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Poll: Clinton, Trump in statistical dead heat in Nevada
CLOSE Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton have said radically different things about immigration. A look at their quotes: Wochit
The contest between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump in Nevada has become a statistical dead heat.
According to a Suffolk University poll released Thursday, Clinton edged Trump among Nevada voters by 44%-42%, which is essentially a tie when you consider that the margin of error is 4.4 percentage points. Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson had 5% and Independent American Party candidate Darrell Castle had 1%. Rocky De La Fuente, who has no party affiliation, also had 1%.
Nevada is considered a swing state but Barack Obama won it in 2008 and 2012.
The majority of Nevada voters saw both candidates as neither honest nor trustworthy. For Clinton, 55% of people said she did not have those qualities, while just 38% said she did. Meanwhile, 52% of voters said Trump was not honest or trustworthy, while 38% said he was.
Just one-fourth of those surveyed said they felt excited about the presidential election. Meanwhile, 55% said they were “alarmed,” 24% were “excited,” 11% said they were “bored” and 9% were undecided on just how they felt.
Despite the fact that nearly half of those polled backed Trump, most people surveyed (73%) felt like America was already great. (Trump’s campaign slogan is “Make America Great Again.”)
The Senate race to replace retiring Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid is tied. Both Republican Rep. Joe Heck and Democratic candidate Catherine Cortez Masto had the support of 37% of Nevada voters. Undecided voters were at 14%.
The telephone poll of 500 registered Nevada voters was conducted Aug. 15-17.
Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/2bEwr5A |
Consider the N.J. Alliance for Action's new "On the Road in NJ" website the transportation version of scared straight.
It's 1,000 photos of cracked concrete, protruding rusty metal pieces and patched and pockmarked pavement are designed to do just that -- make drivers think about the condition of the roads and bridges they're traveling over. If that isn't frightening enough, among the photos are one collapsed bridge and two relying on wooden support structures.
The On The Road in NJ website went live on Tuesday and was previewed at the Alliance's annual Transportation Conference. It allows visitors to Tweet and post photos on Facebook, Instagram and other social media and has links to photo bomb your legislator with an e-mailed copy of bad bridges, road craters and bumper to bumper congestion.
"People have to make the connection that this is in my town," said Philip Beachem, executive director of the Alliance for Action, which lobbies for transportation infrastructure projects. "This is an important issue to everyone who travels around the state."
Short of running tours, transportation officials and advocacy organizations have struggled with how to get the message about the deteriorating condition of roads, bridges and transit infrastructure to the public.
"We're building a social media army. This is how people communicate, short and simple," Beachem said. "Reports (about bridge and road conditions) mean nothing, if we can't show them in a few seconds (through) a photo."
RELATED: Days of highway expansion in N.J. are over until roads are fixed
While the website doesn't directly address that the state Transportation Trust Fund runs out of money in July, Beachem and other officials said it is designed to show why it needs to be reauthorized with new revenue sources.
"If it is reauthorized, some of that money in the bridge program will be for counties," said Peter Palmer, Somerset County freeholder, noting that many of the photos are of county bridges. "Now, they are the county's responsibility." |
Streetsblog’s CicLAvia VII Scavenger Hunt
Since we’re not doing a Streetfilm for this year’s CicLAvia, the Streetsblog team thought we would add to Sunday’s festivities by making the first ever Streetsblog photo scavenger hunt. The first person to tweet us a picture of each of the following items will win a Streetsblog t-shirt.
To be clear, each person that tweets to @lastreetsblog the first item on the list wins a shirt, as does the first person to tweet @lastreetsblog the second item on the list and on and on. We’ll announce winners on Monday. The pictures have to be taken on the CicLAvia route. Logos can appear on a shirt or somewhere else. You cannot draw the logo yourself and then take a picture of it.
While we love the inventive routes and attractions of CicLAvia, but for us the day is all about the people. So…without further adieu, the ten things to tweet @lastreetsblog are…
Remember, tweet your pictures to @lastreetsblog and we’ll announce winners, if there are any, on Monday.
But most of all, have fun and be safe. |
Giant mastodont skeleton discovered at Gray Fossil Site
JOHNSON CITY – (Dec. 1, 2015) The 2015 field season at the East Tennessee State University and General Shale Natural History Museum and Visitor Center at the Gray Fossil Site is wrapping up with a huge discovery. According to paleontologists at ETSU, this find is “huge” in terms of its scientific potential, as well as the overall size of the animal.
“We have known that an elephant-like animal existed at the Gray Fossil Site since the site was discovered in 2000 during a road construction project,” said Dr. Steven Wallace, excavation director and museum curator. “Earlier researchers suggested that ‘elephant’ remains from the site might belong to a group known as the shovel-tusk elephants, so called for their large, flat lower tusks that are reminiscent of large shovels. This identification was always uncertain because flattened lower tusks and diagnostic cheek teeth hadn’t been recovered.”
As excavations began this year at the Gray Fossil Site, various target areas were selected. One target was the location where Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) workers first hit and recovered tusk fragments in 2000.
“Although this tusk area was a primary target for the 2015 field season, our work there was postponed because a duck decided to nest in that area,” said Shawn Haugrud, lab and field manager at the Gray Fossil Site and the Natural History Museum. “Once the duck was finished, we moved in and began a number of excavation units. We immediately started finding tusk fragments under the duck area.”
Following this, Wallace contacted TDOT and asked if they would be willing to donate any remaining tusk fragments in their collection recovered in 2000.
“TDOT graciously donated the remains, and the pieces fit together with specimens (that were) recovered this season,” noted Haugrud, who was put in charge of overseeing the field crew for the first time this year.
Haugrud worked with site surveyor Brian Compton to map all the tusk fragments in the disturbed surface sediments. Using the resulting map, they were able to narrow in on the most promising tusk area, and the excitement really began to pick up in late August as the tip of an intact tusk appeared. The excavation team then moved in the opposite direction and soon hit more tusk – a continuation of the same tusk. By October, part of the skull was uncovered with visible teeth.
“As soon as teeth were discovered, I rushed to the site for a look,” noted Dr. Blaine Schubert, executive director of the Gray Fossil Site and Natural History Museum. “It was clear that we had something quite different from a shovel-tusker – we had an early mastodont!”
There is no doubt that ETSU paleontologists are ecstatic about the discovery of a mastodont (also spelled mastodon).
According to Dr. Jim Mead, chair of the Department of Geosciences and museum curator, “There are many types of extinct elephant-like animals that roamed North America over time, ranging from mammoths to mastodonts, and stegodons to shovel-tuskers. Mammoths weren’t around in North America at the time of the Gray Fossil Site, but we still had three or four possibilities to consider. Now that we know it is mastodont, this is incredibly exciting for us, the university, and the world of paleontology.”
“We have all had our fingers and toes crossed that we would hit more of this ‘elephant,’ and that was the area that had the greatest known potential,” said Wallace. “We now have a cranium, lower jaw, teeth, tusks, and neck vertebrae. This suggests that we have an entire skeleton out there, and we will be working on this for years.”
Schubert notes that the identification of mastodont from the site is extraordinary and unique. “While relatives of these giant animals were common during the Ice Age at sites like Saltville, Virginia, they are rare from older sites in North America,” he said. “Thus, paleontologists know very little about ancestral mastodonts on the continent, especially in eastern North America. Now that we have this remarkable Mio-Pliocene skeleton, we can see that it has extraordinary transitional features. This skeleton has the potential of filling significant gaps in our understanding of their evolutionary history.”
Visitors to the ETSU and General Shale Natural History Museum may see the mastodont project in action. This winter, Shawn Haugrud and his crew will work on the tusks, skull, teeth, and vertebrae in the Prep Lab. They will clean and put them back together in the laboratory upstairs at the museum. Excavation of the rest of the skeleton will start in 2016.
The Natural History Museum is located 1.8 miles off Exit 13 on Interstate 26. Regular museum hours are 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday.
For more information, call 423-439-3659 or toll free 866-202-6223, or visit the museum at www.etsu.edu/naturalhistorymuseum. For disability accommodations, call the ETSU Office of Disability Services at 423-439-8346. |
http://dailyrelay.com
photo: Runnerspace
A year after missing out on making Team USA with a fourth-place finish in the 10,000m at the Olympic Trials in Eugene, Chris Derrick fought for third on a hot night in Des Moines to make the plane to Moscow.
That performance was just one of many accomplishments in Derrick’s first full year as a pro. He also finished first in the USA Cross Country Championships and then placed 10th in the subsequent World Cross Country Championships. After an injury limited his pre-Worlds training — he would finish 18th — Derrick completed the heart of his 2013 season by setting a personal best of 13:08 in the Brussels Diamond League meet in early September.
We sat down with the Stanford alum when he was in New York for the Dash to the Finish Line 5K in early November (he’d finish ninth in 14-flat). Derrick discussed making the World Championships team, that bizarre 5,000m race at USAs, the Stanford-Oregon rivalry and more. Follow Chris on Twitter @CDerrickRun
5 Questions with Chris Derrick
What was the 10,000m like at USAs? How did you feel going into it? A lot of people thought there was really only one spot up for grabs and you got it.
Derrick: That’s one of the most high anxiety situations I’ve ever been in — so much building up to just making the team for weeks in advance. It went out really slow, and I had put myself in second, which I think was good, ’cause I didn’t have to look at anyone or think about anybody else — just run really easy for a while. I was there to cover the moves.
And Dathan [Ritzenheim] made the big move. It was definitely tough running, and I looked around — looked at the big screen with a “K” to go — and I saw we had like 40 meters all of a sudden, and that’s the first I knew that it wasn’t five guys in a group. It was just a huge relief at that point. I probably didn’t finish as well as I could have — Jerry [Schumacher] got on me for that: “You can’t just be happy just to make the team.” I was like, “Just this once, can I just be happy to make the team?”
It was a big relief to make the team — a lot of tension building up, especially with how slow it went for so long. It’s always an abrupt transition when you go from real slow like that to picking it up. You don’t feel very good at all. You expect you would feel really fresh.
[Did you work on that transition in training?]
Derrick: We didn’t do that much. We’d work on the constituent parts of that. We did strength work, we did faster stuff and all that kind of stuff. Maybe earlier in the year we did some tempos, some repeat miles. But that’s something that it’s more just a mental thing. You just have to remind yourself that your body is clearly capable of running this pace, and you need to get into a rhythm and establish that and you’ll be fine. So, that’s what I was able to do. Thankfully, it was the three of us away and clear.
Were you able to watch the 5,000m final a few days later? What did you think of that race and the slow pace in particular?
Derrick: I was on the backstretch, obviously supporting teammates. To be honest, it was a little ridiculous, as a spectator and someone who wants to see the sport be entertaining. When they’re running that slow, it’s just like, oh, c’mon, it looks so bad. The last mile was always gonna be really exciting. From my perspective, I mean I knew a couple guys that maybe thought could have benefited from actually trying to start faster. From being in that situation previously, it’s hard to fault someone for not wanting to take on people. Sometimes people don’t understand quite as much that, at this level, the margins between people are so small. The difference between, maybe not first and eighth, but third and eighth is not very big, and so when you’re younger and you’re in high school or even college, the gaps are bigger and you can get away with the small disadvantage of being the leader and pushing the pace a little more. But as the gaps get smaller, the punishment is greater, especially in a 5K where true hard 5K pace is a very fine line. It’s really hard to push other people to that line and not go over it yourself, so in the end what you end up with is a lot of long runs for home — Ben True from a mile out. Ideally, for the optics of it all, you’d like to see it not go out in 70 seconds. But it’s just kind of what happens. No one’s going to go out and do 63s, so you hope they do 66s.
[Even at Worlds, you don’t see that.]
Derrick: It’s really hard to take on a really elite field. I mean, have you ever seen anybody on the international level do that in the last 20 years? The best you can say is [Zersenay] Tadese. Tadese — he’s fearless, he goes for it. He went for it in ’09 and it worked, and cracked everyone except for [Kenenisa] Bekele and got silver. But he also went for it multiple times when he wasn’t that fit, and he ended up last, and that’s just how it’s going to go. One of the other ways you see it work is Ismael Kirui in ’93 — is that you make the big, bold move early and get a gap and then you try to defend the gap, as opposed to putting it out and breaking everyone down. It’s really hard to beat a bunch of guys who are just as good if not better than you.
Two major elite training groups are in Portland: the Oregon Track Club led by Coach Schumacher, which you’re a part of, and the Nike Oregon Project led by Alberto Salazar. Is there a real rivalry there? What’s it like having so many elites in close proximity training with separate groups?
Derrick: I definitely think there’s a bit of a rivalry. I definitely feel like there’s a desire to represent your training group well. I definitely think there’s something about representing your group and your friends and your coach well against anybody. And being in the same city maybe exacerbates that.
They’ve got like three guys who went to the University of Oregon. I hate the University of Oregon. That was our main rival [at Stanford]. There’s a bit of a rivalry there. It’s good for sports and is probably entertaining to watch.
[What about the Stanford-Oregon football rivalry? Is that a problem for you being in Portland?]
Derrick: No one I train with went to U of O, so as a consequence they’re all on my side. I’m actually going to go down — I’m going straight from here to Palo Alto so I can see the game on Thursday night. After last year, I wore my Stanford stuff for weeks. And it’s definitely in enemy territory. Hopefully if we make it two in a row, I’m going to be feeling really good for the next year.
[Note: Stanford defeated Oregon, 26-20, on Nov. 7 to give the Ducks their first loss of the season. Expect to see Derrick in Cardinal red for a while. His take on the game via Twitter direct message: “It was exhilarating then terrifying then delirious.”]
[What about on the track?]
Derrick: Definitely, I think so. Until Colorado came along, we were kind of the top in the Pac-10 for a while there. Oregon has things that make it great. It has tons of money in sports and fans and tradition, but that’s also the kind of stuff that, as an opposing athlete, makes you really want to beat them. Rivalry has never been bad for a sport or competition.
Ryan Hall, a fellow Stanford alum, has come under a lot of criticism recently for his inability to get healthy and perform. Have you spoken to him at all? What are your thoughts on his position as both very well-known and much-maligned?
Derrick: I don’t know Ryan that well. When I’ve talked to him, though, he’s been a really nice and gracious guy. I hope that even people that who are disappointed in his running can recognize that he’s a really great guy. The body’s a fickle thing, especially over 26.2. Where you can get through stuff on the track, you can’t get through it in a marathon.
I think that he’s just going through a rough stretch. And especially in U.S. distance running, where there haven’t been that many people who have really shown the potential to contend for medals and finish at the top of races, people latch on to the people who do show that and kind of take ownership. That’s great, but it’s also dangerous.
People always want to see some sort of injury or failure as a moral failure on someone’s part. It’s really hard to know sometimes, with soft-tissue stuff especially, what the right thing to do is — It’s a really difficult position to be in, especially dealing with soft-tissue injuries. People sometimes need to not allow the disappointment to become disappointment in the person themselves.
It’s not like he’s intentionally sabotaging himself. He’s trying to do what he thinks is best.
Heading into a year without a major championship, what keeps you motivated? Do you have near-term goals or are you looking further ahead to 2015?
Derrick: Both my coaches before Jerry and Jerry as well instilled in me certain principles that really talked about consistency and moderation. Jason [Dunn], my college coach [at Stanford — he’s now at Oklahoma], talked about focus on the process, and so that’s what I”m used to hearing. Just focus on improving my training and staying healthy. Every year that I’ve been completely healthy, I’ve been able to make big improvements, and so I just want to continue on that road of doing my training and just the process every day, doing the right thing and trusting that’s going to put me in the position to reach some of the goals I haven’t gotten to. |
In a series of tweets, Penn shared almost 10 scripts that offers only stereotypical roles.
Indian American actor Kal Penn actor Kal Penn on Tuesday took to twitter and shared some of the racist audition scripts he was given at the beginning of his career.
Penn, who is best known for his roles in Harold & Kumar, House and How I Met Your Mother, shared almost 10 scripts that offers only stereotypical roles to the Indian American actor.
“Found a bunch of old scripts from some of my first years trying to be an actor,” Penn tweeted and shared the script that offers the roles of a Gandhi lookalike, snake charmers and fire eaters.
“They were awful,” he added. “’Can you make this accent a little more AUTHENTIC?’ That usually meant they wanted Apu.”
Found a bunch of old scripts from some of my first years trying to be an actor. pic.twitter.com/GydOwlUKGW — Kal Penn (@kalpenn) March 14, 2017
Jeez I remember this one! They were awful. "Can you make his accent a little more AUTHENTIC?" That usually meant they wanted Apu pic.twitter.com/3F5XRORO3n — Kal Penn (@kalpenn) March 14, 2017
Penn, who served in the White House under Obama administration, recalled his role as a pilot named Parmesh in The Stone for which he tried to convince the makers to allow him to speak without an accent but was told no.
https://twitter.com/kalpenn/status/841691958963818498
Ha! In this audition for Smart Guy, they didn't even give the character a name! pic.twitter.com/z2D8E5rx8J — Kal Penn (@kalpenn) March 14, 2017
Oh wait yes they did pic.twitter.com/xwB3qIoXoF — Kal Penn (@kalpenn) March 14, 2017
He also admitted that he used to love the CBS show The King of Queens until he was auditioned for it. Penn also recollects one of his first commercials in which he played the role of a 25-year-old Pakistani computer geek.
Friggin King of Queens man! I used to love that show until I got to audition for it lol pic.twitter.com/2BYu0nnd57 — Kal Penn (@kalpenn) March 14, 2017
“Whoa I remember this! This was one of my first commercials. The makeup people would use Vaseline to get the sweaty unwashed look going,” he wrote.
Whoa I remember this! This was one of my first commercials. The makeup people would use Vaseline to get the sweaty unwashed look going pic.twitter.com/X7z4EI4drQ — Kal Penn (@kalpenn) March 14, 2017
https://twitter.com/kalpenn/status/841694893458259969
This was for some project called The Marriage Clause I guess. pic.twitter.com/0yKjepAHqy — Kal Penn (@kalpenn) March 14, 2017
https://twitter.com/kalpenn/status/841698805703671809
“There are too many in this stack to tweet, I’ll be here all day. That said, there were also some wonderful 1st audition & work experiences!” he continued and praised shows like ‘24’, ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’, ‘The Steve Harvey Show’ and ‘Angel’ that “didn’t have to use external things to mask subpar writing.”
There are too many in this stack to tweet, I'll be here all day. That said, there were also some wonderful 1st audition & work experiences! — Kal Penn (@kalpenn) March 14, 2017
Penn also gave a shout out to House creator David Shore, who practiced color- and gender-blind casting, describing the ways Hollywood can be progressive.
Stuff like Steve Harvey, Buffy, Angel, 24, really smart, creative people who didn't have to use external things to mask subpar writing — Kal Penn (@kalpenn) March 14, 2017
Also when you cast things like @shorez, largely color & gender blind, it's more interesting & ratings can look like this. Which is awesome! pic.twitter.com/qr1f7vWASK — Kal Penn (@kalpenn) March 14, 2017
https://twitter.com/kalpenn/status/841700813730918400 |
Two Israeli women were injured in a stabbing attack near the West Bank settlement of Beit Horon Monday, 23 kilometers (14 miles) north west of Jerusalem.
Paramedics said the one of the victims, is in serious condition. Both victims were said to have suffered stab wounds to the upper body.
The attackers targeted an Israeli woman in her 20's at a local grocery store, injuring her severely, and inflicted moderate wounds on a second victim in her 50's as they attempted to flee.
A security guard opened fire on the attackers, who police confirm both died from their wounds shortly after.
Police confirmed that three pipe bombs were found at the scene of the attack. A bomb squad was called in to defuse the devices.
Benjamin station commander Chief Superintendent Dudi Hayon said in a statement that, "Today's attack is a serious incident and an escalation in severity compared with recent terror attacks. Two terrorists armed with knives infiltrated the settlement and charged at two women, managing to stab them."
"Community awareness and civilian bravery prevented a more serious attack," the statement said.
The attack was the third inside a West Bank settlement since January 17, when an Israeli woman was stabbed to death at the entrance to her home in Otniel. Israeli authorities arrested a 15-year-old Palestinian over that killing.
The following day, a pregnant woman was stabbed and wounded in the Tekoa settlement. The 17-year-old Palestinian assailant was shot by security personnel and taken to hospital in serious condition.
Palestinian twin sisters arrested for planning terror attack
Israeli security forces cleared for publication the arrest of two twin sisters, Diana and Nadiya Hulia, for planning to carry out a terror attack, the Shin Bet said in a statement Monday.
At the end of December, the Shin Bet, in cooperation with the Israel Defense Forces, arrested the 18-year-old sisters from the village of Shuweika, near Tulkarem in the West Bank.
During a search of their home, authorities reportedly found pipe bombs, fertilizer intended to be used to build explosives, a knife, Hamas headbands, and other equipment for causing disturbances.
According to the Shin Bet statement, Diana Hulia admitted to purchasing the chemical materials and also learned how to make explosives, which she planned to use in attacks against Israelis, by watching instructional videos online.
Nadiya Hulia helped her sister hide the weapons.
Charges were filed against the sisters before a military court in the West Bank in recent days.
According to the Shin Bet Diana was charged with manufacturing of explosives and weapons trading, while her sister Nadia was charged with only weapons trading.
The Shin Bet stressed that its investigation "highlights once again the existing motivation to carry out attacks, including, among those who do not belong to terrorist organizations, including women." |
The U.S. Army had something they wanted to show him.
It was mid-April, 1945. Patton's tanks had just crossed the Rhine a few days earlier and were blazing their way through Germany, only to be stopped short of Berlin by an agreement made with the Russians. Corporal Bill Combs had followed in wake as part of the Mine Platoon of the Anti-Tank Company, 69th Infantry Division, 271st Regiment. "My training had been to learn and know about land mines, which were primarily to blow up wheeled vehicles and tanks, and anti-personnel mines, which were to kill people," says Combs, who'll turn 90 on May 4.
Before going on to take the city of Leipzig, and before capturing the monolithic Napoleon Monument—with walls 10 feet thick and filled with fanatical SS troops, intending to die at its center—the U.S. Army had brought in part of Combs' division to see what, within days, Eisenhower and Patton would see. Senators and congressmen would travel from the States to see it. And a disbelieving world would see it in photos in newspapers like The New York Times and hear about it in a radio dispatch from Edward R. Murrow: "I saw it, but will not describe it."
But before any of them would get there, Corporal Bill Combs and part of his division would see Buchenwald.
Bill Combs at Camp Shelby, 1943. Courtesy of Bill Combs
"We came in in two-and-a-half ton trucks, which was, for an infantry, a usual way of moving people by wheels," Combs says. "We didn't know the day before that we were going to be going there, but they wanted us soldiers to be aware of what the German government was like." Combs looked up and saw an inscription on the gate: Jedem das Seine. To each his own. To each what he deserves.
The afternoon before, April 11, the 6th Armored Division had liberated Buchenwald, but Combs and his buddies had no idea what to make of it when they got there a few hours later. Nothing had been done. There were no guards to arrest; they'd abandoned their posts a few days before, taking thousands of prisoners—Jews, Poles, communists, homosexuals, and many others of the Master Race's "undesirables"—on evacuation marches eastward. It's estimated that one-third of those who were evacuated died.
"We got to Buchenwald and we went in the gates, there were people laying about," Combs says. "The first thing that overwhelmed me was that there was a big flat car, a railroad car standing there on the siding and it was piled, maybe four or five feet high, with dead bodies." The emaciated dead were left in the open, stacked on top of each other, nameless except for the numbers tattooed on their arms.
"All of the guards and everybody responsible had left. It was just a big camp full of dying people. There were people still alive, against the walls and around the grounds. Nobody greeted us. These people were so washed out of feeling. They were dying and they knew it. It was just devastating to see. Another fella and I were walking together, just shaking our heads."
The smell overwhelmed the soldiers. Some threw up. Combs' stomach stayed down, but the stench has never left his nostrils. "These people were living in filth, and dirt, and any injuries or anything were untreated. They were allowed and encouraged to die." A medic Combs had talked to estimated that 80 to 90 percent of those 20,000 liberated would die in the coming weeks. None could have weighed more than 80 pounds.
"Two of our guys had to turn around and leave—they couldn't handle it."
Bill Combs posing on a German bomber in a Leipzig Train yard. Courtesy of Bill Combs
The 69th's nickname at Camp Shelby in Mississippi was "Bolte's Bitchin' Bivouacking Bastards," due to the men's hatred of the bivouacs they slept in during training (and their commander named Bolte). Many were from Ohio. Kids from Akron and Cleveland. They had arrived in Le Havre, France, in January 1945, toward the end of the Battle of the Bulge. Combs himself had come by way of Akron. His father worked for Goodyear. His brother was killed by a drunk driver in 1937; his mother passed five years later. He remembers being in a car going north to Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, for lunch with his small family, when his father pulled to the side of the road to hear the news: The Japanese had bombed Pearl Harbor. "It was kind of lonely around the house," Combs says. "Dad was always working, and I was really looking for someplace to go and something to do." He enlisted on his 18th birthday, in 1943.
The 69th had crossed the Rhine on March 27, capturing several cities—Kassel, Munden, Naumberg and Weissenfels. In one instance, they came under fire on the bridge, crossing the river Witzenhausen, right outside of Kassel. Down the road, German machine guns seemed to follow them, and they had to dive toward the nearest ditch. When a fellow soldier stuck his head up, Combs—then, as now, always a bit of an irreverent pisser—cried out, "Get down, I like your mustache the way it is!"
But nothing had prepared Combs for what he would see in the heart of the Third Reich—the waste of food and supplies, and the disregard for human life at a camp like Buchenwald. Five miles northwest of Weimar, the birthplace of Goethe, the city where Germany's first democratic constitution was signed, were degradations that evade description.
"There were three or four prisoners laying against a wall," Combs says. "One fella got up and brushed himself off a little, and said, in English, "I'd like to show you something.' "
The prisoner, a Jewish teacher, led Combs and a couple of his comrades to the side of the wall. There was a square hole with a lid on it. He lifted the lid, and showed them a slide that led down into the basement of the building. The prisoner told Combs that if the guards didn't like someone, or wanted someone eliminated, that they throw them headfirst into this hole. He put the lid back down. "Now I want to show you what they really did," the prisoner said.
He led them into the basement of the building. "The end of the slide came down, and there was something that looked like a toilet seat on it. He pointed to it and said, 'This is where their heads came out, and they stayed there. They took that,'—and he pointed over to a metal, huge hammer—'and this is how they killed them. They hit them in the head. They hit them in the head until they were dead.' "
The prisoner explained that the SS would then bludgeon the teeth out of the dead victims for any gold to be found, and would strip the body of its clothes. "He pointed to huge, shiny eight inch hooks in the wall," Combs says, "and the SS took them out and hung them up on these hooks, and cut their feet so that they'd bleed out." From there, the bodies would be sent to the crematorium to be burned.
"It was so shocking to see," Combs says. "Kids from America trying to accept this as fact, you know?"
Courtesy of Bill Combs
Some prisoners that the Nazis intentionally starved, mistreated, or killed by bullet or blunt force were stacked into rail cars and shipped out of camp. "They usually waited until they had at least two flat cars filled with bodies, then they took them right through the edge of a town, which was probably 400 or 500 yards away," Combs says. "And the train, when it left, went right through the edge of town. We went down into the town and to the people living there—they were used to this. We said, 'How could you possibly stand to see this, with all these bodies coming through town? Didn't you know what was happening?' They shrugged, and said 'Das ist Krieg.'"
That is war.
"The colonel made every citizen there, in that little town of maybe 200, walk up to the camp. He got them all organized and standing in line, and they had to walk through Buchenwald and see what had happened there." Some vomited—that smell, that sight—but most didn't. "They were brainwashed. It was a shocking thing to all of us guys who were walking them through: The German people didn't seem to give a damn.
"It's been very difficult for me to accept when I meet people in my business life who have German names or accents," Combs admits. "It just made such a terrible impression. Thank goodness I've come to realize that it doesn't apply to every German, so I've gotten beyond the hate. That was then. This is now."
There would be many walkthroughs of the camp for citizens of the surrounding areas. Journalists like Murrow would arrive later that day and make unforgettable dispatches and take horrifying photos of what they found. An estimated 56,000 people died at Buchenwald. "By the time we left that scene, we'd turned monsters ourselves, because nobody was going to treat us or anyone like that ever again."
He'd go on to Leipzig, less than a hundred miles away, and take that damned Napoleon Monument from the SS. He'd go on to win a Bronze Star in the Mine Platoon by tying a tourniquet around the arms of a fellow soldier—who he remembers as a Yankees prospect—who got his hands blown off trying to disarm a mine. The war ended in Europe on May 8. He'd go on to marry, settle down in Delaware, Ohio, become a successful salesman and gifted writer, have children. It's been 70 years since he saw Buchenwald. "I can't believe it's been that long, because hell, I'm still upright," he says.
Bill Combs, present day. Courtesy of Bill Combs
Nine years ago, Combs was having coffee in a local restaurant in his hometown and noticed a man of about his age kidding with a waitress two stools down from him. She said, "Oh, all you ex-soldiers are alike, you always give me a hard time." When she walked away, Combs introduced himself.
"Where did you serve?" he asked.
"Germany. In the '40s."
"What were you in?"
"Artillery."
"Oh," Combs replied, "I was in the infantry, in the 69th division. Where were you, what was your outfit?""
"You wouldn't know it," said the man.
Combs kept egging the gentleman on, saying, "Yes, I knew 'em all. I knew a lot of the guys in different divisions."
"No, you wouldn't know it."
"Why wouldn't I?"
"Because I was on the other side."
The man's name was Hans. He was taken when he was 13 years old and thrown into the Hitlerjugend, the Hitler Youth. He told Combs that he'd wanted to be a teacher, not a soldier. Through their discussion, Combs learned that, in all likelihood, Hans was shelling Combs and his men with 88 mm guns as they tried to take the Napoleon Monument in Leipzig. He'd been a United States citizen for over 30 years.
"He had never been offered the opportunity to not serve or to change his views or anything else," Combs says. "He was taken and slammed into training, and he became a developed Nazi. He came over to this country and served a couple of years in prison, and he met and married a lady that was from here, it changed his whole life. But I looked at him and I said, 'How could you live with what you did?' "
The question hung in the air. |
The Harper government has reached for the hammer once more to limit debate on a piece of priority legislation.
C-11, the government's bill to change the Copyright Act, was up for its first day of debate at report stage Monday when Government House Leader Peter Van Loan gave notice of a motion to limit debate on the final stages of the bill.
The time allocation motion passed Tuesday morning.
It's the second time Van Loan has intervened to speed the passage of C-11; in early February, the government limited debate at second reading.
The Copyright Act has not been updated since 1997. Changes were promised in the Conservatives' re-election platform, to "make Canada a leader in the global digital economy" and align Canada "with international standards."
When C-11 was introduced in September, Heritage Minister James Moore suggested it would be passed before Christmas.
While many elements of the complex and wide-ranging legislation were well-received and seen as overdue, some artists remain concerned about lost revenue with the proposed changes.
C-11's provisions on "digital locks," used to prevent unauthorized copying and distribution, have been criticized as too restrictive, particularly for individuals or educational institutions.
Moore says the bill successfully balances competing interests and has dismissed its critics, even refering to opponents last June as "radical extremists."
Bill amended at committee
C-11 mirrors legislation from the previous Parliament that died when the 2011 election was called. A Commons committee was reviewing the legislation at the time, and Moore suggested that re-introducing the exact same bill would make it easier for a new committee to pick up where the previous one left off.
In fact, while the special Commons committee to review C-11 was formed promptly last fall, the vote at second reading (to send it to committee for study) didn't happen until February.
After that, the committee met 11 times, hearing from expert witnesses and reporting back to the House March 15.
Conservative MPs brought forward eight amendments and used their majority on the committee to pass them, while defeating other NDP and Liberal amendments.
The amendments reported back to the Commons are mostly technical. In a few places, MPs were told, the changes bring the bill more in line with industry standards.
In one instance, an amendment clarifies "private use" as applying to one individual, not a small group of family or friends.
Another provision in C-11 seeks to protect disabled individuals or organizations acting on their behalf from Copyright Act violations when amending digital property to improve its accessibility (adding captioning or descriptive video, for example). A government amendment to strengthen this provision had opposition support at committee, although MPs argued it did not go far enough.
A further amendment attempts to clarify the much-discussed "notice" provisions that would require internet service providers to notify customers who may be violating copyright, including changing the requirement to do so from "without delay" to "as soon as feasible."
One final day of debate left
Bloc MP André Bellavance and Green Party Leader Elizabeth May, who were not on the special committee that studied C-11, introduced more amendments during the report stage debate Monday.
The Speaker allowed some opposition amendments to stand because they were sufficiently different from those considered at committee. But after the report stage debate ended on Tuesday evening, the House voted down all the opposition amendments, one by one.
Later on Tuesday evening, the House voted to concur with the committee's amendments and the bill passed at report stage.
When Van Loan proposed time allocation for the second time Monday, he noted the bill was on its 11th day of debate in the House, and reminded MPs the bill had been the subject of "extensive hearings" in the current and previous Parliament, hearing from "almost 200 witnesses."
The final day of debate at third reading and the final Commons vote before the bill moves on to the Senate have not been scheduled. |
TDI Ranger Build
I've noticed quite an increase in conversion threads lately and figured I should start up my own. I've been doing my homework for the better part of a year planning all the details of my swap but also developing my own adapter. More on the latter in another thread.
I'm starting with a 2000 Ford Ranger:
2.5L, 5pd, 2wd, 199k miles.
And the previous owner decided he wanted to attempt a no-timing belt record with disastrous results:
I suppose it isn't all that bad since I got a surprisingly rust-free (99% ) Ranger for my swap. So I rescued the Ranger from the field mice with a buddy's truck and trailer (a helluva guy who's let me use this combo to haul many a vw's). I think the next picture is pretty comical. If you can't read the sticker in the back window it says "At least it's not a Dodge."
So I'll combine this truck with a 2000 New Beetle that I purchased from a club member. It was in a front end accident a year prior and also thought it would be a good idea to provide a home to some field mice - I did not have a fun time removing the nest out of the dash to get at the wiring and ecu. I think I removed 3 full grocery store bags worth of carcasses, nest, feces...yuck. I unfortunately do not have a shot of the car in its natural habitat but it was stored up in the pines on the back 40acres of a friend of a friend.
Here it is during the drivetrain removal:
The front end accident did a number to the car destroying the header panel, radiator, fans, condensor, power steering pump, accessory bracket, passenger motor mount. Because of this last one it actually shoved the engine into the firewall so hard that it snapped off the intake and of course the little mount ear off the back of the block. No big deal as I'm not using that for my mounts. The car also donated a number of parts to the B4 sitting next to it.
The plan of course is to drop the ALH into the Ranger but the kicker is I need to have it ready for a car show at work where we are commemorating the closing of the St Paul assembly plant (for those not in the know Ford Rangers were made in the St Paul Ford plant ). Normally I would bring my 55 Chevy but I feel this is a good excuse to spend some time on the Ranger. The race is on to get this truck together in 30 days!!
Once together I intend to do some serious testing of the truck with several stages of performance modifications that will take this truck beyond the stock power levels of any of the original Ford engines.
Stay tuned. It's my turn for a conversion thread!I've noticed quite an increase in conversion threads lately and figured I should start up my own. I've been doing my homework for the better part of a year planning all the details of my swap but also developing my own adapter. More on the latter in another thread.I'm starting with a 2000 Ford Ranger:2.5L, 5pd, 2wd, 199k miles.And the previous owner decided he wanted to attempt a no-timing belt record with disastrous results:I suppose it isn't all that bad since I got a surprisingly rust-free (99%) Ranger for my swap. So I rescued the Ranger from the field mice with a buddy's truck and trailer (a helluva guy who's let me use this combo to haul many a vw's). I think the next picture is pretty comical. If you can't read the sticker in the back window it says "At least it's not a Dodge."So I'll combine this truck with a 2000 New Beetle that I purchased from a club member. It was in a front end accident a year prior and also thought it would be a good idea to provide a home to some field mice - I did not have a fun time removing the nest out of the dash to get at the wiring and ecu. I think I removed 3 full grocery store bags worth of carcasses, nest, feces...yuck. I unfortunately do not have a shot of the car in its natural habitat but it was stored up in the pines on the back 40acres of a friend of a friend.Here it is during the drivetrain removal:The front end accident did a number to the car destroying the header panel, radiator, fans, condensor, power steering pump, accessory bracket, passenger motor mount. Because of this last one it actually shoved the engine into the firewall so hard that it snapped off the intake and of course the little mount ear off the back of the block. No big deal as I'm not using that for my mounts.The car also donated a number of parts to the B4 sitting next to it.The plan of course is to drop the ALH into the Ranger but the kicker is I need to have it ready for a car show at work where we are commemorating the closing of the St Paul assembly plant (for those not in the know Ford Rangers were made in the St Paul Ford plant). Normally I would bring my 55 Chevy but I feel this is a good excuse to spend some time on the Ranger. The race is on to get this truck together in 30 days!!Once together I intend to do some serious testing of the truck with several stages of performance modifications that will take this truck beyond the stock power levels of any of the original Ford engines.Stay tuned.
- Nick -
02 Jetta TDI 308k (42.2/50.3/59.4 MPG) // 01 Eurovan 24V (18 MPG) // 00 TDI Ranger (39MPG)
How to Post Pics - How to Search
T D I club trusted mechanic in Minnesota - PM me __________________ |
US President Donald Trump rambled for nearly an hour and twenty minutes. Credit:Bloomberg The press conference was ostensibly staged so he could announce Alexander Acosta as his new Labour Secretary - after his first choice Andrew Puzder pulled out this week, mired in controversy - but the President moved on from this in mere minutes. He listed what his administration had achieved in its first month (despite the "mess" he said he inherited), and silenced the criticism that he had been avoiding scrutiny by only calling on conservative outlets in his previous press conference by taking exhaustive questions from across the White House press corps. His answers covered sweeping ground - Russia, Hillary Clinton, WikiLeaks, a nuclear holocaust, racism, immigration, his favourite breakfast talk show and even his leaked phone call with Australia. "I said, 'That's terrible that it was leaked,'" he said in reference to his testy call with Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, "but it wasn't that important." There were substantive answers. For the first time, he addressed detailed questions about Flynn's resignation and made it clear that it was Flynn's deception of Vice-President Mike Pence about the content of the call - not the call itself - that was the problem.
Members of the media raise their hands to ask a question to US President Donald Trump. Credit:Bloomberg "I fired him because of what he said to Mike Pence. Very simple," said Trump. "I didn't direct him [to make the call], but I would have directed him because that's his job ... I didn't direct him, but I would have directed him if he didn't do it. OK?" He was asked repeatedly whether he could say no members of his campaign team were in contact with Russian intelligence agents during the election - something he prevaricated on at first, with answers such as: "Russia is fake news. Russia, this is fake news put out by the media." US President Donald Trump answered detailed questions on Michael Flynn's resignation. Credit:Bloomberg But then he seemed to deny the specific allegations in the Times story: "I have nothing to do with Russia. To the best of my knowledge no person that I deal with does."
However, the overwhelming theme of the day, the one he himself kept returning to, was his war on the mainstream media, their "dishonesty" and "lies", and the repeated assertion that so many outlets were publishing, in his view, "fake news". This is clearly the fight he came to have, and where he wanted to keep the focus. US President Donald Trump continued his attack on the media. Credit:Bloomberg During the press conference he variously attacked The New York Times ("failing"), CNN ("so much anger and hatred"), the BBC ("just like CNN") and The Wall Street Journal ("almost as disgraceful as the failing New York Times"). For the second time in two days, he heaped praise though on Fox News' breakfast chat show, Fox & Friends ("they're very honourable people"). Pushed on how he could condemn reporting on leaked information - thus suggesting it was true - while also calling the news "fake", the President expressed no problem with this contradiction. "The leaks are absolutely real," he said. "The news is fake because so much of the news is fake."
The open format did give journalists a chance to challenge him on some falsehoods directly. During his lengthy preamble, he once again repeated the lie that his electoral college victory was "the biggest since Ronald Reagan". An MSNBC reporter took him up on that, telling him his tally was lower than both Barack Obama and George Bush snr, and asked: "Why should Americans trust you?" Trump replied curtly: "I don't know, I was given that information." As the press conference moved past the one-hour mark, there were several extraordinary exchanges with individual reporters that raised eyebrows in the room. Becoming irritated with the repeated questions on Russia and Flynn, he scouted around for a "friendly reporter". He settled on a journalist from Ami, a weekly Orthodox Jewish news magazine published in New York, who rose out of his chair and asked the President about rising anti-Semitism in the US and recent bomb threats made against 48 Jewish community centres.
The President grew visibly irritated, putting up his hand to cut off the reporter and complaining: "He said he's going to ask a simple easy question, and it's not, not a simple question, not a fair question, OK sit down," before going on to say he was "the least anti-Semitic person". In another strange exchange, April Ryan, a black reporter, asked if Mr Trump was going to meet with members of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC). "Do you wanna set up the meeting?" he replied. "Are they friends of yours?" He went on to say a meeting had been set up and then cancelled. The CBC tweeted soon after that they had written to Trump in January and he had never replied.
The faces of some news anchors in the wake of the conference captured the disbelief that many might have felt watching this rambling, pugnacious display. It was "wild" and "unhinged", said CNN's Jake Tapper, adding "it was an airing of grievances, it was Festivus" - the fictional Seinfeld holiday where George Costanza's father rants about his grievances from the preceding year. Even over on Fox News, the moderate daytime anchor Shepard Smith declared the display was "crazy". But to other sections of the media, and perhaps the country, that ferociously back Trump, the event was a ringing success. The Drudge Report's headline declared "Trump eats the press", while Fox News host and Trump cheerleader Sean Hannity called it "amazing" and a "beatdown" of the media. Here, they saw a return to the good old days of the election campaign, where Trump would repeatedly taunt the media from the stage while a crowd cheered. Loading Trump has scheduled a campaign-style rally in Florida this Saturday - an unconventional move for a President just a month into office. He loves the crowds, and knows that they loved the rousing, chaotic, pugnacious campaign that he ran all the way to victory last year.
This press conference was a reminder that he's also counting on the same wild, aggressive confrontations with the media that he had during the campaign to carry him through his time in the White House - especially perhaps, during weeks like this one, when his administration is on the ropes. |
Learn how to write your first playbook with Ansible. This tutorial shows you how to bootstrap your server for future Ansible runs as well as adding some security.
PLEASE NOTE: This tutorial comes from my course called Discover Ansible and assumes you installed Ansible and configured it to use a hosts file in a specific location.
# Create certificates folder and copy SSH public key cd ~/apps/ansible mkdir certificates cp ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub certificates # Create crypted password # If you are using an environment different from your server (e.g., a Mac), # run this command on your server instead mkpasswd --method=SHA-512 -S # if needed to run mkpasswd sudo apt-get install whois
Create ansible/bootstrap.yml
--- - name: Bootstrap server for future ansible runs hosts: all remote_user: root vars: user_name: creston user_pass: $6$gGF67h7gg6$gHpPcLliXbq4wGX8SywQ4BLf/iUaRYNzlN6IBsN1YXI.o/ITmqfeirKcYTenyTo67csjdUTRHTsGVtE0zd9sZ1 tasks: - name: Update apt cache apt: update_cache=yes - name: Safe aptitude upgrade apt: upgrade=safe async: 600 poll: 5 - name: Add my user user: > name={{ user_name }} password={{ user_pass }} shell=/bin/bash groups=sudo append=yes generate_ssh_key=yes ssh_key_bits=2048 state=present - name: Add my workstation user's public key to the new user authorized_key: user: "{{ user_name }}" key: "{{ lookup('file', 'certificates/id_rsa.pub') }}" state: present # notify: restart ssh - name: Change SSH port lineinfile: dest: /etc/ssh/sshd_config regexp: "^Port" line: "Port 30000" state: present # notify: restart ssh - name: Remove root SSH access lineinfile: dest: /etc/ssh/sshd_config regexp: "^PermitRootLogin" line: "PermitRootLogin no" state: present # notify: restart ssh - name: Remove password SSH access lineinfile: dest: /etc/ssh/sshd_config regexp: "^PasswordAuthentication" line: "PasswordAuthentication no" state: present - name: Reboot the server command: /sbin/reboot handlers: - name: restart ssh service: name=ssh state=restarted
Run your bootstrap playbook from ~/apps/ansible
ansible-playbook bootstrap.yml
Please go ahead and leave a comment below if you have any questions about this tutorial. |
1 of 21 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad × Visual treasures and tradition in Japan’s Kanazawa View Photos Once known for geishas and teahouses, this town has one of the most beautiful gardens in the country. Caption Once known for geishas and teahouses, this town has one of the most beautiful gardens in the country. Young women celebrating their coming of age wear traditional Japanese attire while visiting the Higashi-Chaya-gai, a historic geisha teahouse district in Kanazawa, Japan. Linda Davidson/The Washington Post Buy Photo Wait 1 second to continue.
In Japan, history is frequently right around the corner: a venerable little shrine, a neighborhood temple that’s survived both war and redevelopment, maybe even a castle. But the sense of being immersed in the past is rare. Even Kyoto, famed as the country’s redoubt against modernity, has no large area that meets the Western definition of a historic district.
But there is another city that, like Kyoto, was spared U.S. firebombs during World War II. Kanazawa is not quite a Japanese Williamsburg, but it does contain numerous neighborhoods of Edo period (1603-1868) structures. Long more popular with Japanese than foreign visitors, the north-coast city became much more accessible last year with the opening of a new Shinkansen line. The high-speed trains hurtle from Tokyo in under 21/ 2 hours. It’s a hop worth making.
The train station, like Kyoto’s, is emphatically modernistic. But it does bow to the past with a mammoth wooden gate called Tsuzumi, after the hand drum it somewhat resembles. The gate faces east, toward the center city and a large bus plaza. Unlike most Japanese cities of its size, Kanazawa has neither a subway nor trams. The main attractions are mostly within walking distance, but a loop bus circles past them, either clockwise or counter.
Outside the Kanazawa Station concourse is the red-colored Tsuzumi Gate in Kanazawa. The design of the gate is based on tsuzumi, traditional Japanese hand drums. (Linda Davidson/The Washington Post)
One morning in late July, the argument for the bus was immediately evident. Kanazawa is one of the wettest non-tropical cities in the world, soggy in summer and snowbound in winter. Midsummer in Japan can wilt even an August-tested Washingtonian, and if Kanazawa felt no muggier than the rest of the country, the breezes off the Sea of Japan were bringing more dampness, not relief.
Heading clockwise, the bus’s first notable stop is the Higashi (“east”) Chaya-gai, with many wooden structures and a reminder of the Japanese genius for euphemism. “Chaya” means teahouse, but tea wasn’t the principal attraction of this area, once known for geishas. Today, a few preserved geisha houses, notably the elegant Shima, are open to the public. Built about 200 years ago, it was among the city’s first two-story structures when erected. Inside is a collection of instruments of the sort played by hostesses and a view of a tiny garden, misted by fake rain sprayed from an apparatus that’s conspicuously modern.
[Caribbean turquoise, Santorini white, Miami Beach pink: The vivid colors of travel]
In a Western precinct that preserves the bygone, such machinery would be carefully hidden. But that’s not the standard in Japan, where overhead electric lines and even satellite dishes are often seen in neighborhoods of historic homes, temples and warehouses.
Many of the area’s other buildings have been converted to gift shops and restaurants. The number of the latter that serve only sweets and (nonalcoholic) drinks may surprise first-timers in semi-historic Japan, but such establishments abound everywhere in the country with a steady flow of tourists.
According to its sign, a teahouse that actually serves tea has been in business since 1625, although its 17th-century clients probably wouldn’t recognize the place. One eatery serves a rice-ball lunch for $15, which would be exorbitant except that the price includes a lesson in making them. At the shops, wares range from art to kitsch; one refined establishment was selling $2,900 teapots and $10 bottles of “Ninja Saurce.”
‘Gold swamp’
Kanazawa means “gold swamp,” a name traced to a legend about a peasant who found gold in a bog. The story is unlikely, but the city’s craftspeople have taken it to heart. Kanazawa is home to virtually all of Japan’s gold-leaf production. Since gilding is essential to Buddhist art, business is golden.
In Higashi Chaya-gai, several shops sell gilded items, ranging from jewelry to cosmetics to postcards. The largest is Hakuza (“gold-foil place”), whose products include gold-infused liquor and green-tea cake edged in edible gold. The shop boasts the world’s first gilded outside wall, although the siding — on a small warehouse that also has a glittering interior — is not exactly outside. It’s in an interior courtyard, sheltered from the juicy air.
Gold leaf items for sale in the Hakuza shop. (Linda Davidson/The Washington Post)
Adjacent to the teahouse area is Utatsuyama (“rabbit dragon mountain”), a hilly district packed with Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines. There are no major edifices, but the small compounds and winding lanes make for a picturesque (if often sweaty) stroll. On the west side of town, the balance is reversed: There’s a smaller old teahouse district, abutting Teramachi (“temple town”), one of Japan’s largest temple precincts.
Kanazawa’s other major historic area is the Nagamachi (“rowhouse town”) Samurai District, a residential area in which a few houses have been converted to museums. Most of the buildings don’t actually date to the samurai era, but the newer ones respect the traditional style. I walked this area in the early morning, before the museums were open, but was able to explore some small gardens and outbuildings. The sun was not yet scalding overhead, and I was refreshed, at least psychically, by the waters of the narrow canal that bisects the neighborhood.
A miniature world
These old-fashioned areas set Kanazawa apart from most Japanese cities, yet are not the town’s primary attraction. That’s Kenrokuen, generally ranked as one of the country’s top three gardens. The 28-acre expanse was created by and for the Maeda clan, which ruled the area, during the 17th to 19th centuries. It’s on a hill, affording views of the city, while man-made summits within the garden provide vantage points on the nearly 9,000 trees (supported by ropes during heavy snows) and other features. A teahouse, built in 1774, is the oldest surviving structure; a geyser-like fountain, powered by natural water pressure, was the first in the country.
Karasakinomatsu pine trees with an array of rope supports at Kenrokuen Garden. (Linda Davidson/The Washington Post)
Kenrokuen means “garden of six attributes,” a reference to a Chinese poet’s checklist of essential characteristics: antiquity, artifice, panoramas, seclusion, spaciousness and waterways. As is typical of Japanese gardens. Kenrokuen offers a circuit through various landscapes and suggests an entire world, albeit miniaturized and much tidier than the real one. At the center is Kasumi Pond, the Pacific of this demimonde.
[Why you should stay in a Japanese ryokan]
On an adjacent bluff, and linked by a short bridge, is Kanazawa Castle. It’s impressive at first glimpse, but the fortress won’t make any top-three lists. As a second look reveals, it’s mostly brand new. A few parts remain from the original, but the bulk of the castle has been built since 1989, replacing the buildings of a university that relocated nearby. Yet the pristine white walls and gull-winged roofs make a dramatic setting for what has become a pleasant landscape. Kenrokuen was once the castle’s outer garden; now the castle grounds have become a sort of annex of the adjacent landmark.
Japanese tourist sites are always flanked by drink vending machines, which are especially welcome in the summer. But the castle has something I’d never seen before: an air-conditioned vending-machine lounge. It was more crowded than the walkway along the parapets.
Mix of old and new
Down the hill from Kenrokuen and the castle is the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, which has no interest in such dated phenomena as cubism or abstract expressionism. Opened in 2004, the museum emphasizes interactive and site-specific work, such as Argentinian Leandro Erlich’s “The Swimming Pool,” which simulates the experience of gazing through water from above or below. One of the most engaging pieces is outside: Danish artist Olafur Eliasson’s “Color Activity House” overlaps curved glass walls in cyan, magenta and yellow, which combine to yield various hues from different points within or without.
I didn’t have time for the city’s many other museums, which include collections not only of art, history and traditional crafts but also (Japanese) modern literature and (international) phonographs and records. At the last, an Edison wax-cylinder machine is demonstrated thrice daily. I also skipped Myoryu-ji — the so-called “ninja temple,” full of secret rooms and passages — because it must be visited on pre-booked tours that offer commentary only in Japanese.
Amid the hustle and bustle of city life, the main gate to the Oyama Jinja shrine stands tall. (Linda Davidson/The Washington Post)
Instead, I followed a sculpture-lined path along the canal that edges the castle’s mount, headed toward my hotel and the bustling, seafood-heavy Omicho market. Along the way, I visited Oyama (“big hill”) Shrine, whose name refers to the location of the castle that towers over it. The shrine is notable for a gatehouse with a most un-Japanese touch: stained glass windows.
Despite such curiosities, Kanazawa’s temples and shrines are no match for Kyoto’s. But thanks to the new Shinkansen line, there’s no need to pick one city over the other. The next day, I boarded a limited express for the two-hour trip to Kyoto. The total traveling time from Tokyo was only slightly longer than if I’d gone to Kyoto directly.
Jenkins writes about film, music and visual art for The Washington Post and NPR.
More from Travel:
Fawning over fauna: A guide to Tokyo’s menagerie of animal cafes
Going Our Way: A plan for first-timers in Japan
Carrying a ‘throwaway’ wallet and other tips in avoiding travel scams |
Hierarchy
Power structures establish various s ystems to ensure the organisation of interrelationships and the dis tribution of resources throughout a group, community , or ecosystem. In human terms , these systems become our tribes, societies, and civilisa tions. The dominant power structure in the Western world at this time is capitalist, colonial, and hierarchical , w ith resources being distributed ( or, more accurately, hoarded ) from the top down.
Before capit
alism, many of us
who have desce
nded from the nations of Europe
have a cultural history of feudalism
or some other social-
ranking
hierarchy. Feudal society
is the root
stock of cap
italism. One of the primary differences
subsumed
from this
medieval power structure
by early capitalism wa
s the waged exchange of labour.
The feudal
peasants were non-waged
,
that is,
not paid in monetary currency for their labour
.
I
nstead,
they
were paid by
an exc
hange of resources such as land, shelter, and farming
rights. Both capit
alist and feudal hierarchies were architected
to direct
and control the circulation of
currency from
those
at the top, who are
the elite and
few, down to those at the bottom, who are
the poor and
many.
Capitalism depends on unrestrained growth and production, the manufacturing of material goods, and the extraction of resources to meet these ends. Colonisation, the imperious expansion of geographic, cultural, and political boundaries becomes requisite — with all its cruelty and overconsumption — as a result of this excessive and continuous reach to sustain the unsustainable.
When contemplating the quagmire of obstacles and institutions within our capitalist society that interfere with the equitable and just interchange of currency and access to resources, I find myself motivated to explore less oppressive economic, social, and political human relationships.
In doing so, I have become aligned with that ever-gallant and hopeful group of folks dismissed as unrealistic dreamers. We ‘dreamers’ always hold fast to the truth that the wilful designation of creation and power can be delineated into a network of horizontal or lateral functions that make greed, conquest, and competition unnecessary and invalid, except in extreme conditions.
In the words of Larry Wall, creator of Perl, the open-sourced computer programming language: ‘There is more than one way to do it.’ Perl, and Wall’s band of merry hackers, revolutionised the internet with a coding script that encourages other programmers to interject or hack, as they say in the business, their own design style and innovations that contribute to improvements and success for everyone using the network.¹ These internet wizards built the bridge between those of us who simply want to use the internet and those who actually understand it.
I personally am not remotely skilled in the exotic language of programming or the strange tongue of capitalist economics. As one called to the path along the hedges, in the woods, the fields, the gardens, and all the green, untamed and untrailed places, I have found another way to do things in learning the ways of the world beneath the dark shadows of treetops and in the soils with the rooted ones.
As a folk herbalist practising in the foothills of the Adirondack Mountains of New York State, I live remotely, keeping a distant participation to some degree (perhaps never enough?), in the mainstream rush and panic of daily life in the ‘real’ world of productivity, competition and corporate time sheets. My work with others, however, brings me into direct contact with the consequent ills, both physical and emotional, of life within the overworked, overstimulated and ‘red in tooth and claw’ system. My long hours and days gathering and growing the herbs to share with my clients, family, neighbours and friends feels like a different world or alternate reality in contrast to the interface I must make with the civilised world of offices, fluorescent lights and concrete. While I truly love all parts of my work, this polar interchange always clearly elucidates for me the distinct difference between the world of unruly winds and wild waters, and the tame and burning filaments of electricity enslaved within the lightbulb.
Much of my herbal work is spent with a shovel, basket and clippers as I dig and gather roots, leaves, flowers, bark and berries that are prepared into teas and other herbal formulations. I make every practical effort to harvest from local sources. This requires me to be tuned into to the seasonal cycles and growing patterns of wild plants. I also grow a variety of herbs in my own garden, and have become acutely tuned into conservation and ethical harvesting techniques that ensure the long-term survival and proliferation of our wild medicine plants.
This art and practice of traditional herbalism has deep roots into the history of every culture on earth. These roots have twisted, turned and intertwined throughout thousands of years of human civilisation, often being lost and forgotten as the quality of our communal engagements and our narrative with the world has placed humans on top of a hierarchy that centralises power into an above-ground, rootless, disembodied, hegemony.
That said, I think it’s important here to acknowledge that hierarchies occur naturally in wild communities, especially in herd animals, and that hierarchy is not always played out as an oppressive power structure. It can be an excellent tool for ensuring survival, protection and the health of a herd or community when based on consensus, synergy and cooperative principles.
Becoming radicle
Radicle: a rootlike subdivision, the portion of the embryo that gives rise to the root system of the plant
— biology-online.org
Radicle describes the first part of the seed to emerge after germination that subsequently becomes the primary root. Radicles and the roots they become are a most powerful natural force that, as every city sidewalk knows, will crack and divide concrete. The soil depends upon these mighty revolutionaries to deeply move, turn and aerate the surface of the planet so that life can ascend from it. Plants ‘know’ that in order for productive growth to be sustained, they must first set their roots and begin to make contact with the vast and nutritious field of minerals and essential microbes within the substratum.
Plant roots have many different and effective growing styles, but my favourite are those that are rhizomatic. A rhizome is actually an underground stem that is rootlike; it spreads horizontally, sending out shoots and creating a lateral chain of connection where new sprouts can emerge.
Rhizomes are non-hierarchical and extremely resilient because even if you dig up one part, the other sections will continue to grow and proliferate. Rhizomes have no top or bottom, any point can be connected to any other. They can be broken off at any point and will always be able to start up again. Their network can be entered at any point; there is no central origin. And because there is no central regulatory force, rhizomes function as open systems where connections can emerge regardless of similarities or differences. Freedom of expression exists within a rhizome.
Rhizomes, therefore, are heterogeneous and can create multiplicities, or many different roots, that are sovereign but still in contact and communication with all other parts of the system. This is in contrast to, for instance, a tree, which has a central origin or trunk from which all of its roots and branches emerge. Disconnected from that source, they are no longer in direct contact with their growing system.
As author and storyteller Martin Shaw writes about ‘the rhizomatic universe’ in his book A Branch From the Lightening Tree: |
I cannot begin to express how amazed I have been with the success Charmy’s Army has seen in just the first three weeks of January. If this pace keeps up, this year will be simply amazing.
SKETCH COVER COMMISSIONS – I have received 4 sketch cover commissions in the first three weeks. If I can hold to 4 commissions per month for the year, I will I will double my sales total from last year. Holding to 4 per month will be impossible of course, but you never know. If I can average two per month, I will equal last year’s sales. That would be awesome because once I add in whatever sells at my shows, I will be ahead for the year. To order a commission, just pop over HERE to begin your order.
PATREON PLEDGES DOUBLED – In the month of January, my monthly pledges DOUBLED!!!! Of course, I was only getting $9 per month from my supporters so I was not getting rich, but that $9 helped pay for art materials. Now I am at $20 per month! That will help me buy a table at a show every year. Now THAT is awesome! Couple that with my newspaper income and I can now have TWO TABLES paid off at every show. The next goal is to have four tables and lodging paid off. To support my comic strip, check out my PATREON SUPPORT PAGE HERE. The more money you support me with, the more rewards you receive.
NEWSPAPER LAUNCH – I picked up another newspaper this month! That means I have DOUBLED my run. Sad, right? NO WAY!!!! I am now in TWO PAPERS and soon I will be in HUNDREDS!!!! Watch for me to start running in North Carolina in the Aberdeen Times in February.
This year is going to be a thrill ride. It’ll have it’s UP and DOWNS. There are always a lot of DOWNS… but what is a roller coaster without a few gut busting drops? All in all, by year’s end this comic strip will have grown and blossomed into the most mesmerizing comic strip on the market.
And you ALL can say that YOU WERE THERE to witness this!!!!
– Davy
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David S. Bennahum travels to ground zero of the global epidemic, the hot zone that spawned the infamous Bulgarian computer viruses.
What do you think of Bulgaria?
"I hate it."
What do you think of Vesselin Bontchev, I asked.
"He is an idiot!"
And Sarah Gordon?
"She is a nice lady."
I held the telephone close to my ear. Through the broad windows of my hotel room I stared at Mount Vitosha, the tip of its rounded peak glistening with faint traces of June snow. The city of Sofia spread out below.
What about Dark Avenger, what do you think of him?
"I do not want to talk about him. That time is gone. It is finished! I will not talk about it."
Those were his longest answers. How hard it was to speak with him, always answering "yes" or "no" to my questions. Angry, threatening to stop talking, yet staying on the phone with me. For all his fury, he would not hang up first. I did.
Todor Todorov - or Commander Tosh, as some call him. Founder of the Virus Exchange BBS. How to define him? An anarchist hacker? A virus writer who hatched some of the most destructive code known? Perhaps it's best to call him a Pravetz kid - one of thousands of Bulgarian children who, under communism in the early 1980s, grew up using a Pravetz 82 microcomputer. Made from reverse-engineered and copied Apple IIe parts, the machine had spawned a culture, and a legacy, that no one in the Bulgarian Politburo had anticipated. That's what Todorov is, a Pravetz kid, I thought to myself days after we spoke on the phone, as I walked down the hall of his old high school to Room 28.
Room 28. I've waited a long time to get here. What remnants could there be, of the time in the waning days of communism when teens, high on power, did things few grown-ups could understand, just on the other side of the locked door marked 28? Eight years ago, this room in the National Mathematics High School was a cybernetic hot zone, ground zero of an epidemic algorithm: the Bulgarian computer virus.
In 1989, the first Bulgarian viruses appeared. By the end of the year, one called Dark Avenger had spread with enough velocity to attract media attention. At first, just a few hesitant articles appeared, mentioning the new, particularly virulent strain. Dark Avenger secretly attached itself to MS-DOS .com and .exe files, adding 1800 bytes of code. Every sixteenth time the infected program was run, it would randomly overwrite part of the hard disk. The phrase "Eddie Lives... somewhere in time" would appear, followed by garbage characters. Embedded in the code was another message: "This program was written in the city of Sofia © 1988-89 Dark Avenger." The computer, self-destructing, would eventually crash, some precious part of its operating system missing, smothered under Dark Avenger's relentless output. Programs passed along in schools, offices, homes - from one disk to the next they carried the infection along, and in 1991, an international epidemic was diagnosed. One-hundred sixty documented Bulgarian viruses existed in the wild, and an estimated 10 percent of all infections in the United States came from Bulgaria, most commonly from the Dark Avenger. Dataquest polled 600 large North American companies and Federal agencies early that year, and reported that 9 percent had experienced computer virus outbreaks. Nine months later, it found the number had risen to 63 percent. Anecdotal stories, of companies losing millions in sales and productivity due to virus attacks, became commonplace. The press seized upon the threat. The war drums of fear beat first in Europe, closer to the epicenter. Papers carried lurid pieces describing the havoc it wreaked. The tattoo was quickly amplified in the US. "Bulgarians Linked to Computer Virus," read a headline in The New York Times. Time and The Washington Post ran similar stories.
Dark Avenger and a handful of other viruses - Michelangelo, Jerusalem, Pakistani Brain, Frodo - transformed the way people experienced computers. These plagues launched a lucrative new industry, the antivirus trade, and left in the minds of PC users a palpable fear that any file, no matter how innocuous, might carry with it a rapacious, information-destroying disease. Then, as suddenly and strangely as it appeared, the Bulgarian computer virus phenomenon evaporated. By 1993, Bulgaria was no longer a significant source of new viruses. But the damage was done. At its peak, in 1990-91, both the alarm and the reality of the Bulgarian blight had spread exponentially, from computer to computer, and mind to mind. Today, Bulgaria exists as a kind of cybernetic bogeyman, the birthplace of viruses.
A small destitute nation on the fringes of Southern Europe, a nation that, a generation earlier, had been largely agricultural - how was it possible that this land produced such fecund viruses? Perhaps the former East Germany, the Czech Republic, Hungary, or even Russia - countries long industrialized, with a history of producing mathematicians and scientists - these were likelier candidates; yet, relative to Bulgaria, these countries were an insignificant source. Confusion was understandable. In 1991, few foreigners knew that Bulgaria had, in a series of Five Year Plans approved by the Politburo, created socialism's first and only centrally planned home-computer industry.
In the late '80s, students in Bulgaria had access to more computers than their peers in any other Eastern European country. They did what young people do when they first meet machines - they played, they explored, they programmed. The Bulgarians were busy building a digital culture of their own, feasting off the fruits of Marxism-Leninism. And then, one forbidden fruit came to be known. In 1988, the Bulgarian computer-hobbyist magazine, Computer For You, founded in 1985, translated a German article about viruses into Bulgarian. It was a simple article, just an introduction to computer viruses. But it helped spread the idea. Several months later, the first pernicious homespun code appeared.
I came to Sofia looking for the source, the place where it all began, the equivalent of Patient Zero, the first incidence of digital infection in the nation. I wanted to know who had hatched it and how, what strange permutations of culture, computers, and people had met in the right mixture, their contact producing strains of viral code that spread around the world. I came to understand that Room 28 was as close as I could get to the epicenter, short of entering the mind of Dark Avenger. I came to Room 28 because Anton Ivanov told me about it.
State-owned subversion
"The original viruses came from the National Mathematics High School," Ivanov says, strung out on adrenaline, nicotine, a beer buzz hitting both of us as we sat at the dilapidated cafe in the basement of the state-owned Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. "Everybody was writing viruses at that time. This was the time when the so-called" - Ivanov's sarcasm was strong - "general computing initiative finally started to have a big influence." That initiative put thousands of computers - illegal clones of the Apple and IBM PCs, hacked, reverse-engineered and built by Bulgarian factories - into high schools. The National Mathe-matics High School received several of the Apple IIe machines. This school was one of the best. Only a small number of kids, those who excelled on a standardized exam, could enter. And Room 28 is where the computers went. Ivanov was one of the kids who hung out there. So was his schoolmate Todor Todorov.
There, amidst the Pravetz clones, Ivanov learned to program. Today, he is the system administrator for the mathematics laboratory and the laboratory of computer virology at the Academy of Sciences, where antivirus software is written. Ivanov presses down on the end of his cigarette, until the filter looks like the fins on a rocket ship, with smoke coming out the wrong end. Two of his closest friends have just left the country to work as programmers in the United States. Ivanov makes about US$20 per month, a little less than the national monthly average. His annual budget for a network of 2,000 users is roughly US$2,000, which he shares with three other research facilities. He has one assistant. Ivanov is stressed. Eight years ago, things were different. He would go to school where each day brought new adventures in Room 28. While he says he never wrote viruses, he watched Todorov, and Todorov's good friend Ivalio Peev, trade tips on how to write them. Peev would later help Todorov build his Virus Exchange BBS. Kids collected the corrupting code the way American youths collect baseball cards, swapping infected disks, and bringing new viruses to Room 28 for inspection. "The first Dark Avenger virus was a piece of junk," Ivanov says, thinking back to 1988. "And I know the two people who made the virus work." He laughs. "The things that kids do in high school," he says. I ask him if it was Todorov and Peev. Ivanov bends the fins on his rocket ship and shrugs. When I press him for an answer, he says, "Everyone was writing viruses."
Bulgaria today is a land of economic destitution. There are two classes: a thin layer of rich, many of them black marketers or members of the mafia, and a huge mass of poor whose only internal division is their level of education. You can make US$30 a month with a PhD, or the same with no degree at all. The talents that are rewarded here have to do with survival, not necessarily creativity or intellect. After the eerily peaceful collapse of communism in 1989, not really from revolution, but rather from some sort of exhaustion, the Bulgarians elected a government made up of exsocialists. Drug running, fuel and arms smuggling to neighboring Serbia during the Balkan war - these were the new industries. The old industry to best survive was piracy. Where once Bulgaria produced thousands of Apple IIe and IBM clones, retooled factories now churn out pirated compact discs. The country produces an estimated 25 million pirated audio CDs and CD-ROMs per year. Its official GDP is 61 trillion leva (US$33.7 billion). Its unofficial GDP, including black market and mafia operations, is $120 trillion leva. The state cannot sink much further.
The group that came of age witnessing this transition is the Pravetz generation. Now in their 20s and early 30s, they are pioneering the expansion of Internet access, linking the nation - through cyberspace - to the rest of the world. There are approximately 30 ISPs and 300 host servers; an estimated 30,000 to 50,000 people have access, either through school, work, or home accounts. Two of the largest Internet service providers - Digital Systems and BIS OnLine - are run by entrepreneurs whose first exposure to computers was hands-on hacking on the Pravetz. Young adults are forming businesses of their own, sparking a small renaissance of entrepreneurial activity, showing, by example, that there are economic alternatives to emigration or collusion with criminal enterprises.
Ivailo Lenkov, another graduate of the National Mathematics High School, and a schoolmate of Ivanov and Todorov, stands beside me as we enter Room 28. Lenkov, 26, is the President of Iris Systems, a company that manufactures software for making telephone calls through the Internet. Twelve people work for Lenkov - ten in Sofia, and two part-time in Northern California. Lenkov is a rare breed - a businessperson who actually builds something for export. Importing hardware, consumer goods - consuming foreign products - is the country's main legitimate industry. Actually selling something made here to the world outside is practically unheard of. Iris Systems has sold almost 4,000 copies of its software, and an average of 500 people a day download the demo software from the company's Web site. Lenkov speaks fluent English and tells me he earns US$300 a month. Although, he points out, his friend who works for Security Insurance Company (SIC), the leading Bulgarian mafia, makes US$4000 a month. Nevertheless, Lenkov is proud of his company and just wants to lead a "normal life," which for Lenkov means emigrating. He wants to move Iris Systems overseas, preferably to the United States.
Lenkov and Ivanov went in one direction - they took their computer skills and built something positive with them. Todor Todorov and Dark Avenger went in another, turning their skills to sinister uses. It was Todorov, with his Virus Exchange BBS, who helped spread the Dark Avenger's work. From 1990 to 1993, Todorov's BBS offered virus source code. People could read the code, learn the tricks, train themselves, play a little, maybe turn out a good virus. The catch, though, was that users had to upload new code, adding to the collection, otherwise Todorov would not grant them access. Since finding viruses that were not already in the library was fairly difficult, writing them was easier. They did not have to be good, they just had to work. Those who were let in could hang out with Dark Avenger, who was a frequent user, exchanging posts in the private message board. In this way, Todorov's BBS became infamous around the world, because it seemed to indicate an organized scene, a virtual virus university and club house. Todorov ran the BBS out of his mother's house, on Atanas Perikliev street, using a single phone line and a 2400-baud modem. They lived there together, in a nondescript modern apartment building of eight stories, stolid and grim, overlooking an intersection where five of Sofia's streets converge at odd angles. In 1993, Todorov disappeared. Rumors abounded. Some said he'd gone to study in the US. Others noticed how, that same year, Dark Avenger vanished as well. His last known virus, Commander_Bomber, was written in 1993. More rumors swirled, reinforcing a favorite theory that Todorov and Dark Avenger were one. This is what drew me to Room 28, the idea that Dark Avenger might have also been here once. All paths led back to this spot. Lenkov, short and wiry with a close-cropped brown beard and blue eyes, finds my romanticism about this strange. "But I understand," he said to me earlier in his car, driving to school, "you find this history interesting. For us, though, it is something we want to forget." Four boys run past us - they look about 14 years old - kicking a 10-leva coin between them, in a game that takes them up and down the empty hallway. Ten leva was once worth something. Today, it barely equals two-thirds of a cent. The teacher with us, Elena Maslenkova, who tells me she's taught at the school for 20 years, unlocks the door and we step inside Room 28.
The lights are off, and a sticky wind blows in through the open windows, billowing the tattered green curtains that suffuse the room in an eerie, phosphorescent glow. Along two long wooden tables sit seven imported IBM-PCs, with 386 processors. The blackboard is filled with lines of code in Pascal. The room is peaceful. Most of the students, I am told, are downstairs, taking final exams. The Pravetzes are long gone.
The teacher saw the Pravetz generation go by, and she remembers the excitement of those days. I ask her how today's students compare with those of Lenkov and Todorov's time. She looks up at me, her brown eyes shining. Where once this school received the best Bulgaria could offer, she explains, today it is woefully underfunded, a victim of economic collapse. "The children have the will to learn," she tells me, "but we do not have the ability to teach them." Teachers are emigrating to the West, others, unable to survive on their meager salaries, have quit to find work elsewhere. As she talks, the four teens from the hall approach and gather around the door. They want to come in. Is the room open? they ask. Maslenkova shakes her head no and closes the door behind us as we step back out into the hall. The boys resume kicking their coin up and down the empty hallway.
The antivirus hunters
In 1989, when Dark Avenger began writing viruses, a Bulgarian computer scientist named Vesselin Bontchev identified the author as "Dark Avenger." It wasn't difficult. The virus said as much in its code with "This program was written in the city of Sofia © 1988-89 Dark Avenger." Bontchev entered into a strange relationship with the programmer, who, like a ghost in a Russian novel, became Bontchev's doppelgänger. Dark Avenger created viruses, signing some of them "Vesselin Bontchev," and once left Bontchev an anonymous letter in his mailbox. Bontchev replied publicly in Computer For You. Readers watching this scene accused Bontchev of taunting Dark Avenger, of spurring him on by challenging him to ever higher feats of algorithmic daring. Some even went so far as to say Bontchev was Dark Avenger.
Bontchev, in turn, became something of a celebrity in the antivirus scene. In 1990, he founded the National Laboratory for Computer Virology at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, where Ivanov works as the system administrator. In 1991, Bontchev left for the University of Hamburg, where he wrote his PhD thesis and worked half-time in their antivirus lab. He currently lives in Iceland, where he works for Frisk Software International, an antivirus software company.
Bontchev's departure, the shutting down of Todorov's Virus Exchange BBS, and the end of any new Dark Avenger work, seemed to signal the end of this phase in history. The past four years have seen relatively little virus activity in Bulgaria, and so it was with some shock, in January 1997, that Ivanov came to work one morning to discover that someone named Dark Avenger had hacked into the computers at Sofia University, whose network was connected to the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. He gained root access, and used their domain name server to spoof computers in the United States into thinking his parasitic machine was a trusted computer on the local network. For two days Dark Avenger had complete control of the country's largest academic network.
It was a good time to strike. Outside, in the streets of Sofia, thousands of citizens were calling for an end to the government of exsocialists and their cronies. Teetering on the edge of violence, the nation pulled back, and the governing Socialist Party agreed to early parliamentary elections. In April 1997, a new government - claiming to support democracy, the rule of law, and open markets - was elected, successfully winning majority control of the parliament. The United Democratic Forces now rules Bulgaria, and the country seems to be gingerly recovering from the former socialists and their network of associates. It appears that a government accountable to the people is finally in power.
Amidst the turmoil of political change, and the exhaustion brought on by economic collapse, the return of Dark Avenger has gone largely unnoticed. Those who have paid close attention are the members of the Pravetz generation who, as system administrators, have played a game of cat-and-mouse with Dark Avenger for six months. Ivanov is one, so is Kalin Bogatzevski, 24, who runs BIS OnLine. BIS was hacked by Dark Avenger during those same two days, and for several weeks the mysterious hacker had a BIS account, which he'd created using the login name "dav." Bogatzevski, who discovered computers in sixth grade while he was at Young Pioneer camp by the Black Sea, founded Sofia's first 24-hour BBS called XaX World, in his home in 1992. Daniel Kalchev, who runs Digital Systems, Bulgaria's largest ISP, says the recent break-ins are the only case of widespread cracking today. "This is not like the virus time, when a lot of people were interested," he says. "This Dark Avenger is working on his own."
No one is sure that this Dark Avenger is the same as the old Dark Avenger. But, in the tight network of system administrators, where many like Bogatzevski and Kalchev have known each other since the days of grassroots BBS expansion of the early '90s, the eerie synchronicity between the return of Dark Avenger and Todor Todorov has not gone unnoticed. Todorov, according to Bogatzevski, reappeared in Sofia in late December 1996, after a three-year absence. One month before Dark Avenger. Whether Todorov is the culprit, and whether the new Dark Avenger is the old one matters little. Dark Avenger, as Sarah Gordon, the American antivirus researcher who knows the "original" Dark Avenger better than anyone, points out, is easy to impersonate.
It is Sarah Gordon who, best of all, managed to strip away the Bulgarian hackers' braggadocio and hyperbole, uncovering the motivations of the virus writers. A former social worker and a foster parent, specializing in youths in crisis, Gordon compares the coders to angry, wayward adolescents. It was a virus that brought her into contact with Dark Avenger. In 1990, she bought a computer, and with it a virus called Ping_Pong.B. Curious about the infection, she logged into a discussion group through FidoNet and soon noticed an avid poster named Dark Avenger. Intrigued by the hype surrounding him and hoping to draw his attention, she commented she would like to have a virus named after her.
Months later, a strangely infectious bouquet called MtE - the Mutation Engine - found its way to Gordon. MtE was by no means plain. It could convert any virus into a "polymorphic" strain. That marked the end of one era in the evolution of viruses and the beginning of a second. Its changing nature made its detection much more difficult. Buried in the code of the demo virus that came with the engine was a card: "We dedicate this little virus to Sarah Gordon, who wanted to have a virus named after her."
She succeeded in doing what no one else had: engaging Dark Avenger. Over the next five years, they would continue their online exchange. She would conclude, in 1993, that Dark Avenger was a "unique individual," who had little in common with other virus writers. Where others are motivated by fame, fun, or power - to see their creation spread around the world - Dark Avenger seemed primarily motivated by a furious hatred of Vesselin Bontchev, whom he called the "weasel." He accused Bontchev of abetting him, and of conspiring with other virus writers, by providing source codes in the guise of antiviral research. Gordon's correspondence with Dark Avenger led to a series of articles and prominence in the antivirus scene. (See "An Interview with the Dark Avenger.") Her correspondence, though, would not last. When Dark Avenger heard his muse was to be married in 1995, he told her she would never hear from him again, and she has not.
Still, I am fascinated by Todor Todorov, and I call him on the telephone. His mother answers, and she speaks English. Todorov is not home. I want to ask him about these allegations, about the Virus Exchange. I want to hear what he thinks about Bulgaria. I want to know what he did between 1993 and today. Todorov, when I finally reach him, is impossible to interview. There is no opening, no conversation possible with the angry voice coming down the line. So I try Dark Avenger, using the email address Kalin Bogatzevski gave me. Bogatzevski, obsessed with Dark Avenger, had been tracking him as best he could, ever since he'd broken into Bogatzevski's system. I email the account Dark Avenger uses at m-net.arbornet.org, a freenet in Michigan, where he calls himself Vengador Obscuro, and I ask him if he is Todor Todorov. He responds:
i don't care what your three hundred thousand or three hundred million readers think. i don't care what you think either. there is a whole lot of fools on this planet and i couldn't possibly make every one of them happy, even if i wanted to - which i don't. third, what i write here is considered (by me) private e-mail, so none of it can get published or sent to other people or the like (if it does, and i find out about it, i'll be really pissed). other than that i don't care what you write.
by the way, are you always that pushy, or just when you are trying to do your job? that's what all reporters are supposed to be, i guess. but i must say i do not like it. and those tricks won't work with me anyway. i'm not one of those insecure little fucks that are dying to see their name printed on paper or wherever. and i have nothing to say to you about my 'real' identity, or anything else, at this time. you aren't going to get any information from me for free. i don't think it's in my interest to tell you anything, and as long as that is so, i can simply ignore you. don't get upset though... . i'm sure there is a whole lot of idiots (er... other people) out there, who would be glad to talk to you. or whatever.
The cloak of the Dark Avenger
Todor Zhivkov ruled Bulgaria for 35 years, until his downfall in November 1989. After seven years under house arrest, he lives with a small entourage in a villa overlooking Sofia. Eighty-six years old and largely ignored by the political spectrum, Zhivkov has outlived the great communist dictators of Eastern Europe. There are aspects of his legacy that Bulgarians still admire, mostly his desire to create a modern nation. It was Zhivkov who, among the Socialist dictators, gained a special place for his country as a supplier of high technology to the countries of Comecon, the economic network that managed trade between the USSR and its allies. At its peak, Bulgaria supplied 40 percent of the computers in the Eastern bloc. The electronics industry employed 300,000 workers, and it generated 8 billion rubles a year (US$13.3 billion), at a time when each ruble meant tangible improvements in living standards. Fueling production were thousands of scientists and engineers who, in a national effort, a kind of socialist Arpa, acquired outstanding computer skills. Researchers were trained to take systems apart, discover their inner workings, and then reproduce them - they were trained to hack. Todorov, Dark Avenger, Bogatzevski, Lenkov, Ivanov, Kalchev, Vesselin - each was an inheritor of this legacy, a child of Todor Zhivkov.
In 1967, the Politburo initiated the first of several Five Year Plans for informatics. In the first phase, from 1967 to 1972, it put in place a massive industrial complex to reverse-engineer, copy, and produce IBM mainframes and DEC minicomputers.
Known by the letters ZIT (an acronym which translates into Computer Machinery Works), the initiative unified academia and industry. Universities produced graduate students who worked in special research institutes taking apart US computers. Once a computer was reduced to its constituent bits on both a software and hardware level, industrial management designed a manufacturing process to replicate the machine. These managers, looking at indigenous resources, from iron to silicon to plastic and rubber, devised methods using local ingredients. After building a successful prototype, in conjunction with the engineers at the lab, assembly-line construction began. Soon after, clones appeared and were shipped to Comecon nations. ZIT would eventually produce 180 mainframes per year.
One young engineer with ZIT, Professor Kiril Boyanov, rose to control a laboratory of 1,200 researchers by 1989. Today, Boyanov sits behind a desk at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. Now in his 60s, he directs the Laboratory for Parallel and Distributed Processing, with a staff of 30. His budget comes mainly from the West, from European Union academic grants, and on his desk lie stacks of memos and documents with the European Community flag. Boyanov's son, who works in the lab as a system administrator, makes US$8 a month.
Outside, the campus looks like a scene from a science-fiction movie about the end of the earth - weeds and grass overflow, crunching the concrete, returning the paths to a state of nature, while lab-coated researchers, subsisting on microscopic salaries, poke their way through the fields from one building to another, or out to the highway where buses overflowing with commuters roll back and forth. The fare is 100 leva (about seven cents), but most just climb on and ride for free, their faces pressed upon the glass like petals waiting for the sun.
Boyanov built an enterprise under communism, mentoring hundreds in the special art of reverse-engineering. "I would take the best students and chose them to study with me for their doctorates. I was teaching them to analyze equipment and duplicate it. For instance, we would get the latest IBM logic boards, and figure out how they worked. Sometimes we would find mistakes," Boyanov smiles broadly at this, "and fix them." He is understandably proud - he worked to create a clone of the IBM 360/40 in 1970, a Cold War coup. Later, he worked on duplicating the IBM 370 and 1040 mainframe families, and the DEC PDP line of minicomputers. "In the USA, they needed tools to construct products. Here, we needed tools to deconstruct these products. We had fundamental skills in this, and we created a new breed of researcher - a person who could duplicate a machine using different materials." He emphasizes this last point. "The quality was not as good, but they worked. We built an economy on this." He pauses and looks at me from across his desk, the picture of his recently deceased mother staring at me from the frame by his side. "Was this good or bad?" he asks. It's a rhetorical question, and I wait for him to answer. "I don't know," he says, arms folded over his stomach. ZIT indirectly spawned Pravetz, the company named after the small town where Todor Zhivkov was born. When the first microcomputers appeared, in the mid-1970s, its engineers dismissed these machines as toys for children and decided not to reproduce them. In the strange ecology of socialist industry, where companies competed for state funds and licenses to control sectors of the market, competition existed, as did a bizarre form of entrepreneurship. A small company, looking to move up in the world of Five Year Plans, decided to get into the microcomputer business. Pravetz received support from the Ministry of Education, which agreed to buy thousands of these machines and put them in schools. The assembly lines built tens of thousands of microcomputers, beginning in 1982. These machines, starting with the Pravetz 82, went to schools across Bulgaria, and the socialist bloc. Even North Korea ordered several hundred, in return bartering cement through the Italian port of Trieste.
"About half our 6502 chips were built in Bulgaria, the other half we bought from Singapore," Vassil Tzarevsky, the former director of Pravetz, tells me with pride. Tzarevsky is proud of two things - that his workers had the skills to reproduce the microprocessors on their own - and that his managers were adept enough at earning hard currency that they could buy additional chips overseas, from legitimate distributors. "Our chip was twice as expensive as ones from Singapore," he tells me, "We had to evade central planning economics by selling more Bulgarian chips than was planned and using the extra cash to buy chips from Singapore." Tzarevksy smiles at the irony - building an expensive chip to get the same one cheaper.
According to Tzarevksy, children were always the primary audience. This made Pravetz unique because it explicitly had no military or security purpose. Rather, Pravetz appears as a monumental creature of whimsy, like the obscure Robotron videogame machine built by the East Germans in the early 1980s. These cultural artifacts serve as facsimiles of the originals, mutated to fit the directives of a centrally planned economy, and then hijacked by the young. It was not until my last day in Bulgaria that I managed to see a Pravetz 82. They are hard to find now, just one more piece of silicon junk, too obsolete to preserve. Maslenkova, the teacher who let me into the computer room at the National Mathematics High School, tipped me off. She told me of a repair shop - the last in Sofia - that specializes in fixing Pravetzes. Ivailo Lenkov and I head north, through Sofia, to a neighborhood by the railway station. Sofia, a city of 1.2 million people, doesn't seem to have any dangerous neighborhoods, but the Bulgarians I've met insist I am wrong. "This is a bad place," Lenkov tells me, as we near our destination. "Many Gypsies and Turkish people live here." I look out the window, low buildings crowd streets that seem the same as anywhere else - dirty and potholed. Up ahead I see a billboard: two men shake hands, the cuffs of their tailored suits ostentatiously visible, with the letters SIC - Security Insurance Corporation - running along the top of the advertisement. In Bulgaria, the mafia advertises.
A little way past the billboard, Lenkov turns left onto a cobblestone street slightly wider than an alley, drives up a steep hill, and parks in front of a nondescript yellowing building. A few tired trees spread their branches over the street. Outside, I see the Pravetz logo.
Lenkov and I climb a steep set of stairs and enter a long corridor, walking along the worn wooden floor until we come upon a man sitting at a dusty desk. He's chain smiling amidst the detritus of Bulgarian computer history - motherboards, drive cables, plastic computer casings, all covered in a thin patina of grime. The cigarette smoke pools at the ceiling an languidly settles down on everything. Thin and elegant, with a faded gray sweater that matches his hair, theis man is one of two official repairpersons, the last tow left in Sofia, who fix Pravetz 82 microcomputers. Across form him another younger man works on a PC, and a woman idly smokes on the sagging couch at the far end of the room, beneath a 1993 calendar with a photograph of a topless bathing beauty.
The man with the gray hair looks up and grins. He is working on a Pravetz 82 - the same sleek look as the original Apple IIe - except the keys have both Cyrillic and Latin letters, and the plastic casing is molded with fake wood grain. Inside exists a parallel universe of circuitry. I watch as the repairperson leans over the open processor, his cigarette dangling between his lips; he shows me how to connect the external floppy drive to the motherboard, I nod, and he closes the lid. I hand him seven US dollars, and he gives me the machine.
My Pravetz is a memeto mori, a tangible link to a fleeting point in time when the computer's own childhood, with its 64K of gloriously accesible RAM, matched that of youths like Todor Todorov, Ivailo Lenkov, Kalin Bogatzevski, and Anton Ivanov.
The Pravetz computers are inseparable from the Bulgarian virus epidemic. They were the first to show Bulgarian kids what strange new powers computers could give them. They are also part of a culture of mystery, a place that was once, literally, Byzantine.
That mystery still shrouds Bulgaria and its notorious virus writers. In Sofia Kalin Bogatzevshi is convinced Todor Todorv is Dark Avenger. Ivalio Lenkov, who's known Todorov since childhood, says Todorov is not the Dark Avenger. Todorov will not answer the question. Nor will the person who now calls himself Dark Avenger.
Even Sarah Gordon- the only outsider who knew the original Dark Avenger - is unsure. She admits she may not know. Dark Avenger is no longer a person, but a cloak: the letters in the handle "dav" to be worn by one impostor after the next.
It's a contagious idea that continues to grow. What began almost a decade ago in Bulgaria with one person, has spread, through the tendrils of cyberspace, around the world. Anyone can take this cloak, put it on, and become the Dark Avenger. |
The Islamic State group is hemorrhaging money with every piece of territory it loses, according to a new analysis that found that the group’s “business model” is on the path to failure.
The analysis released Saturday by the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation and Political Violence and the accounting firm EY found that the self-proclaimed caliphate’s financial resources have been drained substantially since the days beginning in mid-2014 when it captured banks, oil wells and entire warehouses of weapons as it amassed land.
The report found that Islamic State revenue has declined from up to $1.9 billion in 2014 to at most $870 million in 2016.
“One of the mistakes that’s been made in the past when we were talking about Islamic State was talking about it purely as a terrorist organization. It is a terrorist organization but it is more than that. It holds territory,” said Peter Neumann, director of the center at King’s College London. “That also means it has a lot more expenses. It needs to fix roads. It needs to pay teachers. It needs to run health services. It needs to pay for these things that al-Qaida never had to.”
But less money may not make the group less dangerous, the report said.
“We know from the attacks in Paris and Brussels and Berlin that none of them was expensive,” Neumann said.
Most of the recent attacks in Europe and the U.S. were self-financed by the people that carried them out, with little input or money from the IS leadership in the war zone of Syria and Iraq.
Among the top sources of revenue for the Islamic State group were taxes and fees, oil, ransoms, and looting or other extortion. All of those, Neumann said, required newly captured territory to be sustainable and to keep the group’s promise of a caliphate.
A federal lawsuit filed in December was a prime example of Islamic State’s revenues from a combination of seized land, taxes and extortion. According to the court filing, the group received at least 20 percent of the proceeds of items excavated from archaeological sites under its control and taxed antiquities sold in its territories. At one point, a child was kidnapped to force an antiquities merchant to pay, said the lawsuit, which sought the recovery of four ancient artifacts believed to have been put up for sale by the group.
But that income only flows when Islamic State can exert absolute control. According to an update Friday from the global coalition against Islamic State, the group has lost 62 percent of the territory it controlled in Iraq at its height in August 2014 and 30 percent of its territory in Syria.
“The business model was also to constantly expand and to plunder the areas that were becoming part of the caliphate. It was essentially a pyramid scheme which relied upon constant expansion,” Neumann said.
A U.S. defense official said IS still has enough money to pay its bills, despite the fact that it has lost sources of income and has reduced what it pays foot soldiers. The official said the U.S. certainly has not seen IS’ financial situation damaged to the point that it has degraded its ability to conduct external attacks. The official was not authorized to publicly discuss IS and spoke only on condition of anonymity.
Near-daily car bombings in Baghdad indicate that the group’s ability to inflict carnage is undiminished in Iraq, even as it cedes ground it once controlled.
But Neumann said the fall of the northern Iraqi city of Mosul could be a lethal blow in the long term.
“The brand of Islamic State will suffer and the attractiveness of wanting to carry out terrorist attacks in the name of Islamic State will suffer because it is no longer projecting strength and utopia,” Neumann said. |
PlayStation Experience starts on December 9th, and you know Capcom will be there with our latest games, and more. Swing by the Capcom booth #A210 to check out some of our latest products, or check out the Capcom Cup to see the best Street Fighter V players in the world vie for the chance to be crowned champion! Read on for even more activities happening over the weekend.
Demos
Monster Hunter: World
Join a team of hunters and take down giant monsters in epic battles in Monster Hunter: World, available for play on the show floor! Choose from one of 14 unique weapon types, customize your load-out with your favorite gear, then jump into the fray alongside three of your fellow hunters to take on – and take down – massive beasts. The demo will have quests with options for a range of difficulty options so that no matter your skill level, you’ll be able to try out the game. And as a special treat to the most expert of hunters attending PlayStation Experience, the demo includes an option to try a new super challenging quest for the first time featuring the all-new flagship monster Nergigante. Do you have what it takes to face this terrifying Elder Dragon?
If you’re not at the show, you can still hunt from home – PlayStation 4 owners with PlayStation Plus can participate in an exclusive beta from December 9th to 12th! No matter how you choose to hunt this weekend, you won’t have to wait much longer to get your paws on the full game. Monster Hunter: World will be available beginning January 26th, 2018 for PS4 and Xbox One, and will be coming to PC at a later date.
Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite
The ultimate cross-over series returns, with Marvel and Capcom fan favorites going head-to-head in 2 vs. 2 combat. Create a team of your favorite characters, then pick one of the six Infinity Stones to fit your playstyle and change the flow of battle. With so many combinations of characters and Stones, the possibilities seem infinite! Venom, Black Widow, and Winter Soldier have just joined the fight earlier this week and will be playable on the PSX show floor along with Black Panther, Sigma, and Monster Hunter! Do you have what it takes to win against other show attendees? Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite is available now for PS4, Xbox One, and PC!
© 2017 MARVEL ©MOTO KIKAKU. ©CAPCOM
Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition
The legendary fighting franchise returns to PlayStation Experience! Check out the new Arcade Mode in action with a demo on the show floor, and relive the glory days of the arcade by choosing one of six available paths that each represent a game in the series – this demo is a shortened version. If you’re the competitive type, get your hands on the balance changes coming to Arcade Edition, all new V-Triggers, and check out the newest costumes for your favorite characters. With Street Fighter V out now, you can hone your skills on the show floor and take the fight home on PS4! Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition launches on January 16th, with all existing owners of Street Fighter V getting the update, gameplay-related content, and balance changes as a free update on the same day.
Resident Evil 7 biohazard – Not a Hero DLC
Chris Redfield returns in the free Not a Hero DLC for Resident Evil 7 biohazard! Releasing alongside Resident Evil 7 biohazard Gold Edition on December 12th, this new content will explore events that take place after the main story of RE7 and Ethan’s fight for survival in the Baker Mansion. Play as series’ mainstay Chris Redfield as he hunts down an elusive foe in this action-focused, free DLC available for owners of any version of Resident Evil 7 biohazard.
Dead Rising 4: Frank’s Big Package
Frank West returns to Willamette, and to the PS4, to catch the latest scoop on a new outbreak! Kick some butt, take grade-A selfies, and put your photojournalistic skills to the test. We’re bringing the entire Dead Rising 4 experience, plus previously released DLC, to the PS4! On top of this, the new Capcom Heroes mode gives you a whole new way to play by giving Frank access to a bunch of classic costumes based off of beloved Capcom characters. Dead Rising 4: Frank’s Big Package is available now for PS4, and Capcom Heroes mode will also be available as a free update for existing owners of Dead Rising 4.
Signings
We’ll also have two signing sessions at the Capcom booth during the show:
Yoshinori Ono (Executive Producer of Street Fighter V)
Sunday, 11:00 AM to 12:00 PM
Ryozo Tsujimoto and Yuya Tokuda (Executive Producer and Director of Monster Hunter: World)
Sunday, 3:00 PM to 4:00 PM
Hope we’ll see you there! |
It is an anagram for Jim Morris name. He said he was going to be reincarnated and come back as Mr. Mojo Risin. BAND FACTS What does "Mojo Risin" mean? The word Mojo has its roots in voodoo but was adopted into the early blues culture and refers to one's sexual prowess. Jim Morrison created an ingenious anagram of his name by re-arranging the letters to spell "Mr. Mojo Risin." He sang that phrase repeatedly in the bridge section of the song "L.A. Woman." The ever-accelerating tempo that John Densmore plays under Jim's lyrics in that section of the song creates a rhythmic analogy of intercourse. Rumors have persisted that if Jim Morrison had indeed faked his death, then he would contact the remaining members of the band using "Mr. Mojo Risin" as a pseudonym. |
Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2010 March 26
Young Moon and Sister Stars
Image Credit & Copyright: Anna Morris
Explanation: A young crescent Moon shares the western sky with sister stars of the Pleiades cluster in this pretty, evening skyscape recorded on the March equinox from San Antonio, Texas. In the processed digital image, multiple exposures of the celestial scene were combined to show details of the bright lunar surface along with the Pleiades stars. Astronomical images of the well-known Pleiades often show the cluster's alluring blue reflection nebulae, but they are washed-out here in the bright moonlight. Still, during this particular night, skygazers in South and Central America could even watch the 5 day old Moon occult or pass in front of some of the brighter Pleiades stars. |
Last month, Bleeding Cool ran an article quoting comic creator Tess Fowler, in which she detailed what she saw as unforgivable behaviour towards her at the hands of another comic book creator. However, since Tess Fowler didn’t choose to name names in her tweets, we respected that, and closed the message board to prevent in-thread speculation.
Last week on Twitter, Tess changed her mind about the naming. It appears to have been this tweet that started it;
Every “I met Brian Wood at a signing and he was a dick” comment = me not matching a stranger’s expectations of my extrovert-ness. — Brian Wood (@brianwood) November 13, 2013
Tess responded with;
I’m going to say it. And fuck anyone who doesn’t like it. Brian Wood is a DICK. And he’s preyed on women for too long. — TessFowler (@TessFowler) November 13, 2013
She then continued at length. It is worth emphasising that her account has yet to be tested or proved and the person she accused has not chosen to comment publicly. What is important though that she brings up wider aspects of how women are often treated in the comics industry, how such treatment is hidden, and why people won’t name names. It’s not one name, it’s many. This time however, it seems to be being recognised, with articles on The Beat and The Outhouse, and an earlier Comics Alliance piece becoming a focus point for traffic.
I was minding my own business until folks went after someone on Twitter for saying what I’ve said about BW for years. Now I tripped and… — TessFowler (@TessFowler) November 13, 2013
landed in a sea of ladies talking about BW incidents, and incidents with other pros. So I’m getting loud. And FUCK you if you don’t like it. — TessFowler (@TessFowler) November 13, 2013
I’ve been nice. REALLY nice. But when I have 3 women in my inbox in TEARS as they’re typing over the same guy? Yeah, screw being nice. — TessFowler (@TessFowler) November 13, 2013
Tell me I’m wrong. Tell me this isn’t an insidious pile of bull crap that is allowed to go on out of fear. Go ahead. I dare you. — TessFowler (@TessFowler) November 13, 2013
Look I understand that some of you want to tear me apart for this. But you’re not the one with an inbox full of accounts from folks in fear. — TessFowler (@TessFowler) November 13, 2013
If I reach just one of you in comics, and that puts a bug in your ear for change, I’ve done something right. You want to blast me? That’s ok — TessFowler (@TessFowler) November 13, 2013
The fear folks have is of being discredited. A woman speaking out is called an attention seeker. Be quiet. Sit down. Look pretty. — TessFowler (@TessFowler) November 13, 2013
“If I am noisy, they will not take me seriously.” I get that. I’ve been there. I survived a lot in my life and now I get to be loud. — TessFowler (@TessFowler) November 13, 2013
Are there good men in comics? OF COURSE. I’ve said it a million times. All different kinds. But they should be louder. Much louder. — TessFowler (@TessFowler) November 13, 2013
Tess did raise a number of important issues, much much of the attention was focused on specific allegations against Wood. Two days later, Brian Wood decided to publicly respond, stating;
Tess Fowler is correct about this: I did make a pass at her at SDCC Hyatt bar roughly 8 years ago. But when she declined, that was the conclusion of the matter for me. There was never a promise of quid pro quo, no exertion of power, no threats, and no revenge. This was at a time in my career when I had very little professional power or industry recognition. The pickup was a lame move, absolutely, and I’ll accept the heat for having done it, but that’s all it was: I liked her, I took a chance, and was shot down. I immediately regretted it, and I apologize to Ms. Fowler for the tackiness and embarrassment of it all.
He also stated that;
I think the larger issues of abuse in the comics industry are genuine and I share everyone’s concerns. As a father to a young daughter showing an interest in making her own comics, I do really care about this stuff. So I don’t want our difference of accounts to take attention away from that industry-wide discussion that needs to happen.
Today, Fowler responded to these comments, detailing her experience at length, stating;
I responded in a Twitter thread to another pro, giving my account of a story from my past as a show of defense. That this thread was then picked up by Bleeding Cool and has sparked another, larger conversation about the state of comic books today is more important here. But I also did take to Twitter again to make a very public statement after my inbox was filled with accounts from other women who had found themselves in my same position. My story was not an isolated incident. Not by a long shot. I knew I’d catch some heat for being so honest, but I stand by my decision to speak frankly, in anger. For the ladies who can’t talk about it, and for the gents who’ve been watching it occur for years, but also to clear the air:
But do you know what is different. People are talking about this. Really talking, at length from message board to thread to blog, there’s a feeling that not only is this no longer acceptable – if it ever was – but now, with social media, that the cones of silence may be lifting and people are more willing to talk about their experiences.
Whether youth services librarian Ivy;
Because we, comic nerds, are not yet at a place where we are really treating any gender interested in comics fairly. Fowler is still “a girl in comics”, and her reaction to something that could happen to any woman– in any career field– is seen as revolutionary. Why? Because a woman reporting sexual harassment is a risk. Suddenly, you’re being questioned from every angle: what were you wearing? Did you say no? If you felt threatened why didn’t you defend yourself?
Photographer Anne Scherbina, previously Anne Rogers, who used to work in Events & Retailer Services at DC Comics
@TessFowler I am no longer in comics, but when I was, I had a creepy thing happen with him, that he later spun to others as being my idea. — Anne Scherbina (@Anne_Scherbina) November 16, 2013
or G Willow Wilson;
I have never had a negative or skeevy encounter with a male comics professional. Not one. Not at cons, not at parties, not at meetings, not in green rooms or on panels. In fact, the vast majority of men I’ve met in the industry—including Brian Wood—have been both friendly and generous with their time and influence. Then again, I dress like a nun. A nun with possible terrorist connections. Who has strabismus. So perhaps I’m not the best example. Nearly every other woman I’ve met in the industry seems to have horror stories about creepy run-ins with male colleagues and creators.
This issue breaks out of the shadows every few years it seems, the difference now is that social media can keep it out. Expand its original borders. And possibly stop someone in their tracks in the future from doing something very silly.
About Rich Johnston Chief writer and founder of Bleeding Cool. Father of two. Comic book clairvoyant. Political cartoonist.
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WASHINGTON – Responding to claims that Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser directed the Metropolitan Police Department to stop investigating the murder of DNC staffer Seth Rich, the mayor’s office insisted to WND that Rich was killed in an attempted robbery and police are committed to bring closure to his case.
“This is a robbery that ended tragically. Any homicide in the District of Columbia gets the full attention of the Metropolitan Police Department,” Bowser’s deputy press secretary, Susana Castillo, told WND in statement Friday. “In fact, MPD has a cold case unit that focuses on solving homicides in D.C. no matter how old they are.”
While Castillo maintains that Bowser’s office “will continue to work with the Rich family to bring closure to this case as MPD does with all homicide cases,” private investigators have told WND they are certain Bowser has ordered a halt to the investigation.
Jack Burkman, the head of the private, Washington, D.C.-based Profiling Project investigative team, claimed to WND on Wednesday that D.C. police officials have colluded with the mayor to suspended the investigation.
While police initially cooperated with his team of private investigators, now they refuse to cooperate with any parties involved and are withholding key evidence from the public and obstructing the investigation for political purposes, Burkman alleges.
“I very strongly believe that the D.C. police and the D.C. mayor, for her own political reasons, want this ended,” he said. “This is going to become an issue in the mayor’s race, and this is really going to hurt her politics. This is a real black eye. This is becoming a real big thing – it’s on its way to becoming an O.J., and it could derail the mayor’s re-election.”
Burkman, a Republican lobbyist who offered a $105,000 reward of his personal money for information leading to the arrest of Rich’s killers, says the only surveillance video police released of the shooting proves it wasn’t motivated by a robbery.
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“We’ve done investigations that really prove this was not a robbery,” Burkman said. “I took one look at that video, and I knew that the police story that this was a robbery gone awry was nonsense. I mean, my God, he was shot twice in the back and nothing was taken. The police hypothesis is just ridiculous. It’s beyond silly.”
The Rich family is also doubtful Rich, whose body was found with his wallet, credit cards and other valuables, was murdered during a robbery.
“If it was a robbery – it failed because he still has his watch, he still has his money, he still has his credit cards, still had his phone – so it was a wasted effort except we lost a life,” Joel Rich, Seth’s father, acknowledged days after his son was killed.
Wheeler, who was hired by Rich’s parents in March to find their son’s killer, strongly suspects Rich’s death is linked to his work at the DNC and explained why there is no evidence to support the police’s assertion he was murdered during a “botched” robbery.
“I’ve been hitting the ground out there talking with people – typical things we do in a homicide investigation. I haven’t found anything to support the theory that this was a street robbery,” he told WND last week.
The fact that not a single person has come forward with information about Rich’s murder, despite the MPD offering a $25,000 reward in addition to Burkman’s offer of $105,000, “is suspect in itself” and a good reason to investigate other motives, Wheeler said.
“It is highly unusual because, in that particular area, if you offer $10,000, you are going to get five people that are going to come forward,” he said. “For $1,000, they will tell you something and you can remain anonymous, too – sure they’re going to come forward. [But in this case] Nothing. Not one person has come forward.”
Wheeler claims officers of the Metropolitan Police Department have conspicuously responded to his inquiries about Rich’s murder with ominous “blank stares.”
“It’s a blank stare – it’s scary,” he said. “I’m getting nothing from police, just nothing.”
After months of investigating Rich’s murder, the Rich family revealed to the veteran homicide detective on May 15 that former DNC Chair and CNN contributor Donna Brazille contacted the police department after he inquired with homicide detectives for information on Rich’s case.
Wheeler has been incessantly repudiated by Brad Bauman – the Rich family’s spokesman, who has been allegedly “assigned” by the Democratic National Committee to represent the family – for not ruling out the possibility that Rich’s death may be related to DNC emails turned over to WikiLeaks.
“It’s sad but unsurprising that a group of media outlets who have repeatedly lied to the American people would try and manipulate the legacy of a murder victim in order to forward their own political agenda,” Bauman, a professional Democratic crisis public-relations consultant told WND. “I think there is a special place in hell for people like that.”
Burkman also claims the Rich family spokesman, who denies the DNC hired him to represent the family, has maliciously attacked his character and said he is not going to stand for it.
“Bauman is attacking me, attacking me, attacking me,” Burkman said. “If he doesn’t stop, we’re going to serve him with a cease-and-desist letter or consider a suit for slander and defamation, because he just won’t stop. There’s no reason for him to be calling me names. That’s not his job. He’s a spokesman for the family – we’re just trying to investigate. He wants to make this partisan.”
The Metropolitan Police Department officials, who have maintained that Rich’s murder was robbery lated throught the 10 months since he was killed, are disputing Burkman’s and Wheeler’s allegations.
“MPD does not entertain conspiracy theories and does not engage with conspiracy theorists,” the statement from MPD’s Karimah Bilal said Thursday. “If you are in possession of information that you believe to be relevant to this or any case, please let us know the details of such information such that it can help, rather than hinder, our investigation.”
WND reported also on Thursday CNN attacked a Republican lawmaker who called for a federal investigation of the unsolved murder of Rich and any possible role he may have had in the leaking of Democratic National Committee emails during the 2016 election.
Rep. Blake Farenthold, R-Texas, told CNN Wednesday: “My fear is our constant focusing on the Russians is deflecting away from some other things that we need to be investigating. There’s still some question as to whether the intrusion of the DNC server was an insider job or whether or not it was the Russians.”
CNN reporters quickly cut off the congressman.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, the ‘insider job’ – what are you referring to here?” asked CNN’s John Berman.
“There’s stuff circulating on the Internet. My question is, why,” the congressman continued, but he was again cut off by Berman.
“What’s circulating on the Internet that you think is worthy of a congressional investigation?” Berman demanded. “Because the D.C. police are investigating this, and so far they haven’t said there’s anything there” to suggest any DNC-link to Rich’s murder.
The fourth-term congressman noted the DNC denied the FBI’s “multiple requests” to examine the hacked computers. Instead, the DNC hired a third party organization, CrowdStrike, to perform an analysis.
“We’re relying only on the report of somebody that the DNC contracted to examine their computer rather than having federal officials [examine them],” Farenthold told CNN. “To me, we need to let the feds look at it.”
As WND reported, Rich was murdered July 10, 2016, in his affluent neighborhood in Washington, D.C. He was shot in the back with a handgun at 4:18 a.m. a block from his home, and nothing was taken from him. He was transported to a local hospital and was pronounced dead at 5:57 a.m. On July 22, just 12 days after Rich’s death and days before the Democratic Party Convention in Philadelphia, WikiLeaks released 20,000 emails from DNC officials.
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LADY GAGA has clad herself in everything from meat to Kermit the Frogs, but her latest wardrobe wonder raised more than eyebrows when she wore a flying dress to promote her new album, Artpop.
At a secret New York event Gaga slipped into the battery-powered couture contraption, called Volantis, and hovered about a foot above the ground thanks to the hexi-copter design by Techhaus Studio XO.
The dress claims to be the world’s first flying outfit but, before you tear up your bus tickets, Gaga explains it’s more symbolic than transport solution.
“Although she is a vehicle, she is a metaphor for me. I will be a vehicle today for their voices,” she explained to the audience while comparing the dress to the creativity of youth.
Gaga jumped on-board, fitting into the built-in bodice, and wowed onlookers as she was piloted around remotely.
While we’re unlikely to be finding Volantis in shops or wardrobes anytime soon, it goes down on our list of most wanted, unobtainable, tech alongside the Hoverboard.
http://www.news.com.au/technology/design/lady-gaga-wears-worlds-first-flying-dress/story-fnjwubd2-1226757583590 |
So I have a question
How well are the gems known among humans?
First off, I want to point out that Connie in “Fusion Cuisine” refuse to tell her parents that Steven lives with his gems because she’d be afraid that they’d “think all this magic stuff is weird”. Then again, I think that Connie’s parents aren’t very open minded in the first place. However, they didn’t seem too freaked out when Alexandrite showed up. A bit shocked and maybe even judgmental, but it’s not like they ran off screaming about a giant woman running after them. Tell me you wouldn’t freak out if you saw this:
Secondly, the Pizza family, especially the father, can’t seem to grasp that they aren’t….normal. In “Beach Party”, The father often refers to the Gems doing crazy stuff (including destroying his restaurant) as “magic tricks”. And even though neither the Gems NOR Steven try to cover up the fact that they are magical beings from space, the Pizzas still don’t grasp that concept, instead immediately grasping to what they would see as “normal” (whatever that is in this world). However, when the puffer fish monster comes back to crash the party, the Pizza’s aren’t too freaked out. Even the dad seems annoyed at the most. They don’t seem too amazed by the monster, but still gets together to kick it out.
Thirdly, Mayor Dewey refers to them as “Magic Ladies” in “Ocean Gem” and asks for their assistance in getting the ocean back. He obviously knows that the gems keep Beach City safe. But does everyone else know too? The other people who live in Beach City are pretty chill about the magic stuff, but at the same time can’t completely grasp that the Gems are magical beings from space?
Fourthly (is this a word?), there’s Ronaldo. Ah yes, darling Ronaldo. In “Keep Beach City Weird”, the entire episode revolves around Ronaldo trying to link all the mishaps in Beach City to snake people (or sneople), completely ignoring the fact that there’s THREE SUPER POWERED WOMEN FROM SPACE LIVING RIGHT NEXT DOOR. Apparently, that’s not that big of a deal to him. Like what’s cooler than kick-ass space women? Apparently sneople who live under ground.
Even when he realizes literally EVERYTHING weird that happens in Beach City is because of the Gems, instead of getting excited about pieces fitting together to space magical ladies, he falls into a pit of despair because apparently that’s not weird enough? Then suddenly, he comes to the realization of “sentient rocks” who are “drilling into earth’s core”, which is literally what’s happening currently, which does lead to the Gems. So???? Suddenly they’re weird???
And lastly, the many ruins/temples:
These, as we know, are scattered all over Earth. These places have no people living around them and as far as we know, no humans even know they exist. So apparently there’s tons and tons of land either erased of all human life or completely unexplored by humans. That, or they know not to cross in Gem territory. Which leads me completely back to my first question. How well do people on Earth know of the Gem’s existence? Do they know at all? Do they play it all off as tricks? Do they know just enough to keep them safe? I want some answers. |
BRIEFING TO THE STANDING COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC SAFETY AND NATIONAL SECURITY (SECU) REGARDING PRIVATE MEMBERS’ BILL C-637, AN ACT TO AMEND THE CRIMINAL CODE (FIREARMS STORAGE AND TRANSPORTATION)
By Tony Bernardo, Executive Director | Canadian Shooting Sports Association
Canada – -(Ammoland.com)- Thank you, Mr. Chairman and members of the SECU Committee.
My name is Tony Bernardo, and I am the executive director of the Canadian Shooting Sports Association. I have been asked to testify before this committee in regards to the technical aspects of Bill C-637. I also wish to provide some background information regarding the development of this situation with air guns in Canada.
The current laws and regulations Canada has regarding air guns came about as a result of the RCMP firearms lab trying to circumvent previous regulations in order to further restrict the possession of air guns. The firearms lab had been taking airguns of the type purchased at Canadian Tire stores and firing ultra-light pellets from these air guns, chronographing the velocity of these ultra-light pellets. When it was determined that the velocities exceeded 495 feet-per-second, they classified these ordinary air guns as real firearms and demanded that they be registered.
Needless to say, with hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, of these very ordinary BB guns in the public domain, the Liberal government of the day was extremely concerned that Canadians would find themselves in criminality over the purchase of a common BB gun. The Minister of Justice at that time, the Honourable Anne McLellan, decided to form the original Firearms Experts Technical Committee. This committee was given the mandate to develop new air gun laws that would prevent the RCMP from continuing down the path of criminalizing ordinary Canadians. The makeup of the committee was wide and diverse and included members of the firearms community, activist groups and the RCMP, among others.
Over the course of several months, the committee met a number of times to best discuss how to keep Canadians safe without unduly restricting freedoms or criminalizing ordinary people. I was privileged to be on that committee and to serve Minister McLellan in that regard. After months of work, the committee recommended that our current air gun laws be changed from a simple 495 feet-per-second velocity ceiling to its slightly more complicated 495 feet-per-second with a newly introduced energy component of 5.7 Joules of kinetic energy. Because kinetic energy is a measure of mass times velocity squared, the use of ultra-light projectiles in BB guns would not exceed the energy requirement even though the tested velocity might be over 495 feet-per-second.
This is a very important point, and I will return to this later in this presentation.
Of particular interest to this committee might be the issue of why this law is so needed. Air guns found themselves in the crosshairs of the Supreme Court of Canada as a result of the so-called “pig's eye test.” The pig's eye test was introduced several years ago as court evidence by zealous Crowns bent on obtaining Criminal Code firearms convictions against individuals who had committed certain offences with air guns. Related to this is the Criminal Code definition of a “firearm.” Section 2 states: “‘firearm’ means a barrelled weapon from which any shot, bullet or other projectile can be discharged and that is capable of causing serious bodily injury or death to a person, …”
The pig's eye test is based upon a post-war military study that demonstrated that a velocity of 214 feet per second was necessary to incapacitate a person. This was accomplished by firing military projectiles, not BBs, into the eyes of dead pigs. However, velocity does not tell the whole story.
As illustrated in the first part of this presentation, it is recognized that velocity alone is not sufficient to seriously injure a person. A speck of dust at 214 feet-per-second would make a person's eye water. A bowling ball at the same speed would easily kill someone. This was recognized by Minister McLellan's committee and was incorporated into Canada's air gun laws.
As well, there has been no demonstrated correlation between a pig's eye and a human's eye. We know that an octopus' eye is different than a sparrow's eye – which is different again from an alligator's eye. But there has never been a medical correlation of which I am aware, between a pig's eye and a person's eye.
Why is this important? Because the Criminal Code says “serious bodily injury” to a person – not a pig – and if one is to accept the premise that these are interchangeable, it must be clearly established that these two eyes are the same.
The third point regarding this test is that there is no legal opinion I am aware of that states that losing an eye constitutes a “serious injury.” I'm sure we can all agree that it would almost certainly be very painful and would bring out a huge squeamish factor in most of us. However since the beginning of mankind, people have been lost eyes in accidents and gone on to live perfectly normal lives. Once again, I am not suggesting that damaging an eye is not a serious matter. It certainly may be. I am simply stating that there is no legal evidence to establish this fact and that this is necessary when a Criminal Code conviction hangs in the balance.
The point of all of this information is that Canada's air gun laws were developed based on the results of committee recommendations from a group of experts appointed by the former Chrétien government. Justice Minister McLellan was satisfied that the recommended changes to the old regulations on air guns were both evidence-based and satisfied public safety requirements. Indeed, we have been using these regulations since that time, and there has been no lack of safety surrounding Canada's air gun laws.
Bill C-637 does not even restore the former government's status quo on BB guns as non-firearms. It only speaks to transportation and storage regulations. A kid with a BB gun can still be charged with firearms offenses in certain circumstances and a myriad of other very serious Criminal Code offenses. The decades-old warning to be careful with your Red Ryder BB gun certainly pales against the specter of being run through Canada's legal system.
Even with the successful passage of this bill, all that reverts back to the previous regulation is the storage and transportation of these BB guns.
Air guns are the primary trainers of the firearms world. Many, many generations of novice shooters have learned the skills of marksmanship and the responsibilities of safe gun handling through the use of pellet and BB guns. Many more will. The air gun is a marvelous training tool with which to teach. They are quiet, safe and very accurate. That the Supreme Court of Canada chose to circumvent the clearly stated will of Parliament is disappointing to the tens of thousands of Canadians I represent. These lawful, trustworthy citizens of this great country now look to you to make this right again.
It is the position of the CSSA that we support this bill. We would like to see it expanded to fully return to the old status of air guns enjoyed by Canadians for so many decades. Air guns are not firearms. They do not have the reach, lethality or potential of real firearms. Those air guns that do possess the characteristics of real firearms were already adequately regulated within Canada's legal framework. BB guns should not be treated as firearms. I think all of us intuitively recognize the wisdom of this, and we look to our Parliament to make this right again.
Thank you for your time and consideration in this matter.
About:
The CSSA is the voice of the sport shooter and firearms enthusiast in Canada. Our national membership supports and promotes Canada's firearms heritage, traditional target shooting competition, modern action shooting sports, hunting, and archery. We support and sponsor competitions and youth programs that promote these Canadian heritage activities. Website www.cdnshootingsports.org |
August 24, 2015
by Canadian Manufacturing.com Staff
KITCHENER, Ont—Hybrid Turkeys, a Hendrix Genetics Ltd.-owned Ontario turkey breeder, has plead guilty to one count of animal cruelty, according to the Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
The plea comes in response to a complaint received by the SPCA in March 2014 surrounding the treatment of animals on a farm operated by Hybrid Turkeys. The charge stated the company failed to exercise reasonable care and supervision of the euthanasia of animals. Hybrid Turkeys has been sentenced to a $5,600 fine, which is payable to the Ontario Court.
“The law outlines the standards of care for all animals across the province,” says Chief Inspector, Connie Mallory. “These standards include acceptable forms of euthanasia and apply to everyone, including companies and organizations.”
The case first surfaced after Mercy For Animals Canada released an undercover video that showed several disturbing scenes including what appeared to be birds living with open wounds and an employee hitting a bird with a shovel. The organization said this instance is the first time a company has been found guilty of animal cruelty as a result of an undercover video.
“This case graphically illustrates the cruel, inhumane, and illegal abuses that turkeys and other farmed animals are forced to endure on Canada’s factory farms,” Mercy For Animals Canada’s president, Nathan Runkle, said “While we praise law enforcement for securing a landmark cruelty conviction in this case of horrific animal abuse, the meager fine doesn’t fit the crime. This factory farm got a slap on the wrist for clubbing animals over the head. We must do more to protect animals on factory farms from sickening cruelty.”
Mercy For Animals is calling on the National Farm Animal Care Council to amend the turkey codes to ensure that all sick or injured birds be provided with immediate treatment by a qualified veterinarian. |
Bloomberg Alan Greenspan, former Federal Reserve chairman
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — The stock market is predisposed to inertia, and more tempted by fear than greed, according to a statistical analysis presented by former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan on Tuesday.
Greenspan was speaking at an International Monetary Fund event on statistics, drawing largely from his recent book, The Map and the Territory.
He looked at the daily changes in the S&P 500, adjusted for real earnings per share growth, from 1951 to 2013. He found that 67% of the daily price changes occur between -0.7% and 0.7%, versus the 53% that would be expected for a normal distribution.
Also read: MarketWatch Q&A with Greenspan
He found more evidence of “fear” than “greed” since daily losses of 5% or more significantly outnumber gains of 5% or more.
There’s also a herding effect — the propensity to follow the crowd.
Greenspan also noted that herding and fear-euphoria imbalance were far more prevalent between 2008 and 2013.
“The more decision making that is detached from reality, the more likely it is to be infected by spirits—especially during euphoria-driven bubbles and their subsequent fear-driven demise,” Greenspan said.
The former central bank chief, in the same speech, also addressed the issue of bank capital, and took odds with the idea that more of it would reduce returns on equity and force lenders to significantly retrench. He notes that between 1869 and 1966, net income as a percent of equity capital ranged between 5% and 10%, before drifting higher as commercial bank powers expanded and securitization increased.
If capital requirements were to go higher, loan spreads would either have to increase to restore the rate of return, or there would be less intermediation.
“But that would not be all that undesirable,” he said.
“While all bubbles burst, only those supported by significant leverage are truly economically disruptive. The recession following the dot-com boom is barely visible in GDP data,” he added. |
If Saudi Arabia is shocked at the relentless ability of the U.S. shale "marginal producers" to continue pumping even with oil prices below breakeven costs for many (which as reported recently have mysteriously tumbled from $70 to $40) at a time when the junk bond market - the traditional conduit of how energy companies have financed themselves - it should thank Wall Street, for one simple reason: investors have pumped a whopping $9.2 billion in new equity into energy companies year to date, the most since Bloomberg records began in 1999.
(Click to enlarge)
Even the experts are stunned by this unprecedented glut in stupidity of managers of other people's money: "Billions of dollars of dilutive equity continue to roll in with seemingly no end in sight," Houston-based oil investment bank Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. said in a research note. Related: Electric Vehicles Could Soon Reduce Oil Demand By 13 Million Barrels Per Day
Until only a few weeks ago, bankers, executives and investors had assumed the capital markets were closed to the energy sector, which is laboring under oil prices that have fallen almost 70 percent from the summer of 2014. Then, in early January, a handful of companies with assets in the prized Permian Basin in Texas successfully tested the waters. Now "the window is clearly open" for almost everybody, Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. said.
How is that possible? Simple: with the junk bond market clearly closed for virtually everyone because that particular subset of investors has gotten massively burned in recent months and in fact many distressed debt hedge funds have been forced out of business, the capital structure has been pushed lower and has made equity the new "junk."
Some examples:
• Hess Corp. and Devon Energy Corp., have each offered more than $1 billion in new equity, while smaller companies like QEP Resources Inc. and Synergy Resources Corp. have also managed to successfully raise funds.
• Diamondback and Marathon both said their equity issuances would help provide liquidity to fund their capital programs. John Hess, chief executive officer of Hess, said he wanted extra cash to maintain a strong balance sheet, and equity offerings are more receptive than debt with the Bank of America/Merrill Lynch High Yield Energy Index rising to a record effective yield of 21 percent on Feb. 11.
• Pioneer Natural Resources Co.’s $1.6 billion offer on Jan. 5 was followed a week later by Diamondback Energy Inc.’s announcement of a $250 million sale. Pioneer Chief Executive Officer Scott Sheffield said he raised equity fearing lower oil prices. "We wanted to protect the company for at least a two-year period," he told the Credit Suisse Energy Summit in Vail, Colorado, last week. Related: Bond Markets Losing Faith Even In Large Oil Companies
• Weatherford, the world’s fourth-largest oilfield services provider, was the latest to throw its hat in the ring, offering 100 million shares at $5.65 a share, giving the underwriters a 30-day option for up to 15 million more. The company intends to use the net proceeds for general corporate purposes, including the repayment of existing debt. JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley will act as joint book-running managers of the offering.
In many ways this is reminiscent of what happened in the late spring and summer of 2015, when oil rebounded as high as $70 and the junk bond window was triumphantly reopened, only for oil to crash a few months later leading to historic losses for bond investors.
To be sure, the equity guys are next, but not quite yet: in a sign of investors’ appetite to support U.S. oil and gas companies, most of the firms that have raised equity so far this year have increased the size of their offering within hours of their announcement. With oil prices recovering, share prices have also risen from the offering, further enticing other producers to follow suit.
This is the proverbial "we've hit a bottom" thesis, based on nothing more than other "investors of other people's money" saying, or rather praying, that we've hit a bottom.
"People are seeing oil prices start to bounce back, and they’re starting to think that maybe we’ve found a bottom and can turn it around," said Carl Larry, head of oil and gas for Frost & Sullivan LP. “These share offerings are an opportunity for institutional funds to get into the energy play." Related: $32 Billion Loss Forces Pemex To Downgrade Offshore Ambitions
The euphoria won't last, and the equity issuance window is already closing: confirmation of this comes from none other than Exxon CEO Rex Tillerson who moments ago said that the "wave of oil equity issuances is destroying value", adding that "global economic conditions are not inspiring", that "demand won't solve it quickly" and that "we're still oversupplying the market."
Translated: everyone who bought the record amount of stock sold by shale will soon be starting at a partial or total loss.
For now, The risk/return is clearly tipped in the institutions' favor: if they are right, and time the bottom, they will make billions in profits. If they are wrong, well, once again it's really just "other people's money" that will be lost.
By Zerohedge
More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: |
The Oklahoma City Thunder have hired Billy Donovan, the winningest coach in Florida Gators history, as their new head coach.
Sources told ESPN's Ramona Shelburne on Thursday that Donovan agreed to a five-year deal -- with a team option on the fifth year -- to replace Scott Brooks, who was fired as coach of the Thunder after seven seasons on April 22.
Donovan will be introduced at a Friday news conference scheduled for 2:30 p.m. ET, the Thunder said.
Donovan spent the past 19 years as coach of the Gators, with whom he won two national championships and appeared in four Final Fours.
"I am honored and humbled to be named the head coach of the Oklahoma City Thunder. I knew that it would take a unique opportunity to leave the University of Florida and that is clearly how I look at this situation," Donovan said in a statement. "The Thunder represents so many of the values that I embrace as a head coach; the commitment to the team above oneself, the dedicated pursuit of excellence, the commitment to organizational culture, the identity they have established and the fact that the Thunder and the community are so intricately woven into the fabric of one another."
Thunder general manager Sam Presti, who had made regular trips to Gainesville to scout prospects and observed Donovan, as well, did not interview any other candidates for the position. Presti and Donovan have a previous strong relationship and have similar ideas about team culture and advanced metrics. That could provide added organizational synergy, something Presti highly values.
"While we created a comprehensive analysis regarding the qualities we were looking for, it became quite evident that Billy was the ideal fit for the Thunder as we look to transition our team into the future," Presti said in a statement. "... His emotional intelligence, commitment to the concept of team, and relentless approach to incremental improvement have allowed him to bring his players together and establish lasting relationships through competitive success. Billy's core values and alignment with our culture and community, as well as his proven tactical abilities, make him an ideal addition to the Thunder organization."
Billy Donovan, who led the Florida Gators to two national titles in his 19 seasons, has agreed to a multiyear deal to be the coach of the NBA's Oklahoma City Thunder. Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images
The Thunder have hired two of Donovan's staffers in the past year, bringing in Mark Daigneault to coach the team's D-League affiliate (the Oklahoma City Blue), and Oliver Winterbone as an information analyst.
Donovan takes over a Thunder team with championship aspirations, particularly in what will be a high-pressure season with Kevin Durant entering the final year of his contract.
Durant said he was excited when hearing the news of Donovan's hire.
"When you don't have a coach, it's a lot of uncertainty in the building," Durant said in a phone interview. "But coming into the practice facility today, I felt like it was the next step for us. It was an exciting feeling for everybody that was there at the gym today to learn that we got Billy as our coach."
According to ESPN.com's Marc Stein, Durant had sent "optimistic signals" about playing for Donovan, having done his own research on the coach.
"We warmly welcome Billy and his family to Oklahoma City," team chairman Clayton Bennett said. "He is the perfect fit for our organization and for our community and we look forward to a long and successful relationship."
The Thunder job is Donovan's second in the NBA, but he has never coached a game in the league. He agreed to become the Orlando Magic's coach in 2007 after back-to-back titles with the Gators, only to reverse course days later and ask out of his contract.
The Thunder kept in regular contact with Durant, Russell Westbrook and Serge Ibaka throughout the process, but never specifically asked for approval on Donovan or any other specific coach. Sources close to the situation told ESPN's Shelburne the team didn't want to put them in that position, but that they had ample opportunity to speak up.
What's Next For Florida? Billy Donovan brought unprecedented success to the Florida Gators basketball program, compiling a 467-186 record in his 19 seasons as coach. Before
Donovan With
Donovan 20-win seasons 5 16 NCAA tourneys 3 14<< SEC titles 0 4 NCAA titles 0 2 >>Four Final Four appearances
One of the things about Donovan that appealed to the players was his adaptability, having constructed different types of rosters with different types of personnel in his 19 seasons in Gainesville, the sources told Shelburne. In a league that's rapidly changing, that ability was especially desirable, the sources said.
Donovan is coming off his first losing season since 1998, as the Gators went 16-17 in 2014-15 and missed postseason play for the first time since 1997. Along with the two national titles, he led Florida to four Final Fours, seven Elite Eights and 14 NCAA tournament berths.
"The University of Florida will always hold a very special place in my heart and in my family's," Donovan said. "... I have a deep appreciation for what the University of Florida will always mean to me and I'll forever be a Gator."
He had signed a one-year contract extension with the Gators in December that would have paid him an average salary of $4 million through 2020.
According to ESPN Stats & Information, Donovan's 467 career wins at Florida are second all-time in SEC history to legendary Kentucky coach Adolph Rupp (867).
Combined with his two seasons at Marshall, Donovan's 502 wins over 21 seasons are tied for fifth all time in Division I history with Syracuse's Jim Boeheim.
Billy Donovan, a native of the New York City suburb Rockville Centre, on Long Island, played part of the 1987-88 season with the Knicks before being waived. Dick Raphael/NBAE/Getty Images
"While we are certainly extremely sad to see Billy go, the primary feeling I have is one of gratitude for what he has done here," Florida athletic director Jeremy Foley said. "Billy and Florida basketball have been synonymous for a long time now, and our program would not have reached the heights it has without him.
"The legacy he leaves here is one of personal and professional excellence. ... There is no better person than Billy Donovan. He will truly be missed."
Foley said Florida would not put a timeline on hiring a replacement for Donovan and that a search committee will help find a successor.
Donovan, who will turn 50 next month, has flirted with making the transition to the NBA for a while, and he was courted last offseason by both the Timberwolves and Cavaliers for their then-vacant positions.
Donovan, a native of the New York City suburb Rockville Centre, on Long Island, played part of the 1987-88 season with the Knicks before being waived. He played four years at Providence College.
Marc Stein of ESPN.com and The Associated Press contributed to this report. |
AMIDST ALL THE finery and ritual of the papal conclave, there is one quiet, honest campaign that can not be ignored. The campaign to make Father Dougal McGuire the next representative of God on Earth.
facebook.com/FatherDougalForPope
A Facebook page for the campaign now has more than 17,000 likes and should you wish to proclaim your loyalty you can buy a t-shirt for just $11.
teespring.com/dougalforpope
Some particularly dedicated Dougal supporters have even made the journey to the Vatican to make their feelings known.
facebook.com/FiftyShadesOfTay
According to Digital Spy, Dougal himself has backed the campaign, saying, “This is great! Obviously very excited. Had no idea I was in the running to be honest.”
We were shocked to hear from him after such a prolonged period of silence, but then Father Ted creator Graham Linehan suggested there may be an ulterior motive.
Twitter/Glinner
Whatever the motive, we say best of luck to him. In the words of Dougal himself, “How hard can it be?” |
Taylor Swift has spent the past two days posting teaser videos of snakes to her recently blanked-out social media accounts. In news that should shock no one at this point, “multiple sources” have told Variety that the singer plans to release new music this Friday.
“The superstar is set to debut the first single from her upcoming sixth album, although she could surprise everyone and drop the entire album itself,” the magazine reports.
Swift is also rumored to be premiering a new music video at this Sunday’s MTV Video Music Awards. That would be news on its own; it’s especially noteworthy because this year’s VMAs will be hosted by Swift’s longtime pop rival Katy Perry.
This summer, Swift made an apparent attempt to drown Perry’s album release by reintroducing her own catalog to streaming services the very same day. Perry also has a forthcoming music video, for “Swish Swish,” a song widely interpreted as a shot at Swift. On the other hand, Perry has said she’s ready for their feud to be over, so maybe the former friends have patched things up for the weekend.
Swift’s most recent album was 1989, released in fall 2014. She’s typically launched a new album every two years, so the long wait for LP6 has fans particularly keyed up. See Swift’s latest snake teaser video below. |
Six years ago, Naked Rambler Stephen Gough's hike from Land's End to John O'Groats brought him media fame – and a prison sentence. Then another, and another, and… why has he been locked up ever since?
Winter at HMP Perth. The river Tay carries slivers of ice on its journey past the prison wall. Prisoners' breath catches in clouds while they glumly circuit the courtyard. At this time of year, many choose not to take their allotted outdoor exercise. The stone corridors of A Hall sit silent; 133 men are in temporary lockdown while one of them is brought to meet me. To many of the prisoners this man is a stranger. They've got more chance of seeing his face in a newspaper than around the wing.
Stephen Gough occupies a parallel universe in HMP Perth. While the prison moves through its daily timetable, and other prisoners go to workshops or receive visitors, he remains alone in his cell. At 8.30pm, when the building is locked down for the night, he is released for 30 minutes. He empties his rubbish, posts his letters and has a shower. If he's lucky, he also has time for a walk, a quick circuit of the empty corridors.
This morning Gough, 52, is on his way to meet me, so the rest of A Hall wait behind their doors. He's led from his cell, along the walkway, down the stairs. I hear his bare feet padding across the stone before he turns into the office.
"Nice to meet you," Gough says politely.
We shake hands and for a moment he's unsure where to sit. With the dutifulness of a long-term prisoner, he stands awaiting instruction. His body is pale and lean, patched with strands of brown hair. His penis dangles in the cold air between us.
The media call Gough the Naked Rambler. He's serving 657 days for a breach of the peace and contempt of court. The breach was leaving HMP Perth naked after finishing a previous sentence. He was taken to Perth sheriff court, and represented himself naked. That was the contempt. When he returned to the prison, the cell was just as he'd left it – he hadn't bothered to pack.
Gough's latest conviction is his 17th in 10 years. Since May 2006 he has been in a run of short sentences broken by the same fleeting freedom: he's effectively been in custody for nearly six years for refusing to get dressed. At a recent hearing, it was suggested he could be in prison for the rest of his life. "People often have to go to prison for many years," he said, "before others see the light."
I ask how he is. "Well, you know. You adapt."
So how did an intelligent, likable, earnest man come to forfeit his liberty for his right to be naked? After a spell in the Royal Marines, and a dalliance with the Moonies in Thailand, Gough spent nearly 20 years in his native Eastleigh, Hampshire. He worked as a lorry driver and got involved with environmental groups and communal living. Then, in 2000, aged 40, he moved to Vancouver for a year with his partner and their two children.
"I wasn't working in Canada," Gough says. "I spent my time looking after the kids and going for walks. One day I was walking and something happened." He had an epiphany: "I realised I was good. Being British, buried in our upbringing is that we're not good or have to watch ourselves – maybe it comes from religion, or school. I realised that at a fundamental level I'm good, we're all good, and you can trust that one part of yourself."
This self-realisation led to Gough often choosing to be naked in public: if he was good, then his body was good. "The human body isn't offensive," he says. "If that's what we're saying, as human beings, then it's not rational."
His former partner was "more conservative" and a visit from her parents proved calamitous. "One morning I came to breakfast naked and that was it, all over," Gough says flatly. "The thing was, her parents weren't even that bothered."
The couple returned to Eastleigh together, but Gough went to live with his mother. He arrived back in England, he says, with an intense appreciation of what nakedness could offer, and questioning "things we're taught to believe are right". He visited a police station in Eastleigh and asked if it was illegal to walk naked in the streets. "They couldn't come up with an answer," he says.
His first naked walk was short-lived. In January 2003 he left his mother's home and headed for Eastleigh town centre. "Nothing really happened," he says. "There was one man who shouted, 'That's disgusting!' but he was eating a sandwich so I think that's why. I was about to go into the covered market when the police arrived in a big rush."
By his court hearing, he'd been adopted by various naturist groups. The BBC reported that he emerged naked to "a crowd of supporters". Photos show a muscular, healthy Gough beaming on the court steps. "I wanted to follow my truth," he recalls, "to keep asking questions."
That summer, Gough set off from Land's End wearing hiking boots and a rucksack. His planned destination was John O'Groats. On his first day the Cornish press ran jovial reports. On his second he was arrested in St Ives, held briefly, then released. On the town's outer fringes, he was brutally attacked: "A couple of guys pushed me over. They kicked me in the head and did this." He points to his skewed nose. "I thought, is this what it's going to be like? But actually that was the only real problem I had until I got to Scotland."
On his journey through England, skirting towns and sleeping rough, Gough was stopped "every so often" by the police. He'd put on clothes and explain what he was doing. Bemused officers, he says, would turf him out of stations "on the sly, out the back door". Someone in the legal system who does not want to be named later tells me that English police would sometimes quietly drop Gough off just over county lines.
In Scotland, however, he met more determined opposition. In the north-eastern corner he was picked up several times by police and finally convicted of breach of the peace. He served four months in HMP Inverness, an experience he found "actually quite good". It was his first taste of segregation. "I flourished and found out more about myself. You do that in extreme situations."
On his release, Gough launched a final push for John O'Groats. He was a few days from Britain's northern tip when a car stopped and a man jumped out. "He said he'd read about me and had been looking for me for days. He had a flask of soup and cake, and wished me luck." Gough reached John O'Groats on 22 January 2004 and the media were waiting. He posed for jaunty photos at the iconic signpost and local hotel staff gave him a bottle of champagne. "It was a great feeling," he says. "I thought it was the end."
Gough returned to Eastleigh, bought a van and headed for Studland, a Dorset village popular with alternative lifestyle enthusiasts. He tried to write a book about the walk, but was beset by a nagging doubt: "I kept thinking I'd been compromised. Why did I put on clothes when the police stopped me? That was wrong; it defeated the whole point."
The doubt grew until it had to be faced down. He would make the journey again, this time "without compromises". With his new girlfriend, Melanie Roberts, he set off from Land's End in June 2005.
If anything, England was even easier this time around. Photos online show Gough and Roberts naked in pubs amid grinning drinkers and shopping unclothed in supermarkets. Dealings with police were no more than an irritation. "They'd ask what we were doing, we told them and that was usually that," Gough says.
Again, it was in Scotland that he ran into trouble. "We got nabbed in Edinburgh," he says. "And I was getting a bit hardcore then."
By hardcore, Gough means he refused to get dressed for court and pleaded not guilty to breach of the peace. Roberts, on the other hand, got dressed, pleaded guilty and stayed in a hostel while Gough served two weeks in Saughton prison.
Did that cause tension between them? "People have to do what they want," Gough says. "I'm for freedom, so I accepted her decision."
They resumed their walk amid growing media interest. A documentary team caught footage of Gough and Roberts being led through a village by a piper. Yet what Gough remembers as "a carnival atmosphere" led to further problems. While many Scottish police had decided to ignore Gough in the past, his spreading fame made that more difficult. For the police, critical mass was reached when he once more entered the final stretch of his journey.
"They nabbed me again," Gough says simply. "Back in Inverness prison. Another five months."
Gough and Roberts reached John O'Groats in February 2006. Once again, he'd finished his journey in the coldest months of the year. "Pretty cold but manageable," he says defiantly, insisting temperature is an issue only "when you stop, as that's when you start seizing up. The trick is to keep going." Local journalists reported Gough and Roberts walking stoically through "lashing rain".
The two would sleep fully clothed in their sleeping bags, Roberts says. "When there's snow on the ground, it's hard to get out of your sleeping bag, let alone your clothes, to do a 22-mile walk."
They made some allowances for the weather. "We wore warm hats, thick socks, gloves and walking boots," Roberts says. "We ate lots of carbohydrates and walked fast. The closer we got to the finish, the easier it was to forget the cold and pain."
"There were fewer photographers," Gough says of his second arrival at John O'Groats. "And the champagne the hotel gave me was a miniature."
He returned to Roberts's native Bournemouth with court dates that meant he would have to go back to Scotland, and with a relationship that, away from the unique atmosphere of the walk, was no longer working. "She sensed the cause meant more to me than her," Gough says.
"It was very sad," Roberts recalls. "Steve knew he would be going to prison for a long time. We finished the relationship before he got on the plane. I worried for him, but I knew he'd suffer if he didn't follow what he feels is true and right."
On 18 May 2006, a fully-clothed Gough boarded a 6.45am flight from Southampton. After the pilot announced the descent into Edinburgh, Gough visited the toilet and emerged naked. "I knew I wanted to go to court naked and I suddenly thought, why not now? The flight attendant asked if I'd put my clothes back on. I said politely that I wouldn't and she went away. Nothing happened until we landed and the police came on."
Gough was arrested. His solicitor at the time, John Good, describes a court hearing not far short of slapstick. It emerged that after Gough returned naked from the toilet, the male passenger sitting next to him reacted by falling asleep. The arresting officer's only issue in removing Gough from the plane was the delighted reaction of a hen party. For Gough, however, his midair strip meant a four-month sentence. He has been in prison ever since.
Gough isn't mad. "They do evaluations all the time." He smiles. "I'm on top of my game mentally. I've got clarity. If I feel down, then I'm straight on the case, trying to work out why."
He emerged from more than two years of segregation with faultless psychological examinations. "If you or I spent two years in segregation," Good says, "we'd probably show signs of trauma. It just shows how focused he's become. He's immune to his surroundings."
Gough agrees: "I live at a deep level." Yet he admits to experiencing doubts about his stance. "Yeah, of course. I wake up in the morning and think, what the fuck am I doing here? But what I'm doing isn't about me. I'm challenging society and it must be challenged because it's wrong."
In Scotland, breach of the peace is partly defined as "conduct which does, or could, cause the lieges [public] to be placed in a state of fear, alarm or annoyance". The prosecution has very rarely managed to rustle up witnesses to claim Gough's nakedness has had any of these effects on them. What is keeping him in prison is simply the theoretical idea that it could.
"I do not believe that an ordinary, reasonable person would feel any of those things if they saw me [naked] in the street," Gough says. He believes that to achieve his stated aim – to leave HMP Perth and return to Eastleigh naked – "the law doesn't have to change, just the interpretation".
Twice Scottish sheriffs found in Gough's favour that no crime had been committed, both in him being naked in public and being naked in court. "Both times the sheriffs were elderly females," notes Good, who represented Gough for more than three years (they parted company in 2010 so Gough could represent himself, making it harder for him to be excluded from the courtroom for being naked). "Stephen then chose to leave court naked and was arrested for being naked in public."
Initially, Gough was a legal novelty in Scotland and support came from surprising quarters. In 2008, Edinburgh-based solicitor Joe MacPherson prosecuted Gough, a position with which he says he was uncomfortable. "I looked at the case and thought a man walking down a public street would not cause the requisite fear and alarm to an ordinary person. It would be odd, or amusing perhaps, but nothing more. The judge said his hands were tied. Seeing a man's penis was felt to be enough to cause fear and alarm."
Eventually Gough's case was heard at Scotland's appeal court, where it was found that breach of the peace should indeed be interpreted to criminalise his behaviour. Since then Scottish sheriffs have fallen in line; his sentences have steadily increased to the maximum and, should he keep refusing to dress, he will be caught in an endless cycle of two-year sentences. He insists if he were allowed to return home naked to Eastleigh, he'd cease being naked in public "when I don't have to do it any more".
The courts, prison and police are left to attempt a solution. "Mr Gough is asked every morning if he is willing to get dressed and take part in the daily regime," a spokesman for Perth prison says. "This he refuses. Due to his refusal to wear clothes, we cannot move him around the prison, meaning all services come to him in his cell." Gough, he says, has never complained about his bedding or heating, and they work around his "unique and problematic" position.
"I put a quilt over my shoulders at night," Gough says. "That's not a contradiction because there are no restrictions on me when I'm alone in my cell. It's in public I'm restricted and go naked as a result. Even with the quilt it gets pretty cold, but exercise helps."
Chief inspector Andy McCann of Tayside police, whose officers frequently rearrest Gough in the prison car park, says, "We have had and continue to have discussions with Mr Gough to seek a compromise position. We've suggested transferring him to an English prison, or transporting him upon completion of his sentence, but these have not been acceptable arrangements to him."
Gough wants to walk out of HMP Perth and make his way home to Eastleigh naked. Anything else is dismissed as a "compromise". He's due for release in the summer. Will he again walk out naked, and into an inevitable further sentence?
"Yes, yes." He nods firmly. "That's my position."
So we're back to the beginning – a 52-year-old man threatening to sacrifice his freedom on a point of principle that, although logically coherent, is also utterly frustrating and has cost him his relationship with his two teenage children. He writes to them without reply.
"If I had a dad that was doing this, I'd probably be confused," he says. "I'm guessing as they grow up, and learn more about how life is, they'll come over to my way of thinking. I'm thinking long-term." His former partner is "angry that I'm not seeing my kids – but so am I".
He hasn't heard from Roberts for a while, though she tells me she is strongly supportive of his stance. "He's vindicating the right of the individual to be individual," she says. "For me, Steve's a hero."
The naturist groups that once gathered outside courts to cheer him are long gone. His mother is 85 "and not so well". Ten years ago, she found his nakedness amusing. "She thought of it as a funny British thing, like Monty Python playing the piano naked. Now she doesn't really get why I'm still here." He has no support, no money, just his belief.
After two hours of conversation, Gough's nakedness has faded to insignificance. He's a magnetic presence, relentless in his storytelling, the speed of his voice fluctuating as it struggles to keep up with his thoughts.
He tries to reposition the loneliness he feels, to tell himself "the connection" with others he misses can somehow be found within his own mind. Yet he admits to having an overriding wish to "have a meaningful conversation with someone. I have to catch myself," he says, "and make sure I don't become melancholy."
He writes to supporters around the world and seizes on interaction when the opportunity arises. "My threshold for small talk is higher than it would otherwise be." He laughs. "The other night I had a long conversation with a prisoner mopping the floors about my favourite type of flapjack." When he does have brief encounters with the other inmates, he says he feels "an instant camaraderie. We're all enduring privations and going through hardships together."
What he misses most about clothes are pockets ("Somewhere to put my hands"), and his nakedness forces him to see the varicose veins on his legs, "which I don't like". He prefers to position his struggle on a higher scale, but sometimes the constant need to account for his behaviour can be unbearable. Good describes occasions in court when Gough broke down entirely. "He'd be asked to explain his position and it meant so much to him to get it right that he couldn't do it. He'd choke, start sobbing."
When I ask Gough for a final summary of his standpoint, he says, "Truth and freedom are difficult concepts to understand. They can't be grasped by the mind."
When Gough poses for the photographer, he doesn't move like a naked man. He's stiff-backed and lithe, stamping his hardened feet on the ground. This is a man who has been naked for nearly six years. It's strangely difficult to imagine him clothed. The photographer asks him to place his hands on his body. Gough politely refuses, explaining that this would be just another form of covering up, of chipping at the purity of his position. Instead he stretches his arms and puffs his chest, framed against the winter's light.
Two days after my visit, I receive a long letter from Gough expanding on the reasons behind his stance. It's an extended, meandering manifesto broken by moments of sharp insight. He concludes: "We can either end up living a life that others expect of us or lives based on our own truth. The difference is the difference between living a conscious life or one that is unconscious. And that's the difference between living and not living." |
A conservative Christian group in Texas is lashing out at Disney for opposing discriminatory legislation in Georgia.
The group Texas Values released an angry statement after Georgia’s governor, Nathan Deal, announced Monday that he would veto so-called “religious liberty” legislation. Disney and other companies had threatened to boycott the state if the governor signed the bill into law.
“Will Disney now ban you from wearing a cross outside your shirt at their parks?” Texas Values president Jonathan Saenz fumed. “Will a Catholic priest be forced to remove his white collar when he takes a picture with Mickey Mouse? This is how extreme the attacks now are on religious freedom, it’s a zero tolerance policy for religious freedom.”
Critics of the religious liberty bill in Georgia said it would legalize discrimination against gay couples. Disney warned they would “take our business elsewhere should any legislation allowing discriminatory practices be signed into state law.”
But Saenz insisted that Disney was waging war on Christians.
“It’s striking that the day after Easter, churches in Georgia are told their freedoms are not that important to protect,” he said in the statement. “It’s clear that corporate giants like Apple, Disney, NCAA, Intel have finally come out of the closet and declared public war on the religious freedom of clergy and religious schools, as was the protection in Georgia’s very modest HB 757 that they worked to bring down.”
Dan Quinn of the Texas Freedom Network said that Texas Values — which is pushing for its own version of a “religious liberty” law in the state — was attempting to redefine terms:
“What’s really going on here is an effort by extremists to radically redefine religious freedom to mean something it never has and never should: the right to use religion as a weapon to discriminate against and harm others, to ignore laws one simply doesn’t like, and to impose one’s religious beliefs on those who don’t share them. Georgia’s Gov. Deal, a Republican, firmly refused to support that cynical effort.” |
Updated: Even before their Massachusetts victory this week, Republicans enjoyed a multitude of advantages in this year’s midterm elections. The Supreme Court has most likely just delivered one more: money.
Today’s ruling upends the nation’s campaign finance laws, allowing corporations and labor unions to spend freely on behalf of political candidates. With less than 11 months before the fall elections, the floodgates for political contributions will open wide, adding another element of intrigue to the fight for control of Congress.
At first blush, Republican candidates would seem to benefit from this change in how political campaigns are conducted in America. The political environment – an angry, frustrated electorate seeking change in Washington – was already favoring Republicans. Now corporations, labor unions and a host of other organizations can weigh in like never before.
But the populist showdown that was already brewing – President Obama on Thursday sought to limit the size of the nation’s banks – will surely only intensify by the Supreme Court’s ruling. The development means that both sides will have even louder megaphones to make their voices and viewpoints heard.
Mr. Obama issued a statement – a rare instance of a president immediately weighing in on a ruling from the high court – and said his administration would work with Congressional leaders “to develop a forceful response to this decision.”
“With its ruling today, the Supreme Court has given a green light to a new stampede of special interest money in our politics,” Mr. Obama said. “It is a major victory for big oil, Wall Street banks, health insurance companies and the other powerful interests that marshal their power every day in Washington to drown out the voices of everyday Americans.”
Republicans, of course, hailed the ruling as a victory for the First Amendment.
“I am pleased that the Supreme Court has acted to protect the Constitution’s First Amendment rights of free speech and association,” said Senator John Cornyn of Texas, chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee. “These are the bedrock principles that underpin our system of governance and strengthen our democracy.”
Democrats, not surprisingly, said the ruling would be bad for democracy.
“Giving corporate interests an outsized role in our process will only mean citizens get heard less,” said Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey, chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. “We must look at legislative ways to make sure the ledger is not tipped so far for corporate interests that citizens voices are drowned out.”
Senator Russ Feingold, one of the architects of the 2002 campaign finance restrictions known as the McCain-Feingold law, issued this reminder that the court’s decision did not completely lift some boundaries for corporate money:
“It is important to note that the decision does not affect McCain-Feingold’s soft money ban, which will continue to prevent corporate contributions to the political parties from corrupting the political process. But this decision was a terrible mistake. Presented with a relatively narrow legal issue, the Supreme Court chose to roll back laws that have limited the role of corporate money in federal elections since Teddy Roosevelt was president. Ignoring important principles of judicial restraint and respect for precedent, the Court has given corporate money a breathtaking new role in federal campaigns. Just six years ago, the Court said that the prohibition on corporations and unions dipping into their treasuries to influence campaigns was ‘firmly embedded in our law.’ Yet this Court has just upended that prohibition, and a century’s worth of campaign finance law designed to stem corruption in government. The American people will pay dearly for this decision when, more than ever, their voices are drowned out by corporate spending in our federal elections. In the coming weeks, I will work with my colleagues to pass legislation restoring as many of the critical restraints on corporate control of our elections as possible.”
No word yet from his partner on these initiatives, Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona.
As Mr. Feingold’s statement expressed, these early comments are the opening volley in a battle expected to quickly begin on Capitol Hill, as Democrats push for new legislation to put some of the campaign finance restrictions back in place.
In the meantime, citizens, brace yourselves. An even more intense barrage of advertising and advocacy – on television, the Web and beyond – will be at hand in the 2010 midterm elections. Information overload awaits … |
Peter Barnett given suspended sentence for failing to pay full fare for 655 days of Chiltern Railways journeys into capital
A barrister who avoided paying thousands of pounds in rail fares for more than two and a half years has been spared prison.
Peter Barnett, 44, made hundreds of journeys from his home near Oxford to London’s Marylebone station without buying a ticket for the route.
Instead, he pretended to have only travelled from Wembley Stadium station in north-west London, and paid for the short trips in the capital.
Barnett was caught when he was stopped by a ticket inspector at Marylebone, claiming to have travelled from Wembley instead of Haddenham & Thame Parkway station.
City of London magistrates court heard he had received a conditional caution in 2010 for a similar offence. The father of three was sentenced to 16 weeks in prison, suspended for 12 months.
Deputy district judge Olalekan Omotosho told Barnett his serial fare-skipping was a serious offence. She said: “There is a need not just to punish you for the offences, but also deter others from committing offences.
“It is a shame, really, because you had it all. It remains unclear why you acted so badly. You let yourself down and your family down, particularly in light of your profession as a lawyer.”
The court was told that Barnett, a former Oxford graduate and Rhodes scholar who also worked in the financial services sector, failed to pay for journeys on Chiltern Railways on 655 days between April 2012 and November 2014.
Prosecutors argued that he should pay back £19,689, the full value of the cost of daily returns for the trips he made. Richard Doolan told the court: “The obligations of a person using the train must be to have a valid ticket for the whole of their journey, any time they want to travel.”
But Angus Bunyan, defending, said the figure equated to the penalty imposed by the rail company, rather than a true value that the criminal court should consider.
He said it was common sense that Barnett would not have paid for daily trips he dodged, but rather for a weekly ticket, so should not pay back based on a daily amount.
He said: “No commuter, if they were going from Haddenham & Thame to London, would buy a full single, then have his day in London, and buy another full single back.”
Bunyan argued that Barnett should pay back £5,892.70, which he said was the actual cost of the trips he had taken. He said: “The point is, he did buy weekly tickets, despite how short the journey – they were just the wrong ones.
“His behaviour, unlawful as it was, demonstrates that he did buy weekly tickets. Our submission is that Chiltern Railways’ policy isn’t relevant to the decision the court has to take, otherwise we would be substituting a private company’s statutory regime for the sentencing guidelines.” |
(Adds detail, quote)
MOSCOW, April 17 (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday it would not be possible for Europe, which is trying to cut its reliance on Russian energy, to completely stop buying Russian gas.
Putin also said that the transit via Ukraine is the most dangerous element in Europe's gas supply system, and that he was
hopeful a deal could be reached with Ukraine on gas supplies.
Russia meets around 30 percent of Europe's natural gas needs. Moscow's actions in Ukraine have spurred attempts by the continent to reduce its dependency on oil and gas supplies from the former Cold War foe.
"Of course, everyone is taking care about supply diversification. There, in Europe, they talk about increasing independence from the Russian supplier," said Putin.
"It's just like we begin to talk and take action towards independence from our consumers," he added. Russia has made efforts to forge closer ties with Asia.
Reuters calculations suggest Europe's efforts could slash imports from Russia by around 45 billion cubic metres (bcm) by 2020, worth $18 billion a year, equivalent to a quarter of what Russia currently supplies.
"We sell gas in European countries which have around 30-35 percent of their gas balance covered by supplies from Russia. Can they stop buying Russian gas? In my opinion it is impossible," he said during an hours-long televised question and answer session.
(Reporting by Christian Lowe, Vladimir Soldatkin and Polina Devitt, writing by Megan Davies and Vladimir Soldatkin; Editing by John Stonestreet) |
With the national Democratic Party in disarray, the outline of the Donald Trump resistance is taking shape far from Capitol Hill, with New York and California emerging as the East and West Coast headquarters of opposition to the incoming administration.
Officials and advocacy groups in the two Democratic strongholds are plotting how to use the power of state law-enforcement agencies, municipal regulations and regional bully pulpits, and they’re assembling a wide-ranging apparatus of political opposition that they hope will slow the Trump agenda.
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In California, the state legislature has hired former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to serve as the tip of its legal spear as it prepares for an assault on Trump’s efforts to roll back Barack Obama’s government — a fight that will be led by Xavier Becerra, a longtime congressman and House Democratic Caucus chairman who has returned to the state to serve as the equivalent of a wartime attorney general.
No state moved more aggressively to set itself up as an anti-Trump machine than California, where Hillary Clinton crushed Trump by a roughly 2-to-1 margin on Election Day — and where she won nearly a quarter of her 232 electoral votes.
Just hours after the dust settled on Election Day, the state’s Senate president pro tem, Kevin de León, and Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon released a defiant statement promising to lead the anti-Trump charge. “We woke up feeling like strangers in a foreign land, because yesterday Americans expressed their views on a pluralistic and democratic society that are clearly inconsistent with the values of the people of California," they declared.
Before long, Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown lured Becerra back West and the legislature brought on Holder, who is positioning himself on the front lines of the party’s nationwide rebuilding project through his work on redistricting alongside Obama.
The diverse and immigrant-filled state, the nation’s most populous, is stepping into the role played by Republican-led Texas during the Obama years — a litigious sparring partner determined to stop each new White House move with a corresponding lawsuit.
Meanwhile, with a handful of nationally recognized California Democrats — like Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, billionaire environmentalist Tom Steyer, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti and his predecessor, Antonio Villaraigosa — either eyeing or already competing in the 2018 governor’s race, the state is bracing for a competition over who can oppose the president-elect most effectively, or with the most volume.
A man walks past "Not Our President" written on a building's facade to protest against President-elect Donald Trump on Dec. 8 in Los Angeles. | AP Photo
Villaraigosa announced his intention to run in the immediate aftermath of Trump’s election, with an unmistakable nod toward the freshly elected Trump. "We are a state that builds bridges, not walls,” Villaraigosa said in a statement. “We are inclusive. We celebrate our diversity. And we welcome newcomers."
Trump’s home state of New York is likewise a hive of anti-Trump activity.
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio is painting himself as the anti-Trump as he runs for a second term this year, and Gov. Andrew Cuomo called the state a “refuge” in a state party email shortly after Election Day — an opening shot at the president-elect. Cuomo has been vocal about his intention to oppose Trump ahead of his own likely 2018 campaign — a reelection bid in which he can protect his exposed left flank by confronting the president-elect, who is militantly opposed by progressives.
But it's New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, who has already clashed with Trump during his office’s investigations of the Trump Foundation and Trump University, who is uniquely positioned to needle Trump Tower.
“We are independent; we have tremendous powers under the American federalist system,” he said. "The government of the United States was set up very much with the understanding that states were to be a protective layer, to protect overreach from the newly created federal government."
Viewing the attorney general's role as “the first line of defense,” his office is watching the activities of Trump’s federal agencies closely, prepared to launch suits or serve as a regulator itself at signs of relaxed regulation enforcement by the Securities and Exchange Commission, Environmental Protection Agency or Department of Labor, for example.
Schneiderman, who is also up for reelection in 2018 — and who has been speaking with other state attorneys general about how to fight the administration — has already signaled to state employees and residents that Trump’s election has captured his attention.
“We are dealing with real problems in real time. As soon as Trump was elected, there was a spike in hate crimes, so I issued guidance to law enforcement agencies all around the state of New York,” he said. “Immigrants are afraid, and we have a large immigrant population across the state of New York."
While New York and California stand at the forefront of the Trump opposition movement, they aren’t lonely islands among the states. In the six states where Democrats have full control of the governor’s mansion and both branches of the state legislature — California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Oregon and Rhode Island — Democratic leadership is also intent on setting the tone for the Trump era, whether it’s by sticking it to Trump or pushing an affirmative message for the opposition agenda.
“We have an opportunity, really a responsibility, to focus on results," said Delaware Gov. Jack Markell. "When you have, as we’ve had, very strong job growth compared to every other state in the region, some of the best wage growth in the country, we’ve done that with Democratic control. We [now] need as a party locally, but certainly nationally, to have a positive agenda.
“It’s the opposite of what Trump and a GOP Congress is looking to do,” he said, turning to the fight over health care reform and GOP proposals to use Medicaid block grants as an example of Democratic governors’ responsibility to stand firm by using the national microphone afforded to governors. “If it has the effect of leading to a race to the bottom, it could be a disaster. We have to stand up, we have to make it very clear that some policy proposals threaten the country. [And] governors have a particular sense of how these policies will affect people."
Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy, who went out of the way during his State of the State address on Wednesday to address the fears of some residents of deep-blue Connecticut about the new, “unpredictable” administration, has threatened specific legal action against Trump's potential moves. In November, when asked how he would interact with the federal government if it tried to withhold funds from New Haven and other so-called sanctuary cities, he flatly responded that the state would sue.
“I am not a shy individual; I have opinions, and as long as people ask my opinion I will lend it,” said Malloy. “There are these states that are progressive that have benefited from that progressiveness, that are going to be examples of restraint and voices of responsibility. I would urge right-thinking individuals who’ve benefited from the advances our society has made to not be quiet. We’re going to continue to do the things we can do, and the things we can afford to do. We’re certainly not going to backtrack on refugees. We’re certainly not going to backtrack on gay, lesbian, transgender rights. We’re certainly not going to give up on making sure our citizens have health care."
The blue-state strongholds are joined by another willing ally: the nation’s big-city mayors. While New York’s de Blasio and Los Angeles’ Garcetti have been two of the loudest big-city mayors trying to oppose Trump, other metropolitan leaders are also pledging to step up, most often by threatening to refuse federal attempts to implement Trump’s campaign promises on issues such as immigration.
“We’ve got a great police department, one that’s been nationally recognized for community relations. We’re not going to turn our Police Department into a mass deportation force. That would make our community less safe, not more safe,” said Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton, whose fast-growing city in August approved an ID program for undocumented immigrants. “The only way the president-elect can put this mass deportation force into place is by conscripting local law enforcement, and we’re not going to do that in Phoenix."
That posture is hardly unique to Phoenix. Some big-city mayors — who are typically Democrats — have pledged to protect their undocumented residents with “sanctuary” arrangements or by establishing tools like Chicago’s new $1 million legal protection fund, promised by Mayor Rahm Emanuel in December. And in Mexico City last month, “you better bet all eyes were on the American mayors” in attendance at the C40 conference on climate change, said Stanton. A group of them agreed, he said, to take the lead, if necessary, when it comes to ensuring that the country follows its Paris climate-change commitments signed last year.
Still, it's cities like Stanton’s that are likely to face the most immediate set of battles.
“My philosophy is: I’m not changing a thing. I will continue to lead my city the way that voters of my city expect me to lead my city. We’re going to build a more innovative economy, a more export-based economy,” said the leader of Arizona’s capital, which has its own trade and investment office in Mexico City. “We’re going to continue to improve our relationship with Mexico regardless of the rhetoric of the president-elect, and soon-to-be-president. Our trade relationship with Mexico in Phoenix is hugely important to our economy: We have 100,000 jobs that are directly tied to Mexico. [So] my philosophy — which is based on the economic well-being of my city — appears to be in direct opposition to President-elect Trump." |
Michael Bryant Adragna, 27, went missing after going jogging in Massapequa Park on Monday, Aug. 31. (Credit: CBS2)
— A man who went missing after going for a run in Massapequa Park has been found.
Michael Bryant Adragna called his father Thursday morning to safe that he was in Montana and he was safe, according to a family member.
Adragna was last seen Monday when a neighbor saw him leave the Massapequa Park home he shares with his grandmother to go for a jog in nearby Massapequa Preserve, a rugged two-mile trail.
His family said Adragna was in a good mood at the time and that his disappearance was completely out of character. They said he also left all of his belongings behind.
“He doesn’t have his wallet, his cellphone, his wristwatch,” his grandmother Julia Adragna said Wednesday. “I can’t understand this, no. This is very hurtful.”
Desperate family and friends have spent days passing out missing person posters.
It’s still not clear where Adragna was found. |
There is a "big chance" of Rio Ferdinand leaving Manchester United in the summer when his current contract ends, with the 34-year-old seriously considering a move from Old Trafford.
The defender has told friends he has no intention of retiring and is weighing up his future at United, who he joined from Leeds in 2002 for a then record £30m fee, with a move abroad the most likely option should he depart. One choice could be a lucrative deal to play in China, though nothing is being ruled in or out.
Sir Alex Ferguson recently stated that he believes Ferdinand can continue at United for a few more seasons. "I think Rio can play for two or three more years," the manager said. "He is not as quick as he was but that is not a big issue for me. His experience is important and there is no reason he can't stay on. I didn't even realise his contract was up."
But Ferdinand has since told Inside United: "The best thing I can do is to look at it at Christmas, and then again in the summer, to see how I'm feeling and go from there. But hearing the manager say things like that definitely puts the spring back in your step.
"I'll have a better idea of that in December or January time, when the games start coming thick and fast. That is when it really hits you and you know the hard work really has to start. I'll probably get a better gauge of where I'm at fitness-wise and the benefit of having the summer off then."
Despite a long-standing back condition that means Ferdinand has to manage his fitness, the centre-back does not consider it a big issue and is intent on playing for as long as possible. He was heartened by the 38 appearances he managed in all competitions last season and this term he has missed only two of United's 12 league games, forming a partnership with Jonny Evans.
While the defender's stance may be a negotiating move, his current deliberations could potentially hang on whether he is tempted by a fresh challenge at the close of his career.
There has been at least one recent offer from China for Ferdinand to consider. Currently earning around £130,000 a week, a move there would prove to be highly lucrative for the 81-times capped former England defender.
Nicolas Anelka left Chelsea for Shanghai Shenhua in January for around £175,000 a week, and Didier Drogba joined him in the summer on a two-and-a-half year deal worth a reported $310,000 (£195,000) a week.
Regarding Ferdinand's comments on his future at United, Ferguson said last Friday: "It will sort itself out, I am sure." |
NEW YORK — Amare Stoudemire isn’t done yet.
After retiring from the NBA on July 26, Stoudemire signed a two-year contract Monday to play for Israeli team Hapoel Jerusalem.
Stoudemire said the decision was very emotional for him and his family. The six-time NBA All-Star has visited Jerusalem on multiple occasions, but said getting the opportunity to play in Jerusalem will be a "spiritual journey."
Shortly after signing a five-year, $100 million contract with the New York Knicks in the summer of 2010, Stoudemire travelled to Israel to explore what he believed might be "Hebrew roots" through his mother, Carrie. Stoudemire has a Star of David tattoo and knows multiple Hebrew phrases.
"My interests in playing in Israel, at this moment that dream has come true," Stoudemire said. "I’m now able to play for Hapoel Jerusalem. A team that I’m looking forward to playing with."
With the Israeli and American flag both present at Stoudemire’s news conference at Madison Square Garden, he signed his contract, put on his new team hat and showed off his new Hapoel Jerusalem jersey.
"It’s like a dream come true," Stoudemire said. "When I was in high school I always wanted to put on my college hat to show what school I was going to and never did it. I put on an NBA hat."
Stoudemire and his wife, Alexis, will travel to Jerusalem next week to look at schools for his four children. After returning to their Florida home for a week, the family will make the move to Jerusalem in late August for training camp — the same time when school will start back up as well.
"My wife and I always talked about living abroad and experiencing different cultures, and what better culture to experience for us than living in Jerusalem?" Stoudemire said.
This isn’t Stoudemire’s first interaction with Hapoel Jerusalem. The 6-foot-10 forward was part of an ownership group that purchased the team in 2013. As part of his new contract with Hapoel Jerusalem, he will sell his shares to majority owner Ori Allon.
"Jerusalem is a very special city as you guys know and Amar’e is a very special person, other than the fact that he is a very good basketball player," Allon said. "I’m very excited about this and the whole city of Jerusalem is celebrating right now."
Stoudemire has high hopes for his career in Israel.
"Just go on YouTube and look up the top 100 plays for Amare Stoudemire," Stoudemire said. "That’s what they (the fans) are going to get."
Hapoel Jerusalem won the 2014-15 Israeli Basketball League title and will compete in the 2016-17 EuroCup tournament.
At 33 years old, injuries in his knees had been a lingering issue, but Stoudemire said he felt great in his last NBA season with the Miami Heat, and wanted to retire from the NBA on a healthy note.
"I look at this not even as a retirement," Stoudemire said. "I look at it as graduation because the NBA is a fraternity. It’s like a school."
Stoudemire is a 14-year NBA veteran who was the No. 9 pick in the 2002 draft by the Suns and averaged 21.4 points. He had just led the Suns to the 2010 Western Conference finals before joining his former coach, Mike D’Antoni, in New York. |
If the Golden State Warriors prove forever unwilling to include Klay Thompson in its trade package to the Minnesota Timberwolves for Kevin Love, they’ll surely do most everything possible to ensure he’s in the Bay for the long-haul. Undoubtedly using that assumption as leverage in contract discussions as well as the recently exploded market value for young, quality wings, Thompson and agent Bill Duffy are reportedly seeking a max-level extension from the Warriors before 2014-2015.
The news is courtesy of USA Today’s Sam Amick.
Meanwhile, Thompson’s agent, Bill Duffy, has been seeking a max deal in extension talks with the Warriors as well. And while Golden State would surely prefer that the stance eventually softens and leads to a more palatable deal, the fact that he is younger means a max for Thompson would start at $15.7 million and still allow for more flexibility in the Warriors future than a Love deal.
If Thompson and the Warriors don’t reach an extension agreement by a late October deadline, he’ll be a restricted free agent next summer. Even before Gordon Hayward and Chandler Parsons were awarded contracts this summer, it was assumed by league observers that Thompson would demand such a price. The rare high-frequency, dead-eye shooter that doubles a plus defender, the 24 year-old’s legitimate two-way impact makes him an especially valuable commodity in the modern NBA. And though Thompson will always be stretched thin as an offensive creator and can struggle with off-ball defense, it’s unlikely he’s reached his ceiling as a player, too.
Demanding and commanding a salary that seems a bit too rich are different things, however, and it was hardly concrete that Thompson would pocket a max contract a month ago. But in doling out maximum money to Hayward and Parsons, the Charlotte Hornets/Utah Jazz and Dallas Mavericks left no about Thompson’s worth. He’ll be receiving the contract he wants at some point in the next year; the question now becomes whether or not Golden State will be the team to give it to him.
Though the Warriors obviously hold Thompson in high esteem, there’s still no rush to extend his contract before the coming season. Players simply aren’t lost in restricted free agency. Despite a rising cap number for 2015-2016 that would modestly boost his max salary, Golden State would be best served letting next summer’s free agent market set the price for Thompson as opposed to superficially deciding it themselves over the next couple of months. If he gets a max contract offer and the Warriors are intent on keeping him, match it. If Thompson struggles this season and receives an offer sheet from another team below the number he currently wants, all the better for Golden State.
The ongoing sweepstakes for Love can’t be dismissed here, either. With the Cleveland Cavaliers ramping up their efforts to land him by reportedly including prized rookie Andrew Wiggins in trade talks with Minny, the Warriors might need to act quickly if their refusal to part with Thompson is a bluff. A small amount of white smoke emitted from twitter in recent days that Golden State had finally softened its stance with regard to Thompson, but reputable sources immediately refuted those rumors. Having said that, the Wiggins reports, though far more widespread, are hardly infallible.
Andrew Wiggins has not been offered for Kevin Love. Klay Thompson has not been offered for Kevin Love. This is where things stand. — Jon Krawczynski (@APkrawczynski) July 18, 2014
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Maybe the Love factor doesn’t concern the Warriors at all with respect to Thompson. There’s certainly a chance their staunch rejection of the ‘Wolves insistence to make him available in Love talks is real. And if that’s the case, Golden State will have to pay Thompson the money he seeks eventually. But there’s just no need for the Warriors to be in a hurry to do so now.
Is Thompson worth the max?
Follow Jack on Twitter at @ArmstrongWinter.
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Become a fan of Dime Magazine on Facebook HERE. |
Abrams spoke with French newspaper Metro News and talked about his high opinion of screen writer Michael Arndt and also revealed a tiny part of the story for the upcoming movie…
Abrams said that he was trying to get screenwriter Michael Arndt to work with him for months before realising they would be teaming up on ‘Star Wars: Episode VII’.
”It’s funny because I have admired the screenwriter Michael Arndt since ‘Little Miss Sunshine’.
‘And these last few months I’ve been suggesting he work with me and he kept saying, ‘I can’t, I’m already working on something’. And then one morning I read that he was doing ‘Star Wars’ and I finally got it.”
The 46-year-old super-producer was careful not to give too much away about the hotly-anticipated film’s plot, but revealed there will be a central love story.
Quizzed about the possibility of on-screen romance, he said: ”No doubt, even if I already know I want to approach this project in a different way … We’re only in the initial stages [of making the film] and it’s difficult to talk about it other than to say it’s very exciting.”
All Star Wars movies have a love story so this dosen’t come as a surprise. The question is what part of the whole plot will be connected with it. I hope not much.
Source: contactmusic |
Perhaps no event embodies the unyielding abstruseness and the unforgiving hierarchy of China’s ruling Communist Party as much as its Party Congress, the government’s most important leadership conference. Attended by some twenty-three hundred delegates from across the country, it is held every five years in Beijing’s Great Hall of the People—and when the weeklong meeting finally begins, one can be certain that the crucial politicking has already concluded. What proceeds is a choreographed spectacle bearing fastidiously scripted speeches, pro-forma elections of what has heretofore been determined (a leadership reshuffle in the seven-member Politburo, the highest echelon of power), and, in the case of the 19th Communist Party Congress, which opened today, high-spirited, propagandistic posters reminding the masses that “Life in China Is Good! Everyday Is Like a Holiday!”
This is a message that Xi Jinping, who was appointed President at the previous Party Congress, in 2012, is eager to instill in a country that continues to grapple with a vertiginous pace of change and the outsize influence of politics in everyday life. Xi is almost certainly guaranteed another five-year term, if not longer. Since taking office, he has sought to launch the greatest ideological campaign since the days of Mao. The aim is not so much to bring about a Maoist revival—the terror of the Great Helmsman’s Cultural Revolution still haunts the nation—but to reinvigorate belief in and loyalty to the Party, thereby strengthening the regime’s legitimacy. As he stated during the last Party Congress, the Party, which must constantly remain “vigilant,” will always remain “the firm leadership core.”
Xi’s desire to achieve the “China Dream,” defined as the “great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation,” is categorically distinct, in scope and ambition, from that of his predecessors Hu Jintao and Jiang Zemin. Whereas Hu and Jiang were competent if colorless and largely uninspiring apparatchiks, Xi instantly and aggressively began consolidating his power, accruing enough political capital to spearhead the most extensive anti-graft campaign in modern Chinese history. The choice was a momentous one. When Xi assumed leadership over the Party, corruption posed the greatest threat to its survival. In toppling “tigers and flies”—powerful officials and lowly bureaucrats—he both burnished his image as a model of rectitude and strategically ousted potential competitors.
Earlier last year, the Communist Party anointed Xi as a “core” leader, granting him a level of authority that had not been bestowed on his immediate predecessor, Hu, and advancing him to the revered ranks of Mao and Deng Xiaoping. Already the head of the Party, the military, and the state, Xi has also made himself the head of several commissions, which allows him to weigh in on everything from economic reform to state security to cyber issues. To be the core leader and the chief executive licenses him to play an almost imperial role in shaping the fate of the nation. As Xi has made clear from the outset, he is intent on both defining a new world order and restoring to Chinese culture its former esteem.
Yet Xi’s mission should be regarded in the context of a collective and profound post-traumatic stress disorder, the result of almost two centuries of cataclysmic events in China, beginning with the devastation of the Opium Wars, which exposed the country for the first time in its history to a superior force—Great Britain—and shook the very meaning of Chinese identity and its inherent sense of exceptionalism. Xi, and many others in China, long for an era when the country occupied the pinnacle of civilization. But those days were accompanied by the absolutism of emperors whose levels of competence were a matter of caprice. The feudal system protected the cycle of dynastic succession, which propped up the despotism of those both fit and unfit for office. For every Tang Taizong, who ushered in the golden years of the Tang Dynasty, there were many others like Empress Dowager Cixi, who usurped the throne, crippled the path of progress, and contributed to the downfall of the Qing Dynasty.
As Xi made clear today, during his three-hour address to the Party Congress, he sees this moment as “a new historic juncture in China’s development”—and himself as the man to seize it. He seems to believe that the more power he amasses, the easier it will be for him to enact the kind of monumental changes necessary to transform China into the world’s leading superpower. In this sense, he is positioning himself as a savior with a cause noble enough to justify his autocratic turn. The logic is akin to that which animated the ambition of many of the Middle Kingdom’s five-hundred-odd emperors. Sure, Xi has rerouted all tributaries of power to run upstream to him, but isn’t it in the service of rejuvenation?
Xi has also used his growing power to curb that of his citizens. Under his rule, China has become increasingly repressive. The media is censored and civil society has been muted. Activists have been silenced and human-rights lawyers arrested. More than a million officials have been disciplined. Despite paying lip service to the constitution—the Party devoted an entire plenary session during the 18th Congress to a discussion of “judicial independence”—Xi is steering the country away from the rule of law and toward the rule of the Party.
Refining his personal control rather than reforming a sclerotic system may seem expedient for Xi, and, in the short term, he may be able to accomplish his immediate goals faster. But setting the precedent of a modern-day emperor ensnares Chinese politics in a cycle of volatility and unsustainability that renders an entire nation vulnerable, once again, to the whimsy of an individual. “Several thousand years ago, the Chinese nation trod a path that was different from other nations’ culture and development,” Xi said in a speech to the Politburo in 2014. “We should be more respectful and mindful of five thousand years of continuous Chinese culture.” Xi’s vision for China’s future suggests a great leap backward, in which old lessons remain unlearned. |
It is part of a longstanding plan to recast the university’s image, still tarnished by its reputation for racial strife in the 1960s, to signal that it is more tolerant and diverse. Confederate battle flags were discouraged from football games years ago, and “Dixie” is no longer the unofficial fight song.
But whether Colonel Reb too should go, and what might replace him, has divided fans.
“Over. My. Dead. Body,” said Mack Allen, 36, an alumnus and technology analyst from Memphis, who wore a T-shirt to a recent football game that read, “Colonel Reb — Loved by Many, Hated by Few.”
A group of fans called the Colonel Reb Foundation said it had gathered 2,000 signatures on a petition against any new mascot and plans to deliver it to the chancellor, Daniel W. Jones, and newspapers across the state. It also paid for the costume that Mr. West was wearing.
“People just want it to be over,” said Ty New, 21, a senior from Olive Branch, Miss., a co-chairman of a student committee to select the new mascot.
Like controversies at other colleges involving team names or mascots of American Indians, this started as a dispute about the university’s core values.
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But it has raised a new question about whether having no mascot at all hurts school spirit and the football team. In a campus referendum in February, 74 percent of students voted in favor of creating a new mascot rather than remaining mascotless.
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“We’re the only school in the Southeastern Conference without one,” said Ellison Brown, 21, an African-American junior from Jackson. “These are new times, we need a new image. But we also just need a mascot.”
At a home football game against Vanderbilt on Saturday, tens of thousands of red-clad fans tailgated on the campus’s rolling hills, surrounded by oak trees and white-columned academic buildings. (Don’t ask an Ole Miss fan about the score — the home team lost, 28-14.)
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Margaret Ann Morgan, 19, the other head of the mascot selection committee, argued that students were more willing than older alumni to consider a replacement.
“It’s so easy to get caught up in ‘Colonel Reb, Colonel Reb, nobody but Colonel Reb,’ ” she said. “In the long run, a new mascot would be very beneficial for our university.”
The question is not really whether Colonel Reb will rise again — no chance, says the chancellor — but whether any other mascot could satisfy fans.
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“You hear stories about little girls in Mississippi thinking he’s their grandfather,” said Brian Ferguson 27, an alumnus who founded the Colonel Reb Foundation. “He’s a member of our family.”
If ending the tradition is hard, fans say, starting a new one is harder. Perhaps the greatest enthusiasm for any proposal has been for an idea that began as a joke: making a “Star Wars” character named Admiral Ackbar the mascot. After drawing support from thousands on Facebook, the Ackbar campaign fizzled. In an ESPN commercial about the mascot selection, a horrified Ole Miss cheerleader refers to him as “the catfish-lookin’ creature.”
In July, the student mascot committee unveiled five other possible replacements: a bear, a lion, a horse, a land shark (a reference to the team’s tenacious defensive line) and Hotty and Toddy (derived from the name of the school cheer). The response was overwhelmingly negative, with fans and the news media ridiculing the options as either too generic or too absurd.
Mr. Jones, the chancellor, said he expected any new mascot would take time to catch on. In 2003, a previous chancellor tried to replace Colonel Reb with two different mascots, named Bruiser Rebel and Rowdy Rebel, and both were rejected by students.
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“It’s a long process for people to embrace a new mascot,” Mr. Jones said. “You invest a lot of energy in having people embrace an image and then you undo it. You’ve created your own problem in many ways. But in most universities with new mascots, after a period of time, there is relatively broad acceptance.”
Even Mr. New, one of the mascot committee leaders, said he sympathized with people who want Colonel Reb reinstated. In fact, Mr. New is a candidate in a student contest on Tuesday to be named this year’s Colonel Reb, an honorary title that is separate from the mascot.
“It’s ironic,” he admitted. “But I like Colonel Reb, too. I think we’re going to have to like Colonel Reb and just embrace the new mascot, too.” |
A Waukegan teenager had just stolen a handgun from another man when he was shot and killed by Zion police during a foot chase, authorities said late Monday.
The man told police he had arranged to meet with 17-year-old Justus Howell in Zion on Saturday afternoon to sell him the weapon, officials said. But then Howell tried to take the gun from him without paying for it and the two struggled over the weapon before Howell fled with the weapon when police showed up, according to a news release from Zion police.
The new details from police emerged after family members of Howell and local activists had raised questions about the circumstances of the shooting and said they wanted more information.
The Lake County coroner's office reported Monday that Howell died from two gunshot wounds to his back. One bullet penetrated his heart, spleen and liver, and the other entered his right shoulder, according to a coroner's news release on the autopsy.
The Lake County Major Crime Task Force continued to gather evidence and interview witnesses to the shooting, Cmdr. George Filenko said Monday. Zion police said the officer who was involved has been placed on leave while the investigation proceeds. They did not name the officer but said he is 32 and a nine-year department veteran.
The other man police said was involved in the gun transaction, Tramond Peet, 18, of Lindenhurst, was arrested and charged with aggravated unlawful use of a weapon, according to the Zion police news release. He appeared at a court hearing Monday in Lake County at which his bond was set at $15,000, police said.
Waukegan teen shot fatally in the back, twice. Friends and family refuse to believe the police report. Waukegan teen shot fatally in the back, twice. Friends and family refuse to believe the police report. SEE MORE VIDEOS
Zion police had issued a statement Saturday saying the shooting occurred after they responded to a caller who reported hearing a single gunshot during "an argument or fight" on Gilead Avenue about 2 p.m. When police arrived, a male subject ran from the scene, prompting a foot chase. Police had said a handgun was found at the scene.
Police said officers provided medical attention to Howell before he was taken to a nearby hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Asked about the new information Zion police released Monday night, Justus Howell's uncle, Dennis Howell, noted that police did not say Justus possessed the gun at the moment he was shot, only that he had the gun before. Dennis Howell noted reports from witnesses who said Justus Howell did not have a gun when he was shot.
"That needs to be taken into consideration," Dennis Howell said.
A cousin, Shaqurah Bell, said: "I just want justice for Justus. I never thought it would happen to my family. He didn't deserve this. We are praying for him."
Family members said Howell enjoyed basketball and rapped using the name "Meachi." Another cousin, Desiarell Howell, said Justus rapped about things he wanted to do with his life, which she said included someday attending medical school.
"He didn't want (his family) to hurt money-wise. He wanted his family to succeed," the cousin said.
Dennis Howell said that while the family has deep roots in Lake County, his nephew had recently moved to Waukegan from Wisconsin.
"He was on the path of getting back in school and getting his life in line. He was beginning to take the path to lead to a better life," Dennis Howell said.
He declined to elaborate on his nephew's past troubles.
A Waukegan School District 60 spokesman said Justus Howell had transferred into the district in February and had been placed at the privately run Lake Shore Academy, which serves students "who are at risk of extensive suspension and/or expulsion," according to a District 60 website.
In the news release late Monday, Zion police said they had encountered Peet on Saturday when he was pulled over on a traffic violation and was found to be in possession of a handgun magazine. After Peet was detained for questioning, police said, he told them he had met Howell in Zion with the intent of selling him a handgun.
Police said Peet told them Howell tried to take the gun without paying for it, that the two struggled over the gun and that Howell pointed the gun at Peet at one point. When Peet saw police cars arriving, he let go of the weapon and, before fleeing himself, saw Howell run off with the gun still in his hand. Peet said he saw police chase after Howell, heard officers giving him commands and then heard gunfire, according to the police release.
Zion police noted also that although Coroner Thomas Rudd's office released the details earlier Monday about Howell having been shot in the back, the autopsy report had not been completed or released to the police task force investigating the shooting.
The Police Department said it released the new details reluctantly.
"The Zion Police has no desire to defame the deceased and cause further pain to the family of Justus Howell," the release said. "At the same time we are aware of the public's need to know, with confidence, the events resulting in (the police call)."
Abderholden is a News-Sun reporter; Hinkel is a Tribune reporter.
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Foad Shams is an Iranian journalist who supports US presidential candidate Bernie Sanders and has written about him in the Iranian press. When asked what is it about the Democratic hopeful that interests him, Shams told Al-Monitor, “The image of an alternative America is the most attractive feature of the Sanders campaign. Sanders is an alternative voice. In fact, he has managed to change the general narrative about the United States. We Iranians have two different — but equally wrong — images in our heads regarding the United States.” Shams explained, “On the one hand, we have the image that is propagated by Iranian state television and other official media outlets inside Iran that depicts the United States as the absolute evil. The other image is the one propagated by Hollywood and some foreign media outlets that present America as heaven on earth and a place where everyone is happy.” He added, “However, the image that Sanders presents of the United States — its people and their demands — is real.”
Al-Monitor spoke about the upcoming US presidential election with an adviser to President Hassan Rouhani. He said on condition of anonymity, “[Hillary] Clinton is the candidate who has a real chance of getting elected. Sanders is unlikely to succeed. However, we have an old saying in Iran which goes, ‘If it does turn into doogh [an Iranian yogurt drink], it will be great!’” referring to an impossible scenario that can only be realized in a dream.
The Iranian presidential adviser added, “We are closely monitoring the presidential election in the United States. We have spent many sessions at research centers discussing the election and its possible outcomes with the experts. At this point, the administration is not planning to make any comments about any of the candidates, considering that we are still in the primaries. However, we have made our own predictions.” In regard to Sanders, the senior Iranian official told Al-Monitor that while Sanders is “of course a long shot … we had predicted that if he ever makes it to the White House, he could perhaps solve many of the problems between Iran and the United States the same way [President Barack] Obama has managed to solve some of the United States’ problems with Cuba, and that he could help tear down the wall of distrust in Iran-US relations that the supreme leader had talked about. His presidency could have been a historic opportunity for peace in the world.”
With regard to the Republican front-runner, the adviser said, “Compared to Clinton, [Donald] Trump is less problematic for Iran since he is for the most part an isolationist. Of course, Clinton has softened her tone on Iran during the past few weeks, something that we attribute to the news we have recently received regarding a few pragmatic advisers joining her campaign. Nonetheless, we believe that the nuclear deal might not have gone through if she had remained as secretary of state.”
Al-Monitor also spoke with Ali Abdi, an Iranian journalist residing in the United States who has volunteered for the Sanders campaign. He said, “Sanders’ and Trump’s campaigns have had the highest number of volunteers, mobilization and citizen engagement. As part of Sanders’ campaign, some of the most important things we've done was calling voters, going to the voters' doors and being active on social media networks.”
Abdi added, “Sanders is the best option for the Iranian-American community and the immigrant population in general. Sanders has a much better position toward Iran. He is less of a warmonger. He has been fighting for freedom and justice for the past 40 years. A person with such a vision can capture the interest of the immigrant population. It is this vision that engages Iranians’ interest and draws them toward Sanders.”
Among the Persian-language materials of the Sanders campaign is a poster with the slogan “A Future to Believe in” in Persian. Prior to the June 7 California Democratic primary, 3,000 Iranians residing in California were invited to a Facebook event encouraging them to vote for Sanders.
A poster designed for Persian-speaking supporters of Bernie Sanders was circulated online. (photo by Mohammad Reza Tayfeh)
Karim Yavari is a leftist student activist in Tehran who supports Sanders. Al-Monitor asked him whether he backs Sanders because he sees similarities between the Democratic hopeful and the head of Iran’s Green Movement, Mir Hossein Mousavi, who has been under house arrest since 2011, and whether the Sanders campaign is similar to the Green Movement.
“Sanders’ campaign managed to attract millions of youths in a period of only a few months. He shares many similarities with Mousavi, and therefore we are interested in his campaign and his plans. He talks about people’s social and economic demands in one of the most advanced societies in the world. His campaign showed the democratic, fresh and happy side of socialism as opposed to the angry, undemocratic and brutal images that have been associated with socialism in the past."
Al-Monitor asked Shams whether Sanders' supporters in Iran are realistic about what they can achieve.
“Of course I know that as an Iranian journalist living in Iran, my support for Bernie Sanders has no bearing on the outcome of the US election. We do not have any illusions in this regard. However, introducing Bernie Sanders to Iranian readers is certainly a positive thing to do. We cannot remain indifferent to a campaign that has sparked the interest of millions of Americans. There are Iranians who have US citizenship and thus the right to vote in the US election. Although their number is not large enough to have any meaningful impact on the election, they can play a more active role in Sanders’ campaign,” he said.
Shams also brought up the American Studies Program of Tehran University, saying, “At Tehran University, the United States’ political developments are being academically studied. In addition, there are research centers and institutes that are monitoring the election process. A while back, at a convention in Iran called 'Branding the Elections,' Donald Trump’s campaign model was studied.” |
Former Rep. Giffords: Lawmakers Should 'Have Some Courage,' Hold Town Halls
Enlarge this image toggle caption Spencer Platt/Getty Images Spencer Platt/Getty Images
Former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords has a message for members of Congress who are citing the possibility of protests as a reason not to hold town meetings: "Have some courage."
Giffords, wounded in a 2011 shooting outside a Tucson supermarket where she was meeting with constituents, was responding to a statement by Republican Congressman Louis Gohmert of Texas. Asked why he wasn't holding public meetings, Gohmert said:
"Unfortunately, at this time there are groups from the more violent strains of the leftist ideology, some even being paid, who are preying on public town halls to wreak havoc and threaten public safety. Threats are nothing new to me and I have gotten my share as a felony judge. However, the House Sergeant at Arms advised us after former Congresswoman Gabby Giffords was shot at a public appearance, that civilian attendees at Congressional public events stand the most chance of being harmed or killed—just as happened there."
Giffords' response was posted on the website of the gun violence prevention group she co-founded, Americans For Responsible Solutions:
"To the politicians who have abandoned their civic obligations, I say this: Have some courage. Face your constituents. Hold town halls."
Giffords noted that she was shot on a Saturday morning, and that by Monday her offices were open to the public.
There have been protests and tough, sometimes angry questions directed at several lawmakers who have held town hall-type meetings during the current congressional recess, as NPR's Jessica Taylor has reported. But no violence has been reported at any of the sessions. |
The U.S. 4th of July holiday is a bit of an enigma to people around the world. Clearly the holiday is intertwined with U.S. identity and the notion of U.S. “exceptionalism”, and as such the day tends to be regarded both inside and outside the U.S. as a patriotic celebration. Yet patriotism doesn’t fully capture what the day, let alone the defining attitude of the American people, is about.
I smiled as I read the recent articles in the Guardian in which the authors wistfully try to make sense of American attitudes displayed at the World Cup matches the past few weeks and in the American Independence Day celebration, lamenting that somehow British identity is decidedly different. A little bit of head scratching and soul searching can be a good thing.
Patriotism is about support for a nation, and nations are typically defined by history, their culture, and their government. Aspects of these things are manifest in the American Independence Day celebration, but these are really tangential to the core of American self-identity that is difficult for those outside the U.S. to understand, and difficult for those inside the U.S. to articulate.
What is at the core of the 4th of July holiday, or more importantly, at the core of U.S. self-identity? The answer is simple and is readily accessible, especially on this holiday.
Strictly speaking, the 4th of July commemorates the signing of the Declaration of Independence. The first few sentences of that document give the answer we are looking for:
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.
This is what is exceptional about the U.S., and this is the foundation for the whole American experience: not an historical event that led to political independence, not a common culture, or any other aspect of patriotism per-se. No, the core of the American identity and experience is a simple but revolutionary idea that individuals are created equal, and the very existence of individuals is the basis of their rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
Independence Day is not so much about independence from the British as much as it is about recognition of and commitment to these simple, self-evident truths. The “independence” is not so much political as much as it is existential in nature. American independence was neither granted nor won, but rather recognized, for American Independence is not about the nation so much as it is about the individuals that formed the nation.
These simple truths are the basis for American “exceptionalism”. It is not that American individuals view themselves intrinsically better than others, for we hold that all men are created equal. It is not that American individuals view their system of government or the historical or ongoing actions of that government as inherently superior, but rather that the government has been serving the purpose for which it was formed: the protection of the self-evident rights of individuals. It is not that Americans as individuals or as a nation are arrogant, but rather that they are self-important in the purest sense of the phrase: Individuals are important, more important than government, history, or culture. It is individuals and their rights for which the whole of U.S. government and history exists, and it is this understanding that is truly exceptional.
Yes, we’ll wave some flags and eat some hot dogs. But the patriotic display is really a symbol of something far deeper and far more precious than even the nation. We all would do to remember what this day truly commemorates.
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Buyers of fully electric, hybrid and fuel cell cars will not have to pay purchase tax from September to the end of 2017
China will exempt electric cars and other types of "new energy" vehicles from purchase tax, the government said, as it seeks to reduce pollution and conserve resources.
The State Council, or cabinet, said that buyers of new energy vehicles – fully electric, hybrid and fuel cell cars –would not have to pay the levy from September to the end of 2017, according to a statement.
The tax is 10% of the net value of the vehicle, according to state media.
"For achieving industrial development and environmental protection, this is a win-win," the state council said in a statement on Wednesday.
The exemption applies to imported vehicles as well as domestically produced ones, the statement said, adding the government would compile a catalogue of eligible models.
China has sought to increase ownership of electric and hybrid vehicles to ease chronic pollution and reduce reliance on oil imports, but high prices, lack of infrastructure and consumer reluctance have been obstacles.
The government has set a target of having five million new energy vehicles on the streets by 2020.
But China has only 70,000 currently in use, the China Daily newspaper reported on Thursday.
The central government also offers outright subsidies for electric passenger car buyers, which were set at $5,700 to $9,800 last year, while local incentives can bring the price down further.
Lack of charging stations and the desires of Chinese consumers - many first time owners - for big, flashy vehicles have hurt electric car sales.
Policymakers are seeking to move away from state spending to domestic consumption as a key driver of the economy, which has been slowing.
Several foreign auto makers have announced plans to develop environmentally-friendly vehicles in China, despite the currently small market.
US electric car maker Tesla Motors has also caused a stir with aggressive marketing and by pitching its imported vehicles to luxury buyers in China, although analysts say they might only find a niche market. |
The University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) appears to be attempting to push out a conservative professor from his position at the university.
Keith Fink, a continuing lecturer who teaches classes on free speech and entertainment law, has already had students blocked from taking his classes by the Communications Department due to his resistance to the atmosphere of trigger warnings and safe spaces and insistence on providing students with the proper knowledge to stand up for their rights on campus, as The Daily Wire has previously reported. Now the department may be using Fink's upcoming Excellence Review as an excuse to relieve him of his duties.
Lecturers undergo the Excellence Review when they reach their 18th quarter of teaching at the university. The lecturer provides the department with a list of student names to be solicited for evaluation letters, a list of faculty members who the candidate feels are the most qualified to evaluate them, as well as a list of faculty members who the candidate believes are biased against them. The department sends a faculty member to evaluate the class; a panel of tenured and tenure-track faculty members eventually review the candidate's dossier and decide if the candidate meets the necessary excellence standards to continue teaching at the university. If the panel decides the candidate has not met those standards, the candidate is relieved of his or her duties.
Fink previously told The Daily Wire that excellence reviews are typically a breeze for professors to pass. But the Communications Department has made it anything but easy for Fink thus far in the process.
Emails show that Kerri Johnson, the Communications Department chair, who said she was not allowed to provide comment to The Daily Wire on the Excellence Review process, reprimanded Fink in an email for having someone in his law firm solicit letters from students.
But Fink noted in his response that the person in his law firm is Andrew Litt, his teacher's aide and a UCLA law student who is allowed to solicit letters for Fink, citing the specific policy that allows Litt to solicit letters as a student.
Lauren Na, the assistant dean for academic and staff personnel who was included in the email, responded that Fink was "correct" but that letters solicited by the department are given heavier weight to the process.
Litt told The Daily Wire that no one has cited the specific rule that substantiates Na's assertion.
Additionally, the department did not reach out to the ten students on the list that Fink and Litt initially provided; they did, however, solicit letters from a later list of students, but Litt pointed out to The Daily Wire that they left out what he felt was the strongest letter they solicited in favor of Fink from the dossier they were required to send to Fink on April 3. Only when Fink and Litt noticed that documents were missing and requested the full dossier did the department send them the letter.
The student who wrote the letter, who only wanted to be identified by her first name, Kayla, was shocked when told by The Daily Wire that her letter was originally omitted from the dossier, as she submitted it on time.
"No reasonable person would believe that my letter was 'accidentally' omitted from the dossier, because presumably it flatly contradicts the department's narrative," Kayla told The Daily Wire in a text message. "They asked me what my honest opinion was, and I spent hours articulating how Professor Fink is an excellent instructor and explaining the impact he has had on my life.
"It infuriates me to hear they attempted to (by accident or by malice) discard my opinion simply because it contradicts their mission."
Here is her letter:
A number of negative letters from students solicited by the department were included in the dossier, which Fink felt were reaching in their criticism of him; perhaps the most damaging to Fink was a letter that stated that "it wasn't rare for Fink to bring up racial slurs or other forms of charged epithet."
But fourth-year philosophy student and College Republican member Michael Mathis, who is taking Fink's class for the third time this quarter, told The Daily Wire that the letter is taking Fink's words "completely out of context."
"It's not him up there blurting racial slurs for the hell of it; he was saying, 'Here's a quote,' he's says the quote and then says, 'Is this legal? Is this protected?' That kind of thing," Mathis said.
The problem is that Fink won't have the opportunity to defend himself in front of the Excellence Review panel. All they will see is a letter accusing him of perpetuating racial slurs.
What was truly bizarre was that the department reached out to an anonymous student that had never taken a class with Fink. This was among the documents sent to Fink and Litt when they requested the complete dossier:
"I think it's a sign that they're digging for something," Litt said, "and they might have misfired or something and sent it to the wrong person ... that's pathetic. The department knows exactly who took his classes."
There's also the fact that the faculty member that evaluated Fink, Communications Professor Greg Bryant, was on Fink's "bias list" because Bryant was "copied on all these emails that are disparaging toward Professor Fink," according to Litt. Fink asked in an email why Bryant was evaluating his class when the department is supposed to shy away from those on the bias list; Carly Bobek, UCLA's labor relations specialist, responded, "After taking into account the general availability of Senate faculty to perform your review, it was determined that Professor Bryant would be the most appropriate observer."
Litt told The Daily Wire in an email that this excuse doesn't make sense:
Are they seriously contending that NONE of these ... faculty members were available? I obviously have a bias of my own here, but most of these professors were teaching on campus that quarter (and thus not on sabbatical or research leave) and I find it extremely hard to believe that none of them, except biased Bryant, were available. I doubt they even asked most of them. Remember that as Chair, Kerri Johnson could simply appoint or require one of her subordinates to review the class. That person would then presumably follow their bosses orders and review the class...
Fink made a similar comment in his response to Bobek and asked why his deadline wasn't changed to avoid having Bryant evaluate him:
The Communications Senate faculty consists of 12 individuals, including Johnson and Bryant. It is odd that the remaining 10 members of the Senate faculty would not have been available for that night. The Daily Wire reached out to a number of the faculty members for comment; the only one who has responded thus far was Professor Tim Groeling, who said that members of the faculty can't comment on personnel cases.
Naturally, Bryant wrote an evaluation that was critical of Fink's teaching style, calling it "of average quality." Bryant claimed in his evaluation letter, which was obtained by The Daily Wire, that Fink constantly espoused "his personal legal views" and that Fink created "a potentially unwelcoming environment for students to speak" with his "sometimes highly defensive" responses to two students he called on during class.
But students told The Daily Wire that they never once felt uncomfortable in Fink's class.
"He just asked me a question and he challenged me like he always does but I didn't feel victimized at all," said Gael Adrien Mbama, a fourth year International Development Studies student and Daily Bruin columnist.
Adrien Mbama also pointed out that Fink constantly challenges his students in class so they can think on their feet. He is taking one of Fink's classes for the third time this quarter.
The second student was Mathis, who told The Daily Wire that he "felt more welcome than any other class I've ever taken."
"Usually on the campus you would hear hyper-left ideas, but he invites other ideas into the classroom that you wouldn't able to hear in any other class," Mathis said. "His class is a really good area where you can foster your mind and liberate your mind and begin to understand a new way of thinking."
Mathis also disputed the notion that Fink promulgates his personal views in class.
"He starts out on day one saying, 'I'm not going to tell you how to think. You're not even going to know what I think. I'm just going to tell you both sides of the debate,'" Mathis said.
Thomas Miller, a UCLA communications lecturer, volunteered to evaluate Fink's teaching during the same class as Bryant; Miller came out with more favorable evaluation:
Though Miller praised Fink strongly, the Bryant letter carries the most weight in the Excellence Review process because he was the chosen faculty evaluator. Between Bryant's letter and the allegations made by students in the letters critical of Fink, the department may have an excuse to push Fink out of his job when his Excellence Review is concluded in May.
"The way the system is, this is the easiest way for them to get rid of me," Fink told The Daily Wire. "This is the perfect storm."
Fink pointed out that the university only has to say that he did not reach their level of excellence standards to justify letting him go.
"This is everything for them," Fink said. "If they don't push me out now, they're never going to be able to do that without withstanding a viewpoint discrimination claim."
Fink is also convinced that the administration is involved, since they've been copied onto email threads featuring Fink setting members of the department straight for not knowing the correct school policy, yet never spoke in defense of Fink. Additionally, no one in the administration ever reached out to Fink when he went on Tucker Carlson Tonight to explain that students were being blocked from his class.
For Fink, fighting back against the administration is necessary to uphold the principles of academic freedom.
"If they can do it to me, they can do it to somebody else," Fink said.
And yet, at the beginning of the new quarter, Fink's class was overflowing students; his reviews are mostly excellent on Bruinwalk, a website that provides ratings and reviews on various UCLA professors and student letters in favor of him show that not only do students learn a lot from Fink's class, he is willing to be mentors to them. None of this is indicative of a professor that needs to be let go. Given the apparent bias shown by the department against Fink thus far, the administration may very well be ready to push him out regardless of the value he brings as an educator and the positive impact he is having on his students.
UPDATE (May 2): A source close to the situation told The Daily Wire that Keith Fink's Excellence Review vote will take place on Thursday. It is believed that the panel will consist of eight or nine faculty members, two of whom – Greg Bryant and Kerri Johnson – were on Fink's bias list, meaning that there are already two probable votes against Fink keeping his position as continuing lecturer. All it takes is a majority vote against Fink for him to be relieved of his duties.
Follow Aaron Bandler on Twitter. |
Members of the Russian military have been receiving well-crafted phishing emails since mid-summer from attackers that use Chinese-language tools and Chinese command-and-control installations, according to a report released yesterday.
The campaign also targets Russian telecom firms and, as collateral damage, has hit Russian-speaking financial analysts who cover the telecom space for global financial firms, according to Sunnyvale, Calif.-based security vendor Proofpoint, Inc.
In the past, the same group of attackers has been reportedly targeting military installations in Central Asia.
"Actor attribution is always tricky, but there is significant use of Chinese-language build tools and command-and-control goes back to host sites in Chinese-influenced areas," said Kevin Epstein, the company's vice president of the threat operations center.
Occam's Razon would mean that the Chinese are the most likely actors, he said, but there's always the possibility that some other group entirely is deliberately trying to cast blame on the Chinese.
In addition, the attack could be government sponsored, or it could be a financially-motivated group planning to sell the military intelligence it gathers.
"There is a world market for classified data of any time," said Epstein. "There are documented cases in the past where private hackers hacked into various institutions and then sold the data to nation states. The lines are increasingly blurred in the world of cybersecurity."
The attack starts with a well-written Russian-language email that seems to come from someone else in the targeted military division or an analyst section from the same group of the military, he said.
It comes with an attached document, a Microsoft Word file with a published article about the history of military testing in Russia.
"It's a decoy document," said Epstein. "You double-click on it, you open it, you read it, you think, 'Ah, that was kind of interesting.' Then you close it and you don't think about it again. But when it closes, it activates a macro, and the macro triggers a secondary file to take action, which is to download a third file, which is the nasty stuff."
That's when the malware takes over the computer and everything the user has access to, the attackers now have access to.
"Any anti-virus program wouldn't see a virus in the document because there's no virus in the document," he said. "And the trigger on closing is a common anti-sandboxing technique because most sandboxes check for triggering when documents are opened, not when they are closed."
According to Epstein, Russian-language speakers on his staff say that the email is very convincing, and if they didn't know to watch out for it -- or hadn't had enough coffee -- they might well have clicked on it.
"This looks like something a colleague might well send you as a reference, and there is nothing there to trigger suspicion," he said. |
By Josh Reese
Editor
Tarik Black started his final preseason game with Dwight Howard out due to a laceration on his arm. Black spent the night playing against Spurs Tim Duncan, and at times he more than held his own.
“I feel like it was a learning experience,” Black said of facing the great Duncan. “It was a test for me, but I think I did a good job.”
Coaches have the ultimate decision on Black’s future with the team, but it’s hard to argue against his production.
“Potentially,” Black said when asked about making the Rockets roster. “It’s all up to the guys in the front office,” Black told ROR. During the past 5 games, Black is averaging 17 minutes played while scoring 5 points and pulling down 4.6 rebounds a game.
The stats don’t blow you away, but Black does what the coaches are asking him to do. He has length and is by and large outplaying Joey Dorsey and Jeff Adrien. Because of that, Black looks to have made an NBA regular season roster, which is not bad for an undrafted rookie free agent out of Kansas.
Rosters will not be final till Monday. But the rookie has played better in the preseason than the veterans that were brought in to do, well, exactly what Black has been doing.
“Offensively, my game has to grow,” Black said, acknowledging that even if he makes the roster, he understands he still has to grow as a player.
Black takes pride on defense and says he would one day like to be known as a lock-down defender. “I have a lot of tools and a lot of potential, but at the end of the day it’s not there right now,” Black said.
In the end, though, chances are Black is going to be the big that will be the last man standing when the Rockets announces their final cuts.
“Hopefully the years it takes me to become the player I want to be, it will be here with this organization,” Black said. |
One of the first things you notice about Christine Michael: His handshake.
It’s a stop-you-midsentence-to-see-if-your-hand-is-still-there handshake, and it leaves you wondering: Is he shaking your hand or trying to vaporize it? It’s a fitting introduction for a player whose running style draws similar reactions.
“He’s 100 percent a man,” NFL Network analyst Charles Davis said. “That’s a full-grown man right there.”
Michael’s been the talk of the exhibition season, both locally and nationally, because when he’s played, he’s showed the potential to be a featured back. But there’s more to the position than raw ability, and it’s on those grounds that coach Pete Carroll throws up caution signs.
“He has made a really flashy first impression, and we are really excited about it,” Carroll said. “But he doesn’t have the whole thing yet. He’s got a lot of work to do, and he’s not always reading things properly. But he surely shows us the suddenness that makes you feel like he’s going to bust something.”
Take Thursday’s exhibition finale against Oakland. The Raiders corralled Michael for just 15 yards on 13 carries. It wasn’t his fault alone — the backup offensive line struggled most of the night — but Michael didn’t help his cause.
“It didn’t feel like he was roaring up in there,” Carroll said. “It felt like he was looking and trying to get some cutbacks and was kind of impatient with his reads.”
He also did this: He rumbled for 21 yards after catching a screen pass, but the highlight came at the end of the run. He zeroed in on Oakland safety Shelton Johnson in the open field, lowered his shoulder and sent Johnson’s helmet flying on impact.
It’s that cutthroat combination of speed and power that leaves people gushing, but those traits come with an asterisk.
He’s behind as a pass blocker and pass catcher, something Marshawn Lynch and Robert Turbin do better. He also needs to read what’s happening at the line of scrimmage better when he carries the ball.
The flash is there, but if he doesn’t become more reliable, his playing time this year could be limited.
“It’s that delicate balance between his functional football playing ability and his makeup,” said Louis Riddick, a longtime scout now working for ESPN. “You have to tie the two together so you have someone who isn’t just going to tease you with potential and not turn that into sustainable talent. And that’s what people were scared of with Christine.”
Riddick traveled to Texas A&M last season to watch tape of Michael and offensive tackles Luke Joeckel and Jake Matthews. What he saw, right away, was the speed, the power, the ability to spin away from a defender one second and break an arm tackle the next. He saw a starter given the right situation.
“I thought he was the best running back in the draft at that time,” Riddick said.
While in Aggies land, Riddick talked with Larry Jackson, Texas A&M’s strength and conditioning coach who also worked at Oklahoma when Adrian Peterson terrorized defenses. And what Jackson told Riddick stunned him.
“He told me that from a functional explosiveness perspective that Christine was on the same level as Adrian,” Riddick said. “When you’re talking about functional explosiveness — acceleration, change of direction, force and impact on contact, breaking tackles — he said he’s the same as Adrian. The only difference ... is that Adrian believed that he was unstoppable. He didn’t know if Christine believed it yet.”
(When asked to verify his comments, Jackson said that’s exactly what he said.)
Yet there’s a reason Michael fell to the second round this year. For all his talent, he had off-the-field questions hound him at A&M.
Would he be coachable? Would he be dependable and reliable, both on the field and off? Would his injury history be a problem?
Michael broke his leg and tore his ACL in college. He was suspended for a game for violating team rules his final year, then tweeted during the game, “Man rush the ball.” He fell to third on the depth chart under new coach Kevin Sumlin and didn’t play in the Cotton Bowl.
Matthew Berry, the Seahawks scout who evaluated Michael, said those weren’t concerns.
“He’s just an explosive NFL back,” Berry said in April. “I mean, it jumps off the tape.”
The talent is there to be a featured back. But in order to tap into it, he must harness the nuances of the position.
“We’d love to play him,” Carroll said, “but he’s got a lot to learn still.”
Jayson Jenks: 206-464-8277 or [email protected] |
In six weeks, refugees arriving in British Columbia will no longer receive free help to cope with the traumas they endured before fleeing to Canada.
Immigration and Refugee Services Suddenly Shut Down read more
Announcements, Events & more from Tyee and select partners ‘Punch to the Gut’ Musical on Residential Schools Returns to Vancouver Children of God has been shaped by intense audience reactions, says director Corey Payette.
The change comes after Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) denied funding to refugee mental health services in B.C. As a result, organisations that have been offering free counselling programs for years will be forced to shut their doors to refugees effective as of March 31, 2014.
After that, refugees without the money will get no professional help to process their experiences; a crucial step in getting settled in a new country.
"This is a mental health crisis," says Dylan Mazur, executive director of Vancouver Association for Survivors of Torture (VAST). They have lost 75 per cent, or about $250,000, of their budget after funding from the federal government was cut.
VAST is the largest organisation that provides refugee mental health services in B.C. In 2013 they saw 633 clients and the year before that, 655.
Carlos Mauricio Cruz was one of those clients. His mother, an influential lawyer and social rights advocate, was murdered by gangs in their home country of Honduras. He fled out of fear that he would be targeted next.
When Cruz arrived in B.C. late summer 2011 he had nothing. In Honduras he was a lawyer, taught at the university, he owned a house, a car, had friends -- he had a life. In Canada all that was gone and Cruz didn't speak a single word of English.
His immigration lawyer saw how Cruz was struggling and referred him to VAST. Initially, Cruz was hesitant to go but when he finally did he found the centre's translators helped him express himself. It was the first time after his arrival in Canada that he could talk about his feelings and experiences. It changed him, he says.
For 10 months he visited the centre once a week. The place was like a community. People would meet up, cook food, drink coffee, and share their stories.
"There were so many people with bigger issues than my own who went to VAST and received help and support," says Cruz. "I don't know what will happen to them if there is no VAST."
Neither does Mazur.
"There's nowhere to send these people," he says. "There are the settlement services but for mental health there's no one."
Denied without explanation
Chris Friesen, settlement services director of Immigrant Services Society of BC (ISSofBC) is worried as well.
"These programs are providing crucial help to men, women, children and youth who require specialised mental health intervention. At the end of March this will no longer be the case," he says.
Friesen says it will have a tremendous impact on the refugee settlement process. If traumatised refugees are blocked from proper help, he says, it will only add more barriers to their settlement process.
ISSofBC has been responsible for distributing the funds for refugee mental health services in B.C. since 2008. Each year they received close to $800,000 from the provincial government and divided it between three B.C. organisations: VAST, Family Services of Greater Vancouver, and the Bridge Refugee Clinic under Vancouver Coastal Health.
The funding came as part of a larger sum that the federal government sent to British Columbia each year through the Canada-BC Immigration Agreement to fund the provinces settlement and immigration programs.
In April 2012, CIC Minister Jason Kenney announced that he was revoking the Canada-BC Immigration Agreement effective in two years. Starting in 2014, organisations like ISSofBC and VAST would have to apply directly to CIC for funding.
Both organisations did so in the summer of 2013 but it wasn't until January this year, three months before their previous funding ran out, they received notice: their applications had been rejected.
"It was a four line email," recalls Mazur. "There were no reasons given just that we didn't fit their criteria."
No appeal process is available under CIC funding.
Friesen responded promptly and requested a debriefing to the federal government from CIC on why ISSofBC would not receive funding.
"Our proposal was based on a model that is currently being delivered in Manitoba and in Ontario where it has been funded by CIC for several years," he says.
Why would CIC not deliver funds to crucial programs that already exist elsewhere in Canada? Friesen wanted to know. He sent the request on Jan. 16, 2014. So far he has heard nothing but an electronic acknowledgement that his message is received.
Nowhere to turn
At Family Services of Greater Vancouver there is also concern as to what will happen to the refugees once funding runs out.
Family Services of Greater Vancouver received close to $100,000 each year through the now discontinued funding. They used the money to fund two therapists who did group or individual counselling for refugees. When March comes to and end so does the counselling.
"These are adults and children that have witnessed shootings and war, seen family members being killed or they were maybe shot themselves," says the organisation's manager of counselling and trauma services Christina Melnechuk.
"Some of them show all the symptoms of anxiety and depression and really need help before they can even begin to feel strong enough to learn the language and try and find work," she says, echoing Friesen's concern that the loss of services will delay refugees' settlement process.
Melnechuk says they will continue to see refugees through their regular counselling program but that it won't be for free anymore. If they don't have the money they won't be able to access service, she says, adding that refugees will have nowhere to turn then.
Government owes refugees support
Friesen says the federal government has an obligation not to let it come to that.
Unlike other immigrants many refugees are selected as Government-Assisted Refugees (GARs) and invited to Canada where they will receive permanent residence upon arrival and support for up to one year. In 2012 B.C. took in 711 GARs.
"The government invites and supports these people to come to Canada and I think we owe it to provide as much support as we can to this particular vulnerable newcomer population," says Friesen.
Melnechuk agrees. She doesn't think we should be bringing people that have had these kind of experiences into the country and then not help them.
"On one hand we open our hearts and say with compassion that we're going to get you out of this terrible situation," she says. "But then we bring you here and then we're not going to give you the help you need."
The Tyee reached out to Citizenship and Immigration Canada who was unable to comment before publication of this article. |
CAPE CANAVERAL AIR FORCE STATION, FL – The flawless blastoff of SpaceX’s next generation Falcon 9 rocket on Tuesday Dec. 3 put on a spectacular sky show along the Florida Space Coast that was both beautiful and unforgettable – besides being truly historic as the firms first ever delivery of a commercial space satellite to the lucrative market of geostationary orbit.
For your enjoyment here’s a collection of photos and videos from fellow space photojournalists of the 5:41 p.m. EST sunset launch from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, FL.
Following a pair of launch scrubs last week on Nov. 25 and Thanksgiving Day Nov. 28 caused by issues with the powerful new Merlin 1-D first stage engines, the third time was fat last the charm as the Falcon 9 blasted precisely at the opening of the 86 minute launch window.
Launch Video
Stay tuned here for continuing SpaceX & MAVEN news and Ken’s SpaceX and MAVEN launch reports from on site at Cape Canaveral & the Kennedy Space Center press site.
Ken Kremer
……………. |
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: A top Iranian general accused Israel Tuesday of waging “psychological war” against Iran. General Ahmad Vahidi warned that Israel is moving toward destruction of its, quote, “war machine” through its, quote, “warmongering” remarks.
The general’s message comes at a time when talk of a possible attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities grows louder in Israel. On Friday, Israel’s biggest-selling daily, Yedioth Ahronoth, published an article suggesting an Israeli attack could be imminent. The article reported, quote, “Insofar as it depends on Binyamin Netanyahu and Ehud Barak, an Israeli military strike on the nuclear facilities in Iran will take place in these coming autumn months, before the U.S. elections in November.”
On Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu appointed Avraham Dichter to become Israel’s new home front defense minister.
PRIME MINISTER BENJAMIN NETANYAHU: [translated] I decided today to appoint lawmaker Avi Dichter as civil defense minister. He has served in the past as internal security minister. He was also head of the Shin Bet. I remember him 40 years ago when we served together in Sayeret Matkal, Israeli commando unit. He has a lot to his credit, and he will now have an important assignment, to assist in what he has been involved in all his life: contributing to state security.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: Some have suggested Avi Dichter’s appointment is intended to bolster support in the cabinet for a unilateral Israeli strike. But earlier this year, in an article posted on the Israel National News website, Dichter opposed such action. He wrote, quote, “Israel is not a superpower. We cannot lead the world offensive against Iran. We have to participate, we have to give all kinds of information and intelligence that we have. We need to prepare, just in case nobody plans to do anything, but to lead it will be a total mistake by the State of Israel.” On Tuesday, U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta addressed the increasing talk of a possible Israeli attack on Iran.
DEFENSE SECRETARY LEON PANETTA: I don’t believe they made a decision as to whether or not they will—they will go in and attack Iran at this time. Obviously they’re an independent, they’re a sovereign country. They’ll ultimately make decisions based on what they think is in their national security interest. But I don’t believe they made that decision at this time. The reality is that we still think there is room to continue to negotiate. We’re just—these sanctions—the additional sanctions have been put in place. They’re beginning to have an additional impact on top of the other sanctions that have been placed there.
AMY GOODMAN: Leon Panetta, defense secretary, speaking Tuesday. Meanwhile, Martin Dempsey, the chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that Israel could not successfully carry out such an attack on its own.
MARTIN DEMPSEY: What I’m telling you is based on what I know of their capabilities, and I may not know about all their capabilities, but I think that it’s a fair characterization to say that they could delay but not destroy Iran’s nuclear capabilities.
AMY GOODMAN: To find out more about the situation in Israel and the possibility of a military confrontation with Iran, we’re going to go first to Tel Aviv to speak with longtime Israeli journalist Gideon Levy, columnist at the Haaretz newspaper, member of the newspaper’s editorial board. He is the author of The Punishment of Gaza.
We welcome you to Democracy Now!, Gideon. Is this different from other times? Are you sensing a serious escalation?
GIDEON LEVY: Absolutely. I mean, the Israeli escalation rhetorics might be followed with actions. I must tell you that nobody, but really nobody, knows the truth. But, you know, also the rhetoric has its own dynamics, and things can go out of control, and things can deteriorate. And I can tell you that here in Tel Aviv, more and more people start to be really, really worried, in terms of the coming weeks, not in terms of the coming months. It seems very, very dangerous.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: Gideon Levy, could you explain why it’s the case that the rhetoric is increasing at the pace it is now?
GIDEON LEVY: Look, it’s very hard to follow the rationale of the whole thing, because those threats coming from Israel had—in a certain stage, had a goal mainly to push the United States and the world to do something about Iran. But Iran is on the international agenda. It is on the table. Israel had achieved this goal. And still the rhetoric continues. And as it continues and becomes, from day to day—but really from day to day—more sharp and more threatening, I tend to believe that this might lead to an operation which might be a very, very dangerous situation for the entire region.
AMY GOODMAN: Can you talk about the response to Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney coming to Israel and the significance of his comments, what you understood he was saying, if he was president? He had boasted that he and Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, had worked at Boston [Consulting Group] together many years ago and knew each other. It seemed that Netanyahu somewhat distanced himself from him. But can you talk about what Mitt Romney actually said, talking about—and I want to just play a clip of Mitt Romney saying the U.S. would stand by its ally in a standoff with Iran.
MITT ROMNEY: We should employ any and all measures to dissuade the Iranian regime from its nuclear course, and it is our fervent hope that diplomatic and economic measures will do so. In the final analysis, of course, no option should be excluded. We recognize Israel’s right to defend itself and that it is right for America to stand with you.
AMY GOODMAN: Gideon Levy, your response?
GIDEON LEVY: Yeah, Romney, first of all, was welcome here in Israel as he was not welcome in any other place. And it’s very obvious that the present government in Israel, mainly the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, is really willing to see Romney in the White House. But I must say that Romney was quite cautious, at least at his public expressions. And practically, if you analyze what he said, he didn’t say anything that President Obama didn’t say. Those vague promises you can hear from both candidates, from the president and from Romney. And, you know, where you stand depends on where you sit, and I’m not so sure that candidate Romney will react in the same way like a possible President Romney. I wouldn’t take it too seriously, because if he will get into the White House, which we—personally, I hope that he will not—but if he will step in, he will also have some other considerations rather than the elections. So, I wouldn’t be sure that Romney will be a guarantee for an America or Israeli attack, either.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: So how relevant do you think it is, Gideon Levy, that all of this debate is taking place just months before the elections here?
GIDEON LEVY: It seems that—at least it seems that Israel is at least trying to ignore the elections and maybe to do something before the elections. At least that’s the atmosphere, that Israel is not going to wait until the elections. It is very hard to explain. It is very hard to understand how can an Israel prime minister dare to do something in such a sensitive time. But, you know, I—well, not always Israel is very rational or very easy to explain. I hope that it’s all rhetorics. But it starts to be really suspicious because it can be that such rhetorics will end up with nothing. It’s just impossible.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: Gideon Levy, before we conclude, is it the case that it’s been reported that a majority of Israelis are opposed to any Israeli action against Iran at the moment?
GIDEON LEVY: No, it changes. The public opinion here is quite brainwashed, like in any other place, and things start changing. It depends how you ask it. There was another poll which showed that, I think, 47 percent of the Israelis are already in favor of an preparation, that over 50 percent believe that if Iran will have nuclear weapons, this means a second Holocaust for Israel. I mean, I wouldn’t go for this, because there is so much information, misinformation in the media that people are really confused and people can be shaken very, very easily. The matter of fact is that almost the entire military and defense establishment of Israel, the present one and the former one, is united in opposing an attack in this time. But still, the decision makers—mainly two, the prime minister and the defense minister, Barak—seem to be very, very devoted to do something.
AMY GOODMAN: Gideon Levy, I want to thank you very much for being with us, Haaretz columnist, member of the newspaper’s editorial board, author of The Punishment of Gaza, joining us on the phone from Tel Aviv. When we come back, we’ll speak with two people here in Washington, D.C., both about what the U.S. is doing in this escalating tension and also about Iranians’ deep concern about how to help their family members in Iran, how to send back money in the wake of two earthquakes. Stay with us. |
I think there’s no need to write lengthy paragraphs about the disadvantages of a slow website performance, but let me mention just a few issues that I feel important. Apart from the fact that user experience declines seriously while visiting a slow website, Google takes into account page load speeds and ranks lower those pages that perform poorly. In the case of online stores, it can be disastrous since your competitors will be ranked higher.
According to official statistics, even if visitors find your store, every extra second they have to wait will reduce the chance of conversion by 7%. You can measure page speed with external tools that give suggestions for reaching the optimal solution. Such websites include:
Our favourite is is New Relic , a software analytics tool with which you can always see the speed performance of your website and many other useful attributes as well. These solutions can help a great deal in detecting slow speeds, however, they do not see the faulty processes within Magento. In the following I will write about how to examine these inner processes and how to detect and fix them.
Detection
Default profiler
You can use a default profiler for measuring the speed of internal processes. Thanks to the profiler, you can get an insight into the speed performance and memory usage of the controllers, actions, blocks, observers and other events. To use this, you need to authorize profiling in the System / Configuration / Developer / Debug / Profiler section. If you run speed analytics on a public page, you need to define your computer’s IP address in the System / Configuration / Developer / Developer Client Restriction. Next, you need to remove the comment in the index.php file from the line preceding this:
Varien_Profiler::enable();
Varien_Profiler::start('unique_profile_identifier'); //... the code lines to be analysed Varien_Profiler::stop('unique_profile_identifier');
<default_setup> <connection> <host><![CDATA[localhost]]></host> <username><![CDATA[mage_user]]></username> <password><![CDATA[mage_password]]></password> <dbname><![CDATA[mage_db]]></dbname> <initStatements><![CDATA[SET NAMES utf8]]></initStatements> <model><![CDATA[mysql4]]></model> <type><![CDATA[pdo_mysql]]></type> <pdoType><![CDATA[]]></pdoType> <active>1</active> <profiler>1</profiler> </connection> </default_setup>
The result will look similar to this:In your own modules you can use the profiler option by inserting these lines:For profiling the SQL queries you need to make your settings in the app/etc/local.xml:
The table below shows what the result of these settings will look like:
Aoe Profiler
Let’s be honest, it is quite hard to read and to see how these data are structured. To solve this you can use the Aoe Profiler plugin, which displays the data in a hierarchical structure with the help of small diagrams. These show you clearly those elements that spoil the speed performance of the website.
However, here at AionHill, we use an even more competent solution, our own module that helps us detect page speed problems more effectively.
Introducing AionHill_Profiler
Blocks
The blocks are shown in a hieararchical structure indicating the time (seconds) needed for displaying them, whether the given block uses cache, and we can also see the SQL queries that are run while displaying the block.
SQL queries
The module also displays the SQL queries used on the page. Here we also use diagrams, time figures and stack trace figures that show the line and Magento class from which the SQL query started.
Repetitive SQL queries
The module notifies us if there are completely identical SQL queries on the page. The table below shows how many of them are present and how frequently they occur and also how much of the MySQL server’s time was consumed.
Cycle-structured SQL queries
Finally, we detect the cycle-structured, but not necessarily identical, SQL queries:
Solution proposals
And now let’s see some real-life examples revealing what we can do for tackling the issues that have been detected.
Eliminate the cycle-structured SQL queries.
No matter how fast the SQL server is, using its capacity unnecessarily still influences its performance. Download the needed data in one bulk and not in cycles one by one, whenever possible. As examples, I show you two functions that return with the average price based on product identifiers set as parameters. The first method, which is wrong, loads in the products in one cycle one by one and then adds the price to one bulk, from which it calculates the average price out of the cycle, and then returns with it.
/** * get Average Price (bad example) * * @param array $productIds product ids * * @return float */ public function getAveragePriceBadMethod(array $productIds) { $prices = array(); foreach ($productIds as $productId) { $product = Mage::getModel('catalog/product')->load($productId); $prices[] = $product->getPrice(); } return array_sum($prices) / count($prices); }
An example for a fine solution: Instead of making a query for each product separately, we make a query for the whole collection containing them and then we use these items.
/** * get Average Price (good example) * * @param array $productIds product ids * * @return float */ public function getAveragePriceGoodMethod(array $productIds) { if (empty($productIds)) { return 0; } $prices = array(); $products = Mage::getResourceModel('catalog/product_collection') ->addAttributeToSelect('price') ->addAttributeToFilter('entity_id', array('in' => $productIds)); foreach ($products as $product) { $prices[] = $product->getPrice(); } return array_sum($prices) / count($prices); }
Indeed, it is still not the best approach because we need the prices only, so it is not necessary to load the whole collection. When only the values of one field are required, use the following method:
/** * get Average Price (good example) * * @param array $productIds product ids * * @return float */ public function getAveragePrice(array $productIds) { if (empty($productIds)) { return 0; } $products = Mage::getResourceModel('catalog/product_collection') ->addAttributeToSelect('price') ->addAttributeToFilter('entity_id', array('in' => $productIds)); $select = $products->getSelect() ->reset(Zend_Db_Select::COLUMNS) ->columns('price'); $prices = $products->getConnection()->fetchCol($select); return array_sum($prices) / count($prices); }
It is also a usual problem that a second query is initiated when the product is already in the shopping cart. The quote model ensures that the items related products are already present, so there is no need for subsequent model loads.
/** * get Quote Weight (bad example) * * @return float */ public function getQuoteWeightBadExample() { $quoteItems = Mage::getSingleton('checkout/cart')->getQuote()->getAllItems(); $quoteWeight = 0; /** @var Mage_Sales_Model_Quote_Item $quoteItem */ foreach ($quoteItems as $quoteItem) { $product = Mage::getModel('catalog/product')->load($quoteItem->getProductId()); $quoteWeight += $product->getWeight() * $quoteItem->getQty(); } return $quoteWeight; } /** * get Quote Weight (good example) * * @return float */ public function getQuoteWeight() { $quoteItems = Mage::getSingleton('checkout/cart')->getQuote()->getAllItems(); $quoteWeight = 0; /** @var Mage_Sales_Model_Quote_Item $quoteItem */ foreach ($quoteItems as $quoteItem) { $quoteWeight += $quoteItem->getProduct()->getWeight() * $quoteItem->getQty(); } return $quoteWeight; }
Eliminate recurring SQL queries
Of course, there are justifiable cases when we need to repeat the same query, e.g. reloading after modification for checking purposes. But many times there are planning or developing errors in the background. Let’s see what the most common mistakes are. We don’t store the return value of a method that is used several times:
/** * get Feature Categories (bad example) * * @return Mage_Catalog_Model_Resource_Category_Collection * @throws Mage_Core_Exception */ public function getFeatureCategoriesBadExample() { $categories = Mage::getModel('catalog/category')->getCollection() ->addAttributeToSelect('*') ->addAttributeToFilter('name', array('like' => '%feature%')) ->load(); return $categories; }
If we use the same method in 10 different places on a single page, then we make 9 unnecessary queries using the MySQL server! So it is wise to store the results in a class variable when calling the method the first time and later use the stored items without using extra resources.
/** * Local cache for feature categories * * @var null|Mage_Catalog_Model_Resource_Category_Collection */ protected $_featureCategories = null; /** * get Feature Categories (good example) * * @return Mage_Catalog_Model_Resource_Category_Collection * @throws Mage_Core_Exception */ public function getFeatureCategories() { if (!is_null($this->_featureCategories)) { return $this->_featureCategories; } $this->_featureCategories = Mage::getModel('catalog/category')->getCollection() ->addAttributeToSelect('*') ->addAttributeToFilter('name', array('like' => '%feature%')) ->load(); return $this->_featureCategories; }
Another common mistake is using model instead of singleton. It can cause performance problems right away that a class is present in multiple copies instead of one, but if more complex procedures are run, the situation can get much graver. In the following example you can see an extended shopping cart. I inserted a category collection load in its constructor.
/** * Class My_Module_Model_Checkout_Cart */ class My_Module_Model_Checkout_Cart extends Mage_Checkout_Model_Cart { /** @var Mage_Catalog_Model_Resource_Category_Collection */ protected $_quoteCategories; /** * Constructor */ public function __construct() { parent::__construct(); $categoryIds = array(); $quoteItems = $this->getQuote()->getAllItems(); /** @var Mage_Sales_Model_Quote_Item $quoteItem */ foreach ($quoteItems as $quoteItem) { $product = $quoteItem->getProduct(); $categoryIds = array_merge($categoryIds, $product->getCategoryIds()); } $this->_quoteCategories = Mage::getModel('catalog/category')->getCollection() ->addAttributeToSelect('*') ->addAttributeToFilter('entity_id', array('in' => array_unique($categoryIds))) ->load(); } }
It can work fine if we handle this extended class properly.
// bad example $productIds = Mage::getModel('my_module/checkout_cart')->getProductIds(); $itemsQty = Mage::getModel('my_module/checkout_cart')->getItemsQty(); // good example $productIds = Mage::getSingleton('my_module/checkout_cart')->getProductIds(); $itemsQty = Mage::getSingleton('my_module/checkout_cart')->getItemsQty();
In the above example, wrongly, the class is present in more copies and thus the category query in the constructor will run in each case. The situation is the same if there are resource-demanding processes with different methods. Here, even if we use one class variable for caching, like in the previous example, the time consuming code lines are executed repeatedly since we have stored the previous calculations in another copy of the class. In the example below, which gives the correct solution, the object is present in one copy only and therefore there won’t be any unnecessary calculations. If, for some reason, you cannot use singleton, you can also use Magento Helpers, which are singleton classes, or Mage::registry for storing temporary data. These are very simple practices, but if you do not pay enough attention to them, the number of SQL queries may grow significantly.
Fixing long runtime SQL queries
Creating appropriate table indexes
Many times it well may be that the corresponding fields of a given table are not indexed. Here caution is needed because the more indexes you use, the longer the writing time will be, but searches and ordering will be considerably faster. It is very important to define the structure of the table and the indexes optimally. You can add indexes to the tables with the help of the installer integrated in the module.
$installer = $this; $installer->startSetup(); $tableName = $installer->getTable('my_module/model'); if ($installer->getConnection()->isTableExists($tableName)) { $table = $installer->getConnection(); try { $table->addIndex( $installer->getIdxName( 'my_module/model', array( 'column1', 'column2', ), Varien_Db_Adapter_Interface::INDEX_TYPE_INDEX ), array( 'column1', 'column2', ), array('type' => Varien_Db_Adapter_Interface::INDEX_TYPE_INDEX) ); } catch (Exception $e) { Mage::logException($e); } } $installer->endSetup();
Extending indexing of the product flat tables
When there are many products, queries executed from product flat tables may be slower if you use filtering or ordering which is not field-indexed by Magento. You cannot index flat tables using the installer since Magento discards and re-creates these during indexing. However, you can modify the default indexes of the flat table with an observer. To make it work, you need to add an observer to the catalog_product_add_indexes event.
<events> <catalog_product_flat_prepare_indexes> <observers> <my_module_catalog_product_flat_prepare_indexes> <type>singleton</type> <class>my_module/observer</class> <method>catalogProductFlatPrepareIndexes</method> </my_module_catalog_product_flat_prepare_indexes> </observers> </catalog_product_flat_prepare_indexes> </events>
/** * Add indexes to product flat table * * @param Varien_Event_Observer $observer observer * * @return void */ public function catalogProductFlatPrepareIndexes(Varien_Event_Observer $observer) { /** @var Varien_Object $indexesObject */ $indexesObject = $observer->getIndexes(); /** @var array $indexes */ $indexes = $indexesObject->getIndexes(); $indexes['IDX_MY_ATTRIBUTE'] = array( 'type' => Varien_Db_Adapter_Interface::INDEX_TYPE_INDEX, 'fields' => array('my_attribute') ); $indexesObject->setIndexes($indexes); }
The method above is always run when Magento re-creates the flat table due to the re-indexing process.
Eliminating resource-demanding SQL joins
In some cases, a slow-speed query cannot be fixed with using indexes only because we connect several large tables and therefore, inevitably, the MySQL server has to deal with huge amounts of data. Let’s suppose we would like to execute an ordering on the product list page based on inventory volume and rating. In this case we apply the following method:
$collection->joinField( 'quantity', 'cataloginventory/stock_item', 'qty', 'product_id=entity_id', '{{table}}.stock_id=1', 'left' ); $collection->joinField( 'rating_summary', 'review_entity_summary', 'rating_summary', 'entity_pk_value=entity_id', array( 'entity_type' => 1, 'store_id' => Mage::app()->getStore()->getId() ), 'left' ); $collection->setOrder($attribute, $direction);
Depending on the number of products and ratings, immense amounts of data can stack up and structuring these can take up a considerable amount of time. A great number of simple methods can be used in terms of My SQL queries. Now I’d like to mention that join is not always needed, only in those cases when we’d really use it.
if ($attribute == 'quantity') { $collection->joinField( 'quantity', 'cataloginventory/stock_item', 'qty', 'product_id=entity_id', '{{table}}.stock_id=1', 'left' ); } if ($attribute == 'rating_summary') { $collection->joinField( 'rating_summary', 'review_entity_summary', 'rating_summary', 'entity_pk_value=entity_id', array( 'entity_type' => 1, 'store_id' => Mage::app()->getStore()->getId() ), 'left' ); } $collection->setOrder($attribute, $direction);
With this simple trick we prevented connecting two large tables to the product collection. Now, connecting takes place only in the case of such tables that are truly needed.
Performance improvement of Magento Blocks
Whenever possible, it is recommended to use caching of Magento blocks. You can segment these cache data based on user groups and can also combine more segmentations. .
/** * construct * * @return void */ protected function _construct() { $this->addData( array( 'cache_lifetime' => 3600, 'cache_key' => 'MY_MODULE_' . $this->getExampleModel()->getId(), 'cache_tags' => array(My_Module_Model_Example::CACHE_TAG) ) ); }
It’s worth using the so-called object cache for those methods that are called several times and it is not always needed to run the codes within them.
/** * get Category Collection * * @return Mage_Catalog_Model_Resource_Category_Collection|mixed * @throws Mage_Core_Exception */ public function getCategoryCollection() { if ($this->hasData('category_collection')) { return $this->getData('category_collection'); } $collection = Mage::getModel('catalog/category')->getCollection() ->addAttributeToSelect('*') ->addAttributeToFilter('parent_id', array('eq' => Mage::app()->getStore()->getRootCategoryId())); $this->setData('category_collection', $collection); return $collection; }
Other useful development suggestions for better performance
Simple SQL queries
If you want to collect identifiers from a collection, it is better to solve this without a cycle:
// bad example $ids = array(); $products = Mage::getModel('catalog/product')->getCollection() ->addAttributeToFilter('sku', array('like' => 'test-%')); foreach ($products as $product) { $ids[] = $product->getId(); } // good example $ids = Mage::getModel('catalog/product')->getCollection() ->addAttributeToFilter('sku', array('like' => 'test-%')) ->getAllIds();
The getAllIds method is included in every Magento collection. If it is not the identifiers that you need, but another field, and that one only, then you can apply the following solution:
// bad example $result = array(); $products = Mage::getModel('catalog/product')->getCollection() ->addAttributeToSelect('my_attribute') ->addAttributeToFilter('sku', array('like' => 'test-%')); foreach ($products as $product) { $result[] = $product->getData('my_attribute'); } // good example $collection = Mage::getResourceModel('catalog/product_collection') ->addAttributeToSelect('test') ->addAttributeToFilter('sku', array('like' => 'test-%')); $select = $collection->getSelect() ->reset(Zend_Db_Select::COLUMNS) ->columns('test') ->group('test'); $result = $collection->getConnection()->fetchCol($select);
If you just want to check if a value exists in the table:
// bad example $firstItem = Mage::getModel('catalog/product')->getCollection() ->addAttributeToFilter('hello', array('gt' => 3)) ->getFirstItem(); $hasData = $firstItem->getId() != null; // good example $size = Mage::getResourceModel('catalog/product_collection') ->addAttributeToFilter('hello', array('gt' => 3)) ->getSize(); $hasData = $size > 0;
Simplify whenever possible
Again, simple things, but they can help a lot with shortening runtimes and having shorter codes also makes life easier. For example, if you need only the identifier of the logged-in user:
// less effective $customerId = Mage::getSingleton('customer/session')->getCustomer()->getId(); // a little shorter $customerId = Mage::getSingleton('customer/session')->getCustomerId();
Similarly, the products in the shopping cart and their identifiers are handled as follows:
$quoteItems = Mage::getSingleton('checkout/cart')->getQuote()->getAllItems(); foreach ($quoteItems as $item) { // when only product ID is needed // it's a little longer $productId = $item->getProduct()->getId(); // more effective $productId = $item->getProductId(); // if the product is needed // this is a really bad solution $product = Mage::getModel('catalog/product')->load($item->getProductId()); // this is the right solution $product = $item->getProduct(); } |
The Big Bang is the name that scientists use for the most common theory of the universe,[1][2][3] from the very early stages to the present day.[4][5][6]
The Big Bang theory is that the universe has not always existed. The early universe was hot and dense. As time passed the universe expanded, cooled, and become less dense. The Big Bang theory can explain why the universe looks the way it does. It explains why distant galaxies are moving away from us, and why the speed that they move away from us is proportional to distance. It explains why most of the visible universe is made of hydrogen and helium. It explains why there is a cosmic microwave background.[7]
Working backwards suggests that there would have been a time when temperatures and density were infinite.[8] Scientists are undecided whether this means the universe began from a singularity, or that current knowledge is insufficient to describe the universe at that time. Detailed measurements of the expansion rate of the universe tell us that the Big Bang happened at around 13.8 billion years ago. This is the age of the universe.
Early ideas of the Bang suggested a "cosmic egg". Modern models say the whole early universe was hot and dense, and so there is no "centre" to the universe. Nor is there any place where the Big Bang happened. Instead the Big Bang was everywhere.[9][10] The expansion of the universe is the expansion of the spacetime and not the motion of atoms through space.
Graphical timeline of the universe [ change | change source ]
Many things happened in the first second of the universe's life:
More reading [ change | change source ] |
At its best, King’s Bounty took Heroes of Might and Magic on in its own castle courtyard, stormed the battlements, kicked the po-faced paste out of the venerable old king who sat there wheezing through his life, and then married a zombie and rode off on a spider-steed with the vocal inflections of a country gentleman. Overworld exploration and basic strategic army building, turn-based combat, levelling and loot – it had all those things, but at its best it also had all the bonkers stuff. Legends of Eisenwald aims to be a similar game but takes its theme and atmosphere from a different place, dropping the fantasy cliches of smug elf and bearded dwarf, and aiming instead for a truly gothic late medieval experience.
There’s recently been a Kickstarter project for the game and it has reached its initial funding target, although there are further incentives if money continues to be digitally delivered over the next three days. It’s also one of those projects that was already a good way into development when it joined Kickstarter, the platform being used to spread awareness, finish more quickly and efficiently, and presumably to buy food and pay rent. This means anyone pledging $25 or more should have access to the closed beta by June rather than waiting years to get their grubby paws on anything playable.
The pitch video follows the development team dressed up like a gang of LARPers in what could be excruciating fashion, but it’s actually one of the best I’ve seen. It’s informative, contains plenty of footage of the actual game and everyone involved seems to be just about uncomfortable enough for me to believe they were forced into this by their CEO, who has an actual sword and therefore must be respected. If you were to pledge $9,555 you’d have a sword as well because Aterdux Entertainment will send you one.
Enough about the rewards and the pitch though, what about the game. There’s a combat video from the alpha but if there’s anything more boring to the eye than a HOMM type battle being played out slowly and with commentary I don’t know what it is. I’ll put it here anyway but please don’t watch the first 30 seconds and throw your monitor out of the window. Read about the combat here instead, that’s more helpful.
The important thing about the combat is that every unit will have something to do on every turn, rather than simply trotting around a tiny grid. If you’re engaged with enemies, you fight them until one of you is incapacitated, if you’re not, then you choose who to engage with. Ranged units seem to be handled like artillery, based in a fixed location and firing from there, requiring protection.
These kind of tactical grids have always had a high degree of abstraction, whether it’s in the representation of hundreds of units as a single figure taking up a single space, or the non-existent overview of a hero or commander. Eisenwald seems to embrace that abstract nature and utilise it for a very specific sort of tactical conflict. I like.
I also like these words on the world map, the strategy side of each scenario. Look at these upgrade branches and tell me they’re not far more more pleasing than a tiny goblin turning into a meaty orc that then inexplicably levels up into a dragon.
There’s plenty more about how that side of things works here.
It all looks mightily impressive and I’ll be taking a look at the beta as soon as it’s available. |
Goal of UN talks in Bonn is to shorten the sprawling climate change plan as countries push for a legally binding deal
The global climate agreement being negotiated this year must be worded in such a way that it doesn’t require approval by the US Congress, the French foreign minister said on Monday.
Laurent Fabius told African delegates at UN climate talks in Bonn that “we know the politics in the US. Whether we like it or not, if it comes to the Congress, they will refuse.”
If negotiators follow his plan, that would exclude an international treaty that has legally binding limits on greenhouse gas emissions — something some countries still insist on but which would have no chance of being ratified by the Republican-controlled Congress.
“We must find a formula which is valuable for everybody and valuable for the US without going to the Congress,” said Fabius, who will host the UN climate summit in Paris in December where the new agreement is supposed to be adopted.
Those pushing for a legally binding deal in Paris include the European Union and small island nations who fear being wiped out by rising seas.
Amjad Abdulla, a Maldives delegate who is the chief negotiator for the small-island group, said while the group still wants a binding agreement. “I think it’s important that we get everyone on board. We are still looking into options,” he said.
One possible outcome in Paris is a deal in which some elements are binding but not the emissions targets set by individual countries.
The Obama administration has pledged to reduce US emissions by 26-28% below 2005 levels by 2025.
The Peruvian environment minister, Manuel Pulgar-Vidal, said he was “completely sure that we will have an agreement in Paris”, despite the complex political situation in the US.
Jennifer Morgan, a climate policy expert at the World Resources Institute, said it was encouraging that Fabius was raising the legal issue now so it can be dealt with before the Paris conference.
“It’s a sign that he’s really pushing countries to come to terms with what the agreement can and cannot be,” she said.
Negotiators also need to decide how to differentiate between what rich and poor countries should do to fight climate change, and how to verify that countries are doing what they say they would.
The main goal for the two-week session in Bonn that began on Monday is to shorten the sprawling climate change negotiating text.
Ahead of the meeting, six European oil and gas companies called for a global price on carbon.
In a letter to Fabius and the UN climate chief, Christiana Figueres, the chief executives of Royal Dutch Shell, BP, Eni, Total, Statoil and the BG Group said carbon markets should be introduced around the world and eventually linked into an international system.
Carbon markets set limits on the pollution a company can release and allow them to trade emission permits using the market to set the price.
“Our companies would like to open direct dialogue with the UN and willing governments,” the companies said.
Some environmental groups were suspicious of the letter, with Greenpeace calling it a “smokescreen”, and the role carbon markets will play in the Paris agreement is still unclear.
“In the long term, they have the wrong business model. And that’s something they have to acknowledge,” said Martin Kaiser, a Greenpeace climate policy expert. |
Details Published on July 5, 2013 @ 03:06 am Written by Cecily
Remember that PC browser social game announced at last year's Tokyo Game Show alongside KINGDOM HEARTS -HD 1.5 ReMIX-? If you don't, it's no surprise; after the beta test, there has been literally no information on the title, until now. Check out this gameplay trailer of KINGDOM HEARTS χ[chi], featuring various worlds like Agrabah and Dwarf Woodlands, the Darkside boss battle and the all new rendition of Dearly Beloved!
The open beta will be available soon, so look forward to it!
We've subbed the video for you with translations provided by the lovely goldpanner, which you can also read below:
Once upon a time, everyone across the realm lived in peace and harmony, bathed in warm light.
However, everyone coveted the light, and before long they began to fight over it.
As they did, darkness was born in everyone's hearts.
The darkness spread and spread, swallowing up the light and many hearts.
The World was covered in darkness, and it disappeared.
[Text above the guy at his Awakening]
The Keyblade
The power of the light to drive back the darkness.
AGRABAH: A palace city surrounded by a vast desert
Aladdin: Who are you? I haven't seen your face around.
Aladdin: Are you from another town?
[Blue writing during gameplay]
Aladdin was passed out in the desert after being attacked by Heartless.
Let's pay a visit to the town he lives in, Agrabah.
DWARF WOODLANDS: Home of the seven dwarves
Doc: Today was just a normal day...
Doc: But then those black things from before appeared where we work.
Doc: They said they would all go get rid of them and ran off, but they haven't come back.
[Yellow writing during gamplay]
Let's follow Doc into the deep dark forest,
To search for his lost dwarf friends.
WONDERLAND: A wondrous land full of strange happenings
Alice: Excuse me, have you seen a rabbit go by?
Alice: I'm chasing after it.
[Pink writing during gameplay.]
After falling down a rabbithole, you find yourself in a strange room.
The only way out is a tiny door. Let's check it out.
Cat thing??: My name is Chirishii.
Chirishii: Don't worry, I'll stay with you from now on and teach you all sorts of things.
[Yellow writing]
Strengthen your Keyblade
Collect material items and build up your Keyblade!
[Yellow writing]
Card Draw
Get Attack Cards that boost offensive and defensive strength!
[Yellow Writing]
Card Synthesis
Spend cards you come by on strengthening cards you like!
[Red writing]
A Raid Boss has appeared!
[I dont know who that white nun person is meant to be]
???: You must join forces with friends who share the same will and walk the same path.
???: You need to connect your power!
[Blue text]
Adventure through Disney worlds, defeating the Heartless that have appeared in them,
And take back the light together!
Chirishii: The darkness has also appeared in places other than here.
Chirishii: So, there's a world I'd like you to visit for me.
Chirishii: The door to the outside world has already been opened.
Let's begin your story.
Source: Disney JP Youtube |
Last week, my colleagues at G2 turned communist for a day – then wrote up the results in a special issue. Not that they described it as such, those white-collar professionals with their artfully chosen casualwear and impressively-nuanced views on Cath Kidston. No, the term they used for this socio-political experiment was camping.
Yet camping and communism share more than similar Scrabble tiles – all those low-scoring Cs and Is and Ms. Consider what happens when you swap your wage-slavery for a rucksack: adult hierarchy is flattened, utensils and resources are pooled. Tasks are performed as a unit: you may lay on the food, but your friend is a better cook, and her boyfriend will clean the dishes. There is no question of people being paid differently for different tasks. Nor, on the G2 outing, did Tim Dowling claim a seven-figure "banjo bonus" for providing a highly-valued service enjoyed by less-talented souls: evidently, he needs some lessons from the nice men at Goldman Sachs.
The connections between the Great Outdoors and political utopia are memorably drawn by G A Cohen in Why Not Socialism? At one point in the book, the philosopher lists various objections that could be made to the sharing of resources. An expert fisherman on the trip might demand more perch than anyone else, for instance, or someone stumbling across an apple tree could ask for more room in the tent before she shows it to the others. In each case, Cohen argues, the answer from the other campers would be the same: "For heaven's sake, don't be such a schmuck." People might otherwise live in vastly unequal societies where they are rewarded very differently for their abilities, choices and backgrounds – but deep down everyone recognises the "moral shabbiness" of such regimes.
As a fellow at All Souls college, Oxford, the late Jerry Cohen (he died last summer, just before his essay was published) was neither expert on guy-ropes nor particularly enthusiastic about them. He was a central-heating socialist, really, who preferred his political debate indoors rather than out by the factory gates. A more outdoorsy philosopher might have acknowledged that someone will always turn up on a camping trip without all the kit, while someone else will always skive off.
Yet they would still wind up at Cohen's big question: if people choose to live like this for a few weeks each year, what's to stop them doing so all the time? After all, it's not as if camping is the only situation where the normal rules of pay-as-you-go market exchange are suspended. Libraries are also commonly funded, which means that the fan of cheap Mills & Boon novels is subsidising the student who consults an expensive encyclopedia. And others such as Richard Titmuss have written about how blood and organ donors give away these priceless possessions to people whose names they will never know.
Perhaps the attraction of these activities and institutions is that they offer a refuge from the normal capitalist grind. Certainly, the history of modern camping is the history of people who want to live differently and perhaps more dangerously than they can in big cities.
The American pioneers of camping who set off into the Adirondack wilderness were usually inspired by American Indians and came back with names such as Nessmuk or Black Wolf. And as the camping writer Matthew De Abaitua points out, British socialists took to camping in the late 19th century because they needed time and space outside the usual limits of working life to discuss politics. Indeed, the first British holiday camp was expressly socialist. Founded by John Fletcher Dodd in 1906, Caister offered communal cold showers and a wake-up call in the early hours that went: "Good morning, comrades!"
It is precisely that refuge mentality that irritated George Orwell, who thought the left should spend more time winning power and less time on what he saw as quackery. In The Road to Wigan Pier, Orwell describes a bus ride through Letchworth where two old socialists boarded: "They were dressed in pistachio-coloured shirts and khaki shorts into which their huge bottoms were crammed so tightly you could study every dimple." It's fair to assume they were campers.
But if anything, Cohen's argument about the communality of camping is more powerful now than it would have been in the 30s. Why Not Socialism? doesn't advance an argument for a big interventionist state, but for a society of common bonds. "Mass engagement, a broad culture of responsibility, mutuality and obligation". Jerry Cohen didn't say that; David Cameron did, in last year's Hugo Young lecture – and what is on offer in the Marxist philosopher's book is almost a leftwing riposte to the Tories' Big Society spiel. Call it Big Socialism.
The greatest achievement of this little book, though, is that it flips the argument against socialism. Where the case against organising society differently often rests on its implausibility, Cohen points out that different structures and ways of dealing with each other crop up all the time.
The argument then becomes not whether to have socialism but how to have it. Or so you might feel if your own summer camping trip ends without torrential rain or glowering acrimony. Meantime, The North Face can adopt a new advertising slogan: Camping wear for the discerning vanguardiste. |
A new report examines how political activists have responded to the knowledge they are under mass surveillance and subject to police spying.
Published on Tuesday, the report by St Andrews University and Open Democracy was compiled by interviewing a number of activists who had taken part in direct actions to see whether state surveillance has influenced them.
The report found that although the leaks by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden had little impact on activists beyond confirming suspicions, the police spying scandals had affected climate campaigners profoundly.
It also found that “faced with increased surveillance challenges, activists have not always adapted successfully.”
Part of this is a lack of “trusted communications tools,” which has made “direct action impossible to organize.”
The authors argue it is a case of “whether activists are able to adapt as the state adapts and, in doing so, to keep open a space for radical protest within the overall political ecosystem.”
While protest is far from over in the UK, the authors claim “activists are continuing to rely on tried and tested methods of organization,” that are not designed “to counteract forms of surveillance and disruption, which are likely to become increasingly routine parts of the state toolkit as we move deeper into the information age.”
In April, a survey suggested the UK is sleepwalking into an Orwellian surveillance state, with most of its citizens unaware of or disinterested in the far-reaching implications of the government’s Investigatory Powers (IP) Bill.
A poll conducted by broadband comparison site Broadband Genie reveals the widespread confusion many Brits are experiencing with respect to the soon-to-be-implemented legislation.
Known to its opponents as the “snoopers’ charter,” the bill will give UK law enforcement bodies unprecedented access to citizens’ online activities. |
Want to live in San Francisco? No problem, that’ll be $3,000 (a month)–but only if you act fast.
In the last two years, the the cost of housing in San Francisco has increased 47% and shows no signs of stopping. Longtime residents find themselves priced out of town, the most vulnerable of whom end up as far away as Stockton.
Some blame techie transplants. After all, every new arrival drives up the rent that much more. And many tech workers command wages that are well above the non-tech average. But labelling the problem a zero sum class struggle is both inaccurate and unproductive. The real problem is an emasculated housing market unable to absorb the new arrivals without shedding older residents. The only solution is to take supply off its leash and finally let it chase after demand.
Strangling Supply
From 2010 to 2013, San Francisco’s population increased by 32,000 residents. For the same period of time, the city’s housing stock increased by roughly 4,500 units. Why isn’t growth in housing keeping pace with growth in population? It’s not allowed to.
San Francisco uses what’s known as discretionary permitting. Even if a project meets all the relevant land use regulations, the Permitting Department can mandate modifications “in the public interest”. There’s also a six month review process during which neighbors can contest the permit based on an entitlement or environmental concern. Neighbors can also file a CEQA lawsuit in state court or even put a project on the ballot for an up or down vote. This process is heavily weighted against new construction. It limits how quickly the housing stock can grow. And as a result, when demand skyrockets so do prices.
To remedy this, San Francisco should move from discretionary to as-of-right permitting. In an as-of-right system, it’s much more difficult to stop construction. As long as a project meets existing land use requirements, city planners have to issue a permit. And although neighbors can sue based on nuisance, they don’t have any input in the actual permitting process. As-of-right permitting would go a long way toward defanging NIMBYs and overzealous planners.
But even if San Francisco opened up the permitting floodgates, height limits, floor-to-area ratios, zoning designations, and minimum parcel sizes all prevent land from being put to its best use. Land use restrictions like these can increase the price of housing by as much as 140% over construction costs. Relaxing–if not abolishing–these types of restrictions would be hugely beneficial.
But for as much as regulatory reform would help, there’s another way of encouraging supply to catch up with demand. And, interestingly enough, it involves raising taxes.
Tax the Land
The more you tax something, the less of that something society produces. Raise taxes on income and you discourage labor. Raise taxes on capital and you discourage investment. Raise taxes on property and the same logic applies; the higher the tax rates the greater the burden on new construction. But property taxes aren’t just a tax on buildings, they’re a tax on the land underneath as well. Separate the two in favor of taxing land alone, and construction is not only unburdened, it’s encouraged.
A pure land tax would amount to fixed overhead for each assessment period. This would encourage landlords to use their holdings as intensely as the market would bear. Holding a valuable parcel vacant or underused would become prohibitively expensive.
There are a few different proposals for implementing land taxation. The most aggressive approach calls for a 100% fee on land values and the abolition of all other taxes. A slightly more moderate proposal favors an 80% land tax to allow for some margin of error in assessment. The most realistic plan would be to retire San Francisco’s property tax in favor of a land tax and make the change revenue neutral. Considering the city’s property tax rate is barely over 1%, a revenue neutral land tax probably wouldn’t deliver the sun, the stars, and the moon like it would at much higher levels. That said, it would still be an improvement over the existing property tax.
Fix the Market, Not the Price
Neither rent control nor inclusionary zoning will fix the housing crisis. Both amount to price controls. Both drive up the price of market rate construction. Both create a gap between subsidized and unsubsidized housing. And as long as San Francisco can’t set its own immigration policy, there will never be enough subsidized housing to go around. It’s simply not a scalable solution. But that doesn’t mean there’s no room for a safety net.
Housing vouchers are like food stamps for….well, housing. They put resources directly in the hands of those who need them while avoiding the negative side effects of price fixing. It’s welfare that doesn’t try to mandate a price, but instead ensure that the least well off can pay whatever that price might be.
Funding via a land tax would tie the amount of revenue available for vouchers to the state of the housing market. When housing costs increase, it’s not the buildings themselves that are becoming more expensive, it’s the land that they’re sitting on. Houses aren’t wine, they don’t typically improve with age. The actual ground they sit on, however, can become more valuable if more people want to move into a neighborhood. If a sudden surge in demand sends land prices through the roof, a land tax would ensure that funding for vouchers would increase as well.
Funding through a land tax would also prevent vouchers from becoming a subsidy for landowners. Pumping other sources of revenue into housing might simply make the market more competitive and allow landlords to charge higher rents. A land tax would limit this by moving resources from landlords on one end of the market to tenants on the other end without increasing the total amount of dollars chasing housing. Regulatory reform would also limit any price increases from a voucher system since an increase in demand would better stimulate an increase in supply. The extra supply would then put downward pressure on prices.
Slowing down–let alone turning back–the rising cost of housing will require a massive amount of new construction. Relaxing land use rules will clear the path. Changing the tax code will hurry things along. And rethinking the social safety net will ensure that no one gets left behind. |
Funimation announced the English dub cast on Wednesday for its release of the Strike Witches anime film. The new cast includes:
Returning cast from Funimation 's English dub of the first and second television anime series includes:
Funimation will release the film on a Blu-ray Disc and DVD combo pack on October 4. The company describes the film:
The Neuroi, a large and dangerous alien race, still roam parts of the world leaving destruction in their path. The Strike Witches”a group of girls with extraordinary powers, formidable weapons, and advanced aircraft appendages”have made great strides against the Neuroi. But the war against them still rages on. Yoshika Miyafuji was once a member of the Strike Witches and sacrificed the ability to use her powers in a major fight against the Neuroi. Unable to fight, she now wishes to pursue her dream of becoming a doctor and continue to help people. When new soldier and witch Shizuka Hattori comes to escort her to a prestigious European medical school, their journey becomes far more dangerous than originally planned. The Neuroi have changed, and their abilities are far stronger than before. Can the Strike Witches comes together once again to face their enemy? Or will they be able to without Yoshika's abilities?
The film debuted in Japan in 2012, following the two television anime series that debuted in 2008 and 2010, respectively. Funimation released the first series on DVD in 2011, and on Blu-ray Disc in 2012. The company released the second series on Blu-ray Disc and DVD in 2012. |
A new survey shows that young Canadians were talking openly about politics, and about their voting experience, during the last federal election campaign.
In the weeks after the October 19, 2015, general election, Samara Canada, a national charity, surveyed 2,030 Canadians about the recent campaign. The survey responses were analyzed by age: 18 to 29; 30 to 55; 56 and older. Samara’s October 2016 report, Can You Hear Me Now?, explores how Canadians of different generations experienced the election. They were asked about whether they discussed and shared their experiences and thoughts. As well, they were asked about how much or how little parties and candidates contacted them. This article is adapted from the full report, which can be found here.
The 2015 election reversed a 20-year decline in voter turnout, bringing overall voter turnout from 61 percent in 2011 up to a surprising 68 percent. While all cohorts saw an increase in turnout, the 18-to-29 age group saw the biggest change, from 42 percent in 2011 to 57 percent in 2015 (figure 1).
Many factors combined to get Canadians to the polls. Canada had its first fixed election date and an extra-long, 78-day campaign, giving people ample time to realize there was an election taking place and familiarize themselves with parties, and with their leaders and candidates. For a long stretch of the campaign period, the three major parties were in a neck and neck (and neck) race across the country, according to public opinion polls, leading Canadians to think something important was at stake. Additionally, more advance polling locations were available and Elections Canada had its largest pilot of voting services on campuses, making voting easier.
Two other factors often play a part in getting people to the polls: contact from someone asking them to vote and the pressure that friends and family exert when they share that they voted.
In Can You Hear Me Now? Samara looked at how the different generations discussed politics and shared their voting experience, thereby potentially influencing each other to get involved. Second, we examined — by both channel and content of discussion — how different generations were contacted by parties and candidates.
How Canadians talk about Politics
While generations of Canadians have been advised to never discuss politics in polite company, during the 2015 election young Canadians ignored that advice, getting into discussions with friends, family and colleagues. Youth were actually the most likely group to discuss politics during the 78-day campaign period: 72 percent said they discussed politics, compared with 62 percent of those aged 30 to 55 and 58 percent of those 56 and over.
Samara’s previous research into how young people engage in politics showed that young people were willing to protest, boycott and especially talk about issues that concerned them at higher rates than older Canadians. This report shows that young people were also more active conversationalists than older Canadians during the election.
Contrary to expectations, young people weren’t only engaging online: young people reported the highest rates of contact offline, with 63 percent of 18-to-29-year-olds saying they discussed politics face to face or on the phone. Across all five forms of discussion, young people reported speaking about politics the most (figure 2).
Sharing is not just for Facebook
Not only did they discuss politics, the youngest cohort also shared their voting experience at higher rates than older people. Indeed, only 36 percent of young people kept their voting experience to themselves, while 60 percent of the oldest cohort did the same.
In terms of method, 53 percent of young Canadians spoke on the phone or in person about their experience voting, while only 33 percent of Canadians aged 56 or older did. These patterns capture a generational shift in attitude, from voting as a private act of duty to voting as a social, shared experience.
Since we know that social pressure — seeing a trusted friend do something — can have a strong effect on voting, young people themselves encouraged voting in their social group, just through the act of sharing.
“Digital natives” once again defied expectations when it came to sharing: Among 18-to-29-year-olds, the most popular way to communicate their voting experience was in real life (phone or in person), with only 13 percent sharing their voting experience on Facebook and 4 percent sharing on Twitter.
Young Canadians are more interested in sharing their voting experience with others (figure 3). Their stories could have been about who they voted for and why, or just about the fact that they voted. Youth are hyperconnected and avid communicators — both in real life and online — and as such they are effectively positioned to shape the views of their peers and fellow voters. In the 2015 election, Elections Canada found, 67 percent of youth indicated their friends encouraged them to vote, compared with 45 percent of older Canadians. When endorsements, such as that of a newspaper’s editorial board, no longer sway public opinion as they may have once done, parties and candidates must seek out new influencers.
Photo: Chinnapong / Shutterstock.com
This article is part of the Public Policy and Young Canadians special feature.
Do you have something to say about the article you just read? Be part of the Policy Options discussion, and send in your own submission. Here is a link on how to do it. | Souhaitez-vous réagir à cet article ? Joignez-vous aux débats d’Options politiques et soumettez-nous votre texte en suivant ces directives. |
James Clapper Is A Liar
By Thomas L. McDonald
June 14, 2013 " Information Clearing House - … “ least untruthful .”
It sounds better than “lying to Congress” or “perjury,” doesn’t it?
Director of National Intelligence James Clapper is really struggling to explain why he told Congress in March that the National Security Agency does not intentionally collect any kind of data on millions of Americans. His latest take: It’s an unfair question, he said, like “When are you going to stop beating your wife?” And it seems to depend on the meaning of “collect.” “I responded in what I thought was the most truthful, or least untruthful, manner by saying ‘no,’” Clapper told NBC News on Sunday. A newly revealed NSA program, however, in which the agency secretly vacuumed up the telephone records of millions of Verizon customers seems to fit the definition of both “data” and “millions of Americans.” Last week, Clapper said his “no” meant that NSA analysts don’t read Americans’ emails. Some have noted that could explain his earlier answer because “collect” has a precise meaning in intelligence-gathering circles, and it’s along those lines. On Sunday, Clapper elaborated: “This has to do with of course somewhat of a semantic, perhaps some would say too cute by half. But it is—there are honest differences on the semantics of what—when someone says ‘collection’ to me, that has a specific meaning, which may have a different meaning to him.”
Something is true or it’s not. The nature of the truth is immutable. I’m not talking about shades of opinion where subjectivity might apply, such as “That was a good meal.” I’m talking about, “No, we don’t sift through the records of American citizens.” There are no shades of gray there: either you do or you don’t. And, it turns out, you do.
If Clapper was in doubt about the shared meaning of “collect,” then he should have clarified that meaning before he replied. But saying “What do you mean by ‘collect’?” would have been a giveaway.
James Clapper lied: James Clapper is a liar. That’s very clear, isn’t it? I don’t have to parse those worse to finesse the semantics: this is a man guilty of perjury, hard stop. No semantic wiggling can wave that one away. And the president says he has “full faith” in him.
I know Orwell is getting a heavy workout these days, but one of his lasting contributions to semantics was offering the most potent example of how totalitarian states manipulate language as a tool of control and deception. “Least untruthful” is only the latest entry in the dictionary of Newspeak.
Tom McDonald has been a full-time freelance writer and editor since 1991, publishing 3 books and more than 1,500 features, articles, and reviews in consumer, specialty, and academic publications. patheos.com
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Detroit Public Schools Emergency Manager To Step Down
The state-appointed emergency manager of the Detroit public schools system is calling it quits. Darnell Earley was a big target because of his job before this one — as emergency manager of Flint.
AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:
In Detroit, the state-appointed emergency manager for the city's school system is calling it quits. Darnell Earley faced criticism during the year he was in charge, but he was also a target because of his previous job. He had served as emergency manager of Flint, the city with a public health crisis due to lead contaminated drinking water. Michigan Public Radio's Rick Pluta reports.
RICK PLUTA, BYLINE: Darnell Earley seemed to have the right temperament to be one of Governor Snyder's go-to emergency managers. Tough-talking, no nonsense and thick-skinned, Earley was able to step in and wield the budget ax, first in Flint and then as the Detroit schools' fourth emergency manager in six years. But Earley was bedeviled in recent weeks by investigations that turned up mold and rodents in classrooms. Frustrated teachers engaged in periodic sickouts that shut down many of the city's schools. Here in January, Darnell Earley is jeered when he tries to talk to reporters about the sickouts. The scene was captured by a reporter for the news site MLive.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
DARNELL EARLEY: I think that everybody understands the issues, OK?
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: You don't.
EARLEY: But the bottom line is that...
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Get out of Detroit, Earley. Get out of Detroit. Nobody wants you here.
PLUTA: The clamor for Earley to quit or be fired only grew with the controversy over Flint water. Earley was one of a series of emergency managers in Flint who carried out a decision to use the Flint River as a temporary source of drinking water. That decision had disastrous consequences as untreated corrosive river water caused lead in old pipes to leach into the drinking water. Back in October, Earley conceded the decision was a mistake, but insisted it was one made before he became Flint's emergency manager.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
EARLEY: Well, I think in retrospect if we all had, you know, 20/20 hindsight, we'd do a lot of things differently. But I think it was important at the time to make sure that the people of Flint had a water source.
PLUTA: Earley's critics want him to be forced to explain his actions at a congressional hearing on the Flint water crisis. State Senator Jim Ananich is a lawmaker from Flint.
JIM ANANICH: It's important for the public to know what he knows, what documents he has regarding Flint. You know, this is not a way to sneak out of his responsibility to make sure the public knows what's happening.
PLUTA: The Flint water and Detroit school troubles have focused a lot of attention on emergency managers and Michigan's emergency manager law. Emergency managers are sent in when the state determines local officials aren't making the tough calls necessary to deal with budget deficits.
ERIC SCORSONE: Very few states give the kind of authority and power that we do.
PLUTA: Eric Scorsone is an economist at Michigan State University who studies local government finances and says about 20 states have laws allowing state intervention in local finances. But Michigan's arrangement goes farther than most. Once an emergency manager is sent in, that person has sweeping power to take an ax to spending, eliminate jobs and renegotiate agreements regardless of what residents or local elected officials want.
SCORSONE: It's seen as, you know, a very aggressive approach to local financial emergencies.
PLUTA: Aggressive and controversial. In fact, Michigan voters rejected a souped up version of the emergency manager law in 2012. Governor Snyder and the Republican-led legislature turned around and adopted a new law keeping intact the authority of emergency managers. They also used a technicality to make sure the law would not face another ballot challenge. But even Governor Snyder says emergency managers are a last resort. Here he is in 2011 after the law was adopted.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
RICK SNYDER: My goal is to ever avoid having to employ an emergency manager. That's a failure point.
PLUTA: Snyder, Earley and others say the law has been helpful in putting troubled communities on a path to solvency. In fact, they say 16 of the 18 local governments that were taken over by the state are now back under some measure of local control. That includes Detroit's city government, which emerged from bankruptcy last year under the guiding hand of an emergency manager. But emergency managers can't fix every problem in a city like Detroit or Flint. They can't force families or businesses to move to a city or a school district. And, of course, an emergency manager can't fix the root of most of the problems - the economic distress that leads to a city or a school district's financial woes in the first place. For NPR News, I'm Rick Pluta.
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Now that Donald Trump is officially its commander-in-chief, America’s foreign allies are being forced to grapple with a highly sensitive question: Is it still safe to share information with U.S. intelligence agencies?
The global spy community — a fractious world where friends, frenemies and sometimes enemies often enter alliances of convenience — always holds its breath when a new U.S. president takes office. But Trump is an anomaly even for a group used to strange things. The new president, who is due to visit the CIA headquarters on Saturday, has spent weeks insulting the intelligence agencies he now oversees. He also has pushed for warmer ties with Russia, a country that several European states view as a dangerous aggressor, and which U.S. intelligence officials have had difficulty coordinating with in the past.
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As a result, U.S. officials and analysts fear other countries will hesitate to share information with a Kremlin-friendly Trump administration. Trump’s off-the-cuff communication style also alarms observers in the U.S. and abroad who worry he may, inadvertently or out of bravado, reveal classified information. Another concern: Trump is so obviously distrustful of U.S. intelligence agencies that he may ignore their advice, making other nations feel it is not worth the effort to clue in the Americans.
“If there’s a sense that we’re cozying up to regimes like Vladimir Putin’s Russia, that could have something of a chilling effect," said a senior official from former President Barack Obama’s administration. "The challenge may be in places like Germany, France, potentially even the United Kingdom. If there is a reorientation toward Moscow, there could be some doubts there.”
John Brennan, who submitted his resignation as CIA director this past week, has also voiced concerns. “I think the world is watching now what Mr. Trump says, and listening very carefully,” Brennan told Fox News in a mid-January interview.“If he doesn't have confidence in the intelligence community, what signal does that send to our partners and allies, as well as our adversaries?”
Current and former European officials contacted by POLITICO were cautious in their comments, noting that it is still too soon to tell how Trump will act as president. Some, however, hinted at the possibility of shifts in intelligence sharing under Trump. One suggested it could come down to what their U.S. counterparts communicate with them about how they think the president is doing.
"Most European services will be influenced in their approach by whatever assessment and reassurances their U.S. counterparts give about the trustworthiness of the new administration,” a senior European security official said. “There is huge implicit trust between U.S. and British agencies, for example, that will not be easily undermined even by the arrival of a new president with unknown qualities.”
For all their famed prowess, American spy agencies rely a great deal on foreign intelligence partners for help on everything from counter-terrorism to cybersecurity. Such relationships are especially vital in regions where language and cultural barriers are high. Figuring out what’s happening in North Korea, for instance, is much easier done with the help of South Korea’s intelligence sector.
Some of America’s intelligence partnerships, such as the one with Britain, stretch back decades and are highly structured arrangements. But few countries share intelligence out of pure altruism, and some do so under tremendous pressure, such as Pakistan did in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. In some cases, countries that aren’t necessarily U.S. allies will cooperate with the Americans for a variety of reasons, but they may not want their cooperation publicized.
In July 2007, Thomas Sanderson, a senior fellow at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies, found himself face-to-face with Syrian President Bashar Assad in Damascus. This was back when the Arab leader was seen by some Westerners as a potential reformer, and well before he became the central figure in a bloody civil war that has drawn in Russia and Iran.
Sanderson asked Assad why his government stopped its earlier cooperation with U.S. intelligence agencies, despite having become a key partner in the hunt for Al-Qaeda fighters following the 9/11 attacks. Assad claimed his government was upset because the George W. Bush administration had leaked word of the U.S.-Syrian intelligence cooperation to the press, apparently to help gain legitimacy for the invasion of Iraq. The White House leaks made Syria seem like an American proxy, and turned it into a target for the jihadists, Assad said, according to Sanderson’s recollection.
Assad may have been bluffing about his true motives. According to the Bush administration, Syria was a less-than-helpful partner, barely even pretending to crack down on militants trying to reach Iraq to fight U.S. troops, and Sanderson noted that the U.S. said it had ended the partnership for that reason. Still, the exchange underscored the extreme sensitivities involved in U.S. intelligence sharing with foreign countries and the damage that can come about when one side decides it can no longer trust the other.
It’s a lesson Trump must quickly learn, Sanderson said.
“Our allies — or other intelligence partners — don’t want their sources and methods exposed, and they may not want their own cooperation exposed when they feel like Trump will ignore the intelligence or even criticize it,” Sanderson said. “Trump does not have the sophistication nor does he exhibit the respect for the intelligence community to give me or other people confidence that he won’t make a mistake like that.”
Trump aides did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
But Mike Pompeo, the Republican congressman from Kansas whom Trump has nominated to serve as CIA director, nodded to the need for continuing ties abroad during his Senate confirmation hearing earlier this month, calling foreign governments “vital partners.” However, Pompeo also stressed that the United States must be able to stand on its own.
“While intelligence sharing relationships with our friends and allies are important, they cannot replace our own unilateral recruiting and operations,” he said.
One upside for foreign countries worried about intelligence sharing under Trump is that there are relatively few politically appointed officials at agencies such as the CIA or the NSA. The vast majority of the U.S. interlocutors who deal with foreign intelligence agencies are career employees who do not leave with the launch of a new presidential administration, thus providing continuity and enhancing the level of trust.
As president, however, Trump can set the broad policy agenda for the intelligence world, and if he says he wants the U.S. to cooperate more with Russia, the agencies will have to obey, even if past attempts at such an alliance have been rocky.
Trump has repeatedly flattered Putin while largely resisting U.S. intelligence assessments that the Kremlin interfered in the 2016 election to help Trump win. At one point, Trump used a Nazi Germany reference when he blamed U.S. intelligence agencies for leaks about a private dossier allegedly containing compromising information Russia had obtained on him. (U.S. intelligence officials denied their agencies leaked anything.)
Trump and some of his top aides, including National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, have indicated that the U.S. should lay aside its anger with Russia over its invasion of Ukraine and its backing of the Assad regime in blood-soaked Syria. Instead, they argue, the U.S. should work with Moscow to fight Islamist extremists, a threat they consider far more serious than Russian expansionism.
The rivalry between American and Russian (or Soviet) intelligence agencies is the stuff of books and movies. But the two sides have at times cooperated, including on counter-terrorism immediately after 9/11 and on security-related issues in the run-up to the 2014 Winter Olympics in the Russian city of Sochi. The results, however, have always been mixed at best, as neither side ever really trusted the other, former intelligence officials said.
“The Russians think it’s quite quaint when we come to them and say, 'Well, sir, of course we want to cooperate with you,’ but there are so many times they’ve manipulated and lied to us,” said Steven Hall, a former CIA head of Russian operations who retired from the agency in 2015.
After the 9/11 attacks, the Russians appeared eager to cooperate with the U.S. on battling terrorist groups. The problem, Hall said, was that the Russians only really cared about some terrorist organizations.
“What we were at the time referring to as the global war on terrorism, the Russians thought of as the global war on Chechnya,” Hall said, referring to the restive region Putin has sought to pacify. “We were caught in a weird position, because we were like, we’ve been told to cooperate with these guys. And they wanted our intelligence on Chechnya, but then they would go and raze an entire village! It didn’t end well.”
European countries, especially the Baltics and other former Soviet states, will not see Russia through the same rose-colored lenses as Trump, Hall and others warned. Many European allies are still rattled by Obama-era reports, courtesy of National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden, that U.S. agencies had been monitoring their leaders’ phone calls and otherwise spying on them — an episode that was a blow to intelligence cooperation.
With Trump, countries such as Germany will worry that anything they share with the new U.S. administration might somehow find its way to Moscow.
“You can’t go to the Europeans and say ‘Relax guys, we’re going to try to improve things with the Russians and it won’t impact you.’ They know better,” Hall said.
If Trump and his aides press forth with their pro-Kremlin stance, the U.S. may lose some partners on intelligence sharing, but it could also strengthen links with others. Italy, for instance, has a better relationship with Moscow than, say, the Baltics, and could find itself a newly prized partner, said Leonardo Tricarico, president of the Rome-based Intelligence Culture and Strategic Analysis Foundation.
Michael Hayden, who led both the NSA and the CIA under the George W. Bush administration, said one reason other countries were willing to share intelligence with the United States was that it often has the capacity and willingness to act on the information. But if Trump downplays or dismisses what the CIA and other agencies tell him, that could erode allies’ confidence.
“How many foreign intelligence agencies might say, ‘I’m not sure giving this information to the Americans will do any good anyway. So why should we share it in the first place?’” Hayden asked. “If they come to the conclusion that the decision-makers don’t pay attention to the intelligence and the intelligence community is not respected, then why take the risk?”
Giulia Paravicini, Jacopo Barigazzi, and Nicholas Vinocur contributed to this report. |
When President Obama invited congressional leaders to resume debt talks at the White House on Thursday, he added a call to “check their ultimatums at the door” – and some fixed partisan taboos indeed appear to be shifting.
For Republicans, the key ultimatum has been that all tax increases – marginal rates and loopholes in the tax code – are off the table. Democrats, for their part, have aimed to shield entitlements, such as Medicare and Social Security, from cuts as part of a debt-and-deficit deal.
But even these taboo topics may now be grist for a grand bargain to cut the federal deficit by as much as $4 trillion over the next 10 years and to avert default on the national debt by an Aug. 2 deadline. For Republicans, the danger here that they would appear to run afoul of the "taxpayer protection pledge" of Americans for Tax Reform, which 236 current House members and 41 senators (mostly Republicans) have signed.
But the prospect of a $4 trillion deficit-reduction deal, which would include raising the national debt limit to avert the first-ever US default on debt repayment, is tantalizing, too – even for some antitax Republicans. They are hoping that closing tax loopholes and then using that new revenue to reduce overall tax rates and pay down the national debt would make sense to their constituents, even if it is technically a violation of the taxpayer protection pledge because the revenue change does not net to zero.
“If we could come up with two or three things that made sense to the American people, then I think not only would we raise the debt ceiling but Republicans would win this debate,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham (R) of South Carolina on Wednesday. “I’m willing to close loopholes for upper-income Americans and recapture that income to lower [tax] rates and pay down the debt.
“If you took the ethanol subsidy and [then] paid down the debt [with the resulting revenues], I’d be OK with that. To lower tax rates to create more jobs but also pay down the debt, that makes perfect sense to me,” he added.
Until recently, GOP opposition to tax breaks has strictly followed Americans for Tax Reform (ATR) pledge, crafted in 1986. The pledge commits lawmakers to two positions: The first is opposition to “any and all efforts to increase the marginal income tax rates for individuals and/or businesses.” The second – and the crux of the current debt negotiations – rejects “any net reduction or elimination of deductions and credits, unless matched dollar for dollar by further reducing tax rates.”
First to break with GOP antitax orthodoxy, in December 2010, were Sens. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma (R) and Michael Crapo (R) of Idaho, who backed the Bowles-Simpson deficit commission’s plan to cut $4 trillion from the federal deficit over 10 years through a mix of spending cuts, entitlement reform, and net tax increases. The Republicans said America’s fiscal situation is so dire that additional revenue had to be part of the mix.
Since then, Senator Coburn has launched efforts in the Senate to cut tax loopholes in a bid to direct savings to debt reduction. On June 16, 33 Republicans joined 38 Democrats to eliminate the 45-cents-per-gallon tax credit for refiners who blend ethanol with gasoline. In the runup to this vote, ATR president Grover Norquist sent senators letters outlining options that would allow them to send a “symbolic message” on ethanol, without violating the ATR tax pledge, including voting down the underlying bill.
“That’s exactly what happened,” says Mr. Norquist, who also briefed GOP senators. “Everybody knew the rules. Every pledge-taker voted to kill the underlying bill.”
Meanwhile, Democrats are focusing most of their fire on Republicans on the issue of tax loopholes.
“We need to look for wasteful spending everywhere in the budget. But the Republicans stubbornly insist that spending on tax earmarks for special interests or special treatment for millionaires should not even be part of the discussion,” said Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D) of Michigan, in a briefing on Wednesday. “The choice we face is very clear. Republicans target seniors and the middle class while protecting special treatment for special interests and millionaires and billionaires.”
After taking a pounding from Democrats over defending “tax breaks for billionaires,” House majority leader Eric Cantor (R) of Virginia said Wednesday that tax loopholes were not the reason he walked out of debt-limit negotiations with Vice President Joe Biden on June 23, prompting the talks to grind to a halt.
“If the president wants to talk loopholes, we'll be glad to talk loopholes,” he said in his first public remarks since the walkout, and his first indication that tax breaks or subsidies were open for discussion. “We've said all along that preferences in the code aren't something that helps economic growth overall. But, listen, we are not for any proposal that increases taxes, and any type of discussion should be coupled with offsetting tax cuts somewhere else.”
Democrats, too, face tough choices on issues they had hoped to shield during debt negotiations, such as entitlements.
On Wednesday, House minority whip Steny Hoyer said everything must be on the table, including entitlements.
“The Republicans need to put everything on the table and understand you cannot get there from here without putting everything on the table, which includes revenues and, from our perspective, includes entitlements and includes discretionary spending, both on the defense side and on the nondefense side,” he said.
Sen. Jon Kyl (R) of Arizona, who also walked out of the Biden talks over taxes, said that Democrats, too, had their taboos in the talks.
“Republicans have proposed means testing – we have proposed that wealthier people should pay more for benefits or not get as many of them as others. That is something we have proposed and the other side has generally not been willing to consider,” he said Wednesday.
At the White House on Thursday, that could change. |
Lebanese security services are following up on information suggesting that Nusra Front cells have resumed activity and planned more terrorist attacks in Lebanon, security sources told The Daily Star Monday.
The sources said the man had been a senior official of Fatah al-Islam in Lebanon in the past and is currently among the most prominent members of Al-Qaeda in Lebanon.
The source said the security services were monitoring the movement of these cells, headed by Ghazi A., 31, a Lebanese man from the northern region of Wadi Khaled.
The attacks came to a halt over a month ago, following an Army crackdown on terrorist cells in the country and an operation by the Syrian army and Hezbollah that drove rebels out of Syrian rebel-held territories adjacent to Lebanon.
... |
LSU entered the bottom of the 9th in College Station tonight up 4-0 on Texas A&M. A Tigers pitching meltdown, though, left the bases loaded and the game tied with two outs. A deep opposite-field liner from Aggies infielder Blake Allemand appeared to be a walkoff game-winner—until the LSU left fielder jumped.
That would be Tigers junior outfielder Jared Foster, a late replacement off the bench who kept LSU, and the game, alive into extra innings. (LSU went on to win 5-4 in a game to which they almost didn't make it.)
LSU baseball team safe and back on ground after plane scare The LSU baseball team is safe and back on the ground after their charter plane had to return to the … Read more Read
[CBSSN] |
Share. After 14 years, Ash Ketchum's cartoon quest is still going strong. After 14 years, Ash Ketchum's cartoon quest is still going strong.
"I wanna be the very best, like no one ever was! To catch them is my real test, to train them is my cause!"
Alright, what's the next line? Whether you're already singing along to yourself or you have no idea what I'm talking about, welcome. This is the Pokemon TV Retrospective, our new and comprehensive look back at one of the longest running and most successful cartoon series ever created. We think it's a good time to reflect on it, as the show is currently approaching its 14th anniversary since it first began airing in Japan -- and its latest season, Pokemon Black & White, is set to premiere here in America this Saturday, February 12.
It'll be the 14th season. Seriously, Pokemon's been going on that long. The English dub of the anime got started in September of 1998 in the States, and it's chronicled one long, continuous story ever since. Ash Ketchum's quest -- to be the very best. The sheer quantity of content that's been produced in that span of time is staggering -- there have been over 675 episodes created and 13 spin-off movies, many of which have debuted theatrically.
Our hero Ash Ketchum, ready to set out on his Pokemon quest.
Compare those totals to another well known staple of animation in America -- The Simpsons. Fox's on-going Sunday night comedy series has been on the air for more years and has had more seasons, but the episode count for it is about 475 right now, and there's only been one film featuring Springfield. Looking at it that way, Ash and Pikachu blew past Homer and Bart years ago.
So what's the secret? What's made the Pokemon anime series so enduring, when other cartoons based on video game properties more normally last only a couple of years? What keeps Pokemon so continuously popular, and why is it that Ash, after over a decade of traveling and training, still hasn't become a Pokemon Master? We'll dive into all those questions and more right here, so read on, Rhydons:
The Show's First Steps
When it first began airing in April of 1997 in Japan, the goal of the Pokemon anime was pretty straightforward -- it would take the plot of the popular Pokemon Game Boy games, which were about a year old by that point, and adapt them into about a year and a half of television. A kid takes off on a journey in a world full of monsters, seeking to catch those monsters and train them for battle -- and ultimately become the champion of the Pokemon battling league. Simple. Easy. But, from the start, the cartoon began to separate itself from its source material and take some creative liberties.
You can see it happening from the very first episode. We meet our hero, Ash Ketchum, (whose English last name is a play on the series tagline of "Gotta Catch 'Em All) and we see that his journey to become a Pokemon Master is plagued with problems from the start. He oversleeps on his 10th birthday, the day he's allowed to go and pick up his first Pokemon and begin his journey, and when he finally does show up to see his hero and mentor Professor Oak, all three of the available starter monsters have already been given away to other new trainers. Ash gets stuck with a leftover creature that the Professor just happens to have laying around -- a troublesome and headstrong Pikachu that refuses to stay in his Poke Ball.
That intro to the show set up the entire feel of Ash's journey pretty well, as while the cartoon mostly sticks to the same story structure as the video games it's adapting, it also isn't afraid to mix things up or take off on tangents from time to time. In the games, for example, all new trainers pick from either a Bulbasaur, a Charmander or a Squirtle as their first monsters -- Pikachu isn't an option.
Ash and Pikachu meet for the first time.
But you know what? It worked. Diverging just enough from what players of the games had already seen for themselves on their Game Boy screens helped the anime find its own voice, and the ridiculousness of it all just kind of gelled. Ash's Pikachu managed to take down monsters like Geodude and Onix in the early episodes, even though the attacks he used against them would have been completely ineffective in the games.
Ash managed to find and capture each of the three normal starter monsters out in the wild, or through other means -- and that couldn't have happened in the games either.
But it's funny how things have a way of coming full circle. The changes that the cartoon introduced into the basic Pokemon RPG narrative ended up becoming so popular and so well received that, ultimately, the games themselves were altered accordingly -- Nintendo published Pokemon Yellow, called a "Special Pikachu Edition" of the original Pokemon Red and Blue Game Boy games, and it brought Ash's adventure right back around into the gameplay. Your starter monster was Pikachu, he walked around behind you in the overworld scenes instead of staying in a Poke Ball, you could capture Bulbasaur, Charmander and Squirtle all separately through new plot events and more. For Nintendo to recognize and regard the anime so highly to go back into its games and implement those changes -- well, the cartoon must have been getting something right.
Though Pokemon Yellow still won't let you kill an Onix with a Thunderbolt. |
Verizon: Bandwidth Hogs Are A Tech Issue, Not A Legal Or Business Model Problem
from the making-better-technology dept
While AT&T has been siding with Hollywood in saying that file sharing is bad (so bad!) and that it needs to filter file sharing to deal with it, Verizon very clearly stated a few months ago that it didn't think that was appropriate. However, now it appears that Verizon has gone even further, in working with a P2P software maker to improve the efficiency of P2P to make it less of a bandwidth hog.Now, there are a few points worth making on this announcement. First, part of it is clearly just hyping up one startup that is offering a "legal" P2P file sharing offering. Second, part of this is Verizon using the opportunity to tweak AT&T and make itself look much more consumer friendly (something that doesn't often happen with Verizon, to be honest). Third, this hardly means (as some have been suggesting) that Verizon is "file sharing friendly." It only works with the one app that worked on this test with Verizon. However, what it does show is that Verizon recognizes that "bandwidth hogs" really are a technology issue that can be dealt with via technology solutions on the backend, rather than legal or business model methods that make life worse for consumers. That, alone, is a lesson that hopefully other companies in the space (and politicians) will learn.
Filed Under: bandwidth, optimizing, p2p |
I finished it last night finally! I am really happy I did, better late than never ehh? Also this is the first time i've drawn all four of my Mass Effect OCs in one frame, and it's great to see them all as friends together
November 7th, 2190, Jakis and Iccia invited their new friend Nyxrana, who in turn brought her long time pal Mica'Lazia to their home for a special celebration. It was the holiday to commemorate Shepard; from Shepard action figures, cakes and candies and even a 'pinata' contest on the Citadel. But for the four here they chose to enjoy the day with a cake made from the loveliest chocolate (Nyxrana didn't mind not having any, she was happy being there) and sponge cake, surrounded with black and red icing, Mica even brought these little omnitag things to put on the balloons. They celebrated the whole night, they even watched the Blasto: Shepard Special!
Alright, I wanna say that I decided to draw Mica suitless because that's kinda how she does in the RP universe i'm in, that plus I didn't have time to draw her suit :/ I wanted to but I couldn't.
I hope you all like it as much as I do
From left to right; Mica'Lazia, Jakis Vorenus, Iccia Octavius and Nyxrana T'Neli all belong to me
Mass Effect and N7 day @ Bioware and Mass Effect in general |
Mike Hosking, left, has landed in hot water with the BSA after making "misleading" comments about voting for the Māori Party.
Mike Hosking misled Seven Sharp viewers when he told them they couldn't vote for the Māori Party if they weren't Māori, the Broadcasting Standards Authority has found.
The BSA ruled Hosking breached its accuracy standard when he said to his co-presenter, "…you can't vote for the Māori Party because you're not enrolled in the Māori electorate".
The comment was made on August 23, just under a month out from this year's general election. The BSA found Hosking's comment could have misled voters.
SEVEN SHARP The BSA ruled Hosking's apology was "flippant" and didn't sufficiently correct his earlier statement.
Voters can cast their party vote for the Māori Party even if they aren't enrolled in a Māori electorate.
READ MORE:
* Sharp choices ahead for TVNZ with Mike Hosking, Toni Street gone
* Hosking's controversial Māori comments cleared by BSA
* Seven Sharp has most upheld BSA complaints in past year
* Ponytail-gate: BSA rules against Mike Hosking
Hosking attempted to clarify his comment the following evening, saying, "the fact that anyone can vote for [the Māori Party] as a list party I automatically assumed we all knew given we have been doing this for 20 years… and it went without saying. So hopefully that clears all of that up."
However the BSA said the clarification was "flippant" and too general to correct the inaccurate information for viewers.
"The incorrect statements made by Mr Hosking were presented at a critical time, when voters required accurate information to enable them to make informed voting decisions. In this case, the flippant apology provided did not reflect a genuine appreciation for the important role of media during this time," the BSA said in its decision.
The BSA determined that TVNZ should broadcast a statement before the 2017 summer holiday break acknowledging its breach of the accuracy standard.
A TVNZ spokesperson said the network accepted the BSA's decision and would broadcast the ordered statement at 7pm this week.
"We've acknowledged Mike Hosking's comments made on Seven Sharp on 23 August about voting for the Māori Party required clarification.
"It was addressed the following day on the show when Mike clarified that anyone can vote for the Māori Party as a list party.
"There was no intention to mislead viewers and Mike's comments were presented as a throwaway line made in the context of a light-hearted exchange between the hosts."
Hosking announced last week that he was leaving Seven Sharp, and broadcast his last episode on Friday. |
A bizarre six-sided feature encircling the north pole of Saturn near 78 degrees north latitude has been spied by the visual and infrared mapping spectrometer on NASA's Cassini spacecraft.
One of the most bizarre weather patterns known has been photographed at Saturn, where astronomers have spotted a huge, six-sided feature circling the north pole.
Rather than the normally sinuous cloud structures seen on all planets that have atmospheres, this thing is a hexagon.
The honeycomb-like feature has been seen before. NASA's Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft imaged it more than two decades ago. Now, having spotted it with the Cassini spacecraft, scientists conclude it is a long-lasting oddity.
"This is a very strange feature, lying in a precise geometric fashion with six nearly equally straight sides," said Kevin Baines, atmospheric expert and member of Cassini's visual and infrared mapping spectrometer team at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. "We've never seen anything like this on any other planet. Indeed, Saturn's thick atmosphere, where circularly-shaped waves and convective cells dominate, is perhaps the last place you'd expect to see such a six-sided geometric figure, yet there it is."
The hexagon is nearly 15,000 miles (25,000 kilometers) across. Nearly four Earths could fit inside it. The thermal imagery shows the hexagon extends about 60 miles (100 kilometers) down into the clouds.
At Saturn's south pole, Cassini recently spotted a freaky human eye-like feature that resembles a hurricane.
"It's amazing to see such striking differences on opposite ends of Saturn's poles," said Bob Brown, team leader of the Cassini visual and infrared mapping spectrometer at the University of Arizona. "At the south pole we have what appears to be a hurricane with a giant eye, and at the north pole of Saturn we have this geometric feature, which is completely different."
The hexagon appears to have remained fixed with Saturn's rotation rate and axis since first glimpsed by Voyager 26 years ago. The actual rotation rate of Saturn is still uncertain, which means nobody knows exactly how long the planet's day is.
"Once we understand its dynamical nature, this long-lived, deep-seated polar hexagon may give us a clue to the true rotation rate of the deep atmosphere and perhaps the interior," Baines said. |
Jeffrey Schlupp is in advanced talks with Crystal Palace over a £12million transfer after telling Claudio Ranieri he wants to leave Leicester.
Sam Allardyce appears poised to sign the 24-year-old having returned following a failed initial bid of £9m bid last week.
Schlupp offers Palace a solid option at left back – a position that has required strengthening since Pape Souare's car crash in September – and can also play on the wing.
Leicester City's Jeffrey Schlupp is on the cusp of sealing a £12million move to Crystal Palace
The defender (on the bench) has found first-team action difficult to come by this season
The move would end Schlupp's 12-year association with Leicester, the club he joined as boy, but he has wanted to leave since last summer after struggling for games.
Schlupp played 24 times in Leicester's title campaign and made a number of major contributions but fell out of contention this season and was one of the players criticised by Ranieri after the 5-0 defeat in Porto.
Ranieri has not picked Schlupp in a squad since and is on the verge of departing the King Power Stadium.
Schlupp was criticised for his performance against Porto and has not been selected since
West Bromwich Albion also held an interest after bidding £13m last summer but Tony Pulis declined to go as high again this time.
'I spoke with him,' said Ranieri. 'He spoke with the club, he is of course not happy.
'He is a fantastic man and player. I said if he wants to go he can go. |
Aboxalypse now It is with heavy hearts that we today report that HP has shattered its own excessive packaging world record - set last year when it managed to expend 17 cardboard boxes in dispatching 32 sheets of A4 paper to a shaken customer.
Of course, the competition wasn't going to take this lying down, and Dell subsequently weighed in with a commendable contribution to the destruction of Mother Earth.
However, HP had already consolidated its hold on the title by sending someone a mouse strapped to a pallet, and it looked unlikely that such excesses could ever be topped.
Until now, that is, as you'll see. Firstly, though, let's have a round-up of other cardboard crimes against the environment, courtesy of Reg readers.
We'll get started gently, because you'll need time to strengthen your nerves for what comes later. Here's a CR2032 watch battery Glen ordered from BT's online tentacle:
Not bad, but try this contribution from Brett, whose company stumped for a licence key for ILO, "so we can save the planet by not having to drive the 20 miles to our second site to fix a server":
Said licence was "stuck to the back of a CD case (with no CDs in, just some pamphlets) inside a padded envelope which in turn was inside a medium sized box full of bubble wrap…" |
EXCLUSIVE: Punched and sexually attacked in prison, OJ Simpson hires a fellow felon named 'Smoke' to watch his back, fearing inmates are out to get him after the 20th anniversary of Nicole's bloody murder
OJ Simpson, 66, incarcerated at medium security Lovelock Correctional Center, is afraid prisoners out to make a name for themselves are gunning for him
He's already been attacked twice, according to Ron Goldman's father Fred, who likes to keep tabs on OJ
OJ tapped convict Willie 'Smoke" Hartwell to be his bodyguard. He's six feet tall and weighs 180
Smoke gets paid in snacks, toiletries and magazines from the commissary. OJ has a fat prison bank account is no longer in shipshape.
He is overweight and has high blood pressure and diabetes
Where there’s 'Smoke' there’s OJ. The 66-year-old disgraced gridiron great has hired himself a fellow felon - Willie Hartwell, aka Smoke - to protect him in prison.
OJ has been worried about attacks from aggressive inmates at the Lovelock Correctional Center in Nevada, where he has been incarcerated since 2008. He fears there are prisoners who want to make a name for themselves by hurting 'The Juice,' especially on the eve of the 20th anniversary of the brutal murders of his ex-wife Nicole and her friend Ron Goldman.
'He found the biggest guy who is in great shape and willing to fend off the bullies to help OJ out -- but, of course, it comes at a price,' a close friend revealed.
My Bodyguard: Willie Hartwell, aka Smoke, will be watching OJ's back. 'He found the biggest guy who is in great shape and willing to fend off the bullies to help OJ out -- but, of course, it comes at a price,' a friend revealed
Smoke is only 44-years-old, he's 6' tall, weighs 180 pounds and his physical build is described as 'large' on the Nevada Criminal Identification Demographics records. And he's prepared to watch OJ's back for a few favors.
'Obviously, OJ can't give Smoke any cash money but since he still gets bucks from his books every month through his family and from his female fans, Smoke tells OJ what he wants from the commissary -- extra food, toiletries, stamps to send out letters, magazines - and OJ will get it for him!
'And OJ has also promised if he is paroled in 2017 and Smoke is still there he will continue to put money on his books until he is paroled and help him when he gets out, like if he needs a place to crash for a while.'
'OJ even told Smoke he may hire him as a bodyguard when they are both free because the world is just as dangerous as prison life is for him! But he joked he will pay him in it cash instead of cookies, an extra blanket or cup-a-soup noodles!'
Willie 'Smoke' Hartwell was jailed in in 2002 for armed robbery with a deadly weapon and kidnapping. This was not his first time in the slammer.
The kidnapping charges were dropped in a plea deal and he was sentenced to 10-25 in the medium security prison in Lovelock, Nevada, where he later met OJ in 2008. OJ who was also convicted for armed robbery and kidnapping.
Flabby: OJ is not the football powerhouse he once was, not by a long shot. He has high blood pressure, diabetes and his knees are so banged up from playing football he can barely walk
As reported exclusively by MailOnline last week, Fred Goldman, the father of Nicole's friend who was murdered with her on that hot June night, revealed OJ had been attacked several times.
Goldman says that he had heard a couple of rumors about Simpson, so he called the District Attorney's office in Nevada to find out if they were true or not.
The first was that OJ was beaten up in prison. He found out the former NFL star was hit hard in his chest by another inmate but it was nothing serious.
The second rumor was that 'someone in the prison found OJ attractive.' The DA told him the prison officials reported back 'We know nothing about THAT!' -- but their tone was very tongue-and-cheek. When Fred pressured the DA and asked 'what does that mean?' the DA responded; 'it means exactly what you think it means.'
Goldman said the DA gave him the impression that OJ had, indeed, been sexually attacked.
'When OJ first arrived at Lovelock he was treated like royalty by the prisoners because they watched this guy play football for years so they were big fans. But after all the fanfare wore off and OJ was treated just like everybody else by the guards he became a target,' the family friend added.
Fairytale turns horror story: Oj and Nicole were divorced when stabbed to death. Her neck was cut from ear-to-ear with her head almost severed from her body. She was 35, the mother of Sydney and Justin Simpson
'Over the past couple of years OJ started having some problems because of all of the scuttlebutt between the prisoners about his appeal and possible parole so they feel his days are numbered and they wanted to get some stuff from him or make a name for themselves before he left for good.
'Some of the inmates started harassing OJ, forcing him to get them some things from the commissary and attacking him when the guards were not looking.'
OJ is not the football powerhouse he once was, not by a long shot. He has high blood pressure, diabetes and his knees are so banged up from playing football he can barely walk.
His excessive weight gain adds to all of these problems.
'So a younger guy could take OJ down with very little effort and some of them want to be the one to literally bring OJ to his knees before he can get out of there in a few year,' the friend continued.
'But OJ has something the other inmates don't and that's a lot of money on his books every month so he 'hired' Smoke to literally play defense for him inside the prison.'
And he picked the right guy.
No escape: The Lovelock Correctional facility is out in the middle of the Nevada desert and backed up against sky scraping mountains
'Now we are in the summer months and it gets really hot in the Nevada desert so OJ feels free to hang outside in the prison yard and coach one of the prison baseball teams while eating ice cream on the bench because Smoke is right there making sure nobody bothers OJ.'
OJ has a sweet tooth that he has a hard time controlling so when he's not wrapping his mouth around an ice cream sandwich, one of his favorites, he's may be 'lifting' a few extra cookies from the chow hall!
As previously reported last year, OJ filled up his shirt with oatmeal cookies but he was busted by a prison guard on the way back to his cell after lunch.
Initially the guard thought OJ was trying to smuggle in a cell phone or some other sort of contraband so he was flabbergasted to find 'the juice' had packed his shirt with cookies!
The guard yelled out; 'Simpson! Hold it right there!' Once the guard opened up his shirt and started throwing the cookies onto the floor the other prisoners began to hoot, howl and fall over with laughter! OJ stood there there with a goofy grin on his face, totally embarrassed.
A father's grief: Fred Goldman (right), father of Ron. a friend of Nicole's who just happened to drop by her confo to return her mother's glasses, keeps tabs on OJ and says he was attacked twice. One was a rape.
But this is what his life has become -- OJ's new normal -- and it will be that way for at least another three years when he will be up for parole in 2017.
Lovelock Correctional Center is located about 5 miles from the tiny town of Lovelock, Nevada, about 93 miles from Reno. The correctional facility is out in the middle of the desert and backed up against sky scraping mountains on one side and facing a the Interstate highway on the other, which is 2 miles away, so it is literally impossible to escape without being quickly detected. |
SOMEWHERE OVER MICHIGAN -- Hello from the air on the way to the New York area, where the Minnesota Vikings will make their only appearance of the season on "Monday Night Football" tomorrow night. I've been kicking around the Vikings' injury situation this morning, and wanted to discuss it a little bit here after doing some research on it.
Many of you know the Vikings had remarkably good fortune with injuries in 2012. Yes, they lost Percy Harvin after nine games, but they managed to get through the season without any other major season-ending injuries and generally got players back on the field after week-to-week ailments. What you might not realize is just how fortunate the Vikings were with injuries last season. In fact, according to Football Outsiders' Adjusted Games Lost statistic -- which takes into account the importance of players lost to injury and how many players were playing hurt after being listed as probable, questionable or doubtful on the injury report -- the Vikings were the second-healthiest team in the league last season.
They lost just 30.9 adjusted games, according to Football Outsiders, trailing only San Francisco's AGL of 16.2. That probably played a significant role in the Vikings' ability to go 10-6 and reach the playoffs; eight of the 12 postseason teams from last year had AGLs in the league's top half, and only Washington (29th), Indianapolis (30th) and Green Bay (32nd) were in the bottom four of the league. What's more, the Vikings were relatively healthy in 2011, as well, with a 48.8 AGL that ranked 10th in the league.
(Perhaps not surprisingly, the Vikings' 55.4 AGL in 2010 was 20th in the league, joining with a number of other factors to contribute to the team's famously bizarre 6-10 season. But generally, the Vikings have been among the league's healthier teams in the last few years; their average AGL from 2008-10 was 10th-best in the NFL.)
If you believe these things are cyclical, you were probably a little nervous about how the Vikings would fare, injury-wise, in 2013. It's one of the reasons I picked them to slide back to 8-8 (a prediction that looks pretty optimistic now), and the Vikings absorbed their first two big injury blows this week when they put linebacker Desmond Bishop (torn ACL) and safety Harrison Smith (turf toe) on injured reserve, designating Smith to return if he doesn't need surgery in eight weeks. Those two injuries could be haymakers to a struggling defense, and the Vikings have weathered other injury problems on that side of the ball this season, as well, missing Kevin Williams (knee), Chris Cook (groin) and Jamarca Sanford (hamstring) for a game each and A.J. Jefferson (ankle) for two.
Things have been better so far on the offensive side of the ball, with only quarterback Christian Ponder (rib) missing a game among the Vikings' normal starters. But left tackle Matt Kalil is questionable for Monday's game with back tightness, and running back Adrian Peterson is playing through a hamstring injury. Peterson came back from a torn ACL, played with a sprained ankle, somehow stayed on the field with a sports hernia for half the season and still ran for 2,097 yards last year, so he's obviously unique when it comes to pain tolerance, but a hamstring injury can be awfully detrimental to a running back if it flares up.
We'll have a fuller picture of the Vikings' injury situation at the end of the season, of course, and they still might be among the healthier teams in the division (Bears and Packers fans would probably point out the presence of Henry Melton and Randall Cobb on injured reserve, among others). But if this week's bad injury news continues, it might mean the other shoe has dropped -- and stubbed the Vikings' toes, so to speak -- after a run of good health. |
The Nature Center now has three Web Cams! You might see the goose nesting box, the view from the kiosk or the popular underwater view in the Alpine Lake. For now, we select the view most likely to entertain you as we do not yet have the ability to stream all three views or allow you to choose. Who knows what you'll see today (or tonight) at the MKNC!
Rainbow and steelhead trout - black spots everywhere and white fin tips;
- black spots everywhere and white fin tips; Cutthroat trout - these are Westslope cutthroats, big round black spots, not so much on the head and belly, rosy cheeks, cutthroat slash only visible if they roll over for you or if you get below them;
- these are Westslope cutthroats, big round black spots, not so much on the head and belly, rosy cheeks, cutthroat slash only visible if they roll over for you or if you get below them; Two of Idaho's 6 native suckers, Largescale - they have large scales, and Bridgelip - they don't have large scales and are typically smaller. They will be vacuuming algae from the gravel, rocks and logs.
- they have large scales, and - they don't have large scales and are typically smaller. They will be vacuuming algae from the gravel, rocks and logs. Crayfish - also known as "crawdads", are plentiful and although nocturnal, they are commonly seen during the day.
Occasionally a mink will swim through looking for a meal.
will swim through looking for a meal. Rarely, and mostly at night during the winter, a beaver might show up. |
An overgrown, unpruned shrub essentially eliminates from public use a park bench inside the main entrance to Boerner Botanical Gardens last October. Credit: Milwaukee County Audit Services
SHARE Susan Hale of Cedarburg paints among the peonies blooming Friday at Boerner Botanical Gardens. Michael Sears
By
The bloom is fading at the historic Boerner Botanical Gardens in Whitnall Park, where reduced care in recent years has resulted in a "tired" and "weak" appearance within the 40 acres of gardens.
That's the conclusion of an audit report requested by the Milwaukee County Board after concerns were raised about leadership and communication at the oldest publicly owned formal gardens in the Great Lakes region.
Acclaimed and treasured for its collections of flowering plants, herbs and shrubs and a hybrid rose trial garden, the gardens have suffered over time, the audit says.
A growing burden of inadequate maintenance must be reversed for the gardens to achieve their core mission: to serve as a "living museum" of plants and an outdoor classroom for visitors; and to inform the public of native and exotic plants suitable for landscape use in the Milwaukee area, the audit concludes.
Limited staff perform "triage gardening" to go after the most visible or critical problems while pruning and weed control in the remainder of the gardens are put off year after year, according to the report of Milwaukee County audit director Jerome Heer.
Among the results: Nuisance invasive plants overrun some areas of the gardens; an untamed shrub covers a bench and prevents its use; and unpruned rosebushes overrun a decorative wall.
Some signs intended to help visitors identify and learn about flowers, herbs and shrubs at Milwaukee County's "living museum" are damaged or missing.
"The report brings out the need for us to do better," Parks Department Director John Dargle Jr. said. "We've been limping along here."
Lately, there's been some evidence of a spring cleaning of sorts, with recent pruning of shrubs that had completely covered a park bench at the main entrance to the formal gardens. A photo of the bench from an October 2014 inspection of the gardens is included in the audit report.
Operation of a gift shop in the visitor center by a private group, Friends of Boerner Botanical Gardens, attracted scrutiny of auditors for limited hours on weekends or for special events and an inability to generate a profit. The bottom line: It provides no revenue to the county.
County parks managers should negotiate an agreement with the friends group that sets out its responsibilities and requires a contribution to help defray costs of operating the visitor center, according to the audit. The visitor center opened in January 2003.
The friends group held its annual $175 a ticket fundraiser Friday evening at the gardens.
The recommended agreement also should settle a dispute over past due rent, the audit says.
Though Friends of Boerner Botanical Gardens paid off a $1.4 million debt in June 2013 for construction of the visitor center, the group has not paid the county retroactive rent payments of $125,000, the audit says. And the group has not paid the county annual rental of $25,000 since June 2013.
Heer acknowledged the critical role the friends group plays in operating the botanical gardens. That is all the more reason for the county to negotiate an agreement establishing everyone's responsibilities there, he said.
In a written response to Heer, Friends of Boerner Botanical Gardens President Ellen Hayward said the group remained committed to maintaining the gardens as "a viable and vibrant venue."
Hayward said she would challenge the audit's findings on gift shop revenues and other funds when the county negotiates an agreement with the group.
The audit also was critical of parks department management for not revising an outdated 1996 master plan.
In response to the audit, Dargle said his staff would implement a list of corrective actions recommended in the report, starting with a more formal agreement with Friends of Boerner Botanical Gardens. Parks staff also will develop a sign and label program to comply with the gardens' educational mission, he said.
On lack of maintenance, the audit notes there has been no reduction in the five full-time horticultural staff working at Boerner, with its 12 specialty gardens and a rose trial garden along with other landscaping.
But there has been a dramatic drop since 2003 in the number of hours worked by seasonal staff at Boerner, declining from more than 26,000 hours in 2003 to 7,000 in 2014, according to the audit.
Dargle described the reduced seasonal staff as "doing the best we can with what we have."
To begin filling part of that gap, Dargle said he will consider establishing a full-time horticultural internship program, similar to those at Olbrich Botanical Gardens in Madison and the Green Bay Botanical Gardens, to provide a low-cost labor force of people seeking training and careers in horticulture.
He will also consider boosting the role of volunteers provided by the friends group, Dargle said.
Construction of the Boerner Botanical Gardens dates to the Great Depression.
Alfred L. Boerner was appointed Milwaukee County's landscape architect in 1927, and he designed the botanical gardens. He became parks system manager in 1952.
"We all want to sustain the gardens," Dargle said. He described the gardens as "an internationally renowned horticultural showplace" in the county parks system.
Much of the recognition comes from its Trial Gardens, he said. Since 1958, Boerner has been one of 23 official U.S. test gardens for new rose hybrids.
The Rose Garden at Boerner is an official display garden for All America Rose Selections that make it through the hybrid trials.
The audit will be discussed Tuesday at a meeting of the County Board's parks committee. |
“You don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows,” Bob Dylan famously warbled. But what if you want to know how long the wind will blow? This is the information power-grid operators need when balancing wind power and conventionally sourced power – and a study by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) aims to give it to them, potentially saving electrical ratepayers money and sparing pollution.
As it stands, forecasters trying to scope out conditions at wind-turbine height don’t have a lot of data to work with, which means they can be off by several hours in predicting big changes in the wind. Grid operators, fearful of being left without adequate power, respond by keeping online lots of reserve power – often generated by coal or natural gas.
The Wind Forecast Improvement Project launched this month will gather data for a full year, with a network of sophisticated instruments taking measurements of atmospheric conditions in the upper Midwest and Texas, areas where plenty of wind plants are already taking advantage of abundant wind. Once the data is gathered, NOAA plans to incorporate it “into an advanced weather forecasting model to provide more accurate forecasts for wind speeds and directions” at the typical turbine height of 300 to 400 feet above ground.
The U.S. Department of Energy is funding this project with up to $6 million over two years, with NOAA contributing its scientific expertise, instrumentation for collecting atmospheric data and modeling for weather predictions. Two private firms – AWS Truepower of Albany, N.Y., and WindLogics of Saint Paul, Minn. – also won contracts to lead teams of several partners and work with the government scientists on the project. |
SAN DIEGO (CBS 8) - Police say a domestic argument between two people, possibly a man and his girlfriend, ended with gunfire Thursday and bullets flew into an innocent family's apartment with three children inside.
David Terry, 32, was arrested after allegedly firing the gunshot that shattered a sliding glass door before flattening an air mattress inside an apartment on Home Avenue near 47th Street shortly before 2:30 a.m., according to San Diego police Officer Frank Cali.
San Diego Police found the suspect with a woman in a white Chevy Suburban that was parked about 20 feet from the apartment. Police responded so quickly they were able to find Terry sitting in the Chevy.
Terry, who had a warrant out for his arrest, is now expected to face an additional charge of shooting at an inhabited dwelling, according to police and jail records.
Nichelle Ealy says her daughter was sleeping on an air mattress when a bullet pierced it and is so grateful they're not hurt.
"My daughter could've been dead right now, this could've been a totally different situation," she said.
Ealy says she's a nurse who is saving money to buy a house. She says they will be moving away immediately and staying with family and friends. |
We can’t keep Ebola out of the United States, but we can do a better job of border protection. By Patrick Tucker
The Centers for Disease Control confirmed on Tuesday that the first case of Ebola has been confirmed in the United States.
In July, the Nigerian government announced that they had started screening passengers at international airports for signs of Ebola after a passenger showed up in Lagos suffering from the illness, which kills up to 70 percent of the people infected with it. Treatment options are extremely limited. Nigerian airport authorities began checking passengers who just arrived from Sierra Leone, currently under a state of emergency, and they began looking for fever, since an elevated temperature is considered a sign of Ebola. If the passenger is presenting with higher than normal temperatures, screeners subject the passenger to a blood test.
Ebola is moving into more countries across Africa, but not as quickly as is fear. The country of South Africa announced this summer that they were in the process of outfitting airports with thermal scanners to detect feverish passengers. In many ways, it’s a repeat of 2009, when airports around the world brought in thermal scanners to look for passengers who were presenting with fever and suspected bird flu.
The recent Ebola outbreak first arrived in the United States, under careful observation, also during the summer. The CDC confirmed that at least one Ebola victim, Kent Brantly arrived back in the United States in August. Brantly, of Fort Worth, Texas, was working to staunch the outbreak in Liberia when he picked up the illness.
“All I am aware of, in terms of U.S. military involvement, is that we have a couple of Army researchers down in Africa, in Liberia, right now who have been for some time working on this particular virus,” Kirby said.
The good news is that neither the White House nor the epidemiologists that spoke to Defense One expects Ebola to have nearly as deadly an effect in the U.S. as it is having in Africa, where more than 3000 people have died. The CDC believes that more than 1.4 million people could become infected by the middle of January.
The bad news is that thermal screenings of the international flying population at airports are not likely to yield much by way of improved safety.
Here’s why: fever can be a sign of a lot of different illnesses, not just Ebola. And thermal scanning proved to be a poor method of catching bird flu carriers in 2009 as well. So presenting with an elevated temperature at an airport checkpoint does not indicate clearly enough that the fevered person is carrying the deadly virus. More importantly, the incubation period for Ebola is two days. As many as 20 days can pass before symptoms show up. That means that an individual could be carrying the virus for two weeks or longer and not even know it, much less have it show up via thermal scan. So what good are these scanners?
“I think that thermal screeners help people feel safe,” Dr. Noreen Hynes with the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health told Defense One.
The second method that the Nigerian government is taking to detect the presence of Ebola in—possibly—feverish passengers is a blood test. The presence of antibodies in the blood is a much more conclusive sign of the deadly virus. Unfortunately, subjecting hundreds or possibly thousands of passengers to a blood test for Ebola would be practically impossible in a major airport without slowing International air travel to a halt. The current method for performing one of these tests, also called a polymerase chain reaction test, can take eight hours or longer, requires results to be sent to a lab, and is prohibitively expensive in many cases.
Experts agreed that a test able to reveal the presence of Ebola on location at an airport checkpoint—and do so in a relatively short amount of time—would greatly improve authorities’ ability to stop the virus from crossing international borders. One person working on that is Douglass Simpson, CEO of Corgenix, which in June received a $3 million National Institutes of Health grant to develop a point-of-care test for Ebola. Airport screeners would use it to spot the virus in a feverish passenger in just ten minutes at airports. “Our job is to as quickly as possible advance those tests and make them available in those zones,” Simpson said.
It’s exactly the sort of thing that could provide much more conclusive evidence of a passenger with Ebola. But it won’t be in the hands of airport screeners for years. “We’re several years from getting it completed,” says Simpson. He hopes that Corgenix will have a rapid test for Ebola by 2016.
What do we have to protect us today? The same thing we have to protect us from dangerous terrorist masterminds: background screening.
Because the population of people who have this illness are relatively small and we have some idea of the areas that have been exposed, Ebola is an example of a threat that could be better managed at airports by picking out those people who were most likely to have encountered the disease based on where they had been.
“The nature of Ebola makes it similar to, but also different than traditional aviation threats. Aviation security protects against the flight on hand, while screening for Ebola has a longer footprint to display and protect,” Sheldon H. Jacobson, a professor of computer science at the University of Illinois, told Defense One.
It’s a subject that he knows a lot about. In 2012, his paper Addressing Passenger Risk Uncertainty for Aviation Security Screening effectively showed that too much random screening at airports was making TSA and border agents less effective at their jobs. The guards were scanning, patting, and focusing on people who posed no real threat, effectively de-sensitizing them to people who may have had more intent and capacity to commit harm. “A natural tendency, when limited information is available about from where the next threat will come, is to overestimate the overall risk in the system,” Jacobson said in a statement around the time of the paper’s release. “This actually makes the system less secure by over-allocating security resources to those in the system that are low on the risk scale relative to others in the system.”
Pre-screening passengers for Ebola on the basis of where the passenger has been and the likelihood of coming into contact with the disease is probably a more effective means to catch it than is trying to take the temperature of thousands of people with a camera, according to Jacobson. “Prescreening would be prudent, and reasonable, based on the information available. Public health personnel would need to develop appropriate criteria that yield good results and also limit false positives. In essence, prescreening, if done appropriately, can work in any type of screening mechanism,” he wrote to Defense One in an email.
Ebola is passed through fluids such as blood and so health care workers treating infected populations, and doing so in less than ideal settings like clinics in Sierra Leone, are the most vulnerable. Hynes says that’s one reason you aren’t at much less risk.
Hynes acknowledges that while the U.S. won’t become like Sierra Leone, more people will be getting the illness in the months ahead. “Right now the trajectory is still in the upward mode,” she said.
The issue of Ebola slipping into the United States is part of the broader, hotter discussion on border control, which entails everything from keeping potential terrorists out of the country to detecting nuclear weapons, to housing, processing and caring for tens of thousands of immigrant children who have crossed into the country illegally since Oct. 1, 2013. These are all fundamentally different challenges. Some pose mortal threats, others do not. But from a political perspective they share the border in common. That can lead to politicians who want to treat every incursion over the border with equal alarm, as Rep. Michelle Bachman, R-Minn., effectively did the other day, claiming the country’s Southern border was an open invitation. “Not only people with potentially terrorist activities, but also very dangerous weapons are going to cross our border in addition to very dangerous drugs, and also life-threatening diseases, potentially including Ebola and other diseases like that.”
On Thursday, a subcommittee of the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology tackled the issue in a special hearing on the technology needed to secure America’s border. The hearing did not touch on Ebola, but the panelists were largely in agreement on one key point — the Department of Homeland Security has no effective means for evaluating the deployment of border technology.
While point-of-care tests for Ebola won’t be deployable for at least two years, biometric facial recognition technology and other security screening technologies to detect identity are far more advanced, but they have yet to be fully implemented. “The technologies are good and mature. I think one of the areas where [The Department of Homeland Security] DHS struggles is tooth to tail. Where do you have people to back up and integrate with technology to make the best effective use of it. DHS acquisition processes are maturing…but are not perfect,” Jack Riley, the director of the RAND National Defense Research Institute, testified.
“We worked on an evaluation for a technology for biometric identification at airports. The technology was quite ready. It was off the shelf. It was effective. The problem was it couldn’t be integrated into the human systems,” testified Joseph D. Eyerman, the director for research and management at the Institute for Homeland Security Solutions at Duke University, meaning that human airport screeners couldn’t use the data from the facial recognition systems, for a variety of reasons.
How to make sure screening technology is implemented at airports and other checkpoint is no simple matter, but it could become one. Riley suggested that a border czar could help make sure that the technology to catch nuclear weapons, and perhaps Ebola, isn’t misspent screening immigrant children who are very unlikely to be harboring either. “We need a single point of accountability on the border so that we can begin to understand some of these large tradeoffs,” Riley told Defense One.
When asked by committee chairman Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, how they would rate Department of Homeland Security’s use of border technology, the witnesses answered uniformly: “Incomplete.”
Despite centuries of progress, in many ways, our ability to catch disease at a border hasn’t changed much since 1374, when the Black Death was laying waste to populations of Europe. It was at this time that the Doge of Venice put in place a protocol to attempt to arrest the disease in port. He created three so-called Guardians of Health. They were health screeners and their job was to board ships in port and inspect crew for inflamed lymph nodes. If symptoms were found, or suspected aboard the crew, the Guardian would order the ship away from port for a period of forty days, quaranta giorni.
Not enough has changed. The current Ebola outbreak is unlikely to claim the lives of hundreds of Americans, and will likely run its course before summer of next year. The question of how to catch diseases at the border is not going to go away. But because of our innate tendency to “overestimate the overall risk in the system,” we will be inclined to treat every incursion over the border as an equal threat. The next time a major outbreak hits, technology to detect it will be more advanced. Our ability to implement that technology may not be.
This post has been updated. |
A/N: So, I never intended to expand on Strike One's Operation Enduring Shield, but a lot of you interpreted the end of last chapter as "welp, they're all gonna be dead." At the suggestion of Metaboss84, I came up with this mini-chapter to resolve that issue and catch up with JNPR for a bit. This won't be a regular thing, but I may do it again in the future if the situation calls for it. The next "proper" chapter will be going up tomorrow when I get home. Until then, enjoy!
"Sir! Atlas is down!"
Van Doorn swore. The Field Commander decided about five minutes ago that Bradford made the right choice in sending his top operatives on this assault. Even with all of their experience, with all of their tactics, and with all of their technology, the damned aliens were determined to keep their hands, claws, and tentacles firmly wrapped around Japan. One-Seven, or 'Atlas', was the squad's Engineer. If Strike One wanted to make it through this in one piece, his Smoke Grenades would be vital to achieving that goal.
"Five, get Seven patched up. Two and Three, you're on overwatch while Five does his thing. Twelve, I want those Heavies flanked ASAP."
The Commander watched his Medic frantically dash towards Atlas while Colonel Zhang and Major Vance readied their Pulse Autoblaster and Sniper Rifle to gun down any alien contacts who dared take a shot at Five. The squad's Pathfinder MEC, 'Gizmo', dashed off in a different direction to find an alternate way around the Heavy Floaters' hail of plasma fire blocking Strike One's progress. Early on, Van Doorn learned to respect Twelve's ability to think outside the box and outmaneuver her foes. Then again, that was probably why Bradford had slated her for Pathfinder training after she got "promoted" to a MEC.
Van Doorn suppressed a shudder. While he was proud of the volunteers Dr. Shen received when he first started the MEC program, and he was sure that soldiers who found themselves on death's door would rather have their life saved with a quick surgery and robotic limbs, the Commander wasn't sure if he would have the courage to get his limbs replaced with mechanical servos so that he may continue the good fight for XCOM. The idea of becoming an immobile soldier whose sole purpose in combat was to interface with the immensely powerful hardware of a MEC platform… how could those troopers re-integrate with society at the war's end? The moment their limbs came off, they no longer operated weapons of war, but instead became them. He would forever be grateful for the courage of brave men and women like Gizmo who made that choice so he wouldn't have to.
He was snapped out of his brief reverie when he heard the sound of Zhang's Autoblaster spinning up and spitting out a volley of laser fire at a Muton who stepped out of cover to take a shot at Five. The Medic continued to calmly apply the contents of his medkit to Atlas's wounds while Zhang's laser fire chattered overhead. After the first Muton went down, a second stepped out to finish the job his brother set out to accomplish. Before it could even line up a shot, a single pulse laser cleanly punched through the alien's skull and brain matter flew out the other end.
Five finished his work and pulled Atlas to his feet.
"You good?"
The Engineer rolled his shoulders a few times before picking up his Scatter Blaster. "Yeah, just gotta rub some dirt on it and I'll be fine."
A loud burst of laser fire interrupted their brief conversation, and the rest of Strike One looked up at the sound of Heavy Floaters dying in quick succession. Gizmo's modulated voice came over Van Doorn's comm. "Enemies have been neutralized, sir."
"Good," Van Doorn responded. "Let's move, people. Six, you're on point with Gizmo."
The Scout rushed ahead while the rest of the team followed behind, reloading and checking their weapons during the brief respite afforded them by the Pathfinder.
Van Doorn's comm buzzed to life once more. "Commander, this is Six. Battlescanner in the next room reveals a pod of Mutons with two Elites commanding them."
"Understood. We'll need you to go in quiet and undetected to provide spotting support for a Javelin Rocket from Eight. That should soften them up a bit before we send the cavalry in to finish them off."
"Roger that, sir."
The plan should have been flawless. Six ghosted her way into the room without issue, Eight's rocket hit dead center a few seconds later, and then the rest of Strike One charged into the room and started taking up positions behind the closest cover available. It would have been perfect, but the moment the last member of Strike One cleared the holo door, a steel plate slammed shut in its place and five Cyberdiscs led by Dreadnought-class disc floated down from above.
While the heavy significance of the memorial was not lost on Ruby, relief still washed over her every time she glanced at the still very-much-alive Major Vance standing with his squad at the front of the assembly. Where XCOM's A Team dusted off for Japan with smiles, jokes, and laughter, a sinking feeling invaded Ruby's heart when they returned beaten, bloody, and silent. She watched the first four operatives step off the Skyranger with a pair of body bags between them, and for one horrible moment, the thought occurred to her that Vance might be in one of them. When she saw him finally step out of the transport's cargo bay, Ruby had to suppress the urge to run up and crush him in a hug. Instead, she watched him slowly limp down the ramp with help from Colonel Zhang, whose once-pristine Titan Armor was now scored and cracked from multiple plasma burns.
Several hours later, all XCOM personnel (save for the small skeleton crew required to keep the base running) were summoned for a memorial service to honor the two soldiers whose names were the most recent additions to The Wall. All the operatives, officers, and base workers assembled in neat rows while bagpipes played over Van Doorn's sombre walk to the front of the room. He opened the small box in his hands and gently pulled out the two small placards it contained. The reverence in the room was almost palpable as Van Doorn set the box down on an adjacent table and placed the two placards on the wall, one at a time. When he had finished, the Commander stepped back and snapped a salute to all the names on the wall, new and old. The sound of one hundred men and women copying the action followed suit.
A full minute passed in silence, save for the bagpipe's heavy tones, while the dead were held with respect in the hearts and minds of everyone present. When Van Doorn lowered his salute and turned to face the crowd before him, the piper stopped and everyone listened.
"Lieutenant Helena 'Casino' Magnusson and Master Sergeant Tomas 'Tombstone' Chavez. These two soldiers heroically gave their lives so that the rest of us may live. In their final moments, they did not cower in fear from the danger, but charged into it. They looked Death straight in the eye and told him 'If this is how it must be, then so be it.' They were some of the finest, and I am honored to have counted them amongst my friends."
The silence after his words was almost suffocating. While Ruby didn't know these people, it was clear that everyone else did, and they were having a very difficult time maintaining a professional demeanor. The emotionally-charged atmosphere made one thing obvious to the leader of Strike Eight: Casino and Tombstone were very popular at XCOM.
"Beyond speaking for them at this memorial," Van Doorn continued, "There is another way I wish to honor those who have left us today. Out of all the people I have shared a pint or five with, they were the only ones capable of drinking me under the table." A small laugh rippled through the crowd. "As such, I invite all of you to join me at the bar after this, where we will toast to the memory of two noble souls and speak fondly of the time we had with them. The first round is on me."
He stepped down from the front of the room and made his way out the door in the back. Quietly, everyone else followed suit.
The uproarious laughter and clinking of glasses starkly contrasted to the silence and respect Ruby witnessed at the Memorial Wall. Major Vance explained to Ruby the concept of an 'Irish Wake' where friends and family would hold a party and share stories about the departed. It was a way to honor their memory with positive energy, as opposed to the heavy and depressing tone set by a traditional funeral. Music filled the room through the lounge's quality stereo systems, and several of XCOM's more agile operatives were having fun impressing their friends with fancy footwork.
Ruby looked around the room and saw the other nine members of Strike One gathered a few tables, sharing drinks and smiling while they talked. She also noticed they weren't isolating themselves from everyone else, however. Other personnel would frequently have a seat, share a few laughs and a story or two, then have a toast with Strike One to the memory of Casino and Tombstone. Over the course of half an hour, Ruby watched at least two thirds of the memorial attendees stop by Strike One's corner to spend a few minutes with the closest friends of the fallen.
Out of respect for the dead, Ruby didn't ask Vance what happened on the op. With all the dancing, drinking, and music going creating such a positive atmosphere, it would be wrong to force her friend to relive that dark memory so soon. Instead, she allowed the Major to teach RWBY (well, RWB. Yang actually offered to help Vance) the basic differences between various alcoholic beverages, and watched curiously as he lined up seven small shot glasses in front of her.
"Aren't they a little young for that, Major?" Asked an amused voice behind Ruby. The five operatives looked up with a start to see Van Doorn smiling right back at them.
"Well, uh…" Vance fumbled, "you see, sir. I just felt, that… umm… some education was…"
Van Doorn laughed and waved him off. "At ease, Major. At a time like this, I think we all could use a stiff drink." He looked at the four huntresses, still smiling. "Just make sure you don't get carried away with the Major's instructions, hmm? In any case, I was hoping to borrow Miss Rose for a few minutes. Do you mind, Vance…?"
The Major shook his head. "Not at all, sir. I'm still setting up, anyway. We can wait until you're done."
Van Doorn nodded appreciatively before putting a hand on Ruby's shoulder and steering her out of the lounge to the relative quiet of the hallway.
"What can I do for you, sir?" Ruby asked, wondering what the Field Commander of XCOM could possibly want with her, especially at a wake for two friends that Ruby didn't know.
"I have something for you." Van Doorn reached into the back pocket of his dress uniform and pulled out a small file storage device. "As I'm sure you're aware, it's standard procedure for operatives to carry video recording hardware into combat. It allows Bradford and squad leaders to tactically review what happened and adjust field strategies accordingly." He looked at the data stick in his hand and Ruby saw a wistful smile play across his lips. "This is my video feed from Enduring Shield. I would like you to watch it when you have the chance."
Ruby took the device when Van Doorn handed it to her. "Thank you, I think? I'm… not really sure what brought this on, sir."
Van Doorn smiled. "When you sit down and watch it, you will see that I made no costly mistakes. A small slip up here or there that required the likes of Major Vance to quickly rectify, but none of my orders were deadly errors. What happened on the base assault was something none of us could have possibly predicted, and the only choice we had was to adapt. It is the same choice you must make, Miss Rose, when your ops don't go according to plan."
He gestured to the numerous medals decorating his dress uniform. "Apparently, the people around here think I'm the best leader there is. While it may be true, the fact is I still lost two soldiers on an op where we fielded the best of the best. People die in war, Miss Rose. The best you can do is mitigate those losses and make the most of the ones you can't avoid."
They stood in silence while Ruby mulled over his words and the sound of music from the lounge played in the background. When the song changed, Van Doorn sighed. "Ah, Christ, they're playing The Green Fields of France. I gotta get back in there sort this shit out." He winked. "Have fun with Vance's lesson, alright?"
He spun around and re-entered the lounge as the extremely drunk operatives reached the chorus, 'Did they beat the drums slowly, did they play the fife lowly, did they sound the death march as they lowered you down…'
"C'mon guys, I'm gone for two minutes and you're playing this? I realize that the Dropkick Murphys are Irish and all, but this is not appropriate music for a wake!"
"Jauney Boy."
Leave me alone, Cardin.
"I said hey, Jauney Boy."
Cardin, today's a really bad day for this.
"Jauneeeeyyyyy. I know you can hear me through that thick noggin of yours."
Jaune sighed, coming to terms with the fact that Cardin wasn't going to leave him alone. "Spit it out, Cardin."
The bully laughed. "Now was that so hard, Jauney Boy? It doesn't hurt to show a little courtesy to your betters."
Jaune had to restrain himself from snapping in half the pencil he was holding. He lost enough of them as it was, and didn't need to needlessly add to the growing number that was MIA/KIA. Before he could say anything, he heard Pyrrha assert herself from his right. "What do you want, Cardin?"
His tormentor shrugged. "Not that it matters, but I believe I was talking to your fearless leader and not you." He looked back at the slumping figure in front of him and clicked his tongue. "Honestly, Jauney Boy, do you always let your girlfriend talk out of turn like that?"
"Not my girlfriend, Cardin," Jaune replied, a hint of exhaustion evident in his voice, "And Pyrrha can do whatever she wants. I don't have to keep my teammates under my boot heel for them to respect me as their leader."
Cardin's eyes narrowed, only for a moment, before he started to laugh again. "Oh, Jauney, you are such a joker." He took the vacant seat to Jaune's left and drummed his gauntleted fingers on the table. "So, what's with all the baggage, Jauney Boy? Couldn't help but notice you've been lugging it around for a while now. Ozpin hire you guys as the new janitors or something?" His eyes widened, and his voice became conspiratorially low. "Wait, don't tell me, he found out about-"
"Cardin?" He looked up to see Pyrrha smiling sweetly at him. "Finish that sentence, and I'll take it as express permission to beat you within an inch of your life the next time Professor Goodwitch pairs us up for sparring."
Jaune would be lying if he said it wasn't satisfying to feel Cardin stiffen next to him. Once he regained his composure, Cardin gave the table a final tap before standing up, evidently preparing to leave. "Good talk, Jauney Boy. I'll find out what you're hiding sooner or later." He smiled. "I always do, you know."
After CRDL's leader sauntered off, Nora leaned over the table and whispered to Jaune. "I am curious, Jaune… how long do you think we're gonna be carrying this stuff around? It's hard to get comfortable enough to sleep in Port's class with these supply cases in the way."
Jaune rubbed his eyes, as if that would will away the fatigue that had been plaguing them. "As long as it takes, Nora." |
266 · 44 comments
TIL India has almost doubled its solar capacity each year since 2015. At this rate, India will achieve Modi's goal, 100GW of solar capacity by 2022, far ahead of schedule.
391 · 80 comments
Country's Biggest Solar Park In Rajasthan, At The Heart Of India's Clean Energy Push. Once the Bhadla Solar Park in Rajasthan is fully operational, it can generate power that could meet the state's total power demand.
254 · 99 comments
Study Finds India Is Asia's Most Corrupt Country, While Japan Comes In Last
77 · 12 comments
Monsoon makes landfall in Kerala
137 · 17 comments
India’s Largest R&D Organisation CSIR Has Declared Financial Emergency
135 · 103 comments
Yesterday CBI raided NDTV. Meanwhile, on Whatsapp.
50 · 4 comments
India’s first ‘private’ railway station Habibganj to come up near Bhopal
62 · 18 comments
Dangal reaches 23rd position in all time highest grossing films in china
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India’s bees are dying out and only its farmers know why
40 · 3 comments
[SCIENCE/TECHNOLOGY] Food Safety and Standards Authority of India has published 2 open eBooks about food safety, nutrition and adulteration detection at home for citizens. |
Upcoming patch 1.1.1.0
Hey there robot slayers,
We just wanted to let everyone know that we’ve been following these threads attentively and have been listening to all the complaints that some of you have expressed here on the forum and through our support E-mail. We’ve been working hard on a new patch to address all of the major complaints, and we’re continuing to explore how we can deliver some of the smaller changes that players have been requesting.
This New Patch will be released around two weeks from now, and it will contain the following changes:
- Restored baked AO, which is now mixed with SSAO for extra graphical fidelity
- Fixed bug which disabled post processing in the Factory map in survival mode
- Fixed Blizzard achievement
- Fixed crash on exit
- Fixed bug with upgrade machine, when controls are remapped
- Removed debug key bindings (e.g 0 which toggled interface and HUD rendering)
- Added borderless fullscreen mode
- Localized quick save
- Cutscene skip message disappears after a blinking a few times
- Fixed black screens when post processing is set to low
- Added key bindings for cycling between ranged weapons
We’ll strive to provide updates on the patch progress as we move towards its release, so please watch this space.
Thank you very much for all of your feedback and suggestions on how we can improve the game, the whole team really appreciates it! |
RADNOR, Pa., Aug. 13, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Frontotemporal degeneration (FTD), a disease process that results in progressive damage to the temporal and/or frontal lobes of the brain, has been formally included in national research priorities to cure Alzheimer's disease and other dementias by 2025, the Association of Frontotemporal Degeneration (AFTD) announced today.
The action coincided with AFTD's release of a comprehensive research white paper, FTD Research and Drug Development Landscape Analysis. The report examines the current state and activity in FTD research; how FTD fits into the larger world view of Alzheimer's disease and other dementias; as well as FTD's role in neurological diseases research. The white paper can be downloaded at http://www.theaftd.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/FTD-Research-and-Drug-Development-Landscape.pdf.
Federal officials included FTD research priorities in an updated 2014 plan introduced at a recent meeting of the National Alzheimer's Project Act (NAPA) Advisory Council, according to AFTD Executive Director Susan Dickinson. NAPA is the premier national strategic framework for advancing research on treatment, prevention and cures for Alzheimer's disease and other dementias.
The increased attention on FTD is expected to lead to additional research funding as well as improved care and resources for patients and caregivers. Considered to be the second most common cause of young onset dementia, FTD is often initially misdiagnosed as a psychiatric problem, Alzheimer's disease or Parkinson's disease. Research gains in FTD have significant potential to lead to advances in other neurodegenerative diseases, Dickinson said.
"AFTD is extremely gratified that FTD has been incorporated into the national research priorities to cure Alzheimer's and other dementias," said Dickinson. "FTD takes a devastating toll on the more than 50,000 patients living in the U.S. with the disease, as well as their family members and other caregivers. While research is advancing very rapidly, there remain significant gaps in our knowledge and funding, as identified by our landscape analysis. FTD's inclusion in the national goal-setting process will fuel the momentum to help find a cure for this and other more prevalent neurodegenerative disorders, such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases."
About FTD
FTD is a rare disease, affecting approximately 50,000 nationwide. It is a debilitating form of dementia that affects the frontal and/or temporal lobes of the brain. FTD strikes people in the prime of life--typically between ages 50 and 60--and erodes their ability to speak, move and/or behave within social norms. There is no known cure for FTD. Current treatments may address symptoms but do not alter or slow disease progression. For those affected, getting a correct diagnosis is challenging, as many physicians are unfamiliar with FTD.
About AFTD
The Association for Frontotemporal Degeneration envisions a world where FTD is understood, effectively diagnosed, treated, cured and ultimately prevented. For more information about AFTD or frontotemporal degeneration, visit www.theaftd.org or connect via https://www.facebook.com/TheAFTD or https://twitter.com/AFTDCure.
Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20130614/DC32224LOGO
SOURCE Association for Frontotemporal Degeneration |
An art walk through Seattle's Nord Alley. mirastories
Once blighted and overlooked, these small streets are transforming into community and sustainability hotspots.
The alley is dark no longer. In the United States, these almost-accidental spaces between buildings have existed in a sort of limbo: not quite streets, but still thoroughfares; not private, but not public enough to feel protected; backdrops to crime, or filled with trash heaps. But as cities grow increasingly strapped for space, neglecting these narrow streets is no longer a viable option. Cities from Los Angeles to Baltimore to Seattle are rethinking their alleyways and transforming dead ends into into places of connectivity and productivity. A brief history of alleys In other parts of the world, the size or location of a thoroughfare did not dictate its utility in the same way it did in the U.S. Daniel Toole, an architect and blogger at Alleys of Seattle, previously told CityLab that in European cities like Paris, Rome, and Barcelona, beautiful alleys are vital pedestrian passageways. In Kyoto and Melbourne, they’re retail hubs. CityFixer Solutions for an Urbanizing World Go Even the names alleys are called around the world, Toole said, suggests their different functions: in Japan, they’re called roji, or “little street”; in Australia, they’re “laneways,” suggesting, to Toole, a more pedestrian-friendly figuration. However, in America, Toole said, alleyways were specifically set aside as infrastructure. Originally conceived as service access to buildings, they were a place to conduct activities considered unfit for the main street—hence today’s association with garbage collection. “It’s really messy,” Toole said. Imagine loading docks for construction, piled-up trash, exposed gas conduits.
The case for transformation For places that were meant to be unseen, alleys take up a not-insubstantial amount of space. A 2011 report by Mary Fialko and Jennifer Hampton, graduate students at the University of Washington*, found that in Seattle, there are 217,000 square feet of public alley space downtown, 85 percent of which are underused. The report estimated that reinvigorating alleyways could increase the number of total public space in the city by 50 percent. Alleys, too, are vital players in a city’s overall ecosystem. As the need for cities to rely on more sustainable approaches has become more pressing, the proliferation of trash and flooding in alleyways has come to be seen not only an aesthetic blight, but an environmental one. And as Daniel Freedman of the Los Angeles Sustainability Collaborative says, there’s a lot of crossover between sound environmental practices and livability. Revitalizing an alleyway creates an opportunity to introduce green infrastructure, but also, Freedman says, it invites the surrounding community to collaborate on improvements and make use of the space. Across the U.S., cities’ approaches to their alleyways have been varied and specific; at their core, however, are fundamental practices that can be considered and applied universally. The “green alley” approach In 2006, Chicago took stock of its 13,000 alleys—among the country’s vastest—and saw a problem. Decades previously, most of the city’s 3,500 acres of alleys were paved with impermeable asphalt or concrete, and stormwater drained through grates at the center. As those systems fell into disrepair through lack of maintenance, flooding became commonplace.
In response, the city pioneered the Chicago Green Alley Program, among the first in the United States to bring sustainable building practices to a network of alleyways. According to Gizmodo, over 100 of the city’s alleys have since been covered with permeable surfaces that redirect stormwater into the ground and away from Chicago’s “overtaxed” sewer system, reducing flooding and recharging the surrounding soil. Cities are changing fast. Keep up with the CityLab Daily newsletter. The best way to follow issues you care about. Subscribe Loading... A privately funded initiative in Detroit has taken a similar approach. Peggy Brennan of the Green Garage told Gizmodo that Detroit’s resulting Green Alley incorporates permeable surfaces and gardening space, and has transformed a space once filled with mattresses and hypodermic needles into a community gathering place. Los Angeles expects that a new network of green alleyways will help the city meet its goal of increasing stormwater capture to 50 billion gallons by 2035; currently, the city saves 8.8 billion gallons annually, The New York Times reported. The newest alley in the network centered in the city’s South Park neighborhood is projected to capture 700,000 gallons per year. Making space for the community In Baltimore, the issue was trash. Leanna Wetmore, the community coordinator for the Baltimore Waterfront Parternership’s Healthy Harbor Initiative, had been trying to figure out a way to engage the local communities in her organization’s goal of having a fishable waterway. “But it’s hard to talk to people about clean water in our city, when there are a million other important issues,” Wetmore says. So she decided to focus on the garbage pileup in neighborhood alleys. The trash that piles up there filters down through the storm drains and into the harbor; getting the community on board with getting rid of the trash, Wetmore thought, would bring people together and start to free up the water. The Healthy Harbor Initiative’s Alley Makeover Program brings communities together to clean up their alleyways, then implement some “small, cheap improvements that reset people’s expectations of what an alleyway can be,” Wetmore says. Through a $30,000 grant from the Rauch Foundation, 20 alleyways in six neighborhoods are now covered in murals and artwork; they’re filled with block parties and cleared of trash.
Seattle decided in 2008 to clear its alleys of dumpsters, moving instead to a trash-bag collection model of waste management. The same year, the International Sustainability Institute (ISI), based in Seattle’s Pioneer Square neighborhood, partnered with Gehl Architects on a survey of downtown Seattle’s public spaces, which identified the newly dumpster-free alleys of Pioneer Square as a a potential asset. Pioneer Square, says Liz Stenning, the public realm director for the Alliance for Pioneer Square, had fallen on hard times: it was mostly devoid of retail, office workers left after closing hours, and the streets were quiet. Inspired by the feedback from the Gehl report, ISI cleaned up the alley adjacent to its office, and hosted a party. It was a rainy night, Stenning says, and the festivities weren’t much more than a local musician and some folding chairs, but people stayed. Since then, ISI has partnered with Stenning’s organization, the Alliance for Pioneer Square, to revitalize alleyways throughout the neighborhood; they now play host to anything from projecting World Cup games from the back of a U-Haul truck, to cat adoptions, to revolving art installations. “We were just trying to do things that change people’s perspective on being in an alley,” Stenning says. The next frontier for retail It wasn’t long before local businesses caught on. In Pioneer Square, Back Alley Bike Repair opened its doors in 2011 onto the 700-square-foot Nord Alley; independent restaurants have moved in and capitalized on the 15 or so revitalized passageways as outdoor seating areas. When it opened in 2012, the East Cahuenga Alley in Los Angeles swiftly drew crowds. The brainchild of a member of the Hollywood Business Improvement District, the plan for the lane—once known as “Heroin Alley”—re-imagined it as a pedestrian space filled with outdoor dining and an artists’ market on Sundays. The Los Angeles Sustainability Collaborative compiled an extensive report on the space, Freedman says, to “put a spotlight on what happened in one community, to show what could be possible for others.” Though Freedman’s organization focuses primarily on the Los Angeles area, the success of the East Cahuenga Alley model has radiated out to other cities. The Dairy Block office and retail development is slated to open in Lower Downtown Denver next year; the developer on the project told The Denver Post that the alley bisecting the site was as much a focus as the buildings themselves. While previous alley activations in Denver were limited to one-offs, the Z Block alley will play permanent host to a variety of businesses, all of which will open out onto the small street. Historically, Freedman says, urban alleyways were often places of dangers or sources of shame. But in the places where these spaces have been revitalized and repurposed, there’s a particular delight in their new use. The success of these projects, Freedman says, “shows how it’s possible to take a space that was once a liability, and turn it into a resource.” *CORRECTION: This post previously stated that a 2011 study was conducted by transit officials. It was conducted by graduate students at the University of Washington. |
Donald Trump continues to hold leads in New Hampshire and South Carolina, but Sen. Ted Cruz has grabbed a lead over the real estate mogul in Iowa, according to a poll released Sunday.
In the new CBS News/YouGov battleground poll, Cruz hit the 40 percent marker, topping Trump's 31 percent and dwarfing the rest of the GOP field in the Hawkeye state with 43 days left until the Iowa caucuses. Cruz also leads the Washington Examiner's presidential power rankings.
Over the past month, Cruz's support in the state has nearly doubled. He held 21 percent support in mid-November. Trump, by constrast, is treading water. He also pulled 30 percent support in the previous poll.
Meanwhile, Dr. Ben Carson's standing in the state continues to falter. Carson has fallen from 19 percent and second place to six percent and fourth. Florida Sen. Marco Rubio occupies the third slot with 12 percent backing.
Elsewhere, Trump continues to dominate in the early primary states. He leads in New Hampshire and South Carolina with 32 and 38 percent support, respectively. Cruz runs second in both, with 14 percent in New Hampshire and 23 percent in South Carolina.
Rubio grabs the third spot also in both states, with 13 in New Hampshire and 12 percent in South Carolina. |
Impaired AMPK is associated with a wide spectrum of clinical and pathological conditions, ranging from obesity, altered responses to exercise or metabolic syndrome, to inflammation, disturbed mitochondrial biogenesis and defective response to energy stress. Fibromyalgia (FM) is a world-wide diffused musculoskeletal chronic pain condition that affects up to 5% of the general population and comprises all the above mentioned pathophysiological states. Here, we tested the involvement of AMPK activation in fibroblasts derived from FM patients. AMPK was not phosphorylated in fibroblasts from FM patients and was associated with decreased mitochondrial biogenesis, reduced oxygen consumption, decreased antioxidant enzymes expression levels and mitochondrial dysfunction. However, mtDNA sequencing analysis did not show any important alterations which could justify the mitochondrial defects. AMPK activation in FM fibroblast was impaired in response to moderate oxidative stress. In contrast, AMPK activation by metformin or incubation with serum from caloric restricted mice improved the response to moderate oxidative stress and mitochondrial metabolism in FM fibroblasts. These results suggest that AMPK plays an essential role in FM pathophysiology and could represent the basis for a valuable new therapeutic target/strategy. Furthermore, both metformin and caloric restriction could be an interesting therapeutic approach in FM.
Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. |
Who will be watched and by whom?
The test phase will take place at Berlin's Südkreuz train station. It will include only selected participants and be conducted by the German federal police, Federal Criminal Police Office and the Interior Ministry in conjunction with Deutsche Bahn, the station operator. More than 250 people have volunteered as test subjects. They submitted their names and two photos of their faces, which have been saved in a database so cameras can compare them to surveillance footage.
How does the technology work?
For the test phase, three specialized cameras have been installed that will film a particular entrance and an escalator leading to the station platform. A corresponding computer program will compare surveillance footage from these cameras to the photos stored in the database. The test's volunteers are mostly commuters and are supposed to use the surveilled areas as they go through the station. They will carry a small transmitter with them so the computers can check when they appear and if the program independently recognizes their faces.
Why does the system have to be tested?
The police justify the test as part of fighting terror and criminality. They hope the new technology will enable them to detect and avoid crimes and dangerous situations in advance. However, the technology has not yet been deployed in a real-world environment. "We want to test this under normal conditions," a police spokesperson said. "Testers can be wearing a hat or bike helmet, or be somewhat smaller and disappear into the crowd."
Security experts are critical of the program's high potential for errors. They estimate a fail rate of one in one million. In a citywide public transit system carrying three million people per day, that would be three erroneous police responses every day.
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What do data privacy advocates say?
Data privacy advocates consider biometric face recognition programs unlawful. Andrea Voßhoff, Germany's federal data protection commissioner, accepts the test, but has "fundamental reservations" about the technology. "Should these systems be put into actual use, it would be a considerable imposition on fundamental rights," she said.
The freedom to move about anonymously in a public space could be lost, said Christopher Lauer, an internet and data protection expert for the social democrats (SPD). "There is zero crime-fighting benefit," he said.
What happens after the test phase?
Authorities want to ascertain if the cameras and computers can reliably recognize people. It remains to be seen how successful the technology actually is. But there is already far-reaching potential.
The number of cameras at stations is being "continually expanded," according to the Deutsche Bahn, which runs Berlin's stations. Nationwide, about 6,000 cameras cover more than 80 percent of passengers.
It was announced that several million euros would be needed for expanding video surveillance of Berlin's suburban train network alone. Thousands of cameras are already in daily operation on subways and buses, in addition to stations.
Biometric facial analysis
Can the program be abused?
The German authorities have justified the use of this program as providing face recognition for tracing people who "pose or could pose a danger. The program should recognize and register these people."
However, for the program's collaborating partner, Germany's rail company Deutsche Bahn, the project is not without its benefits: The company could try to prevent graffiti artists from tagging its trains.
In principle, the program can only compare surveillance footage with the photos stored in its database. For now, that is the volunteer commuters. Later it could be for tracing alleged or known suspects.
The system is subject to abuse because it could be theoretically fed with any kind of data record. For authoritarian states, it could lead to new kinds of control, in addition to existing internet censorship and other surveillance of public life. |
Share. Prepare for scares. Prepare for scares.
The original Resident Evil is being remastered for PS4, Xbox One, PS3, Xbox 360 and PC, Capcom has confirmed.
Due out in 2015, the title will be available via digital download only and is based on the 2002 GameCube remake. 1080p visuals will be standard for PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, while older consoles will get 720p. All versions will have 5.1 surround sound support.
You can either choose to play the game in its old 4:3 ratio, or bump it up to 16:9 widescreen. Other changes include various control options, though the original scheme will be present, and a scrolling camera that appears to move away from the original's fixed angles in preference of a more dynamic approach.
Resident Evil 1 Remake Announced 3 IMAGES Fullscreen Image Artboard 3 Copy Artboard 3 ESC 01 OF 03 01 OF 03 Resident Evil 1 Remake Announced Download Image Captions ESC
Resident Evil was first released in 1996 on PlayStation, before being remade on GameCube in 2002. This was then ported to Wii later down the line, which makes it somewhat frustrating that no Wii U version is in the works.
Luke Karmali is IGN UK News Editor. You too can revel in mediocrity by following him on Twitter. |
Behavioural development economics: A new approach to policy interventions
Allison Demeritt, Karla Hoff, James Walsh
Economists typically assume people behave in a rational and self-interested way, making standard models limited in their explanatory power. This column argues that psychological and sociological factors – though usually ignored in economic models – affect decision-making. The findings, drawn from the World Development Report, further suggest that better behavioural understanding could subsequently aid development efforts.
Economists have long known that people are rarely as coherent, unbiased, foresighted, selfish, or fixed in their preferences as standard economic models make them out to be. Until recently, however, individual behaviour that could not be explained as self-interested and rational was deemed not to matter at the aggregate level (Fehr and Tyran 2005). Policies could thus be designed as if people behaved in a rational and self-interested way, and most economists focused only on policies that changed incentives and improved the availability of information. Economists largely ignored the findings of psychologists and sociologists as a basis for policies to change behaviour.
Three main principles of the World Development Report
The World Bank’s latest World Development Report shows that incorporating behavioural insights can benefit development initiatives. In the Development Report, psychological and sociological approaches to decision-making take centre stage.
The Report draws on cutting edge work to create a framework of human thinking centred on three principles that are left out of standard economic models.
The first principle is that all people think automatically.
Automatic thinking is “intuitive, associative, and impressionistic” (Kahneman 2011). While deliberative thinking sits at the core of most economic models, the automatic system is “the secret author of many of the choices and judgments you make” (Kahneman). It enables “fast and frugal” decisions (Gigerenzer 2000), but can also create systematic mistakes in judgment.
Consider savings for health care. Sixty-three percent of under five-year deaths arise from illnesses that could be prevented with readily available health products (Jones et al. 2003). An experiment run in the malaria-infested region of Kenya tested interventions to address the problem (Dupas and Robinson 2013). One group received information on the benefits of saving for health expenses. Another received three additional things: a lockable box, a key, and a passbook for recording their savings objective. Six months later, the individuals in the second group had saved much more and had been much more likely to be able to pay for a medical emergency than those who had been given only information. The researchers asked the subjects why the boxes had helped them save. Subjects reported that the boxes provided an easy way to save small change (33%) and increased the barriers to spending because the money was not immediately at hand (32%). When asked why they had not used a lockable box before, most answered that they had “never thought of it” (88%). The results suggest that the lockable box and passbook facilitated ‘mental accounting’ – a cognitive process in which categorising funds changes financial behaviour (Thaler 1990).
The second principle of thinking in the Development Report is that humans think socially.
People often value conformance to social norms and act in ways prescribed by their social environments. In contrast to the self-interested and selfish actor assumed in most economic models, real people are interested in others’ welfare and are often willing to cooperate as long as others are doing their share. And many people will punish others who are not doing their share, even at cost to themselves (Fehr and Gachter 2000). Many groups can thus sustain very high levels of cooperation even if some people in the group are purely self-interested.
Interventions can harness social thinking to achieve development objectives, as an experiment in India on group lending showed (Feigenberg et al. 2010). Groups receiving loans were randomly assigned to meet either once a week or once a month. Meeting frequency had economic impacts. Compared to those who met monthly, individuals meeting weekly were three times less likely to default on subsequent loans and were more willing, nearly two years after the experiment ended, to pool risk with their former group members.
The third principle of thinking that the Report introduces is the least familiar to economists. It states that people think with mental models.
In order to make sense of the vast array of information in their environment, people draw on conceptual tools such as categories, social identities, schemas, and taken-for-granted worldviews to derive meaning from situations. The institutions in the environment shape how people think and the alternatives they can imagine (Douglas 1986). Mental models often become naturalised, however, such that the categories, social identities, and patterns are seen as the natural or inevitable state of affairs even though other perspectives are perfectly possible, perhaps preferable, and often in existence in other communities.
One example of a powerful mental model is the ‘culture of honour’, which holds that a slighted person must stave off humiliation by punishing his insulter. A famous experiment in the US examined the culture of honour by having the experimenters’ accomplice bump into subjects in a hallway and call them names. The insult caused a surge in hormones among subjects who were from the US south but not those from the US north (Nisbett and Cohen 1996 and Figure 1). Southerners’ heightened physiological responses and comparatively aggressive behaviour after being insulted provide some evidence that culture shapes how people think and how they interact in society.
Figure 1. Physiological responses to insult by US Northerners and Southerners
Source: Nisbett and Cohen(1996)
The impact of honour on development
Deeply held cultural mindsets can have an impact on development. An experiment in India suggests that a culture of honour impedes the creation of efficient conventions that could help sustain economic development (Brooks et al. 2015). A simple example of a coordination problem in village life is the draining of waste water to keep the lanes dry. A villager prefers dry lanes and will drain his water as long as others do. But if others do not, he experiences a loss from wasting his time draining, only to suffer from lanes that are muddy and slippery from others’ water. Researchers sought to mimic this problem in an experiment. They invited high-caste and low-caste men to play a two-person game in which there were high pay-offs to coordination on the good equilibrium (where everybody drains his waste water), low but positive pay-offs to coordination on the bad equilibrium (where nobody does), and losses to a player if he is the only one to drain his waste water (coordination failure). The study found that high-caste pairs were much less likely than low-caste pairs to adopt the efficient convention (Figure 2, panel A). Why? Because the high-caste men responded adversely to coordination failures (panel B of Figure 2). When a high-caste man chose to drain his water in a round of decision-making but his partner did not, in the next round the high-caste man was unlikely to try again to cooperate. From there on, the pair was unlikely to settle on the efficient and cooperative convention. As panel A shows, even if only one of the partners is high caste and frames his experiences through the culture of honour, his behaviour can make it much less likely that the pair adopts the efficient convention. A follow-up survey asked men about appropriate responses to various slights they might encounter in village life. The results indicated that the caste-based behaviour observed in the game is representative of how subjects respond to real slights. Thus, the culture of honour in north India may be inhibiting the development of better conventions.
Figure 2. How caste culture affected a game of coordination in India
Framing and decision-making
People do not always evaluate information consistently, for they respond not just to the objective facts but to the way in which the facts are formulated. Tversky and Kahneman (1981) conducted a seminal experiment on the framing effect. They asked students to indicate which of two projects they would favour in response to “an unusual Asian disease that is expected to kill 600 people”. Half the students were given one frame of the decision problem, and the other half was given another frame.
In frame 1 (the gain frame), the students chose between (a) an option that would save one-third of the population or (b) a gamble in which there was a 33% chance of saving everybody, and a 66% chance of saving nobody.
In frame 2 (the loss frame), the students chose between (a) an option in which two-thirds of the population would die or (b) a gamble in which there was a 33% chance that nobody would die, and a 66% chance that everybody would die.
Although both policy options (a) and (b) in the two frames were identical, the preferences were very different. When presented with the gain frame, students were more likely to choose the option with certain outcomes; only 28% chose the gamble. When presented with the loss frame, they were more likely to take a risk to save more lives, and 78% chose the gamble. The shift from the gain frame to the loss frame was accompanied by a large shift from risk aversion to risk taking. People hold contradictory attitudes. A change in frame can thus shift preferences. A similar study of World Bank staff found suggestive evidence that the framing of a policy affects its desirability among development professionals, too. Development practitioners, just like everyone else, are subject to biases.
Concluding remarks
Since framing and context influence attitudes and decision-making, in many situations it is not possible to deduce the best policy from theory. The World Development Report emphasises that development policy can be improved by experimenting with different variations of a proposed intervention. To illustrate this point, consider again the experiment on health savings. The lockable box intervention was one of five interventions tested in a randomised controlled trial. Researchers didn’t know ahead of time which would work and which would fail because they didn’t know exactly why people weren’t saving. Testing several interventions gave researchers insight into the barriers to saving and a better understanding of the fine supports that would shift behaviour. The results of the study were not obvious or inevitable.
The parsimonious explanatory power of standard economic models has made them powerful in spite of their limitations. The Report shows that expanding our understanding of the rich set of factors that influence decision-making can aid development efforts. Incorporating behavioural insights from psychology, sociology, and other sciences can help policymakers develop innovative and sometimes low-cost interventions that help people advance their goals and increase their well-being.
References
Brooks, B, K Hoff, and P Pandey(2015), “‘Cross me and I’ll punish you’: Can culture block efficient conventions?”, University of Chicago, manuscript.
Douglas, M (1986), How Institutions Think, Syracuse, NY, Syracuse University Press.
Dupas, P, and J Robinson (2013), "Why Don't the Poor Save More? Evidence from Health Savings Experiments", The American Economic Review, 103(4): 1138-71.
Fehr, E and S Gachter (2000), “Cooperation and Punishment in Public Goods Experiments”, The American Economic Review 90(4): 980-94.
Fehr, E and J-R Tyran (2005), “Individual Irrationality and Aggregate Outcomes”, Journal of Economic Perspectives 19(4): 43–66.
Feigenberg, B, E Field, and R Pande (2013), "The economic returns to social interaction: Experimental evidence from microfinance", The Review of Economic Studies 80.4: 1459-1483.
Jones, G, R W Steketee, R E Black, Z A Bhutta, S S Morris, and the Bellagio Child Survival Study Group (2003), “How Many Child Deaths Can We Prevent This Year?”, Lancet 362 (9377 ) : 65–71.
Nisbett, R E and D Cohen (1996), Culture of honor: The psychology of violence in the South, Colorado: Westview Press.
Thaler, R H (1990), “Anomalies: Saving, Fungibility, and Mental Accounts”, The Journal of Economic Perspectives 4(1), 193–205.
Tversky, A, and D Kahneman (1981), "The framing of decisions and the psychology of choice", Science 211 (4481): 453-458.
World Bank Group (2015), World Development Report 2015: Mind, Society, and Behaviour. Washington, DC: World Bank. |
By Mark Andrews
The Arsenal versus Rochdale
FA Cup 1st round: 10 January 1920
After the First World War The Arsenal were in financial difficulties, as both Sir Henry Norris and William Hall had taken out a variety of loans and the club was still leasing the Highbury land. They had arranged the lease on the land, moved in, built the original East Stand, upgraded the ground and then the Great War intervened.
The manager at the time, Leslie Knighton, put the debt level at a colossal £60,000 in 1919, as this was the figure mentioned at his job interview with Norris. Whatever the true figure there was no doubt that The Arsenal needed to greatly increase their revenue from games. However one point of note was that The Arsenal gave free seats to men wounded in the war, at a loss of over £100 per match at this time – a generous and patriotic gesture at least for the first post-conflict season. Thankfully, persistently large crowds turned up and helped the situation. So much so that by 1925 they were in a sound enough position to purchase the freehold of the land upon which Highbury stood.
However, back to 1920 as this episode highlights one tactic to use as the means to increase income and, thus, reduce the debt. In the first FA Cup draw after the Great Conflict had finished The Arsenal were drawn away against Rochdale who, at the time, were third from bottom of the Lancashire Combination, and not a league club. Consequently, the shared gate if played at Rochdale was estimated at approximately £300, so Knighton was tasked with persuading the Rochdale directorate to agree to transfer the match to Highbury. This was a frequent occurrence when a small team was drawn at home to a team in the Football League. The gate money was split 50-50 so it made sound financial sense to the smaller team.
Knighton managed to do this successfully, guaranteeing Rochdale £1,000 from the gate as long as they agreed to forfeit home advantage. The implication being that Arsenal expected to get at least as much, if not more, as the visitor’s share. Knighton was more successful than his Spurs counterpart as they had tempted Bristol Rovers to change but they, unsurprisingly, preferred to play in the West Country than go to White Hart Lane.
The switch to Highbury was successful as a crowd of 26,596 turned up on 10 January 1920, but not as many as had been predicted due to the awful rain. Indeed the rain had been so persistent in the days before and during the game, the Sunday Times reporter compared the state of the pitch to the mud of the trenches that many of the players and crowd would have been familiar with.
As for the game Rochdale took a lead into the break, being 2-1 ahead, after Jock Rutherford had opened the scoring. Rochdale players were all on a £30 win bonus from their millionaire benefactor Jimmy White, but while they played stupendously for the first half in a bid to gain the cash, the extra fitness and skill of the First Division team told in the end as The Arsenal eventually ran out 4-2 winners.
By the time Arsenal finally took the lead in the 81st minute many thousands of the crowd had left; no doubt assuming that any replay would be played at Highbury on the Monday in better weather. This was not due to the need to “beat the rush” but because 20,000 of the crowd on the terraces had no cover from the deluge of rain that carried on for most of the match and were no longer able to face the elements.
Earlier in their time at Highbury Arsenal had switched a game, during the First World War as the season 1914-15 was played to a conclusion, and in the FA Cup 1st round Arsenal had drawn Merthyr Town away. By mutual agreement with Merthyr, the venue was changed to Highbury. The attendance of 9,000 may seem small, due to the war, but it was still substantially more than Merthyr would have hoped to attract at home. Arsenal won this match 3-0, played on 9 January 1915, with a hat-trick by Harry King.
Earlier still, in the club’s inaugural League season, Woolwich Arsenal made a cash offer to buy off Ashford in the 1st qualifying round of the FA Cup:
This was not an offer to move the contest as Arsenal were drawn at home anyway, but to allow Woolwich to save costs, as they knew the crowd would be lower than average due to the calibre of opposition, and in the event it was a meagre 3,000. Arsenal’s offer was not a frivolous one as they ran out 12-0 victors on 14 October 1893 but the offer being made openly and noted in the press highlights the different standards that applied in the FA Cup in those early years.
The practice of switching to the larger team’s ground has not entirely died out as most recently Farnborough Town agreed to move their FA Cup 4th round tie against Arsenal from the non-league club’s 4,000 capacity ground at Cherrywood Road to Highbury. Arsenal ran out 5-1 winners on 25 January 2003, though Farnborough were at least £500,000 to the good due to them conceding home advantage.
Sources:
Woolwich Arsenal: The club that changed football
Leslie Knighton – Behind the scenes in Big Football;
Daily Express; Daily Mirror; The Times; Sunday Times; Kentish Mercury
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The books… |
I recently surveyed the top 100+ shooters in the Precision Rifle Series (PRS), and this post reviews the calibers and cartridges those guys are running this year. For those of you who may not be familiar with the PRS, it’s an organization that tracks how top competitors place in major rifle matches across the country. PRS matches are tactical/practical long-range rifle matches shot in the field conditions. Typical ranges for steel targets are from 300 to 1200 yards, and they are engaged from prone and improvised positions, often under extreme time pressure. It is one of the fastest growing shooting sports, and has attracted some of the best riflemen in the world. Literally thousands of shooters compete, so to land in the top 100 you have to be an exceptional competitor. I’d like to personally thank all the shooters who took the time to complete the survey.
More Info on the PRS
Advice From The Pros
On this year’s survey, I asked each competitor this question: If you could just give one piece of advice to a new shooter wanting to get into this sport, what would that be? I got some great answers and am planning a post covering those answers, but I’ll share a few a few as they’re relevant in this “What the Pros Use” series. I’ll sprinkle in these words of advice to help us keep perspective or show different viewpoints from these top shooters.
Let’s start with a tip from the guy who finished 1st overall, because it’s especially relevant to this topic:
“Get one caliber, learn your data, and don’t chase the new shiny.”
– Tyler Payne, US Army Marksmanship Unit, 1st Overall in Open Division
PRS Divisions
In 2016, the PRS introduced new divisions. All shoot the same course of fire.
Open Division: Able to use a rifle chambered in any cartridge 30 caliber or smaller with a max muzzle velocity of 3,200 fps.
Able to use a rifle chambered in any cartridge 30 caliber or smaller with a max muzzle velocity of 3,200 fps. Tactical Division : Restricted to 2 traditional military and law enforcement calibers: .308 Win or 5.56 NATO/.223 Rem.
: Restricted to 2 traditional military and law enforcement calibers: .308 Win or 5.56 NATO/.223 Rem. Production Division: This division lowers the barrier of entry to start competing. Rifles can’t be altered/improved in any way from the original factory configuration, and combined MSRP for rifle and scope can’t exceed $3,000. (Update: They tweaked these rules slightly for the 2017 season.)
“The production class is a great feature the PRS offers. Just try one match and guarantee you will be hooked!”
– John Herring, 4th Overall, Production Division
Most Popular Calibers In Tactical & Production Divisions
First, I’ll quickly summarize the most popular calibers in the tactical and production divisions.
In the Tactical Division, the 308 Win was the most popular cartridge used, with 75% of those surveyed running it. But, there were a few people running the 5.56/223, including competitors who placed as high as 3rd overall in the Tactical Division.
In the Production Division, we only surveyed the top 4 shooters and they were evenly split between two very capable cartridges:
6.5 Creedmoor: 1 st & 4 th place shooters
& 4 place shooters 243 Win: 2nd & 3rd place shooters
Most Popular Calibers In Open Division
Now, let’s dive into the most popular calibers in the Open Division. This was the only division that existed before 2016, and still represents the majority of shooters. This is the most interesting division when it comes to caliber choice, because there are very few restrictions. 95% of these guys handload and there are no cartridge sponsors (as far as I know), so each shooter goes with whatever they feel gives them the best shot at putting rounds on target.
The 6mm was the most popular caliber again this year. While there were still plenty of shooters using 6.5mm cartridges, the gap widened more than any previous year, with about 2 out of 3 shooters opting for a 6mm.
“PRS shooting is a recoil management game. Go with 6mm and learn how to free recoil your rifle.”
– Paul Reid, 10th Overall, Open Division
Note: The chart above only shows the top 50 shooters, because in previous years we only surveyed those shooters in the top 50. So to keep it an apples-to-apples comparison, we filtered it to only include the top 50 ranked shooters for this graph.
Now let’s look at a breakdown of the most popular cartridges among the top 100 shooters in the Open Division:
So here is the list of most popular cartridges for this past season:
6.5×47 Lapua 6×47 Lapua 6XC 6.5 Creedmoor 6mm Creedmoor 6mm Dasher 6mm Super LR
Last year, the 6mm Creedmoor was the darling of the 6mm’s, only to fall to the #5 spot this year, with the 6.5×47 Lapua and 6×47 Lapua leading the way in the top 2 spots. 6XC popularity more than doubled over last year, landing as the 3rd most popular cartridge among the top ranked shooters. The 6.5 Creedmoor and 6mm Creedmoor are perennial favorites, although they were a little further down the list than you might have expected. Lastly, the 6mm Dasher and 6mm Super LR both climbed in popularity this year.
View Last Year’s Data on Most Popular Cartridges
Here are the cartridge dimensions of most of this year’s top cartridges (at least the cartridges included in Berger’s Reloading Manual). You can see they share very similar sizes and design characteristics.
“Don’t chase calibers. Pick one in 6mm or 6.5mm, stick with it and learn it. Once you have something in either 6mm or 6.5mm it is the shooter’s ability after that. You’re not going to swap to a magical caliber and all of a sudden start winning matches.”
– Bannon Eldridge, 50th Overall in Open Division
Muzzle Velocity
The survey also asked each shooter what their average muzzle velocity was. That can obviously vary by barrel length and other factors, but 85% of the shooters were using a 24-26 inch barrel.
Let’s first look at the top 6mm cartridges. The data below reflects what the shooters firing a 105-108gr bullet said their muzzle velocity was. The gray arrows show the range of all answers, and the diamond indicates the average muzzle velocity of all shooters.
CAUTION: I haven’t personally verified any of this data to be within safe/recommended tolerances. It’s likely that some of these guys run hot loads, so this is for informational purposes only and should be used at your own risk.
You can see that 4 of the top 5 cartridges have average muzzle velocities within about 25 fps of each other. The 6mm Dasher is the obvious outlier from this group, at 100 fps slower than the others. But one advantage to the lower muzzle velocity is reduced recoil (assuming bullet weight is the same). Remember veteran shooter Paul Reid told us the quick engagements and improvised positions common in the PRS-style of shooting makes recoil management a critical part of this game, and the 6mm Dasher may have the lightest recoil of any of the popular cartridges.
Next let’s look at the muzzle velocities for the 2 very popular 6.5mm cartridges. The muzzle velocities shown are from shooters who said they were shooting bullets weighing from 139gr to 142gr.
You can see the 6.5×47 Lapua and 6.5 Creedmoor cartridges have very similar muzzle velocities. However, the 6.5×47 Lapua has a case capacity of 47 grains of water, where the 6.5 Creedmoor has 10% more capacity at 52 grains of water.
I’ve heard people say that because the 6.5×47 Lapua cases use a small rifle primer, they were able to push it harder (i.e. higher pressures) than you could most cases. I can neither confirm nor deny that report. You should be cautious and consult a quality reloading manual before attempting any load development. But, one thing that could cause a shift in upcoming seasons is the fact that Lapua has released 6.5 Creedmoor cases. The 6.5 Creedmoor was designed with a large rifle primer, but the Lapua 6.5 CM cases will feature both a small rifle primer and a smaller diameter flash hole. Lapua believes both of those things produce more consistent ignition, which means more consistent muzzle velocities … which is critical in the long-range game.
When I first heard the news about Lapua making 6.5 Creedmoor cases, I figured it was just rumors or wishful thinking, because the case is so similar to Lapua’s darling 6.5×47 case. Even when I saw Lapua’s announcement, I was still a little skeptical … but I just received some of this brass today, so I can finally confirm that it is real! You’ll see the start hitting the shelves (or at least online) over the next couple weeks. My bet is Lapua will be shocked by the demand for the 6.5 Creedmoor cases, and they might struggle to keep up … and we may see a lot of guys running these cases in upcoming PRS matches.
© Copyright 2019 PrecisionRifleBlog.com, All Rights Reserved. |
Detroit Red Wings left wing Henrik Zetterberg, right, congratulates Tampa Bay Lightning center Steven Stamkos after Game 7 of a first-round NHL Stanley Cup playoff series April 29, 2015, in Tampa. (Photo: Chris O'Meara Associated Press)
If it's any consolation, of all the teams they eliminated from the Stanley Cup playoffs, Tampa Bay Lightning players were most impressed with the Detroit Red Wings.
At least that's according to an informal dressing room survey of 10 Lightning players by si.com's Craig Custance at the finals. Five voted for the Wings.
The Lightning's other opponents were the Montreal Canadiens, who lost the first three games but extended the second round series to six, and the New York Rangers, who lost Game 7 at home.
"The Detroit series was the most physical, and the space out there was very limited," Tampa Bay defenseman Jason Garrison said. "I was just coming back from an injury, and that might have had something to do with it. Things were happening quick; guys were all over the place; and you're fighting for every inch out there. That team had experience, and you could tell when you played against them."
Said defenseman Matt Carle: "The Detroit series was probably hardest for us. Detroit played a similar game to us. It was almost like playing a mirror image of ourselves, which made it tough. … It was a battle, the whole series, the way they skated and moved the puck."
Custance said that might have had something to do with the Steve Yzerman factor, the general manager who "has built a team in Florida that most definitely has DNA from the organization he left in Detroit."
Three Lightning players voted for the Rangers, their opponent in the Eastern Conference finals.
"I would have to give a lot of credit to New York," right wing J.T. Brown said. "That was a hard-fought series. You can't go wrong with a seven-game series, and it was basically an away-ice battle. Having to win Game 7 in Madison Square Garden — it was tough."
• Related: Follow Schrader's sports oddities in the Ticker
Contact Steve Schrader: [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @schradz. |
My very first rejection letter was from Marion Zimmer Bradley. It was both harsh and helpful. So I was thrilled when, years later, I made one of my first professional sales to Marion Zimmer Bradley’s Fantasy Magazine. I was even happier when I sold a story to her anthology Sword & Sorceress XXI.
I’m proud of those stories. I believe the Sword & Sorceress series was important, and I’m grateful to Bradley for creating it. I believe her magazine helped a lot of new writers, and her books helped countless readers. All of which makes the revelations about Marion Zimmer Bradley protecting a known child rapist and molesting her own daughter and others even more tragic.
Here are some of the relevant links.
Marion Zimmer Bradley’s testimony in defense of her husband, Walter Breen, a convicted pedophile.
A blog post from Deirdre Saoirse Moen, in which Moira Greyland, daughter of Marion Zimmer Bradley and Walter Breen, states that Bradley molested her starting when she was three years old and continuing until Greyland was twelve and able to walk away. Greyland also describes Breen as “a serial rapist with many, many victims,” but says Marion “was far, far worse.”
The “Breendoggle” Wiki. Much of fandom seemed to know about the allegations against Breen. The documentation includes eyewitness accounts of Breen molesting children and discussion that even if Breen was indeed an active pedophile, that doesn’t mean he should be expelled from fandom.
Silence is Complicity. Natalie Luhrs talks about Breen, MZB, and the damage done by prioritizing silence over safety, complicity over acting to protect the vulnerable members of our community.
On Doing a Thing I Needed to Do. Janni Lee Simner talks about having written for some of MZB’s projects, and her choice to donate her income from those sales to RAINN.
There’s more out there, including people defending MZB, as well as people insisting we must “separate the art from the artist” and not let MZB’s “alleged” crimes detract from the good she’s done. And there’s the argument that since MZB died fifteen years ago, there’s no point to bringing up all of this ugliness and smearing the name of a celebrated author.
I disagree.
To begin with, while Bradley and Breen are both gone from this world, their victims survive. The damage they inflicted lives on. Are you going to tell victims of rape/abuse that nobody’s allowed to acknowledge what was done to them? That the need to protect the reputation of the dead is more important than allowing victims their voice? To hell with that.
Second, as Luhrs and others have pointed out, many of the same behaviors that allowed this abuse to continue for so long are still present in fandom and elsewhere today. We excuse sexual harassment as social awkwardness. We ignore ongoing harassment and assault for years or decades because someone happens to be a big name author or editor. Half of fandom shirks from the mere thought of excluding known predators, because for some, sexual harassment and assault are lesser crimes than shunning a predator from a convention.
I’m not going to say that people should or shouldn’t throw all of MZB’s books away. There are authors whose careers might not have happened without MZB’s help, and our genre is better for many of them. But it’s also important to acknowledge that predators exist. They may be in positions of power and influence. Sometimes, they’re people who have done good work for a community. They often have very smooth, well-practiced tactics for defending or excusing their actions.
When we ignore ongoing harassment and abuse, when we belittle efforts to create harassment policies, when we respond to people speaking out about their own abuse and harassment by accusing them of starting “lynch mobs” and “witch hunts,” we’re teaching predators that fandom is a safe hunting ground. We’re teaching them that they will be protected, and their victims will be sacrificed so we can cling to an illusion of inclusiveness.
We need to work on teaching a different lesson. |
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