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Just a few weeks ago, predictions of Arctic ice collapse were buzzing all over the internet. Some scientists were predicting that the "North Pole may be ice-free for first time this summer". Others predicted that the entire "polar ice cap would disappear this summer".
The Arctic melt season is nearly done for this year. The sun is now very low above the horizon and will set for the winter at the North Pole in five weeks. And none of these dire predictions have come to pass. Yet there is, however, something odd going on with the ice data.
The National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) in Boulder, Colorado released an alarming graph on August 11, showing that Arctic ice was rapidly disappearing, back towards last year's record minimum. Their data shows Arctic sea ice extent only 10 per cent greater than this date in 2007, and the second lowest on record. Here's a smaller version of the graph:
The National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC)'s troublesome ice graph
The problem is that this graph does not appear to be correct.* [See Editor's note, below] Other data sources show Arctic ice having made a nice recovery this summer. NASA Marshall Space Flight Center data shows 2008 ice nearly identical to 2002, 2005 and 2006. Maps of Arctic ice extent are readily available from several sources, including the University of Illinois, which keeps a daily archive for the last 30 years. A comparison of these maps (derived from NSIDC data) below shows that Arctic ice extent was 30 per cent greater on August 11, 2008 than it was on the August 12, 2007. (2008 is a leap year, so the dates are offset by one.)
Ice at the Arctic: 2007 and 2008 snapshots
The video below highlights the differences between those two dates. As you can see, ice has grown in nearly every direction since last summer - with a large increase in the area north of Siberia. Also note that the area around the Northwest Passage (west of Greenland) has seen a significant increase in ice. Some of the islands in the Canadian Archipelago are surrounded by more ice than they were during the summer of 1980.
The 30 per cent increase was calculated by counting pixels which contain colors representing ice. This is a conservative calculation, because of the map projection used. As the ice expands away from the pole, each new pixel represents a larger area - so the net effect is that the calculated 30 per cent increase is actually on the low side.
So how did NSIDC calculate a 10 per cent increase over 2007? Their graph appears to disagree with the maps by a factor of three (10 per cent vs. 30 per cent) - hardly a trivial discrepancy.
What melts the Arctic?
The Arctic did not experience the meltdowns forecast by NSIDC and the Norwegian Polar Year Secretariat. It didn't even come close. Additionally, some current graphs and press releases from NSIDC seem less than conservative. There appears to be a consistent pattern of overstatement related to Arctic ice loss.
We know that Arctic summer ice extent is largely determined by variable oceanic and atmospheric currents such as the Arctic Oscillation. NASA claimed last summer that "not all the large changes seen in Arctic climate in recent years are a result of long-term trends associated with global warming". The media tendency to knee-jerkingly blame everything on "global warming" makes for an easy story - but it is not based on solid science. ®
Bootnote
And what of the Antarctic? Down south, ice extent is well ahead of the recent average. Why isn't NSIDC making similarly high-profile press releases about the increase in Antarctic ice over the last 30 years?
The author, Steven Goddard, is not affiliated directly or indirectly with any energy industry, nor does he have any current affiliation with any university.
* Editor's note:
Walt Meier, research scientist at the NSIDC, has contacted us disputing the validity of Steven Goddard's methodology, and of his use of University of Illinois data to question the NSIDC's charts. We accept that these two data sets are not directly comparable, and that the University of Illinois data does not provide support for Goddard's charge that the NSIDC data is incorrect. We reproduce Walt Meier's response below. Walt Meier as provided further detail on the calculation of sea ice area and extent in the comments to this article:
The author asserts that NSIDC's estimate of a 10% increase in sea ice compared to the same time as last year is wrong. Mr. Goddard does his own analysis, based on images from the University of Illinois' Cryosphere Today web site, and comes up with a number of ~30%, three times larger than NSIDC's estimate. He appears to derive his estimate by simply counting pixels in an image. He recognizes that this results in an error due to the distortion by the map projection, but does so anyway. Such an approach is simply not valid. The proper way to calculate a comparison of ice coverage is by actually weighting the pixels by their based on the map projection, which is exactly what NSIDC does. UI also does the same thing, in a plot right on the same page as where Mr Goddard obtained the images he uses for his own analysis: http://arctic.atmos.uiuc.edu/cryosphere/IMAGES/current.365.jpg The absolute numbers differ between the UI and NSIDC plots because UI is calculating ice area, while NSIDC is calculating ice extent, two different but related indicators of the state of the ice cover. However, both yield a consistent change between Aug. 12, 2007 and Aug. 11, 2008 – about a 10% increase. Besides this significant error, the rest of the article consists almost entirely of misleading, irrelevant, or erroneous information about Arctic sea ice that add nothing to the understanding of the significant long-term decline that is being observed.
Steven Goddard writes: "Dr. Walt Meier at NSIDC has convinced me this week that their ice extent numbers are solid. So why the large discrepancy between their graphs and the UIUC maps? I went back and compared UIUC maps vs. NASA satellite photos from the same dates last summer. It turns out that the older UIUC maps had underrepresented the amount of low concentration ice in several regions of the Arctic. This summer, their maps do not have that same error. As a result, UIUC maps show a much greater increase in the amount of ice this year than does NSIDC. And thus the explanation of the discrepancy.
"it is clear that the NSIDC graph is correct, and that 2008 Arctic ice is barely 10% above last year - just as NSIDC had stated." |
Sen. Vitter Will Run For Governor In Louisiana
Enlarge this image toggle caption Kevin Dietsch /UPI /Landov Kevin Dietsch /UPI /Landov
Louisiana Sen. David Vitter, who easily won re-election in 2010 after seeing his career put in jeopardy by a prostitution scandal just three years before, confirmed Tuesday that he will run for governor in his state in 2015.
He tweets that "after much thought, prayer, and discussion with Wendy and our kids, I've decided to run for Governor of #Louisiana in 2015."
As The Hill says, Vitter's plan had been "the biggest open secret in Bayou State politics."
The Republican senator does not have to give up his seat while seeking the governor's mansion. "Should he lose," The Hill adds, Vitter could then "decide whether to seek re-election" to the Senate in 2016.
Louisiana's current governor, Republican Bobby Jindal, is prevented by term limits from seeking a third consecutive four-year term.
In 2007, as CBS News writes, Vitter's telephone number showed up in the records of the so-called D.C. Madam. He apologized for his "serious sin." |
Ultra-relativistic heavy-ion collisions produce a hot and dense fireball of deconfined quarks and gluons known as a quark-gluon plasma (QGP). Since its discovery, the QGP has exhibited a number of interesting and unexpected properties. Most notably, it was found to behave like a strongly coupled liquid with astonishingly small specific shear viscosity, prompting some to call it the “perfect fluid.”
Hydrodynamic computer models allow researchers to simulate the time-evolution of QGP droplets produced in relativistic heavy-ion collisions. The models generate events as they might occur inside the detector and output mock data that can be directly compared with experiment. Free parameters of the model, e.g. the medium's viscous transport coefficients, are then tuned to optimally replicate experiment and infer intrinsic properties of the QGP medium.
A prominent source of uncertainty in determining QGP transport coefficients is in modeling the initial stages of the collision. Model predictions vary with the choice of initial conditions and hence prefer hydrodynamic transport coefficients, which differ from calculation to calculation. The ongoing effort to improve current estimates of QGP transport coefficients typically focuses on improving theoretical descriptions of the initial conditions and introducing new, sensitive observables to assess the validity of each model's inherent assumptions and approximations.
In this talk I introduce an alternate approach to ab initio theoretical calculations based on Bayesian parameter estimation, which extracts the QGP initial conditions directly from experimental data. Starting from a minimal set of theoretical assumptions, we parameterize entropy deposition in ultra-relativistic nuclear collisions and show that the parametric initial conditions are over-constrained by simultaneous fits to multiple experimental observables. We use these constraints to refine our current understanding of the QGP initial conditions and provide refined credibility intervals on fundamental QGP parameters. |
I thought we’d be over hubs by now, but I was wrong. They are still coming hot and heavy, and if the Consumer Electronics Show was any indication, there are still more heading our way. So instead of doing deep dives into what I think is a pretty full market, I figured I’d start doing some roundups of products and hit on the features that make them interesting, because honestly, who can keep up anymore?
Today’s batch are the hubs found on crowdfunding sites. They have some cool tweaks that make them a bit different, but of course, as with all crowdfunding efforts, who knows when they will actually deliver.
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Of all of these Hive looks to be the most likely one I’d back, and Oomi is the only one I’ve seen in person. Let’s get to it.
Hive: This system combines a hub and speaker (or series of speakers) with an app that lets you control the whole shebang. The Kickstarter promises that the hub not only controls the speakers but also your connected gadgets via an impressive array of radios, including Z-wave, ZigBee, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. The video shows a Nest, motion sensors and other devices working with the hub. The speakers not only tie in to become “the voice of your home,” but also act as a sound system that can be linked to play the same music all over your house or separate music from sites that appear to be supported by Google’s Chromecast ready program. The campaign shows the Spotify logo but makes no mention of it elsewhere.
A backup battery and integrated 3G modem mean you have backup connectivity if your power goes out. The app will be available for Android and iOS and everything is expected to ship in May. The retail price is expected to be $299 for the hub and $199 for each speaker, although the Kickstarter prices are cheaper. Those waiting for retail might get a discount if they buy optional security monitoring packages along with their purchase. This is certainly something I’m going to look for later this summer, although the Kickstarter is not doing well so far.
Oomi: I ran into these guys at CES and thought they had a unique way of using NFC radios to get devices to connect to the system. Basically, you tap to touch a device to onboard a sensor to the main hub. It’s fun, but it only works with the Oomi products and any NFC-enabled phones. Still, even technophobes could use this and get started with a smart home. The main component is a stylish black cube that includes a lot of sensors, a microphone, a speaker and a video camera. It acts a security and communication device and has an IR sensor for controlling televisions and a variety home automation and media devices.
The system also comes with a connected outlet and a tablet to control the whole system. In keeping with the simple idea, Oomi is a learning system and once you connect your devices to it, it starts learning how you use your home and then starts building up its own rules and schedules for users. The folks behind Oomi already plan to launch a colorful light bulb, an air quality monitor and a Chromecast-like media streaming stick for the system. It also supports other Z-wave devices and says it integrates with other popular devices such as Sonos, Hue lights and Nest. Retail cost should be about $450 for a cube, a plug and the tablet, but it costs as low as $230 on Indiegogo with delivery in August and an adaptive intelligence engine released in November 2015(presumably after it is trained on early user data). I like this, but the integrated camera kind of freaks me out because it could monitor my home. I did see that it offers a shutter for the camera for folks like me.
Branto: This is a glowing orb that plays music and changes color. It certainly offers less functionality than Oomi or Hive, but sometimes simpler is better. What sets Branto apart from almost anything out there is that it contains a 360-degree rotating camera that you control from an app. Plus, it has two microphones. So you can see your whole home or teleconference and look around the table.
The smart home elements come in because Branto also has a motion sensor, IR output, connected speaker capability that connected to various services and the ability to control popular home automation devices like WeMo, Nest and Philips Hue lights. The Kickstarter campaign notes that Branto will offer various options such as ZigBee, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and cellular modules down the line. The Branto will retail for about $500, although the Kickstarter prices are less than that, and it will ship to backers in September. |
Peer says Tory rebels could defy whip over provision to protect EU nationals in UK when bill returns to Commons
Peers who backed an amendment to the Brexit bill to guarantee the rights of EU citizens have urged Conservative MPs in the House of Commons to support the change when the bill returns.
Theresa May’s government has vowed to overturn a demand by the House of Lords to guarantee the rights of EU citizens living in the UK within three months of article 50 being triggered.
Martin Rowson on Theresa May's defeat in the Lords – cartoon Read more
However, one crossbench peer who backed the bill said she was hopeful Tory rebels would decide to defy the whip “on the basis of morality and principle” when the bill was sent back to the Commons with the amendment.
Molly Meacher said she believed “30 Tories saying they will vote to support this amendment” were considering backing the bill, though it is thought to be highly unlikely so many will ultimately do so.
Ministers were said to be disappointed by a heavy defeat in which peers voted 358 to 256 in favour of amending the Brexit bill, but made clear their position would not change on the issue.
In the Lords, seven Conservatives including former cabinet minister Douglas Hogg lined up with the Labour party, Liberal Democrats and crossbenchers to demand formal reassurances for more than 3 million EU citizens from other countries already resident in Britain.
There will now be intense pressure on Conservative backbench MPs to follow suit when the bill returns to the Commons for another vote in just under a fortnight.
“I believe it can be won in the Commons on the basis of morality and principle. Tories are principled people, generally,” Lady Meacher told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
Meacher said peers rejected the argument that giving EU citizens guarantees would leave UK citizens living in the EU vulnerable. “UK nationals in the EU have been getting together and putting pressure on us in the House of Lords to pass this amendment to keep this issue outside and ahead of the negotiations,” she said. “They believe and I share the belief that their only hope of getting their situation sorted out ahead of the negotiation is precisely if the British government act morally to do a deal on EU citizens.”
Unite blames Brexit as Ford prepares to cut 1,160 Welsh jobs Read more
Campaigners will point to the fact that significant cabinet members including Boris Johnson and Andrea Leadsom have all suggested that EU citizens should have their rights protected.
But Conservative backbenchers who might be minded to rebel told the Guardian that they did not believe the amendment would remain in place.
Anna Soubry said that she was convinced by the government’s argument that this issue would be dealt with as a priority once article 50 had been triggered.
A government source told the Guardian that they took the issue of securing the rights of EU citizens very seriously, but they were determined to pass a “straightforward, simple bill”.
“The intention is to seek to overturn this in the House of Commons,” the source said.
The Lords did not go as far as calling for immediate, unilateral action but said ministers should be made to set out proposals about how they would protect citizens and their families within three months of article 50 being triggered, which is due to happen later this month.
Their decision makes the government’s Brexit bill subject to what is known as parliamentary ping pong between the Houses of Commons and Lords, delaying its passage into law by at least one week, until 14 March.
Lobbying of Conservative MPs is already under way, with cross-party talks likely as Labour and the Lib Dems urge Conservative colleagues to push for a second government defeat on the issue.
Keir Starmer, the shadow Brexit secretary, said there was a growing consensus. “The prime minister is now increasingly isolated. Labour will continue to support this simple but effective amendment when it returns to the Commons, and urge MPs on all sides of the house to do so.”
Peers debate and vote on right of EU nationals to stay in UK after Brexit - Politics live Read more
The Brexit minister Lord Bridges used the debate to tell peers that the government had been encouraged by meetings with other EU leaders who suggested that “we will indeed be able to reach a quick and timely agreement”.
But a number of peers gave short shrift to the government’s suggestion that a one-sided guarantee could be damaging for the rights of British people living in other European countries.
Labour’s Brexit spokeswoman in the Lords, Lady Hayter, opened up the debate, claiming the government had the power to act now over the issue: “In 1985, my noble friend Lord Kinnock had to say to his own party: ‘You can’t play politics with people’s jobs.’
“I now want to say to the government: you can’t do negotiations with people’s futures.”
She was backed by a number of high-profile peers including the former Lib Dem leader Lord Campbell and the former lord chief justice Lord Woolf.
The former head of the civil service Lord Kerslake said the government’s argument that an offer to EU citizens would weaken its hand in European negotiations was questionable. “However you think about that argument it is using them as bargaining chips,” he said.
Hogg, who is known as Lord Hailsham, was the most high-profile Conservative to back the amendment, laid down by the Labour frontbench but formally backed by Tories, Lib Dems and crossbenchers.
He said denying European citizens the right to remain in Britain could face legal challenge, but also said it was a matter of principle.
He described how a French waitress in parliament had asked him what would happen to her when Brexit took place. “I gave her my personal opinion, which was that there would be no problem for her, but I was not able to give her the guarantee that I think she was entitled to deserve.”
The peer reminded the House of Lords about the shock in Britain when Idi Amin expelled the Asians from Uganda.
But while there was some unexpected backing for the amendment, there was also some unlikely support for the government on the issue.
The archbishop of York, John Sentamu, said that he was one of the people who had left Uganda under Amin because of his opposition to the policy, “so I know how minorities can feel”.
But he insisted this was a simple bill only concerned with enabling May to trigger article 50, and compared it to the start of a race.
“On your marks, get set, bang,” he said. “Then they take off and it will take two years to run this race and during the running of the race we want to make sure concerns come back.”
Other supporters of the government included the former Tory leader Lord Howard, who argued that the best option to end the uncertainty was to “pass this bill as quickly as possible and to activate article 50 as quickly as possible”.
But the prime minister, who does not have a majority in the Lords, was easily beaten despite a last-minute effort by Amber Rudd to reassure peers about the government’s intentions on the issue.
She had insisted there was no question of treating European citizens with “anything other than the utmost respect”, and said their status would be top priority in EU negotiations.
The decision of peers to force a vote at committee stage was unusual, but came when it became clear the government would not make concessions on this issue.
Nicolas Hatton, the chairman of the3million campaign group which has been lobbying for the rights of EU citizens said that while he had some concerns about the amendment it was a relief that for the first time since the referendum, a majority was secured in parliament to support the rights of the 3 million EU citizens “who came in good faith to live and work the UK”.
A coalition of 13 groups representing British nationals abroad and EU citizens in the UK agreed that it was a “positive step in the right direction”.
The coalition said it was concerned that “the amendment makes no mention of UK citizens in the EEA” despite the efforts of the grassroots groups across Europe to get their message across.
The group represents more than 25,000 UK citizens in the EU including British nationals in Spain, France and Germany.
“They are also facing huge uncertainty about their futures, livelihoods and the security of their families – the same concerns facing EU and EEA citizens in the UK, whose campaign for a unilateral guarantee we fully support,” said Jeremy Morgan QC for the coalition of residents.
Monique Hawkins, a Dutch woman who highlighted the plight of EU citizens when she revealed last December she had been asked to “prepare to leave” the country after 24 years, said she was “heartened” to hear so many moving and inspiring speeches.
However, she added that she feared the successful amendment still did not cover stay-at-home parents, carers, disabled people and students whose residence status was uncertain because they decided to continue their lives in Britain but did not take out health insurance when they arrived in the country.
The Lords exposed the government’s hypocrisy over protecting EU citizens | Polly Toynbee Read more
MPs who support Brexit will join ministers in arguing strongly that the government’s position should not cause concern among EU citizens in Britain. They point the finger instead at European countries, including Germany, which have refused to discuss any Brexit-related issues ahead of article 50 being triggered.
Steve Baker, a key figure on the Conservative backbenches who chairs the party’s European Research Group, said it was “regrettable that Germany and France are using UK citizens in their countries as bargaining chips for the Brexit negotiations”.
A spokesperson for the Department for Exiting the European Union said: “Our position on EU nationals has repeatedly been made clear. We want to guarantee the rights of EU citizens who are already living in Britain, and the rights of British nationals living in other member states, as early as we can.” |
Biddu's productions forced Indian movie composers to up their game, bringing in more talent, quite a lot of which happens to be Pakistani. —Photo credit: The Post Script Team/Creative Commons
People always talk about unsung heroes, referring to some individuals who had a helping hand in something much larger. Rarely does it apply to someone who single-handedly revolutionised an industry.
Have you seen the movie Payback? One of its dialogues went something like this: “If you keep going high enough, it comes down to one guy”. Today, we will discuss that one “guy” who helped shape this region’s music and there is not nearly enough acknowledgement of his accomplishments, at least not in Pakistan.
Biddu, an Indian-born, England-based music producer had a career spanning five decades. His most recognisable production was Kung Fu Fighting (1974) and he enjoyed a career chock-full of hit upon hit in the ‘Disco’ era.
In the late 1970s, Disco was on the decline in the West on the rise in Asia, particularly in India. It was at this time that Indian filmmaker and actor Feroz Khan ran into Biddu in England in 1979. There, he asked Biddu to consider composing a track for his movie Qurbani. Although Biddu initially turned him down, he eventually accepted the offer.
Also read: Patari: This new Pakistani music site could be a game changer
Feroz Khan soon after ran into a 15-year old Nazia Hassan at a party in London, which brought Nazia Hassan and Biddu together (this part is important) and soon, Aap Jaisa Koi came into being. For the traditional music of Indian films of the time, the sounds in this track and the voice of Nazia Hassan were quite unique.
The song and everyone involved in its making became overnight sensations.
Being a smart businessman, Biddu signed Nazia Hassan and her brother Zohaib, to produce an Urdu album. By his own admission, he modeled them after the popular American brother-sister duo, 'The Carpenters'.
This collaboration brought us the album Disco Deewane (1981). The sales records for the album were phenomenal and 100,000 records were sold in a day. Not only was it a hit in Pakistan, it did well in India too, which was huge for a non-soundtrack album in the region. It even topped the charts as far and wide as Brazil.
Nazia Hassan and Biddu with Shashi Gopal and Kalpana Gopal (founders of Magnasound Records) —Photo credit: Magnasound/Creative Commons
With the success of Disco Deewane, these three collaborated on three more albums (four in total): Star/Boom Boom (1982), Young Tarang (1984) and Hotline (1987). They sold a combined total of 60 million records worldwide.
With these hits, Biddu redefined the concept of pop music in this region; it was no longer limited to movie soundtracks; it was an industry on its own.
The trend caught on with numerous Pakistani bands and musicians now coming to life and redefining modern music. All of this culminated at, what should now be considered a historic event, the Music '89 concert hosted by the Hassan siblings. Without that, there would be no music in Pakistan today.
Music '89 was, to say the least, whatever the opposite of a dominoes effect is.
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In the '90s, Biddu went to India to work with more talent, as the Pakistani industry had already taken a certain shape.
There, Biddu created music with Shweta Shetty, and then later with Alisha Chinai on the album Made in India (1995). This started a trend of successful pop music, despite soundtracks being a valuable commodity in India too. He collaborated with another sibling duo Shaan and Saarika, and later with Sonu Nigam as well.
The pop music trend in India, though extremely popular, did not endure, as it was soon cannibalised by the Indian film industry. However, Pakistan’s music industry still thrives. Biddu later joined hands with Junaid Jamshed to work on his first solo album Uss Rah Par (1999), which was also a considerable success.
That was two decades of successful music set off by one common denominator, who – for reasons we can explore till the cows come home – fails to receive the same high praise here, as he does in the west, or even India.
People usually associate Biddu’s work with the Hassan siblings, but they overlook just how much of our modern music is his doing. Thanks to Biddu, we can have a category such as “best of '80s”, and it is full of darn good music. That is a massive accomplishment in itself, especially when you consider the fact that the Zia era was in full swing at the time.
Take a look: Times of the Signs
India’s current music trends would also not be possible without Biddu as his productions forced movie composers to up their game, bringing in more talent (quite a lot of which happens to be Pakistani).
Biddu went on to the Far East and worked with Japanese duos, spreading his Midas touch everywhere, eventually returning to England where he continues to work.
I feel someone with that great a contribution should get more than a blog entry every few years. |
A hoard of Roman and Pictish silver has been unearthed by archaeologists working in a field in Aberdeenshire.
The find, which contains more than 100 pieces including coins and jewellery, has been hailed as the most northern of its kind in Europe.
The discovery was made earlier this year by archaeologists from National Museums Scotland and the University of Aberdeen's Northern Picts project at an undisclosed location.
It will now become the subject of a programme of research involving detailed analysis and cataloguing through the Glenmorangie Research Project - a three-year sponsorship of National Museums Scotland to support the study of Early Medieval Scotland.
Dr Martin Goldberg, senior curator of early historic collections, said: "It is a hugely important discovery being Europe's most northerly Late Roman hacksilver hoard, and also containing otherwise unique Pictish silver.
"The research project will enable us to shed new light on the interaction between the Picts and the Late Roman world and reconsider what some older finds in our collection can tell us about Early Medieval Scotland."
Dr Gordon Noble, senior lecturer at the department of archaeology at the University of Aberdeen, led the fieldwork as part of the Northern Picts project.
He said: "This exciting new find is part of a broader phenomenon of hacksilver hoards which stretch across Europe from the fourth to sixth centuries AD, when the Western Roman Empire was in decline.
"Silver objects were chopped up into bullion and then used and exchanged as payment, bribes, tribute and reward. People buried their wealth to keep it safe, but many did not return to recover their hoard.
"The new finds include late Roman coins, pieces of late Roman silver vessels, bracelet and brooch fragments and other objects that would have been highly prized objects in their day.
"Our work in north-east Scotland is increasingly showing that Pictish communities in this area were part of powerful kingdoms in the early medieval period."
Items from the hoard will be on display for the first time at the University of Aberdeen from January 20 to May 31. |
The author of the book "Clinton Cash" on Thursday criticized President Trump and his team's comments about Ivanka Trump's line of clothing and accessories.
“They’ve crossed a very, very important bright line, and it’s not good," Peter Schweizer told The Washington Post.
"To encourage Americans to buy goods from companies owned by the first family is totally out of bounds and needs to stop," added Schweizer, whose book was critical of donations to the Clinton Foundation.
He said the Trumps clearly feel "some of this is related to politics."
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"But whether that’s true or not, these marketing battles need to be fought by Ivanka and her company," he said.
"They cannot and should not be fought by government employees and the White House ... It’s time to move beyond the mindset and the role of a businessman and assume the mantle of commander of chief.”
His comments come after the president's top aide, Kellyanne Conway, on Thursday promoted Ivanka Trump's line of clothing and accessories during an interview on "Fox & Friends."
"Go buy Ivanka's stuff, is what I would tell you," Conway said. "I hate shopping, but I'm going to go get some for myself today."
"I'm going to give it a free commercial here, go buy it today," she said.
President Trump on Wednesday lashed out at Nordstrom for dropping his daughter's clothing line. |
It is clear from her history that DeVos’s most likely approach to school choice will be through a voucher program. These programs are a means of redirecting government educational funding and placing it in the hands of parents to do with as they choose. Parents typically have a great deal of freedom in how they use vouchers and may put them toward tuition at private, charter, online and religious schools.
The key benefit to the voucher program when it is properly implemented is that it provides real choice to parents and breaks down many of the socioeconomic barriers separating higher-performing wealthy students from lower-performing poorer students. With programs such as these, even lower-income students would have the option to attend private schools or schools that better align with their abilities and potential. This represents far greater choice than the failing school provisions under NCLB ever offered.
Considering that school vouchers are likely to be DeVos’s primary means of implementing school choice, it is worth taking a close look at how these programs have performed in the past. DeVos herself has overseen a similar program in Michigan, but its benefits were rather dubious, and many critics have pointed out that voucher programs implemented in many states have had mixed results. There is evidence that they provide benefit to lower-income students, but there is also strong evidence that students end up performing the same or worse under voucher programs.
On the surface, this may seem like a poor appraisal of DeVos’s most likely plan, but a deeper look at the evidence shows the real reason behind much of the failure of previous voucher programs. Funding, as usual, becomes the most serious and often underrated issues. The choice under most voucher programs in the past was mostly an illusion. The vouchers did not provide enough funding to give parents access to the truly high-performing private schools. Instead, parents were stuck enrolling their students in private and charter schools that performed about the same or worse than their public school counterparts.
Most parents made this choice under a prevailing illusion that any private school is better than a public school. This is simply not the case. Each school must be assessed individually based on its enrollment, record, and philosophy.
Essentially, DeVos’s hands and vision were tied by budgetary constraints in Michigan that hurt her plan. With Trump’s support and the $20 billion of funding he has promised, it may be possible to create a voucher plan that truly gives parents the choice of schools they need to have in order to create success. If the plan is properly implemented, students will be able to attend only those schools that perform well and align to the parent’s particular beliefs or philosophy.
Decrease in Regulation
Her history also points to DeVos being a champion of less regulation in schools. As NCLB has taught us indirectly, this can be a good thing. Regulation under NCLB has increasingly led to an ultra-focus on test scores, a narrow focus on certain testable subjects and an overall decrease in the quality of education.
While schools do run the risk of failure when regulations are taken away, increased regulation doesn’t seem to be preventing failure. When deregulation is combined with choice in a sort of free-market education system, only the best schools will survive because only the best schools will get students and funds, and test scores won’t be the deciding factor.
Increased Parent Involvement
Another positive pillar of DeVos plan is increasing parent involvement in schools. This has an important indirect effect on education. One serious problem with the current system is that students themselves often see little value in school or in education. One reason for this that they don’t see their parents valuing the education or becoming involved in it.
Increased parent involvement does more than just get parents interacting with the school and teachers. It indirectly shows kids that their parents care about what happens in school and the learning that is accomplished there. This more than any other factor is likely to improvement student attitudes toward school and help improve the currently poor relationships between families and schools.
Despite a somewhat rocky history when it comes to education policy and implementation, Betsy DeVos has some good ideas for revamping the educational system. It is refreshing that a candidate is not looking just at more regulation, more testing and more of the same failed policies that have done nothing to improve education over the past decades. A system based on real learning results and real parent choice may be the key to turning around the defunct education system if Trump and DeVos can pull it off the right way.
About Betsy DeVos
Elisabeth “Betsy” DeVos was born and raised in Holland, Michigan and attended Calvin College, where she earned a bachelor’s degree business administration and political science. Since graduating, DeVos has been heavily involved in business, education, and philanthropy in Michigan and across the country. She is also a longtime member of the Michigan Republican Party, serving twice as party chair from 1996-2000 and from 2003-2005. A devout Christian, she is married to Richard “Dick” DeVos Jr., the former CEO of MLM giant Amway. They are the parents of four grown children, sons Rick and Ryan and daughters, Elissa and Andrea.
Related Article: Your Guide to the 2018 Midterm Elections |
I LOVE MY SANTA! Straight away I received a message poking around a few of my interests from the survey. We had a really great conversation and it helped time pass as the two packages arrived on different days.
Package One contained TWO paperback collections of The Sandman graphic novels! My Santa said their first copies were gifts as well so it made sense to pass along the tradition. I really hope to keep this one alive! I can't keep American Gods on my shelf so I'm guessing these won't be far behind. :)
Package Two was a mailing tube containing a GORGEOUS print of a watercolor illustration and Gaiman prose. I don't think my Santa is aware but my apartment walls are pretty bare and this is going to look magnificent once I get it framed.
Thank you Santa for such amazing gifts! |
Matthew is a 24-year-old freelance illustrator and a former professional “sensory panelist” for a frozen foods company. We recently talked about his experience eating french fries and other frozen fried foods for four hours a day, three days a week over the course of eight months. “I’d come home with huge blisters in my mouth from the salt,” Matthew said. He earned $4,200.
Mike: How did you get this job in the first place?
Matthew: I do freelance art, but in order to stay afloat I have to take odd jobs whenever my cash flow is low. I was browsing my college’s alumni job board, and a temp agency had posted an ad titled, “Would you love to eat food for a living?” and I figured it was worth a shot. I applied, and after an initial interview at the temp agency, I was invited to go down to the company’s headquarters for further testing.
Mike: What is the application process like for this?
Matthew: The first application was all questions about your history with food: “How many times do you eat fast food a month?” “Describe the last great meal you ate.” “How would you describe mayonnaise to someone who has never tasted mayonnaise?”
Mike: How would you describe mayonnaise to someone?
Matthew: I think I said “eggy, creamy notes, vinegar tang.” I wowed them.
Mike: I believe it!
Matthew: And for the second interview they put us in this long hallway-shaped room with special sensory lights that show the full spectrum of the rainbow. Every shadow has RGBV, it was sort of bizarre. In the room there is a long desk with dividers, and in each divider there is a sliding door and a light switch, and they gave us trays of different taste solutions, and asked us to identify which was which. When we were done with a test you’d hit a light switch and a new tray would appear from through the window — salt solutions that you’d put on a scale, bitter solutions, etc. It had a nice dystopian future sort of feeling.
Mike: So it was mostly, “What do these mystery liquids taste like?”
Matthew: Some of them were just basic tastes, salt, sour, and bitter. Other solutions had different flavorings or spices and we had to identify them and give food associations: anise, orange, lemon, cherry, etc.
Mike: You passed the test, obviously.
Matthew: Yes!
Mike: What came next?
Matthew: Well they offered me the job, and I wasn’t entirely enthusiastic — but figured it would be an interesting experience. I was offered the position, with three months of training at a lower pay rate.
Mike: What was the offer, and what was the pay rate?
Matthew: Three days a week for 4–6 hours a day at 12 dollars an hour, minus taxes. And once the panel finished training the pay rose to $15.75 an hour.
Mike: They deducted your pay to train you at first?
Matthew: Basically! I think they figured there would be a number of panelists leaving. I’m not sure about the logic. It started with 20 panelists, and by the time I left there were 12. After several weeks of training we met with the temp agency and asked for a raise in pay, and it was raised to $12.75 an hour and $16.50 an hour once we finished training, a big win.
Mike: What did you have to do in training?
Matthew: A sensory research company sent a training team to the headquarters to teach us the basics. It was broken up into three different sections, two that focused on the taste of food, and a final section focusing on the texture of food. We were taught a trade-secret flavor intensity scale that we used as a metric to judge all other foods against. At the low end is oil, and at the high end is a strong fruit juice.
Mike: So you were trained to distinguish the taste of food on a specific scale.
Matthew: Yes, the main goal of the scale was to be able to objectively rate foods numerically. The oil would be a 2, the fruit juice a 10, and then a whole number of other foods in between. You would say, “This piece of cheddar cheese is an 8, higher than the orange juice, not as strong as the cranberry juice.”
Mike: Were there people who the company told, “You have bad taste, you need to leave this program?”
Matthew: Yes! Exactly. We would all have to compare our numbers and get them as close as possible, and inevitably there were conflicts. There was one woman, who would get really upset, and shout at us when she disagreed. There was lots of eye rolling and tense moments. And as the training got more complex it became harder and harder to agree on numbers. We’d be eating slices of pizza, and trying to agree exactly how many points to give each element and have hour long arguments about whether the flavor of the pepperoni was coming from the spices, the pepperoncini, or the various meat aromatics.
Mike: Was it fun?
Matthew: It was nuts, but almost fun. It had a bit of a summer camp vibe, since we’d all be stuck in a room together eating frozen foods all day. The diversity of the group was pretty interesting too: lots of different ages, backgrounds, and reasons for being there. So we all bonded over the communal hell.
Mike: Okay, so you’ve trained. And they tell you you’re ready — then it’s nothing but french fries?
Matthew: Well, after training we took a test to see how closely our number aligned with seasoned sensory-panelists. And we failed miserably, but time and budget constraints forced us to begin work on their actual products. And then, yes-mostly french fries, but also frozen Chinese food, jalapeño poppers, and a bunch of other consumer frozen foods.
Mike: So you were doing this for four hours each day you worked How much of the time was actually spent eating?
Matthew: About 50 to 75 percent of the time we’d be eating. And for each attribute you would have to give a number, and there were anywhere from 50–100 attributes on each ballot. So you’d be taking large bites, swishing them around in your mouth trying to cover all the attributes, and then spit them out.
Mike: Did you eat any of it?
Matthew: Yeah, a bit too much of it. It’s very hard to spit out fried food. The oil pools in your mouth and it takes a lot of gargling to get it out. And we’d be doing 8–15 products a day, so to save time you’d end up swallowing some of it. There were countless hours with mushed up potatoes swirling around your mouth.
Mike: Was this enjoyable at any point? It sounds like torture to me.
Matthew: I liked curly fry day for a while! Those were hard to resist. But after a while it became pretty torturous. I don’t order french fries at restaurants unless they’re hand cut now. I can spot a french fry from the company from a mile away.
Mike: Are you like that with fried foods in general now?
Matthew: I’d come home with huge blisters in my mouth from the salt. Yeah, fried food doesn’t have the same appeal anymore. And the other amazing thing is seeing the whole world behind literally every product we consume. Every aspect of the foods, taste, appearance, texture, is so insanely focus grouped and tested. Every major food company has a similar testing process.
Mike: Does this mean you were eating many different versions of the same curly fry?
Matthew: Yes, there’d be slight variations in spices, in cooking time, in the kind of potato. We’d test them at different intervals to see how the taste changed once they were taken out of the fryer, or how micro-waving them would affect their texture. One aromatic that was fun to pick out was “cardboard” — an actual aromatic on the ballot — and to compare we had cups of water with brown paper towels in them.
Oh, and another weird thing I learned: To cut corners with cheese products companies sometimes use the acids from cheese production instead of the more expensive cheese products, and these acids are basically bile from different animals (a food scientist might have a more nuanced view). So sometimes we’d be spitting out these inexpensive cheese products all day, and your mouth would just be full of this vomit bile taste.
Mike: Oh god.
Matthew: Haha. Hard-hitting exposé!
Mike: So this was a contract job — did you end up quitting, or did you let your contract run and decide not to renew?
Matthew: They asked us to stay for two years, but there weren’t any incentives in place to make us stay. A lot of panelists were having dental health problems, and health problems, and I thought it would be best to quit. It was hard to stay at a job that was actively hurting me.
Mike: Wow, two years.
Matthew: Yeah, with a 50-cent pay raise each year.
Mike: When was the day you figured you had enough?
Matthew: It was gradual. But one day they had a large Christmas party for all the corporate employees, but didn’t invite us. Instead they cooked up a line of their frozen pizzas for us in the basement since we weren’t “real employees.” And that scenario was repeated several times.
Mike: That is … wow.
Matthew: It was very strange! It would only have taken a few gestures of goodwill to keep all the panelists there for two years. But last I heard they are looking for new panelists.
Mike: And you’re trained! So you could do it again if you wanted.
Matthew: I have a framed certificate stating that I’m a “trained sensory panelist” with a seal and everything! But it’s only good for potatoes.
Mike: Do you think you’d do this again, or recommend it to someone to do?
Matthew: I enjoyed seeing an absurd premise through to its end, but I wouldn’t leap at the chance to do it again. I think I got off easy though, some people taste dog food and fish oil for a living, which makes all my complaints seem frivolous.
Mike: There are many circles of food tasting hell it seems!
Matthew: I like to imagine them as I fall asleep. It just blows my mind that this is a job.
Mike: Did you find another side gig to take its place?
Matthew: Yeah, archiving old photographs for a local newspaper! That should make me the same amount of money in two months.
Want to chat with me about a weird or interesting job you’ve had? Send me a note.
Photo: Maggie
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Karate is recognizable in the modern era as trumping up and down of a dojo, performing basic techniques in sequence.
There is little scientific or strategic knowledge to be gleaned from the basics and combinations which many karateka practice endlessly. It's good exercise, as it is in any traditional martial art—but it doesn't prepare the student to understand the actual fighting bit of martial arts any better. Where the real gems in traditional karate are hidden is in the kata—the forms.
Some of you will know my affinity for studying classical forms from my previous piece—A Study in Saifa. They perhaps shouldn't be a huge part of anyone's training repertoire, but for study and brainstorming—there's nothing better.
A form is simply a ritualized performance of techniques. But more and more often you will notice that the sequences in kata are more intricate than those practised in the repetition of basics. There are plenty of modern kata with little sense behind the movements at all—Gichin Funakoshi's mercilessly boring Taikyoku series, for instance. But the longer history a kata has, the more variations one can find of it, and the more ideas can be seen in action. Kusanku and Seisan, for instance, are two of the oldest kata out there—there are a handful of major versions of each, and hundreds of sub-variations.
While many see forms as a spiritual exercise or a practice fight, I see them as a historical record of “neat tricks” that someone else wanted to share, albeit in a fairly opaque manner, even once he was gone.
Anyone who has been in the martial arts a while knows that there's nothing new under the sun—but the beauty of combat sports and martial arts is that old ideas keep getting rediscovered or rehashed in new ways.
Today we're going to look at a couple of old fashioned applications from the (allegedly) Chinese form, Seipai, and talk about reinventing them for the modern era.
The traditional Goju-ryu version of the kata, from which we will be working.
Broken Karate and the Seipai Dump
The single facet which has most damaged karate—and many other traditional martial arts—is working every defensive or counter offensive application against the utterly useless stepping straight punch or something equally wooden and unintuitive. Anyone smart enough to know that straight punches are superior to swings is not going to be dumb enough to step with his punch. The ven diagram meeting of people who are trained enough, and stupid enough, to use a stepping straight punch in the heat of the moment is pretty small.
This kind of silliness.
The problem is, and always has been, that karateka don't take the good ideas from ancient forms and then contextualize them. There are good ideas being wasted because they're being trained in unrealistic scenarios, and that is a terrible shame. One of the finest example of this is the dumping technique found in Seipai. This is an application which most instructors seem to agree on.
Stepping in behind the opponent's kicking (or sometimes lead) leg, the lead arm is thrust across the body, the rear arm is cupped underneath the opponent's lead thigh. The hips are thrust forward to lift the opponent's weight from the floor, the standing leg is then swept out and the opponent is slammed to the floor.
In some variations—particularly in Shito-ryu—the arms are thrown out to the sides like wings during the lift and sweep, an effort to straighten the opponent's body in the air and ensure he lands on the back of his head or at least fails to breakfall.
Now this all sounds very wushu... but if you take it out of its stiff, ritualized form you'll realize you've seen it before. If you're into Muay Thai, you'll have seen this step in behind the kicking leg, lift, sweep and dump demonstrated hundreds of times by the great Saenchai. I would go so far as to say that it is one of the most important techniques he utilizes. Not only can it cause some damage as he attempts to drop the opponent on the back of their head, it makes the opponent look very bad every time he kicks and soon their kicking output drops off sharply.
The exact same technique, minus the deep stances and formal hand gestures. Get behind the leg, straighten out the kicker's body, lift and sweep.
But here's the vital difference—the context. Many karateka practice this technique as above—scooping a front kick from inside the body to outside in a manner which I don't think I've seen anyone pull off in live sparring, let alone a fight.
To get your hand in the back of the opponent's leg you have to drop it, so if he's faking and kicks high, or steps in and punches instead, you've got nothing to stop him. I highly recommend trying this with an sparring partner who actually wants to kick you, but won't kick you hard when you inevitably find that parrying across your own body in the wrong direction is near impossible against a strong kick.
Compare it with the way that Saenchai takes the roundhouse kick and redirects it straight into the position to do the dump. At no point is he unguarded.
Saenchai takes a roundhouse kick on his same side forearm—exactly as you would do anyway—then scoops his other hand under, trapping the leg. He steps back, drags the leg across in front of himself, then steps in behind it. He took the powerful dumping technique, andmanufactured a way to get there against the techniques that a live, resisting opponent will actually use against him.
Another variation, which beats trying to parry a front kick the wrong way, is to use it in a similar style to the wedge throw—stepping inside of an opponent as he moves in and picking him up from there. This appears numerous times in Mas Oyama's Advanced Karate and is demonstrated as part of a sticky hands sequence by Taira Masaji below. It is essentially an application of judo's traditional Sukui-nage.
Limb Destruction
One of the focal points of the Seipai kata is kansetsu-waza or joint locking techniques. The most significant is the figure-four straight arm lock. This is something you will see in every Ju-jitsu and Chin Na manual from the turn of the 20th century. For a long time it was considered a great arresting hold. Nowadays, not so much. There's just too much room for people to squirm and resist—and getting the arm straight in the first place is a fairly large task.
The idea of the turn back on oneself, while whipping the trapping arm overhead, is to counter an opponent who is too strong to have his arm locked out. It's a nice thought (though notice, again, it all starts at the end posture of a stepping straight punch).
But here's an interesting application of a similar idea. Figure four arm attack—yet again—but this time the kimura from guard. As the opponent straightens his arm, Nogueira swings his arm over head and moves to the back. The application of the straight figure four armlock as a self defence technique is horribly outdated, but Nogueira's updated attack from guard works on exactly the same principles—in a familiar, modern context.
And that is the way to treat traditional martial arts forms. Recognize that they have some interesting ideas in, but don't pretend that the answers are all laid out within the forms themselves. Kata alone never taught anyone to fight well—but there's nothing to say that the ideas of a traditional martial arts form are all bunk.
The ninjitsu wall run became the Showtime Kick. Old ju-jitsu standing armlocks became limb destructions in the hands of Jon Jones and Shinya Aoki. Look to the old to reinvent the new.
Pick up Jack Slack's ebook, Fighting Karate at his blog Fights Gone By. Jack can also be found on Facebook and Twitter.
Check out these related stories:
Jack Slack's Five Rings: Touching the Corner
Jack Slack: MMA's Book of Five Rings
Fighting Motives: A Study in Saifa – Part 1 |
Hong Kong third from bottom in customer service survey
Hong Kong service staff are the third-least hospitable to their customers in a survey of 41 places around the world, the Hong Kong Economic Journal reported Thursday.
The city’s score in a survey run by the Mystery Shoppers Service Association slid 21 percent last year from its 2012 level to 48.
The average global score was 80, leaving Hong Kong ranked 39th, above only South Korea and Slovenia.
Hong Kong ranked just below Macau (38th) but fell far short of mainland China (14th).
Among the industries surveyed in Hong Kong, transportation scored the lowest.
Wong Siu-leung, the association’s chairman, said the Occupy Central movement and other post-movement activities contributed to the poor ranking of Hong Kong.
But Cheung Lai-ha, head of the Retail, Commerce and Clothing Industries General Union, said the lack of support from employers for frontline sales staff, who are under great work pressure, is mainly to blame.
“Mainland customers are quite rude most of the time and make unreasonable requests sometimes,” Cheung said.
The drop in sales resulting from the central government’s anti-graft campaign has made it especially tough for sales staff who earn their living from commissions, she said.
Translation by Vey Wong
[Chinese version中文版]
– Contact us at [email protected]
VW/JP/FL |
The giant utility says won’t fund completion of the 1260 MW plant
In a new Integrated Resource Plan released for public comment this week, the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) said it no longer has plans to finish the partially complete Bellefonte Unit I nuclear reactor for which construction started in 1974. With this decision the utility’s work to finish Watts Bar II later this year may turn out to be the last large reactor project at TVA for quite come time.
The reasons for the change in plans, which still have to be ratified by the utility’s management and board, are low natural gas prices and flat demand for electricity. The last time the board looked at the Bellefonte project in 2012, it voted to spend $6 billion to complete it by about 2020. A major contract was awarded to Areva to proceed with engineering services including development of a digital instrument and control system. However, the board also said that the most significant portion of the work could not start until Watts Bar II was done.
In the meantime, the country has been flooded with cheap natural gas. A new 700 MW natural gas plant can be build for about $1M per MW and completed in three-to-four years from the time it breaks ground. Additionally, licensing and regulatory costs are peanuts compared to completing a decades old reactor.
Rapid increases in the estimated cost to complete Bellefonte also may have also contributed to the utility taking it out of future plans for new generation capacity. In 2013 the costs reportedly jumped from about $5 billion to a range of between $7.4 and $8.9 billion. A private equity effort headed by Franklin Haney, an investor, offered to complete the reactor and operate it for $10 billion. TVA turned him down saying the plan didn’t have good enough numbers to proceed.
More recently, cost overruns at four reactors under construction in Georgia and South Carolina may also have given TVA a case of cold feet in committing to completing Bellefonte.
Behind all of the cost estimates is the lurking issue of TVA’s debt ceiling of $30 billion. The utility won’t ask Congress to raise it and has taken several steps, including sale and lease back arrangements for various parts of the electrical generation system, to avoid breaching the limit which was set in 1979.
As of February 2015 the debt stood at $25 billion leaving little headroom for completing Bellefonte and doing anything else by way of major capital expenditures. Earlier this year President Obama cited TVA’s debt as a risk, and suggesting selling the entire system, but later backed off saying the utility was being prudent in its management of the obligations.
Other elements of the new TVA energy plan include closing older coal fired plants as new gas plants are built and generating more electricity from solar and wind sources. Improving energy efficiency will be a long term effort.
Separately, Last October TVA withdrew its request to the NRC for license amendments for power uprates to the three BWR nuclear reactors at Browns Ferry which would have added as much as 400 MW of new generating capacity.
TVA at one time was also serious about exploring an option to collaborate in the design and licensing of two B&W mPower 180 MW small modular reactors (SMR). That relationship did not mature. Since then B&W has mothballed its SMR work. TVA is seeking an Early Site Permit (ESP) for a future SMR effort, but has not selected a vendor. The ESP cites TVA’s Clinch River site which already has nuclear infrastructure including connections to the regional power grid.
# # # |
UPDATE: Voting for the “Survivor” Hall of Fame Class of 2013 has ended. Please come back Wednesday, December 11, 2013 to meet the first inductee. And, follow @survivorhall on Twitter for up-to-the-minute updates.
The “Survivor” Hall of Fame is proud to have 2012 inductee Rob Cesternino as a member of the Executive Voting Committee. As a member of this exclusive committee, Rob (along with Host Jeff Probst and other “Survivor” luminaries) has accepted an awesome responsibility. The committee’s votes will make up 50% of the final tally for entry into the prestigious Class of 2013. The other 50% will come from “Survivor” fans like you.
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EDITOR’S NOTE: If you’re not listening to Rob’s “Rob Has a Podcast,” you should be.
Rob Cesternino’s 2013 Hall of Fame Ballot
As a member of 2012 “Survivor” Hall of Fame class, I take my job here very seriously. I actually found this task to be incredibly difficult, but with the help of a magic 8-ball, I’ve arrived at my top three picks.
Kim Spradlin – (“Survivor – One World”) In my opinion, Kim is the most dominant female player in the history of the show. Taking nothing away from Parvati and Sandra Diaz-Twine, but Kim’s game is totally different. Kim controlled an alliance of five from early in the game, adapted to get through a tribe swap, and then systematically eliminated any of the threats in her way after the merge. All of the players in the game who mattered thought she was on their side, until she slit their throats.
Kim Spradlin was so brilliant; she made her season boring because you knew nobody else had a chance to beat her. She ended up winning four immunities, finding the hidden immunity idol, and getting seven of the nine jury votes to win. I feel like Kim has not gotten the credit she deserves and I hope that gets corrected with her induction in to the “Survivor” Hall of Fame. Here’s to you, Dynamic Kim!
Jonny Fairplay – (“Survivor: Pearl Islands” and “Survivor: Micronesia – Fans vs. Favorites”) Jonny Fairplay is the first person in the history of the genre who showed up on “Survivor” WANTING to be the villain. Fairplay had a vision of how he wanted to be portrayed and played the part perfectly. The grandmother lie is still one of the craziest hoaxes to ever be attempted considering he was risking a chance to win a million dollars if it got screwed up.
I’m nominating Jonny Fairplay not just because he wanted to be a villain… he actually had game too. He had everybody fooled about him for much of the game (maybe not Sandra), he single-handedly took down Rupert and shifted alliances to get himself to the final three before losing the final immunity challenge. Why does that last challenge have to be so tricky???
I know some people will reject Fairplay for induction to the Hall because many remember him “quitting” “Survivor Fans vs. Favorites”… but I urge you to go back and watch the tape. Jonny Fairplay is in fact the first person voted out from the game. He gets nine votes and Jeff Probst even snuffs his torch! Can Osten, Purple Kelly, Naonka or Colton claim the same?
Whether you loved him or whether you hated him, he kept things interesting and he changed “Survivor” and Reality TV forever.
Brian Heidik – (“Survivor: Thailand”) I know many of you won’t agree with this one… but I think Brian Heidik is one of the great “Survivor” players of all-time. In “Survivor: Thailand,” Brian built on the strategy that Richard Hatch established in the first “Survivor” season and played one of the most lethal games in the history of the show. He said “Survivor” was just a business trip for him and he systematically made alliances with everybody in the game. On top of his excellent strategic and social game, he also won five immunity challenges. He was a used car salesman who left everybody feeling ripped off, but not until after he won the million dollars.
I realize that there is almost no chance that Brian Heidik gets in to the “Survivor” Hall of Fame this year (or any other year for that matter). After his win in “Survivor: Thailand,” he somehow made himself a persona non grata around “Survivor”-land and that’s a shame. Brian should have been in the first all-stars but the show decided that he wasn’t likable enough to come back (many would agree). Brian Heidik will probably never play “Survivor” again but I will always have tons of respect for the “Ice Man” and in my book, he’s a Hall of Famer.
Other Ballots:
‘Survivor’ Executive Producer and Host Jeff Probst
‘Survivor’ Producer Jesse Jensen
‘Survivor’ Challenge Producer John Kirhoffer
2010 Hall of Fame Inductee Parvati Shallow
2010 Hall of Fame Inductee Russell Hantz
2011 Hall of Fame Inductee Cirie Fields
Voting for the “Survivor” Hall of Fame Class of 2013 has ended. Please come back Wednesday, December 11, 2013 to meet the first inductee. And, follow @survivorhall on Twitter for up-to-the-minute updates.
The opinions expressed are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Comcast. |
If the criteria are titles or signature moments in October, you could have a long argument about the best Toronto Blue Jay ever.
If it is instead the harder thing – devoting yourself to a lost cause and doing the job you are paid to do at the highest level and without complaint – there is none. In that case, Roy Halladay, who died in a plane crash off the west coast of Florida on Tuesday, was the greatest competitor in Jays' history.
It's not easy being a good player on a good team, but it is simple. You do what you do and people fall in love with you for it. Winning creates a virtuous circle of contentment – everyone wants to come to work and is anxious to do their bit, however small.
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Many of the players who leap to mind in a "best ever" conversation got that advantage through the 1980s and early 1990s.
Being a good player on a consistently mediocre team? Not as much fun.
The fans resent the club, the players resent the fans, and eventually they begin to resent each other. If the alphas on the roster lose the plot, the room goes feral. Then it's a spiral into chaos.
For eight long and occasionally miserable seasons, as the good vibes of back-to-back titles became ancient history and Torontonians drifted from baseball, Halladay would not allow that to happen.
Decent years, so-so years, terrible years – Halladay was the constant spark.
If anyone was contemplating insurrection, they could look over at the most consistent starter in baseball and remind themselves that if that guy wasn't complaining, they did not have permission to, either. Those who tried it anyway found no takers in the room and did not last.
Halladay was not a talker. His style of leadership was more primal. You'd occasionally be standing around a locker room before a game and players would be goofing off, playing cards, typical stuff. Then Halladay would come through, soaked through with sweat, and everyone would go quiet.
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He'd head to the back to get treatment or crush bricks or whatever else was next in his endless workout regimen, and players would start getting out of their chairs. Roy Halladay, the best player on a team eight or 11 or 14 games out of first, wasn't easing into his work day. So no one else could, either.
When things got bad, nothing about Halladay changed. Same approach, same routines, same calm.
I remember Halladay once turning to a reporter after a question he didn't like and saying with just a hint of edge, "What do you mean by that?"
I remember it so well because it was the single time I saw Halladay irritated by anything other than his own on-field mistakes. People in the scrum – people who were used to being shrieked at by frustrated players every once in a while – rocked back on their heels. It was that weird.
Halladay did not make waves with anyone, ever. He didn't hold grudges, needle guys or make a show of himself. He was there to work, and that's what he did. Once work was finished, he went home, slept, got up and worked again.
For eight years he did that without once caving to the urge to use the megaphone baseball stardom had given him for anything other than soothing words.
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It is difficult to express how rare those qualities are in a top professional athlete. It's not once in a generation, but once in a lifetime. He provided the emotional ballast for an entire franchise, as well as giving fans a one-man rationale to invest in watching in a loser.
It wasn't always smooth. There is no way to paper over the fact that a team isn't very good and isn't doing enough to get better. But because Halladay never pointed out that fact, it never got to the point of crisis.
As the Jays head toward what could be another period of extended mediocrity, there is no one on the current roster who occupies that space – supremely gifted, entirely devoted and allergic to drama.
Think about how he handled his contracts. Halladay never allowed them to become a story, because he would quietly renegotiate extensions long before anyone had begun talking about them.
He never said anything about "seeing what's out there," never hinted that his co-operation was contingent on the team investing in this or that free agent. Despite having enormous leverage, he never once applied it in public because it would have embarrassed the organization and, to Halladay's unusual way of thinking, himself.
Baseball is a business – that's become the mantra of every star just as he leaves – but Halladay didn't treat it like one. For him, it was a vocation.
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He may be the only athlete on the continent who truly did not pay any mind to the money. As long as the Jays allowed him the freedom to perfect his art, he was happy to do it in Toronto. The rest was details.
It was the team that first suggested a trade, not the other way around. The process took nearly a year. The pitcher didn't agitate or sulk in the interim and though the team was miserable that season, he continued putting up Cy Young-calibre stats. The result was a deal that, at the time, seemed like highway robbery for a want-away star.
Who does all that now? No one.
You can't expect everyone to carry themselves as well as Halladay. Players are human and flawed. They have bad days and make impulsive decisions. It is a business and everyone likes attention.
But a very few special people rise above that. When they do, applauding it is not a slight on anyone else. In a grasping, individualistic sporting age, no qualities are more rare or precious than loyalty and modesty.
Halladay's numbers are Hall-of-Fame level, but they are paltry things beside those aspects of his remarkable professionalism. Those traits went beyond wins. They were the sort that make a player mythic.
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He's only been gone for a few hours, but it is not too early to begin thinking about how to properly honour Halladay's contribution to Toronto baseball.
There should be no limit to the organization's aspiration.
Level of Excellence? Retire his number? Erect a statue? All of those things could and should be done. In his way, Halladay means as much to this organization as Ted Williams or Babe Ruth did to the Red Sox and the Yankees.
But those are gestures made – quite rightly – for fans.
Something else should be done to memorialize Halladay's legacy in the place it was most directly felt – the clubhouse.
Hang his jersey there for the entire coming season as a sort of mourning shawl. Then install a more permanent reminder. It needn't be grand – that wouldn't be very Halladay – but instead spare and utilitarian.
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Done right, this shrine can be a daily reminder to every player who ever puts on the uniform again that there is a way to approach baseball that raises up the people around you and gives the job meaning beyond mere results. |
Anatomy versus Physiology, What’s the Difference?
Here’s an analogy that might help: Instead of the human body, imagine you were going to learn how a car works. First you would be taught what all the parts are called, what they look like and where they go. That’s Anatomy. After you have been acquainted with what everything looks like, then you could learn what they do and how they function all together with the other parts. That’s Physiology.
The Basics. Start here. This is your Foundation.
Epithelial and Connective Tissue
Skin, Hair, Nails, Sweat Glands
The Skeletal System
The Muscular System
The Central Nervous System (the brain)
The Peripheral Nervous System
The Autonomic Nervous System
Special Senses
The Cardiovascular System
Specialized Systems
What systems are missing?
The bones and blood vessels are incomplete, and it’s missing the joints, the digestive system (e.g. stomach, intestine, liver, gallbladder, pancreas), the ear and male/female reproductive system.
If I get around to filling these in, I will add them to this list, but as of right now, I’m making sure the ones I have already are in tip-top shape. Be sure to share this page with your fellow anatomy class peers! Let me know if you would like me to continue the series so I know you exist. |
Google was thrown into turmoil last night after the company fired James Damore, author of a manifesto defending viewpoint diversity and a fact-based approach to the alleged gender gap in tech. In exclusive interviews with Breitbart News, more Google employees are now speaking out in support of the manifesto.
Damore’s ten-page manifesto, which was met by an immediate backlash, described a climate of fear, in which employees who challenge prevailing leftist narratives at the company are faced with immediate threats to their career. Damore’s own experience appears to confirm this.
Breitbart News is exclusively publishing a series of interviews with current and former Google employees who contacted us in the wake of the manifesto’s publication.
The interview series, entitled “Rebels of Google,” will be published in full over the coming days. Because every employee who spoke to us fears for their job if their identities were made public, we have provided aliases in place of their real names.
Read more |
“The Big Aristotle” has spoken, and recount-warrior Jill Stein will not appreciate what he had to say.
NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal, tired of the post-election recount talk, says that President-elect Donald Trump won “fair and square,” and stands ready to give Trump “a chance.”
On Wednesday, O’Neal told The Hill, “We have a process that’s been going on forever. And whoever wins, you just hope he does what he says he’s going to do. You know, candidate Trump promised a lot of people a lot of things.
“Now that he’s president-elect, you just hope that he can make the world a better place. He won fair and square. We have to give him a chance. There’s no need talking about recounts and this and that.”
O’Neal, who calls Trump a friend, has consistently argued for giving Trump a chance before judging him, and voiced a sense of “hope” about a Trump presidency living up to its campaign promises.
Shaq, when asked who would fare better against him in a game of one-on-one, President-elect Trump or President Obama, responded “Neither.”
So much for giving everyone a chance.
Follow Dylan Gwinn on Twitter: @themightygwinn |
GREEN BAY, Wis. -- Coach Mike McCarthy doesn't want the Packers to have "a bunch of false confidence" just because Aaron Rodgers is back.
Yes, the Packers' locker room was abuzz on Wednesday after Rodgers began preparations for his return Sunday at the Carolina Panthers after missing nearly two months because of his broken right collarbone. But the quarterback stressed it will take more than just his return to get the Packers into the playoffs.
"Hopefully it gives a lift to some of the guys, but I'm not coming back to save this team," Rodgers said. "I'm coming back to play quarterback the way I know how to play it. Hopefully, we all raise the level of our play collectively and find a way to win these three games."
At 7-6, the Packers almost certainly have to run the table to have any chance for a ninth straight postseason appearance. The Packers went 3-4 with Brett Hundley as Rodgers' replacement, including consecutive overtime wins the past two weeks to make it worthwhile for Rodgers to return.
"I think our football has done an excellent job of finding different ways to win," McCarthy said. "We're not going to go to Carolina with a bunch of false confidence. We understand the impact that Aaron Rodgers makes for our football team and, hell, the impact that he'd make for anybody's football team. He's a great player; he's an impact player. We're in a position that we're in. We're 7-6. We clearly understand what's on the line here."
The Packers went 3-4 without Aaron Rodgers. At 7-6 overall, the team almost certainly needs to win out the final three games for a shot at the playoffs. Dylan Buell/Getty Images
Rodgers was off to a hot start before he broke his right clavicle on Oct. 15 against the Minnesota Vikings. He led the league in touchdown passes (13) through five weeks and pulled off a pair of last-minute comeback wins against the Cincinnati Bengals and Dallas Cowboys.
But eight weeks on injured reserve could make it difficult for Rodgers to pick up where he left off and for him to move out of the pocket as much as he likes. It was on a rollout pass at Minnesota when he was injured, after linebacker Anthony Barr hit him and landed on top of him near the sideline.
Editor's Picks Run the Table 2.0 would rank high among Aaron Rodgers' feats The Packers QB will play Sunday for the first time since he broke his right collarbone on Oct. 15, and Green Bay has no room for error.
Technically, Rodgers isn't even on the Packers' roster yet because he can't be activated from injured reserve until the eight-week mark, on Friday. But he took the No. 1 reps in practice Wednesday.
"I feel confident I will be able to go out there and play the way I've always played, but I've been off for seven games and been out for a while," Rodgers said. "So, it's going to take getting out there, getting that first pass, getting that first hit, and I'll probably settle in."
Rodgers has experience coming back from a broken collarbone. He missed seven games in 2013 with a broken left clavicle. He did not have surgery back then, as he did on his right clavicle this time around. When he came back for the regular-season finale in 2013 against the Chicago Bears, he scrambled only once, and although he was sacked three times, he anticipated the pressure on two of them and went down to avoid getting hit.
Rodgers wouldn't say much, if anything, about whether he had to lobby team physician Dr. Pat McKenzie to clear him this week.
"I wouldn't be standing here ready to play if I wasn't confident I could go out there and play the way that I've always played," Rodgers said. "There's just no point in doing that. It's a risky game; it's a dangerous game. There's risks every time you step on the field.
"With the concussions that have happened in this game, that, to me, is something to be more worried about than altering your play to take a shot and landing on your shoulder again. That's something that we deal with and that's why we love this game. I think [Pittsburgh Steelers safety] Mike Mitchell had a lot of good points when he was talking about the nature of this game. It's a physical game, and you have to go out and play as much as you can without fear. That's why I'm here, that's why we're cleared and that's why I'm playing." |
Buy Photo Meijer and computer app Shipt to offer deliveries starting Sept. 15. (Photo: Clarence Tabb Jr. / The Detroit News)Buy Photo
Southeast Michigan residents soon will have another option to get their groceries without leaving home.
Starting Sept. 15, smartphone app Shipt and Grand Rapids-based Meijer will partner to offer delivery grocery services of 55,000 items seven days a week. Deliveries from 24-hour Meijer locations will be made available to shoppers around the clock and orders can be delivered in as little as one hour.
Representatives for both companies told The Detroit News that 25 Meijer stores in Metro Detroit will offer the service, which constitute the majority of stores in the region.
Art Sebastian, director of digital shopping, said the new service builds on curbside pick-up service Meijer launched early in 2015 in Grand Rapids. The service expanded to 14 Michigan stores within a year, and the company has plans to offer the service at 33 locations in Michigan, Indiana, Illinois and Ohio by the end of the year.
“We have seen weekly (curbside) orders continue to increase,” Sebastian said. “Technology enables consumers to live differently and behave differently.”
The service requires a Shipt membership, which costs $99 annually or $14 monthly. If a customer orders more than $35 of goods through the app, there’s no delivery fee. Orders of less than $35 will have a $7 fee tacked on.
Once an order is submitted through the app, a Shipt contractor will go to the closest Meijer, shop, check out and deliver the groceries in a one-hour time window selected by the customer. Customers can order anything from baby, health and beauty products to fresh groceries or pet food, representatives said.
“I think it’s awesome for older people and people who can’t get to the grocery store,” said Barbara Mitchell of Detroit as she loaded grocery bags in her car at the Meijer store on Little Mack in Roseville. “There are millions of people who aren’t capable.”
Stacey Sipes of Eastpointe said she probably wouldn’t sign up for the service due to the cost.
“It would be nice, but I’m cheap,” Sipes said.
Linda Gobler, president and CEO of the Michigan Grocers Association, said grocery stores are firing up new shopping options as the business becomes more competitive. The new services also keep grocers out ahead of online retailers such as Amazon.
Amazon ships dry goods such cereals, baby food, granola bars and other groceries, but it doesn’t yet ship fresh produce.
“I think it’s a myriad of issues,” Gobler said. “There’s a lot of competition, (and) you’ve also got an aging population who might not be able to drive. ... A lot of families are two-career families. People are looking for ways to make shopping easier.”
And in the Detroit area “you have a population of millennials who have no interest in driving (to the store),” Gobler said. “They’re going to be interested in a new way of shopping.”
Meijer is not the only grocer in Michigan to offer new shopping options. Earlier this year, Kroger brought its ClickList curbside service to Metro Detroit, allowing customers to preorder more than 40,000 items that are brought out to their vehicles.
In Ann Arbor, Whole Foods offers personal shoppers and home delivery seven days a week from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The Whole Foods service involves emailing a form to the store. The shopping service is free, but delivery costs between $10 and $20, depending on distance.
Missy Polhemus, head of marketing for Shipt, said the company plans to hire 200 to 300 shoppers in Michigan ahead of the launch later this month.
The Shipt app can be used on all smartphones as well as desktop computers or other devices with internet access. Metro Detroiters can sign up for the service at shipt.com.
Those who register before the Sept. 15 launch date will get $25 off their first order. Anyone interested in becoming a Shipt shopper can apply at shipt.com/be-a-shopper.
Stacey Sipes’ sister, Kelly Howson, said she sends her husband to the store when she can’t go. But she did note a benefit of delivery service.
“If you have young kids it could be pretty convenient,” she said.
Staff Writer Candice Williams contributed.
Worry-free home delivery
Southeast Michigan Meijer locations launching with Shipt on Sept. 15:
■Auburn Hills, 800 Brown
■Canton, 45001 Ford
■Chesterfield Township, 27255 23 Mile
■Clinton, 40455 S. Groesbeck Highway
■Commerce, 1703 Haggerty Highway
■Detroit, 1301 W. Eight Mile
■Detroit, 21431 Grand River Ave.
■Fraser, 34835 Utica
■Lenox, 36865 26 Mile
■Livonia, 13000 Middlebelt
■Madison Heights, 1005 E. 13 Mile
■Northville, 20401 Haggerty
■Rochester Hills, 3175 Rochester
■Rochester Hills, 3610 Marketplace Circle
■Roseville, 30800 Little Mack
■Royal Oak, 5150 Coolidge Highway
■Shelby Township, 15055 Hall
■Southfield, 28800 Telegraph
■Sterling Heights, 36600 Van Dyke
■Warren, 29505 Mound
■Washington Township, 8401 26 Mile
■Waterford, 4200 Highland
■Westland, 37201 Warren
■White Lake, 6001 Highland
■Wixom, 49900 Grand River
Read or Share this story: http://detne.ws/2bSYE50 |
via @SL_Skeeters
Earlier this year, Tracy McGrady announced that he was going to attempt to pursue a career in baseball. The seven-time NBA All-Star was invited to spring training with the Sugar Land Skeeters of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball back in March, and now his journey has officially begun.
On Wednesday, April 16, McGrady made his pitching debut in a scrimmage against Alvin Community College.
The 34-year-old allowed one run on three hits in one inning of work, and he threw nine of his 15 pitches for strikes.
McGrady is a non-roster invitee, so he has to impress in order to make the team. The Skeeters currently have 34 players on their roster but have to trim it down to 27 by April 24.
[Sugar Land Skeeters, TSRN Sports, KHOU.com] |
920th Rescue Wing Public Affairs / Published July 10, 2017
PATRICK AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. (AFNS) -- In a concerted effort from July 7, and into the early hours of July 8, 2017, approximately 80 Airmen and four aircraft assigned to the 920th Rescue Wing successfully rescued two German citizens whose vessel caught fire approximately 500 nautical miles off the east coast of southern Florida.
At the request of the Coast Guard's Seventh District in Miami, the 920th RQW was alerted by the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center at Tyndall Air Force Base, to assist in the long-range search and rescue.
“The rescue was a culmination of skill and teamwork that involved many throughout the 920th RQW, the Coast Guard, The AFRCC and the 45th Space Wing, who provided critical support to allow our aircraft to launch and recover,” said Col. Kurt Matthews, the 920th RQW commander.
“The specific capability with our Guardian Angel Airmen, combined with our air refueling and extended-range airlift makes us uniquely able to accomplish this mission where few others in the world can. I’m very humbled and glad to be a part of this noble mission,” he continued.
Aircraft maintainers launched an HC-130P/N “King” fixed-wing combat rescue aircraft piloted by eight Airmen at approximately 2:30 p.m. transporting six Airmen who specialize in all types of rescue disciplines.
It was discovered during the planning stages that only one of the German victims spoke broken English, but was badly burned, therefore Master Sgt. Isabelle Kleirgraham, the 920th RQW Equal Opportunity noncommissioned officer in charge, was tasked to join the team due to her ability to speak fluent German.
The team arrived on scene two hours later and orbited overhead while King Ops, from the 39th Rescue Squadron at Patrick AFB, communicated with the ship below, the Nord Nightingale.
“We had the lifeboat in the water and the freighter was about 2 miles away,” said Capt. Dan Morgese, an aircraft commander. Finally, five pararescuemen plunged into the ocean.
“Anytime you are putting someone out over the Atlantic (Ocean), it’s concerning,” said Morgese. “We train for this. It all worked out just fine. If there was a day to do it, it was today; the weather was perfect.”
At the scene, the Nightingale motored a small boat toward the victims which allowed the pararescue Airmen to hoist the father-son duo onboard while several of the other rescue Airmen zoomed over to pick up the parabundles of medical equipment that splashed down just after them.
Around the same time the HC-130 arrived on scene 500 miles away, two HH-60G Pave Hawk helicopters departed Patrick AFB with full tanks of gas to retrieve everyone and transport the victims to Orlando Regional Medical Center. Fortunately a Pave Hawk can fly approximately 500 miles on one tank of gas, the approximate distance to the scene. To top off their gas tanks, the helicopters met up with the HC-130 on its return to Patrick AFB for aerial refueling.
About an hour later, an additional HC-130 took off from Patrick AFB to serve as fuel reserve for the helicopter's return trip.
“Kudos to maintenance for getting us airborne,” said Morgese. “They (the HC-130s) are 93 models; our maintainers work hard.”
The pararescuemen treated and stabilized the patients, then transfered them to the Nightingale to be picked up by the inbound helicopter.
At approximately 8:20 p.m., the two Pave Hawk crews hoisted and recovered all seven from the ship and journeyed back to central Florida where they landed on an Orlando High School football field at 1:30 a.m. and handed off the patients to the Orlando Fire Department to get them to their final destination, the Orlando Regional Medical Center.
“When you actually get to do something you train for; it’s really satisfying,” said Morgese. “Excellent communication and planning among all involved, made the mission successful.” |
ran for 101 yards and four touchdowns whileadded 194 rushing yards as the second-ranked Calgary Dinos scored 49 unanswered points to win their fourth straight Canada West football championship by a 62-13 score over the No. 6 UBC Thunderbirds Friday night at McMahon Stadium.Their 13th Hardy Cup safely tucked back in the trophy case, the Dinos (9-1) will host the Quebec champion in the CIS semi-final Mitchell Bowl next Friday, Nov. 18, live on TSN, RDS, and QR77 radio. Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m. MT, 9:30 p.m. ET. The Montreal Carabins visit top-ranked Laval for the Dunsmore Cup Saturday afternoon in Quebec City, with the winner heading west to face the Dinos next week.Calgary's statement win over the Thunderbirds, the only team that has beaten them in 2011, came as they held UBC's Hec Crighton-nominated quarterback Billy Greene to just 175 yards on 10-of-29 passing, his lowest yardage and completion percentage of the season. The Dinos also picked Greene off three times after a season where the Canada West MVP threw just four interceptions in eight games.On the other side of the football, Dzwilewski attempted just 13 passes and completed nine of them for 112 yards while running for a season-high 101 yards and four scores, the most rushing TDs by a quarterback in CIS playoff history. Combined with Lumbala and, the Dinos amassed 409 yards along the ground, running over the Thunderbirds en route to their fourth straight conference title.“Eric is a running quarterback, so this really comes naturally to him,” said Dinos head coachafter winning his 10th conference title as a CIS coach.. “We didn't use him much in the regular season because our backup is an 18-year-old, but now the games are more important and we need to have our full package in.“We're a running team – our development is all about running the football, and it's a program philosophy. We knew they were going to try to stop it, and we needed to meet it head-on. And I'm really happy with the defence – overall, I thought they played with emotion and preparation. We've emphasized all year that it's about preparation during the week and then execution on game day, and they were able to do that tonight.”Calgary broke open a 13-13 tie late in the second half on Dzwilewski's second touchdown of the night, taking a seven-point lead into halftime. The Boise, Idaho native, last year's CIS rookie of the year, scored the only points of the third quarter on a five-yard run to give Calgary a 27-13 lead. Mitch Shuster returned the ensuing kickoff 53 yards to set up Greene and the UBC offence in good field position, and they drove the ball all the way to the Calgary seven-yard line. But Greene's pass into the end zone was intercepted by Calgary defensive back, snuffing the Thunderbirds' best chance to score in the second half and putting all the momentum gained on the return back in Calgary's favour.The fourth quarter was all Dinos as Dzwilewski scored his fourth, then foundfor a 12-yard score. Just 30 seconds laterpicked off an errant Greene pass and ran it back 50 yards to the end zone to make it 48-13., in to relieve Dzwilewski, connected withfor a 13-yard touchdown, androunded out the scoring with a 70-yard pick six off UBC backup quarterback Carson Williams.Dobko collected four catches for 64 yards and a major to lead the Dinos receiving corps, withadding three catches for 37 yards. Conference defensive player of the yearwas the Dinos' leader with six tackles and 1.5 sacks, whileadded 5.5 tackles.Greene's lone touchdown toss was a beauty, as he found Jordan Grieve for an 87-yard score late in the first quarter to tie things up at 10-10. Billy Pavlopoulos field goals from 29 and 24 yards rounded out the scoring for the Thunderbirds, who were held off the scoreboard for the final 32:20 of the game.That one pass made up the majority of both Greene's passing yards and Grieve's 94 receiving yards on the day. Dave Boyd, playing his final game for the Thunderbirds, racked up 52 rushing yards. Devin Kavanagh led UBC with 8.5 tackles on the night, while Thomas Harris added eight.The fourth straight Hardy Cup marks the first time since 1937 that a team has won four consecutive Canada West titles outright … it is the University of Calgary's 130th overall conference title … only men's swimming (19) has more conference titles than football … Dzwilewski's four touchdowns was one off the CIS record of five rushing TDs in one playoff game … UBC defeated Calgary 36-23 in Week 8 of the season at Thunderbird Stadium in Vancouver, the Dinos' only loss in the 2011 season … the 62 points scored by the Dinos is a Hardy Cup record. The championship game was instituted in 1976, with UBC scoring a 57-3 win over Manitoba in 1982 and Calgary beating up on Alberta 56-3 in the 2010 game ...1st QuarterCGY –32-yard FG, 3:05, 3-0 CGYUBC – Billy Pavlopoulos 29-yard FG, 8:07, 3-3CGY –7-yard TD run (convert), 11:05, 10-3 CGYUBC – Jordan Grieve 87-yard TD catch from Billy Greene (Billy Pavlopoulos convert), 12:37, 10-102nd QuarterCGY –40-yard FG, 6:30, 13-10 CGYUBC – Billy Pavlopoulos 24-yard FG, 12:40, 13-13CGY –3-yard TD run (convert), 14:34, 20-13 CGY3rd QuarterCGY –5-yard TD run (convert), 2:33, 27-13 CGY4th QuarterCGY –7-yard TD run (convert), 1:50, 34-13 CGYCGY –12-yard TD catch fromconvert), 5:01, 41-13 CGYCGY –50-yard interception return TD (convert), 5:32, 48-13 CGYCGY –13-yard TD catch fromconvert), 11:00, 55-13 CGYCGY –70-yard interception return TD (convert), 12:48, 62-13 CGY-UC- |
Our systematic review of 13 studies (14 datasets) in ten countries over six decades of 2363 autopsies and 99 cases of incidental cancer or neoplastic precursor lesions, found that incidental breast cancer and its precursors are common in women not known to have breast disease during life. The estimates from these autopsy studies represent the best available evidence to answer the important question on the size of the prevalence pool of incidental breast cancer and precursor lesions.
The majority of incidental lesions appear to be precursors for invasive cancer (cancer in-situ and atypical hyperplasia). However the smaller prevalence pool of incidental invasive cancers appeared easier to find, with even the least thorough studies reporting cases. Unlike invasive cancer which was unrelated to the number of sections submitted for pathology examination, the estimated prevalence of cancer in-situ and atypical hyperplasia was strongly related to the thoroughness of microscopic examination. The odds of finding in-situ cancer and atypical hyperplasia were 127 times and 21 times higher respectively, in the studies where at least 20 sections were examined compared to those where less than 20 sections were examined. We could find no other clear predictors, including age, although this may be attributed to a paucity of data on women ≥70 years.
Our study builds on the evidence from a previous systematic review of incidental cancer discovered at autopsy [16]. We included six of the seven studies in that review (we excluded one study [38] as those data were included in a later report [33]). Our sensitive search strategy uncovered a further six reports which were published at the time of the previous review, but not discovered by them. We also found one more recent study [25] which contributed 2 datasets. Pooling these data enabled us to report on the substantial prevalence pool of invasive cancer, situ-cancer and precursor lesions (ADH and ALH), and that the more thorough the microscopic examination, the more these lesions are discovered.
Autopsy rates are now much lower than previous decades; in addition, the widespread adoption of screening in many countries means that contemporary studies risk under-estimating the prevalence of incidental disease as much of this may have already been detected (and treated) during life. Although the primary studies were conducted over a long time period (from 1948 to 2010), all but one were conducted in largely unscreened populations. The most thorough studies were conducted in the 1970s and 1980s, and included both hospital and forensic studies.
Limitations to this review include variation in the prevalence of incidental breast cancer and precursors across the studies, which could in part be due to underlying differences within the populations studied. Pathologists may have differing thresholds for classifying lesions [39] and differing levels of scrutiny with which they analyse lesions - which, as already discussed, was the strongest predictor of incidental breast cancer in-situ and atypical hyperplasia. Our review was also limited by the absence of data on the age-specific prevalence in most of the studies. We compared older and younger women's prevalences of incidental cancer and precursors but had insufficient data to make any conclusions on this. Insufficient information also prevented us from being able to compare cancer prevalence across race groups. In particular, there was a paucity of data related to women of African descent (only one study).
The size of the prevalence pool of incidental invasive breast cancer in unscreened populations may be used to provide an approximate lower bound for the extent of overdiagnosis associated with mammography screening: true overdiagnosis rates are likely to be at least this large. Our estimate of the prevalence of incidental invasive cancer, at 0·85%, is much less than the current life-time prevalence of invasive cancer for women in the USA of 12·4% [40], or the life-time prevalence of screen-detected invasive cancer of ~7·4% (assuming that about 60% of invasive cancers diagnosed during life are detected by mammography screening [41, 42]). If we assume that all of the prevalence pool of incidental cancer would be detected through screening (which is reasonable given the apparent ease with which incidental invasive cancer was detected in the autopsy studies), then the implications may be that at least ~11% (~0·85/7·4%) of screen-detected invasive cancers, or at least ~7% (~0·85/12·4) of all invasive cancers, are overdiagnosed. Invasive cancers that would have regressed if not detected by screening [43, 44] however, will cause the lifetime prevalence of overdiagnosed cancers to be greater than the incidental cancer prevalence discovered at autopsy in unscreened populations.
The excess lifetime prevalence of breast cancer in a regularly screened population may be used to provide an approximate upper bound for the extent of overdiagnosis associated with mammography screening: true overdiagnosis rates are likely to be no larger than this. The lifetime prevalence of invasive breast cancer in the USA in 1975–1977 (prior to the introduction of screening) was 9.4% (1 in 10.6 women). Since 1987 after roll-out of nation-wide mammography screening the life time prevalence has been stable at around 12.5% (1 in 8 women). Some of the increased risk in more recent times is because women are now less likely to die of other causes and because of changing risk factor levels, but the main explanation appears to be increased detection through mammography screening [45]. The expected decline in lifetime prevalence as screening rates stabilized has not eventuated [46] and a large proportion of the excess 3% lifetime prevalence (12.4% - 9.4%), which has now persisted for 30 years, is likely to be due to overdiagnosis. The implications of this are that up to ~40% (~3%/7.4%) of screen-detected invasive cancers, or up to ~24% (~3/12.4%) of all invasive cancers, may be currently overdiagnosed. Others’ estimated overdiagnosis rates fall between our approximate lower and upper bounds [11, 43, 47, 48, 49, 50].
For in-situ breast cancer, our estimate for the prevalence pool of incidental lesions is ~9%, much higher than the current life-time prevalence of ~2·0% [40], and lifetime prevalence of screen-detected in situ cancer of 1.6% (approximately 80–85% of in-situ cancers diagnosed during life are detected by screening [51]). This means there is a much higher probability of screen detected in-situ cancers being overdiagnosed (perhaps most are overdiagnosed), again consistent with estimates using other methods [11, 47].
The large pool of undetected cancer in-situ and atypical hyperplasia in these autopsy studies suggest caution for screening programs. First, as new breast screening technologies become more sensitive (e.g. digital mammography and breast tomosynthesis), it is likely that the proportion of overdiagnosed women will increase. Protocols for more intense biopsy sampling of screen detected abnormalities, or enhanced biopsy methods such as stereotactic vacuum-assisted core biopsy, are also likely to further increase overdiagnosis rates. Accordingly, new technologies and biopsy protocols should evaluate whether any increased sensitivity is for clinically important or overdiagnosed cancers, for example by examining interval cancer rates in randomised comparisons of alternative screening technologies [52]. Second, expansion of mammography screening programs to include those aged ≥70 years may also increase the risk of overdiagnosis and overtreatment [22]. The consequences of overtreating older women may also be more serious than for younger women because of their increased susceptibility to adverse effects of treatment [53]. |
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission should weigh in on net neutrality and encourage its sister agency, the Federal Communications Commission, to back away from calls to regulate broadband like a public utility, a group of 32 academics said.
Instead of reclassifying broadband as a regulated common carrier, the FCC should look to the FTC's antitrust enforcement practices and examine potential net neutrality violations on a "case-by-case basis," said a letter from the academics organized by the free-market think tank the International Center for Law and Economics.
The FTC should urge the FCC to "take an approach that promotes, rather than harms, consumer welfare," by encouraging its sister agency to take a lighter regulatory approach toward net neutrality, said Monday's letter. Most of the people signing the letter are libertarian-leaning law or economics professors.
If the FCC reclassifies broadband as a regulated common carrier service under Title II of the Communications Act, the agency would harm consumers by removing some FTC consumer protection authority over broadband, the letter said. Reclassification, in an attempt to ban paid traffic prioritization deals between broadband providers and Web content providers, could limit broadband provider efforts to minimize network latency, market sponsored content or create joint marketing deals with content producers, the letter said.
"Although many net neutrality activists rail against the idea of getting 'stuck in the slow lane,' there are innumerable edge providers that would likely jump at the chance to have their traffic de-prioritized [at lower cost], because their services are time-insensitive," the letter added. "For email hosts, backup services, software developer, or any startup company [not trying to live-stream video] looking to cut their transit costs, such an option would surely have at least some appeal."
The FTC is unlikely to push the FCC toward a new net neutrality approach, given that President Barack Obama in November advocated for reclassification of broadband. But the FTC has filed comments in past FCC proceedings, with a comment in a 2014 broadband deployment proceeding noting that the FTC enforces consumer privacy and data security rules with broadband providers.
The FTC, with a Democratic chairwoman, isn't likely to stray from Obama's position on net neutrality, said Geoffrey Manne, executive director of the International Center for Law and Economics, the think tank that organized the letter. Still, the FTC is an independent agency that "can and should" encourage a different approach, he said.
The purpose of the letter is to encourage the FCC to take an antitrust-like approach toward net neutrality, which, "more than anything, means not prejudging all paid prioritization to be banned but rather assessing conduct when it happens to see if it has harmful effects," Manne added by email.
Matt Wood, policy director for net neutrality advocacy group Free Press, discounted an antitrust-like, case-by-case regulatory approach.
"Net Neutrality does not exist merely to protect Skype or YouTube from the anticompetitive actions of Comcast or AT&T, though that's one benefit," Wood said by email. "Net Neutrality is much broader than that, protecting users' rights to send and receive the information of their own choosing."
Strong net neutrality rules would protect consumers and Web content providers against unreasonable interference by broadband providers, "no matter the motivation for such interference," Wood added "In other words, even in situations where antitrust claims would be impossible to make because the blocked content or service is not in competition with the broadband provider's offerings."
Net neutrality enforced through antitrust-like measures could "take years to litigate and millions of dollars" to bring a lawsuit against a broadband provider, Wood said. "You can see some of the few reasons that putting the FCC on the sidelines is an idea only a cable or telecom company could love."
Grant Gross covers technology and telecom policy in the U.S. government for The IDG News Service. Follow Grant on Twitter at GrantGross. Grant's email address is [email protected]. |
"Left to his own devices he couldnt build a toaster. He could just about make a sandwich and that was it."
The Toaster Project is well underway, and I have plugged it in! However as you can see from our appearance, not really an online thing!For some blog commentary just google it, or see:Send me an email if you'd like me to let you know when the Toaster Project book is published!
I'm Thomas Thwaites and I'm trying to build a toaster, from scratch - beginning by mining the raw materials and ending with a product that Argos sells for only £3.99. A toaster.
After some research I have determined that I will need the following materials to make a toaster. Copper, to make the pins of the electric plug, the cord, and internal wires. Iron to make the steel grilling apparatus, and the spring to pop up the toast. Nickel to make the heating element. Mica (a mineral a bit like slate) around which the heating element is wound, and of course plastic for the plug and cord insulation, and for the all important sleek looking casing. The first four of these materials are dug out of the ground, and plastic is derived from oil, which is generally sucked up through a hole.
Part of the project consists of finding the places where it's possible to dig up these raw materials. Mining no longer happens in the UK, but the country is dotted with abandoned mines, some having been worked since before the 'UK' existed, but all currently uneconomical.
Finding ways to process the raw materials on a domestic scale is also an issue. For example, my first attempt to extract metal involved a chimney pot, some hair-dryers, a leaf blower, and a methodology from the 15th century – this is about the level of technology we can manage when we're acting alone. I failed to get pure enough iron in this way, though if I'd tried a few more times and refined my technique and knowledge of the process I probably would've managed in the end. Instead I found a 2001 patent about industrial smelting of Iron ores using microwave energy.
Microwaves, as we all know, are just so much more convenient - and so I tried to replicate the industrial process outlined in the patent using a domestic microwave. After some not-so-careful experimentation which necessitated another microwave, followed by some careful experimentation, I got the timing and ingredients right and made a blob of iron about as big as a 10p coin.
The practical aspects of the project are rather a lot of fun. They also serve as a vehicle through which theoretical issues can be raised and investigated. Commercial extraction and processing of the necessary materials happens on a scale that is difficult to resolve into the domestic toaster.
The contrast in scale between between consumer products we use in the home and the industry that produces them is I think absurd – massive industrial activity devoted to making objects which enable us, the consumer, to toast bread more efficiently. These items betray no trace of their provenance.
So are toasters ridiculous? It depends on the scale at which you look. Looking close up, a desire (for toast) and the fulfilment of that desire is totally reasonable. Perhaps the majority of human activity can be reduced to a desire to make life more comfortable for ourselves, and has thus far led to being able to buy a toaster for £3.99 [among other achievements]. But looking at toasters in relation to global industry, at a moment in time when the effects of our industry are no longer trivial compared to the insignificant when our, they seem unreasonable. I think our position is ambiguous - the scale of industry involved in making a toaster [etc.] is ridiculous but at the same time the chain of discoveries and small technological developments that occurred along the way make it entirely reasonable.
The outcome of the project will be a toaster that will bear a very imperfect likeness to the ones that we buy - a kind of half-baked, hand made pastiche of a consumer appliance. The process of its creation will be documented through video and through a book (...Which has now been published!). |
After protracted legal wrangling with the EU, the Microsoft browser ballot is at last heading towards roll-out. The EU's complaint was that Microsoft's bundling of Internet Explorer made the browser market less competitive to the detriment of consumers. Wary of substantial fines and endless legal costs, the company eventually worked to settle with the Competition Commission last year. As part of this settlement agreement, it promised to stop prioritizing Internet Explorer. Microsoft's initial plan—to offer a version of Windows without any browser at all—was rejected. The solution agreed upon by both parties was instead to offer end-users a choice of browsers automatically.
The mechanism chosen for this was the so-called browser ballot; a selection of browsers will be shown to users, and the chosen browser will be installed and made the default. Initially using an alphabetic list, the ballot was then changed to show the browsers in a random order. With this decision made, the EU finally agreed that this would be the way forward, allowing the company to put to an end its European legal woes.
Make your selection
The ballot itself will be distributed to EU customers running Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows 7, via Windows Update. Installing the update will, on Windows 7, unpin the IE icon from the taskbar, and then offer a selection of browsers. The five leading browsers—Safari, Chrome, Firefox, Opera, and Internet Explorer—will be visible on the main selection screen, along with a further seven accessible by scrolling to the right.
The ballot will be offered on a limited basis in the UK, Belgium, and France next week, with full roll-out beginning on March 1. It will be pushed out as an automatic update (for those who have Windows Update set to install updates automatically), so those running Windows Update in its default, recommended, configuration will see the ballot automatically. The list of browsers offered will be updated every six months, to ensure that the five most widely-used browsers continue to be prioritized.
In addition to offering the browser ballot to existing Windows users, OEMs will be able to preinstall a browser of their choosing and also uninstall IE from machines shipping with Windows 7. |
An attack against a jihadist convoy by Iraqi army helicopters left eight people dead on Sunday, an interior ministry spokesman said.
"The army struck eight tanker trucks in Wadi Suwab inside Syrian territory as they were trying to enter Iraqi territory to provide the (jihadist) Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) with fuel," Brigadier General Saad Maan said.
The attack, which occurred in eastern Syria as the convoy tried to approach the border, was the first time Iraq's military has said it carried out an offensive in Syria.
Maan said there was “no coordination with the Syrian regime” over the strike and that it was simply protecting its border.
"Our responsibility now is to protect our border and to protect the border from the other side, because there is no protection from the other side," he said.
The vehicles were traveling to the western Iraqi border province in Anbar, where ISIL has been fighting Iraqi security forces and controls the city of Fallujah.
ISIL first emerged in Iraq after the U.S. invasion of the country in 2003 and later began fighting in Syria.
The brutal methods its fighters used in Syrian areas under their control turned other opposition groups against them, and they were pushed back by other rebel groups into their stronghold in northeastern Syria, where they still hold territory.
(With AFP)
Last Update: Sunday, 27 April 2014 KSA 14:11 - GMT 11:11 |
BC Ferries is doing something it hasn’t done in 13 years – it’s holding off on a fare increase.
Technically, fares are going up 1.9 per cent April 1, but that will be offset by a matching cut in the fuel levy, thanks to a drop in the price of diesel.
“With the continued decline in cost of diesel oil coupled with the fact we’ve locked in the price for the majority of our fuel, we are pleased to be in a position to increase the fuel rebate which will negate the tariff increase for all of our customers,” said Dennis Dodo, BC Ferries’ Chief Financial Officer in a release. “Given the current price of fuel on world markets, we expect to maintain a fuel rebate for the foreseeable future.”
The cost of reservations, assured loading tickets and the buy-in level for Experience Cards will also not increase on April 1.
The company still says it needs regular fare hikes so it can replace one ship per year for the next 12 years in order to maintain a safe and reliable service. |
When the hordes of little tykes dolled up like Dora the Explorer and Spider-Man and whatever other licensed character costumes their parents bought for them at Target show up at your door this Halloween, know that you are being judged. No, it's not on your costume or your synced light show on your house. They're judging you on the treats you put in their bags.
What sort of impression do you want to make on the kids of the neighborhood and—more importantly, their parents—when they ring your bell and jut their grabby fat hands out at you for some overly-processed high fructose corn syrup delivery system? Here are some common solutions to America's trick-or-treating epidemic. Before you head down to the CVS to pick out your candy, think about the message you're giving out to the world.
Tiny Candy Bars
This is now the standard ration for people who show up at the door: one "party sized" treat. This is fair and just. It says that you care about Halloween and traditions and children and family values and all that great American bullshit, but you don't care too much. You're doing your duty and, while you're happy to do it, you're not going to go over the top or anything. What kind of candy you give out doesn't really matter, because kids will be happy with any sugary bribe. But if you give out single Reece's Peanut Butter Cups you are clearly the awesomest.
Sweet Tarts
Well, it's not just Sweet Tarts but anything non-chocolate based like Skittles or Starburst or Lifesavers or something like that. Like the person who gives out the little "party sized" treat, you're into Halloween and doing your duty, but you want everyone to think that you're a little bit wacky and crazy. You don't like chocolate. No, that's too cliche! You're bright and sunny and fun and probably learned what PLUR meant at a rave in the late '90s.
Candy Corn
Who the hell gives out candy corn to trick or treaters? Yes, it is the traditional seasonal treat, but you don't give it out to kids so it gets all clumpy and gross at the bottom of their trick or treat bags. That's nasty. Just put it in a dish on your desk or your coffee table or something. This just means that you're way too into Halloween and not very smart. Also, you don't know what kids like. I sure hope you don't have any.
Carob
You are a stupid vegan jerkface who wants to ruin one of the best days of the year for everyone around you. You think that pushing your "doesn't cast a shadow" agenda is more important that children's joy. Asshole.
Tootsie Rolls
Tootsie Rolls are totally the little black dress of Halloween candy. No one goes out and buys Tootsie Rolls normally, but then when you get them at someone's house and you get home and eat them, you're so happy that someone gave them to you. They're simple and different and classic and always great. Who doesn't love a Tootsie Roll? You're probably a very cool and stylish person who has a great wardrobe and a very well-appointed house. People don't think to ask you for advice, but when you give it, it's always spot on. Some people might think you're plain, but, to me, you're just plain great.
Lollipops
Lollipops are always the only thing left at the store on the afternoon before Halloween, because they're sort of lame and kind of an afterthought. You are the kind of person who really feels like he has to give out Halloween candy but you're either too busy or lazy to get to the store before the last possible second, so you have to buy the only thing left, so you get two bags of Dum Dums and hope that the kids will like the mystery flavor because, you're sorry, but this is all you had left and it's going to have to do. Everything in your life is just like those damn Dum Dums.
Full Candy Bars
You're just an annoying show off. You want to impress all the parents in the hood that you make so much money or you're so cool that you are splurging on giant sized candy bars. When handing these out to kids, whose eyes light up when they see you pull them out of the box from Costco, you're looking in the eyes of their parents thinking, "Yeah, I'm giving your kid an entire fucking Snickers. What?" as you puff up your chest in front of them. Either that or you're so emotionally scarred from childhood that you need everyone's approval, including a bunch of kids you're never going to see again—until next year, when they'll be demanding the good stuff all over again.
Anything Other than Candy
If you pull out some pennies or pencils or McDonald's gift certificates or that fudge you make that everyone in the office says is really amazing or, god forbid, apples, then you are a fucking awful killjoy sadist who should just shut off your light, shun the world, and enjoy your reruns of Castle on DVR. Jerk.
Hersey Kisses
You're really more of a Christmas person, aren't you?
[Image via Shutterstock] |
Blues Harmonica Chord Conversion Chart
Many new players have a hard time figuring out which harmonica to use on different songs. Lets take the C harp as an example because it is the most common one. Since songs are played in a variety of keys, and your C harmonica is limited to this scale, it means you can only play on certain songs with your C harmonica. To play the blues with the C harmonica you need to play the song in the key of G.
The solution is to buy more harmonicas in different keys so that you are prepared for any situation. Serious players will even have harmonica vests allowing you to holster your weapon and grab the next one as needed.
I should point out that we are talking about BLUES HARMONICA and blues-style songs (including rock, pop, and even ska, etc.) that follow simple and similar chord progressions. COUNTRY music and country style harmonica playing can follow a completely different chord chart (like any Neil Young or Bob Dylan song). Country style harmonica playing (in my opinion) is harder to master and has a different style and set of rules for playing that require you to be far more careful and selective with your notes and breathing patterns. Blues harmonica playing is more raw and visceral and allows you play with fewer restrictions and generally produces better results for beginners.
So playing the blues (once you´ve got a bit of technique going) is easier than it looks (or sounds). As long as you have the right harmonica for the key of the song, you can pretty much play whatever you want and make it sound good. It comes down more to the expression and feelings that you can transmit through the instrument. Of course there are many players that go FAR beyond this idea and develop incredible technique and individual note control like John Popper from Blues Traveler…this guy may be the greatest harmonica player on the planet. It is sometimes hard to believe that the sounds and scales he makes can come from a harmonica. There also are a lot of websites out there that will give you every last detail of technical information and theory on harmonica playing. I´m sure some know-it-alls out there might want to criticize my take on the simplicity of blues harmonica, but I still maintain that anybody can easily learn to play a bit of blues.
Cracking the Keycode.
As you can see, the chord chart above shows you the harmonicas you need for the different song keys.
So if the song is played in G, then the harmonica you need to play the blues is C. If the song is played in D, you need a G harmonica, and so on. This works especially great when played over songs with a standard 3-chord blues structure.
A standard blues song in G is played with the chord progression G, C, D. If the blues song is in A, it has a chord structure of A, D, E and you would therefore need the D harmonica. If your blues song is in E, it would have a chord structure of E, A, D and require an A harmonica, and so on. Notice that the harmonica you need is usually the middle chord in the standard blues song progression. If you have a little musical knowledge, it is easy to see the pattern here. But if you´re not sure, ask your guitar player or another musician friend what the middle chord is in the song (blues song), and that will be the key you need for your harmonica.
When building your arsenal of harmonicas, in most cases you will only need to get major harmonica keys (A,B,C,D,E,F,G) but sometimes it is useful to have an F# or a Bb. It really depends on the songs you are going to play. I own 8 harmonicas because I need them all and I bought them as I encountered new songs that needed specific keys
Here is an example from one of my own songs of some blues harmonica playing adapted on a country-folk-rock song called DRAINPIPE. This song is not really a standard blues progression, BUT, it is played in the key of B, and so according the harmonica chord chart, my harmonica is E. |
In the wake of yesterday’s report on the Minecraft Game of Thrones recreation, it’s only fitting that today we find this stunning one-to-one scale re-creation of the famous test chambers from Portal, Valve’s unexpected hit originally released for the PC and Xbox 360 as part of their Orange Box game bundle.
The Minecraft level consists of two parts: the mod that provides players with everything from portal guns to turrets and the custom map created to fully take advantage of the mod. The whole of the resulting mix is definitely greater than the sum of the two parts.
If you want to do this yourself, you can download the mod here, get the map here, and run through the classic Portal levels as seen in the video. Of course, you can also break out of them and engage in all sorts of mischief as well.
There are tons of tutorials on applying mods to Minecraft, but a great video on how to install this particular mod is right here. |
Posted on: July 30, 2011
Don Wargowsky climbing an iceberg off the coast of Newfoundland. Climbing icebergs had been a long held dream of author Tom Prigg. He finally made his dream reality in 2009 and then returned the next year to spread the ashes of his friend and fellow dreamer Mike Brown. [Photo] Kelleigh Miller
The notion of climbing an iceberg was formulated one night over beers with my good friend Mikey Brown. Mike was an avid climber who loved to take risks, and get himself into strange climbing situations and humorous adventures. For him living in a campground was not uncommon. Being the archetype climbing vagabond, he tipped waitresses to finish meals on other tables. He once convinced a girl, who he'd just met to climb Royal Arches with himself and three others. She had never climbed before. Mike told the group that he knew the walk-off. Why would anyone ever question that he didn't? He'd been living in Camp 4 all summer. They made the 1,400-foot route, but Mike inexplicably couldn't remember, or find, the walk-off. The five of them shivered all night on a slab of rock in shorts and T-shirts. He never heard from the girl again. This was climbing with Mike. Although Mike thought the idea of climbing an iceberg was a bit ridiculous, he was all in. The two of us started planning this trip together. The year was 2004, and at that time, we only knew of one team who'd attempted an iceberg.
[Photo] Tom Prigg
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In the summer of 2009, Mike passed away. Distraught with the idea that we never completed one of our craziest ideas, I called Don Wargowsky. He had recently finished a Master's in teaching, but was following his passion—living out of a tent—in West Virginia. We met over beer to hash out our plan. Months later, with four others, we drove a modified short-bus from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to Newfoundland. After a major bus breakdown and other bump-in-the-road epics, we completed our iceberg-climbing goal. Over time, Don and I felt a void that we couldn't describe. A year later, we found ourselves back on the cold, windy shores of L'Anse aux Meadows.
Left to right, Tom Prigg, Eliot George, Aaron Stout, Don Wargowsky and Godfrey Parsons. [Photo] Erin Cassese
We had driven forty hours and 2,000 miles to reach the northern tip of Newfoundland. This area is known as "Iceberg Alley," and was the home of Leif Ericson's Viking settlement—the fabled "Vinland." L'Anse aux Meadows bears a resemblance to the villages in Hemingway's novels. Rusty, orange anchors and bleach-white fishing nets litter the shores; waves splash against holed fishing boats. The fishermen are jovial, generous and hardworking people, adapted perfectly to their finger-numbing, wind-burned environment. The fishing village has a population of one hundred and ten. School buses haven't visited the village since the last two school-age children graduated. Most of the young adults moved to larger cities in search of higher paying jobs. The combination of industrial big-net fishing and global warming have all but crushed their way of life.
[Photo] Tom Prigg
From the shores we spotted the hazy shape of a distant iceberg. Like a gliding ghost, the Northeaster winds pelted the pale monolith's sides, propelling it across the horizon. We feared the cruising iceberg's submerged ice would break apart, smashing against the seafloor. The fishermen of L'anse aux Meadows keep their distance from the icebergs. An iceberg's danger is concealed by its immense beauty and size. Like an ice cube floating in scotch, only ten percent of an iceberg is above the ocean's surface, making it impossible to know when its center of gravity changes. The frozen canvas of the 'bergs' walls are painted in an array of zebra strips: black and white mixed with swaths of sky blue, sculpted by waves into multi-story works of art. Nothing stands in the way of these Goliaths. They have been sinking ships for centuries. Without warning the behemoths flip, crushing any boat nearby and exposing a clean face.
On the morning of our climb we made a reconnaissance of the iceberg we were to climb. The rough seas made transitioning from the boat to ice a dangerous undertaking. Godfrey Parsons, a gutsy fisherman and our captain, suggested that we wait and watch the weather, "It'll probably not get worse. Usually the winds die down in the afternoon." Godfrey checked the weather back on shore. At 10 a.m. he returned, bursting into the fishing shed, "We gotta go now. The winds are changing. They'll be blowing from the northeast, and Northeasters are always trouble! If you are going to do this, you gotta do it now!"
Eliot George on the 'berg. [Photo] Tom Prigg
We suited up. Every ocean swell body-slammed the small vessel. My internal dialog repeated, "Shit, somebody's gonna get hurt." Waves pitched the boat wildly in all directions and the unpredictable motion made standing up extremely difficult. Trying to stay balanced while swinging my ice tools in the same place was nearly impossible, so I strafed the ice until I got a good stick. Once an axe was good, I put all my trust onto it, then jumped from the boat and thrust my front-points into the ice mid-leap. If the 'berg rolled, I didn't want to be dragged under the freezing water, so we all climbed without leashes or ropes. Nearly every swing of an axe bounced off the 15,000-year-old ice. Sticking my way to a ridge, I suddenly heard a thunderous BOOM. The waves crashed through a notch in the iceberg's center. The explosive sound pounded adrenaline into my heart; I had never felt so alive!
[Photo] Tom Prigg
We had one objective to put to rest. A year before, to pay homage to our friend, Mikey Brown, Don and I had pounded two ice pitons into an iceberg, but in this manner, our closure was as hollow as the pitons in ice. Two weeks before we left on this trip, Mike's mother contacted me. Her request: "Could you spread Mike's ashes on an iceberg?" There was no hesitation, this was something that absolutely had to happen. After Aaron cruised up the wall of ice, it was time to carry out our tribute. Don Wargowsky and I jumped onto the ice. Climbing to the ridge once more, we kicked our front-points in deep, planted our axes and pulled the boxes of ashes out. My teeth gripped the taped-down edges of the clear-plastic, ash-filled urn. It opened, but only enough to get gray, tasteless ashes in my mouth. I spit and chuckled, then wondered, "How am I going to do this?" Then it all made sense. I grabbed my axe and stuck it through the box. Ripping the pick through the urn made it easy to pour the light, dusty ashes out. Our climb was done and Mikey became part of one of our craziest ideas.
Tom Prigg and Don Wargowsky spreading the ashes of their friend Mike Brown. [Photo] Erin Cassese
It was time to return. Down climbing, I struck the ice causing a "dinner plate." Not the usual six-inch saucer, this detached layer surrounded my entire body with its considerable, six-foot diameter. If I had fallen, I would have slid between the boat and iceberg. "FUCK!" I heard, "Relax dude, you're doing fine." I swapped my axes, hooking one around my neck. Switching hands, I reached out and swung for a secure placement. I got a good stick, then smashed all of the loose ice away. After down climbing, I jumped backwards and ripped my axes from the ice, landing on the deck of the boat. We still had three more climbers to go.
Godfrey Parsons, Tom Prigg and Aaron Stout watch as Don Wargowsky transitions onto the ice. [Photo] Graney Juris
Eliot George climbs as the boat circles around the iceberg. [Photo] Tom Prigg
Our window of opportunity was closing rapidly as the Northeaster's winds intensified. The boat continued to flail in a chaotic dance with the iceberg. Shattered ice rained into the ocean as Eliot George swung over and over again from the deck of the boat until he heard the Thunk. His axe stuck. Then a large gray wave grabbed and threw the boat away from the ice, dislocating Eliot's shoulder. Still gripping his axe, Eliot hung over the water. We pulled him back from being crushed. He didn't whine, whimper or scream out; there was no indication of his pain except for the funny way he rolled his next cigarette.
As Eliot popped his shoulder back in, and we brought the boat around for another try. This time he got two good placements, then leaped from the boat. The scars from our crampons were high above the water's surface, and the iceberg was tilting. To retrieve the climbers, we had to maneuver over a shelf of submerged ice that was slowly rising. Motoring up to retrieve Eliot, the iceberg rocked back, exposing the aquamarine shelf.
[Photo] Tom Prigg
The propellers struck the rising shelf and stalled the engine. Godfrey frantically pulled the cord to restart the motor before the iceberg's suction sank us. The motor screamed. The ocean batted us around like a bath-toy. Getting just close enough, Eliot fell back onto the deck. Aaron Stout was the last of our four to climb. He reached out with his long arms to take a few swings. The boat rocked up and down so quickly that Aaron's pick holes were feet apart. It was no longer safe for the boat here. We took him over to the shorter end of the iceberg where the ocean was a bit smoother. Aaron was able to make the climb to the ridge and back down. But the water around the iceberg was its own torrential sea storm; control was nothing more than a distant memory. We motored back to shore with no desire for any more gambling.
Aaron Stout on the iceberg. [Photo] Tom Prigg
Mikey Brown climbing the nose. [Photo] David Micklo
The next morning we looked out at the iceberg from shore. Once again, we could see it rocking violently. Within an hour, it began to roll and break-apart. In just forty-eight hours the iceberg came close enough to shore to climb, then crumbled into sea. The disintegration of the colossus punctuated the dangers we had faced.
Two years before, I had run into Mikey switching buses in downtown Pittsburgh. We decided to get a beer, and I told him that I had given up on the idea of climbing an iceberg. "Too many years of it never happening. It's just becoming embarrassing now." He talked me back into the idea by telling me, "You know, it doesn't matter if you don't do it or give up. You already put everything into it, and sometimes things don't workout. But you've shown me what could be possible. It's better than everybody else who never tries at all." I am not sure if there was ever true closure. He should have been there to climb with us. But spreading his ashes on an iceberg in the North Atlantic is probably as close to closure as anyone can get.
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The Mersey Ferry is a ferry service operating on the River Mersey in north west England, between Liverpool and Birkenhead/Wallasey on the Wirral Peninsula. Ferries have been used on this route since at least the 12th century, and continue to be popular for both local people and visitors.
The current fleet consists of two active vessels, with a third currently laid up for cost-saving reasons. They originally came into service in the 1960s and were named Mountwood, Woodchurch and Overchurch. All three ferries have been extensively refurbished and renamed Royal Iris of the Mersey, Snowdrop and Royal Daffodil respectively, the last of which is not currently in service.
The ferries share the workload of cross-river ferrying, charter cruises and the Manchester Ship Canal cruise. The service is operated by Merseytravel.
History [ edit ]
Medieval ferries [ edit ]
In about 1150, the Benedictine Priory at Birkenhead was established.[1] The monks used to charge a small fare to row passengers across the river. At this time, the Mersey was considerably wider with sand dunes and marshes to the north leading up to Ainsdale beach and sandstone cliffs and shorelines to the south near Otterspool. The only suitable landing point for the ferry was in the Pool, near the site of the present Merseyside Police headquarters. Weather often stopped crossings and passengers were delayed for days, taking shelter at the priory.
In 1317, a royal licence was issued, granting permission to the Priory to build lodging houses for men crossing the river at Woodside. King Edward II visited Liverpool in 1323, and the royal accounts show that he used local ferrymen to sail up the river to Ince. In 1330, his son Edward III granted a charter to the Priory and its successors for ever: "the right of ferry there… for men, horses and goods, with leave to charge reasonable tolls". At the time, there was only a small hamlet at Birkenhead, and a slightly larger village at Liverpool.[2]
The Chester Indictments record criminal activities on the Mersey ferries in the 14th and early 15th centuries. In 1355, Richard, son of Simon de Becheton, was murdered on the ferry; the murderers escaped and took refuge at Shotwick. In 1365, it was recorded that there were four ferryboats operating without a licence, from Bromborough and Eastham. In 1414, William de Stanley, the servant of John Talbot, later Earl of Shrewsbury, was on the ferry between Birkenhead and Liverpool when about 200 men assaulted him, and stole his bay horse valued at £5 (current value - over £2,800), a bow and 14 arrows valued at 3s 4d (current value - over £95) and a barge valued at £10 (current value - over £5,700). The thieves were fined.[3]
A licence was issued in 1357 to the Poole family by Edward, the Black Prince, for a ferry from Eastham. The licence then passed to the Abbey of St Werburgh, in Chester, and became known as Job's Ferry. Early ferries also existed across the Mersey further upstream, at Ince and at Runcorn.
Map from 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica, showing ferry routes
From the 16th to the 18th century [ edit ]
The monks of Birkenhead Priory operated a ferry service until the Dissolution of the Monasteries and the priory's destruction by Henry VIII's troops in 1536. Ownership reverted to the Crown, and in 1544 the ferry rights as well as the Priory properties were bought by Ralph Worsley of Lancashire for £586. 11s. 6d (current value - almost £205,000). The rights later passed to the Molyneux family. By 1541 William Bromley had the licence for ferries at Seacombe, and in 1586, Queen Elizabeth granted John Poole of Sutton the rights at Tranmere.[3]
During this period, the private owners began to use fully rigged sailing ships. The use of sailing ships meant that bigger vessels could be employed, but in reality these boats were even more at the bidding of the weather. The Mersey is famed for its thick fogs, and during these times during winter there was little wind and ferries could not operate. The frequency depended on demand and the weather.
By the 18th century, the commercial expansion of Liverpool and the increase in stage coach traffic from Chester spurred the growth of the transportation of passengers and goods across the river.[4] Ferry services from Rock House on the Wirral – that is, Rock Ferry – were first recorded in 1709. By 1753 the Wirral side of the Mersey had at least five ferry houses at Ince, Eastham, the Rock, Woodside and Seacombe. The service from New Ferry to Liverpool was first mentioned in 1774.[3]
Steam ferries [ edit ]
The first steamship to operate on the Mersey was the Elizabeth, a wooden paddle steamer, which was introduced in 1815 to operate between Liverpool and Runcorn.[5] There was considerable debate as to the best way of boarding a ferry vessel. For the steam ferry Etna, which entered service at Tranmere on 17 April 1817, the idea of extension stages was mooted. These were long piers that were mounted on wheels and, by using a steam engine, could be wheeled in and out depending on the level of the tide.
At Woodside, a small slipway was built on the beach to allow the boats to berth, and in 1822 the paddle steamer Royal Mail began commercial operation between Liverpool and Woodside.[5] The town of Birkenhead was just starting to develop at this point. In 1820, the Birkenhead Ferry began operating from a new site just to the south; this closed in 1870. The Woodside, North Birkenhead and Liverpool Steam Ferry Company was formed in 1835, and the slipway at Woodside was widened and constructed as a stone pier. In 1838, the Monks Ferry Company began operating rival ferries from a new stone slip and hotel about 400 metres south of Woodside, but this service closed in 1878.[3]
From about 1830, steam ferries also operated from the new resort developed by James Atherton at New Brighton, and from nearby Egremont. Steam ferries also began operating from Eastham.
By the 1840s, Birkenhead was developing into a busy new town. The railway to Chester had opened, the town was growing quickly, and the docks were under construction. There were also competing ferry services and disputes over the rights granted to the monks, and there was a need to improve the facilities at Woodside. In the early 1840s, the old slipway was replaced with a new stone pier with a small lighthouse at the end. However, this soon became inadequate.[2]
In 1847, the first floating landing stage, which rose and fell with the tide so that boats could dock at any time, was opened at Liverpool. The first portion, known as the Georges' landing stage, was designed by William Cubitt and was 500 feet long. It was rebuilt and extended in 1874.[6]
The Corporation Years [ edit ]
Until the establishment of the Mersey Railway in 1886, the ferries were the only means of crossing the river, and so all of the routes were heavily used. All of the ferry routes were owned by private interests before coming under municipal ownership in the mid 19th century. The Woodside ferry was taken over by the Birkenhead Commissioners in 1858 and, in 1861, the Wallasey Local Board took over the ferry services at Seacombe, Egremont and New Brighton. At Woodside, land between the Woodside Hotel and the end of the old pier was reclaimed, and in 1861 the floating landing stage was opened. The pontoons were towed into position, moored by chains originally made for the SS Great Eastern, and linked to the mainland by two double bridges.[3]
The Cheshire, the first passenger ferry steamer to have a saloon, operated from Woodside in 1864. The iron pier at Eastham was built in 1874. On 26 November 1878, the ferry Gem, a paddle steamer operated from Seacombe by the Wallasey Local Board, collided with the Bowfell, a wooden sailing ship at anchor on the River Mersey; five people died as a result.
In 1886 the Mersey Railway Tunnel was opened, providing competition for the ferry services. The Woodside ferry service began using twin-screw passenger steamers in 1890, which replaced paddle steamers. In 1894 trains were carrying 25,000 passengers per day and the ferries 44,000 per day.[5] The ferry service at Tranmere, which had operated since mediaeval times, closed in 1897. The pier and landing stage at Rock Ferry was built in 1899, and Birkenhead Corporation also operated the ferry service at New Ferry.[3]
In 1914 King George V and Queen Mary travelled on the ferry S.S. Daffodil from Wallasey to Liverpool. During the First World War the steamers Iris and Daffodil were taken out of service from Wallasey to be used as troop ships in the naval raid on Zeebrugge in Belgium. The ferries had a shallow draft, allowing them to skim over the mines floating beneath the surface, and were robust enough to approach the heavily defended mole curling into the North Sea.[7] They both saw action, which was described on 24 April 1918 by Vice–Admiral Sir Roger Keyes of the Royal Navy in a message to the ferries' manager:
"I am sure it will interest you to know that your two stout vessels carried Bluejackets and Marines to Zeebrugge, and remained alongside the Mole for an hour, greatly contributing to the success of the operation... The damage caused by enemy gun fire has been repaired".
Because of their work King George V allowed the vessels to use the word "Royal" in their name. They needed extensive refitting before they could resume peacetime activities.[3]
In the boats themselves, there was quick development. The early incarnations of today's modern vessels can be seen in some of the early propeller driven ships, mainly the 1906 pair, Royal Iris and Royal Daffodil. The Wallasey twin screw vessels all had flying bridges with port and starboard docking cabs. As built, the two ferries still had the wheel at promenade deck level, however this was subsequently moved up onto the bridge so navigation was all on one level. They were all fitted with ahead and astern reciprocating engines and most vessels could achieve a speed of around 12 knots, which is about the same as today's trio of ferries. On early paddlers, the wheelhouse and side cabs were open largely due to the transition from sail to steam, and most ships at the time had open navigation bridges with the ferries being no different. Birkenhead did not use flying bridges, instead having a central wheelhouse and two outer navigation boxes which were raised up higher above deck level. Wallasey ferries employed a funnel livery of white and black and Birkenhead red and black. Birkenhead changed to orange and black after the second world war.
When the railway tunnels were constructed and opened, the ferry service did suffer somewhat but it always remained popular. It was really the advent of the road tunnels that caused trouble. When the Queensway road tunnel opened in 1934, the ferry service from Seacombe lost two million passengers because people started to use the tunnel rather than the ferry. The opening of the road tunnel also had an effect on the luggage boats which were introduced in 1879. Both ferry companies earned a substantial amount from luggage boats, which carried vehicles and goods across the river. When the road tunnel opened, traffic dropped by 80%. By the 1940s, luggage boat services from both Woodside and Seacombe to Liverpool had ceased.
Due to financial losses incurred from a gradual reduction in patronage, Birkenhead Corporation gradually closed its southern terminals; New Ferry (officially) on 22 September 1927, Eastham in 1929 and Rock Ferry on 30 June 1939. The closure of Eastham marked the last use of ferry paddle steamers on the river.[8] Wallasey were always trying to close Egremont, but faced stiff opposition from locals who got petitions to keep the ferry open. The chance came to close Egremont during the Second World War for economical reasons, after the pier was damaged in a collision. This was in similar circumstances to the demise of New Ferry twenty years earlier. As a result, the Egremont service never reopened.
In 1941, mines which had drifted into the River Mersey stopped ferry crossings. The Oxton and Bebington vessels were fitted with cranes to enable them to unload United States aircraft from mid-river and deliver them to the Liverpool landing stage. The Upton vessel was taken by the army and used as a ferry and supply vessel for the anti-aircraft forts in Liverpool Bay.
In 1950, the ferries carried almost 30 million passengers a year, including 11 million on the Woodside ferries and 15 million on Seacombe ferries, but by 1970 the total number fell to 7 million. Night boats across the river were withdrawn and replaced by buses through the tunnel in 1956.
The MPTE takes over [ edit ]
As a result of the Transport Act 1968, both Wallasey and Birkenhead Corporations merged under the single control of the Merseyside Passenger Transport Executive (MPTE) on 1 December 1969.[8] By this time, New Brighton had declined as a tourist destination and coupled with silting problems near the landing stage, the ferry service was withdrawn in 1971, with the stage and pier subsequently demolished.
In spite of the close proximity of Wallasey and Birkenhead and their respective ferry landing stages, both Corporations had used different gangway spacing on their vessels. This meant that a Wallasey ferry could not utilise both gangways at Birkenhead's terminal at Woodside, and that a Birkenhead boat would be similarly disadvantaged at Seacombe and New Brighton. The Pier Head at Liverpool was obliged to have gangways to suit both sets of ships. When the combined ferry fleet was rationalised, Seacombe Ferry landing stage required the construction of an additional gangway to cater for the Birkenhead vessels.
The 1970s economic situation in Britain saw costs escalating, with funding limited by the MPTE, which was embarking on an expensive operation to construct the Merseyrail "Liverpool Loop" extension. Compounded with the opening of the Kingsway road tunnel on 28 June 1971 and a further decline in passenger numbers (only 4,000-5,000 a day), the future of the service was uncertain. It was sentimental, rather than economical grounds which resulted in the retention of the ferries, after much public protest to keep them. However, service frequency was reduced, with ferry fares being linked to bus and rail fares.[8] During this period, maintenance on the ferries was limited considerably, with the Woodchurch being laid up as a salvage for parts for Mountwood and Overchurch. At this time, the large brass helm from Overchurch was damaged and was replaced by that from Woodchurch. After the damaged helm was repaired, it was placed on Woodchurch. This has remained the case, even after both vessels were extensively rebuilt.
1984 was a momentous year for the ferries and can be seen as the beginning of the ferries rise from the slumps of the 1970s. For the duration of the International Garden Festival, a special ferry service was provided to Otterspool Promenade. This service was usually operated by the Overchurch. The ferries also began to operate summer Manchester Ship Canal cruises, a service which had been popular for many year since the canal opened, but declined somewhat in the 1960s and 1970s. Sailing ships from the Tall Ships' Race visited the river in August 1984, which helped bring patronage to 250,000 over four days, a level unseen for forty years.[8]
Bus deregulation and the 1990 changes [ edit ]
The Mersey Ferries came under a new body called Merseytravel in 1986. On 26 October that year, as a result of the Transport Act 1985, bus services were deregulated and restrictions which prevented regular bus services through the Mersey Tunnels were abolished. As a result, many buses which formerly stopped at the Birkenhead Woodside Bus/Ferry terminal were extended into Liverpool. This was another blow to the Mersey Ferries and the ferry service had to be re-focussed away from commuter traffic, which had declined, to tourist needs.
From 1990 a commuter shuttle has operated Monday-Friday peak period with an hourly River Explorer Cruise. At weekends River Explorer cruises operate from 10:00 to 18:00. The morning peak service until 2010 ran every 30 minutes on a Liverpool-Birkehead-Seacombe-Liverpool circuit, but since then only runs every 20 minutes from Liverpool-Seacombe Ferry and back.
The evening peak service runs Liverpool-Seacombe every 20 minutes. The Explorer cruises follow a Liverpool-Seacombe-Birkenhead-Liverpool pattern and sail slightly further upstream with a commentary of what can be seen.
These operations run with a bias towards Seacombe Ferry as the vicinity of Seacombe lacks the rail and bus connections of Birkenhead. In the summer there are also cruises up the Manchester Ship Canal.
The boats [ edit ]
There have been hundreds of ferry boats used on the Mersey. The Birkenhead boats Claughton, Bidston, Thurstaston and Upton were viewed as the fastest ferries on the river. The Wallasey ferries included a number of three deckers such as the Marlowe, which were used for both ferry duties and cruising. The first diesel ferry to enter service was the Royal Iris in 1951. The current flagship of the Mersey Ferry service is the MV Royal Daffodil.
The Royal Family [ edit ]
The "Royal" prefix was granted to the ferries Iris and Daffodil for their service during the First World War where they were instrumental at the Mole in Zeebrugge. Both ferries were badly damaged but returned home to a triumphant greeting. Since the original duo's withdrawal, there have been other Royals. The Royal Daffodil II was arguably the most luxurious ferry ever built. She was hit by a bomb and sunk at her berth in the Second World War, but later raised and returned to service, with little of her pre-war splendour. Perhaps the most famous Royal is the Royal Iris of 1951. She was the best loved of all the Mersey ferries. She was the first diesel powered vessel of the Wallasey fleet. She had four diesel generators connected to two Metrovick marine propulsion units. She differed to all the other ferries as she had super smooth lines and a dummy funnel in place. She played host to hundreds of party cruises and bands such as Gerry & The Pacemakers, The Searchers, The Beatles and also Elvis Costello. She received a major refit in the 1970s and her popular fish and chip cafe - which earned her the name "the fish and chip boat" - was removed and replaced with a steak bar. The Royal Iris remained in service for nearly 40 years before being sold in 1993 - two years after withdrawal - for use as a floating nightclub. She is now berthed at Woolwich, London. Attempts to bring her back to Merseyside have come to nothing due to the prohibitive cost of making her fit for a 1,000 mile journey coastwise.
Leasowe, Egremont and Royal Daffodil II [ edit ]
The Leasowe and Egremont were built by Philip and Co. in Dartmouth, Devon and entered service in late 1951 and early 1952 respectively. Named after suburbs of Wallasey, both vessels were commissioned by Wallasey Corporation.
They were of a traditional design by naval architects Graham and Woolnough, who are based in Liverpool, but boasted modern equipment including Crossley multi-speed engines for versatile control. They only had one single boarding gangway and their forward saloons extended to the whole width of the ship. This proved somewhat problematic especially at busy periods, so an additional gangway space was added on the promenade deck for use with the high level terminal gangways. The forward saloons also had facility for a bar area and dance floor, which meant the vessels could be used for cruising. The two vessels were primarily used on the Seacombe - Liverpool service, augmenting the New Brighton run during the summer seasons.
Egremont differed externally to Leasowe in that she had a canvas awning fitted around her funnel. Early photographs of Leasowe and Egremont show them carrying what look like binnacle shrouds (the brass lids that sit atop of a binnacle) on the roof of their wheelhouses and wing cabs. It is not understood what these were. Some people have said that they were in fact ventilation devices. Upon the bridge there were numerous modern devices. Chadburn synchrostep telegraphs and rudder angle indicators, hydraulic steering telemotor and an automatic whistle control could be found in both the wheelhouse and the navigation boxes. There was also an internal communication system, a ship to shore radio and PA system and three binnacles on the bridge. Similar types of navigation equipment and deck fittings used on these vessels are extant on the Edmund Gardner Pilot Boat at Merseyside Maritime Museum. The Leasowe and Egremont were popular ferries with their crews as they had much improved crew accommodation compared to the earlier steamers, where much of the lower deck space was taken up with boilers and machinery. When the ferries entered service they all had Wallasey white and black funnel liveries. There was, however, a major design fault with Leasowe and Egremont. In order to reach the bows of the ship when casting off etc., crew members were required to either push through the hordes of commuters and climb down a ladder from the forward promenade deck or walk along the rubbing strake and climb over. In flat calm conditions this was not a problem, but in a force 8 gale with the vessel bobbing around wildly, it could be considerably dangerous. The simple reason for such problems was because there was no door leading from the main saloon to the bow area of the ships!
The Royal Daffodil II was constructed by James Lamont and Co. at Greenock and entered service in 1957. She was larger than the Dartmouth pair as she had three decks and was designed for the dual role of ferry and cruise service. The gross tonnage of Royal Daffodil II was 609. A gross error was the size of her engines, developing 1,360 bhp a piece she was underpowered and often struggled in strong tides. Aside from the engine order telegraphs, she also had docking order telegraphs in the wings, the only Mersey ferryboat to ever have them. The ship's second deck was intended for use as a bar and function area, however this did not happen due to cost limitations. Instead the it was simply a draughty space with seating and a semi -closed basic saloon. The Roman II was added to her name because of a Thames estuary cruise ship also called Royal Daffodil which existed from 1939 until 1967 (see MV Royal Daffodil (1939)).
With the merger of the Wallasey and Birkenhead fleets in 1969, the ferries lost their Wallasey colours to be replaced with the primrose yellow and powder blue of the MPTE, and latterly emerald green and black. In the mid-1970s, Leasowe and Royal Daffodil II were sold to Greek owners and have been heavily modified since. The Leasowe is still cruising around the Greek Islands. The former Royal Daffodil II was converted to a container ship, but still retained its forward section largely in its original condition. She hit headlines when she sank in November 2007, 20 miles off the coast of Cape Andreas, in heavy seas. The cause of the sinking was main engine and steering gear failure, and she claimed the lives of both her captain and mate.[9] The Egremont was laid up in Morpeth Dock whilst on sale offer and in fact sprang a leak which flooded her engine room and ruined her engines rendering her inoperable. She was stripped of her machinery and bridge fittings and towed to Salcombe, where she is now used as a floating headquarters for the Island Cruising Club in Salcombe, Devon, not far from her original birthplace.
Mountwood, Woodchurch and Overchurch [ edit ]
The current Mersey Ferries fleet comprises three vessels, all based on a similar design by naval architects Graham and Woolnough of Liverpool. Originally named Mountwood, Woodchurch and Overchurch after overspill post-war housing developments of Birkenhead. They were commissioned into service by Birkenhead Corporation.
Mountwood and Woodchurch were built at Dartmouth by Philip and Son. The Mountwood was launched on the 31 July 1959 and the Woodchurch on the 28 October of the same year. They were loosely based on designs of the Leasowe and Egremont of the Wallasey fleet, although they both weighed considerably more at 464 tonnes, compared with 311 tonnes for the earlier vessels. They are also larger than the older Wallasey pair, being approximately 19 feet longer, 6 feet broader and over a foot taller. Both vessels were externally identical in almost every way up until 1991 when the shroud protecting the aft funnel vent on the Mountwood was changed from square to rounded.
Compared to the earlier Wallasey twins, the Mountwood and Woodchurch were highly advanced. They benefited from an injection of cash from both Birkenhead Corporation and the Joint Tunnel Committee. They were given special Crossley eight-cylinder engines which were fitted with gears and automatic air brakes. New style telegraphs by Chadburns were designed which had a facility for braking the engines for rapid reversal, the telegraphs were part of a brand known as "Synchrostep" and were all originally unpainted brushed aluminium with shiny brass rimming. Woodchurch had its telegraphs painted blue, but Mountwood's became green and Overchurch had the same telegraph 'heads' however they were fitted into the wings and main control position in specially built units which also had instruments fitted to them. They entered service in 1960 and were an instant hit with ferry passengers. They were light, modern and boasted the latest in marine navigation equipment. They were given an orange and black funnel livery, with a red band just above the rubbing strake. In their early years of service both the ferries carried rope fenders to protect the strakes.
On the bridge was also a brass talk tube that linked down to the engine room. A popular prank amongst bridge crews was to call an engineer on the talk tube then pour water down it, thus soaking the engineer at the other end.
The Mountwood was used in the film "Ferry Cross The Mersey", a musical and subsequent Gerry & The Pacemakers song, with the video being filmed on two separate journeys across to Liverpool from Birkenhead. In her early years Mountwood was an unreliable ship. She broke down three times whilst crossing the river and had to anchor. Her passengers were rescued by Woodchurch. She also collided with Bidston whilst berthing, due to a communications error.
The last of the old Birkenhead steamers had gone by the time the Overchurch arrived, built at the Birkenhead shipyard of Cammell Laird and Co., Overchurch was of all welded construction and also had a bridge that was completely enclosed rather than a wheelhouse and navigation boxes like Mountwood and Woodchurch. The addition of a totally enclosed bridge meant that there only needed to be one binnacle upon it, whereas on the two sisters there were three, one inside the main wheelhouse and two in the docking/navigation boxes. The Overchurch also had much of its instrumentation fitted into specially built units, meaning the ferry had a spacious bridge, rather than the more compact and cluttered bridges of the Mountwood and Woodchurch.Overchurch had a high funnel immediately behind the bridge and also a small bridge deck, giving the appearance of a somewhat forward top-heavy look, as a result. The Overchurch was fitted with the same navigation equipment as her near sisters. She differed slightly by being a few tonnes heavier and a few inches longer. The Overchurch also had only one access stairway to the promenade deck unlike the Dartmouth twins which had two.
In 1962, the Overchurch conveyed Princess Alexandra to open the new Cammell Laird dry dock.[10]
The trio of ferries all remained in near constant operation up until 1981, when cost-cutting measures saw Woodchurch withdrawn for almost three years.[8] It was rumoured that she was cannibalised to help keep her sisters running. Whilst in lay up at Clarence dry docks, she was offered for sale, with one prospective buyer hoping to use her to operate cruises around the Isle of Man. She was not sold and after main engine repairs and a full repaint Woodchurch returned to service in 1983, freeing up Overchurch to work the new Otterspool service, set up for the 1984 International Garden Festival. The ferries all operated on a normal 20 minute route throughout this.
When the ferries were taken over by the PTE, they lost their original liveries and these were swiftly replaced with sky blue and primrose yellow. This was in turn replaced with black and green, and then colours of the Union Jack for the Garden Festival. The late 1970s and early 1980s saw very limited budgets for maintenance and the ferries are noted to look in poor condition during this period.
In 1989, Mountwood and Woodchurch were withdrawn and extensively refurbished internally which resulted in complete rewiring and main engine repairs. They were given new modern interiors and their separate bridge wings and wheel houses were plated over to form one large bridge, although none of the original equipment was removed from the new bridge. They entered service by July 1990 in time for the QE2's first visit to the Mersey and also operated the new "heritage cruises". They also were given a new black and red livery replacing the red white and blue given for the Garden Festival season of 1984. The Overchurch was withdrawn and retired from regular service and subsequently moved to Bootle, where she was internally refurbished and rewired. She was then moved to the ferries' regular berth on the East Float, where she saw very little use for nearly a decade. The reason for this was somewhat unknown as Overchurch was more than suitable for ferry service. In 1996 the Overchurch was given a small refit which involved the enclosing of the promenade deck shelter.
Liveries [ edit ]
Snowdrop in her "Razzle Dazzle" livery in 2015 in her "Razzle Dazzle" livery in 2015
The ferries companies were identifiable by their different colour liveries displayed on each vessel's funnel. Wallasey ferries carried a black and white colour scheme. Early Birkenhead steamers carried red and black, however this was changed to bright orange in the 1920s and this remained up until the merger of the two fleets under the MPTE in 1969.
From January 2015, MV Snowdrop had a special livery applied, based on the World War I dazzle camouflage and designed by Peter Blake.[11]
Refits and renamings [ edit ]
The Overchurch was given her major refit in 1998 at Lengthline Ship Repairers in Manchester, which resulted in a major rebuilding of all decks and fitting of new engines and navigation equipment. She was renamed Royal Daffodil and returned to service in 1999. Mountwood and Woodchurch were also refitted and renamed Royal Iris of the Mersey and Snowdrop, respectively in 2002 and 2004. The ferries were re-designed by their original architects - Graham and Woolnough. When all three vessels were refitted, the previously used helms and binnacles with compasses were placed back on the refurbished bridges. Other equipment, such as the telegraphs, were put in storage in the Mersey Ferries' archives. The fleet of three have served the river for nearly five decades and 2009 saw the 50th birthdays of the Royal Iris of the Mersey and the Snowdrop. This is remarkable for a ship to be in service for nearly 50 years and shows the dedication and care taken by the ferries' staff over the years to keep the boats in the conditions they can be found today. The refitting of the ferries has extended their working lives by approximately thirty years, and this is steadily increasing with additional repairs that are carried out on the boats on a regular basis.
The new Wärtsilä engines fitted on the ferries are much more economical than the previous engines by Crossley Bros of Manchester. They are also much 'greener' and produce much less emissions than the original propulsion units.
The ferries' masts now carry four red, one white and one green light at various points. Prior to refit, they had only a forward-facing white light. This is because all the ferries have been upgraded to a class 3 certificate, enabling them to sail much further and to various other locations such as Llandudno and Barrow-in-Furness. The extra lights are only used in this situation. Briefly, the Royal Daffodil carried a white half mast light which was suspended within the rigging. This was due to an electric failure in her main mast head lamp and an auxiliary light had to be used.
The Snowdrop and Royal Iris each carry two Kockums Super Tyfon TA 100/165 type fog horns. Royal Daffodil carries two Kockums Super Tyfon TA 100/185 horns. These are the original horns fitted when the ferries were first built. Both Royal Iris of the Mersey and Snowdrop have an E-flat tone, and Royal Daffodil's is in F Sharp.
The front-angled bridge windows on the Royal Iris and the Snowdrop have been subject to much criticism, as they are contradictory to the classic ferry design, especially that on Snowdrop, which is extremely square and box like. Although the Royal Iris also has a large front-angled wheelhouse, it greatly matches the contours of the ship as does much of the steelwork replacement by Cammell Laird. Generally, Snowdrop's refit has been well received, but criticisms lie with the stark contrasts between the fine lines of the original Dartmouth builders and the somewhat crude welding of Mersey Heritage Ship Repair contractors; this is coupled with extensions to the forward promenade deck, which appears to be somewhat 'stuck on'. Snowdrop's refit results are in stark contrast to the excellent work carried out on Royal Daffodil.
The ferries are known for their ability to operate in very heavy seas. The reason services are usually suspended is not because the ferries cannot cope with the heavy winds and waves of the Mersey, it is because berthing the vessel can be extremely hazardous. When berthing the vessel, the captain uses a combination of rudder positions and engine movements. The ferries all have Fletner system rudders which make them much more manoeuvrable. By using the vessel's twin screws, captains can move the vessels away by using one engine to push the vessel from the stage and the rudders and other engine to point it into the correct direction.
The Mersey Ferries used to operate in fog, however in recent years even slight fog has resulted in the suspension of the service.
Liverpool 08 [ edit ]
The ferries played a big part in Liverpool's European Capital of Culture 2008 celebrations. The ferries carried record numbers of passengers,[12] and on the 18–21 July, the Tall Ships returned to the Mersey. A combination of the Tall Ships and the Golf Open at nearby Royal Birkdale ensured over 1 million visitors to the city over the weekend, with many of these taking a trip on the famous ferries. Sunday 20 July saw an unusual sight of all three ferries out on the river at night, with the Snowdrop being berthed at Woodside and the Royal Iris and Royal Daffodil at Seacombe. All three ferries were packed to capacity over the weekend, with the Royal Daffodil operating a special cruise to witness the parade of sail and departure of the ships on Monday 21 July.
Farewell to the Queen Elizabeth 2 [ edit ]
Queen Elizabeth 2, the famous Cunard liner, paid her final visit to the Mersey on 3 October 2008. All three ferries were busy all day with both a shuttle service and special cruises near the vessel which was berthed at Liverpool's Pier Head. At 22:00 the fleet sailed out with the liner for the last time, each of the ferries sounding their klaxons in salute, with Queen Elizabeth 2 responding. It was an emotional night for all aboard the vessels, as they[who?] said farewell for the liner which had launched the ferries as a new brand more than 18 years ago.[citation needed]
Future [ edit ]
In August 2012, it was announced that Merseytravel were initiating a review into cost saving on Mersey Ferries operations after the service is running at a £1 million annual loss.[13] As a result of this review, the ferry Royal Daffodil was withdrawn from service in January 2013.[14] Another threat to the ferries' future is the cost of replacing the current ferries, the oldest ever to ply the river, when required.[citation needed]
In December 2015 Merseytravel announced a 20-year plan for the ferries which included the possible closure of one of the two Wirral landing stages (possibly Woodside), a later start to commuter services which only operate from Seacombe to Liverpool, and one or two new vessels with better ability to hold social functions or musical events, a facility not available since the disposal of the 1951 Royal Iris.[15]
The Mersey Ferries Long Term Strategy, whilst currently subject to approval, anticipates that a naval architect will be appointed with the intention of having a new vessel ready for service in 2020-21. The vessel will be used as the main day to day vessel with Snowdrop used as a secondary vessel.[16]
In January 2018, the Mayor of the Liverpool City Region, Steve Rotheram announced that plans had been drawn up for a new vessel. The announcement stated that naval architects had prepared initial designs and there would be a period of public consultation on the designs. The tendering process is expected to begin within a few months.[17]
Cultural references [ edit ]
"Ferry Cross the Mersey" was a 1964 song, film, and soundtrack album. The song was written by Gerry Marsden, recorded by Gerry & The Pacemakers and was a hit in both the UK and US. In 1989, a charity version of the song was recorded by Liverpool artists The Christians, Holly Johnson, Paul McCartney, Gerry Marsden, and Stock Aitken Waterman, and was released in aid of those affected by the Hillsborough disaster. It held the #1 spot in the UK chart for three weeks.
The ferries also featured in the opening credit sequences of the popular BBC TV comedy series, The Liver Birds, written by Carla Lane, which ran from 1969 to 1979. The ferry depicted was the Royal Daffodil II.
The ferries were referred to repeatedly in Helen Forrester's 1974 book Twopence to Cross the Mersey, because the fare for a journey to the Wirral (two pence) was too expensive for a destitute Liverpool family to afford during the Great Depression.
References [ edit ]
Bibliography [ edit ] |
A violent cyclonic storm left a trail of death and destruction in Jharkhand and West Bengal on Saturday, taking the toll from two days of inclement weather sweeping in from across India’s northwest to more than 40.
At least 10 people were killed in West Bengal and another eight in Jharkhand. Most of the dead were either struck by lightning or crushed under uprooted trees. The storm hit both states early in the morning. In Jharkhand, a large number of electricity poles were uprooted, affecting power supply in Ranchi, Jamshedpur, Hazaribagh, Latehar and some other districts.
Overnight, 14 people were killed in thunderstorm in Uttar Pradesh and as many perished in Delhi where dusty winds touching 90 kmph uprooted hundreds of trees and snapped power lines, leaving parts of the capital without electricity for as long as 20 hours besides affecting air and road traffic.
Meteorological officials said the tall thunderstorms and high-speed dusty winds that have been sweeping across India’s north to the east were being caused by western disturbances currently over Pakistan.
“The meeting of cold air and hot air on the Indo-Gangetic plains causes low pressure area and also lot of instability. This results in severe thunderstorm,” IMD Director General L.S. Rathore said.
Indian weather officials said intense heat and cyclonic conditions in north India were likely to persist for the next few days. During Friday night's storm in Delhi, many areas plunged into darkness as high-speed winds snapped power lines. Metro train services were disrupted for about an hour due to power failure while some flights had to be diverted from the dust-shrouded capital.
India's new energy minister, Piyush Goyal, worked through the night to tackle not only Delhi’s power cuts caused by the storm but also provide more electricity to Uttar Pradesh that is suffering outages in sweltering summer heat.
While the power situation in Delhi began to return to normal on Saturday, Uttar Pradesh continued to reel under outages of up to 12 hours a day as temperatures soared and were expected to reach 45 degrees Celsius in Lucknow on Saturday.
After a bout of blame game between the UP government and the Centre, Goyal said the state’s request for an extra 325 megawatts of power would be met by the state-run NTPC by Saturday morning.
UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav has alleged that the central government is not making available enough fuel for the power companies in the state.
In a letter to Goyal on Friday, Yadav said: "Of the total 6,200 MW sanctioned to the state from central pool, state is only getting 4,200 MW. Before the Lok Sabha polls, state was given 5,200 MW power in this head.
Peak demand for power in Uttar Pradesh is around 12,700 MW, around 2,000 MW in excess of supply that has been available until now due to power station shutdowns and delays in buying coal stocks, the government says.
First Published: May 31, 2014 19:20 IST |
“We get the job done!” the two men exclaim, complete with a high-five.
Rarely has political theater overlapped so much with political theatrics. In one scene Hamilton drops a thick batch of papers several feet to the floor, a screed against John Adams that lands like a punch — a moment that mirrors Senator Lindsey Graham’s dropping his cellphone from a roof, in a recent video, to mock his rival Mr. Trump for giving out his number. (In another video, Rand Paul takes a chain saw to a stack of papers meant to be the federal tax code.) Ted Cruz, Mike Huckabee, Rick Perry and Mr. Trump have also embraced a call-it-as-I-see-it style of attack that calls to mind one of Hamilton’s slaps at Jefferson: “And another thing, Mr. Age of Enlightenment, don’t lecture me about the war, you didn’t fight in it.”
At times it’s today’s Republicans who seem more in tune with the blunt Hamilton and bombastic Jefferson of the musical. By contrast the leading Democratic candidate in the 2016 race, Hillary Rodham Clinton, occasionally seems like a kindred spirit of Aaron Burr, the Hamilton nemesis who would probably approve of Mrs. Clinton’s refusals to take a stand on the Keystone XL pipeline and the Pacific trade deal. As Burr puts it in one song:
Talk less!
Smile more!
Don’t let ’em know what you’re
Against or what you’re for.
Like the Republican candidates now positioning themselves as unwavering opponents of President Obama, decrying his nuclear deal with Iran and his diplomatic opening to Cuba, characters in “Hamilton” stake out unyielding positions against their political enemies during the drafting of the Constitution and early in Washington’s presidency. But the art of compromise eventually becomes a focal point for the creator of “Hamilton,” Lin-Manuel Miranda, a close student of politics as the son of a Puerto Rican immigrant who became a powerful Democratic strategist in New York.
Ron Chernow, whose biography of Hamilton inspired the musical, said that compromise was the timeliest theme in the musical. “What Lin is showing is that it’s very easy when you’re in the political opposition to take extreme ideological positions, but when you’re dealing with real power, you have to engage in messy realities and compromises to move forward,” Mr. Chernow said.
After six and a half years of “no-drama Obama,” the dramatic flair of the political showmen in Cleveland and on Broadway — as well as Senator Bernie Sanders in the Democratic presidential race — is clearly connecting with sections of the electorate who are hungry for direct, colorful language. The crowds for Mr. Trump and Mr. Sanders in particular continue to grow, while “Hamilton,” coming off a sold-out Off Broadway run, has one of the highest advance ticket sales in Broadway history — more than $31 million. Among those who have seen it are President Obama, Vice President Joesph R. Biden Jr., all three Clintons and former Vice President Dick Cheney.
Mr. Trump, in an interview, said more theatricality was needed in American political life to rouse citizens and make them take part in the political process. “I don’t like using pollsters because they just want to give you a script to read and turn politicians into unoriginal, safe, timid people,” Mr. Trump said. “Do I get in trouble with some of the things I say? Maybe. But you have to start a campaign by finding ways to get people to listen to you.” |
One reporter asked Trump, “Do you support the plan by people who previously served in your administration, such as Steve Bannon, to primary Republican candidates in the 2018 elections who do not support your agenda?”
Trump responded:
Well I have a very good relationship, as you know, with Steve Bannon. Steve’s been a friend of mine for a long time. I like Steve a lot. Steve is doing what Steve thinks is the right thing. Some of the people that he may be looking at I’m gonna see if we talk him outta that cause frankly they’re great people. What Mitch will tell you is that maybe, with the exception of a few, and that is a very small few, I have a fantastic relationship with the people in the Senate and with the people in congress, I mean I have a, with our House of Representatives. I have a great relationship with political people. If you read the papers you think I’m like on one island and they’re like on the other, well it’s not the way it is. We have a fantastic relationship. I’m friends with most of them. I can say, and I don’t think anybody can have much of a higher percentage, but I’m friends with most of them. I like and respect most of them and I think they like and respect me. Just so you understand, the Republican Party is very, very unified. When we get things approved, we have to go through hell because we have no Democrat support. We have nobody. We don’t have a vote from the Democrats. As an example — massive tax cuts, we may not get any Democrat votes, now we also may get 3 or 4, but we may get no Demo- for massive tax cuts. We’re the highest taxed country in the world and yet we may get no Democrat support. And that’s because they’re obstructionists and they just basically want us to do badly, but that’s not going to happen. |
0.19.1 Released
Pony 0.19.1 has no breaking changes and fixes no high-priority bugs, so you can update at your leisure.
Lambda and Array Inference
This release includes significant improvements to type inference for array literals and lambda expressions when the type of the expression has an unambiguous antecedent (such as the “left side” of an assignment, the parameter signature of a method call, or the return type of a method body), including the following improvements:
Empty array literals are now valid syntax: let a: Array[U8] = []
Non-homogenous concrete elements in an array literal can be treated as a trait or interface instead of as a union: let a: Array[Stringable] = [true; None; "string"]
Array literals can have an implied capability recovery to iso or val : let a: Array[String] val = ["foo"; "bar"; "baz"]
or : Lambda expressions can have implied parameter and return types: let fn: {(U64, U64): U64} = {(x, y) => x + y }
Unused lambda parameters can use the “don’t care” symbol ( _ ) instead of a parameter name and type: let fn: {(U64, U64): U64} = {(_, y) => y * 2 }
) instead of a parameter name and type: The receiver and object capability of lambda expressions can be inferred from context, instead of being inferred from the statefulness of the lambda.
For more information, see RFC #45.
Fixed
Fix broken “make” command (PR #2220)
Fix inconsistencies in multi-line triple-quoted strings (PR #2221)
Fix undersized string buffer for library link command in Windows. (PR #2223)
Fix Iter.take to handle infinite iterator (PR #2212)
Fix handling of empty and multi-byte character literals (PR #2214)
Added
Inference of lambda type and array element type from an antecedent (RFC 45). (PR #2168)
AUTHOR Sean T. Allen Sean is a member of the Pony core team. His turn-ons include programming languages, distributed computing, Hiwatt amplifiers, and Fender Telecasters. His turn-offs include mayonnaise, stirring yogurt, and sloppy code. He is one of the authors of Storm Applied, and VP of Engineering at Wallaroo Labs.
© 2019 Pony Developers |
The University of California, Berkeley’s Graduate Assembly routinely hosts exclusive social events for “students of color,” spending tens of thousands of dollars on the initiative.
Campus Reform has observed that the Graduate Assembly’s “Minority Student Project” in conjunction with its “Minority, Outreach, Recruitment, and Retention Project” have hosted at least nine such events this academic year alone, using an approved budget of $17,150 and $16,700 respectively to host events, provide meals, and pay $9,900 stipends to “Project Coordinators.”
“Bring down the overwhelm in good company.”
[RELATED: Berkeley students barricade bridge, force whites to cross creek]
Notably, roughly 69 percent of the Graduate Assembly’s budget comes from student fees, though many events hosted by the Assembly and its subordinate committees are not actually open to all Berkeley graduate students.
In March alone, the Graduate Assembly’s subcommittees planned at least three events explicitly for “graduate and undergraduate students of color” only, including a “rare opportunity” to see a live dance performance at a discounted price, an upcoming “student of color mixer” featuring a live D.J., and even a “Grads of Color Study Hall” where students can “bring down the overwhelm in good company” while enjoying dinner, snacks, and caffeinated beverages.
In fact, the “Grads of Color Study Hall” appears to be a semi-regular tradition, with previous offerings in September, October, December, and February.
[RELATED: Emory looking to establish regular POC-only social events]
Despite the existence of the Minority Student Project and the Minority, Outreach, Recruitment, and Retention Project, which receive a combined total of $33,850 in funding, Berkeley’s Graduate Assembly also funds a “Women of Color Initiative,” which receives a whopping $54,110 in funding, according to a copy of the budget available on the Assembly’s website.
The rest of Berkeley’s female grad students, meanwhile, are supported by the “Grad Women’s Project,” which was given a $15,400 budget for the current academic year.
[RELATED: Berkeley chancellor resigns amid charges of wasteful spending]
In total, the four groups receive a combined $103,360 in funding, accounting for over 16 percent of the Graduate Assembly’s income of $622,550 for the 2016-2017 year, 69 percent of which comes from student fees.
Notably, the Graduate Assembly’s commercial budget account also lists Executive Board allocations of $20,000 for alcohol and another $15,000 for a “boat cruise,” neither of which appeared in the budget prior to the 2015-2016 academic year.
Campus Reform reached out to the president of the Graduate Assembly for an explanation of the apparently lavish spending, as well as for comment on the Assembly’s exclusionary programming, but did not receive a response in time for publication.
Follow the author of this article on Twitter: @AGockowski |
The Question of Suffering, the Response of the Cross | Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger
An excerpt from
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Seewald: We are used to thinking of suffering as something we try to avoid at all costs. And there is nothing that many societies get more angry about than the Christian idea that one should bear with pain, should endure suffering, should even sometimes give oneself up to it, in order thereby to overcome it. "Suffering", John Paul II believes, "is a part of the mystery of being human." Why is this?
Cardinal Ratzinger: Today what people have in view is eliminating suffering from the world. For the individual, that means avoiding pain and suffering in whatever way. Yet we must also see that it is in this very way that the world becomes very hard and very cold. Pain is part of being human. Anyone who really wanted to get rid of suffering would have to get rid of love before anything else, because there can be no love without suffering, because it always demands an element of self-sacrifice, because, given temperamental differences and the drama of situations, it will always bring with it renunciation and pain.
When we know that the way of lovethis exodus, this going out of oneselfis the true way by which man becomes human, then we also understand that suffering is the process through which we mature. Anyone who has inwardly accepted suffering becomes more mature and more understanding of others, becomes more human. Anyone who has consistently avoided suffering does not understand other people; he becomes hard and selfish.
Love itself is a passion, something we endure. In love experience first a happiness, a general feeling of happiness.
Yet on the other hand, I am taken out of my comfortable tranquility and have to let myself be reshaped. If we say that suffering is the inner side of love, we then also understand it is so important to learn how to sufferand why, conversely, the avoidance of suffering renders someone unfit to cope with life. He would be left with an existential emptiness, which could then only be combined with bitterness, with rejection and no longer with any inner acceptance or progress toward maturity.
Seewald: What would actually have happened if Christ had not appeared and if he had not died on the tree of the Cross? Would the world long since have come to ruin without him?
Cardinal Ratzinger: That we cannot say. Yet we can say that man would have no access to God. He would then only be able to relate to God in occasional fragmentary attempts. And, in the end, he would not know who or what God actually is.
Something of the light of God shines through in the great religions of the world, of course, and yet they remain a matter of fragments and questions. But if the question about God finds no answer, if the road to him is blocked, if there is no forgiveness, which can only come with the authority of God himself, then human life is nothing but a meaningless experiment. Thus, God himself has parted the clouds at a certain point. He has turned on the light and has shown us the way that is the truth, that makes it possible for us to live and that is life itself.
Seewald: Someone like Jesus inevitably attracts an enormous amount of attention and would be bound to offend any society. At the time of his appearance, the prophet from Nazareth was not only cheered, but also mocked and persecuted. The representatives of the established order saw in Jesus' teaching and his person a serious threat to their power, and Pharisees and high priests began to seek to take his life. At the same time, the Passion was obviously part and parcel of his message, since Christ himself began to prepare his disciples for his suffering and death. In two days, he declared at the beginning of the feast of Passover, "the Son of Man will be betrayed and crucified."
Cardinal Ratzinger: Jesus is adjusting the ideas of the disciples to the fact that the Messiah is not appearing as the Savior or the glorious powerful hero to restore the renown of Israel as a powerful state, as of old. He doesn't even call himself Messiah, but Son of Man. His way, quite to the contrary, lies in powerlessness and in suffering death, betrayed to the heathen, as he says, and brought by the heathen to the Cross. The disciples would have to learn that the kingdom of God comes into the world in that way, and in no other.
Seewald: A world-famous picture by Leonardo da Vinci, the Last Supper, shows Jesus' farewell meal in the circle of his twelve apostles. On that evening, Jesus first of all throws them all into terror and confusion by indicating that he will be the victim of betrayal. After that he founds the holy Eucharist, which from that point onward has been performed by Christians day after day for two thousand years.
"During the meal," we read in the Gospel, "Jesus took the bread and spoke the blessing; then he broke the bread, shared it with the disciples, and said: Take and eat; this is my body. Then he took the cup, spoke the thanksgiving, and passed it to the disciples with the words: Drink of this, all of you; this is my blood, the blood of the New Covenant, which is shed for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins. Do this in remembrance of me." These are presumably the sentences that have been most often pronounced in the entire history of the world up till now. They give the impression of a sacred formula.
Cardinal Ratzinger: They are a sacred formula. In any case, these are words that entirely fail to fit into any category of what would be usual, what could be expected or premeditated. They are enormously rich in meaning and enormously profound. If you want to get to know Christ, you can get to know him best by meditating on these words, and by getting to know the context of these words, which have become a sacrament, by joining in the celebration. The institution of the Eucharist represents the sum total of what Christ Is.
Here Jesus takes up the essential threads of the Old Testament. Thereby he relies on the institution of the Old Covenant, on Sinai, on one hand, thus making clear that what was begun on Sinai is now enacted anew: The Covenant that God made with men is now truly perfected. The Last Supper is the rite of institution of the New Covenant. In giving himself over to men, he creates a community of blood between God and man.
On the other hand, some words of the prophet Jeremiah are taken up here, proclaiming the New Covenant. Both strands of the Old Testament (Law and prophets) are amalgamated to create this unity and, at the same time, shaped into a sacramental action. The Cross is already anticipated in this. For when Christ gives his Body and his Blood, gives himself, then this assumes that he is really giving up his life. In that sense, these words are the inner act of the Cross, which occurs when God transforms this external violence against him into an act of self-donation to mankind.
And something else is anticipated here, the Resurrection. You cannot give anyone dead flesh, dead body to eat. Only because he is going to rise again are his Body and his Blood new. It is no longer cannibalism but union with the living, risen Christ that is happening here.
In these few words, as we see, lies a synthesis of the history of religion—of the history of Israel's faith, as well as of Jesus' own being and work, which finally becomes a sacrament and an abiding presence. ...
Seewald: The soldiers abuse Jesus in a way we can hardly imagine. All hatred, everything bestial in man, utterly abysmal, the most horrible things men can do to one another, is obviously unloaded onto this man.
Cardinal Ratzinger: Jesus stands for all victims of brute force. In the twentieth century itself we have seen again how inventive human cruelty can be; how cruelty, in the act of destroying the image of man in others, dishonors and destroys that image in itself. The fact that the Son of God took all this upon himself in exemplary manner, as the "Lamb of God", is bound to make us shudder at the cruelty of man, on one hand, and make us think carefully about ourselves, how far we are willing to stand by as cowardly or silent onlookers, or how far we share responsibility ourselves. On the other side, it is bound to transform us and to make us rejoice in God. He has put himself on the side of the innocent and the suffering and would like to see us standing there too.
Related IgnatiusInsight.com Articles and Book Excerpts:
Author Page for Joseph Ratzinger/Pope Benedict XVI
Introduction to Christianity | Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger
On The Way to Jesus Christ | Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger
On The Way to Jesus Christ | Justin Nickelsen
Behold, God's Son! | Christoph Cardinal Schönborn
My Jesus | Christoph Cardinal Schönborn
Jesus of Nazareth | Fr. James V. Schall, S.J.
Christ, The Ideal of the Priest
Studying The Early Christians | The Introduction to We Look For the Kingdom: The Everyday Lives of the Early Christians | Carl J. Sommer
The Everyday Lives of the Early Christians | An interview with Carl J. Sommer
Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI, was for over two decades the Prefect for the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith under Pope John Paul II. He is a renowned theologian and author of numerous books. A mini-bio and full listing of his books published by Ignatius Press are available on
Visit the Insight Scoop Blog and read the latest posts and comments by IgnatiusInsight.com staff and readers about current events, controversies, and news in the Church! An excerpt from God and the World: A Conversation with Peter Seewald (Ignatius Press, 2002), by Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, pages 332-36, 333.Today what people have in view is eliminating suffering from the world. For the individual, that means avoiding pain and suffering in whatever way. Yet we must also see that it is in this very way that the world becomes very hard and very cold. Pain is part of being human. Anyone who really wanted to get rid of suffering would have to get rid of love before anything else, because there can be no love without suffering, because it always demands an element of self-sacrifice, because, given temperamental differences and the drama of situations, it will always bring with it renunciation and pain.When we know that the way of lovethis exodus, this going out of oneselfis the true way by which man becomes human, then we also understand that suffering is the process through which we mature. Anyone who has inwardly accepted suffering becomes more mature and more understanding of others, becomes more human. Anyone who has consistently avoided suffering does not understand other people; he becomes hard and selfish.Love itself is a passion, something we endure. In love experience first a happiness, a general feeling of happiness.Yet on the other hand, I am taken out of my comfortable tranquility and have to let myself be reshaped. If we say that suffering is the inner side of love, we then also understand it is so important toand why, conversely, the avoidance of suffering renders someone unfit to cope with life. He would be left with an existential emptiness, which could then only be combined with bitterness, with rejection and no longer with any inner acceptance or progress toward maturity.That we cannot say. Yet we can say that man would have no access to God. He would then only be able to relate to God in occasional fragmentary attempts. And, in the end, he would not know who or what God actually is.Something of the light of God shines through in the great religions of the world, of course, and yet they remain a matter of fragments and questions. But if the question about God finds no answer, if the road to him is blocked, if there is no forgiveness, which can only come with the authority of God himself, then human life is nothing but a meaningless experiment. Thus, God himself has parted the clouds at a certain point. He has turned on the light and has shown us the way that is the truth, that makes it possible for us to live and that is life itself.Jesus is adjusting the ideas of the disciples to the fact that the Messiah is not appearing as the Savior or the glorious powerful hero to restore the renown of Israel as a powerful state, as of old. He doesn't even call himself Messiah, but Son of Man. His way, quite to the contrary, lies in powerlessness and in suffering death, betrayed to the heathen, as he says, and brought by the heathen to the Cross. The disciples would have to learn that the kingdom of God comes into the world in that way, and in no other.Theya sacred formula. In any case, these are words that entirely fail to fit into any category of what would be usual, what could be expected or premeditated. They are enormously rich in meaning and enormously profound. If you want to get to know Christ, you can get to know him best by meditating on these words, and by getting to know the context of these words, which have become a sacrament, by joining in the celebration. The institution of the Eucharist represents the sum total of what Christ Is.Here Jesus takes up the essential threads of the Old Testament. Thereby he relies on the institution of the Old Covenant, on Sinai, on one hand, thus making clear that what was begun on Sinai is now enacted anew: The Covenant that God made with men is now truly perfected. The Last Supper is the rite of institution of the New Covenant. In giving himself over to men, he creates a community of blood between God and man.On the other hand, some words of the prophet Jeremiah are taken up here, proclaiming the New Covenant. Both strands of the Old Testament (Law and prophets) are amalgamated to create this unity and, at the same time, shaped into a sacramental action. The Cross is already anticipated in this. For when Christ gives his Body and his Blood, gives himself, then this assumes that he is really giving up his life. In that sense, these words are the inner act of the Cross, which occurs when God transforms this external violence against him into an act of self-donation to mankind.And something else is anticipated here, the Resurrection. You cannot give anyone dead flesh, dead body to eat. Only because he is going to rise again are his Body and his Blood new. It is no longer cannibalism but union with the living, risen Christ that is happening here.In these few words, as we see, lies a synthesis of the history of religion—of the history of Israel's faith, as well as of Jesus' own being and work, which finally becomes a sacrament and an abiding presence. ...Jesus stands for all victims of brute force. In the twentieth century itself we have seen again how inventive human cruelty can be; how cruelty, in the act of destroying the image of man in others, dishonors and destroys that image in itself. The fact that the Son of God took all this upon himself in exemplary manner, as the "Lamb of God", is bound to make us shudder at the cruelty of man, on one hand, and make us think carefully about ourselves, how far we are willing to stand by as cowardly or silent onlookers, or how far we share responsibility ourselves. On the other side, it is bound to transform us and to make us rejoice in God. He has put himself on the side of the innocent and the suffering and would like to see us standing there too. The Truth of the Resurrection | Excerpts from| Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger Seeing Jesus in the Gospel of John | Excerpts from| Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger God Made Visible | A Review of| Justin Nickelsen A Shepherd Like No Other | Excerpt from| Christoph Cardinal Schönborn Encountering Christ in the Gospel | Excerpt from| Christoph Cardinal Schönborn A Jesus Worth Dying For | On the Foreword to Benedict XVI's| Fr. James V. Schall, S.J. The Divinity of Christ | Peter Kreeft Jesus Is Catholic | Hans Urs von Balthasar The Religion of Jesus | Blessed Columba Marmion | From| The Introduction to| Carl J. Sommer| An interview with Carl J. Sommerwas for over two decades the Prefect for the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith under Pope John Paul II. He is a renowned theologian and author of numerous books. A mini-bio and full listing of his books published by Ignatius Press are available on his IgnatiusInsight.com Author Page
www.ignatiusinsight.com
World Wide Web |
Wales are hopeful Craig Bellamy will commit to another qualifying campaign for his country.
The Liverpool forward, 32, has said he is considering international retirement after the Gary Speed Memorial Match against Costa Rica on 29 February.
But Wales assistant Osian Roberts says Bellamy has had positive discussions with new Wales manager Chris Coleman.
"I've had no indications that he will be [retiring after the Costa Rica game]," Roberts said.
"He's had good discussions with Chris as well so hopefully that's a positive thing.
"Obviously we have to manage his injuries and his physical state, and we have to be careful with that.
"But the form he's been in with Liverpool has been absolutely fantastic this year and for us it's imperative he's in the team and around the squad, because not only is he influential on the pitch, he's extremely influential off the pitch and in the dressing room."
Wales fixtures in 2012 v Costa Rica (Cardiff, 29 February)
v Mexico (New York, 27 May)
v Bosnia-Herzegovina (home, 15 August)
v Belgium (home, 7 September)
v Serbia (away, 11 September
v Scotland (home, 12 October)
v Croatia (away, 16 October)
Bellamy has scored 19 goals in 67 games for Wales since his debut in 1998 against Jamaica and has impressed for Liverpool this season after leaving their Premier League rivals Manchester City for a second spell at Anfield.
Much of Bellamy's career has been blighted by serious knee injuries and the Cardiff-born player has had to carefully manage his fitness and playing demands.
But Roberts says that the veteran's influence on his Wales team-mates is second to none and would be a very hard personality to replace.
"They all look up to him, he's the ultimate professional. He trains like he plays, with great intensity, and that's why you have to manage the workload with him," Roberts said.
"He sets the standards and makes sure that players around him also are raising the bar and he's a great example to any young player out there.
"And as a result that rubs off on the others, be that on the training pitch, on the pitch itself, or in the dressing room."
While the Wales backroom staff hope that Bellamy continues playing, they are certain that his successor as captain - 21-year-old Arsenal midfielder Aaron Ramsey - is perfect for the role.
"I can't see any reason for that [to change], he's grown into the role particularly well," Roberts said.
"When we sat down and looked at the candidates we thought he's going to be captain of Wales some day, so we might as well start now and let him grow into it a little bit earlier.
"The proof is in the pudding really, in how he's grown into it, matured into it, and if he can be the leader of Wales for years to come then we're going to be in extremely good hands." |
At close to midnight Monday, Republican leadership in Congress – outgoing House Speaker John Boehner and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell – dropped a bomb on members of their respective chambers: a budget bill secretly negotiated with the Obama White House. Without consulting GOP representatives elected on a promise of stopping the Obama agenda, the deal provides yet another huge increase in the debt ceiling – i.e., the bill to be presented to our children and grandchildren for our refusal to live within our unprecedented means today – and further busting the caps from the 2011 budget deal.
CNN reports that GOP leaders will attempt to ram the deal through as early as tomorrow (Wednesday).
Of course, by giving the president the spending and borrowing authority he wants, Republicans forfeit the leverage to demand concessions from him in policy battles over the final 15 months of his term. Obama gets a green light and a blank check.
Republican voters get yet another demonstration that electing Republicans yields Washington As Usual.
Rep. Paul Ryan says the deal “stinks” and ripped the way it was negotiated. But we’ve learned with Ryan and his cohort to ignore what they say – and the indignation with which they say it – and watch what they do. What Ryan will do is … nothing. He is a key GOP leadership figure, chairman of the powerful Ways and Means Committee, and Boehner’s heir apparent. In fact, despite some lingering conservative opposition, Republicans are expected to select him as speaker tomorrow morning – shortly before Boehner rushes through the budget deal. Ryan wants the deal done, but on Boehner’s watch. He could scuttle the deal by opposing it … but he won’t. Bank on it.
Congressional Democrats and the White House are enthusiastically praising the budget deal as a victory over conservatives. GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy – fresh from clueless comments that undermined the Benghazi investigation and cost him the speakership – is crowing that the budget deal “will be a big bipartisan vote” (translation: Democrats dig the bill, so GOP leaders can thumb their noses at conservative opposition).
Ryan, hoping to hold conservative support for his speakership bid, took the opposite tack, vowing that under his “new management, we are not going to do business like this.”
That put me in mind of 2010, when Beltway Republicans, sounding just like Ryan, inveighed against Democrat tactics – the very tactics they themselves are employing. Back then, they, too, vowed that, if voters put them in charge, under their new management, they would not do business like this.
The commitment was peddled in a glossy pamphlet Republican leadership titled A Pledge to America. The Pledge is festooned with pictures of Boehner, Ryan, McCarthy, and other GOP notables sold to the public as the steely-spine leaders who would make good on it. They begin by decrying:
An unchecked executive, a compliant legislature, and an overreaching judiciary have combined to thwart the will of the people and overturn their votes and their values, striking down long- standing laws and institutions and scorning the deepest beliefs of the American people. An arrogant and out-of-touch government of self-appointed elites makes decisions, issues mandates, and enacts laws without accepting or requesting the input of the many. Rising joblessness, crushing debt, and a polarizing political environment are fraying the bonds among our people and blurring our sense of national purpose.
If voters put them in charge, Republicans promised to do several things to address this crisis. For one thing, they said they had “A Plan to Reform Congress and Restore Trust.” They committed to change the abuses of Democratic leadership, who had “consolidated authority, abusing the letter and spirit of the House rules to get the outcome desired, while ignoring voices of the American people, the minority, and even dissenters within [its] own party.”
Yup. It’s especially hard today not to snicker and boil over their promise that complex, voluminous bills of great consequence would no longer be dumped on members, who would be given no meaningful opportunity to read the legislation, much less propose changes, before votes were scheduled to occur hours later. This “top-down way of governing is outdated and just plain backwards,” Republicans thundered. They vowed to end it:
We recognize that if we are truly committed to addressing the American people’s highest priorites, the House of Representatives must operate differently – differently from the way the Democrats do now, and differently from the way Republicans did in the past. Change begins at home.
What kind of change? A new “Read the Bill” requirement would be imposed:
We will ensure that bills are debated and discussed in the public square by publishing the text online for at least three days before coming up for a vote in the House of Representatives. No more hiding legislative language from the minority party, opponents, and the public. Legislation should be understood by all interested parties before it is voted on.
Right.
And what would be in those bills that everyone would purportedly get a chance to read and propose to amend under GOP stewardship? Republicans said the bills would be guided by their “Plan to Stop Out of Control Spending and Reduce the Size of Government.”
No don’t laugh. They actually said this:
Washington’s out-of-control spending spree needs no introduction. Our debt is now on track to exceed the size of our economy in the next two years. The lack of a credible plan to pay this debt back causes anxiety among consumers and uncertainty for investors and employers. It isn’t just that we need to stop spending so much – we need to stop spending so irrationally. The spending process in Washington is designed to make it easy to increase spending and raise taxes and difficult to cut spending and lower taxes. The deck is stacked against limited government and fiscal responsibility. This must stop... Over the past three years, non-security discretionary spending (the spending that is approved each year by Congress outside of the Department of Defense, Department of Homeland Security, and Department of Veterans Affairs) has increased a staggering 88 percent. As a result, we now borrow 41 cents of every dollar we spend, much of it from foreign countries, including China, and leave the bill to our kids and grandkids.... Economists have warned that all this borrowing runs the risk of causing a damaging spike in interest rates, which would cripple job creation. If our economy remains debt-driven, it will not be in a position to support a lasting economic recovery.
So why not add more trillions in debt, right?
In their 2010 Pledge, Republicans promised to do the following. Remember as you read this that they were not saying they needed a Republican president, or even a Republican Senate, to take these actions – after all, the Constitution, which the Pledge vowed to uphold, gives the House primacy over spending and borrowing:
Cut Government Spending to Pre- Stimulus, Pre-Bailout Levels With common-sense exceptions for seniors, veterans, and our troops, we will roll back government spending to pre-stimulus, pre-bailout levels, saving us at least $100 billion in the first year alone and putting us on a path to begin paying down the debt, balancing the budget, and ending the spending spree in Washington that threatens our children’s future. Establish a Hard Cap on New Discretionary Spending We must put common-sense limits on the growth of government and stop the endless increases. Only in Washington is there an expectation that whatever your budget was last year, it will be more this year and even more the next. We will set strict budget caps to limit federal spending on an annual basis. Budget caps were used in the 1990s, when a Republican Congress was able to bring the budget into balance and eventual surplus. By cutting discretionary spending from current levels and imposing a hard cap on future growth, we will save taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars. Root Out Government Waste and Sunset Outdated & Duplicative Programs Once created, federal programs almost never go away, even if the problem they were created to address is no longer relevant. More than 20 states have addressed this problem by requiring that programs end – or “sunset” – by a date certain. We will adopt this requirement at the federal level to force Congress to determine if a program is worthy of continued taxpayer support. Reform the Budget Process to Focus on Long-Term Challenges We will make the decisions that are necessary to protect our entitlement programs for today’s seniors and future generations. That means requiring a full accounting of Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, setting benchmarks for these programs and reviewing them regularly, and preventing the expansion of unfunded liabilities.
Again, Republicans were not promising the impossible – at least if we judge by the House’s constitutional authority as opposed to Republican appetite to use, rather than talk about using, that authority. No spending or borrowing can take place in the United States absent the approval of Congress.
So what happened after voters trusted Republicans to do what they said they were going to do? |
This July, gamers from all over the world will fly into Seattle to partake in and watch one of the biggest e-sports events on the globe.
The International, developer Valve’s championship for its free-to-play online action-strategy game Dota 2, begins July 18 in Seattle’s Key Arena, and this year’s event is the biggest one yet. That’s not just in terms of the people watching in person and online but also in terms of the amount of money at stake. Dota 2 fans have pushed the overall prize pool of The International over $6 million, and that number will only get bigger between now and the start of the tournament.
This guarantees that The International 2014 will more than double the previous biggest e-sports prize pool, which was last year’s International at $2.9 million. Other large tournaments in 2014 include the $1 million Call of Duty Championship and the League of Legends Season Four Championship with an undetermined prize pool.
Valve started 2014’s purse at $1.6 million, which is already a hefty sum for a competitive-gaming event, but fans of Dota 2 have contributed a couple extra million by purchasing The International Compendium. This is a e-booklet that gives gamers a number of ways to interact and keep up with the event. It also gives them ways to earn points by watching, which will then turn into virtual goods they can use for their own Dota 2 characters. The Compendium sells for $10, and Valve takes $2.50 of each one sold and adds it to the prize pool. Valve then also uses some of that money (in combination with ticket sales) to pay for operating the event itself.
Dota 2 fans can watch the event live on the streaming site Twitch just like millions did last year. Major championships like The International are one of the main reasons the gameplay video site is so popular and potentially worth the rumored $1 billion that Google is supposedly going to paying for it.
This marks the fourth year of The International. In 2013, the top Dota 2 teams competed over a $2.9 million prize pool where first place took home approximately $1.45 million (or 50 percent of the total).
Dota 2 is one of the top competitive games on the market right now, and Valve is doing everything it can to boost its stature among hardcore players. The Compendium is one way of doing that. Players who spend the $10 on the virtual booklet only get a few minor things. To maximize the value of the purchase, they must complete quests that mostly revolve around watching The International.
Fans get points for picking a favorite team, predicting the qualifiers, and picking the top six teams. These points then upgrade the Compendium and unlock all kinds of special items and features in the game.
Of course, players can also purchase points with real money. Valve sells packs of up to 2,400 Compendium Points for $10.
E-sports is a fast-growing part of the gaming industry. Games like Dota 2 attract millions of players who compete casually as well as thousands who attempt to go pro. More than 32 million people watched last year’s final match for the League of Legends championship. While these e-sports events attracts lots of eyeballs, most game publishers and developers treat competitive gaming as a marketing tool and not as a primary source of revenue. |
Dagenham & Redbridge midfielder Tyrique Hyde believes first-half goals were vital in draw with Solihull Moors
Tyrique Hyde of Dagenham & Redbridge celebrates his goal against Solihull Moors (pic: David Simpson/TGS Photo) ©TGS Photo tgsphoto.co.uk +44 1376 553468
Daggers struck twice before the break to ensure they only went in a goal behind, despite trailing 3-0 at one stage
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Tyrique Hyde says it was important Dagenham & Redbridge pulled two goals back before half-time in their 4-4 National League draw with Solihull Moors.
Daggers were three goals down inside 25 minutes, but strikes from Scott Doe and Hyde saw the visitors go into the break only a goal behind.
However, Moors extended their lead just three minutes into the second half, before Oliver Hawkins and Corey Whitely found the net for Daggers late on to earn a draw.
And while those two late strikes proved all important, Hyde knows the first-half strikes from the skipper and him were just as crucial.
“I don’t feel we deserved to be 3-0 down, but we were and it was about finding out feet again and playing how we play,” said the teenager.
“When we found the intensity and the urgency we needed to score the two goals quickly, we went into half-time hoping to go back out and win the game, but it wasn’t to be.”
Having done so well to fight their way back into the match just before half-time, Daggers appeared to have betrayed it all by conceding a fourth just before the break.
And though Hyde knows conceding early in the second half was a blow, he praised the Victoria Road side for keeping calm under pressure.
“The goal hurt us, but we knew we had to keep playing to get back into the game,” added the midfielder.
“We had a few chances at the end to even go on and win the game, but that’s football and it wasn’t meant to be.” |
A woman was arrested in South San Jose Wednesday afternoon after allegedly shooting a man she knew in a Costco parking lot, police said. Robert Handa reports. (Published Wednesday, July 5, 2017)
A woman was arrested in South San Jose Wednesday afternoon after allegedly shooting a man she knew in a Costco parking lot, police said.
The shooting was reported around 12:30 p.m. at the parking lot of the Almaden Costco at 5301 Almaden Expressway. The suspect was identified Thursday as Nori Tejero, 44, of San Jose.
Police found a man suffering from at least one gunshot wound. He was taken to a hospital for treatment of injuries that are not considered life-threatening, police said.
Nori Tejero
Photo credit: San Jose Police Department
Some shoppers said they ran away from the chaotic scene and did not know at the time what was going on.
Sources tell NBC Bay Area that Tejero may be the ex-girlfriend of the victim.
The woman was arrested at the scene without incident and will be booked into the county jail. Police recovered a gun and will book it as evidence, according to San Jose police Officer Albert Morales.
Police are investigating the motive and circumstances surrounding the shooting.
Copyright Bay City News |
The ancient city of Idu, which dates back more than 3,000 years, is one of the largest archeological discoveries in Iraq's Kurdish region
Archeologists from Germany’s University of Leipzig have discovered an ancient city called Idu hidden beneath a mound in northern Iraq.
According to the archeological findings, Idu was under the control of the Assyrian Empire about 3,300 years ago, then later gained its independence as the empire declined. The Assyrians reconquered the city roughly 140 years later. Researchers have found artwork, including a bearded sphinx with a human head and the body of a winged lion, and a cylinder seal dating back roughly 2,600 years depicting a man crouching before a griffon, according to NBC News.
Researchers discovered the name of the city during a survey of the area in 2008. A resident from a nearby village brought them an inscription with the name carved in it, and they spent 2010 and 2011 excavating the area. Archeologists plan to continue excavating the site once they reach a settlement between villagers and the Kurdistan regional government.
Iraq is home to several archeological treasures, including Babylon, an ancient Mesopotamian city-state dating to the 3rd millennium BC, which was discovered south of Baghdad by British scholars in the 19th century. During the U.S.-led invasion of 2003, American forces built landing areas for helicopters and parking lots for vehicles, causing irreparable damage to part of the site.
[NBC News] |
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The tit-for-tat trade spat between the Liberal government and Boeing over the future of the Super Hornet fighter jet purchase escalated Thursday with an acknowledgement that federal officials have been instructed to break off contact with the U.S. aerospace giant.
"We have suspended discussions with Boeing and that is what we have decided," Steve MacKinnon, the parliamentary secretary for the public works minister, told reporters following a speech to defence contractors.
Last March, the federal government submitted a request to the Pentagon for a government-to-government purchase of 18 Super Hornets, on an urgent basis, to fulfil what the Liberals have claimed is a capability gap in the fighter jet fleet.
As part of that request, National Defence and Public Works officials hold regular discussions with the aircraft-maker in order to iron out details and deliver the specific requirements of the Royal Canadian Air Force.
It is those talks that have been suspended, according to MacKinnon.
"There are lots of things we can talk to them about, but we have cut off those discussions," he said.
The dispute, which had largely played out behind closed doors, spilled into the open Wednesday when Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan publicly called out Boeing in front of a room full of defence contractors over the company's commercial trade challenge involving Quebec-based Bombardier.
The public rebuke prompted Boeing to scrap the planned unveiling of its Canadian industry partners for the Super Hornet program Thursday morning.
The company cited the "current climate" for the decision.
"It is not the most opportune time to share this good news story," said Boeing spokesman Scott Day in a statement, issued shortly before the briefing was to take place at an Ottawa defence industry trade show.
Trade complaint
Boeing has been engaged in a very public battle with Canada's Bombardier. The U.S. aircraft maker wants trade regulators in Washington to investigate subsidies for Bombardier's CSeries aircraft, claiming they allow the Canadian company to export planes at well below cost.
On Wednesday, Sajjan called on Boeing to halt its trade complaint against Bombardier.
He also upped the ante in the Liberal government's threat to cancel the planned sole-source purchase of 18 Super Hornet fighter jets by suggesting there were alternatives to the interim procurement.
"The interim fleet procurement requires a trusted industry partner," Sajjan said. "Our government is of the view their action against Bombardier is unfounded. It is not the behaviour we expect of a trusted partner, and we call on Boeing to withdraw it."
Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan used his speech Wednesday at CANSEC to blast Boeing for its trade complaint against Quebec-based rival Bombardier. (Adrian Wyld/Canadian Press)
MacKinnon kept the pressure up on Thursday.
"We certainly hope they'll reconsider their recent actions, which are not friendly and not in Canada's interests," he said.
Sajjan's office refused to comment on the matter Thursday.
"Minister Sajjan's comments [Wednesday] speak for themselves and we do not have anything to add," Jordan Owens, the minister's spokesperson, said in an email.
Canada had announced plans to buy 18 Super Hornet fighter jets as a stopgap measure to beef up its legacy fleet of CF-18 fighter jets, which were also produced by Boeing. Sajjan said at the time Canada didn't have enough jets to meet its Norad and NATO obligations.
Boeing's commitment to Canada "has been, and remains, unwavering," Day said on Thursday.
The company's operations in Canada account for 14 per cent of the country's aerospace industry. That includes 560 companies that provide parts to Boeing commercial airplanes and 2,000 company workers in the country.
"Boeing has provided reliable solutions to Canada's defence and security needs, and we respect the mutual trust we have established with the Canadian Armed Forces through the successful execution of several key programs, including the CF-188 Hornet, CC-177 Globemaster III and CH-147 Chinook," Day said. |
3 out and 3 in for the Texas Longhorns. Jerritt Elliott’s team will lose only 3 players from its 17-deep roster next season, so they didn’t have many holes to fill in their high school class of 2017. They filled them in a big way, though, by signing Prep Volleyball’s #1, #2, and #6-ranked recruits in the nation.
All three players, Lexi Sun, Brionne Butler, and Ashley Shook, are members of the USA Volleybal Junior National Training Team, meaning that they’ve played together before and should gel well as a class.
The primary losses for Texas are at setter (starter Chloe Collins) and outside hitter (the team’s second-leading hitter Paulina Prieto Cerame).
Lexi Sun, a senior outside hitter from Encinitas, California, plays for the Coast Volleyball Club and Santa Fe Christian High School.
Vitals:
6’2″ outside hitter
Prep Volleyball #1-ranked recruit nationally
525 kills/95 sets played = 5.53 kills/set (senior HS season)
.435 hitting percentage
251 digs
Member of the USA Beach U17 National Team that won gold at the FIVB World Championships
All-Tournament at Girls’ Junior Naitonals (2014)
Brionne Butler out of Boling High School in Texas is a 6’3″ middle blocker who is a 1st-team Texas All-Academic performer in the classroom and a AAU National Champion on the court. Butler, who has named former Texas star outside hitter Destinee Hooker as her favorite player, has been destined for the Longhorns for years. Her mother Javonne Brooks is a volleyball Hall of Famer at the University of New Orleans, where in her senior season she broke the NCAA career kills record, and went on to play professionally in Europe.
Brionne has an impressive vertical leap,
Vitals:
6’3″ middle blocker
Prep Volleyball #2 ranked recruit nationally
Member of Team USA at the 2015 Girls’ U18 World Championships
Plays her club volleyball with Houston Juniors
Hits at 128″, blocks at 124″
Ashley Shook will be an elite athlete at setter for the Longhorns. At 6’2″, and with a vertical touch of 10’1″, she will give the Texas offense a high pace – something that worked well for her in her senior year at Plainfield Central High School in Illinois. There she paired up with 6’4″ freshman outside hitter, who coming out of high school could already touch at 10’6″.
That means Shook will already be used to playing with the kind of big hitters that Texas has on their roster. She’s the lone setter brought in by the Longhorns who are graduating 2 – including current starter Chloe Collins. That will give Shook an opportunity to battle with Texas freshman and high school All-American Riley Fisbeck for the starting role in Texas top-10 offense.
Vitals: |
The metric system is all around us. There are 2-liter bottles and 10K races and there is nearly the entire rest of the world, which has long used the base-10 system. So why hasn’t the U.S switched to metric, the universal language of science?
Chair of the Technology Engineering Department at Framingham High School Peter Erbland said, “The reality is that we all use the metric system, but no one notices,” such as when people buy a liter of soda or run a 400-meter race.
Erbland said he and his colleagues teach their students the metric system every year, and while students memorize it in class, they quickly dismiss it in the “real world.”
“It’s ironic that even in England, they no longer use the English system of measurement,” he said.
It is not as if the U.S. hasn’t considered making the move to the metric system, which was developed in France during its revolution.
The debate dates back to our founding fathers. As the U.S.’s first secretary of state, Thomas Jefferson was charged with deciding which set of measures would be best for the country. According to John Bemelmans Marciano, the author of “Whatever Happened to the Metric System?” who also wrote an essay on the topic for Time magazine, Jefferson rejected the metric system because the meter was conceived as a portion of a survey of France, which could only be measured in French territory.
As Secretary of State John Quincy Adams – who had been asked in 1819 by the House of Representatives to recommend a system of measurement for the new American republic - issued a report that recognized the strengths of the metric system, but recommended against it, preferring the English system of weights and measures.
The debate surfaced again in a big way in the early 20th century. Alexander Graham Bell, the Scottish-born scientist who is credited with inventing the first telephone, pushed for its integration at various congressional hearings.
Then in 1975 there was another high-profile push for a measurement switch. President Gerald Ford signed the Metric Conversion Act, which called for the formation of the U.S. Metric Board, a 17-member panel, to oversee the adoption of the metric system.
The metric system was never fully implemented, however, because the law did not make adoption of it mandatory. In 1982, Ronald Reagan effectively disbanded the board by cutting off its funding. Since then, no president has publicly advocated using the metric system in the U.S.
Now Democratic presidential candidate and former Rhode Island governor Lincoln Chafee is resurrecting the debate, making conversion part of his campaign platform. Chafee said during a telephone interview that converting to the metric system would “better integrate the U.S. into the world community.”
He said the U.S. is one of three countries in the world – along with Liberia and Myanmar – that do not use the metric system. This translates to roughly 6.8 billion people who use it, while roughly 330 million use the customary system of measurement.
It “makes sense” that the U.S. gets on board with the rest of the world, Chafee said.
When asked what the cost would be to fully implementing the metric system, Chafee did not offer a specific dollar amount, but said the price would be “outweighed by the economic benefits.”
Chafee said students in the sciences are at a disadvantage because they do not use the metric system, while students in nearly every other country do.
“Most of the scientific community has urged us to go metric for decades,” Chafee said.
So why hasn’t the U.S. made the switch? Congress has the authority to fully adopt the metric system, according to Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution. But it seems that for most Americans there is no urgent need to change and no appetite for it.
But Erbland thinks the benefits of converting far outweigh any transition inconvenience.
The U.S., he said, should “rip off the bandage and switch over completely.” |
Two people were injured Friday when a crane on Commercial Street in the North End fell over, spilling fuel into the street, officials said.
The truck-mounted crane fell across the street, its tip landing on the baseball diamond in Puopolo Park. The incident was reported at 11:30 a.m.
Emergency Medical Service workers took the crane operator and a woman who had been walking by at the time of the accident to a hospital for evaluation, the Boston Fire Department said in a tweet.
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Their injuries were not believed to be life-threatening, said department spokesman Steve MacDonald.
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The crane was being operated by New Castle Building Products of Northborough, said US Occupational Safety and Health Administration regional spokesman Ted Fitzgerald.
Related Links View Gallery Photos: Crane falls onto truck in the North End
An employee from the company confirmed that it was a New Castle crane, but declined to comment further.
A combination of fuel and hydraulic fluid leaked from the crane onto the street, said MacDonald.
Thomas Ozbolt, who works at the Cohen Law Group nearby, said he was in a meeting when he heard a loud crash.
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“The whole truck had tipped over,” he said. “It was a really loud crash.”
Ozbolt said the crane had been used for building repair work for a few weeks.
“They’ve been working forever here,” he said. “It is so loud, it sounds like they’re dropping bowling balls.”
Another man who lives nearby and did not provide his name said the cranes usually work for three to four hours per day.
By 4:30 p.m. Friday, the crane had been removed and placed on a flatbed truck, the Fire Department said.
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OSHA investigators are looking into the incident.
“The purpose of the inspection is to determine whether or not there were violations of workplace safety standards in connection with this incident,” said Fitzgerald.
OSHA has not yet determined how the crane tipped over, he said.
Commercial Street was closed between Hanover and North Washington streets through the afternoon.
Jacqueline Tempera can be reached at [email protected] . Follow her on twitter @jacktemp |
Supposedly the Seth Rich family has hired a Washington, DC PR company to fend off unwanted theories and blogs about the death of their son. The PR company is The Pastorum Group founded in 2015 by Brad Bauman who previously worked for the Congressional Progressive Caucus and Josh Cohen who previously worked for the DNC and Obama For America. He states that he worked as a communicator and a ‘digitizer’ for the DNC meaning he was involved in promoting voter turnout and manipulating media commentaries. What he doesn’t state on his Twitter feed is that he is co-founder of Pastorum Group…
The Congressional Progressive Caucus was initially founded by Bernie Sanders and five additional progressive democrats in 1991. Organizations that support CPC include Moveon.org a Soros affiliated media group, Institute For Policy Studies which has been criticized for its radical Marxist ideologies, Progressive Democrats of America, a Socialist activist organization, Jobs With Justice, an organization that motivates college students to protest, and National Council of La Raza which has been criticized as the Latino KKK by Tom Tancredo.
Obama For America was reorganized as Organizing For Action a 501(c)(4). In 2013, the last reported year, they hauled in $21 million in donations. The status 501(c)(4) means the company may actively engage in political sway, contributions are not deductible and they are considered a hub of ‘dark money’ that spends more on political action than Super Pacs. Some of the more notable donors include:
-Imaad Zuberi, who sits on the Executive Committee for the National Coalition for Syrian Revolution and Opposition Forces
-Fred Eychaner, CEO of Newsweb Corp.,
-David Shaw, Founder of hedge fund D.E. Shaw & Co.,
-McAfee, Netsuite, Diamond Resorts, heiress to the Hyatt Hotels, Oracle… etc…
Their 990 states their office is located at 1130 Monroe Street in Chicago. The building was recently bought for $3.8 million by 1130 Partners, LLC. But this LLC would appear to be a ‘shadow organization’, as they have no website and remain cloistered in secrecy, no mention of officers/owners and their registered agent is an attorney, Vasilios Siomos. While this vacant building is listed as their address, according to their 2014 – 990, they rent space from Jim Messina in Washington DC. Odd.
A few interesting notes on their financials: 1) they paid over 1.2 million for ‘royalties’, as in the use of a person’s name… “Obama”? 2) IT expense was nearly $2 million and 3) bank fees were nearly $500,000. Not surprisingly they reported a net loss – paid no taxes and made no grants or charitable donations.
The PR company Pastorum Group has a website of sorts which consists of a logo – a phone number and an email link that is ‘not working’. Their Facebook profile is pathetic with three entries, one picture, and -0- following.
To date, the only statements being released by the family of Seth Rich are from Brad Bauman. Odd that they would hire a PR agent to represent them as opposed to a family attorney, rabbi or friend which is more commonly done in times of grief. Odd that this PR agent is in DC not Omaha where the family lives. Odd that this PR agent seems sorely lacking in any clients. Odd that this PR agent is so non-transparent in his website, Facebook and Linkedin Profiles. Odd that their webpage doesn’t even say what they do? Odd that Mr Joel Rich (Seth’s father) would have found Pastorum Group – simply randomly. Odd the associations and previous employment of the two founders of Pastorum Group entrenched in Hillary – Obama and Bernie.
But then, perhaps Mr Bauman wasn’t hired by Mr. Rich at all – given he is most certainly not a wealthy man – but was recommended and paid for by Clinton who herself has ramped up her own PR campaign to fend off the growing list of offenses.
Whatever the reason/excuse, Mr. Bauman would have been very difficult to find just by chance. The Cleaner, Soros, most likely is sweeping up the messes Hillary continues to leave like Pigpen from Charlie Brown.
FYI: Pastorum is Latin – it is the plural form of pastor or shepherd. Re-tweets = Josh Cohen religion… as in only sheep need a shepherd. Sad. Empty.
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A last-ditch effort to substantially overhaul the Affordable Care Act backed by Nevada Sen. Dean Heller is finally coming to the light just weeks before a procedural deadline.
Four Republican politicians — Louisiana Sen. Bill Graham, South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson and Heller — are expected to unveil on Wednesday language for their bill that would fulfill a seven-year promise to repeal and replace so-called “Obamacare.”
Heller signed onto the amendment in late July in the throes of a Senate effort to dismantle the Affordable Care Act, a long-standing GOP rallying cry dashed when Republican Sen. John McCain dramatically voted against a “skinny repeal” version of the repeal legislation.
Among other provisions, the bill would implement a state-focused block grant program that would largely upend federal control over health insurance markets and lend more flexibility to individual states.
The proposal would allow states to apply for federal funding for specified activities, such as maintaining programs to help high-risk individuals buy health insurance. The federal funding would be based on a formula that, by 2026, would ensure every state receives the same base amount of money on a per-person basis. The federal money, however, would come with some restrictions, including not being used to pay for abortions.
It also immediately would repeal the contentious “individual mandate” and allow states to repeal minimum standards in health coverage plans and allow the purchase of low-cost catastrophic health plans. Additionally, it would do away with taxes related to medical devices, over-the-counter medication, and health savings accounts, but much to the chagrin of some Republicans, it would keep intact many of the existing law’s taxes.
Heller’s staff did not respond to several requests for comment.
It is a Hail Mary attempt by Senate Republicans to pass a major change to the federal health insurance law before the fast-track budget reconciliation procedure allowing bills to pass with a bare majority expires on Sept. 30 — the end of the fiscal year — and requires senators to achieve an unlikely 60-vote vote majority to pass any major changes.
The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a left-leaning think tank, estimated that the plan would cost Nevada up to $257 million in federal funds if it becomes law. The Congressional Budget Office has not released any assessment.
Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval’s office didn’t immediately comment on the pending release of the legislation. The Republican governor, who worked closely with Heller throughout the summer, is assessing how the various proposals to replace the federal health insurance law would affect Nevada, which was one of the states that expanded its Medicaid population. Sandoval said in August that it was too early to take a position on the alternative amendment but that reports showing the state losing massive amounts of federal funding were a “problem.”
“I don’t want to commit to one thing or the other other, but I do have a litmus test, which is that Nevada be held harmless,” he said at the time.
Sandoval and a bipartisan group of seven other governors issued a public letter to Congress in late August, urging members to take immediate action to stabilize markets across the country, implement “responsible reforms” to preserve coverage and keep costs in check. The letter also asks Congressional leadership to foster partnerships between states and the federal government to improve the health-care system overall.
The proposal has already met stiff criticism from fellow Republicans. The Hill reported that Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul said Monday that the bill doesn’t go far enough to repeal the ACA.
“I don’t think it’s going anywhere,” Paul told reporters. “I haven’t heard anybody talking about it.”
Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch told reporters on Monday that he doubted the measure had enough support to get a floor vote. |
Story highlights Five pep band members have been removed from the band
Their scholarships have been revoked
They will be required to complete a cultural sensitivity course
Band members chanted "where's your green card" during a basketball game
Five members of the University of Southern Mississippi pep band have had their scholarships revoked and have been removed from the band after they yelled a derogatory chant at a Puerto Rican player during an NCAA basketball tournament game last week.
The school announced the disciplinary action in a statement Tuesday, saying the five "have been forthcoming, cooperative, contrite and sincerely remorseful."
"They acted rashly and inappropriately, and now see the gravity of their words and actions," Vice President for Student Affairs Joe Paul said. "This is a teachable moment, not only for these students but for our entire student body and those who work with them."
The students will also be required to complete a two-hour training course on cultural sensitivity, the school said. The school has not identified the students.
TV cameras captured the incident during the University of Southern Mississippi-Kansas State University game at the Consol Energy Center in Pittsburgh on Thursday.
As Kansas State point guard Angel Rodriguez shot free throws, several people could clearly be heard chanting, "where's your green card."
The university's president apologized to Rodriguez, saying the chant wasn't representative of the university.
Rodriguez said Friday, "I heard it. I don't pay attention to that nonsense, especially because Puerto Rico is a commonwealth, so we don't need no type of papers."
"Their athletic director and personnel from their school came to apologize, and I accepted it," he said.
Rodriguez said he realized that there are "ignorant people, and I know that is not how they want to represent their university."
NCAA spokeswoman Stacey Osburn said the University of Southern Mississippi "responded in a timely and appropriate fashion to address the matter."
"Any determination of championship misconduct is the purview of the men's basketball committee and will be addressed following the tournament," she said.
The eighth-seeded Kansas State Wildcats beat the ninth-seeded Southern Miss Golden Eagles 70-64, knocking them out of the tournament. Kansas State advanced to the next round, but lost to Syracuse. |
A female Marine goes through an obstacle course, one of the tasks of the combat endurance test. (Photo11: H. Darr Beiser, USA TODAY) Story Highlights Move opens up hundreds of thousands of front-line positions to women
Women will be allowed in elite units, such as the Navy SEALs, if qualified
The groundbreaking decision overturns a 1994 rule banning women from such roles
WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has lifted the military's ban on women serving in combat, a move that will allow women into hundreds of thousands of front-line positions and potentially elite commando units, a senior Pentagon official said Wednesday.
Women currently serve in a number of combat positions, including piloting warplanes or serving on ships in combat areas. Since the start of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, 292,000 women have served in those combat zones out of a total of almost 2.5 million, Pentagon records show. In both wars, 152 women have died from combat or noncombat causes, records show, and 958 have been wounded in action.
The move will be announced officially Thursday afternoon by Panetta and Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the official, who spoke anonymously because Panetta had not yet made the announcement.
Pentagon policy restricting women from serving in combat on the ground was modified in 1994, according to the Congressional Research Service. Women cannot be assigned below the brigade level -- a unit of about 3,500 troops -- to fight on the ground. Effectively, that has barred women from infantry, artillery, armor, combat engineers and special operations units of battalion size -- about 700 troops -- or lower.
The services will have until January 2016 to implement the changes, the official said. Last year, Panetta opened up an additional 15,000 jobs to women. He ordered the remaining exclusions lifted because he had been committed to doing so since taking office, the official said.
The chiefs of the services unanimously support the change in policy, the defense official said.
The move comes as Panetta prepares to leave office. President Obama has nominated Republican former senator Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, a Vietnam combat veteran, to take his place.
CLOSE The U.S. Department of Defense ends the ban on women serving on front-line combat roles. Reuters
The policy change requires notifying Congress, which must have 30 days to consider it.
Rep. Duncan Hunter, a California Republican and Iraq war veteran, criticized the announcement, saying "it is totally out of left field. Completely."
"The question you've got to ask yourself every single time you make a change like this is: Does it increase the combat effectiveness of the military?...I think the answer is no," Hunter said.
Military services may seek special exceptions to the new policy if they believe any positions must remain closed to women.
The official said the services will develop plans for allowing women to seek the combat positions. Some jobs may open as soon as this year. Assessments for others, such as special operations forces, including Navy SEALs and the Army's Delta Force, may take longer.
Each service will be charged with developing policies to integrate women into every military job. For instance, the defense official said, it's likely the Army will establish a set of physical requirements for infantry soldiers. The candidate, man or woman, will have to lift a certain amount of weight in order to qualify. The standards will be gender neutral.
The official said the military chiefs must report back to Panetta with their initial implementation plans by May 15.
This decision could open more than 230,000 jobs, many in Army and Marine infantry units, to women.
In recent years, the necessities of war propelled women into jobs as medics, military police and intelligence officers that were sometimes attached — but not formally assigned — to units on the front lines.
Women make up 14% of the 1.4 million active military personnel.
Changing the policy will cause few problems, the official said. A few troops won't like it, the official said, but most have seen women deployed and accept it already. It's likely to have the same effect as the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell, the policy that allowed gays and lesbians to serve but required them to hide their sexuality.
"The effect of that?" the official said. "A big zero."
Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/10x2Zxc |
Scooby-Doo 3: Monster Mayhem! is a 2012 film and sequel to 2004's Scooby-Doo 2 and 2002's Scooby-Doo. The film, like the second one, was directed by Raja Gosnell, written by James Gunn and was produced by Charles Roven and Richard Suckle. The film is a direct sequel to the second film, happening a year and a half after it.
Contents show]
Cast
Live-Action
Protagonists
Freddie Prinze Jr. - Fred Jones
Sarah Michelle Gellar - Daphne Blake
Matthew Lillard - Norville "Shaggy" Rogers
Linda Cardellini - Velma Dinkley
Seth Green - Patrick Wisely
Voices
Protagonists
There is only one protagonist that is animated in the film.
Frank Welker - Scooby-Doo
Antagonists
All of the monsters are, like Scooby Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed!, animated.
Jim Cummings - Phantom of Vasquez Castle (Ghost)
James Sie - Samurai Ghost
Jeff Bennett - Dryad, Troll
Geno Segers - Mamba Wamba
Selena Gomez - Lila
Raven Symone - Cat Creature
Tom McGrath - Mamba Zombie
Kiefer Sutherland - Ghost Clown
Doug Jones - Rambling Ghost
Matthew Lillard - 30 Foot Shaggy
Prologue
A year and a half after the events of Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed, the gang returns to the Coolsville Criminology Museum for the Grand Re-Opening. When there, Scooby and Shaggy eat the whole buffet, Velma and Patrick will give a tour of the museum, and Daphne and Fred will answer some questions for the press. However, during this time there is a loud bongo drums and maracas, and then a wall bursts open, and an evil villain, who is dressed in all black, a Clone Trooper-like mask with spikes coming out the top and a cape with a huge E on it. He triumphently states:
“Mystery Inc.! How nice to see you again, hows it going? It know how it's going for you: badly” — Evil Figure
and with that, he snaps his fingers and the Mamba Wamba costume starts moving, then the Mamba Zombie next to it, then the Lila statue next to it. The Mambas then throw smoke pellets everywhere, scattering everyone except Mystery Inc. and Patrick, who try and come up with a plan for this mess.
Villains
There are a total of 25 monsters Mystery Inc. encounters over the course of the movie. Monsters who's names are in green have a major role, while monsters who's names are in red have minor roles. |
It’s been 10 days since Slam Dunk Festival hit the north and the buzz is just wearing off. So, now’s a perfect time to reminisce on what went down.
Neck Deep took on the challenge of closing the Monster Energy Stage, and started off with a nostalgic throwback that had the crowd singing in unity and respecting the roots of today’s alternative music scene. Before taking to the stage, My Chemical Romance’s Welcome to The Black Parade greeted the audience.
Neck Deep’s jam-packed set featured songs from all over their career; kicking off with one of two brand new songs, Happy Judgement Day.
Where Do We Go When We Go (the second instalment of new Neck Deep content) was also featured in the set. Although already known by many, those on their first listen found no problem in joining in with another infectious tune.
The Welsh pop-punkers put up a good fight, and energy soared throughout their hit-filled set. Showing a vast improvement from when the band played Slam Dunk Festival (South) in 2015, be that the fault of sound equipment or not.
This time around, Neck Deep’s performance was a heartwarming blur of pop-punk goodness.
The night reflected a mutual respect between the band and crowd as Ben Barlow (vocals) could not thank the audience enough. On the crowd’s part, voices were lost and bodies bruised all in the name of a good time.
Love-tinged songs were appreciated just as much – if not more – by the crowd that skipped Enter Shikari to experience Neck Deep.
Smartphone lights lit up Leeds as A Part of Me was strummed out. Then, bodies went back to bouncing when the full band version of December was delivered in the encore.
There’s no doubt that Neck Deep put on a good show and that their fans know how to have a good time. The energy present at this corner of Slam Dunk Festival makes snapping up tickets for the band’s upcoming tour even more tempting.
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Bend. Heave. Stagger. Drop.
If she had to do it one more time, Ruby swore she was going to go insane. Farmer Hayward's cart had been stacked with crates, eight long in either direction and three high, vegetables overflowing from their wooden confines. Surely, this was excessive. The entirety of Beacon couldn't have eaten so much in a single night. Though, never having been to a party outside the Academy's end-of-semester dance, and given the habits of those she had surrounded herself with, it perhaps wasn't as big of a stretch as she liked to think.
Mercifully, the elder Hobbit wiped his brow and called, "That's the last of 'em!" Ruby laced her fingers together and stretched until her shoulders cracked, releasing the built up tension. She lowered her arms with a satisfied groan before raising a hand to shield her face from the waning sunlight. Farmer Hayward smiled down at her from atop the wagon, "Thank you kindly, Miss Rose. Would've taken all afternoon had Willow not sought after you."
"Any time," Ruby beamed cheerfully, despite the residual ache in her muscles. It had, in fact, taken most of the afternoon to unload the cart, seeing as she had been called on to aid with several other tasks as well. Not that she particularly minded - it was nice to help, to feel useful, to do something. It had successfully kept her mind off worrying over her teammates, which she was grateful for.
A warm gust of wind swept across the Party Field, blowing her hair into her field of vision. Brushing it from her eyes and lips with an irritated huff, she peered around the area. Vibrant strips of flag banners had been drawn between every pole, whipping about in the summer breeze; worn fabric stretched to create tents which housed all sorts of wonderful things to be shared that evening. Dozens of casks of ale were being rolled across the grass, and delicious smells wafted from the other side of the sun-strewn plain where members of several different households were busy preparing a feast.
Ruby started back toward the road, waving to Farmer Hayward as she left. While she didn't have much in the way of clothing, she figured wearing something a bit fancier for the celebrations would be appreciated. In which case, quickly returning to Bag End would be in order. The thought inexplicably made her giggle. At Beacon, she wouldn't have bothered to look nice at a social gathering. It had taken Yang's constant poking for her to even wear a dress at the dance, and yet, here she was - deciding to do so on her own.
A saddened frown tugged her lips downward. She lowered her gaze to the emerald grass below her shuffling feet, skirts swishing with her paces. She missed her big sister dearly. She longed for Yang to sweep her up in a crushing hug and tell her everything was going to be fine. She felt, with every passing moment, the absence. The sense that she was no longer whole. The worst thing for her to think about was that, perhaps, her teammates hadn't even wound up in Middle-earth. That she was truly, absolutely, inescapably alone. It twisted a knot into her stomach like the agonizing jerk of a knife, and made her knees weak.
Feeling something warm trickle down her cheek, Ruby stopped. With a frustrated noise of exasperation, she pressed her palm to the wetness and wiped it aside. Why was she crying? Why wasn't she doing something - anything - to find them, instead of sulking?
Because you're useless without them, a whisper of malignance echoed from the recesses of her mind. It was forceful; sudden, and taunting. Where had she gotten that idea from?
Giving herself a shake, she dabbed her eyes on her sleeve and took a deep breath. Thinking like that wouldn't do her any good. She just had to press on, and hold to her belief that she would find them, or them her. They were here somewhere; it was indescribable, but she knew it. She would get an opportunity to go looking eventually. For now, she could stay positive; not let her doubts, which she carefully pushed back into the corner of her mind wherein they belonged, dampen her optimism, and enjoy the night ahead.
Worries abated for the time being, Ruby straightened and began to hum merrily to herself; a soft, contented tune that had naught to do with anything. Gentle greenery melted away to compact, dusty dirt, and she crossed Hill Lane. Spinning on her heel with a grin, the sun's golden rays warming the cotton of the blouse on her back, she gazed fondly at the field. From her slightly elevated position, she could see everything. Farmer Hayward maneuvering his cart into a less bothersome place. Willow gesturing angrily at two men hoisting a pole upright. A group of children playing hide-and-seek around the Party Tree. It all seemed so perfect. There was no danger, no threat, no tension.
Ruby found herself, not for the first time, envious. In Remnant, it was a stroke of pure luck if you could wander the Forest of Forever Fall for a day without seeing signs of Grimm. Even then, you had to be constantly on guard, weapon at hand. Ready to fight for your life at a moment's notice. It wasn't like that here. She wondered; was it selfish of her to want to stay? Surely not…
Bunching her skirts in hand, she settled down on the incline behind her. Laying amid the cool blades of grass, an arm beneath her head, she watched the serene white puffs of fluff float across the azure skies. Already, they were being painted soft pinks and oranges, as though some invisible artist were taking his paintbrush to the heavens. The tranquility was absolute, and for once, it remained as such.
"Nights like these..." she muttered softly on an exhale. Extending her free hand upward, Ruby lazily traced the contours of the passing clouds, fingertips curving delicately. A genuine smile lightened her expression as the lengthening shadows played across her features.
This would certainly be a night to remember. |
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Hey Divas..I have this Gorgeous Copper colored Nails Design for you. I’m not sure why, but I named it as Prom nails. When I finished with this Design, inside I felt like, oh..this will look awesome for prom 🙂 But you can paint this design any time you want. Prom is the occasion when everyone wants to look perfect and beautiful..say it about the dress, makeup or sandals..So don’t forget about your manicure..Show it off with this gorgeous Nail Design..I chose copper color for this manicure.
Items and Tools I Used
Base Coat Wet n Wild
Copper Acrylic Paint
Metallic Gold Beads
French Manicure Guide
Small Dotting Tool to apply Beads
Gold Glitter Nail Polish
A paint brush to apply acrylic paint
Top Coat by Maybelline
How I did the Nail Design
I started by applying base coat on my nails..After the polish dried fully, I placed the french manicure stickers to create a half moon manicure on all the nails. Before placing the stickers, you need to make sure, your polish is completely dry otherwise it will drag the polish when removing it. That will ruin your effort and manicure.
I checked and didn’t find any copper nail polish in my collection. So, I’m using copper acrylic paint. You can use a nail polish instead. After the french manicure guide was on place, I applied the copper paint and removed the sticker immediately. This will give the manicure a crisp line.
Let the paint dry and apply two coats of Gold Glitter Polish to give the design jewel effect. Again give it some time to dry. Now apply clear polish on the manicure line and place golden beads using the small dotting tool. Seal the whole Nail Art with top coat. You are ready to show off your awesome nails 🙂
See the video tutorial below for a clear idea.
Check out my YouTube Channel for more Gorgeous Nail Art Tutorials
If you have any questions or feedback, just leave a comment below. I would be happy to answer all your concerns.
Enjoy and Thank you for stopping by!!
XOXO
Demi |
Fate/Grand Order Is now Available On iOS And Android In North America
By Sato . June 26, 2017 . 12:00am
Aniplix USA has launched Fate/Grand Order on iOS and Android and you can go and meet its many Servants now. Here’s a look at its introduction trailer and additional details for you guys getting started.
2017 A.D.
Chaldea, an organization tasked with observing Earth’s future, has confirmed that human history will be eliminated at 2019.
Without warning, the promised future of 2017 disappeared.
Why? How? Who? By what means?
AD. 2004. A certain provincial town in Japan.
For the first time ever, a region that could not be observed appeared.
Assuming that this was the cause of humanity’s extinction, Chaldea carried out its sixth experiment – time travel into the past.
A forbidden ceremony where they would convert humans into Spiritrons and send them back in time. By intervening in events, they would locate, identify, and destroy the space-time Singularities.
The mission classification is an order to protect Humanity: Grand Order.
This is the title for those who would take a stand against human history and battle fate in order to protect mankind.
Fate/Grand Order introduction
A command card battle RPG optimized for smart phones!
Players become Masters and together with Heroic Spirits, defeat enemies and solve the mystery of human history’s disappearance. It’s up the players to form a party with their favorite Heroic Spirits – both new and old.
Key Developers
Game Composition/Scenario Direction
Kinoko Nasu Character Design/Art Direction
Takashi Takeuchi Scenario Writers
Yuichiro Higashide, Hikaru Sakurai
You can check out more Servant trailers with Altera and Ushiwakamaru here, Dr. Jekyll and Mephistopheles here, Scáthach, Darius III, and Arjuna here.
Fate/Grand Order is available on iOS and Android in North America and Japan. |
President Barack Obama has lauded Muslim Americans as patriots and heroes, and decried discrimination and violence against Muslims in the U.S.
“This is a difficult time for Muslim Americans,” Obama said at a White House dinner celebrating the Islamic holiday of Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of Ramadan, Islam's holiest month, in which observers fast from sunrise to sunset.
The president said Muslim Americans "are as patriotic, as integrated, as American as any other members of the American family," and he extolled the contributions of Muslim doctors, entrepreneurs, artists, activists, athletes, police officers, firefighters and soldiers.
In a pointed jab at the anti-Muslim rhetoric by Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, Obama said, "Singling out Muslim Americans feeds the lie of terrorists like ISIL that the West is somehow at war with a religion that includes over a billion adherents. That’s not smart national security."
Trump has called for a ban on Muslims from entering the country, as well as putting mosques under surveillance.
This is a difficult time for Muslim Americans." Obama said, "Like all Americans, you worry about the threat of terrorism. But on top of that, you fear that your entire community will be blamed for the violent acts of a few who do not represent your faith." The statement prompted chants of "Four more years," from the 100 guests. “No, no,” he said. “Michelle’s going to come down and scold you.”
There were about 3.3 million Muslim Americans living in the United States in 2015, according to Pew Research Center estimates, making up about 1 percent of the total U.S. population. |
Image copyright Getty Images
An unfavourable evaluation of the government's flagship policy response to the 2011 riots has been suppressed, BBC Newsnight has learned.
The analysis found that the Troubled Families programme had "no discernible" effect on unemployment, truancy or criminality.
The initial scheme sought to "turn around" 120,000 households at a cost of around £400m.
The local government department denies that the report has been suppressed.
A spokesperson said: "There were several strands to the evaluation work commissioned by the last government and there is not yet a final report."
The report, which the government has had since last autumn - and seen exclusively by BBC Newsnight - is embarrassing for ministers, who not only implemented the scheme, but have since decided to extend it. Officials have told Newsnight that they believe it would have been published, had it been positive.
Ministers had trumpeted previous data related to the scheme, which had suggested that 98.9% of families participating in the scheme had been "turned around".
Furthermore, a second wave of the Troubled Families programme was announced in June 2013, and began to roll out in April 2015. It covers another 400,000 families at a further cost of £900m.
The scheme was aimed at those affected by high unemployment, truancy and anti-social behaviour, and ran across England. It was intended to save money and prevent future rioting by reducing the problems of this group of disadvantaged families.
A senior civil servant told Newsnight that the report is "damning", and attacked the scheme as "window-dressing".
Image copyright Getty Images Image caption David Cameron and the former head of the Troubled Families programme, Louise Casey
Troubled Families was a project pushed by the last prime minister. In August 2011, shortly after the riots, David Cameron announced that he would "put rocket boosters" under existing plans being drawn up in Whitehall "with a clear ambition that within the lifetime of this Parliament we will turn around the lives of the 120,000 most troubled families in the country".
In December 2011, the then prime minister added: "Some in the press might call them 'neighbours from hell'. Whatever you call them, we've known for years that a relatively small number of families are the source of a large proportion of the problems in society."
The government also committed that the effectiveness of the policy would be measured by a consortium of analysts led by a consultancy called Ecorys. The evaluation was expected to be published. But the document has been kept under wraps thus far in Whitehall.
No measurable impact
This official analysis of data from 56 local authorities covering the first 18 months of the programme states: "The lack of obvious effect from the programme across a range of outcomes indicates that the programme did not have a measurable impact on families within the time-frame over which it was possible to observe its effects."
It found "no discernible impact on the percentage of adults claiming out-of-work benefits" and "no obvious impact on the likelihood that adults were employed" 12 or 18 months after starting on the programme.
The analysis also found it "did not have any discernible impact on adult offending" seven to 18 months after the family was booked into the programme.
They added: "Whilst it was more difficult to match the treatment and comparison groups when looking at child outcomes, the findings suggested that the programme also had no detectable impact on child offending."
Their analysis of truancy got different results depending on how the data was analysed, leading analysts to conclude that "any impact that the programme had on the absence rate was not robust".
The researchers reported some problems with data quality and representativeness. "The sample sizes that the national administrative data provided meant that it was feasible to detect impacts which were relatively small in magnitude," they wrote.
The trouble with Troubled Families
The Troubled Families programme always had strange design features.
Each local authority was given a target number of families to identify and recruit for the scheme - getting a payment of £3,200 for each household that they signed up.
Image copyright Getty Images Image caption The Troubled Families programme was a response to the riots in 2011
The choice of families - households with some combination of factors such as truancy, anti-social behaviour and adult joblessness - did not seek to identify people involved in rioting. The ambition of the scheme was that the family would be assigned a single, co-ordinating key-worker who adopts a "persistent, assertive and challenging" approach and can "get to grips" with the whole family and look at the family "from inside out rather than outside in".
But the success criteria were very vague - families could be deemed "turned around" even while the children were still persistently truant or committing crime, just so long as they did so less frequently than they had done before. And councils received a further payment of £800 when the family met certain criteria that meant they were deemed turned around. Local authorities, therefore, had strong incentives to declare successes: lots of councils claim to have had 100% success rates.
Nationally, 98.9% of the 118,000 families in the scheme were deemed "turned around" - a remarkable success rate in any policy, let alone one working with people who have complex and multiple disadvantages. These figures were taken as proof of the success of the scheme.
Speaking in June 2015, Dame Louise Casey, until recently the civil servant in charge of the scheme, said: "It's fantastic news that the programme has now turned around the lives of so many troubled families. That's almost 117,000 families where kids are back in school and youth crime and anti-social behaviour has been cut, and in more and more of these homes an adult has now moved off benefits and into work."
Stephen Crossley, a researcher at Durham University who has been examining the scheme, has described the success rate as "unbelievable".
A civil servant involved in the Troubled Families scheme, however, argued that while the programme might not work effectively "more money for social work probably can't be a bad thing right now".
For more on this story, watch Chris Cook's report on BBC Newsnight at 22:30 BST on BBC Two - or catch up afterwards on iPlayer |
After United drew with Chelsea in the Cup last weekend, Rafa Benitez that claimed that Sir Alex Ferguson snubbed his offer for a handshake before the game. The press asked Benitez why the United manager would do such a thing, to which he replied: “Ask him – if you are brave enough ask him. It was his decision. I was ready and waiting. I have some education because I know a lot of people are watching so I know what I have to do.”
Today was Sir Alex Ferguson’s first press conference since the weekend and the “brave” journalists asked him if he had done what Benitez claimed.
“Absolute nonsense,” Ferguson said. “Why wouldn’t I shake his hand? Think about it. I never saw him. I was signing autographs at the front, chatting with that young kid who always wants to shake my hand before the game because he says it brings us luck! I moved across and I never saw him. I don’t know why he said that. If he wanted to shake my hand, he could have stood in front of me. I’ve absolutely no idea why he said that. It’s nonsense.”
Ferguson doesn’t even have to try to make Benitez look like a dick these days. |
Jeff Gordon scored his third win of the season and his 91st career victory at Michigan International Speedway on Aug. 17. (Photo11: Andrew Weber, USA TODAY Sports)
Our series of NASCAR driver interviews continues this week with four-time champion Jeff Gordon, the Sprint Cup Series points leader heading into this weekend's regular-season finale at Richmond International Raceway.
Q: When you're on a long green-flag run and not racing around anyone, what do you think about?
A: What we need to do to the car to make it go faster. (Laughs) Most of the time, I'm always thinking about, "Is somebody else coming? Is somebody else trying a line that's working better than the one I'm trying?" I might say something to the spotter. Or I might be thinking about what the car is doing and relaying that information back to the team, because it's constantly changing.
But rarely am I daydreaming.
Q: Fans often come up to you and want to discuss a moment or race from your career. Which one comes up the most?
A: I get a lot of people who say, "I've been following you from the beginning. I remember you in 1993 (his rookie season in Cup)." And I'm like, "Well, it started a long time before that!" (Laughs) But there are some fans who say, "I remember watching you drive a sprint car at Bloomington (Ind.) or Indianapolis Raceway Park." The ones who really remember the first moments or who have been there for a very long time talk about places in Ohio and Indiana where I was racing sprint cars at 14 or 15 years old.
Q: If someone paid you $5 million to design a new racetrack and gave you an unlimited budget, what kind of track would you build?
A: The one we're building in Canada (Canadian Motor Speedway in Fort Erie, Ontario). It is going to be around ¾-mile and have some similarities to Richmond. A little bit of progressive banking. I'd like to not put the tunnels in the corners if possible. Design the garage area where it flows right.
The biggest thing I would do, no matter what size track it is, is it's all about transitions. It's how you transition into the banking in the corners, how you transition from the banking to the straightaways, how banked the straightaways are and then the transition in and off the next corner. To me, the more focus you can put and the sooner you start the transitions, the more side-by-side racing you're going to see. I'd also put a lot of emphasis on the surface.
Where does the Canada project stand now?
It's a long process. It's just not easy to get a large facility like that. First you have to find the land, then you have to get all these permits and there's just a lot that goes into it.
For me, my interest is in the design of the track — making it driver-friendly and fan-friendly. But we have a big group of people who are working on all the other entertainment aspects of it as well, because you have to have multipurpose facilities these days. You can't just have a track that relies on a race. We don't know if we'll ever get a NASCAR Truck, Nationwide or Cup race. But things are still moving and progressing.
I love where it's at, too. I get a lot of folks from Canada who are big race fans and say, "We'd love to have a NASCAR-style oval in Canada." I think this is something that will make the Canadian fans proud and give them an opportunity to see a great racetrack. And it's also not far from the U.S., either.
MORE: View the full 12 Questions archive
Q: If you had a day off to do anything in the world you wanted — but you were not allowed to race — what would you do?
A: Just one day? One day makes it tough because the places I'd want to go take a long time to get there.
For the purposes of this question, you can magically appear in any of those places and don't have to worry about the travel.
I can just magically appear there? Oh, now we're talking! (Thinks for awhile) Probably somewhere in the south of France. I love the south of France. I'd say on a boat in the south of France or somewhere in the Mediterranean. That'd be awesome.
That sounds nice.
Yeah, it's not bad. (Laughs) And of course, I'd want to be there with my family.
Q: You get to have a lot of cool experiences away from racing through your job as a NASCAR driver. What's one that sticks out?
A: Probably some of the post-Oscars parties Ingrid (Vandebosch, his wife) and I got to go to. It's just a lot of really cool people in a relaxed environment and everybody is just hanging out and being themselves. And you realize while they are celebrities and famous people, they're also just real people who like to be part of something no different than the rest of us do. To be able to see them in that environment is something I'll never forget.
Jeff Gordon and Ingrid Vandebosch have attended multiple Academy Award after parties. Here, the pair attend the 2007 Vanity Fair Oscar party in West Hollywood, Calif. (Photo11: Danny Moloshok, AP)
That must be pretty amazing to see.
It's pretty cool. One time we were at this party and Bradley Cooper was on the dance floor next to me and Ingrid. Of course, everybody is like, "Ahh, Bradley Cooper!"
So at one point, Bradley had to step over a piece of furniture to get to the dance floor. Well when he did, there was this girl who was dancing nearby with long hair and she was whipping her hair around, and her hair got wrapped around the button on his tuxedo jacket. (Laughs)
So she's sitting there like this (Gordon stands up to demonstrate, tilting his head as if it were stuck on something) and Bradley is standing there and they're trying to get the hair unwrapped. (Laughs while talking) And she's freaking out because she's embarrassed, but she's also so excited at the same time because it's Bradley Cooper!
Ingrid and I were watching this whole thing and were laughing so hard. But he was so cool about the way he handled it. It made me really respect him a lot.
Q: When you go home after a bad day at the track, do you vent to someone about it or just keep it to yourself?
A: I'm really good about letting things roll off my back. But I'll talk to Ingrid. Sometimes she has to vent to me because she's like, "Why are you not more upset about this?" So I tend to hold things inside.
It's funny how she and I work. If I hold it in, then she's venting and I sort of calm her down. If I vent, then she's like, "It's going to be OK, don't worry." So we work good like that.
Q: If you could point to another driver as a good example for your children in the garage, who would it be?
A: There are a lot of good guys in the garage area. But you know, Jimmie (Johnson) lives near us, he's a good dad, he's a great race car driver and I think he's very well-balanced. So I'd say probably Jimmie. He and I can relate. We both have two children, we both have won championships, we kind of understand their lifestyle and feel like they understand our lifestyle. And I've probably seen him more away from the track than anyone else.
I'd also put Casey Mears in there, too. They're both dads, good people and fun to be around. I think they're good parents.
Q: When you stand around with other drivers and tell old racing stories, what's one of your favorites to tell either about something that happened to yourself or someone else?
A: One of the things I'm just not good at is my memory. It's just not the way my brain works. But if you bring something up that engages it, I usually have a good story about something that relates to that.
A lot of times, it'll be Ray (Evernham) or Rick (Hendrick) or Jon (Edwards, Gordon's public relations representative) or my mom or dad. It's fun when I remember them and I'm with a group I'm comfortable enough to tell it to.
There's one story that comes to mind that's a great story, but I can't tell you that story. (Laughs) It was at a racetrack, but it wasn't on the racetrack. I wish I could tell it to you!
PHOTOS: Jeff Gordon through the years
Q: What's a TV show you're really into right now?
A: I love Suits and House of Cards. Probably Suits is No. 1 right now. And I'm so mad, because my DirecTV in the (motorhome) had something go out and it didn't record the finale. So if you know anything about it, don't tell me!
I love the characters, I love the storylines. Between those shows and The Good Wife, those are the shows I enjoy the most.
Q: What's the last movie you saw — either at home or in the theater — and was it any good?
A: A few weeks ago — I guess at Watkins Glen — me and my nephew went to see Lucy, which is a sci-fi movie. It was interesting.
That's the one where she uses 100% of her brain, right?
Yeah. I've met Scarlett Johanssen one time and she was really good in Lucy. They give her this drug to smuggle — they forced her to do it — but the bag broke. The stuff should have killed her, but it actually made her brain get stronger.
The funny thing is, the last two movies I've watched have been very out there. I don't remember the name of the other one; I was just looking through movies on iTunes and saw it. I like the movies that aren't real commercialized and aren't the huge hits with all the stars; I like finding movies that you don't know much about, but there's enough buzz it might be good.
This particular one was about how the Earth froze and this one genius billionaire made this train you could live on forever. Basically, the only people who had survived on Earth lived on this train. It had an aquarium with sharks, a place where kids went to school, they made sushi. It was the craziest thing I've ever seen! (Editor's note: The film appears to be Snowpiercer.)
But in the back of the train were all the people who were captive to the rest of the train, and they're constantly trying to take over the train because they don't believe in how it's being run.
Will these filmmakers be at the next Oscars party you attend?
Trust me, I'm making it sound better than it was. (Laughs) It was interesting, but not that great. A lot of blood and guts, too.
Q: If you could give a piece of advice to your younger self — something you know now that you didn't know then — what would it be?
A: Don't get married so young. (Chuckles) Wait until I'm 30 at least.
Q: I've been asking each person to give me a question for the next interview. Last week was Clint Bowyer, but he couldn't come up with a question for you. Do you have a question for the next interview?
A: (Gordon indicated he'd wait and see who the interview is with before coming up with a question.)
Follow Gluck on Twitter @jeff_gluck |
Throughout his just-concluded campaign, Donald Trump was frequently analogized to the monster created by Dr. Frankenstein. The future president — as everyone from his former ghostwriter to critics on both the left and right asserted — was the inevitable byproduct of the political culture of bravado and bigotry that Republican and conservative elites had used to gain votes from people who had no interest in cutting the government.
Whether the GOP will suffer the ruination and death that ultimately befell Mary Shelley’s protagonist is yet to be determined. Also unknown is the degree to which the anti-Semitic white nationalist movement known informally as the alt-right will be able to use Trump’s election to inject its ideas into the bloodstream of American conservatism and the larger body politic.
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This story also has a “Frankenstein” quality on another level. In many ways, the alt-right was invented by Paul Gottfried, a retired Jewish political historian whose age and persona are about as far removed as one can get from the youthful legions of self-proclaimed “shitlords” who roam Twitter 24/7 seeking to serve the man they only half jokingly refer to as the God Emperor.
How it all began
Frequently held to be a brand-new phenomenon or merely a reincarnated version of old-school Southern segregationism, the alt-right is actually neither. Many of the people and ideas that bind the movement go back a long way, even if they don’t quite hearken back to the likes of John C. Calhoun.
Looking at the early history of the movement, long before the social-media trolls got involved, one can more clearly see that one of the principles that got the alt-right started was an intense dislike of former president George W. Bush — and his foreign policy in particular. Indeed, criticizing and debunking the neoconservatives who dominated the Bush administration has been Gottfried’s lifelong project.
Although he rejects the alt-right label today, Gottfried affixed it to himself in the summer of 2008 when he teamed up with a 30-year-old editor named Richard Spencer to create a conference for right-wingers who regarded Dubya as a warmongering liberal who had betrayed conservatism and surrendered to leftist political correctness.
Gottfried delivered a speech that November to the first meeting of his H.L. Mencken Club titled “The Decline and Rise of the Alternative Right.” It focused on the conflict that occurred in the 1970s and '80s when many hawkish Democrats had migrated to the Republican Party and began dominating its institutions. The neoconservatives, as they were eventually called, had made a mess of the GOP and America as a whole, Gottfried argued, but their right-wing opponents (he had earlier coined the term "paleoconservatives" in 1986 to describe them) were continually unable to do anything about it because they were so ideologically divided.
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According to his address, Gottfried intended to do something to promote collaboration and unity against the common enemy. The alt-right was that something.
Spencer, who later went on to start a (now-defunct) webzine called Alternative Right, played a big part in conference organizing for the nascent group. He also gave addresses at subsequent Mencken Club meetings, but eventually the two men grew apart as Spencer developed more than an academic fascination with fascism and white separatism.
“Richard, I think, has gone on out on a limb to create a more extreme, racialist right,” Gottfried, 75, told Salon in a telephone interview last month. His preferred stance then (and now) was more about “anti-anti-racism” and opposing leftist political correctness, he said.
Another factor in their disaffection was an address that Spencer gave at the Mencken Club’s 2011 meeting, in which he heaped praise upon Madison Grant, an early 20th-century conservationist who was also an advocate of the bogus racial science known as eugenics.
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Spencer’s speech was not well-received by the crowd. According to a contemporary account of the conference proceedings, at least one audience member walked out in protest.
“His speech was so embarrassing,” Gottfried said. “I thought it would be a kind of historical presentation but it turned out to be a harangue in favor of Indo-German America or something like this.”
(Despite the Mencken Club's professed dedication to completely unfettered intellectual discussions, the recording of Spencer’s discussion of Grant is nowhere to be found in the organization’s audio library of speeches from that year’s proceedings.)
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While Gottfried was unwilling to be associated with Spencer’s advocacy for eugenics, it was far from the only exhibition of racism that has been featured at Mencken Club gatherings. Past speakers have also highlighted the life and times of Sam Francis, a deceased former Washington Times editor who was fired from the right-leaning newspaper for his overtly racist attitudes. White separatist Jared Taylor, who has found a new career as an éminence grise for the alt-right, has also been praised by lecturers.
Mencken Club conferences have also featured William Regnery, an heir to the conservative book fortune who once tried to start a dating website exclusively for white people. He currently publishes an anti-Semitic website called the Occidental Observer and is one of Spencer’s largest financial patrons.
Conservatives against Bush
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There’s no question that racist speech and racist attitudes have always had a “safe space” within the alt-right. But it’s not accurate to suggest that racism and anti-Semitism were always as integral to the movement as they are today.
All the tendencies that have come to define the alt-right today were present when it began, at least to some degree. But initially, during the mid-2000s when criticizing George W. Bush's foreign policy could mean being branded as un-American, the alt-right was a loose collection of very different conservatives and libertarians. What bound them together was a shared dislike of Bush policies in general, and his invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan in particular. Dissatisfaction with the existing Republican hierarchy was all that was needed.
“It was a pretty disparate group of people,” according to Jim Antle, a paleoconservative writer and editor who counted himself as among the “alternative right” for a while. “Some were pure libertarians. Some were immigration restrictionists. Some were just conventional Goldwater-Reagan Republicans. Some were monarchists and some were also white nationalists.”
Antle, who today is the political editor for the right-leaning Washington Examiner, told Salon in an interview that he became rapidly disenchanted with the emerging movement as it “became obvious where this was all headed.” He said he stopped affiliating with the alt-right before most people had even heard of the term.
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Not all of Antle's nonracist associates were as aware of what was happening, however. That was largely because of an overwhelming sense among many in the nascent alternative right that to expel white nationalists from their ranks was to repeat some of the “purges” that conservatives engaged in with some frequency during the 20th century. William F. Buckley and the National Review, for instance, had denounced the anti-communist conspiracy theorists of the John Birch Society. Some alt-rightists saw disavowing racism as somehow permitting progressives to dictate the acceptable limits of conservative thought as well.
“There was this idea that you never let the left set the terms of dialogue,” Antle said. “Even if you may personally think that some of the things people were talking about are bad, by being overly worried about racism, you were playing according to the left’s rules, and you shouldn’t do that.”
For anti-Bush conservatives of all stripes, the mid-2000s were a time in the wilderness. That was true even before Barack Obama managed to throw the rest of the right there after he won the presidency in a 2008 landslide that also saw Democrats take majorities in both houses of Congress. The chaos and lack of strategic direction that Democrats face today, in the wake of Donald Trump's victory, was something that the paleocons and their libertarian allies confronted as a major topic in early Mencken Club meetings. One person trying to move the argument in a racially inclusive direction was Jack Hunter, a writer and editor who had made a journey from anti-government white identitarianism to more mainstream libertarianism.
Hunter's personal odyssey story, which he detailed in full in a 2013 Politico article, is essentially the exact opposite of the journey that the alternative right has undergone. He began as a racist shock-jock radio host in South Carolina who called himself “The Southern Avenger” and eventually landed in the orbit of young libertarians who were repelled by his racism. Eventually, Hunter began to re-examine his beliefs and reached the conclusion that racism was illogical. He has repeatedly renounced his former views and called for Southern states to remove Confederate flags from their state capitol buildings.
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“After a while, I just came to the conclusion that the racial conservatives were just off base, that they were wrong,” Hunter told Salon in a phone interview.
Hunter tried bringing that message to the fledgling alt-right. “We were making the case that the conservative movement needed to be more youth oriented; it needed to be less divisive. And if you were going to talk about immigration to not demonize people,” he said.
Paradoxically, one ally Hunter had in this regard was Richard Spencer, Gottfried’s former junior partner who has now become synonymous with white supremacy. It was Spencer who gave a speech in Washington, after Trump's election, in which claimed that only whites could preserve Western civilization. He ended with the English translation of "Sieg Heil," the infamous phrase Nazis encouraged Germans to use in praise of Adolf Hitler.
In 2008, however, Spencer had not yet fully committed to white nationalism. At the time, he was editing Takimag, a libertarian blog and was under pressure to increase traffic. One strategy suggested by Taki Theodoracopulos, the site's owner, was to begin publishing essays written by “white advocate” author Jared Taylor.
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According to Hunter and Antle, who both wrote for the site at the time, Spencer opposed the idea, even though the site had published Taylor once before. Hunter specifically recalled discussing the matter with Spencer in New York after inviting him to attend a performance of his part-time rock band.
“I had that conversation with Spencer on the sidewalk outside the venue,” Hunter said by email. “He told me he would never run Taylor.” Antle recalled discussing the matter on the telephone with Spencer and said that Spencer discussed the matter with several other contributors as well, who were concerned about whether they would continue to write for the site if it published Taylor’s anti-black and anti-Hispanic articles.
Whether Taylor’s writings were a point of friction between Spencer and his boss, the poor traffic that Takimag attracted did bother Theodoracopulos. Shortly after Spencer was removed as editor in January of 2009, he founded his own independent webzine titled Alternative Right. That was subsequently shuttered after Spencer was hired by publishing heir William Regnery to run his overtly racist think tank, the National Policy Institute.
Part 2: Long before Trump, white nationalists flocked to Ron Paul
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Part 3: How the GOP’s endless battles over "true conservatism" generated a movement it couldn’t control |
Michael Sam, an American football defensive end who made history when he came out as gay ahead of the 2014 NFL draft, making him the first openly LGBT player to be drafted in any major American sport, will speak at Vanderbilt University Thursday, February 16 as part of the Chancellor’s Lecture Series.
Sam will discuss “From Hitchcock High to the NFL” from 6:30—7:30pm in Sarratt Cinema. A reception will precede the talk from 5:30—6:30pm in the Sarratt Cinema lobby. Both events are free and open to the public, but tickets are required to attend the lecture. The free tickets are limited to two per person and must be picked up in advance of the lecture at the Sarratt Student Center Box Office. Tickets cannot be reserved or mailed. For box office hours of operation and additional information, call (615) 343-3361.
Hailing from a tiny Texas town and the seventh of eight children, Sam endured a childhood filled with adversity. He spent a portion of his youth living in a car with his mother and developed a steadfast determination to make a better life for himself, identifying sports as his way out.
Sam went from water boy on his local high school team to star player, earning first-team All-District honors four years in a row. Presented with scholarship offers from several leading schools, Sam chose the University of Missouri, where he thrived and was named a first-team All-American and the co-SEC Defensive Player of the Year.
After coming out as gay during an ESPN interview, Sam was drafted by the St. Louis Rams as the 249th of 256 players selected. He is currently an NFL free agent.
In 2014, he was named one of GQ magazine’s Men of the Year, was a finalist for Sports Illustrated’s Sportsman of the Year, and was the recipient of the Arthur Ashe Courage Award at the 2014 ESPYs.
Parking for the Feb. 16 event will be available in the Terrace Place Garage, located on Terrace Place between 21st Avenue South and 20th Avenue North.
The Vanderbilt Chancellor’s Lecture Series strives to connect the university and the Nashville community with intellectuals who are shaping our world. For more information about the series, visit the Chancellor’s Lecture Series website, email [email protected], call (615) 322-0885, or follow on Twitter @VUCLS. |
Press Release: IMF Executive Board Concludes 2014 Article IV Consultation and Fifth Post-Program Monitoring Discussion with Iceland
Press Release No. 15/114
March, 13, 2015
On March 9, 2015 the Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) concluded the 2014 Article IV consultation1 and Fifth Post-Program Monitoring Discussion with Iceland2.
Iceland has reached a relatively strong macroeconomic position with good growth prospects. Unemployment continues to trend down, now at 4 percent. Growth slowed last year but is expected to pick up to around 3 percent over 2015–17, supported by robust domestic demand and tourism. Consumption will be boosted by household debt relief and—together with net trade—will benefit from favorable commodity prices.
Against this positive economic backdrop, vulnerabilities remain and risks are tilted to the downside. Crisis legacies are still being unwound, including a large balance of payments (BOP) overhang contained by capital controls. The authorities expect significant progress this year in finalizing and implementing an updated capital account liberalization strategy. The current account balance is forecast at around 6 percent of GDP this year—boosted by falling oil prices—and is expected to gradually decline over the medium term to 2 percent of GDP.
Inflation has fallen to 0.8 percent—well below the 2.5 percent target—pulled down by imported deflation and a stronger exchange rate. However, real wages accelerated to almost 6 percent, and the outcome of 2015 wage negotiations is highly uncertain. Inflation is expected to move closer to the target by the end of 2016. The Central Bank of Iceland (CBI) paused in February and continued foreign exchange accumulation. The CBI legislative framework review is currently in progress.
The general government recorded a surplus of 1.8 percent of GDP last year—its first surplus in seven years—helped by one-off revenues. The fiscal stance, measured by the change in the structural primary balance, tightened 0.2 percent of potential GDP in 2014 and is projected to tighten further by about 0.5 percent of GDP over the medium term. Household debt relief became operational, and more frontloaded to 2014, though the overall costs are broadly as expected. General government gross debt remains high but on a downward sustainable path. The draft budget framework bill now before Parliament—when approved—will strengthen Iceland’s fiscal framework. The government has begun an important reform of the VAT system.
Good progress has been made in improving the financial stability framework, but gaps remain. Banking sector buffers are strong but uncertainties surrounding the unwinding of crisis legacies and legal risks, including challenges to CPI indexation, remain high. The CBI and the Financial Supervisory Authority (FME) are making progress in improving macrofinancial and supervisory stress tests, but gaps remain in bank supervision and financial safety nets. The authorities are working on permanent solutions for the loss-making government-owned Housing Financing Fund (HFF) and are developing mechanisms for a successor lender.
Executive Board Assessment3
Executive Directors welcomed the improving economic conditions and progress in addressing crisis legacies. Directors noted that with sound policies, the outlook is for sustained growth, price stability, and declining debt ratios. However, downside risks remain, including from lower global growth, wage pressures, and uncertainty surrounding capital account liberalization. It would therefore be important to maintain macroeconomic and financial stability, while enhancing growth, rebuilding confidence, and preparing for the eventual removal of capital controls.
Directors agreed that the strategy for liberalizing the capital account should remain conditions-based, be well communicated, and benefit from the support of sound macroeconomic and financial sector policies. In this context, they recommended that greater focus be placed on policies to strengthen Iceland’s balance of payments and on structural reforms to boost labor productivity and competitiveness.
Directors agreed that the monetary policy stance appropriately focuses on price stability. They encouraged the central bank to remain vigilant and stand ready to respond to opposing pressures from external deflationary developments and potentially large wage increases. Directors supported ongoing efforts to accumulate foreign currency reserves to smooth eventual outflows, as conditions permit. They stressed the importance of maintaining an independent and accountable central bank, and looked forward to the outcome of the review of legislation in this area.
Directors welcomed progress in consolidating public finances and the early repayment to the Fund. They saw merit in developing contingency measures to achieve the 2015 fiscal targets. Directors supported the medium-term objectives of pursuing a balanced budget and further reducing public indebtedness. They noted that, with Iceland on track to achieve core objectives, fiscal policy is well positioned for a transition toward boosting potential growth, particularly through public investment, while being mindful of the distributional consequences of any reforms. Directors underscored the importance of adopting the organic budget law to provide an institutional anchor for fiscal policy, thus reinforcing market confidence ahead of capital account liberalization. Improving the efficiency of the tax system also remains a priority.
Directors emphasized the need to maintain adequate buffers in the core financial sector in light of risks surrounding the unwinding of capital controls and some legal challenges. They recommended that the authorities continue to improve the financial stability framework, including supervision, deposit insurance, bank resolution, and emergency liquidity assistance. Directors called for a swift resolution of the Housing Financing Fund to minimize fiscal costs and financial stability risks.
Iceland: Selected Economic Indicators, 2011–16 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 Est Proj Proj (Percentage change, unless otherwise indicated) National Accounts (constant prices) Gross domestic product 2.1 1.1 3.5 1.8 3.5 3.2 Total domestic demand 3.0 1.2 0.9 3.1 4.4 4.5 Private consumption 2.5 2.0 0.8 3.2 3.4 3.0 Public consumption 0.2 -1.2 0.8 1.0 1.6 1.6 Gross fixed investment 11.6 4.3 -2.2 13.4 13.2 14.1 Exports of goods and services 3.4 3.9 6.9 4.3 4.6 3.4 Imports of goods and services 6.8 4.9 0.4 9.4 7.7 7.0 Output gap 1/ -1.3 -1.0 -0.6 -1.2 -0.4 0.0 Selected Indicators Nominal GDP (ISK bn) 1,701 1,774 1,873 1,961 2,121 2,237 Private consumption (percent of GDP) 51.7 53.4 52.7 52.9 51.0 50.8 Public consumption (percent of GDP) 24.4 24.4 24.3 24.2 23.8 24.0 Gross fixed investment (percent of GDP) 15.5 16.0 15.1 16.4 17.2 18.8 Unemployment rate (period average) 2/ 7.1 6.0 5.4 5.0 4.0 4.0 Employment 0.0 0.5 3.7 1.9 2.9 2.2 Real GDP per capita (ISK mln) 3.6 3.6 3.7 3.8 3.9 4.0 Consumer price index (period average) 4.0 5.2 3.9 2.0 0.9 2.1 Consumer price index (end of period) 5.3 4.2 4.2 0.8 0.8 2.3 Nominal wage index 7.0 7.9 3.5 5.5 6.7 5.1 Real wage 2.3 2.6 -0.3 3.5 5.8 3.0 Nominal effective exchange rate 3/ 0.3 -3.3 2.3 5.9 … … Real effective exchange rate 3/ 0.9 0.6 3.8 6.7 … … Terms of trade -2.8 -3.1 -1.9 2.4 5.1 -0.2 Money and Credit Base Money -20.7 32.0 0.3 -25.4 8.8 0.0 Deposit money bank credit 6.9 0.7 1.4 4.7 4.3 5.3 Broad money 8.7 -2.7 4.2 9.4 1.5 1.5 CBI policy rate 4.75 6.00 6.00 5.25 ... ... (Percent of GDP, unless otherwise indicated) Public Finance (General Government 4/) Revenue 40.1 41.8 42.5 47.9 43.9 42.9 Expenditure 45.7 45.5 44.2 46.0 43.8 42.8 Balance -5.6 -3.7 -1.7 1.8 0.1 0.1 Primary balance -2.5 -0.1 2.0 5.1 3.3 2.8 Balance of Payments Current account balance 5/ -5.2 -4.2 5.5 4.7 6.1 4.7 Trade balance 8.2 6.3 8.3 7.1 8.1 6.4 Financial and capital account 5.1 -4.9 8.2 10.1 5.9 4.5 Net errors and omissions 1.5 -0.1 0.4 0.9 0.0 0.0 Central bank reserves (USD bn) 8.7 4.3 4.1 4.2 4.5 4.2 Excluding old banks' deposits (USD bn) 5.9 4.2 4.0 4.0 ... ... Sources: Statistics Iceland; Central Bank of Iceland; Ministry of Finance; and IMF staff projections. 1/ In percent of potential output. 2/ In percent of labor force. 3/ A positive (negative) sign indicates an appreciation (depreciation). 4/ National accounts basis. 5/ Actual data include the income receipts and expenditures of DMBs in winding up proceedings, and accrued interest payments on intra-company debt held by a large multinational, but estimated and projected data do not.
Iceland: Selected Economic Indicators, 2011–16 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 Est Proj Proj (Percentage change, unless otherwise indicated) National Accounts (constant prices) Gross domestic product 2.1 1.1 3.5 1.8 3.5 3.2 Total domestic demand 3.0 1.2 0.9 3.1 4.4 4.5 Private consumption 2.5 2.0 0.8 3.2 3.4 3.0 Public consumption 0.2 -1.2 0.8 1.0 1.6 1.6 Gross fixed investment 11.6 4.3 -2.2 13.4 13.2 14.1 Exports of goods and services 3.4 3.9 6.9 4.3 4.6 3.4 Imports of goods and services 6.8 4.9 0.4 9.4 7.7 7.0 Output gap 1/ -1.3 -1.0 -0.6 -1.2 -0.4 0.0 Selected Indicators Nominal GDP (ISK bn) 1,701 1,774 1,873 1,961 2,121 2,237 Private consumption (percent of GDP) 51.7 53.4 52.7 52.9 51.0 50.8 Public consumption (percent of GDP) 24.4 24.4 24.3 24.2 23.8 24.0 Gross fixed investment (percent of GDP) 15.5 16.0 15.1 16.4 17.2 18.8 Unemployment rate (period average) 2/ 7.1 6.0 5.4 5.0 4.0 4.0 Employment 0.0 0.5 3.7 1.9 2.9 2.2 Real GDP per capita (ISK mln) 3.6 3.6 3.7 3.8 3.9 4.0 Consumer price index (period average) 4.0 5.2 3.9 2.0 0.9 2.1 Consumer price index (end of period) 5.3 4.2 4.2 0.8 0.8 2.3 Nominal wage index 7.0 7.9 3.5 5.5 6.7 5.1 Real wage 2.3 2.6 -0.3 3.5 5.8 3.0 Nominal effective exchange rate 3/ 0.3 -3.3 2.3 5.9 … … Real effective exchange rate 3/ 0.9 0.6 3.8 6.7 … … Terms of trade -2.8 -3.1 -1.9 2.4 5.1 -0.2 Money and Credit Base Money -20.7 32.0 0.3 -25.4 8.8 0.0 Deposit money bank credit 6.9 0.7 1.4 4.7 4.3 5.3 Broad money 8.7 -2.7 4.2 9.4 1.5 1.5 CBI policy rate 4.75 6.00 6.00 5.25 ... ... (Percent of GDP, unless otherwise indicated) Public Finance (General Government 4/) Revenue 40.1 41.8 42.5 47.9 43.9 42.9 Expenditure 45.7 45.5 44.2 46.0 43.8 42.8 Balance -5.6 -3.7 -1.7 1.8 0.1 0.1 Primary balance -2.5 -0.1 2.0 5.1 3.3 2.8 Balance of Payments Current account balance 5/ -5.2 -4.2 5.5 4.7 6.1 4.7 Trade balance 8.2 6.3 8.3 7.1 8.1 6.4 Financial and capital account 5.1 -4.9 8.2 10.1 5.9 4.5 Net errors and omissions 1.5 -0.1 0.4 0.9 0.0 0.0 Central bank reserves (USD bn) 8.7 4.3 4.1 4.2 4.5 4.2 Excluding old banks' deposits (USD bn) 5.9 4.2 4.0 4.0 ... ... Sources: Statistics Iceland; Central Bank of Iceland; Ministry of Finance; and IMF staff projections. 1/ In percent of potential output. 2/ In percent of labor force. 3/ A positive (negative) sign indicates an appreciation (depreciation). 4/ National accounts basis. 5/ Actual data include the income receipts and expenditures of DMBs in winding up proceedings, and accrued interest payments on intra-company debt held by a large multinational, but estimated and projected data do not. 1 Under Article IV of the IMF's Articles of Agreement, the IMF holds bilateral discussions with members, usually every year. A staff team visits the country, collects economic and financial information, and discusses with officials the country's economic developments and policies. On return to headquarters, the staff prepares a report, which forms the basis for discussion by the Executive Board. 2 The central objective of PPM is to provide for closer monitoring of the policies of members that have substantial Fund credit outstanding following the expiration of their arrangements. Under PPM, members undertake more frequent formal consultation with the Fund than is the case under surveillance, with a particular focus on macroeconomic and structural policies that have a bearing on external viability. 3 At the conclusion of the discussion, the Managing Director, as Chairman of the Board, summarizes the views of Executive Directors, and this summary is transmitted to the country's authorities. An explanation of any qualifiers used in summings up can be found here: http://www.imf.org/external/np/sec/misc/qualifiers.htm |
A Star Trek fan in Canada has been forced to turn over his personalized license plate after people complained its message, ASIMIL8, was insulting to indigenous people.
Manitoba Public Insurance revoked Nick Troller’s personalized license plate that read ASIMIL8, a nod to the Borg in Star Trek. According to a report in the Toronto Star, Troller had been driving around with it for two years, and it was accompanied by a license frame that said “We Are the Borg” and “Resistance is Futile.” Troller said fellow fans liked his license plate and asked to take pictures with it, and complained that critics were being too sensitive about the issue.
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This is one of those situations where neither side is wrong in their arguments. Troller’s ASIMIL8 license plate was clearly referencing Star Trek, and (most likely) was not designed to offend Canada’s indigenous population. But not everyone knows what the race of the Borg on Star Trek are. And let’s face it: Canada has an unsettling history with its indigenous population— including the Sagkeeng First Nation, which is in the Manitoba area.
Post-Confederation Canadian aboriginal policy existed until the mid 20th century for the purpose of assimilating indigenous people into Euro-Canadian life. There were forced-assimilation boarding schools, and legislation, like the Indian Act, was designed to erase indigenous culture. There are strong efforts in the First Nations to recover their voice and heritage, but it’s been a long battle rampant with racism and discrimination. For example, just this week, two teenage girls were arrested for the Facebook-posted death of Serena McKay, one of about 1,200 aboriginal girls who’ve died or gone missing since 1980, with very little investigation.
“For basically the entirety of this country’s history, indigenous peoples have been forcibly assimilated through really extremely destructive means and ways,” Ry Moran, from the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation, said.
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MPI’s policy says “plates cannot contain a slogan that could be considered offensive,” and it’s investigating why Troller’s personalized plate was approved in the first place. Since license plates are the property of the Crown, there is no appeal process. MPI offered him a new plate or a $100 refund.
[Toronto Sun] |
The UFC will be headed to the Nordics in 2017 confirms the Vice President and General Manager for EMEA James Elliott. Sweden, Finland, and Denmark are currently all in the running for an upcoming event. “We will be in the Nordics next year” reveals the executive to MMAViking.com following the recent UFC in Hamburg card. “With so many Scandinavian fighters, the region is attractive.”
While Swede Alexander Gustafsson has been the main attraction for the Stockholm events, with Iceland’s Gunnar Nelson also headlining a card, Finland based Makwan Amirhkani could be the most influential figure to decide the location of the next event. “If Makwan keeps winning, we will have to come to Finland” says Elliott.
The UFC has not been in the Nordics since January 24, 2015 with the monumental event at the Tele2 Arena with over 30,000 fans in attendance. “The Scandinavian market is very important to us.” says Elliot in an interview earlier in the year.
Mr. Finland has quickly become a household name in Finland for his spectacular fights in the UFC, including a 8 second Octagon debut. The charismatic wrestler will be going for four straight wins later in the year. If he is able to get another victory, the 27 year old will be going for a 5th consecutive win in 2017.
Teemu Packalen and Tina Lahdemaki are also on the current UFC roster that would draw local fans, along with several Finns ready to make their debut in the Octagon such as Timo-Juhani Hirvikangas, Juho Valamaa, and Mikael Silander.
There have been talks and discussions about a UFC in Helsinki for four years, with proposals from venues as recent as last year. The Octagon has been in Stockholm four times, with it’s debut in April of 2012 at Ericsson Globe Arena. |
We saw Google Voice integration go live last night, but it contained a number of issues which this update is expected to fix. Yet as exciting as this is, what's more immediately striking is the new visual redesign.
What's New
With the amount of smudging this post required, I feel like I've been working on classified documents. The new version of Hangouts plasters your email address absolutely everywhere. It's not an issue when using the app, but it does make for some rather swirly screenshots.
Right out of the gate, the new UI is significantly greener. As Google prepares Hangouts for the next version of Android, it has made the app much more colorful, and the toolbar now has a vibrancy that it previously did not. Functionality-wise, the more pressing change here is the addition of tabs. By default, there are two: a contacts tab and one listing your previous chats. Swiping now switches between tabs, so the old swipe-to-archive functionality has kicked the bucket.
If you install the new Hangouts Dialer, the number of tabs jumps to three. Despite its own Play Store presence, the Dialer isn't its own dedicated app. It merely links to Hangouts' voice tab. Enjoy the extra icon in your app drawer.
Google Voice integration makes its presence known within the app's settings. If you meander over, you will come across the option to ring Hangouts for incoming calls to your Google Voice number.
According to the provided Google support page for integrating Voice with Hangouts, when new voicemail messages arrive, a new unread notification will appear at the top of the Hangouts list with the voicemail icon in the message. You can then click on the play icon to listen to the message.
We've waited a long time for this, so if you haven't already done so, feel free to scroll down and show any of the three mirrors below how badly you've wanted to access Google Voice from Hangouts.
Download
The APK is signed by Google and upgrades your existing app. The cryptographic signature guarantees that the file is safe to install and was not tampered with in any way. Rather than wait for Google to push this download to your devices, which can take days, download and install it just like any other APK.
File name : com.google.android.talk.2.3 (22031189).apk
Version : 2.3
File size: 14.14 MB
MD5 : 421415cb3ff7cb3f349cd57ba717097a |
Donald Trump appoints Linda McMahon: What you need to know about the WWE magnate
Updated
Donald Trump is shaping up as the 'entertainment president' and his latest appointment only serves to reinforce that notion.
Mr Trump has selected Linda McMahon to lead his Small Business Administration (SBA), his transition team announced Thursday (AEDT).
Ms McMahon, 68, was a high-profile Trump backer during his presidential campaign and has run for a senate seat twice, but is best known as a professional wrestling magnate.
Wait, professional wrestling? Do you mean WWE?
Yes. Yes we do.
Ms McMahon co-founded World Wrestling Entertainment with her husband Vince McMahon in 1979 in South Yarmouth, Massachusetts.
She is also the former chief executive of the company, of which her family owns a majority stake.
WWE fans will know Vince as an active participant in the day-to-day running of the company. He regularly features on screen as a character protagonist in bouts.
But you may not know that Linda has also made a number of appearances.
There was the time she returned to save her daughter Stephanie McMahon from Sting, or when she stole a kiss with Eric Bischoff. She even got involved in an epic rumble between Vince and Shane McMahon, helping to change the course of the contest.
She was also once KOed by Stone Cold Steve Austin.
Does she have any qualifications?
Actually, yes.
You may turn up your nose at her WWE background, but as Mr Trump pointed out on Thursday, the McMahons have actually built a thriving business empire.
Ms McMahon "helped grow WWE from a modest 13-person operation to a publicly traded global enterprise with more than 800 employees in offices worldwide," Mr Trump said in a statement.
"Linda is going to be a phenomenal leader and champion for small businesses and unleash America's entrepreneurial spirit all across the country."
And although she may have failed in her two senate campaigns, in Connecticut in 2010 and 2012, at least it shows her interest in politics is nothing new, nor is her loyalty to the Republican Party.
Prior to her tilt at politics, Ms McMahon she was appointed to the Connecticut Board of Education, a post she gave up when she began campaigning.
Her role with the SBA will be to provide support to small business by extending loans and making sure they get a percentage of federal contracts.
We need to talk about Vince
Unlike some bosses, Vince McMahon is a constant presence on the shop floor at WWE.
You can probably tell from the rig on him that he is a retired wrestler himself, and he never hesitates to throw himself into WWE storylines.
Here are a couple of gifs of the man Ms McMahon has been married to for 50 years.
What's with Trump and WWE?
Has there ever been a President-elect appoint the spouse of someone who he once body-slammed and shaved bald? Don't bother answering that.
Mr Trump is obviously a WWE fan. He has featured in a raucous battle with Mr McMahon himself and is actually a WWE Hall of Fame member. We're not sure how one gets into the Hall of Fame.
Ms McMahon initially backed New Jersey Governor Chris Christie's bid for the White House, before coming around to Mr Trump's cause and donating $US6 million to a pro-Trump super PAC.
Numerous high-profile wrestlers threw their support behind Mr Trump during his campaign, including Kevin Nash, Jerry 'The King' Lawler and Hulk Hogan.
More fun facts about Linda McMahon
She married Vince at the age of 17. They met in church when she was 13 and he was 16
While Vince often revelled in the WWE limelight, it was Linda's job to grow the business
Ms McMahon raised eyebrows by spending $US100 million of her own money across her two senate bids, only to lose both by 12 points
Her net worth has been estimated at $US500 million by Celebrity Net Worth
She is a fiscal conservative, but has said she disagrees with Mr Trump on his pro-life stance
She has known Mr Trump for 30 years
In a March interview with Yahoo News, Ms McMahon called Mr Trump's comments on women "deplorable", but she maintained her support for him
Topics: world-politics, government-and-politics, us-elections, united-states
First posted |
Photo via Earthwatch Guest blogger Caroline Chisholm is head of marketing and communications globally for Earthwatch.
Homelessness is often seen as someone else's problem. Over Christmas I decided to make it mine, by trading my traditional family gathering to volunteer for homeless charity Crisis. The non profit relies on a small army of volunteers to provide food, shelter, support and entertainment for hundreds of London's homeless during the festive break. People become homeless for varied and complex reasons. And unless you can guarantee that you'll never face any serious issues with family, relationships, employment, health, abuse, alcohol or drugs, then you may be vulnerable to homelessness at some stage in your life.
We are all said to be just two strikes from the streets.
New Threat From Climate Change: It's Happening Now
Now, our basic right to shelter is under threat from a new phenomenon: climate change. According to the International Organization for Migration, 20 million people were made homeless last year as a result of sudden-onset environmental disasters. But that could rise to one billion in the next 40 years as the effects of climate change take hold, testing not only public attitudes but our capacity to provide support and accommodation.
The Pacific island nations, so vocal at Copenhagen, are already experiencing the effects of climate change. Tuvalu experienced a 7 centimeter rise in sea levels in the 13 years leading up to 2005. If this doesn't sound significant, bear in mind that the highest point of the low lying coral atolls - home to 10,000 people - is just 3.7 meters above high tide. "We live in constant fear of the adverse impacts of climate change," Prime Minister Saufatu Sopoanga appeals. "The threat is real and serious, and is of no difference to a slow and insidious form of terrorism against us."
Climate Change: Development Opportunity?
In the UK, the threat of climate change and homelessness isn't seen so much as a crisis, but as a development opportunity.
Hull, in East Yorkshire, which has the misfortune to occupy a long term tenancy on 'worst places to live in the UK' polls, could be transformed into the Venice of the North, according to a recent report by The Institution of Civil Engineers and the Royal Institute of British Architects.
Gondolas traversing the Humber may seem terribly cosmopolitan, but it will take more than a civic makeover to help the 10 million people living in flood risk zones who face displacement. Fortunately, Britain has decades rather than days to prepare for the waters to rise, which is just as well, because even developed nations are hopelessly unprepared when it comes to environmental crises.
Over the past ten years, floods have been responsible for more death and destruction in the U.S. than any other natural disaster. When Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans in 2005, more than 1,000 people lost their lives and 500,000 residents were forced to flee or take temporary shelter. A year on, less than half had returned.
If we are ill equipped to deal with natural born disasters, some of which, like Katrina, are thought to be exacerbated by climate change, how will we prepare for catastrophes of the man-made kind?
Homes destroyed by freak natural events can be rebuilt. But land blighted by drought, or lost to a rising sea, can no longer support communities. The legacy of unsustainable western lifestyles is not only going to haunt us in the future, it is already having a devastating impact on the developing world.
Rolling up Our Architectural Pants
Building our cities on stilts does not address the underlying causes of climate change, or the inequalities its consequences impose. And while a replica Ponte dei Sospiri (Bridge of Sighs) may add some Venetian glamour to Hull, it's worth remembering, as Byron observed, that the bridge held 'a palace and prison on each hand.'
In terms of climate change, the more we spend, the more others suffer.
Rolling up our architectural pants will not stem the rising tides. We need a global commitment to setting binding targets to reduce carbon emissions. But the opportunity to bring a meaningful deal to the table in Copenhagen has passed, and with it another chance to prevent millions of people from losing not only the roof over their heads, but a sense of identity, security and community. |
People are already unhappy about the May budget and talk about a deficit tax levy is likely to turn the mood grim.
But Prime Minister Tony Abbott has a ready explanation for a host of likely unpopular measures in his government's first budget.
"What we need is a tough budget now for a bright future tomorrow," he told reporters in Melbourne on Tuesday.
The coalition had made a strong commitment to get the budget back under control and it doesn't intend to "squib" the challenge.
Mr Abbott won't confirm that a new temporary levy is on the cards, but even if it was, it won't be a broken election promise.
"I think if there was a permanent increase in taxation that would certainly be inconsistent with the sort of things that were said before the election," he said.
Opposition Leader Bill Shorten says Labor will attempt to block any levy in the Senate because it's a bad idea as well as a broken promise.
"Labor will have no part of it," he told reporters in Bendigo.
The latest budget speculation is that workers earning more than $80,000 will be slugged an extra one per cent tax for the next four years, while those on incomes above $180,000 will pay an extra two per cent.
The Australian Council of Social Services is backing the levy and is glad the government has recognised that revenue is a problem.
But the Australian Taxpayers Association says people can't afford another "great new tax".
Prominent economist Saul Eslake believes good tax reform is about broadening the base of the system and lowering tax rates.
"I wouldn't describe (the levy) as good economics," he said.
The latest ANZ-Roy Morgan consumer survey showed confidence tumbling after a speech by Treasurer Joe Hockey that provided some detail of what the commission of audit had considered and where spending cuts might be made.
The commission's recommendations will be revealed on Thursday.
Commonwealth Securities chief economist Craig James says while recent figures show the budget is in better shape than a year ago, the government is highlighting the medium-term challenges.
"The risk for the government is that the rhetoric of austerity could prove too negative," he said in a note to clients.
Doing that will cause consumers to again trim spending and business to delay investment plans.
Australian Industry Group chief Innes Willox fears the debt levy will dampen the economy at a time when it needs to grow.
Budget raising debate on who can afford extra tax (video below) |
Senator John Cornyn speaking at the 2012 CPAC in Washington, D.C. (Gage Skidmore/Flickr)
President Donald Trump made a wildly unsubstantiated claim over the weekend that former President Barack Obama wiretapped phones at Trump Tower just weeks before the 2016 presidential election.
Republican Sen. John Cornyn of Texas attempted to have Trump’s back on the matter on Monday tweeting an article with the headline, “Former Bush attorney general: Trump likely right about surveillance.” Former Attorney General Michael Mukasey spoke with ABC’s This Week on Sunday and agreed he believed there was likely surveillance at Trump Tower.
Former Bush attorney general: Trump likely right about surveillance https://t.co/DAwe6R5iNV — JohnCornyn (@JohnCornyn) March 6, 2017
However, Mukasey added that if there was a wiretap at Trump Tower, it’s because there was suspicion of a Russian agent. “It means there was some basis to believe that somebody in Trump Tower may have been acting as an agent of the Russians for whatever purpose,” Mukasey said in the clip.
President Trump’s administration has been under fire over the last few weeks due to suspicious ties between Trump campaign officials and the Russian government ahead of the election.
You can watch the clip of Mukasey’s Sunday remarks below. |
However, even when it is recognized, little is written about a householder’s role in creating wealth. For example, a lot of the discussion gets bogged down in the five daily sacrifices a householder must perform – towards Brahma (studying), towards ancestors (funeral sacrifices, having offspring), towards gods (offering oblations into the fire), towards guests (feeding them) and towards non-human species (feeding them). These are respectively known as Brahma-yajna, pitri-yajna, deva-yajna, manushya-yajna and bhuta-yajna. Note that manushya-yajna isn’t quite charity, though it is often understood that way. There are strong injunctions against giving to the wrong person at the same time. Note also another point. If the king is equated with the State, there were limited expectations from the State, beyond security, law and order and jurisprudence. For instance, public works were driven by individuals, not necessarily by the king. Who imparted skills-training? Not the State, but the counterpart of what may be called guilds. |
This year’s OT Virtual Exchange (#OTVx17) will be held on October 27, 2017 and will be using World Occupational Therapy Day theme: Inform, Inspire and Influence.
What Is It?
It is a free, online, 24 hour conference for occupational therapists.
OT = Occupational therapy
24=24 hours
Vx=Virtual exchange
Whilst acknowledging the value of global connections for occupational therapists, we noticed that many OTs miss out on traditional avenues of connecting at conferences due to cost and time required. For some OTs a conference could cost as much as a whole year’s salary, but the need for equitable access to knowledge transfer opportunities is vital in a profession that continues to grow. In a world where technology is becoming more and more ubiquitous many occupational therapists are gaining techno-confidence. Thus the idea
of designing and delivering a 24 hour free real time online conference for knowledge sharing was born.
The OT 24-hour Virtual Exchange (OT24VX) started in 2010 and has been held each year to celebrate World Occupational Therapy Day. It has been organized and run by Online Technology for Occupational Therapy (OT4OT), a small group of occupational therapists from the United States, Canada, Australia, and United Kingdom; who are passionate about using online technology to advance entry level education, continuing professional development, research, and practice.
We are proud to be transitioning OT24Vx to becoming OTVx in 2017 and look forward to continuing to support knowledge transfer activities using online technologies in collaboration with the WFOT for occupational therapy practitioners and students around the globe. #OTVX17 is this year’s official Vx hashtag.
Thanks to our University supporters Eastern Washington University, Boston University and USC.
This year the OTVx will be an 8-hour interactive online conference with invited speakers including Handicap International who will discuss conflict and emergencies, World Health Organization (WHO) discussing the Assistive Technology/GATE Programme; two keynote speakers, Marleen van Doesburg-Kaijen and Claire Craig from the European Network of Occupational Therapy in Higher Education (ENOTHE) Annual Meeting in Zagreb, Croatia and our WFOT President, Marilyn Pattison.
Here is a preliminary OTVx17 schedule in UTC/GMT with links to the virtual rooms. |
ANKARA (AFP) -- A UN report due out this week into Israel's deadly 2010 raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla has been delayed again, the Turkish foreign ministry said Monday.
"The demand to postpone [the announcement] came from Israel, like the previous demands," Selcuk Unal, the spokesperson of the ministry told Turkey's Anatolia news agency.
Diplomatic ties between Israel and Turkey have been in crisis since May last year when Israeli commandos staged a deadly raid on an international aid flotilla trying to reach Gaza in defiance of an Israeli naval blockade on the Palestinian territory.
Nine Turkish activists were killed in the raid.
The publication of the report has been postponed at least twice this year to allow time for the two sides to reconcile their differences. The report was due to be released this week.
Turkey says relations between the two can only be restored if Israel apologizes for the raid, compensates the families of those killed and the injured, and lifts its blockade on the Gaza Strip.
Israel has steadfastly refused to apologize, although privately officials acknowledge that restoring the once-strong relationship with Ankara would be desirable. |
LOS ANGELES — For the first time in the 56-year history of the Pac-12 preseason football poll, Stanford is No. 1.
Buoyed by Heisman Trophy candidate Christian McCaffrey, the Cardinal was the overwhelming pick to win the conference championship game in a vote of 33 media members.
Stanford received 20 votes, followed by USC (five), Washington (four), UCLA (three) and Utah (one).
The history-making choice at No. 1 even caught the eye of Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott.
“Hard to imagine that’s the first time in the history of the Pac-12 that Stanford has gotten that respect from the media,” he said during his morning address at Pac-12 media day.
Cal, which lost quarterback Jared Goff to the NFL, was picked to finish fifth in the six-team North Division. Bears coach Sonny Dykes said his players shrugged off the news, if they were aware of it at all.
“I’ve coached some teams over the years that were kind of obsessed with how we’re regarded in the preseason — ‘What was the media poll? Where were we picked?” Dykes said. “I never really got that vibe from any of our guys at Cal.
“It comes down to those guys being smart and mature and just saying, ‘Nobody cares.’ If we were picked first, I don’t think any of these guys would care.”
Stanford claimed its third Pac-12 title a year ago, beating USC 41-22 at Levi’s Stadium in the conference championship game. In that showdown, McCaffrey delivered a record-breaking 461 all-purpose yards.
The Cardinal went on to defeat Iowa in the Rose Bowl to finish 12-2 and rank third in the final Associated Press poll and final Coaches Poll.
USC coach Clay Helton saw no reason Thursday to argue with the Cardinal sitting atop the poll.
“Well, they deserve to be. They’re the Pac-12 champs right now,” Helton said during the opening session of media day at Hollywood & Highland Center. “The fact of the matter is we lost twice to Stanford last year. So we’ve either got to stay the same and get beat or change.”
McCaffrey returns for his junior season with a chance to become the school’s first Heisman Trophy winner since Jim Plunkett in 1970. The dangerous running back, receiver and return man led FBS with 3,864 all-purpose yards last season.
Here is the full poll released Thursday:
North Division: Stanford (24), Washington (8), Oregon (1), Washington State, Cal and Oregon State.
South Division: UCLA (19), USC (12), Utah (2), Arizona, Arizona State and Colorado.
Pac-12 championship: Stanford (20), USC (5), Washington (4), UCLA (3) and Utah (1).
Follow Daniel Brown on Twitter at twitter.com/mercbrownie. |
Forget swimsuit shopping this year, and try one of six clothing-optional resorts, ranches, and B&Bs throughout Arizona.
Find yourself in a natural state as you enjoy beautiful natural surroundings in Phoenix, Tucson, and beyond.Look forward to tennis, volleyball, swimming, and more – or hang back at the many pool decks, misty ramadas, and cozy suites in these five naturist retreats.
1.Mira Vista Resort
Known as a “Premier Clothing-Optional Resort,†Mira Vista Resort is located in north Tucson along Interstate 10.Neighboring the Saguaro National Park, Mira Vista is a truly desert-themed haven for au natural natives and visitors alike.
Though parts of this clothing-optional resort date back to the mid-1800s, Mira Vista was formally established in 2006 solely for naturist recreation.This 30-acre resort features 14 suites, a couple rentable condos, and the full-service Desert Café – all adorned with that classic hacienda/adobe-style look.
And don’t miss the tennis courts, spas, pools, fitness center, message service, volleyball pool, you name it – and all in the scenic Sonoran Desert.
2.Shangri La Ranch
Found in north Phoenix by way of Interstate 17, Shangri La Ranch is a family-friendly, clothing-optional facility set in New River.
Open throughout the year thanks to that dry-heat you’ve heard so much about, Shangri La Ranch features everything from a solitary or romantic getaway to social activities and games.We’re talking volleyball, tennis, basketball, hiking, and after-sunset fun like dancing and karaoke.
3.Casa Cahava B&B
Situated in the North Valley – specifically Cave Creek – Casa Cahava B&B is a two-acre private abode ideal for a clothing-optional vacation.
Offering a private guesthouse, or “Casita at Casa Cahava,†and an in-house guest suite, Casa Cahava features cool activities like swimming and pool-volleyball, to some heated fun like the hot tub, sunbathing chairs and floats, and the Casita fireplace.
The Guest Casita also features a full kitchen, and spotty reception for those looking to digitally disconnect.
4.El Dorado Hot Springs
Try the 107-degree natural springs in your natural state at El Dorado Hot Springs – found in Tonopah of deep-West Phoenix.The mineral springs of El Dorado is the main attraction in this truly rustic, clothing-optional vacation.
El Dorado offers several private soaking areas, including the Stargate, the Corral, and the Duck Pond.And for views of Saddle Mountain, try the Sunset Area or Desert View.
Camping is available at a few private soaking areas, while other overnight accommodations include Motel California, Desert Pete’s Bunkhouse, the Last Resort, and the Post Office.
Whether you’re looking to reflect, relax, or meet new people, these nudist-friendly retreats are beyond friendly with some scenery to match. |
Innis & Gunn, one of the UK’s most successful international craft brewers, today announced it has made a recommendation to its Ordinary Shareholders to consent to an offer of investment in the business from L Catterton, the largest consumer-focused private equity firm in the world.
Founded in Scotland in 2003, Innis & Gunn has grown to be the No.2 craft brewer in the UK off-trade, No.1 imported craft beer in Canada and No. 2 in Sweden, and exports to over 28 countries. Expansion in the past 2 years has seen the successful opening of four Beer Kitchens in Scotland, and has established the brewer’s home for barrel-ageing and innovation at the new Innis & Gunn Brewery in Perth. The brewer recently reported a 22% increase in its annual group turnover to more than £14.3m in 2016. This was the 13th consecutive year of volume growth, with volume over the past five years increasing by 175% including sales of the Inveralmond Brewery brands which were successfully integrated into the Innis & Gunn business last year.
Dougal Gunn Sharp, Innis & Gunn Founder and Master Brewer said:
“The craft beer category is booming globally, and this is a hugely exciting opportunity at the right time for us to build strongly on the solid foundations that have been laid to double our 2015 turnover by 2018. Innovation and quality have been at the heart of Innis & Gunn’s success since day one, and this continues to drive us forward. Aside from providing additional capital to accelerate our growth plans, we believe L Catterton will strengthen our business with unparalleled expertise in brand building and a deep understanding of global consumer markets, sharing our vision and supporting our continued expansion and growth.”
Completion of the deal would give L Catterton a minority stake of 27.9% in the business, and Dougal Gunn Sharp will remain the largest single shareholder, and the offer from L Catterton reflects and confirms the price paid by the crowdfunding community In November 2016, when Innis & Gunn raised £2.4 million through its first equity crowdfunding campaign, AdventureCapital. |
This article was published originally as guest post on the Futurice Blog
This article assumes you are familiar with Cycle.js. If not this is probably fine if you know reactive streams like RxJS, otherwise check out the excellent documentation first.
The goal
I currently work on the MOVE-II CubeSat, more specifically I work on the ADCS - the Attitude Determination and Control System. This means we have a small satellite packed with various sensors like magnetometers, gyroscopes and sun sensors. Those sensors are used to drive the control algorithms that drive our coils to actuate our satellite.
For tests we mount our ADCS PCBs to a 3D printed structure and hook them up to a BeagleBone Black Wireless - a small computer like the Raspberry PI - which emulates our main computer (the CDH system). We then suspend the satellite inside a Helmholz cage where we can provide an arbitrary magnet field that should simulate the earth's magnetic field. We then use the SPI connection of the BeagleBone to poll the sensor and control data from our hardware.
My goal is now to create an app that can be used to display the live data of our satellite while we are running the tests.
Step 1: Evaluation
Why use Cycle.js? I have multiple reasons. For one I work daily with Cycle.js and simply enjoy the concept and the readability of the framework. But the main reason is that Cycle.js excels at modelling complex, time based asynchronous behavior, which we are going to exploit.
The other piece I need for the project is the plotting of the data. For this task we will use the amazing d3.js library, because - as you will see later - it is a really good fit and addition to Cycle.js.
For the transmission of the real-time data we will use normal websockets wrapped by a custom driver.
Step 2: Let's begin
So the first step is to scaffold a new boilerplate. Luckily thanks to create-cycle-app this is quite easy. I also want to use typescript so we'll use the one-fits-all flavor (shameless plug).
create-cycle-app adcs_plot --flavor cycle-scripts-one-fits-all
Step 3: First implementation
As we hold on to the golden rule of optimization - never optimize prematurely - we'll just write a first version. Let's take a look at it, we have three interesting files:
graph.tsx graphs.tsx websocketDriver.ts
The websocket driver is quite simple:
import xs , { Stream } from 'xstream' ; import { WebsocketData } from './interfaces' ; export function makeWebsocketDriver ( url : string ) : () => Stream < WebsocketData > { const websocket : WebSocket = new Websocket ( url ); return () => { return xs . create ({ start : listener => { websocket . onmessage = ( msg : MessageEvent ) => listener . next ( msg ); }, stop : () => {} }) . map ( msg => JSON . parse ( msg . data )); }; }
As we are only getting data from the server and not setting data, we just wrap the onmessage function in a new Stream.
The graphs file is just passing some settings to the graph file, we tell the name of the graph, the axis label, the domain of the incoming data (here we expect data between 0 and 100 degrees Celsius) and a filter, so we can extract the data relevant for this graph from the global state object.
import { Stream } from 'xstream' ; import { Sources , Sinks , Component } from './interfaces' ; import { createGraph } from './graph' ; export function Graphs ( sources : Sources ) : Sinks { const tempSinks : Sinks = createGraph ({ heading : 'Temperature' , yScaleText : 't in °C' , yDomain : [ 0 , 100 ], dataFilter : data => Object . keys ( data . temp ). map ( k => data . temp [ k ]) })( sources ); return tempSinks ; }
So the magic all happens in the graph file. Let's discuss it in small steps.
export interface GraphInfo { heading : string ; yScaleText : string ; yDomain : [ number , number ]; dataFilter : ( d : WebsocketData ) => number []; } export interface Scales { x : ScaleTime < number , number > ; y : ScaleLinear < number , number > ; } export type DataPoint = [ number , number ];
The first definition should look familiar. This is just the settings we use with createGraph . The second one is the definition of our d3 scales (more on them later) and the last one is just an alias for a (x, y) coordinate.
const scale$ : Stream < Scales > = xs . of ({ x : scaleTime () . domain ([ new Date (), hoursAgo ( 2 )]) . range ([ 0 , 500 ]), y : scaleLinear () . domain ( info . yDomain ) . range ([ 0 , 500 ]) });
Here is the first part that needs actual explanation. The code you see here is using d3's scales. With d3 version 4, the whole library was split into smaller submodules like d3-path , d3-shape or d3-scale which we used here. This has the great advantage that the calculations and the DOM manipulation is now clearly separated. As Cycle.js uses virtual DOM diffing under the hood we don't want external DOM manipulations.
A scale is just a normal Javascript function that takes some data and returns only the scaled data and does nothing else (pure functions - yay!). To initialize the function we use the .domain() and the .range() functions. The domain is the expected range of incoming data, the range contains the outgoing pixel values.
This means here we are creating two scales, one for the x axis and one for the y axis. The x axis is using a time scale because we want our data to be associated with the timestamp it was generated. The leftmost value on the graph should be the current time, the rightmost value should be two hours ago. We want those values to be mapped to a 500 pixel wide graph. The y axis is analog to the x axis, the only difference is passing the domain from the settings.
const scaledData$ : Stream < DataPoint [][] > = xs . combine ( scale$ , state ) . map (([ scales , arr ]) => arr . map ( data => { const x : number = scales . x ( data . time ); return info . dataFilter ( data ). map ( y => [ x , y ] as DataPoint ); }));
Here we use our newly created scales for the first time. We combine our scales with the current state that is holding the data we get through the websocket. As we have multiple lines per graph (x/y/z part of a vector or something similar) and the timestamp of them will be the same, we first apply that scale to the timestamp and save it in a constant. We won't modify it.
For the y value we apply the data filter we pass in with the settings and then map the values (think here as [x, y, z] ) to include the timestamp ( [[t, x], [t, y], [t, z]] ).
Now that we have the values of the pixels on the screen we want to display them. One option would be to just map the scaled data to svg <circle> elements, but I want to have lines between the points, so you can follow the data changes more easily. For this reason we will use a <path> . We could have used a <polyline> too, but d3 makes working with paths really easy. The module that is responsible for this is d3-shape . So we'll import { line } from 'd3-shape' and call it with our data points. The lines function generates a string that has to be used as the mysterious d attribute of the <path> . Again as we have multiple lines per graph we have to nest our map calls.
const path$ : Stream < VNode [] > = scaledData$ . map < string [] > ( data => data . map ( arr => line < DataPoint > ()( arr ))) . map < VNode [] > ( lines => lines . map ( s => < path d = { s } /> )) ;
The last part of the file is pretty self explanatory:
const vdom$ : Stream < VNode > = path$ . map ( paths => < svg viewBox = "0 0 500 500" > { paths } < /svg > );
We map the array of path elements to be embedded in an SVG element. If you are wondering what the HTML is doing in the Typescript file, this is JSX syntax that was made popular by React. You can learn more about JSX here.
Step 4: Enjoy! ...Or do we?
If you run the code now, you will notice that the performance is not great. And with not great I mean horrible. After the initial few data points the browser gets slower and slower and won't respond at all in the end.
Step 5: Making it better
We have to identify the issue with our code. Why is it so slow? One particular piece of code comes into sight:
const scaledData$ : Stream < DataPoint [][] > = xs . combine ( scale$ , state ) . map (([ scales , arr ]) => arr . map ( data => { const x : number = scales . x ( data . time ); return info . dataFilter ( data ). map ( y => [ x , y ] as DataPoint ); }));
Let's take a closer look on our data processing. I have outlined the whole process below:
New data comes from the server:
{ accel: { x: somevalue, y: somevalue, z: somevalue }, ... //Some other stuff }
The websocket server adds it to the state array: [...oldState, newData]
Notice that we are creating a new array here!
Then we run our data filter over the each data point which was defined as:
// info.dataFiler: data => Object.keys(data.accel).map(k => data.accel[k]) const scaledData$ : Stream < DataPoint [][] > = xs . combine ( scale$ , state ) . map (([ scales , arr ]) => arr . map ( data => { const x : number = scales . x ( data . time ); return info . dataFilter ( data ). map ( v => [ x , scales . y ( v )] as DataPoint ); })); const path $ : Stream < VNode [] > = scaledData$ . map < DataPoint [][] > ( data => data . reduce (( acc , curr ) => { return curr . map (( p , i ) => [...( acc [ i ] ? acc [ i ] : []), p ]); }, [])) . map < string [] > ( data => data . map ( arr => line < DataPoint > ()( arr )))
We have the arr.map that creates again a new array (every time we update our data) and the dataFilter plus the map create x times two new arrays, where x is the number of data points. The reduce alone creates a bazillion arrays in the process.
That is a lot of allocations for the Javascript engine. You can see this also when profiling, the heap is building up rapidly and has to be GC'd quite often.
So how can we make this better? We write a new version.
Let's ask a simple question. Why are we storing our state as array of data slices? If every line of every graph needs an array of data values, why not store them as such?
function foldData ( acc : State , curr : WebsocketData ) : State { const flatData : [ Date , number ][] = flattenData ( curr ) . map ( d => [ curr . time , d ] as [ Date , number ]); const values : [ Date , number ][][] = acc . values . map (( data , i ) => [ flatData [ i ], ... data ]); return { values : values }; } function flattenData ( data : WebsocketData ) : number [] { return [ data . accel . x , data . accel . y , data . accel . z , data . gyro . x , data . gyro . y , data . gyro . z , data . magVector . x , data . magVector . y , data . magVector . z , data . sunVector . x , data . sunVector . y , data . sunVector . z , data . temp . bmx , data . temp . t1 , data . temp . t2 , data . temp . t3 , data . magRaw . x , data . magRaw . y , data . magRaw . z , data . magRaw . r , data . sunRaw . pad0 , data . sunRaw . pad1 , data . sunRaw . pad2 , data . sunRaw . pad3 ]; }
What does the new code really do? First we flatten the incoming data, remember, we will still get the data slices from the server. The flattenData function just arranges the data in a flat array. We then add the current time to every data point, just for convenience. Finally we simply add the new values to the correct arrays one by one.
To access the data now we don't use a dataFilter anymore but instead just the indices of the array. For clearness I could (should?) have used an object as result of flattenData but the array will do just fine:
const accelSinks : Sinks = createGraph ({ heading : 'Accelerometer' , yScaleText : '' , dataIndex : [ 0 , 1 , 2 ] })( sources );
Step 6: Enjoy again! ...What, still bad?
If you run the code again it is only slightly better. It runs about 5 seconds smooth and then it starts jerking and in the end the browser will be overloaded again. There has to be another problem.
Step 7: Make it better (again)
If we think again we can identify another problem. We are choking the renderer! Right here:
const path$ : Stream < VNode [] > = scaledData$ . map < string [] > ( data => data . map ( arr => line < DataPoint > ()( arr ))) . map < VNode [] > ( lines => lines . map (( s , i ) => { return < path d = { s } stroke = { colors [ i ] } class - path = { true } /> ; }));
Every time we get new data (again, three times a second) we are changing the d attribute of the path element. This forces the browser to recalculate the layout of the element, its positon, coloring and a bunch of other stuff. Take that times the number of lines we have (21 in our case) and the reason why our renderer - and finally the browser - falls to its knees is clear.
But what can be do about it? I don't want less updates, because then the graph would be jerking too. Does that mean I have to live with that? But other people can make it work too!
Let's make a new version.
This requires a trick. We will still update the state as soon new data has arrived from the websocket. But we will only re-render the DOM in a fixed interval. Let's start with half a second. Because we will now use time based operators we will pull in @cycle/time that provides us with the necessary methods.
const updateDOM$ : Stream < undefined > = Time . periodic ( 500 ) . mapTo ( undefined ); const scale$ : Stream < Scales > = updateDOM$ . compose ( sampleCombine ( state )) . map (([ _ , s ]) => s ) . map ( s => ({ x : scaleTime () . domain ([ secondsAgo ( 2 ), hoursAgo ( 0.04 )]) . range ([ 0 , 2000 ]), y : scaleLinear () . domain ( getDomain ( s . domains , info . dataIndex )) . range ([ 0 , 400 ]), state : s })); const scaledData$ : Stream < DataPoint [][] > = scale$ . map ( scales => [ scales , selectData ( scales . state . values , info . dataIndex )] as [ Scales , [ Date , number ][][]]) . map (([ scales , arr ]) => { return arr . map ( data => data . map ( d => [ scales . x ( d [ 0 ]), scales . y ( d [ 1 ])] as [ number , number ])); });
So far so easy. But why are we setting the leftmost value to a time in the past? Why not to the newest date anymore? That way the newest data will be hidden!
This has a simple reason while we can't rerender the whole graph, we can move it. Every SVG element accepts an attribute named transform . With this attribute we can rotate, scale or translate - move - the element. As this is using GPU acceleration we can do it as often as we want!
const group$ : Stream < VNode > = Time . animationFrames () . mapTo ( undefined ) . compose ( sampleCombine ( scale$ , path$ )) . map (([ _ , scales , paths ]) => [ scales . x ( new Date ) + 15 , paths ]) . map (([ v , paths ]) => { return svg . g ({ attrs : { transform : 'translate(' + ( - v ) + ', 0)' , } }, paths ); });
We use @cycle/time to give us an stream of animationFrames . Those signal that the browser is ready to accept new draw commands. We then use sampleCombine from the xstream extra operators to combine it with the current scales and the current paths. The main difference between combine and sampleCombine is that the former emits when any stream emits, the ladder only when the main stream emits.
Step 8: Enjoy! Finally!
If you run it now in the browser you see butter smooth plots of the newest data.
The final result looks like this, remember this is randomly generated data, not the real test data:
Step 9: Still not enough?
What can we do to increase our performance even more? These are just ideas for the future, I might implement (some) of them.
We already use immutable data structures. When the data of the websocket is added to the state we always create new arrays. But this is costly, especially as the arrays get bigger. Here using Immutable.js can help a lot. Instead of using a normal array, we will use a List .
What is the advantage? Consider the structure of a list vs an array:
List Array a -> b -> c -> d [a, b, c, d]
When we add a new element to the front (or back depending how you look at it) we just have to create one element that points to the first element of the old list (we run in O(1) ).
If we add an element to the array, we have to allocate a new array and copy all elements from the old one to the new one (we run in O(n) plus we have n new allocations).
This technique is called structural sharing.
Pausing unused graphs
We currently have seven graphs. They do not fit all on your screen. So we could use a periodic check or a check on scroll if the graph is even visible. If not we can pause the whole rendering process. We could make use of jQuery's :visible pseudo selector. The source code for this jQuery magic is here.
This way we have only between three and four graphs active at any time (plus/minus one depending on screen size) so we cut about half of our rendering time!
Step 10: UI/UX goodies
As with the previous point these are ideas for the future, I might implement some of them.
Proper scales
The scales on the y axis you can see in the current version are generated using d3-axis-hyperscript, a library that was hacked together by me in an hour. That's why it is not working very well and I would not trust the axis too much. I basically took the idea from d3-axis and made it work without direct DOM manipulation, but with normal snabbdom vnodes instead.
We could add something like helper lines to make graphs clearer and achieve API compatibility with d3-axis . And fix the remaining bugs of course. If someone is interested, PRs are welcome :)
Resorting the graphs
As we can only see a certain number of graphs on the stream at a time, it would be very nice if we could reorder them. That way we can bring the graphs we are interested in closer or near each other allowing you to see them at the same time.
This is fairly simple to achieve. I created cyclejs-sortable that fits exactly this use case (shameless plug, again). With this we can just add a font awesome symbol to each graph that we can use as handle. We can then use this handle to reorder the graphs with drag and drop.
Closing it up
All source code is on GitHub. This is a copy of the original repo, so you can go back a few commits and see the original history.
For the purpose of this article, I updated the repo to use the newest Cycle.js version - Cycle.js Unified - and I removed the dependencies on other programs we use to get the data off our satellite hardware. The current master generates random values and sends them to the client. You can see all changes here.
Thank you for reading 'till the end and hopefully we will meet at Cycleconf where I will be holding a talk about property based testing. |
I am astonished as to how well my Condiment Santa interpreted my wishlist! I wrote that I wanted something to use in Cajun cooking and that I can handle hot in small doses. In retrospect, I was halfway expecting to get some sort of Tabasco sauce since I didn't hear anything from my Santa.
I received two spices that I have not tried before as well as a garlic sauce.
What my Santa (I assume!) did NOT know... my husband and I took a cooking class in New Orleans earlier in the year and bought the exact same garlic sauce in the cooking school gift shop. Of course, our sauce is long gone, so we've been trying to hold out until our upcoming NOLA vacation in two months so we can go back to buy some more.
I wish my Santa could have seen how hard my jaw hit the floor when I opened the Amazon box and saw that sauce.
Thank you so much! |
The console has great graphics and lots of extras in addition to the gaming. Getting online working was a pain as when registering it would say it timed out but it seems there was a bug with media share or something (cant remember offhand). Every time it timed out all of the information had to be re-entered (thankfully we could hook up a usb keyboard for this). I think we had to disable the media share and then it trained right up and we were able to use the online content and quite a few free games which is a very nice free add on (1 YR comes free). We returned the 12GB console once we found out the first game we installed wanted 8GB space so the bigger drive is a must. Download in the background is really nice but not available for some things. No HDMI cable is sort of a standard thing these days but imo is tacky. It is great to use this as a Blu-ray player but the controls could be easier to figure out. The Netflix is a nice add on as well. Very difficult to find good multiplayer games which isn't necessarily a PS3 problem as XBOX 360 seems as bad or worse in this arena. The WII may be the best for multiplayer which is the most important for me since nobody likes to sit and watch lol Guess I could look at buying another TV and another console for the same room to play online multiplayer together (sitting in different rooms would work too I suppose). Still haven't done everything there is to do so that is all I can say for now :-P
Read more |
EAST RUTHERFORD -- The Meadowlands have been on fire at multiple junctures of this still-young, but nonetheless trying Giants season so far.
But first-year head coach Ben McAdoo says he took his job expecting it to be that way.
"You knew going in, there were going to be three dumpster fires every day. You deal with them as they come," McAdoo said Wednesday after his team's first full practice of the week.
"A lot of things cross your desk that you don't want to deal with, but it's part of the job. You handle it, and you move on. You stay consistent, you stay in the moment, and you keep everyone's best interests in mind."
That being said, it's hard to believe McAdoo expected to have fires raging as much as some of the ones he has had to handle. Since McAdoo was hired in January, he has dealt with defensive tackle Jay Bromley being accused of sexual assault (Bromley was quickly cleared of any wrongdoing by the NYPD) and the Josh Brown domestic violence scandal (which had multiple flare-ups).
McAdoo also had the debate around his team in regards to a potential protest during the national anthem, left tackle Ereck Flowers' postgame altercation with a reporter, and the entire Odell Beckham Jr. emotions saga. And those are the big issues that have gone public; there are likely other obstacles the rookie coach has had to tackle behind the scenes.
McAdoo opened up about his experiences when asked a question by a Philadelphia-area reporter, visiting the team facility in advance of Sunday's critical NFC East showdown between the Giants (4-3) and Eagles (4-3) at MetLife Stadium.
Giants must stop these 6 Eagles
The reporter asked McAdoo if any unexpected issues have popped up since he became a head coach, referencing the fact Eagles coach Doug Pederson, also a new coach, is facing his own very public problems in Philly at the moment.
"Been about a handful of things," McAdoo replied.
Like?
"You haven't been paying attention," McAdoo shot back with a slight grin, referencing the litany of stories mentioned above.
"There have been some things that have been challenging," he continued. "But again, you put the blinders on, you go to work, you support the locker room, and you hold each other accountable."
The jury is out for many on McAdoo in terms of his on-field performance. His play calling has been criticized, as have the Giants' offensive struggles in the first half of the season. But he has managed to keep his team afloat and in the playoff race despite the myriad off-the-field conflicts it has dealt with.
If you know they are coming, is there any way to prepare for the dumpster fires?
"You be the same guy you always are," McAdoo said. "You be consistent."
James Kratch may be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @JamesKratch. Find our Giants coverage on Facebook. |
If today’s release of the detailed design plans and luxury amenities set to sail aboard Crystal River Cruises’ four brand new river yachts next year didn’t fully illustrate the extent to which Crystal is upping the river cruising ante, look no further. Nothing really paints a picture like, well, a picture, so we’re thrilled to share with you an insider’s glimpse into our artist’s concepts for the new river yachts, as imagined by our design partners at AD Associates, II BY IV DESIGN, and KNA Design. Crystal Bach, Crystal Ravel, Crystal Debussy and Crystal Mahler will embark on their maiden journeys next spring and summer, beautifully appointed with Crystal’s signature touches that make our ships your favorite home away from home.
We can’t wait to welcome you on board to enjoy these plush spaces and extraordinary itineraries for yourself. Until then, enjoy the tour…
Like the river yachts themselves, each vessel will have a namesake Bistro Café, designed to welcome guests any time of day for homemade pastries, snacks, espresso, tea and wine.
The Waterside Restaurant will be the most elegant eatery on board, offering regionally inspired classic and modern fare for quiet dinners for two, or elaborate feasts with your new best friends.
Due to their larger size, Crystal Bach and Crystal Mahler will feature an indoor pool with retractable roof – almost unheard of in river cruising and able to accommodate swimming and soaking in any weather conditions.
The penthouses aboard the river yachts boast Crystal’s signature expansive space, including a posh living room with seating for guests of guests to enjoy conversation and a glass of champagne as you sail past Europe’s stunning shorelines.
The king-sized beds in the suites on board face the floor-to-ceiling Panoramic Balcony-Windows™, ensuring you’ll never miss a view, even if you choose to take breakfast in bed.
A favorite on every Crystal vessel, the Palm Court will certainly be the heart of the river yachts for evening music, dancing and cocktails, as well as the perfect daytime spot to take in the scenery.
An exclusive Vintage Room for just 12 guests to indulge in extravagant wine pairing dining experiences as they sail through the most spectacular locales in Europe? Cheers to that! |
As we draw ever closer to the NBA Finals, we turn our attention to various pieces of apparel which have been banned from the league. While many have their roots in the NBA Dress Code which was a direct response to the Pacers-Pistons brawl in 2004, many other items have more curious and strange explanations as to why they have been disallowed.
On November 19, 2004, the NBA and its fans were forced to confront one of the uglier scenes in the league’s history. The “Malice in the Palace” – a fight between the Indiana Pacers and Detroit Pistons which involved not only players but fans – was something that many people thought the NBA would have a hard time recovering from no matter how many suspensions were handed out. While the implementation of a dress code for players was never officially labeled a “direct response” to the brawl, many knew that Commissioner David Stern’s attempt to police how his players looked when not in uniform was him trying to portray a more wholesome image to the general public. The result was a number of changes that were polarizing not only because the NBA was the first major sports league to enact a dress code, but also because many of the changes outlawed popular fashion with hip-hop roots. In addition to the dress code, a number of items have been banned in the NBA; we explore them all.
Air Jordan 1
The official ban of the Air Jordan 1 is still debated to this day – as many believe the league was banning the Air Ship as opposed to Jordan’s first signature shoe.
In an official letter from then NBA Executive Vice President, Russ Granik, to Nike, Granik wrote “in accordance with our conversations, this will confirm and verify that the National Basketball Association’s rules and procedures prohibited the wearing of certain red and black NIKE basketball shoes by Chicago Bulls player Michael Jordan on or around October 18, 1984.”
Did Nike use a faux-controversy to build the Jordan brand? They certainly didn’t shy away from it from an advertising standpoint. In one of their most famous commercials, the transcript reads “on September 15, Nike created a revolutionary new basketball shoe. On October 18, the NBA threw them out of the game. Fortunately, the NBA can’t stop you from wearing them.”
Athletic Propulsion Lab’s Concept 1
Athletic Propulsion Lab is a relative newcomer into the shoe marketplace. While the Air Jordan I was simply outlawed to components relating to “flare,” APL saw its shoes outlawed from the Association due to an “unfair competitive advantage” the shoes gave to its wearers.
According to the official press release, “For the first time in its 64-year history, the National Basketball Association (NBA) has banned a new line of shoes based on the league’s rule against an ‘unfair competitive advantage’ that increases a player’s vertical leap. The league’s ban on Athletic Propulsion Labs’ Concept 1 confirms the company’s claims that the shoe, with its Load ‘N Launch Technology, performs as advertised. No professional player will be allowed to wear the product in games for the upcoming 2010-2011 NBA season. This action comes on the 25th anniversary of the NBA’s ban on Nike’s Air Jordan shoes, albeit for reasons of their colorful appearance rather than any performance advantage. Athletic Propulsion Labs (APL) was notified by a senior NBA official who stated, ‘League rules regulate the footwear that players may wear during an NBA game. Under league rules, players may not wear any shoe during a game ‘that creates an undue competitive advantage (e.g., to increase a player’s vertical leap).’ In light of that rule…players will not be permitted to wear the APL shoes during NBA games.'”
When marketing a shoe that promises to give a wearer greater bounce, there was no greater cosign than the NBA as to the effectiveness of their technology. “That was, for our brand, the best thing that ever happened,” founder Ryan Goldston told Fast Company.
Upside-Down Headbands
Given the nature of the uniforms, contemporary players try to use any piece of equipment that is allowed to differentiate themselves from teammates. In 2010, then Boston Celtics guard Rajon Rondo began sporting his headband with the NBA logo turned upside down. When the NBA said he had to turn it the “right side up” or face a punishment, Rondo ditched the sweatband altogether. While the NFL often gets called the “No Fun League,” many thought that this ban on “how” he chose to wear a sanctioned piece of equipment was actually pretty ridiculous.
LeBron’s Mask
During a game against the Oklahoma City Thunder in 2014, LeBron James suffered a broken nose when he was struck in the face by Serge Ibaka while going up for a dunk. While the injury kept him sidelined against the Bulls, James was a “go” against the Knicks. Prior to lacing ’em up, James joked, “I’ve been talking to Marvel Comics for the last couple of days, and DC Comics, to try to come up with one of the greatest masks of all time. So we’ll see what happens.”
While most players – most famously Rip Hamilton – opted for a hard plastic cover coated in a clear cover, James went for a darker, more textured version than the league was used to. Scoring a game-high 31 points (on 13-for-19 shooting), grabbing four rebounds and dishing out four assists in 37 minutes, many joked that perhaps LeBron’s mask was like Superman’s cape. The Miami Heat even began selling T-shirts with the mask-clad James on the front. Even his teammate Shane Battier couldn’t help but commenting,”Only LeBron can make breaking your nose look cool.”
While Kobe Bryant went for a similar “dark” cover when he had his own broken nose in 2012, the league was quick to step in when it came to LeBron. “It is our understanding LeBron used the black mask because a clear one he was comfortable with wasn’t ready,” NBA spokesman Tim Frank said. LeBron James went back to the clear mask for the next game.
Logos in Haircuts
In 2013, then New York Knicks guard Iman Shumpert saw his support of adidas – in the form of an addition to his now signature box haircut – get him in trouble with the league office. According to league rules, Item 5 of Section H of the NBA rule book’s extended comments section says,“The only article bearing a commercial ‘logo’ which can be worn by players is their shoes.”
Do-Rags
2005 proved to be the turning point for individuality both on and off the court for NBA players when Commissioner David Stern enacted a mandatory dress code for all players – making it the first major professional sports league to implement such a rule. With hip-hop culture a major guiding force for the way players dressed at the time, one of the key “fights” revolved around the wearing of do-rags.
In an op-ed that same year by Jabari Asim in The Washington Post, he wrote, “Do-rag defenders cite its usefulness as a cover-up on bad-hair days. I’ve got an answer for that. It’s called a brush. Others have cited it as an emblem of individuality and rebellion against the status quo. Please. For me, it represents the opposite: slavery. It says, I have abandoned free will — a sacred birthright for which my ancestors fought and died — and joined the forces of mindless consumerism. Do-rag embracers are the logical descendants of those same folks who during the ’70s and late ’80s plunked down their ducats for ‘Curl Keepers’ — shower caps slickly repackaged and sold as hair-maintenance necessities.”
One of the biggest supporters/wearers of the do-rag trend was Allen Inverson. He told the Philadelphia Daily News that, “just because you put a guy in a tuxedo, it doesn’t mean he’s a good guy.”
Timberland-Style Boots
Timberland boots and any pieces of footwear with similar aesthetics were also victims of David Stern’s dress code policy. He said at the time that, “There are different uniforms for different occasions. There’s the uniform you wear on the court, there’s the uniform you wear when you are on business, there’s the uniform you might wear on your casual downtime with your friends and there’s the uniform you might wear when you go back home. We’re just changing the definition of the uniform that you wear when you are on NBA business.”
Throwback Jerseys
It seems almost laughable that in a league where rules mandate that players wear jerseys, they are also forbidden from wearing them off the court. At the height of the throwback jersey phenomenon of the late ’90s and early 2000s, NBA players paid homage to past greats in a multitude of sports by donning their Mitchell & Ness jerseys. As part of the “business casual” mandate from Commissioner Stern, he axed any subtle tribute to past greats in other sports by banning them.
Chains and Pendants
Then Indiana Pacers swingman Stephen Jackson was one of the most outspoken players when it came to the implementation of a dress code. Calling the ban of chains worn over clothing a “racist statement” from the league, he wore every long, diamond-studded chain in his collection on October 19, 2005 in protest. In speaking with ESPN, Jackson commented, “I think it’s a racist statement because a lot of the guys who are wearing chains are my age and are black. I wore all my jewelry today to let it be known that I’m upset with it. I’ll wear a suit every day. I think we do need to look more professional because it is a business. A lot of guys have gotten sloppy with the way they dress. But it’s one thing to [enforce a] dress code and it’s another thing if you’re attacking cultures, and that’s what I think they’re doing.”
Even the usually reserved Tim Duncan couldn’t bite his tongue when it came to the league’s control over a player’s choice in jewelry.”I think it’s a load of crap,” Duncan told the San Antonio Express-News. “I understand what they’re trying to do with [forbidding] hats and ‘do rags and [retro] jerseys and stuff. That’s fine. But I don’t understand why they would take it to this level. I think it’s basically retarded. I don’t like the direction they’re going, but who am I?”
Tights
Even a single viewing of a game in today’s landscape reveals a player who is wearing much more than just a jersey, shorts and shoes. Compression tights have been favored by many thanks to their extra padding around the knees and thighs which ensure that the various bumps and bruises a player might get during an arduous 82-game season don’t morph into anything more severe. Despite being universally accepted, there was a time when tights were actually outlawed from the game.
Following their “success” with the dress code, NBA executives then set their sights on what they thought was a visual eyesore: tights. While they argued that players were wearing them for what they looked like as opposed to the medical benefits they provided, the ban was short-lived if ever really enacted by the league thanks to the medical communities support and assertion that, “tights provide compression. Compressed muscles fire efficiently, especially if injured. Players with muscle strains benefit from the improved circulation and support.”
Anti-LeBron Apparel
When LeBron James made his decision to “take his talents to South Beach” and play for the Miami Heat, many expected his return home to face his hometown Cleveland Cavaliers to feature plenty of anti-LeBron sentiments. While no one saw anything wrong with that, the Cavs and NBA did want to ensure that it didn’t cross the line. According to ESPN, the team researched various crude and offensive James T-shirts in circulation locally, and officials were stationed at entrances to make sure no fans entered with such shirts or signs that disrespected James or his family members.
“We don’t want to create a police state,” said Tad Carper, the Cavaliers’ senior vice president of communications. “We’ve always had a real energetic, super-charged home crowd and we want to encourage that for every game, including Dec. 2. We want people to enjoy themselves and express themselves, but we don’t want fans to cross the boundaries of decency. We’re not going to allow profanity and things like that. We’ll have no tolerance for anyone trying to cross those boundaries.”
Headphones
While the NFL most notably had the largest headphone controversy in pro sports thanks to players’ affinity for wearing Beats by Dre and the league partnering with Bose, the NBA has completely outlawed any headphones of any kind while on court – whether during warmups or shoot around – as well as in the locker room.
Kinesio Tape
While the league seemed to soften its stance on compression tights thanks to their medical benefits, the same couldn’t be said for kinesio tape worn by Derrick Rose. Designed to separate layers of skin on athletes in order to limit pain – and coming into prominence at the Olympics in London – Rose was told to stop wearing the tape by NBA brass. Surprisingly, the league actually changed their stance. In an official statement they said, “After a discussion today with Jerry Stackhouse, representing the union, we have decided to allow kinesio tape on an experimental basis so that we can take a fresh look at the possible benefits it might bring to our players.”
*UPDATED
Due to the popularity of the piece and the suggestions to dig deeper into the issue, we felt it in our best editorial interest to connect the dots.
Is the NBA dress code and ban on certain items a racial thing? Yes, because the sweeping changes were directed at a singular group; black males with hip-hop sensibilities. In a certain scenario, a brawl could have broken out at The Palace in Auburn Hills between all white and European players. How would the league have reacted to that? Would the league have been able to react to that with such measured do’s and don’t’s? It’s highly unlikely. When the NBA said they had an image problem, it could only be inferred that they believed they couldn’t change who was supplying their product to the fans, but could control how their players sold it on and off the floor.
The sartorial impact wasn’t the only sweeping changes in the wake of the Pistons-Pacers brawl. According to USA Today, “Months later, the league established arena guidelines for security personnel. In the past, the NBA had hired some police and even former Secret Service agents as security, but the brawl led to teams bringing in more experienced personnel. In 2007, the Pacers hired former FBI agent John Gray to lead team security. Gray was one of three agents who brought down Ted Kaczynski, the infamous “Unabomber.” Additionally, the league changed the number of alcoholic beverages and size of said beverages that a person could purchase – as well as eliminated alcohol sales from the fourth quarter. The NBA was wise to acknowledge that the fan element was a major spark the night of November 19, 2004.
A year later, the NBA started NBA Cares – an outreach program that connected players and communities. “The great deeds of hundreds of players were being overshadowed by acts of a very few,” Commissioner Adam Silver commented during the 10-year anniversary of the brawl. “We just had to accept the responsibility that we were not doing a good enough job telling the positive stories about our players and we needed a platform to do that, and that led to the launch of NBA Cares.”
One of the biggest changes to NBA uniforms in the past few years has been the implementation of sleeves to jerseys. Many assume it was a ploy to increase revenue for merchandising, while others believe it to be the first step in creating additional real estate so that brands can advertise on jerseys much in the same way commerce has met sport on soccer kits. But what if the extra bit of material is a sly dress-code of sorts? As of the 2013-2014, five teams in the NBA had rosters where 75% of all of their players had tattoos. An additional 12 teams saw their roster with at least half of their players inked up as well. If there is still one avenue of individuality for a player, it’s what he puts on his skin. It seems ridiculous, given how many tattooed players there are in the NBA. But think back to 2004 and how widespread some of the fashion leanings were as it related to hip-hop culture. How do you change something that in skin deep? You bury it under the weight of the NBA.
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Words by Alec Banks Features Editor Alec Banks is a Los Angeles-based long-form writer with over a decade of experience covering fashion, music, sports, and culture. |
“Naturally the common people don’t want war… That is understood. But after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country.”
HERMANN WILHELM GOERING, Nazi Party leader
ON THE morning of September 27, 2001, Shahid Badr Falahi, a doctor of the alternative medicine system of Unani and the president of the Students’ Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), sat with a few colleagues in the SIMI office in a Muslim neighbourhood of South Delhi, wondering what’s next. Fatigued from two weeks of public meetings across Uttar Pradesh from where he had returned only the previous night, Falahi had just finished speaking with SIMI’s office-bearers across India. Using the local STD booth as his office phone had been dead for hours, call after call fetched an echo: anxious SIMI activists in Mumbai, Lucknow, Indore, Kolkata, Chennai, Kozhikode, Patna and other cities said the police had sealed their offices the previous night without explanation. At 4 pm, Falahi got to know why. The television news announced that the Union Home Ministry had invoked a 1967 law against “unlawful activities” and banned SIMI for two years with immediate effect.
“The nature of this organisation had become apparent and preliminary information sent by various state governments only confirmed its tendencies,” LK Advani, then Union Home Minister, told reporters that evening. The notification his ministry issued that day banning SIMI qualified Advani’s assertion. “SIMI has been indulging in activities which are prejudicial to the security of the country and have the potential of disturbing peace and communal harmony and disrupting the secular fabric of the country,” the terse, six-paragraph notification said, strongly suggesting that the government had a watertight case against SIMI with unchallengeable proof.
Other grave charges levelled said SIMI:
• Was in “close touch” with militant outfits and supported “extremism/militancy in Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir and elsewhere”
• Supported claims for seceding parts of India’s territory and groups fighting for it, and thus questioned India’s territorial integrity
• Was working to establish an “international Islamic order”
• Published objectionable posters and literature “calculated to incite” communal feelings and question India’s territorial integrity
Most damning was the government’s claim that SIMI was “involved in engineering communal riots” across India. The notification said SIMI’s anti-national and militant “postures” were “clearly manifest” at its various conferences. “The speeches of the leaders [at the conferences]… glorified Pan Islamic Fundamentalism,” the notification read, claiming to expose SIMI’s nefarious designs. “[The leaders] used derogatory language for the deities of other religions and exhorted Muslims for Jehad.” |
The Athletics announced on Friday that they’ve claimed catcher Dustin Garneau off waivers from the Rockies. Oakland already had a spot open on its 40-man roster, so no corresponding move is necessary.
With Jonathan Lucroy now in Colorado following last Sunday’s trade, in addition to fellow catchers Tony Wolters and Tom Murphy, Garneau became a somewhat expendable piece for the Rox. The A’s, however, aren’t as well-stocked in terms of catching depth, with Bruce Maxwell, Josh Phegley (currently on the disabled list with an oblique strain) and Ryan Lavarnway currently representing their top options.
Garneau, who’ll soon turn 30, has seen limited MLB action in each of the past three seasons — 76, 75, and then 74 plate appearances in each successive campaign. He owns a subpar .199/.259/.335 slash with four home runs in that span.
That said, there could be more in the tank. Garneau has thrived over the past two years at Triple-A Albuquerque. Though it’s a noted hitter’s paradise, his numbers there stand out: through 355 plate appearances, he has knocked 25 long balls and a .962 OPS. |
Samsung Galaxy was once atop the world, Summoner's Cup champions in 2014, and suddenly lost it all when every member of its two world-class squads, Samsung White and Blue, left for bigger contracts in China. Two years after the rebuild started, Samsung has returned to Worlds and is aiming for the same feat it accomplished in 2014.
In Samsung's first game at Worlds since White beat Starhorn Royal Club to win the world championship, it was a clear-cut victory for the third-place Korean team over Europe's Splyce. With Samsung's win, both Korean teams returned to their hotels victorious, while Europe fell to 0-3 on the day.
"I think we should have had an easier win," Samsung's rookie AD carry Park "Ruler" Jae-hyuk said to ESPN after the opening-day conquest. "But I made a lot of mistakes and threw a couple of times, as well. I think we have to work on those mistakes for future games."
In a previous interview on opening day, CLG's AD carry Trevor "Stixxay" Hayes gave high praise toward the Samsung marksmen and his team as a whole. Ruler echoed the compliment, but thinks Stixxay can improve with more balance.
"I think CLG is a really good team," Ruler said. "They have really good teamwork, and they know how to close a game when ahead. And also, about Stixxay, I think he's a really good ADC, but sometimes it feels like he's too aggressive, or sometimes too focused on farming CS. I think if he can balance it out, he's going to be an even better ADC."
Ruler joined Samsung during the summer split and sparked the team's early-season success. After failing to make the Korean playoffs since White and Blue departed to China, Ruler became the final piece of the puzzle that pushed Samsung back into the postseason. Although Samsung couldn't make the finals, getting blown out by KT Rolster in the quarterfinals 3-0, it came back with a vengeance in the Korean Regional Qualifiers to make Worlds by defeating the same team that eliminated them from the playoffs.
"Rather than having a rival, I have three players I [respect] and think are better than me: Uzi from RNG, Bang from SKT, and Pray from ROX.
"TSM, we never actually scrimmed them and I didn't watch their games, so there's not much to comment," he said, going over the other two teams in the group other than Splyce. "RNG, they are a really super aggressive team, so if we can handle their aggression well we should be able to pull off the victory."
The western fans know ROX Tigers and its fast-paced, stylistic offensive play. They know of SKT and its meticulous map play and legendary mid laner. Samsung, at least in this iteration, not so much.
"We are a team with really good teamwork, and we are all really close and fun people in general," Ruler said. "I hope the NA fans cheer for us and please don't make any toxic comments." |
The 25 funniest SNL cast members of all time, ranked
Now in its 40th season, "Saturday Night Live" has produced some of the funniest people of all time.
Crowdsourced ranking site Ranker helped us find the funniest SNL cast members in the show's history. Over 35,000 people voted on the best SNL cast members.
Nearly all of them hailed from Chicago's Second City comedy troupe or LA's comedy troupe Groundlings before getting their big break on SNL.
Here are the top cast members who made the list.
Join the conversation about this story »
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HONG KONG - 2013: In this handout photo provided by The Guardian, Edward Snowden speaks during an interview in Hong Kong. Snowden, a 29-year-old former technical assistant for the CIA, revealed details of top-secret surveillance conducted by the United States' National Security Agency regarding telecom data. (Photo by The Guardian via Getty Images) The man who told the world about the U.S. government's gigantic data grab also talks a lot about himself. (Photo by The Guardian via Getty Images)
WASHINGTON (AP) — The man who told the world about the U.S. government’s gigantic data grab also talks a lot about himself.
Mostly through his own words, a picture of Edward Snowden is emerging: fresh-faced computer whiz, high school dropout, wanna-be Green Beret, disillusioned cog in a secret bureaucracy.
He’s retained an aura of secrecy despite sitting for several days of interviews with The Guardian, some posted in online video. Snowden combines an earnest, deeply serious demeanor with a flair for the dramatic.
Snowden, 29, fled the U.S. for a Hong Kong hotel last month to go public with top secret documents gathered through his work in Hawaii as a contractor through Booz Allen Hamilton with the National Security Agency, where he worked as a systems analyst. He revealed startlingly voracious spy programs that sweep up millions of Americans’ telephone records, emails and Internet data in the hunt for terrorists.
With the United States considering criminal charges against him, Snowden told the South China Morning Post he hoped to stay in the autonomous region of China because and he has faith in “the courts and people of Hong Kong to decide my fate.”
He’s also talked of seeking asylum from Iceland or Russia. And he suggested the United States might hire Chinese gangs to get him. The adversaries he’s made by disclosing secrets are so powerful that “if they want to get you, they’ll get you in time,” Snowden told The Guardian newspaper of London, which first reported his revelations.
Why would a man “living in Hawaii in paradise and making a ton of money” decide to leave everything behind, he asked. Because he realized that his computer savvy was helping erect an ever-expanding “architecture of oppression” and he believed the people must be told.
From a secret location in Hong Kong, he told the newspaper: “The reality is that I have acted at great personal risk to help the public of the world, regardless of whether that public is American, European, or Asian.”
Snowden’s leaked documents have had an enormous impact. Some have questioned, however, his descriptions of his power as a Booz Allen contractor and other details of his life.
For example, he said he was earning $200,000 a year. When Booz Allen fired him, they said his salary was $122,000.
“I, sitting at my desk, had the authority to wiretap anyone, from you or your accountant to a federal judge to even the president if I had a personal email,” Snowden told The Guardian on videotape.
Former NSA and CIA director retired Gen. Mike Hayden called Snowden’s claim “absurd legally and technologically.” Former NSA Inspector General Joel Brenner also doubts it.
“I do not believe his statement,” Brenner said. “And if he tried, I believe he would be discovered, stripped of his clearance, and summarily fired.”
Brenner said, however, that Snowden appears to have had extraordinary access to things he should not have and that will be investigated.
Snowden also raised eyebrows by declaring that in his job he “had access to the full roster of everyone working at the NSA, the entire intelligence community and undercover assets all around the world, the locations of every station we have, what their missions are and so forth.”
Guardian journalist Glenn Greenwald, who first reported the phone-tracking program and conducted the Snowden interviews, describes him as “very steadfast and resolute about the fact that he did the right thing.”
Jonathan Mills, father of Snowden’s long-time girlfriend, Lindsay Mills, described him as “very nice. Shy, and reserved.”
“He’s always had strong convictions of right and wrong, and it kind of makes sense,” said Mills, who said he was “shocked” when he heard the news about Snowden.
In her blog, Lindsay Mills, a dancer and art college graduate, writes of a boyfriend she refers to only as “E.” On Monday, she wrote that “at the moment all I can feel is alone.” She said her hand and been forced, that she was typing on a “tear-streaked keyboard,” and that “sometimes life doesn’t afford proper goodbyes.”
Snowden told the South China newspaper that he hasn’t dared contact his girlfriend or family since allowing his identity as the leaker to be revealed Sunday in The Guardian.
His father, now retired from the U.S. Coast Guard and living in Pennsylvania, told ABC News in a brief interview that he was worried about his son and still processing what had happened. Lonnie Snowden said he last saw his son two months ago, over dinner.
Snowden’s parents are divorced and his mother, Elizabeth Snowden, declined to talk to reporters as she left her Maryland home Monday morning.
Joyce Kinsey, a neighbor living next to the gray clapboard condominium in a quiet Ellicott City neighborhood, said Snowden’s mother, whom she knows as “Wendy,” bought the condo more than a dozen years ago.
When he was about 16, Snowden lived in the condo without his family for a couple of years, Kinsey said. His mother would drop by with groceries and a girlfriend visited every weekend. Kinsey recalled seeing Snowden through the blinds, working on a computer “at all times of day and night.” She had the impression he was sort of a “computer geek.”
Snowden spent part of his childhood in Wilmington, N.C., before his family moved to the Maryland suburbs of Washington, D.C., an area rife with government workers. He attended public school in Anne Arundel County, from elementary school through three semesters at Arundel High School in Gambrills, according to a county school spokesman.
Snowden told the Guardian he didn’t finish high school but studied computers at a Maryland community college.
He wanted to be a Green Beret. Snowden served in the Army from June to September in 2004 at Fort Benning, Ga., where he declared his intent to qualify for the Special Forces, said Col. David H. Patterson Jr., an Army spokesman. Snowden didn’t complete basic training and was discharged. The Army wouldn’t give other details.
Snowden said he tapped his computer skills to get an information technology job at the CIA and rose quickly through the ranks.
Snowden said he left the CIA in 2009 to begin working for a private contractor that assigned him to a functioning NSA facility, stationed on a military base in Japan.
(© Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.) |
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Broken traffic lights at the Posthouse Roundabout caused chaos in Chester yesterday evening – and to make matters worse the repair work was delayed because the engineer was stuck in the jams.
The Highways Agency has apologised to motorists, some of whom were stuck in lengthy queues for up to two hours, after the temporary signals got stuck on red at around 4.30pm.
The fault, which affected the temporary traffic lights at the A483 junction with the B5445 Wrexham Road causing tailbacks for several miles, was finally resolved after 9pm.
Commuter Alison Round from Flint, who was stuck in the jams for more than an hour, questioned why no one was on hand to fix the problem earlier.
She said: “My friend took two hours to get home to Hoole Road in Chester. It took me one hour 45 mins to get home to Flint.
“After an hour I was by The King's School (on Wrexham Road) and I work in the M&S Bank building so it was ridiculous. Us mortals didn’t have a clue what was going on.”
Claire Louise from Wrexham tweeted: “Two hours 25mins to get home from Chester. Guys were manually working the lights as we come through.”
Peter Coxhead also posted: “Appalled at lack of action at A55/A483 junction. Lights stuck on red for hours. Queues of 7 miles.”
Cheshire police issued a tweet urging motorists to avoid the area after they were alerted to the problems.
A spokesperson for the Highways Agency said today: “We sent an engineer to repair the temporary traffic lights at the A483 junction with the B5445 Wrexham Road as soon as we became aware of the issue on Wednesday evening, but he was caught up in the congestion and took longer than expected to reach the site.
“We would like to apologise to drivers who were affected by the fault.
“The lights, which are checked regularly, are now working properly again. We are looking to replace this complex, temporary traffic light system with a permanent one over the next few weeks and will keep road users informed.”
The £5.3m scheme to improve the Posthouse Roundabout junction has caused chaos on the A483, the A55, and other main roads nearby, as frustrated drivers try to find alternative routes.
Concerns over major traffic jams being caused on roads like the A483 and A55 across North Wales has even led to a hotline being set up by the Welsh Government for Assembly Members to report problems.
Last month Wrexham MP Ian Lucas, who has campaigned for the A483 to be improved at the Posthouse Roundabout, fears the current delays are damaging businesses and livelihoods in North East Wales. |
Hitting on a breakout star or two can make all the difference in fantasy pools and, a lot of times, the focus is on young players who could play a bigger role in the upcoming season. That’s a big part of the equation, for sure, but if a player is really worth considering as a breakthrough candidate, it would help if there are some other avenues of statistical support.
Maybe it’s their own shooting percentage, maybe it’s on-ice shooting percentage (which includes all teammates), maybe it’s ice time, or maybe it’s a combination of all three, but something aside from a young player getting a year older should be in place to qualify as a breakthrough contender.
Here are a dozen players to consider for this upcoming season:
William Nylander, RW, Toronto – Even after putting up 61 points as a rookie last season, it’s not unreasonable to think that the 2014 first-rounder could deliver even more this season. For one thing, he could play more than the 16:01 per game he saw last season, but the bigger reason to hope for more out of Nylander is that in 103 career games, he has an on-ice shooting percentage of 6.7%, which is really on the low end for a skilled first-line winger. Maybe if Zach Hyman isn’t the exclusive left winger on Toronto’s No. 1 line that percentage could get better.
Jonathan Drouin, C, Montreal – The third pick in the 2013 Draft has shown glimpses of his elite skill level, but he’s looking at a huge opportunity in Montreal, getting a chance to play centre on the top line with captain Max Pacioretty. It’s also conceivable that, at some point, Drouin could play alongside Alex Galchenyuk and that would be an interesting combination of skilled young forwards too but, in either case, there should be plenty of ice time available to Drouin.
Note that last season, in Tampa Bay, Drouin’s most common linemates were Alex Killorn, Valtteri Filppula, Brian Boyle, Brayden Point and Vladislav Namestnikov – he wasn’t getting prime offensive linemates for 5-on-5 play and that should change in his favour in Montreal. One area of concern is that Drouin scored 26 of his 53 points on the power play last season and it could be difficult to duplicate that production.
Andre Burakovsky, LW, Washington – Even though he’s been playing a third-line role, the 22-year-old winger has been one of the Capitals’ most productive scorers, and scoring chance generators, on a per minute basis over the past two seasons. This year, after some offseason veteran departures, Burakovsky is expected to move into a regular top-six role for the Capitals and that means regular playing time with either Nicklas Backstrom or Evgeny Kuznetsov, a significant skill upgrade for a winger who skated primarily on Lars Eller’s wing last season.
Oliver Bjorkstrand, RW, Columbus – The 22-year-old winger produced 12 points in 21 games after getting called up in February and he’s a shot generator, putting up more than nine shots per 60 minutes of 5-on-5 play last season, and Cam Atkinson was the only Blue Jackets player to generate individual scoring chances at a higher rate than Bjorkstrand.
Travis Konecny, LW, Philadelphia – His ice time was down in the second half last season, but the 2015 first-rounder could see a bigger role in Philadelphia this season. Mabye it’s a year too soon to expect a big jump in scoring, but there are a few factors in his favour, including more ice time, the likelihood that the ice time could come on one of the top two lines, and that Konecny was already one of the Flyers’ better per-60 point producers as a rookie.
Pavel Buchnevich, RW, N.Y. Rangers – The 22-year-old winger put up 14 points in his first 14 games last year before slowing down dramatically and seeing his ice time reduced. Even so, he finished as the Blueshirts’ top per-60 point scorer. Buchnevich may still be stuck outside the top six to start the year, with Chris Kreider, Mats Zuccarello, J.T. Miller and Rick Nash holding down the wing spots on the top two lines, but Buchnevich’s talent could force him into a bigger role in his second season.
Timo Meier, LW, San Jose – The ninth pick in the 2015 Draft had a meagre six points in 34 games as a rooie last season, but he was an elite shot generator, leading the league in shot attempts per 60 during 5-on-5 play. He could finish in the QMJHL and tallied 14 goals in 33 AHL games last year, so it’s fair to expect significant improvement on Meier’s shooting percentage (3.5% last season), especially if he gets to move up the depth chart and has a chance to play with Joe Thornton or Logan Couture on one of the Sharks’ scoring units.
Ivan Provorov was a standout as a rookie, and he's just getting started.
Ivan Provorov, D, Philadelphia – The seventh pick in the 2015 Draft stepped in and logged nearly 22 minutes per game for the Flyers last season, and his 30 points was solid production for a rookie defenceman, and yet, the Flyers didn’t fare that well during 5-on-5 play last season, so the on-ice shooting percentage with Provorov on the ice was 6.3%. With a bit more ice time and some breaks at even strength, Provorov’s numbers should rise. They could really jump if he landed a bigger power play role, but it may be too soon to have those expectations.
Shea Theodore, D, Vegas – The 2013 first-rounder has shown good puck-moving ability in stints with Anaheim, contributing 25 points in 73 (regular season plus playoff) games over the past couple of seasons, and he should be looking at a bigger role – more ice time, presumably more power play time – for the expansion Golden Knights.
Scott Darling, G, Carolina – After three strong seasons as the backup for his hometown team in Chicago, posting a .923 save percentage in 75 games, the 28-year-old is finally getting a chance to start for the Hurricanes, a team that has been desperate for competent goaltending to back their solid possession game. There is some risk whenever a goalie goes into his first starting job, but Darling’s numbers suggest that he should be a success in that role, and that should bring significantly more playing time.
Andrei Vasilevskiy, G, Tampa Bay – Once the Lightning moved out Ben Bishop last season, the starter’s job belonged to Vasilevskiy, who had been the goaltender-of-the-future since he was a first-round pick in 2012. With the Lightning healthy, and expected to be contenders, this year, there is a chance for Vasilevskiy’s numbers to take off.
Antti Raanta, G, Arizona – Over the past three seasons, Raanta had a .924 save percentage in 69 games, and that attracted attention from the Coyotes, a young team looking for a new starter in net. Raanta is 28-years-old, and hasn’t had the responsibility of being an NHL starter before, and it’s for a team that isn’t expected to be very good, but Raanta has a chance to prove that he can play at that level with a heavier workload.
Scott Cullen can be reached at [email protected] |
Five months ago, eastbound sections of the eastern end of Haight Street were made Muni-only. The change allowed Muni buses to bypass regular auto traffic, effectively clearing the path down to Market Street and saving riders of the 6 and 71 lines several minutes off their commutes downtown.
Originally, the lane was painted red with the words "BUS ONLY" stenciled in white at various points along the route. However, by the end of 2014, that wording had been changed to the more specific "MUNI ONLY." Lest there be any doubt, the new phrase confirmed it: only Muni buses are allowed to use this lane.
However, that hasn't stopped commuter shuttles and the occasional private automobile from venturing down the red express lane.
This morning, a reader sent in the following photo of a car that collided with a Muni bus near Haight and Laguna some time around 8:15am today:
Witnesses told our tipster that:
"[A] car cut into the red muni-only lane at the last second near Haight and Laguna, causing the bus to slam on its brakes. Several people were tossed around the crowded bus and fell into each other in a pile. Two or three people were taken away via ambulance and several others got treatment on the spot for minor injuries... Everyone was saying the same thing that the bus driver did everything she could at the last second but the car just cut right into the lane in front of it so there was no way to avoid it."
Cars aren't the only trespassers in the new red lane, as commuter shuttles have also become a frequent presence.
A few days ago, reader Brian T., who was fed up with the practice, sent in the following video. It not only shows a commuter bus in the lane near Haight and Octavia, but captures its license plate and SFMTA pilot program numbers.
Carli Paine of the SFMTA's Sustainable Streets Division checked the permit on the bus above for us, and told us it belonged to a company called Lux Leasing. Paine did not know which company's employees Lux might have been transporting at the time this video was taken, but said she would contact Lux about the violation.
Since August of 2014, the SFMTA has allowed certain commuter shuttles to use Muni stops as part of an 18-month pilot program. For a fee, commuter shuttles can use a network of 105 Muni stops and permit-only white zones around the city for passenger pick-up and drop-off. The program does not, however, include use of Muni-only transit lanes.
Paine told us that there are some "transit-only" lanes around the city that do allow use by commuter shuttles and taxis, such as certain sections of Market and Mission streets downtown, and Judah Street west of 20th Avenue. But the Haight Street lane is explicitly Muni-only.
When it's not being occupied by non-Muni vehicles, the new Haight Street transit lane clearly provides a big boost for Muni commuters. Reader Paul S. tipped us to a time-lapse video he took recently during the morning rush hour. The video clearly shows auto traffic backing up along the right lane of the block, while the red Muni-only lane remains largely unoccupied:
Paine says that anyone spotting illegal use of the Muni lanes by commuter shuttles can submit a complaint by clicking the green button on the Commuter Shuttle Pilot Program website.
Update: Paul S. has another video showing a much more crowded segment on Laguna and Buchanan. As he writes in the comment below: "Cars are getting into the red lane and then turning left (NB Laguna) and right (SB Laguna) around the front of the cars stopped at the stop sign. This happens far less on the segment of Haight between Laguna and Octavia (presumably because everyone at that point is trying to turn right)." |
Pro-Israel activists headed home from Las Vegas last weekend resting easy that raising money to fight boycott and sanction campaigns on campus just got a lot easier.
Although checks have yet to be written, deep-pocketed donors like summit organizer Sheldon Adelson and Haim Saban pledged tens of millions to their cause.
“You work together and we will raise you the money,” promised Israeli-American businessman Adam Milstein following the conference for Israel activists that took place there over the weekend. “You no longer have to worry about financing and fundraising. You just need to be united.”
Milstein, a California real estate developer, who was among the key organizers of the first Campus Maccabees Summit, as the gathering dubbed itself, made his comments to Boaz Bismuth of Israel Hayom, an Israeli daily owned by casino mogul Sheldon Adelson, the host of the closed-doors Vegas summit, which took place at Adelson’s own Venetian hotel. Israel Hayom was the only media outlet granted access to the meeting, which was otherwise closed to press coverage.
Participants, true to the maxim that what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, declined to discuss any financial pledges made during the summit in Sin City. But based on the organizers’ own guidelines, it is clear that tens of millions of dollars were raised to combat campus campaigns to boycott, divest from and sanction Israel — or BDS, as the movement is known.
Adelson and his fellow conference organizers limited participation in the event to donors willing to pledge at least $1 million over the next two years. With some 20 donors taking part at the meeting, the total dollar amount raised is estimated to be at least $20 million. A Jewish communal leader who did not attend the meeting but who spoke to the organizers said that, in fact, the overall funding goal for Adelson’s Campus Maccabees was $50 million.
Some in the Jewish community have voiced concerns about the right-leaning nature of the initiative, from which liberal Zionist groups were excluded, and the effect this might have on its prospects for success on campus. The two-day gathering brought together 50 Jewish organizations representing mostly right wing and hawkish views with some mainstream campus organizations taking part as well. Other key mainstream organizations dealing with BDS were invited but declined to attend.
Many of the groups attending prepared presentations to donors. After taking into consideration the pitch and additional information included in a book of programs given to participants, these funders will decide who gets funding and at what level. Presentations varied in form and topic, but all included suggestions for taking on anti-Israel expressions on campus.
“My recommendation is that all groups work together to demonize the demonizers,” Morton Klein, national president of the Zionist Organization of America, told the Forward before his presentation in Vegas. This, according to Klein, means “demonizing the racists by telling the truth about the Palestinian Authority and giving examples of what it does as a racist terror organization.”
Military leaders in Israel, which has accepted the P.A. as its negotiating partner in the now aborted peace process, have testified in the Knesset that the group’s security forces have actually helped Israel crack down on terrorism in the occupied West Bank. But Israeli officials vehemently protest the P.A.’s decision to form a unity government with Hamas, the militant Palestinian group that rules Gaza and refuses to recognize Israel as a legitimate state. The United States and Israel consider Hamas to be a terrorist organization.
Adelson and Saban, the two billionaires steering the Campus Maccabees effort, did not publicly commit themselves to any specific idea. But both stressed their view that BDS — a form of nonviolent protest promoted by a diverse array of groups opposed to Israel’s policies toward the Palestinians — is simply a form of anti-Semitism.
“As a teenager, I suffered from anti-Semitism. A lot,” Adelson told Israel’s Channel 2 TV in an interview he and Saban gave the station. Adelson noted that today there is “little to no sign in American society” of significant anti-Semitism but added he was “absolutely positive that there is a lot of anti-Semitism on campus.” Saban, warned of “an anti-Semitic tsunami that’s coming at us.”
Advocates of BDS, meanwhile, point out that many among their number, including the group Jewish Voice for Peace, are themselves Jewish. Activists for Students for Justice in Palestine, another key American advocate of BDS on campus, report that Jews make up the second largest ethnic group in its ranks.
Both Adelson and Saban stressed that their overarching goal was to get all pro-Israel actors on campus to work together against BDS.
“It’s a challenge to get Jewish groups to work together,” Adelson said in his remarks to Channel 2 TV. “Going back in history, the arguments and debates between Jews brought down the Temple.” The purpose of his gathering, he stressed, was to unite forces and “put boots on the ground” on college campuses.
Adelson described three components of his Campus Maccabees concept: donors who will fund the operation; activists on the ground willing to take the fight to the campus; and researchers who will supply information about the anti-Israel groups and recommend possible legal avenues to block their activities.
The researchers will also provide input on messaging that can help win over hearts and minds, he told Israel Hayom. It is an American based effort, though a communal official informed about Adelson and Saban’s intentions said they see a role for Israel in the research component. The pro-Palestinian groups the organizers identified as causing Israel the most damage were Students for Justice in Palestine and the Muslim Student Association, which Adelson described as “BDS and Co.”
Despite the theme of communal unity the organizers touted, many of the Jewish community’s key players were not invited or chose not to attend. The conference also eschewed any mention of Israel’s policies towards Palestinians in the occupied territories, and the way these policies are used to recruit supporters to the BDS camp.
This is a mistaken approach, argued Kenneth Bob, national president of Ameinu, a liberal Zionist organization that runs an anti-BDS campus program. Ameinu, which was not invited to the Las Vegas conference, aims to convince progressives not to join the boycott drives. There is a need, Bob argued, to “speak to liberals in a language they understand.” This involves admitting Israel faces challenges and acknowledging the problems created by its occupation of the West Bank. Otherwise, he warned, BDS will continue to try and “make itself the social justice cause of our times.”
Ameinu’s campus program, the Third Narrative, has gotten very little communal funding so far. “The Jewish community at large has not adopted our approach,” Bob said.
Adelson and Saban made clear they want to see the impact of their campaign noticed on campus as early as this fall, when students return to college. This would require funding being determined and provided in the upcoming weeks.
Daniella Greenbaum, president Aryeh, a pro-Israel student organization at Columbia University, heard about the Vegas donor meeting, but had her own take on what is needed for helping activists like herself fight anti-Israel sentiments on campus.
“To talk about ‘fighting anti-Israel college activism’ is to fuel the fire,” she said. This battle, Greenbaum said, means entering “into a never ending game of whack-a-mole — a game that is as unproductive as it is exhausting.”
The focus, she believes, should be on strengthening U.S.-Israel relations and educating students on this issue.
In their joint TV interview, Adelson, a Republican party mega-donor, and Saban, a major supporter of Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, seemed to marvel at the idea of their partnership for Israel, a collaboration that began several years ago when both helped fund the Israeli American Council, an organization of Israeli expatriates living in America.
“When it comes to Israel we’re absolutely on the same page. Our interest is to take care of Israel’s interest in the United States. Period. Over and out,” Saban declared during the Channel 2 interview.
When the interview ended, Adelson announced it was time for dinner.
“I support that 100%,” Saban replied, and the two men smiled to the camera and high fived.
Contact Nathan Guttman at [email protected] or on Twitter @nathanguttman
This story "Secret Sheldon Adelson Summit Raises up to $50M for Strident Anti-BDS Push" was written by Nathan Guttman. |
“Furious 7” will outrace “The Longest Ride” at the box office this weekend, but it’s hard to predict how big a lead the adrenaline-fueled sequel will maintain over the romantic drama.
That’s because “Furious 7” is breathing some pretty rarefied air right now, having recorded the ninth-largest domestic opening of all time with its stunning $147.2 million bow. Analysts say it’s safe to predict a big drop in its sophomore weekend, but determining how precipitous a decline it will suffer is the challenge.
Because the opening results were so outsized, look for “Furious 7” to dip by more than 50%, ending its follow-up weekend with between $65 million and $70 million. That will push its Stateside total over the $200 million mark as “Furious 7” looks to become the first film in the series to top $1 billion globally.
The film could end up holding better than expected, however. Paul Walker’s death in a 2013 car crash at the age of 40 makes this one of his final film roles, giving “Furious 7” an added poignancy for fans. That could help keep interest high and potentially lead to repeat business.
Related ‘Furious 7′ Extremely Popular With Illegal Downloaders ‘Furious 7′ Final Box Office Hits $146.5 Million, Racing Past Initial Estimates
“I don’t think this is a typical blockbuster because of its emotional ending,” said Phil Contrino, VP and chief analyst at BoxOffice.com. “I think it could end up holding up well because everything about this movie is performing better than expected … it’s a huge wildcard because there aren’t a lot of movies you can compare it to.”
“The Longest Ride” should cross the finish line substantially behind “Furious 7,” but it could still turn out to be a shrewd piece of counterprogramming for Fox, the studio behind the adaptation of the Nicholas Sparks weepie. With men gravitating toward “Furious 7,” “The Longest Ride” will try to monopolize women and date-night crowds. It should strain tear ducts to the tune of $14 million and will jockey with DreamWorks Animation’s “Home” for a second-place finish. The animated film should end the weekend with around $15 million.
“The Longest Ride” will venture out across 3,365 locations. It’s an economical bet for Fox, costing $34 million to produce. The film stars Scott Eastwood and Britt Robertson and centers on a former bull riding champ who falls in love with a college student who is Big Apple bound. Sparks is the big attraction here, after shattering hearts and generating big box office business with tragic love stories such as “The Notebook” and “Dear John.”
The top five will be rounded out by “Cinderella” and “Get Hard,” both of which should pull in $7 million or $8 million.
In limited release, Relativity will roll out “Desert Dancer,” a drama about a group of young people starting an underground dance company in Iran, in 24 theaters. The weekend also brings “Lost River,” Ryan Gosling’s critically excoriated directorial debut. Reviews for the coming-of-age story were brutal when it premiered at Cannes last year, leading Warner Bros. to release the picture in a handful of theaters and simultaneously on-demand. |
(From Wemyss Malts Press Release) The Wemyss family is delighted to announce that final planning permission is now in place for its new single malt whisky distillery and visitor centre near Kingsbarns in Fife, Scotland. Restoration and building work will shortly commence at the site.
Approximately 6 miles from St. Andrews, The Kingsbarns Distillery will be built within sight of the world-famous Kingsbarns Golf Links, on the Cambo Estate. The distillery itself will be within the historic and charming East Newhall Farm steading.
Building work at the Distillery will begin with preservation of the historic Dutch pan tile roof and 18th century stonework, followed by initial land preparation. Detailed planning of the layout of the distillery and visitor centre, shop and cafe areas continues. It’s expected to take around a year to complete the building with a view to welcoming the first visitors as distilling commences in summer 2014.
William Wemyss, commented on behalf of the family: “It’s been a busy few months working with Historic Scotland, Fife Council planners and a team of architects, designers and engineers to get to this point where we can start to turn the plans into reality. Building a distillery is a once in a generation opportunity and we’re looking forward to playing our part in the reinvigoration of the Fife distilling tradition.”
The founding director of the Kingsbarns Distillery is local Fife man, Douglas Clement, who also adds: “Inspired by comments from golfers at Kingsbarns and St Andrews, I knew that there was a real opportunity for a local distillery. I’ve been working on this project for a number of years and it’s great to be standing here today seeing the work begin.” |
Protesters chanted “kill the bill, don’t kill us” and "shame" in the Senate chamber on Tuesday as senators prepared to take a procedural vote on their effort to repeal and replace ObamaCare.
Capitol police escorted protesters out of the building after they interrupted with the chants.
Lawmakers were about to vote on the procedural motion to would begin debate on healthcare legislation.
Wild scene as hundreds demonstrate in the Hart office building. Capitol police getting ready pic.twitter.com/fydT6wl6C8 — Jeff Stein (@JStein_Vox) July 25, 2017
Police escorting the first wave out pic.twitter.com/feAxq0VnAf — Jeff Stein (@JStein_Vox) July 25, 2017
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GOP leaders have kept members mostly in the dark about what they will be voting on: a full repeal of ObamaCare with a two-year delay to find a replacement, the Better Care Reconciliation Act or a pared-down repeal.
The latest GOP effort to get a bill through the Senate is the proposal of a bill that would end ObamaCare’s coverage mandates and the medical device tax, according to aides. |
Manchester may be the home of British Cycling but it is some distance from being a city where it is normal to cycle.
That is the view of experts from the cities@manchester project at the University of Manchester, who held a public forum at the Anthony Burgess Foundation this week.
Four panellists discussed the question ‘Can Manchester become a cycling city?’ looking at the barriers to it becoming more cycle-friendly, and how these barriers might be overcome.
The cities@manchester forum followed figures from the 2011 Census which indicated that the city had seen an 82.8% increase in cycling to work over the last decade, although Pete Abel, from Love Your Bike, said that this did not allow for population growth and in reality cycling in the city had gone ‘from abysmally low to slightly less abysmal’.
Indeed, Manchester’s increase – from 4,610 to 8,426 – was poor compared to some areas of London, where cycling rates had risen by over 200%, and was even below Brighton and Hove and the City of Bristol.
The North West of England overall had seen a very small increase in those cycling to work, 4.7%, between 2001 and 2011, which in fact represented a proportional decrease (from 2.3% of all North West workers to 2.1%).
cities@manchester, which consists of a group of researchers based at the University of Manchester, aims to find ways to make cities more sustainable, tackle inequalities and engage with key decision-makers in Manchester and beyond.
Video of Intro to cities@manchester
After a brief introduction by Dr James Evans, who chaired the event, Graeme Sherriff of the University of Salford sought to define ‘the cycling city’.
He said: “A cycling city is where it is seen to be normal for people of all ages to cycle and feel safe doing so.”
This drew a distinction between cycling as a sport and focusing on cycling as a means of getting to work.
He, and the speakers who followed, were of one mind that cycling remained marginal in Manchester, and the UK, but they had some differing ideas about how this might be changed.
The issues faced by cycling which were discussed included a lack of political leadership – Manchester lacks a Boris Johnson figure – the erratic nature of funding, a reluctance to take space away from car drivers and integration within Manchester, with the incoherency of cycle lanes a significant problem.
A change of attitude, as suggested by Sherriff who cited Manchester City Council’s website, which until recently classed cycling under ‘Crime, antisocial behaviour and nuisance’.
He added: “We should not so much tolerate cycling but encourage it.”
There were two different strands of thought on how cycling should pitch itself.
While Steve Connor, CEO of Creative Concern, believed that it should be made ‘sexy, chic and aspirational’,
Councillor Kate Chappell, of Manchester City Council, argued that it needed to be ‘boring and safe’ before becoming sexy with Abel pointing out that the majority of people who would be interested in cycling are intimidated by the dangers involved.
That ‘intidmidation’ may explain why the male rate of cycling to work was more than double the female rate in the Censuses of 2001 and 2011. He stressed that cycling needed to be ‘coherent, direct, attractive, safe and comfortable’.
Coun Chappell, a keen cyclist as well as member for Rusholme and Manchester’s Executive Member for Environment, said road surfaces are the priority, with potholes a huge issue.
“If road surfaces are better, that tells cyclists they are welcome in the city – at the moment we are telling them the opposite,” she said.
She added that the problem faced by the Council is that, having previously had £10 million per year set aside for maintaining the roads, budget cuts had seen that figure fall to £3 million.
Abel, however, argued that the money to aid cycling was there: “If Manchester can spend £290 million on six miles of road between Stockport and Manchester Airport, why can it not invest in cycling?”
He concluded that cyclists should demand more from candidates at the upcoming local elections, holding them to commit to a further 10 years of funding for cycling.
The counter point made was that cyclists have to do their part to be more accepted – Connor stressed the importance of shared space and cyclists not disregarding the rules of the road, as well as asserting their having the same right to use the road as car drivers.
In the subsequent Q&A some audience members made it clear that police enforcement of good driving was the key, while others bemoaned the glorification of speed among the ‘Top Gear generation’.
Abel suggested that the UK could learn from other countries and reduce speed limits, making 20 miles per hour the default speed in urban areas.
Another question was whether the Council planned to place restrictions on car use. Councillor Chappell made the point that it will be harder to get into the city over the next two years due to more infrastructural changes taking place – and that the council will be reviewing how many parking spaces are available.
The overall conclusion from the panel appeared to be that greater emphasis should be put on the benefits of cycling – the money saved, the health benefits and the reduction in air pollution – than the money required to boost its presence in Manchester.
For find out more about the work of cities@manchester log onto www.cities.manchester.ac.uk
Picture courtesy of distillated, with thanks. |
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