Shimon Peres, praised the resumption of talks, describing it as a "special day".
"The Middle East is in a stormy situation. We hope the Middle East will overcome its storm and land in a port of peace," he said while on a visit to Latvia.
Terms of talks
On Monday, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas sought to lay out his vision for the talks, asserting that no Israeli settlers or border forces should be allowed to remain in a future Palestinian state, and reiterated the Palestinian position that the 1967 borders were non-negotiable.
Abbas's firm statements on Monday appeared to challenge mediator John Kerry's hopes that the terms of the talks be kept secret.
“In a final solution, we would not see the presence of a single Israeli - civilian or soldier - on our lands,” Abbas told Egyptian journalists in Cairo where he met Egypt's interim president Adli Mansour.
“An international, multinational presence like in Sinai, Lebanon and Syria - we are with that,” he said, referring to United Nations peacekeeping operations in those places.
Israel has previously said it wants to maintain a military presence in the occupied West Bank at the border with Jordan to prevent any influx of weapons that could be used against it.
On the future of Jewish settlements on the West Bank and the status of Jerusalem - among the most contentious issues facing the two sides - Abbas appeared firm in his stance.
“We've already made all the necessary concessions," he said. “East Jerusalem is the capital of the state of Palestine ...if there were and must be some kind of small exchange [of land] equal in size and value, we are ready to discuss this - no more, no less,” he said. |
SOCHI, Russia (Reuters) - The first warning of the problems that eventually swept away Irina Vorochkova’s house near Russia’s Olympic city of Sochi came when the garden began shifting, then the ground slid away downhill towards a river.
The Olympic rings are seen in front of the airport of Sochi, the host city for the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics April 22, 2013. REUTERS/Alexander Demianchuk
As builders worked feverishly to get the Black Sea resort ready for winter games so closely tied to President Vladimir Putin’s legacy, they failed to notice the effects their work was having on the village below.
Until the walls of Vorochkova’s two-storey home fell. Tell-tale cracks snaked through neighboring houses.
The 58-year-old housewife now lives in an aluminum shack and is fighting a legal battle for compensation over damage she blames on Olympic subcontractors. Other villages near Sochi offer similar complaints of ruined homes, illegal landfills and broken promises that their lives would not be poisoned by construction.
“It started slowly with little things, like the poles for the clothesline were not quite in the same place, the borders of the garden had moved. Then the front of my house fell off,” she said.
Putin is expected to spend more than $50 billion to show off Russia’s modern face at the Games in Sochi, a Black Sea resort on the edge of the Caucasus Mountains. Moscow promised to set “new environmental standards” in Olympic construction.
Complaints about construction, along with international concerns about gay rights and security, threaten Putin’s efforts to improve Russia’s image through the games.
The Sochi 2014 organizing committee says construction has minimized harmful carbon emissions, and companies carrying out construction say they are sticking to their promises to meet international standards in protecting the environment.
“The air and water in Sochi have become cleaner than in December 2007,” Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Kozak said this month, praising the modernization of local transport and environmental protection work.
But some ecologists say the damage is only the beginning and that construction may have put the region in the path of potential ecological disasters, including poisoned drinking water and flooding.
DUST CLOUD
In the village of Akhshtyr, a few kilometers up the road from Chereshnya, the wells used by villagers for centuries have dried up since Russian Railways started digging a quarry in the adjacent foothills of the Caucasus Mountains.
The quarries mined by Russian Railways, a huge state company run by Putin’s long-time ally and friend Vladimir Yakunin, have provided rock used in the construction of Olympic venues.
Trucks rumble past every few minutes, carrying stones to the construction sites below.
One villager, Alexander Koropov, said that when construction started, local authorities gathered villagers to explain that they would soon be linked into a natural gas grid and a regional water system, delivering modern utilities.
“We thought they would bring us civilization, development, but instead we are now living worse than the Indians did on American reservations 200 years ago,” said Koropov, standing in the orchard where he used to grow persimmons to sell.
The trucks constantly haul off the rock. Villagers say the trucks bring in trash from other construction sites, dumping it in the gorge within walking distance.
A dust cloud covers the village.
Russian Railways says it paid a fine for the illegal dumping and has since stopped the practice, though residents say trucks continue to haul trash into the landfill.
Since the wells dried up, the company has delivered almost daily barrels of water to Akhshtyr residents.
“I don’t even care that they didn’t keep their promises. It’s the fact that they’ve made this place unlivable now,” said Koropov.
OLYMPIC WASTE
While the trash itself poses no direct danger, rainwater flowing into the ground and into the nearby Mzymta River, which is used by Sochi residents for drinking water, is at risk of being contaminated by the waste, say local environmentalists.
“When the substances accumulate (in the water supply), it can have a toxic effect, because no one knows exactly what those materials in the landfill are comprised of, where they have come from,” said Yulia Naberezhnaya, spokeswoman for the Russian Geographical Society in Sochi.
Naberezhnaya is one of many Sochi environmental activists who New York-based Human Rights Watch says have been harassed over her work.
Other environmental activists have had criminal cases opened against them, including Suren Gazaryan, who received asylum in Estonia after facing criminal accusations which he called politically motivated.
In 2008, months after Putin won the right to hold the Games in Sochi, a U.N. environmental group paid a visit to the area.
After meeting government ministers, Olympic contractor Olympstroy and local non-governmental groups, the delegation concluded the Olympic project was aimed at economic development “in which environmental aspects play only a minor role”.
“Any sustained efforts to improve the environmental performance will probably have only a minor effect compared to the environmental damage that will be inflicted due to the overall development related to the Games,” said the United Nations Environmental Programme in a mission report.
In the village of Kudepsta, the territory of a former Soviet collective farm have been turned into the factory grounds for several cement producers for Olympic construction. Landfills for construction waste also dot the grounds.
Rubber boots and orange construction helmets lie half-buried in the ground.
“Of all the people who work and have businesses on this land, no one has documents allowing them to work here. Neither the drivers who deliver the cement out nor the ones who bring the trash in,” said Natalya Vorobyova, who has led several pickets outside the grounds of the old collective farm.
“EMERGENCY SITUATION”
Kudepsta, like many other down-river villages, lies around the Imeretinsky lowlands where rain and melted snow drain into the Black Sea through a series of rivers and swamplands.
According to Russian data, Sochi receives 1.7 meters of rainfall every year, more than anywhere else in the country apart from a chain of islands near Japan.
Once a stopping place for migrating birds, much of that area has been turned into Olympic venues, including the Fisht Stadium, where the Games’ opening and closing ceremonies will be held.
Environmental experts say that Olympic construction which has consisted of pouring soil into lowland swamps helped cause the flooding that created a state of emergency in the area in September and could increase the risk for more flooding.
“Those rains were a test to see how prepared we were for a relatively normal occurrence. And it showed the extent to which our Olympic construction failed after getting rid of old drainage systems and installing new ones that don’t work,” said Valery Suchkov, a lawyer specializing in environmental law.
Russian businessman Oleg Deripaska’s company Transstroy was responsible for much of the work to create a foundation for the Olympic venues.
A spokeswoman for the company, Yelena Stakhiyeva, said Transstroy had fulfilled its obligations but that another company had been subcontracted to build the drainage system.
Months after the flooding, residents complain that the ground even on a sunny day is still damp.
“The ground never really dries, it’s been wet for months,” said Kudepsta resident Alexander Tarasovich, poking his boot in to the soft, black dirt.
For most residents, they see the attention that the Olympics will bring as a final chance to be heard, but some barely have the strength left to fight.
“I’m just tired, it’s too much,” says Vorochkova, with tears in her eyes, closing the door to her aluminum shack that sits across from the ruin of her old house.
“All I want to do is sleep,” she said. |
Most people don't like Republicans or their policies.
However, Democrats still haven't given people reason to vote.
A Washington Post-ABC News poll offers conflicting forecasts for the 2018 midterm elections, with voters clearly preferring Democrats in control of Congress to check President Trump even as Republicans appear more motivated to show up at the polls.
This poll actually understates how much the Democratic Party has failed to inspire it's voters. For a true measurement you'll need to look at this poll.
An icitizen survey released Monday found that most Democrats — 60 percent — were likely to consider voting for a third-party presidential candidate in three years, compared with just 29 percent of Republicans.
Among unaffiliated voters, the figure was 76 percent.
...
“With news of a petition to ‘Draft Bernie [Sanders] For President,’ many groups are looking to create a new party and make a run in 2020,” said the icitizen analysis.
The poll had good news for Berniecrats, Libertarians and Greens: 70 percent of those surveyed agreed that third parties are necessary and that the two major parties “do not represent them well.”
At this point someone more clever than I should say something about the Whig Party and Democrats.
58% of Democrats want new leadership, but the Democratic establishment absolutely refuses to let that happen.
52% say the Dems don't stand for anything. |
Jon Stewart chides GOP for skirting responsibility for the shutdown [YouTube]
Even if the rest of the world sees Russian President Vladimir Putin fully as a “semi-delustional autocrat” who has bought too far into his own propaganda, Daily Show host Jon Stewart observed on Thursday, Fox News is all too willing to treat him as a legitimate world leader.
But while conservatives trip over themselves to praise Putin for acting unilaterally, Stewart said, they immediately cry “imperial president” when U.S. President Barack Obama does the same.
“What the hell is wrong with these people?” Stewart asked. “What happened to these people as children that has enabled this love-hate relationship with authoritarian figures and the inherent cognitive dissonance that goes along with such a schism?”
Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s (R) joke about Obama wearing “mom jeans,” Stewart noted, had become a right-wing talking point, even if it tied in to overblown stories about Putin, like the story about him shooting a tiger — which turned out to have been tranquilized and trapped beforehand.
“For God’s sakes,” Stewart said. “How, in a 24-hour news cycle, do you upgrade Putin from wrestling bears to tigers, anyhow? By tomorrow, it’ll be, ‘Putin once smacked the teeth out of a great white shark and made it bl*w him, while Barack Obama just sat there, wistfully, wearing Capri pants and a baby bonnet.”
Stewart also mocked Sean Hannity for gushing over the sight of a shirtless Putin riding a horse.
“That’s an image that should be airbrushed on the side of a truck at a New Jersey rest area,” Stewart said, facepalming.
Watch Stewart’s commentary, embedded in two parts, below:
Part One:
Part Two: |
Pope Francis’ encyclical on climate change cited many of the usual sources: the Bible, his predecessors in the Vatican and his namesake, Saint Francis of Assisi. It also cites ninth century mystical Muslim poet Ali-al-Khawas.
In the sixth chapter of the nearly 200-page papal letter, Francis writes that humanity can “discover God in all things.”
“The universe unfolds in God, who fills it completely. Hence, there is a mystical meaning to be found in a leaf, in a mountain trail, in a dewdrop, in a poor person’s face,” the pope writes.
In a footnote to that quote, he credits al-Khawas for the concept of nature’s “mystical meaning,” noting how the poet stressed “the need not to put too much distance between the creatures of the world and the interior experience of God.”
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He then directly quotes the poet: “The initiate will capture what is being said when the wind blows, the trees sway, water flows, flies buzz, doors creak, birds sing, or in the sound of strings or flutes, the sighs of the sick, the groans of the afflicted.”
Alexander Knysh, a professor of Islamic studies at the University of Michigan, said that the idea Pope Francis is drawing on in this passage has been influential in literature, including Western figures such as English Romantic poet William Blake.
“According to (the idea), God actively and constantly reminds his servants about his immanent presence not just by means of various phenomena but also by various sounds and noises—rustling of leaves, thunder, rainfall,” Knysh says.
It’s unusual for a pope to cite a Sufi poet, but those who have known Francis since his days in the slums of Argentina say that shows his personal touch on the encyclical.
“He’s trying to foster ecumenical and interfaith dialogue about shared spirituality,” Father Augusto Zampini, an Argentinian priest and theological advisor to the Catholic Agency For Overseas Development, tells TIME.
“He’s inviting all human beings to transcend, to go out of themselves and therefore to improve the relationship that we have with our people, with the Earth, with God.”
Read Next: Pope Francis Urges Climate-Change Action in Encyclical
Contact us at [email protected]. |
Send Mail with Gmail and sSMTP
Sometimes we want to enable our servers/desktops to be able to send email without setting up a full featured mail server or configuring postfix to route through Gmail.
sSmtp is an extremely simple, resource conserving, SMTP server that will allow your desktop or server to send email. In this article we are going to use sSMTP to send outgoing email through Gmail.
Install sSMTP
Debian/Ubuntu users can Install with this command or click here to open up apt:
sudo apt-get install ssmtp
We need to then need to edit, ‘/etc/ssmtp/ssmtp.conf’:
[email protected] mailhub=smtp.gmail.com:587 rewriteDomain= [email protected] UseSTARTTLS=YES AuthUser=username AuthPass=password FromLineOverride=YES
Then add each account that you want to be able to send mail from by editing, ‘/etc/ssmtp/revaliases‘:
root:[email protected]:smtp.gmail.com:587 localusername:[email protected]:smtp.gmail.com:587
Now try sending an email
You can send an email through your favorite email client, like ‘mutt’, or type:
sudo ssmtp [email protected]
You will then type your message, hit enter and ‘ctrl+d‘
Now that you have a simple outgoing email server setup, you can do all sorts of neat things: |
The new Star Trek movie is coming, whether you like it or not! And this time they are aiming to make Star Trek cool. Hard to believe, I know. Directing and producing this new Star Trek film is J.J. Abrams (Lost, Alias, Fringe, Cloverfield), so there is a good chance the movie will be entertaining (even if you don’t like Star Trek). In fact, Abrams has been quoted as saying, “We weren’t making a movie for fans of Star Trek. We were making a movie for fans of movies.” That’s encouraging! The release date is May 8, 2009, but there is already lots of news and photos making their way through the tubes and the internets.
You can see the teaser trailer for the movie at the official website Star Trek Movie.com. The full trailer is scheduled to debut in front of “Quantum of Solace” in just under a month.
There is a lengthy article explaining the new vision for Star Trek at Entertainment Weekly.com. Watch for spoiler warnings as you read the article (if you care).
There will be a prequel comic book mini-series from IDW called “Star Trek Countdown” that focuses on the origins of the Romulan villain Nero. Be advised, there are minor SPOILERS in this link.
Lots of information in the Wikipedia entry on the movie.
You can check out the viral campaign at NCC-1701. Click the little numbers (like a combination lock) to get the picture clarity to 100%.
After looking through all this information, I’m really starting to get psyched for the film! Can’t wait for May 8, 2009! And now… on with the photos!
Teaser poster. Picture from IGN.
Kirk played by Chris Pine. Picture from Entertainment Weekly.
Spock played by Zachary Quinto (Sylar from ‘Heroes’). Picture from Entertainment Weekly.
Dr. McCoy played by Karl Urban, with Kirk in the background. Picture from Entertainment Weekly.
Sulu played by John Cho. Picture from Entertainment Weekly.
The Enterprise Crew — Pictured L to R: Chekov (Anton Yelchin), Kirk (Chris Pine), Lt. Montgomery Scott (Simon Pegg), Dr. McCoy (Karl Urban), Sulu (John Cho), and Uhura (Zoe Saldana). Picture from UGO Movies.
Spock throttling Kirk. Picture from Ain’t it Cool News.
The saucer section of the original Enterprise under construction. Picture from Screen Rant.
The updated bridge of the Enterprise. Picture from MTV Movies.
Kirk climbing from a crash landed shuttle. Picture from IGN.
Nero, the Romulan villain played by Eric Bana. Picture from Entertainment Weekly.
Another Nero pic. Picture from JoBlo.
USS KELVIN – Before Kirk is even born, this ship comes under Romulan attack, launching the plot for the new movie. Picture from Entertainment Weekly.
The USS Kelvin takes a hit in the film’s opening sequence. Picture from TrekMovie.com.
And finally, not a picture from the new movie but a motivational poster I absolutely love. Picture from Screen Rant. |
Chris Monroe/CNET
Logitech's using Apple to make its smart home cams even smarter.
Logitech's Circle 2 cam, the wired version specifically, now works with Apple's smart home platform, HomeKit. Using Apple's Home app, you'll be able to see live streams from your cameras on any Apple device.
You can even check into your home from afar if you have an Apple TV, which acts as a bridge for HomeKit. The cams can even act as triggers for HomeKit's rules. If they sense motion, you can have them turn on your Philips Hue bulbs. The wireless version of the Circle 2 still won't be able to take advantage of this functionality.
Logitech announced the Circle 2 cams would work with HomeKit when it first debuted the cams back in June. Now that integration is a reality. You buy the cams for $180 or £169 for the wired Circle 2 and $200 or £199 for the battery-powered version. Both will be available in Apple stores starting in October. Window mounts, plug mounts and the like for the wireless version range from $30 to $50, or £26 to £52.
Update, 2 p.m. ET: The wireless version of the Circle 2 cam doesn't yet support HomeKit. A previous version of this story did not make that clear. |
UC San Francisco researchers have discovered a way to switch off the widely used CRISPR-Cas9 gene-editing system using newly identified anti-CRISPR proteins that are produced by bacterial viruses. The technique has the potential to improve the safety and accuracy of CRISPR applications both in the clinic and for basic research.
The new study, published in Cell on Dec. 29, 2016, was led by Benjamin Rauch, PhD, a post-doctoral researcher in the laboratory of Joseph Bondy-Denomy, PhD, who is a UCSF Sandler Faculty Fellow in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology.
CRISPR-Cas9 evolved in bacteria as an immune system to protect against viral infections, but in the past decade it has excited both researchers and the general public as a general-use gene editing system, enabling scientists to quickly and efficiently modify genetic information and tweak gene activity in virtually any organism.
Many hope CRISPR will speed efforts to directly treat genetic disorders, among many other applications, but for the most part the technology has not yet proven quite precise enough, making occasional unintended edits along with the intended ones. Researchers and bioethicists also worry that the technology’s very power and ease of use raise the possibility that it could potentially cause harm, either intentionally or by accident.
Benjamin Rauch, PhD
The newly discovered anti-CRISPR proteins — which are the first to work against the type of CRISPR-Cas9 system most commonly used by laboratories and the burgeoning gene editing industry — could help resolve both problems, Bondy-Denomy says, enabling more precise control in CRISPR applications but also providing a fail-safe to quickly block any potentially harmful uses of the technology.
To find such a switch, Bondy-Denomy and Rauch turned to the same billion-year arms race between viruses and bacteria that produced the CRISPR system itself:
“Just as CRISPR technology was developed from the natural anti-viral defense systems in bacteria, we can also take advantage of the anti-CRISPR proteins that viruses have sculpted to get around those bacterial defenses,” Rauch said.
Identifying ‘Self-Targeting’ Bacteria
In order to discover an anti-CRISPR protein that would work against the type of CRISPR-Cas9 system most labs now use, which depends on a protein called SpyCas9 as its targeted DNA clippers, the researchers came up with a clever trick: They reasoned that they should be able to identify bacteria with inactivated CRISPR systems by looking for evidence of so-called “self-targeting” – bacterial strains where some virus had successfully gotten through the Cas9 blockade and inserted its genes into the bacterial genome. The team hypothesized that these phages must encode some anti-CRISPR agent, or else Cas9 would kill the bacteria by cutting its own genome where the viral DNA had been inserted.
“Cas9 isn’t very smart,” Bondy-Denomy said. “It’s not able to avoid cutting the bacterium’s own DNA if it is programmed to do so. So we looked for strains of bacteria where the CRISPR-Cas9 system ought to be targeting its own genome – the fact that the cells do not self-destruct was a clue that the whole CRISPR system was inactivated.”
Joseph Bondy-Denomy, PhD
Using a bioinformatics approach designed by Rauch, the team examined nearly 300 strains of Listeria, a bacterial genus famous for its role in food-borne illness, and found that 3 percent of strains exhibited “self-targeting.” Further investigation isolated four distinct anti-CRISPR proteins that proved capable of blocking the activity of the Listeria Cas9 protein, which is very similar to SpyCas9.
Additional experiments showed that two of the four anti-CRISPR proteins – which the researchers dubbed AcrIIA2 and AcrIIA4 – worked to inhibit the ability of the commonly used SpyCas9 to target specific genes in other bacteria – such as E. coli – as well as in engineered human cells. Together, the results suggest that AcrIIA proteins are potent inhibitors of the CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing system as it has been adopted in labs around the world.
“The next step is to show in human cells that using these inhibitors can actually improve the precision of gene editing by reducing off-target effects,” Rauch said. “We also want to understand exactly how the inhibitor proteins block Cas9’s gene targeting abilities, and continue the search for more and better CRISPR inhibitors in other bacteria.”
Off-Switch Could Improve Accuracy and Safety
Rauch and Bondy-Denomy believe the ability to deactivate SpyCas9 will make CRISPR-based gene editing much safer and more precise by resolving the ongoing problem of unintended “off-target” gene modifications, which become more likely the longer the CRISPR gene editing machinery remains active in target cells.
The discovery could also be a boon for scientists using newer CRISPR techniques pioneered in part at UCSF – such as CRISPR interference and CRISPR activation — which use Cas9 not to modify gene sequences but to precisely tune their activity up and down. Using anti-CRISPR proteins, researchers could boost or block gene activity temporarily, potentially even synchronizing choreographed bursts of activity from sets of interconnected genes across the genome, which could be key to studying and treating complex, multi-gene diseases.
CRISPR inhibitors could also prove to be a valuable safeguard, the researchers say, enabling scientists to quickly halt any application of CRISPR gene editing outside the lab.
“Researchers and the public are reasonably concerned about CRISPR being so powerful that it potentially gets put to dangerous uses,” Bondy-Denomy said. “These inhibitors provide a mechanism to block nefarious or out-of-control CRISPR applications, making it safer to explore all the ways this technology can be used to help people.”
Other authors on the paper were graduate students Melanie R. Silvis and Christopher S. Waters, of UCSF who assisted with testing the inhibitors in E. coli and the discovery of new inhibitors, respectively; and post-doctoral fellow Judd F. Hultquist, PhD and research technologist Michael J. McGregor, who performed the experiments in human cells in the lab of co-author Nevan J. Krogan, PhD, professor of molecular and cellular pharmacology at UCSF and the academically affiliated Gladstone Institutes.
The research was supported by the UCSF Program for Breakthrough in Biomedical Research, funded in part by the Sandler Foundation, the National Science Foundation (1144247), an amfAR Mathilde Krim Fellowship, and the National Institutes of Health (Office of the Director Early Independence Award DP5-OD021344, Human Immunology Project Consortium Infrastructure Pilot U19 AI118610, and funding for the UCSF-Gladstone Institute of Virology & Immunology Center for AIDS Research P30 369 AI027763). The authors declare no competing financial interests.
UC San Francisco (UCSF) is a leading university dedicated to promoting health worldwide through advanced biomedical research, graduate-level education in the life sciences and health professions, and excellence in patient care. It includes top-ranked graduate schools of dentistry, medicine, nursing and pharmacy; a graduate division with nationally renowned programs in basic, biomedical, translational and population sciences; and a preeminent biomedical research enterprise. It also includes UCSF Health, which comprises three top-ranked hospitals, UCSF Medical Center and UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospitals in San Francisco and Oakland, and other partner and affiliated hospitals and healthcare providers throughout the Bay Area. |
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: We are broadcasting from Warsaw, Poland, at the U.N. climate summit, known as COP 19. A group of 133 developing nations and China walked out of a key part of the climate talks here in Warsaw early this morning over a dispute with industrialized nations. The conflict centers on how countries who have historically emitted the most greenhouse gases should be held financially responsible for damages caused by extreme weather. The United States, Australia, Canada and other industrialized countries are pushing for the issue, known as loss and damage, to be put off until after the 2015 climate talks in Paris.
The walkout occurred just hours after U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon discussed his plan to hold a special climate summit of world leaders in New York next September. He urged governments to put forth more ambitious plans to cut carbon emissions, saying, quote, “current pledges are simply inadequate.”
SECRETARY-GENERAL BAN KI-MOON: The latest IPCC report confirms that our planet is continuing to warm. Sea levels are rising, and ice caps are melting. Greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise. We are the first humans ever to breathe air with 400 ppm of carbon dioxide. Warmer ocean surface temperatures and higher sea levels contributed to the strength of Typhoon Haiyan and the devastation it caused the Philippines. This disaster is more than a wake-up call. It is a very serious alarm. Typhoon Haiyan puts an anguished human face on our struggle to combat the extreme weather and other consequences of climate change.
AMY GOODMAN: In other news from Warsaw, Poland’s prime minister, Donald Tusk, made a surprise move today when he dismissed his own environment minister, Marcin Korolec, who is serving as president of this summit, the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change. The minister, however, will continue to represent Poland in the ongoing climate talks here. His firing was part of a broader reshuffling of the Polish government, which included the firing of the minister of finance and a number of other ministers.
Well, we are joined here in Warsaw at the National Stadium, where the U.N. climate change summit is taking place, by Claudia Salerno, the lead climate negotiator for Venezuela here at COP 19. She is also Venezuela’s vice minister of foreign affairs for North America. Claudia Salerno became famous in 2009 at the Copenhagen climate summit, COP 15, when she banged her hand on the table in an attempt to be heard, hitting it so vigorously it began to bleed. This is what she said.
CLAUDIA SALERNO: [translated] Mr. President, do you think a sovereign country should have to make its hand bleed in order to raise the right to speak, because you simply do not want to hear what is happening? This hand, which is bleeding, wants to speak, and it has as much right as any of these which you call representative group of leaders.
AMY GOODMAN: That was in 2009. In 2011, at COP 17 in Durban, South Africa, Claudia Salerno stood up on a chair during a meeting in another attempt to be heard. Here’s Claudia Salerno speaking after she was recognized there.
CLAUDIA SALERNO: Mr. Chair, let me make this clear to the world: I requested the floor way before you gavel, and you ignore me. The whole world just witnessed how much you ignore me.
AMY GOODMAN: Claudia Salerno, the lead climate negotiator for Venezuela, joins us now here in Warsaw.
Welcome to Democracy Now!
CLAUDIA SALERNO: Thank you.
AMY GOODMAN: It’s great to have you with us. So, there you were three years ago banging your hand 'til it bled. Then, in Durban, South Africa, you're standing on a chair to be recognized. Today, I guess as Marcin Korolec was being fired as the environment minister here in Poland, you were the president for the moment—
CLAUDIA SALERNO: Yeah, yeah.
AMY GOODMAN: —of this COP.
CLAUDIA SALERNO: Yeah, usually, as I am a Korolec representative at the bureau, bureau members have to take upon the chair when he needs to leave for a certain reason. I had no clue that I was chairing for that specific reason, that, yes, I was supposed to be, at a certain point in the COP, taking the presidency for him.
AMY GOODMAN: Well, it’s very interesting, because yesterday was Gender Day here at the COP, the Conference of Parties, the U.N. climate summit. What about women’s representation here at these climate talks?
CLAUDIA SALERNO: In general, women are also—always very strong in their positions. I think Latin America is one of the regions that has the largest women representation at head of their delegations, and also we see some women coming from the African countries. In general, gender is a quite disregarded issue in the formal agenda of the convention, although when women have a very important role in the mitigation process, as such, and in the fighting for climate change and also in adaptation.
AMY GOODMAN: When you mean “mitigation,” what do you mean? And when you mean “adaptation”?
CLAUDIA SALERNO: All actions that can be done to try to reduce emissions. And as we consider that women are driven, for example, education at the home stages, because, you know, those are the more important first steps to create a new citizenship and a new kind of human and a new different relationship with those humans with the environment, and those are actually women, the ones that are responsible to take those first responsibilities towards the future generations, the one that we are raising.
AMY GOODMAN: Can you talk about what happened early this morning? Venezuela is part of the Group of 77 and China. They walked out of the climate talks about 4:00 this morning.
CLAUDIA SALERNO: Yeah.
AMY GOODMAN: Why?
CLAUDIA SALERNO: Loss and damage, as it’s known, is an agenda that we never wanted to have in the first place. I called this the agenda of resignation, when things are going so wrong that you have to claim only to rich countries to pay for the damages and the losses that they are causing you with their attitudes. That is the most dramatic and pathetic agenda that we have on the table. And although when the situation that—for example, the typhoon recently in Philippines is showing that the situation is dramatical to the point of humanitary needs. When you see developed countries being so bold to tell you that they are not even considering reducing their emissions, but they are not even considering paying for the costs that those inactions have in the life of others, that is really rude and hard to handle it politically, that we are heading to a point in which countries are not ready to take responsibility for their acts. And in this case, even more pathetic, they are not wanting to be hold responsible for their inaction and their lack of responsibility with humanity and the future generations.
AMY GOODMAN: Explain who the 133 countries are, because G-77 means Group of 77, but 133 countries walked out.
CLAUDIA SALERNO: It’s composed by all developing countries nations in the settings that—the definitions of economical development that the U.N. has made. It’s a group, a very old group, started exactly with 69, that they became growing and growing, and now it is 133 countries plus China.
AMY GOODMAN: You say this is an economic conference, really, not a climate conference. Why?
CLAUDIA SALERNO: Because every single action that you need to make to reduce emissions gets actually to—in the land, it gets to the production of something. Economies produce emissions. And when you are talking politically to reduce their emissions, those reductions are going to touch certain economies, certain kind of productions, certain lines of commercial trading relationships. So that is the kind of agreement that we need to make. But there has been a misunderstanding link with that, that actually an economical discussion on how to produce better, how to make things in a better way, to more sustainable way, became actually a market opportunity discussion on how to take advantage of the pollution that we are causing. And that is actually the wrong interpretation that developed countries have of this process.
AMY GOODMAN: Ninety-five percent of your economy, of Venezuela, is based on oil exports. How do you diminish that?
CLAUDIA SALERNO: Actually, Venezuela is known, very known, as an oil producer, but is also a very green country. We were one of the first ones in the region creating a Ministry of Environment and the first one creating a penal law for environment. And we have a large development in the environmental side, signifying for us—for example, the 60 percent of our territory are protected areas in some kind of form of legality, in untouched areas, and almost 50 percent of the territory has been untouched. That actually make us having a GDP depending highly on the oil economy, but producing emissions that represent currently 0.48 percent of the total global emissions. And that is quite difficult to set for an oil producer, but we have reached that.
AMY GOODMAN: Right next to us is the advertisement for next year’s COP, COP 20, that will take place in Lima, Peru. If anyone hears noise during the show, it’s because they’re blending drinks downstairs to give it out to prepare people for the Lima trip. But Venezuela, you’re going to hold a pre-COP, what is known as that. Now, Democracy Now!, we’ve been at the last four summits, but also the fifth was the Bolivia People’s Summit.
CLAUDIA SALERNO: Yes.
AMY GOODMAN: This pre-COP that you’re holding in Venezuela, what will it be about? It’s not formally recognized as a U.N. meeting.
CLAUDIA SALERNO: No, it’s not, but it’s part of the process, the formal convention process. It’s actually an informal meeting, gathering of ministers, about 40 or 50 strong leaders in the process, to try to have a sense, in advance of the COP, of how is the political readiness to agree on certain things. What Venezuela decided, when we were elected to host this pre-COP meeting, this ministerial consultation, is that we have been seeing this tendency to make this a business and market profit convention, sadly taking advantage of the pollution that some are causing. And if we are intended to sign an agreement in 2015, Venezuela said that we just not are going to be able to do it as governments alone; we need to get involved with our people and civil society in this process, together as one, and then to create this alliance.
So, Venezuela next year will host the first formal social consultation of every single social movement involved in the climate change agenda, with three preparation processes in advance of that pre-COP. And then, for the first time, instead of having ministers listening to each other’s the same statements and stubbornness, we are going to have ministers listen to their people about what is the kind of ambition and the kind of agreement the world wants to have—but the world’s side, not the governmental approach.
AMY GOODMAN: Democracy Now! got a hold of these confidential documents that came out of Secretary of State John Kerry’s office, directing the U.N. climate change negotiators not to talk about loss and damage, which they fear will become a major issue here at the COP, which it certainly has, but to call it “blame and liability.” What do you think about that?
CLAUDIA SALERNO: It is a lot of that since Copenhagen. Once that those countries fail to a certain approach, now the whole political game is like to blame others for not doing what they are supposed to do, instead of each other’s taking their own responsibility for their own acts and act without asking others. And then this other tendency of developed countries that say they are leading, but leading from behind, pushing others to do what they are not ready to do to their own economies. So they are actually expecting developing countries to stop their development to then to be able to continue polluting in the exactly way they are.
AMY GOODMAN: Let me ask you something that just happened in your country while you’re here in Warsaw, Poland, at the U.N. climate summit. Lawmakers, the Venezuelan Congress, has just granted President Maduro the ability to rule by decree for the next year. This has alarmed many inside and outside Venezuela. That means he doesn’t need congressional assent.
CLAUDIA SALERNO: It’s not the first time that happened in Venezuela. Venezuela has a long tradition of, what it is called, I believe, habilitative laws to previous presidents, when you have certain circumstances that needs special handling of—or more rapidity in the way decisions are made. We have the majority in the Congress, so, in principle, it would not be a problem for us as politicians to get whatever law we want in the Congress, because we have the majority. But it’s a special needs that the particular economical situation we are having that needs actually more speed-up actions in certain specific rule. It’s not an open law. It’s actually driven to stop corrupcy and to fight—
AMY GOODMAN: Corruption.
CLAUDIA SALERNO: —strongly against corruption, yes.
AMY GOODMAN: Since you were talking about democracy, when it comes to the social movements directing the ministers, especially if you have the majority in the Congress, why he would need these extra powers? Even though, I understand, President Chávez ruled by decree a number of times during his terms.
CLAUDIA SALERNO: And previous presidents, as well, in different moments, since the '50s, I think. It was the first habilitative law that came upon. In principle, he didn't need it. But we need to fight rapidly against that, because the situation is quite critical. And the president is ready to go and to make justice in whoever is doing the wrong things. So he didn’t want it to be in a situation in which, for example, certain—even part of our own process were going to try to protect themselves in their own roles as—in different political situations. So, president is really, really determined to fight against whoever falls, he said—needs to fall. He will not be flexible in that.
AMY GOODMAN: I know you have to leave to meet with the secretary-general, Ban Ki-moon. He’s meeting with leaders of countries who are here, the head of the climate negotiations, to prepare for the September summit in New York. Can you talk about the significance of this?
CLAUDIA SALERNO: It is quite important. I think 2014 is a year, between now and the future agreement, that may be useful to have this opportunity for presidents to get back to the climate agenda, because the last time presidents saw each others to talk about this issue was in 2009, who was, I think, the worst as an area in which presidents were ever in the history of multilateralism.
AMY GOODMAN: That’s when you bloodied your hand.
CLAUDIA SALERNO: Exactly. It was that—
AMY GOODMAN: But why? What was so bad?
CLAUDIA SALERNO: It was that bad. People were not being given the floor to speak. It was that bad. It was quite undemocratic. It was terrible. I mean, every single rule was violated in that meeting. So I think what he is very courage to do—have the courage to do is just to reconvene presidents in a different setting, learning from the previous mistakes, admitting that that was a mistake, and then recalling them, because the issues are still on the table, and we need an agreement. That is a fact.
AMY GOODMAN: Finally, Claudia Salerno, what is your assessment of the U.S. role here at the climate talks?
CLAUDIA SALERNO: I am quite surprised to see no role whatsoever. I think that they are again expecting things to go wrong, then to be eased by the fact that the agreement is going to be so hard to have that they may get under the table and just let it pass. But I am hoping that the pushing for hope and agreement was going to be stronger than their concerning quiet voice in this meeting, because they haven’t been talking that much. And that is worrying.
AMY GOODMAN: Claudia Salerno, I want to thank you very much for being with us, lead climate negotiator for Venezuela here at COP 19 in Warsaw, Poland. She is Venezuela’s vice minister of foreign affairs for North America and special envoy for climate change.
When we come back, I had a chance yesterday to question the secretary-general, Ban Ki-moon, as well as the head of the COP 19, the UNFCCC, Christiana Figueres, about the issue of young people being banned for standing with the Philippine climate negotiator and the special role of corporations here at the U.N. climate summit. Stay with us. |
Rocket League exploded once it was released on the gaming scene two years ago and it’s momentum is just as strong today. I remember watching a Top Gear episode where they engaged in car football. It looked like a ton of fun and indeed it is. The team Psyonix have joined up with the developers at Panic Button for this highly anticipated port. Panic Button is most recently responsible for the excellent Doom port. These two highly talented teams have once more worked their magic and produced something really special here in Rocket League for the Nintendo Switch.
For those who have yet to play this hybrid sports game, players race around and use their high octane rides to knock a huge soccer ball across the playing field and eventually into their competitors goal. The idea itself is quite simple, but the wonderful thing is while it is easy to pick up and enjoy, it’s also difficult to master which gives it some serious replay value. It will take many hours of practice to become a pro behind the wheel and efficiently work the ball down the field and score those game winning goals everyone is after.
While there had to be some visual sacrifices to get this running at full steam on the Nintendo Switch, Panic Button Studios and Psyonix nailed the implementation of this port, giving it a fantastic balance of solid performance and visual prowess that shines on this portable system. When players have the console in docked mode, you should see a resolution of 720P, while handheld mode hovers around 526P using a dynamic resolution scaler. The priority here was to give gamers 60 frames per second no matter how you are playing and this is crucial in a game that requires lightning quick reflexes.
The action in Rocket League is frantic and equally addicting. Players boost themselves in to the air and off walls at the precise moment to slam the moving ball into the goal. Pulling this off is incredibly rewarding and it’s what keeps gamers coming back time and time again for another round. One concern I had was how the online system would perform, given how the Nintendo Switch is currently lacking in this department at the moment. Thankfully, players can jump into online matches with ease. Cross-network play is here as well and allows Nintendo players to compete with Xbox One and PC gamers. Local multiplayer is one of the most exciting features for the Switch version. Each Joycon is surprisingly efficient at providing great feedback for both players, while the Pro controller offers the absolute best experience.
The Switch version has two exclusive rides, which is a nice bonus from Psyonix. The first new car is called the NSR and has a both a Mario and Luigi version. The second unique vehicle has been modeled after Samus’ gunship from Metroid. Each has their own specific sound effects as well. These are both free unlockables and are a nice addition to the roster.
Rocket League on the Nintendo Switch could be arguably the definitive version. The fact that you can take this amazing experience on the go, plus the value of local multiplayer, Cross-Network Play and exclusive rides, makes this an outstanding option for those looking for a fun competitive sports game on Nintendo’s new platform. |
CLOSE The Newseum Institute just released its 2015 State of the First Amendment study. USA TODAY editor-in-chief Dave Callaway discusses the results with Newseum Institute chief operating officer Gene Policinski. Jasper Colt, USA TODAY
Newseum Institute First Amendment Center releases its 2015 First Amendment study (AP Photo/Susan Walsh) (Photo: Susan Walsh, AP)
Americans' support for the First Amendment rebounded strongly over the past year, a new study says.
Three-quarters of Americans say it "does not go too far" in ensuring Americans' freedom. That's a jump from 57% last year after the Boston Marathon bombing in 2013 stirred public debate about the role of social media during a crisis and the media's use of shocking images, according to State of the First Amendment 2015, a report by the Newseum Institute's First Amendment Center in partnership with USA TODAY.
A year ago, 38% said the First Amendment goes too far, but the current survey shows only 19% agrees with the sentiment. The study saw a similar dive in public opinion and a subsequent recovery after the 2001 terrorist attacks, the authors noted.
"Once again there is a falloff in the number of those who say the First Amendment goes too far when we move away from a terrorist attack," says Gene Policinski, chief operating officer of the Newseum Institute, one of the authors of the study. "We ought to be very vigilant when these attacks occur" and not hastily pass laws that limit freedoms. "The law are permanent, the emotions that surround these events are not."
The study, developed by Policinski and Ken Dautrich, president of The Stats Group. was based on telephone interviews with 1,002 American adults.
STUDY: Newseum's First Amendment survey
RIEDER: Real-world consequences of journalism scandals
The study also found that many people aren't very familiar with just what is in the First Amendment. It found that one-third of Americans can't name any of the rights it guarantees. Less than two-thirds of survey respondents – 57% vs. 68% a year ago -- were able to cite freedom of speech as one protected by the amendment. Only 19% were able to cite the freedom of religion, down from 29%
One in ten mentioned the freedom of the press, as many as those who were able to recall the right to assemble. The right to petition seems to have been forgotten by nearly all Americans, as only 2% were able to name it as being part of the First Amendment.
Americans are also skeptical about the news media's claim to objectivity. Only about a quarter -- 24% -- believe that the news media try to report on news without bias, a 17-point drop from last year. It's the lowest since the study first began asking this question in 2004.
A flurry of headlines in recent months about the journalistic sins of high-profile media personalities – Brian Williams, who was demoted at NBC for lying; and ABC's George Stephanopoulos, a former aide to then-President Bill Clinton whose contribution to the Clinton Foundation came to light recently -- may have negatively influenced respondents' feelings about the news media, the study said.
Older audiences are more likely to buy into the media's mantle of objectivity, with 26% of those 50 or older agreeing with the claim. Only 7% of 18-29 year olds agree. Democrats (36%) are much more likely to believe in the the news media try to report without bias as opposed to Republicans (19%).
Other conclusions:
*Christian nation: A slight majority, 51%, believes the U.S. Constitution establishes a Christian nation, largely unchanged since the question was first asked in the 2007 poll. The belief is more prevalent among older respondents, 54%, than younger people, 37%.
*Serving gay couples: Despite advancements in gay rights, the percentage of people who agree that wedding service providers should be required to serve same-sex couples has fallen to 38% from 52% in 2013.
*Recording police: Eighty-eight% of Americans say they support allowing people to record the activities of the police as long as they do not interfere with police actions.
*Depicting Mohammad: Sixty percent say they are in favor of allowing cartoonists to publish the images of prophet Mohammad, while 32% are against this. The survey didn't ask about the images of other religions.
*Confederate flag: About a third, 35%, agrees that the government should be allowed to deny issuing license plates to a group that intends to display a confederate flag on the plates. The majority, 56%, opposes the government's right to deny.
Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/1LYSaNu |
New Card: Lance Bearer, Popular Decks of the Week, Mike Donais on Tournament Mode
Quest, Hero Level and Experience Issues, THH #74, Epic Plays #41, New Monk Info
Legion Dev Talk, Dev Interviews
Tuesday Maintenance
As a reminder, this next Tuesday there will be the usual weekly maintenance. Players planning to get those Season achievement points and looking to get into the leaderboards should keep that in mind.
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums) We will be performing maintenance beginning on Tuesday, August 11, at 7:00 AM PDT and we expect it to be complete at approximately 11:00 AM PDT. During this time, the game and many web services will be unavailable.
Thank you for your patience.
Patch 2.3 Pennants and Strange Encounters
Mads Lund has published some really awesome new videos showcasing the new Class Pennants in-game, as well as some "unusual encounters". Check them out!
Class Pennants
Strange Encounters |
Unlike the vast majority of candidates in the 42nd general election, Brent Rathgeber can take full credit for the ballots cast for his candidacy. Those 11,662 votes were not shared with party or leader, but unquestionably for him.
Unfortunately for Brent Rathgeber, those 11,662 votes represented less than 20 per cent of all votes cast in the riding of St. Albert–Edmonton, rather fewer than the 26,769 cast for the Conservative candidate (and just fewer than the 13,380 for the Liberal candidate).
Thus ended Rathgeber’s bid to join the rare class of individuals elected to the House of Commons as an Independent.
Rathgeber was first elected as a Conservative in 2008 and re-elected in 2011, but quit the Conservative caucus in 2013. He fully emerged then as a champion for reform and embarked on a fascinating year-and-a-half run as an independent-acting and free-speaking MP, perhaps becoming the most interesting man in the House of Commons (or at least the member of the 41st Parliament whom I spent the most words writing about).
On the occasion of his defeat, he and I spoke about what happened, the realities of Canadian democracy, the state of the Conservative party, whether he regrets leaving the party, and what, if anything, might change.
Q. What was your reaction to that result? Did you foresee it?
A. No, I was quite disappointed. I mean, we had done internal polling and there had been public polling done and it indicated that we were not going to win, but that it was going to be much closer, and that we would be solidly in second place. Putting on my pundit hat, and having talked to a number of people in the last 48 hours, I have a pretty good sense of what happened. There was a lot of movement in the last week, and there was a lot of movement in the last 48 hours. Edmonton was not immune from the Trudeau surge, because two Edmonton seats turned red. So that was infectious and we caught that. I would suspect that progressives and fence-sitters whom I was counting on voting for me jumped on the Trudeau bandwagon at the last second, and I think that probably moved 3,000 to 4,000 votes, maybe 5,000, from my column to the Liberal column. And then that had an equally powerful opposite reaction. As the last polls started coming out that had Trudeau clearly out in the lead, there were some conservatives who were going to vote for me, but were so fearful of a Trudeau government, especially the prospect of a Trudeau majority government, that they voted blue to make sure that St. Albert–Edmonton remained a blue seat. So I think I probably lost equal numbers of votes because of both of those phenomena. Had those two phenomena not occurred, I would have lost narrowly, as opposed to by the big margin that I did lose by.
Q. Did it feel as if you had a chance? Did you think, at any point: “Maybe I can win this”?
A. I never felt particularly confident about this election. My spidey sense at the door is pretty good. In the last election, I used to say, after a night of door knocking, that six out of 10 doors are voting for me. I was right, because I got 64.5 per cent last time. This time, sometimes at the end of a door-knocking shift, I would say, yeah, we might get four out of 10 and then, the next night, we’d be in Edmonton and I might get two out of 10. That’s sort of where I thought I would be. I thought I would be at six out of 20, or 30 per cent.
Q. How often did you hear from people who didn’t feel there was any reason to vote for an Independent candidate?
A. Oh lots. I mean, it’s a real mental leap, which I’m still sort of perplexed by, because, municipally in Alberta, we don’t have parties, so people have some familiarity with voting for candidates. But at least 20 times in a 200-house door-knocking shift, you would get that: What’s the advantage of voting for Independents? Some people said: You can do that? You can run as an Independent? You don’t have to be affiliated with a party? So it was a major mental hurdle for people to abandon what is their normal, and that is to vote for either party A, party B or party C. That’s obviously why so few Independents get elected. The reality is, and political scientists have shown this, that, in a federal or provincial election, most candidates are probably five per cent of the equation, maybe 10 per cent, if they’re really, really good or really, really bad, but that 90 per cent of the people vote based on the leader or the party or some combination thereof. So it took a lot for people to get out of that thinking, notwithstanding the fact that I think they liked me personally, and certainly the social media commentary post-mortem has been very supportive and sad: Some people are very sad to see me go; there are a couple who aren’t. I’ll have to think about this for some time, because it really was difficult at the door. The sophisticated political observers know no problem, they get it, they understand and they’ll either decide to vote for me or not vote for me. But the casual political observer, the person who doesn’t think about this stuff until four days before the election, and then maybe not even, it was a very difficult conversation at the door to explain to them the benefits of Independent representation.
Q. Does it make you wonder whether the idea even of an Independent MP is effectively doomed or that it’s almost a hopeless cause?
A. Well, that’s two elections in a row now. I think, in 2008, André Arthur and Bill Casey were both elected. But 2011 and 2015 were shutouts. If anybody had a shot in this election, it had to have been me, and I don’t just mean true Independents. Guys like Bruce Hyer, who switched from NDP to Green, did very poorly. So I think, yes, in federal elections, it’s a choice between well-recognized brands: NDP, Liberal, Conservative and, in some cases, Green. People are very comfortable with the fact that we elect parties and we make our choices based largely on the leaders of those parties, and that Independent representation has limited value. I think that’s unfortunate, but I’m resigned—I mean, that was the ballot question in St. Albert. The ballot question was: Do you want a partisan representative who is going to represent you to Ottawa, or do you want somebody who is going to represent an Ottawa party to you? And Michael Cooper, the MP-elect, was very candid about it and he would respond: If you want to get things done, you have to be part of a team. If you want to get things done, you have to be sitting at the table. Now, he falsely assumed that the table was going to be blue. He’s going to be sitting in the Opposition benches. But that was the debate. This was a debate on representative democracy. And 80 per cent of the people who voted, voted for a party rep. So that’s a pretty convincing litmus test that people vote for parties. The issue is: Which one are they going to vote for? It couldn’t be clearer to me. I think it’s unfortunate, but I’m resigned to accepting that. That’s why I said on Monday night: That ends it for me, because I am so jaded against the party system and its structure and its follow-the-leader and sing-from-the-same-songbook, even on a file such as the TPP [Trans-Pacific Partnership] or temporary foreign workers. These are perfect files where there is no way representatives can sing from the same song sheet. Trudeau said during the campaign that he wasn’t going to take a firm position on TPP, but, once he did, it would be a whipped vote. It’s counterintuitive to Independent representation. If you have a riding in rural Quebec where you have dairy farmers, you need to be opposed to this. Conversely, if you have a riding where people export lumber or petroleum products, you need to be in favour of that. But our system has devolved into something much different, where whatever the party leader’s view is, everybody in that caucus is going to take the same position.
Q. Would changing the rules governing fundraising for Independent candidates make a big enough difference? Or would changing the rules governing Parliament make any difference?
A. Regarding the fundraising, I would have to say no. Money turned out not to be a problem for us. We may have spent more money than the Conservatives in this election; I’m not sure. Although we had zero dollars in the bank, it came from everywhere. It came from Edmonton, it came from St. Albert, it came from every province in the country. We still have money left over, so we’re going to have to have a big volunteer appreciation because we can’t keep it; whatever’s left has to go back to the receiver general. The only disadvantage is we started a little slower. We weren’t able to do any data-tracking or any advertising pre-writ, but we were certainly able to have all the lawn signs, all the brochures, all the local newspaper advertising; we did have a research company that did some tracking. Money turned out not to be a problem.
The rules of Parliament? I don’t think so. First of all, in this part of the world, people don’t follow Parliament particularly closely. I bet most people don’t know that CPAC is on channel 125 on the Edmonton Shaw cable package. A lot of people didn’t watch the debates, because they couldn’t find them, because nobody knows where CPAC is. So if you changed the rules of Parliament so that individuals had more questions, or were allowed more speaking allotments, I don’t think it would be of much notice. Your magazine awarded me a very prestigious award last year. I don’t think that that persuaded a lot of people. I mean, obviously, it didn’t. Of course, the parties reinforce this. As I said, my main competition, continually at the doors, as I understand it, and certainly at the public forums, continually harped on the fact that [the party system] is how you get things done; you need to be part of a team. “Brent’s been a strong voice, but he’s a voice in the wilderness,” and clearly people accept that; they’re voting for a party and they’re voting for a party leader. There’s no meaningful debate as to whether or not the parties are too strong and whether they need to be cut back and whether or not Independent representation has a place in governance. That debate just isn’t happening. I don’t think there’s really much of an appetite for democratic reform generally. Even Senate reform did not come up frequently at the door or at the forums. The big topics were the economy, the military mission in Iraq and Syria, Syrian refugees and this nonsensical debate about the niqab. Democratic reform and the state of Canadian democracy, including the Senate, were really not prominently featured in the national debate, and certainly not on the doors that I knocked on in St. Albert–Edmonton.
Q. Do you regret leaving the Conservative party?
A. Oh god, no. I’m stung, not because the loss was not unexpected; I’m strung by the magnitude of the loss. But I could not have run under that banner, personally. I couldn’t have done it. I couldn’t have stayed in that caucus after June 2013. I wasn’t sleeping, I was becoming depressed, I couldn’t do it anymore. I couldn’t be the cheerleader and part of the communication machinery of the PMO that they expected me to be. When I left, I felt liberated, I felt better, I was sleeping better. The only options for me were not to run again or to run as an Independent. Running for them wasn’t an option, because I don’t think they would have had me, but that’s neither here nor there. I knew that running as an Independent was going to be a tough, tough task. And it was. And it failed, but it puts me exactly where I would have been, had I not run again: a private citizen. Running as a party candidate—the Liberals pursued me, as did the Libertarian party—I couldn’t have done it. It’s not in my DNA anymore, to kowtow to a leader and kowtow to unelected staffers in the leader’s office and to take positions that are contrary to the best interests of my constituents, just because that’s the leader’s position . . . I didn’t think I was going to run when I quit in June 2013. I was pretty much convinced that this was it, that I was just going to run out the clock, then go back to some sort of private life. But, you know, the response was overwhelming and we got thousands of emails—5,000, I think, about half from the constituency and half from outside the constituency—calling me a hero and praising me for standing up to the Harperites and praising my integrity and honour . . . So I thought I would give it a shot.
In my view, in the 41st Parliament, there was no voice of fiscal conservatism in that House. You know, Scott Brison, a little bit. But the questions that I asked in the House [concerned] fiscal conservatism and respect for taxpayers. And I wasn’t able to do that when I was in the caucus. So no, no regrets.
Q. How do you feel about the ideas you championed for parliamentary and democratic reform? Do you think they’ll have any hope in this Parliament?
A. I guess there’s always hope. Mr. Trudeau has made some of the right platitudes about democratic reform. Expelling his senators from the caucus, although seeming to be a strange move at the time, was probably a move in the right direction . . . I think he’s talking about some kind of committee to screen potential applicants, then appoint them on the basis of merit, as opposed to partisan pedigree. That would be a good move, in my view, given the very limited things that you can do to the Senate without opening up the Constitution . . . He’s talked about more open votes, but then he makes all his candidates be staunch pro-choice candidates. I don’t disagree with him on the issue; I disagree with the autocratic way in which he handled it. And the TPP, he doesn’t know which way he’s going to vote, but all of his caucus is going to vote in the same way.
I guess I do need to be a little bit cynical here, because if anybody was the champion of democratic reform, it was the party that bore that name. It was Preston Manning’s party and Stephen Harper was in the class of 1993. If anybody could have championed democratic reform, I think it would have been Preston Manning’s Reform party, once they got into power in some machination thereof. [But] they went in the opposite direction. I think they were the least democratic. They broke the record for time allocation, they broke the record for omnibus bills. Their predecessors were not guiltless, in terms of omnibus legislation or time allocation, but the Harperites took it to new and dangerous levels. I wrote this in my book: Democratic reform and cleaning up Parliament, that’s the mantra of the opposition. “Yeah, we’re going to become more open, we’re going to become transparent, we’re going to be better than the guys who do it.” Everybody says that. Then they get in there and they do just the opposite, because reforming Parliament doesn’t serve the interests of a majority prime minister. The interests of a majority prime minister are served by a compliant, deferential caucus. I hope I’m wrong, but I am cynical.
Q. So what happens for you now? What are you going to do?
A. I’m going to take some time off. I need to think about that. I’m surprised by the magnitude of my loss, but I’m not surprised by my loss, so I’ve been sort of half mentally preparing myself for some months now, and certainly for some weeks. But there’s lots that I can do. I’m a lawyer. I miss law. I think I was good in the courtroom, maybe better in the courtroom than I was in Parliament, because, in the courtroom, decisions are made based on actual facts and logic, not emotional pleas such as how we should be fearful of the niqab, to use an extreme example of how you try to light emotional fires under people. But that doesn’t fly in the court of law, where you need actual facts and actual evidence and arguments based on logic, not on fear and appeals to bias and worst instincts.
So there’s that. I get a decent severance, courtesy of the taxpayer, so that gives me the luxury of time to figure out what I want to do. I’ve been thinking I have another book in me. Now would be a good time to write it, because, as I say, I’m on a very comfortable severance package. What do you think of a book on conservatism in Canada and Alberta?
Q. That could be interesting, and there’s probably no better time than the present to write that book.
A. Yeah, I’ve thought for some time that there was cognitive dissonance within the federal Conservative party and how it didn’t appeal to fiscal conservatives. Social conservatives were completely shut out and democratic reformers were turned inside out and became autocratic control freaks. I don’t know what aspect of conservatism was represented by Mr. Harper toward the end. There seemed to be only one, all-consuming goal, and that was to stay in power.
Q. Do you come away from this feeling hopeful? Do you feel you at least fought the good fight?
A. I’m glad you asked that. I take no personal pleasure from this, but I have some confidence that the change in government and the demise of Mr. Harper is, in some small way, due to my advocacy against his management style. Not locally, because the Conservatives were re-elected here, but my book and my national profile was not insignificant, from time to time, and my shining the light on the autocratic, dictatorial style that they operate through the PMO—people were paying attention, maybe more so in other parts of the country than my own riding. For a number of reasons, I don’t want to take credit for his loss because a) that would be inaccurate and b) I take no comfort in what he’s going to be replaced by, but, nonetheless, I think that my speaking out on behalf of Parliament and on behalf of parliamentary supremacy and the role of Parliament in holding government to account and holding government in check, I think that message did resonate with thousands of people from coast to coast to coast, and, in some small measure, accounted for what happened on Monday night and the fate of Mr. Harper and the Conservative party.
The reason I don’t want to take much credit for it is because I’m not happy with the result. I don’t have great confidence that Mr. Trudeau has the experience to lead a country as big and as diverse as Canada. What I desperately wanted was either one of them in a minority situation with a strong Parliament to keep them on a short leash and to keep their feet on the fire. I think Mr. Harper was actually a better prime minister in the minority days than he was in the last 4½ years when he could steamroll like a bulldozer through Parliament and didn’t have to compromise and didn’t have even listen to opposition amendments, much less accept them. I think all three leaders, quite frankly, of the major parties are very, very weak. I was hoping for a strong Parliament to keep a weak government on a short leash. I wanted to be part of that strong Parliament. I was very much hoping for a minority Parliament, where democratic reforms, such as I and Elizabeth May, and maybe Bruce Hyer and others, would be in some sort of position to leverage support for, whoever the government turned out to be in exchange for some democratic reform: breaking up omnibus bills, amending the standing orders for the use of time allocation, freeing up backbenchers in all but confidence matters. I don’t think any of that is going to happen, but I do very much hope that I’m wrong. |
Today marks the 20th birthday of the first website ever created; on the 6th of August 1991, a team of CERN engineers led by Sir Tim Berners-Lee worked to provide what was the first tangible example of the potential of the World Wide Web.
While no original copy of the website remains, an updated version can be found here while the first web page address (or URL as it was later to be called) was http://info.cern.ch/hypertext/WWW/TheProject.html.
Berners-Lee came up with two fundamental pieces, HTML (hypertext markup language) and HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) and literally built the web by himself using a NeXT computer as a server (ed: the term Hypertext though was first coined back in 1965 by Ted Nelson and is literally text that contains links to other texts).
He also coded the first browser which doubled up as the first HTML editor. Perhaps more importantly, he and fellow collaborator Robert Cailliau came up with the name World Wide Web (rather than Mine of Information or Information Mesh which were apparently in the shortlist).
The rest, as they say, is history; months later, the first universal line mode browser, which could run on any computer or terminal was launched. It was not a GUI-based one, which meant that you had to type in commands instead.
Then in February 1993, the original version of Mosaic, the first real web browser, was released by the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA). Developed by Marc Andreessen - who later went on to produce Netscape - it became the template for most if not all browsers released in the last two decades. |
Nina Nikiforovna, a pensioner in the rebel-held city of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine, took up begging recently.
"I never thought I'd live long enough to know such shame," she says, but she needs pills for her heart condition and after several months without receiving her pension, she saw no alternative.
Hundreds of thousands of pensioners in the pro-Russian east of Ukraine, already caught up in seven months of conflict between government and rebel forces, have lost their only source of income.
This month, the government in Kiev officially cut off rebel-held areas from all financial support, including welfare payments and pensions. Then they stopped postal and banking services.
"With this decision, the Ukrainian authorities have made a difficult situation even worse," said Evgeny Shibalov, a charity volunteer that helps distribute aid to people in the region.
Most of the 650,000 pensioners in these areas have not received any money from the government since August.
But the new rules mean they must now produce papers saying they have left the rebel zone and live in a government-controlled area.
That has quickly bred a rash of corrupt middle men offering fake residency documents. The going rate is around 500 hryvnias (25 euros, $31) -- a sizable chunk out of a monthly pension of just 1,670 hryvnias.
"It's already been over a month since I went to Kramatorsk to try to get the documents for my pension. And now, I have to queue again in the cold and I'm not sure anything will come of it," said Ekaterina Savenko, 70.
She was one of around a hundred people queuing outside Donetsk railway station on a recent morning, hoping to get hold of a ticket and then reach somewhere where she could buy papers proving she was internally displaced.
Newly confirmed prime minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk places the blame for this "humanitarian catastrophe" squarely at the Kremlin's door -- saying Russia has fomented and supported the separatist uprising in the east.
But that is little consolation to the thousands who are housebound or lack the money to travel outside rebel areas.
"Just in Donetsk, there are nearly 30,000 people who can't move or get any help from their families. Many are lacking the most essential medicines. They find themselves today on the edge of survival," said Shibalov, the charity worker.
The government says no one has died of hunger on its watch, but it has no figures for what is happening in rebel areas.
Up to now, most have scraped by with the help of neighbors and humanitarian aid. It is no longer rare to see groups of old people egging outside supermarkets and pharmacies.
"They are letting us die. No one is able to tell us when all this will be over and how much longer we must live with this hunger," said 76-year-old Tatiana Solovyeva in the town of Makiyivka, just outside Donetsk.
"I don't have any family, I live only on my pension, but now I don't have it anymore.
"I asked for help from my neighbors, some miners. But now they are not getting their salaries either. How can we go on living like this?" she said. |
The latest out on the San Francisco imprint Dubs Alive is this diverse 5 track EP with originals from The Spit Brothers and Luthor, and with Bakir, Djunya and 6blocc on remix duties. The original “No Curfew” is a spooky, basswise tune that’s like a soundtrack to a new Dick Tracy film. Eerie keys create a brooding mood that the ultradeep bassline strongly reinforces. If you’re listening to this on headphones trust you’re missing out on half the song on the low end. Things get hectic in the second half, getting hyper with a 4×4 beat making this a strong transition song between sounds.
Djunya steps up next to tackle a remix of “No Curfew”, adding more swagger to the beat but maintaining the eerie feel of the original with keys and brass. When the main bit drops in this becomes an incredible remix with doubled up kicks and added synths overtop. Guaranteed to light up a dance.
Out of the five songs on the release the only one that doesn’t work is the 6blocc remix where the vibe of the original is entirely lost in an attempt to reproduce Bombaman-esque bass sounds that falls way short. Feels far too cookie cutter.
Luthor brings the next original with his emotive, bass heavy sound. Complex beats and a nice atmosphere built by Luthor make this one a quality late night or Sunday morning tune, matching elements of the jazzy sound found in many Dubs Alive releases. On the remix of this one Bakir comes with a funky/soca styled beat under the keys and vocals of the original. The original mix is pretty mellow, this one is purely hyper. Intensity.
Along with these, Dubs Alive have put out another tune for free download, this one called “Done Gone There.” Download this one using the player below, then check the full DAV006 release using the second player.
The Spit Brothers – Done Gone There (Dubsworth ft. Bakir)(FREE DOWNLOAD) by Dubs Alive Records
Dubs Alive 006 by Dubs Alive Records
Pick this one up now @ Juno or other music retailers: |
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