text
stringlengths 316
100k
|
|---|
Sharing is Caring:
I recently had a French company, SNAILS reach out to me and offer me some samples of their revolutionary nail polish for free to review. I received two colors: Mrs Carrothead and Purple comet.
SNAILS started when a mom of two scoured the market for safe non-toxic nail polish to color up the imaginative play of her little ones. She quickly found that such a product just didn’t exist — so SNAILS , a non-toxic nail polish was born.
SNAILS Kids nail polish is unlike any other you will find. You’ll delight in our simple natural nail polish formula which is optimally safe and child-friendly. Our revolutionary patented formula contains just three main ingredients: water, acrylic polymer and non-toxic colorants and is paraben free. This sets us apart from other products. The toxic trio of Dibutyle Phythalate (DBP), Toluene and Formaldehyde dominate many children’s nail polishes currently on the market. Such chemicals are banned in Europe due to their links with cancer, birth defects and other illness. So you will not find a trace of these harmful substances in SNAILS. Just pure ingredients that are kind and gentle on little nails. Playing dress-up can now be thoroughly enjoyed without compromise. SNAILS Kids is committed to preserving the innocence and joy of children everywhere. Our safe kids’ nail polish range brings a new level of safety for the entire family.
– From the SNAILS website
Revolutionary three-ingredient formula — containing just water, acrylic polymer and non-toxic colorants, SNAILS is safe in its simplicity.
— containing just water, acrylic polymer and non-toxic colorants, SNAILS is safe in its simplicity. Totally water soluble — SNAILS washes off easily with simple soap and water, making harsh solvent-based remover a thing of the past.
— SNAILS easily with simple soap and water, making harsh solvent-based remover a thing of the past. Environmentally friendly — from biodegradable packaging and lead-free bottles, to a strict no animal testing policy.
— from biodegradable packaging and lead-free bottles, to a strict no animal testing policy. Hypoallergenic — SNAILS is purely chemical, Paraben and toxin free, so little nails are kept safe, sound and splendidly colored.
— SNAILS is purely chemical, Paraben and toxin free, so little nails are kept safe, sound and splendidly colored. Vivacious color choices — every SNAILS polish delivers glorious high-quality gloss and deliciously gentle fragrance.
I love that SNAILS polish does not have any funky smell to it! It went on very smooth. As expected, it really does wash off with soap and water! Luckily I was able to get a picture before I washed my hands. SNAILS does offer a top coat that will keep your nail polish on for a few days.
I think SNAILS is great for little girls who want to wear nail polish since it doesn’t have any harmful chemicals (more about that later)! This would be great at a sleepover – the girls could do each others nails (or mom could help). You wouldn’t have to worry about it staining skin, carpet or clothes since it washes up easily with soap and water! SNAILS would also be perfect for moms-to-be who don’t want to expose their baby to chemicals. Expecting moms now have a way to dress up their nails for special events, or just because!
Your little divas (or you!) can go green while choosing exciting shades like:
• Bedtime stories: calming sky blue shades entice little ones to relax and unwind
• Candyfloss: sugar, spice and everything nice all rolled into a pretty baby pink hue
• Disco girl: little dancing queens will dazzle in beautiful glossy pink
• Fairytale: once upon a time soft shiny pink graced gorgeous girls’ fingertips
• Go Green: eco-kids will love warm olive tones of nature and life
• Lollipop: matte scarlet red kindles kids’ enthusiasm and interest
• Make a wish: golden nails promote the Midas touch in confidence and courage
• Mrs Carrothead: pumpkin orange shades match kids’ zest for life
• Purple comet: magic, mystery and imagination in glossy purple hues
• Secret diary: playful fuchsia tones will delight little nails
Back to the lack of harmful chemicals in the polish. One thing you may not know is that Europe is home to the strictest protective cosmetic laws in the world. As a 100 % European-made product, SNAILS Kids nail polish satisfies these stringent regulations. SNAILS Kids is manufactured in France and packaged in lead-free Italian glass bottles — all to rigorous environmental standards with a strict no animal testing policy. Some of the European cosmetic rules that SNAILS adheres to are:
Cosmetics must not include any chemical linked to cancer, birth defects or other illness
Every chemical present in cosmetics must undergo rigorous health testing before entering the market.
The European Union constantly adds more rigors to cosmetic protective laws. In January 2003 a further 1,100 chemicals were banned from inclusion in European products. By contrast the US FDA has banned or restricted only 11 chemicals.
In the USA you can purchase SNAILS products from Chasity’s Cosmetics and More Amazon Shop or you can visit their website to see where else SNAILS products are sold.
Sharing is Caring: |
This week Beyoncé joins the ranks of celebrity moms who breastfeed in public, so we're excited to share this post from our friends at Celebrity Baby Scoop! Every week, we bring you the best celebrity baby stories from Celebrity Baby Scoop, including this post from Jenny Schafer about celeb moms who nurse out in the open.
Considering their lack of anonymity with paparazzi lurking on every street corner, we salute celebrity moms who breastfeed their babies while out and about!
Although it's still considered taboo in some circles, there's no shame in nursing your baby in public . . . or on the cover of a magazine for that matter! And we're so glad that celebrity moms such as Gwen Stefani, Maggie Gyllenhaal, and Miranda Kerr are on board. And not to mention Salma Hayek's experience with wet-nursing a starving infant in Africa!
Related: Picabo Street on Unique Baby Names, Returning to the Ski Hill
Take a look through our pictures and read about 10 celebrity moms who have breastfed in public. |
Na naszych stronach używamy technologii takich jak pliki cookie, do zbierania i przetwarzania danych osobowych w celu personalizowania treści i reklam oraz analizowania ruchu na stronach i w Internecie. Podmioty trzecie na mocy odrębnych porozumień mogą używać mechanizmu cookie na stronach portali Południowej Oficyny Wydawniczej oraz nasi Zaufani Partnerzy, którzy także chcą serwować reklamy jak najlepiej dopasowane do Twoich preferencji. Pragniemy zapoznać Cię ze szczegółami stosowanych przez nas technologii oraz z przepisami, które niebawem wejdą w życie, tak aby dać Ci pełną wiedzę i komfort w korzystaniu z naszych serwisów internetowych. Zapoznaj się z poniższymi informacjami przed przejściem do serwisu.
Klikając przycisk „Akceptuję” lub zamykając to okno zgadzasz się na postanowienia zawarte poniżej.
RODO
Z dniem 25 maja 2018 r. rozpoczyna obowiązywanie Rozporządzenie Parlamentu Europejskiego i Rady (UE) 2016/679 z dnia 27 kwietnia 2016 r. w sprawie ochrony osób fizycznych w związku z przetwarzaniem danych osobowych i w sprawie swobodnego przepływu takich danych oraz uchylenia dyrektywy 95/46/WE (określane popularnie jako „RODO”). RODO obowiązywać będzie w identycznym zakresie we wszystkich krajach Unii Europejskiej, a więc także w Polsce i wprowadza szereg zmian w zasadach regulujących przetwarzanie danych osobowych, które będą miały wpływ na wiele dziedzin życia, w tym na korzystanie z usług internetowych, takich jak między innymi usługi portali jarocinska.pl, gostynska.pl, krotoszynska.pl, rawicz24.pl, zpleszewa.pl, zwielkopolski24.pl, wiescirolnicze.pl. W tej informacji przedstawiamy skrót najważniejszych zagadnień dotyczących przetwarzania Twoich danych osobowych, jakie może mieć miejsce po 25 maja 2018 r. w związku z korzystaniem z naszych usług. Prosimy Cię o jej przeczytanie, nie zajmie to więcej niż kilka minut.
Czym są dane osobowe
Dane osobowe to, zgodnie z RODO, informacje o zidentyfikowanej lub możliwej do zidentyfikowania osobie fizycznej. W przypadku korzystania z naszych serwisów takimi danymi są np. adres e-mail, nazwa/nick, adres IP, imię i nazwisko, numer konta w naszym sklepie internetowym lub w innej usłudze oferowanej przez POW. Dane osobowe mogą być zapisywane w plikach cookies lub podobnych technologiach (np. local storage) instalowanych przez nas lub naszych Zaufanych Partnerów na naszych stronach i urządzeniach, których używasz podczas korzystania z naszych usług.
Podstawa i cel przetwarzania
Przetwarzanie danych osobowych wymaga podstawy prawnej. RODO przewiduje kilka rodzajów takich podstaw prawnych dla przetwarzania danych, a w przypadkach korzystania z naszych usług wystąpią, co do zasady trzy z nich:
1) Niezbędność przetwarzania do zawarcia lub wykonania umowy, której jesteś stroną. Umowa to, w naszym przypadku, regulamin danej usługi. Jeśli zatem zawieramy z Tobą umowę o realizację danej usługi (np. usługi dodania ogłoszenia w oparciu o treść regulaminu), to możemy przetwarzać Twoje dane w zakresie niezbędnym do realizacji tej umowy.
2) Niezbędność przetwarzania do celów wynikających z prawnie uzasadnionych interesów realizowanych przez administratora lub przez stronę trzecią. Ta podstawa przetwarzania danych dotyczy przypadków, gdy ich przetwarzanie jest uzasadnione z uwagi na nasze usprawiedliwione potrzeby, co obejmuje między innymi konieczność zapewnienia bezpieczeństwa usługi (np. sprawdzenie, czy do Twojego konta nie loguje się nieuprawniona osoba), dokonanie pomiarów statystycznych, ulepszania naszych usług i dopasowania ich do potrzeb i wygody użytkowników (np. personalizowanie treści w usługach) jak również prowadzenie marketingu i promocji własnych usług administratora w ramach portali POW.
3) Twoja dobrowolna zgoda. Jest potrzebna głównie w przypadku, gdy usługi marketingowe dostarczają Ci podmioty trzecie (czyli Zaufani Partnerzy, o których mowa poniżej) oraz gdy to my świadczymy takie usługi dla podmiotów trzecich. Aby móc pokazać interesujące Cię reklamy (np. produktu, którego możesz potrzebować), reklamodawcy i ich przedstawiciele muszą mieć możliwość przetwarzania Twoich danych. Udzielenie takiej zgody jest całkowicie dobrowolne, i jeśli nie chcesz, nie musisz jej udzielać. Dzięki naszemu rozwiązaniu masz również możliwość ograniczenia zakresu lub zmiany zgody w dowolnym momencie. Twoje pozostałe uprawnienia wynikające z udzielenia zgody są opisane poniżej.
Twoje dane, w ramach naszych usług, przetwarzane będą wyłącznie w przypadku posiadania przez nas lub inny podmiot przetwarzający dane jednej z dopuszczonych przez RODO podstaw prawnych i wyłącznie w celu dostosowanym do danej podstawy, zgodnie z opisem powyżej. Twoje dane przetwarzane będą do czasu istnienia podstawy do ich przetwarzania – czyli w przypadku udzielenia zgody do momentu jej cofnięcia, ograniczenia lub innych działań z Twojej strony ograniczających tę zgodę, w przypadku niezbędności danych do wykonania umowy – przez czas jej wykonywania, a w przypadku, gdy podstawą przetwarzania danych jest uzasadniony interes administratora – do czasu istnienia tego uzasadnionego interesu.
Administratorzy
Administratorem Twoich danych osobowych jest Południowa Oficyna Wydawnicza Sp. z o.o., ul. Kasprzaka 1a, 63-200 Jarocin, logo podmiotu, na którego stronę wszedłeś możesz zobaczyć na planszy zawierającej niniejszą informację, a także nasi Zaufani Partnerzy, czyli firmy i inne podmioty, z którymi współpracujemy głównie w zakresie marketingowym. Listę Zaufanych Partnerów możesz sprawdzić w każdym momencie na stronie naszej polityki prywatności.
Przekazywanie danych
Twoje dane będzie przetwarzać POW i Zaufani Partnerzy, jeśli wyrazisz na to zgodę, ale mogą być one również powierzone do przetwarzania innym podmiotom. W każdym takim przypadku przekazanie danych nie uprawnia ich odbiorcy do dowolnego korzystania z nich, a jedynie do korzystania w celach wyraźnie wskazanych przez POW lub Zaufanego Partnera. Przekazywanie danych ma miejsce na ogół w przypadku współpracy z podwykonawcą (np. agencją marketingową) lub usługodawcą (np. dostawcą usług przechowywania danych). Dzięki temu możemy np. lepiej dobrać najciekawsze lub najtańsze oferty dopasowane dla Ciebie. W każdym przypadku przekazanie danych nie zwalnia przekazującego z odpowiedzialności za ich przetwarzanie. Dane mogą być też przekazywane organom publicznym, o ile upoważniają ich do tego obowiązujące przepisy i przedstawią odpowiednie żądanie, jednak nigdy w innym przypadku.
Cookies
Na naszych stronach internetowych i w aplikacjach używamy technologii, takich jak pliki cookie, local storage i podobnych służących do zbierania i przetwarzania danych osobowych oraz danych eksploatacyjnych w celu personalizowania udostępnianych treści i reklam oraz analizowania ruchu na naszych stronach. W ten sposób technologię tę wykorzystują również nasi Zaufani Partnerzy, którzy także chcą serwować reklamy jak najlepiej dopasowane do Twoich preferencji. Cookies to dane informatyczne zapisywane w plikach i przechowywane na Twoim urządzeniu końcowym (tj. Twój komputer, tablet, smartphone itp.), które przeglądarka wysyła do serwera przy każdorazowym wejściu na stronę z tego urządzenia, podczas gdy odwiedzasz różne strony w Internecie. Szczegółową informację na temat plików cookie i ich funkcjonowania znajdziesz pod tym linkiem. Znajdziesz tam także informację o tym jak zmienić ustawienia przeglądarki, by ograniczyć lub wyłączyć funkcjonowanie plików cookies itp. oraz jak usunąć takie pliki z Twojego urządzenia.
Twoje uprawnienia
Zgodnie z RODO przysługują Ci następujące uprawnienia wobec Twoich danych i ich przetwarzania przez nas i Zaufanych Partnerów.
Masz również prawo żądania dostępu do Twoich danych osobowych, ich sprostowania, usunięcia lub ograniczenia przetwarzania, prawo do przeniesienia danych, wyrażenia sprzeciwu wobec przetwarzania danych oraz prawo do wniesienia skargi do organu nadzorczego – GIODO. Uprawnienia powyższe przysługują także w przypadku prawidłowego przetwarzania danych przez administratora. Pod tym adresem znajdziesz dodatkowe informacje dotyczące przetwarzania danych i Twoich uprawnień.
Zgoda
Jeśli chcesz zgodzić się na przetwarzanie przez POW i Zaufanych Partnerów Twoich danych osobowych zebranych w związku z korzystaniem przez Ciebie ze stron i aplikacji internetowych dostarczanych przez POW w celach marketingowych (obejmujących niezbędne działania analityczne i zestawianie w profile marketingowe na podstawie Twojej aktywności na stronach internetowych) w tym ich przetwarzanie w plikach cookies itp. instalowanych na Twoich urządzeniach i odczytywanych z tych plików przez POW i Zaufanych Partnerów możesz w łatwy sposób wyrazić tę zgodę, klikając w przycisk „Akceptuję” lub zamykając to okno.
Jeśli nie chcesz wyrazić opisanej wyżej zgody prosimy o opuszczenie strony. Wyrażenie zgody jest dobrowolne. Powyższa zgoda dotyczy przetwarzania w celach marketingowych innych niż własne cele POW.
Informujemy jednocześnie, iż POW w ramach udostępnianych przez siebie usług internetowych przetwarzać będą Twoje dane we własnych celach marketingowych opisanych szczegółowo powyżej w oparciu o ich prawnie uzasadniony interes, jako administratora. |
The federal government wants to create super WiFi networks across the nation, so powerful and broad in reach that consumers could use them to make calls or surf the Internet without paying a cellphone bill every month.
The proposal from the Federal Communications Commission has rattled the $178 billion wireless industry, which has launched a fierce lobbying effort to persuade policymakers to reconsider the idea, analysts say. That has been countered by an equally intense campaign from Google, Microsoft and other tech giants who say a free-for-all WiFi service would spark an explosion of innovations and devices that would benefit most Americans, especially the poor.
The airwaves that FCC officials want to hand over to the public would be much more powerful than existing WiFi networks that have become common in households. They could penetrate thick concrete walls and travel over hills and around trees. If all goes as planned, free access to the Web would be available in just about every metropolitan area and many rural areas.
The new WiFi networks would also have much farther reach, allowing for a driverless car to communicate to another vehicle a mile away or a patient’s heart monitor to connect to a hospital on the other side of town.
If approved by the FCC, the free networks still would take several years to set up. And, with no one actively managing them, connections could easily become jammed in major cities. But public WiFi could allow many consumers to make free calls from their mobile phones via the Internet. The frugal-minded could even use the service in their homes, allowing them to cut off expensive Internet bills.
“For a casual user of the Web, perhaps this could replace carrier service,” said Jeffrey Silva, an analyst at the Medley Global Advisors research firm. “Because it is more plentiful and there is no price tag, it could have a real appeal to some people.”
Designed by FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, the plan would be a global first. When the U.S. government made a limited amount of unlicensed airwaves available in 1985, an unexpected explosion in innovation followed. Baby monitors, garage door openers and wireless stage microphones were created. Millions of homes now run their own wireless networks, connecting tablets, game consoles, kitchen appliances and security systems to the Internet.
“Freeing up unlicensed spectrum is a vibrantly free-market approach that offers low barriers to entry to innovators developing the technologies of the future and benefits consumers,” Genachowski said in a an emailed statement.
Some companies and local cities are already moving in this direction. Google is providing free WiFi to the public in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan and parts of Silicon Valley.
Cities support the idea because the networks would lower costs for schools and businesses or help vacationers easily find tourist spots. Consumer advocates note the benefits to the poor, who often cannot afford expensive cellphone and Internet bills.
The proposal would require local television stations and other broadcasters to sell a chunk of airwaves to the government that would be used for the public WiFi networks. It is not clear whether these companies would be willing to do so.
The FCC’s plan is part of a broader strategy to re-purpose entire swaths of the nation’s airwaves to accomplish a number of goals, including bolstering cellular networks and creating a dedicated channel for emergency responders.
Some Republican lawmakers have criticized Genachowski for his idea of creating free WiFi networks, noting that an auction of the airwaves would raise billions for the U.S. Treasury.
That sentiment echoes arguments made by companies such as AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon Wireless, Intel and Qualcomm that wrote in a letter to FCC staff late last month that the government should focus its attention on selling the airwaves to businesses.
Some of these companies also cautioned that a free WiFi service could interfere with existing cellular networks and television broadcasts.
Supporters of the free-WiFi plan say telecom equipment firms have long enjoyed lucrative relationships with cellular carriers and may not want to disrupt that model.
An FCC official added that there is little proof so far that the spectrum that could be used for public WiFi systems would knock out broadcast and 4G wireless signals. |
NEXT Up: Kristin Saunders
Kristin Saunders manages the City of Pittsburgh’s bicycle and pedestrian program (talk about a cool and important job!), which includes long-range planning, design, project selection, public outreach, stakeholder coordination, and financing. With a background in architecture, Kristin is passionate about designing public spaces that support an ever-changing urban environment. Kristin previously worked in San Francisco as a project manager and designer for Gehl Studio and Rebar Art and Design Studio, both global leaders in people-centered design.
We encourage our readers to take Kristin’s lead and get out there and enjoy Pittsburgh’s numerous biking and pedestrian options—for both commuting and recreation.
Monday, December 12
On Monday at 8 a.m. I will be navigating a new commute to work! After living in West Allegheny for two years, I recently purchased a house in Upper Lawrenceville and moved in over the weekend. Although I have spent time in the area, I have rarely had the need to bike all the way from Upper Lawrenceville to downtown Pittsburgh in one swoop! I love riding through the Strip at any time of the day, but especially during the commuting hours when I share the street with so many other cyclists on their way to work—it really feels like I am part of a community. Also, I like to see the shops opening for the day.
Once through the Strip, I will take the Penn Avenue Bike Lane to get into the heart of downtown with many other Pittsburgh commuters.
Today I am getting a lesson in Cartegraph, the city’s asset mapping software. There has been a huge effort over the last two years to coordinate all of the city’s assets into one system. This entails citywide data collection on everything from the condition of our streets, to planning projects such as the Pittsburgh Steps and the Pittsburgh Bike Plan. In transportation, we use this system to coordinate the city’s street projects. With the adoption of Pittsburgh’s Complete Streets Policy, the city is looking for overlapping projects. For example, when the city is repaving a street, we look for ways to implement improvements for pedestrians, transit riders and bicyclists during repaving. Technology and mapping allow us to catch these overlaps and use the city’s funds more efficiently.
Once a week, I have a meeting with the city’s transportation team. This includes representation from the Department of Public Works, Mayor’s Office, Office of Management and Budget, and City Planning. This week is our “Planning and Financing” meeting. This is my kind of fun.
My parents are in town from St. Louis to help me with home renovation projects. As an architect, I am excited to change my home environment after living in so many rentals. However, I don’t have a lot of actual construction experience and will spend the week picking my dad’s brain!
Beyond working on the house, we will check out my new neighborhood’s food options such as Pusadee’s Garden.
Tuesday, December 13
Pittsburgh’s downtown streets are going through many changes. Our partners at Envision Downtown, Port Authority and Riverlife are working hard to make Pittsburgh’s public spaces more inviting and accessible for all residents. One of the city’s major projects is the GAP to the Point, which will connect the Great Allegheny Passage to Point State Park through downtown with protected bike lanes.
In Pittsburgh, we have a design goal of installing the types of bicycle facilities that families would feel comfortable riding with their children and we see protected bike lanes as a major part of that mix. Projects such as this propose major changes to how people have historically used Pittsburgh’s streets, and so we try to mitigate and communicate these changes the best we can. To that end, I am meeting with many stakeholders and property owners along the route one-on-one to understand any concerns or coordination issues. Today I am meeting with the Allegheny Conference, Point Park University and one of the apartment buildings on Fort Pitt Boulevard.
This evening I will meet my parents at Butterjoint for the Donations and Libations fundraising event. All cash tips this month go to Pittsburgh’s hardworking bicycle and pedestrian advocacy group, Bike Pittsburgh. There is a good chance I’ll take the bus there because the transit connection between Downtown and Oakland makes it so convenient, and who doesn’t want to be on a cozy bus when it is cold outside?
Wednesday, December 14
After mastering my third day of a new commute, I have a wee bit of needed office time to prepare for this evening’s public meeting. I am also meeting with Councilman Daniel Lavelle’s office to go over the design details of the GAP to the Point project.
At 3 p.m., City Planning is having our holiday social! I can only stay for a bit because I have to get to Point Park University to set up for tonight’s meeting.
6 p.m.: Meeting time! Join us at Point Park to hear all about the project.
Thursday, December 15
9 a.m.: I am starting my day in Lawrenceville at Bike Pittsburgh’s offices to talk about improvements to the way we collaborate on bicycle education and outreach. Over the last few months I have been working on the Pittsburgh Bike Plan. Often, residents don’t hear about bike projects until they are happening in front of their homes or businesses, and we are working hard to publish a bike plan to ensure that we are sharing the big picture of increased mobility options for all Pittsburgh residents.
2 p.m.: The city received a $10.8 million grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation to install a variety of intelligent transportation systems. This technology will improve connections between the city’s neighborhoods and major centers of employment, education and healthcare through the installation of real-time adaptive signals. Today, city staff are meeting with the manufacturers of the smart signals, Traffic 21, to coordinate the project and discuss how the new signals will help pedestrians, people with disabilities, transit riders, and bicyclists.
7 p.m.: This evening, I am having a dinner party to thank some very generous and super strong friends who helped me move into my house. Thanks!
Friday, December 16
11 a.m.: We are kicking off another federally funded grant project, the Southside Neighborhood Street, with an in-the-field meeting with PennDOT. This project will improve the public space along a connected route through the South Side flats with traffic calming, plantings, changes to the street’s geometry, new pedestrian-scale lighting, and the most exciting: A new public path UNDER the Birmingham Bridge near Ormsby Park. This type of project is called a “Neighborhood Street,” and will transform the street into an inviting public space for all users. We are working closely with Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority‘s stormwater team to identify locations where new plantings can improve the water system. After a short presentation, the city’s team will bundle up and walk PennDOT engineers through the project.
Tonight is Chuck’s holiday party: no one loves Pittsburgh more than my friend Chuck. In addition to a cozy atmosphere, last year there was a game with prizes to name Pittsburgh bridges from photographs—only the bridge’s official name counts, of course.
Saturday, December 17
This is quite boring news for the purpose of this publication . . . but I am quite excited to work on construction projects all day!
I love Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens and going to the Winter Flower Show and Light Garden is always really beautiful and a positive way to make the most out of winter’s dark evenings!
Sunday, December 18
In addition to housework, I want to show my parents my new neighborhood. We will have brunch at B52 and then check out my friend Sarah’s café, Café D’Amore. Then, back to work!
See who else is NEXT Up here.
Have a suggestion for NEXT Up? Email us with suggestions! |
Cincinnati Mayor John Cranley hosted a brief press conference at the Banks, with the Roebling Suspension Bridge as his backdrop, offering as symbolism, Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky being connected and working together to lure Amazon's second headquarters and estimated 50,000 new jobs.
Greater Cincinnati is just one of many U.S. cities and regions putting on their best face to lure the online giant with promises of lucrative incentives and a strong quality of life.
The proposals were sent in last Thursday, the day before Cranley's press conference.
John Cranley talks about why Cincinnati (or NKY) should be home to Amazon's second headquarters (RCN)
Few details are known about the region is offering Amazon. It has been a curious topic and the process has been highly secretive with REDI Cincinnati leading the Ohio efforts and Tri-County Economic Development Corporation (Tri-ED) taking on Kentucky's. Nearly every media outlet in town showed up for Cranley's presser, and the conversation between reporters beforehand speculated on whether anything new would be learned.
The answer turned out to be, not exactly.
Instead, Cranley, flanked by supportive members of his city's council, the city manager, and some Chamber and Convention & Visitors Bureau people, led a cheerleading campaign for the cameras.
He rattled off a top-ten list of reasons why Cincinnati (and its southern side, known as Northern Kentucky) should be the tech giant's new home. Those reasons included things like arts offerings, quality of life, educational institutions, and other items one would find on a municipal brag sheet.
But, while Cranley also appeared to be mostly in the dark on the specifics of the region's proposal, he noted that Amazon is looking for shovel-ready land in an urban setting, and that there were really just two options: the Banks, where he was standing, and a large swath of land across the Ohio River, in Newport.
Ovation.
For ten years, Ovation has sat empty, a grassy reminder of big dreams that never came about. Some blame the Great Recession, other blame the lack of connectivity, and people point to a lack of interest. The large Ovation billboard loomed large over the riverfront acreage, filled with nothing.
Early rendering of Ovation site possibilities
But for an empty, grassy field, Ovation has sure emerged as the belle of the ball in speculative, top-dollar local development possibilities.
If the Cincinnati Streetcar were to connect to Northern Kentucky, proponents suggest a connector at Ovation.
IF FC Cincinnati can't get a soccer stadium deal in Hamilton County, it will reportedly look to Ovation. In fact, the team's initial renderings bucked Cincinnati locations in favor of Newport.
And now, if Amazon wants to come to the region, but prefers to be the main attraction, rather than share a street with the likes of GE, it may just land at Ovation.
And why not? All of the issues that people cited as why it didn't work the first time around have all but evaporated. The economy is doing well, Kentucky Route 9 is in the second half of its massive widening project to lead drivers directly to the site's door, and there is interest flowing from every corner.
Newer rendering of Ovation site possibilities
But whatever was offered to Amazon is unclear. Tri-ED has been relatively quiet on specifics.
The City of Newport was involved.
"I just know the Ovation site is one," said City Manager Tom Fromme, when asked about Cranley's press conference. He said everyone involved in the preparation of the Amazon plan was asked to make a confidentiality pledge, so there wasn't a whole lot that could be said. The city's involvement was solely peripheral, he said.
"(REDI Cincinnati and Tri-ED) made up a proposal that they submitted to Amazon and we are on board with that," Fromme said.
Northern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce president Brent Cooper was also mostly quiet about specifics. He was more open to talk about the regional collaboration.
"In the time I've been in this role, I have seen regional cooperation like I have never heard of in years," Cooper said. "I personally saw businesses and business groups on both sides of the river going after joint opportunities, whether that be airlines like Southwest, or Amazon. Both sides of the river recognize now that these kinds of opportunities can only be achieved if we work together."
Cranley also noted that. Just beyond the Suspension Bridge in the backdrop of his press conference, three Covington office towers are only now just rebounding following Cincinnati's raid on them, luring Omnicare and A.C. Nielsen companies from the southbank to shiny, incentivized office space in downtown Cincinnati. Then-Mayor Mark Mallory joined Ohio Governor John Kasich at the time to celebrate the scalping of Covington, and the attraction of two of the city's largest employers who opted to move merely hundreds of feet away at the promise of better corporate welfare.
But, like Cooper, Cranley believes things have changed in the past six years since.
"I like to think of it as the collaborative nature and personalities of these wonderful people that you see up here in that we reach out our hand," Cranley said, referencing those who joined him at the press conference. He said Kenton County Judge/Executive Kris Knochelmann was expected to be present for the press conference but had to cancel due to family matters. Though Newport is in Campbell County, the Kenton judge/executive's presence would also speak to regionalism. Covington, in Kenton County, was also mentioned in early, speculative conversations since it has a large piece of land near the river currently occupied by a sprawling, one-level office building currently filled by the IRS. But the IRS is leaving in 2019 and the City of Covington will see another hole blown in its budget, though it is getting an early start on preparing for that departure. On Tuesday it will authorize a request for proposals for redevelopment of the site.
But that will be a few days after the Amazon proposal was due.
Instead, Newport has emerged as Northern Kentucky's best bet.
"I think I've gone out of my way to mention that Kentucky would be part of that winning bid and I'm not ashamed of that fact," Cranley said. "I think it's something to be excited about."
The region may also have a leg up on competition because it recently lured $1.5 billion air hub to the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport (CVG). The company will add 10,000 jobs in the coming years at that site in Hebron.
“As we considered places for the long-term home for our air hub operations, Hebron quickly rose to the top of the list with a large, skilled workforce, centralized location with great connectivity to our nearby fulfillment locations and an excellent quality of living for employees,” said Dave Clark, Amazon’s senior vice president of worldwide operations, in a news release at the time. “We feel strongly that with these qualities as a place to do business, our investments will support Amazon and customers well into the future.”
The Commonwealth of Kentucky awarded Amazon $40 million in payroll tax incentives, and the airport vowed to invest $5 million in infrastructure improvements as part of the deal.
Kentucky is still poised, apparently, to dig even deeper to bring tens of thousands more Amazon jobs to the region.
And Ovation is already poised to deliver. When it was created, state incentives were included and the city created a tax increment finance (TIF) district around, all attractive to corporate tenants.
Rendering of FC Cincinnati stadium in Newport
"I think, personally, in the Greater Cincinnati region, that we have a good shot," Frome said. "I think there's a lot of things the Cincinnati region has to offer: quality of life, cost of living is very low, the airport is a really good airport and only ten to fifteen minutes from downtown here. The downtown region is close to highways.
"I think with Cincinnati being centrally located, you're within a hundred miles of a lot of the population bases and there are a lot of schools and colleges in that couple-hundred-mile radius."
Cranley talks up Newport, and Fromme talks up Cincinnati, and Cooper recognizes that the region is starting to blur that long-troubling river boundary.
"I had seen it on the business side with businesses like Citi and DHL and now Amazon, and with CTI, which just came to Covington - half their employees live in Ohio," Cooper said, noting a company that was lured to Covington from Blue Ash, north of Cincinnati, with the promise of big incentives. "We are truly a big region where the opportunities and amenities are on both sides of the river and that recognition is not only apparent by the leaders I'm involved with and see, but those leaders of the businesses involved as well."
If this regional collaboration succeeds and fifty thousand Amazon jobs locate here, Newport's Ovation may finally get the applause that its name suggests it should.
Fromme said that that will happen with or without Amazon.
"We have had ongoing meetings with (Ovation owner, Covington-based) Corporex officials for several years, so it's not like they have been sitting back twirling their thumbs," Fromme said. Maybe a streetcar, maybe a major league soccer team, maybe Amazon... but even without one or all of those big-ticket items, progress continues to favor Ovation. Route 9 will be finished next year and then the race is on.
"I just think everything is coming together and that is why you're seeing this movement right now," Fromme said. "FC Cincinnati or Amazon, you're going to see some sort of development at the Ovation site, I have no doubt about that at all."
Written by Michael Monks, editor & publisher |
Abstract
A large quasar group (LQG) of particularly large size and high membership has been identified in the DR7QSO catalogue of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. It has characteristic size (volume1/3) ∼500 Mpc (proper size, present epoch), longest dimension ∼1240 Mpc, membership of 73 quasars and mean redshift |$\bar{z} = 1.27$|. In terms of both size and membership, it is the most extreme LQG found in the DR7QSO catalogue for the redshift range 1.0 ≤ z ≤ 1.8 of our current investigation. Its location on the sky is ∼8| ${.\!\!\!\!\!\!^{\circ}}$|8 north (∼615 Mpc projected) of the Clowes & Campusano LQG at the same redshift, |$\bar{z} = 1.28$|, which is itself one of the more extreme examples. Their boundaries approach to within ∼2° (∼140 Mpc projected). This new, Huge-LQG appears to be the largest structure currently known in the early Universe. Its size suggests incompatibility with the Yadav et al. scale of homogeneity for the concordance cosmology, and thus challenges the assumption of the cosmological principle.
1 INTRODUCTION
Large quasar groups (LQGs) are the largest structures seen in the early Universe, of characteristic size ∼70–350 Mpc, with the highest values appearing to be only marginally compatible with the Yadav, Bagla & Khandai (2010) scale of homogeneity in the concordance cosmology. LQGs generally have ∼5–40 member quasars. The first three LQGs to be discovered were those of Webster (1982), Crampton, Cowley & Hartwick (1987, 1989) and Clowes & Campusano (1991). For more recent work see, for example, Brand et al. (2003) (radio galaxies), Miller et al. (2004), Pilipenko (2007), Rozgacheva et al. (2012) and Clowes et al. (2012). The association of quasars with superclusters in the relatively local Universe has been discussed by, for example Longo (1991), Söchting, Clowes & Campusano (2002), Söchting, Clowes & Campusano (2004) and Lietzen et al. (2009). The last three of these papers note the association of quasars with the peripheries of clusters or with filaments. At higher redshifts, Komberg, Kravtsov & Lukash (1996) and Pilipenko (2007) suggest that the LQGs are the precursors of the superclusters seen today. Given the large sizes of LQGs, perhaps they are instead the precursors of supercluster complexes such as the Sloan Great Wall (SGW; Gott et al. 2005).
In Clowes et al. (2012), we presented results for two LQGs as they appeared in the DR7 quasar catalogue (‘DR7QSO’; Schneider et al. 2010) of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). One of these LQGs, designated U1.28 in that paper, was the previously known Clowes & Campusano (1991) LQG (CCLQG) and the other, designated U1.11, was a new discovery. (In these designations U1.28 and U1.11, the ‘U’ refers to a connected unit of quasars, and the number refers to the mean redshift.) U1.28 and U1.11 had memberships of 34 and 38 quasars, respectively, and characteristic sizes (volume1/3) of ∼ 350, 380 Mpc. Yadav et al. (2010) give an idealized upper limit to the scale of homogeneity in the concordance cosmology as ∼370 Mpc. As discussed in Clowes et al. (2012), if the fractal calculations of Yadav et al. (2010) are adopted as reference then U1.28 and U1.11 are only marginally compatible with homogeneity.
In this paper, we present results for a new LQG, designated U1.27, again found in the DR7QSO catalogue, which is noteworthy for both its exceptionally large characteristic size, ∼500 Mpc, and its exceptionally high membership, 73 quasars. It provides further interest for discussions of homogeneity and the validity of the cosmological principle.
For simplicity we shall also refer to U1.27 as the Huge-LQG and U1.28 as the CCLQG.
The largest structure in the local Universe is the SGW at z = 0.073, as noted in particular by Gott et al. (2005). They give its length (proper size at the present epoch) as ∼450 Mpc, compared with ∼240 Mpc for the Geller & Huchra (1989) Great Wall (z = 0.029). Although Gott et al. (2005) do not discuss in detail the compatibility of the SGW with concordance cosmology and Gaussian initial conditions, from visual inspection of simulations they did not expect any incompatibility. Sheth & Diaferio (2011) have investigated this question of compatibility further and concluded that, given the assumptions of their analysis, there is a potential difficulty, which can, however, be avoided if the SGW, in our cosmological neighbourhood, happens to be the densest structure of its volume within the entire Hubble volume.
The Sheth & Diaferio (2011) paper is, however, not an analysis of compatibility of the SGW with homogeneity. Homogeneity asserts that the mass–energy density (or, indeed, any global property) of sufficiently large volumes should be the same within the expected statistical variations. Sheth & Diaferio (2011) estimate the volume of the SGW as ∼2.1 × 106 Mpc3, for the larger of two group-linkage estimates, which roughly reproduces the portrayal of the SGW by Gott et al. (2005). A characteristic size – (volume)1/3 – is then ∼128 Mpc. The SGW is markedly elongated so this measure of characteristic size should not be compared with the overall length. The overdensity is given as δ M ∼ 1.2 for mass and δ n ∼ 4 for number of galaxies. Note that Einasto et al. (2011c) find that the SGW is not a single structure, but a set of superclusters with different evolutionary histories. For discussing potential conflicts of the SGW with homogeneity this result by Einasto et al. (2011c) means that the long dimension of ∼450 Mpc is misleading. The characteristic size of ∼128 Mpc is still relevant, but is much smaller than the upper limit of ∼370 Mpc for homogeneity (Yadav et al. 2010), and so it may be that the SGW does not present any particular problem. Indeed, Park et al. (2012) find from the ‘Horizon Run 2’ cosmological simulation that the SGW is consistent with concordance cosmology and with homogeneity. Park et al. (2012) also note that the properties of large-scale structures can be used as sensitive discriminants of cosmological models and models of galaxy formation.
The concordance model is adopted for cosmological calculations, with Ω T = 1, Ω M = 0.27, |$\Omega _\Lambda = 0.73$| and H 0 = 70 km s−1Mpc−1. All sizes given are proper sizes at the present epoch.
2 DETECTION OF THE HUGE-LQG (U1.27)
The new, Huge-LQG (U1.27) has been detected by the procedures described in Clowes et al. (2012). These procedures are briefly described here.
As mentioned above, the source of the quasar data is the SDSS DR7QSO catalogue (Schneider et al. 2010) of 105 783 quasars. The low-redshift, z ≲ 3, strand of selection of the SDSS specifies i ≤ 19.1 (Vanden Berk et al. 2005; Richards et al. 2006). Restriction of the quasars to this limit allows satisfactory spatial uniformity of selection on the sky to be achieved, since they are then predominantly from this strand. Also, changes in the SDSS selection algorithms (Richards et al. 2002) should not then be important. The more general criteria for extraction of a statistical sample from the DR7QSO catalogue or its predecessors are discussed by Schneider et al. (2010), Richards et al. (2006) and Vanden Berk et al. (2005).
The DR7QSO catalogue covers ∼9380 deg2 in total. There is a large contiguous area of ∼7600 deg2 in the north galactic gap, which has some jagged boundaries. Within this contiguous area we define a control area, designated A3725, of ∼3725 deg2 (actually 3724.5 deg2) by RA: 123| ${.\!\!\!\!\!\!^{\circ}}$|0 → 237| ${.\!\!\!\!\!\!^{\circ}}$|0 and Dec.: 15| ${.\!\!\!\!\!\!^{\circ}}$|0 → 56| ${.\!\!\!\!\!\!^{\circ}}$|0.
We detect candidates for LQGs in the catalogue by three-dimensional single-linkage hierarchical clustering, which is equivalent to the three-dimensional minimal spanning tree (MST). Such algorithms have the advantage that they do not require assumptions about the morphology of the structure. As in Clowes et al. (2012), the linkage scale is set to 100 Mpc. The choice of scale is guided by the mean nearest-neighbour separation together with allowance for redshift errors and peculiar velocities; see that paper for full details. The particular algorithm we use for single-linkage hierarchical clustering is the agnes algorithm in the r package.1 We are currently concentrating on detecting LQGs in the redshift interval 1.0 ≤ z ≤ 1.8 and, of course, with the restriction i ≤ 19.1.
With this detection procedure the new Huge-LQG (U1.27) that is the subject of this paper is detected as a unit of 73 quasars, with mean redshift 1.27. It covers the redshift range 1.1742 → 1.3713. The 73 member quasars are listed in Table 1.
Table 1. SDSS name RA, Dec (2000) z i 104139.15+143530.2 10:41:39.15 +14:35:30.2 1.2164 18.657 104321.62+143600.2 10:43:21.62 +14:36:00.2 1.2660 19.080 104430.92+160245.0 10:44:30.92 +16:02:45.0 1.2294 17.754 104445.03+151901.6 10:44:45.03 +15:19:01.6 1.2336 18.678 104520.62+141724.2 10:45:20.62 +14:17:24.2 1.2650 18.271 104604.05+140241.2 10:46:04.05 +14:02:41.2 1.2884 18.553 104616.31+164512.6 10:46:16.31 +16:45:12.6 1.2815 18.732 104624.25+143009.1 10:46:24.25 +14:30:09.1 1.3620 18.989 104813.63+162849.1 10:48:13.63 +16:28:49.1 1.2905 18.593 104859.74+125322.3 10:48:59.74 +12:53:22.3 1.3597 18.938 104915.66+165217.4 10:49:15.66 +16:52:17.4 1.3459 18.281 104922.60+154336.1 10:49:22.60 +15:43:36.1 1.2590 18.395 104924.30+154156.0 10:49:24.30 +15:41:56.0 1.2965 18.537 104938.22+214829.3 10:49:38.22 +21:48:29.3 1.2352 18.805 104941.67+151824.6 10:49:41.67 +15:18:24.6 1.3390 18.792 104947.77+162216.6 10:49:47.77 +16:22:16.6 1.2966 18.568 104954.70+160042.3 10:49:54.70 +16:00:42.3 1.3373 18.748 105001.22+153354.0 10:50:01.22 +15:33:54.0 1.2500 18.740 105042.26+160056.0 10:50:42.26 +16:00:56.0 1.2591 18.036 105104.16+161900.9 10:51:04.16 +16:19:00.9 1.2502 18.187 105117.00+131136.0 10:51:17.00 +13:11:36.0 1.3346 19.027 105119.60+142611.4 10:51:19.60 +14:26:11.4 1.3093 19.002 105122.98+115852.3 10:51:22.98 +11:58:52.3 1.3085 18.127 105125.72+124746.3 10:51:25.72 +12:47:46.3 1.2810 17.519 105132.22+145615.1 10:51:32.22 +14:56:15.1 1.3607 18.239 105140.40+203921.1 10:51:40.40 +20:39:21.1 1.1742 17.568 105144.88+125828.9 10:51:44.88 +12:58:28.9 1.3153 19.021 105210.02+165543.7 10:52:10.02 +16:55:43.7 1.3369 16.430 105222.13+123054.1 10:52:22.13 +12:30:54.1 1.3162 18.894 105223.68+140525.6 10:52:23.68 +14:05:25.6 1.2483 18.640 105224.08+204634.1 10:52:24.08 +20:46:34.1 1.2032 18.593 105245.80+134057.4 10:52:45.80 +13:40:57.4 1.3544 18.211 105257.17+105933.5 10:52:57.17 +10:59:33.5 1.2649 19.056 105258.16+201705.4 10:52:58.16 +20:17:05.4 1.2526 18.911 105412.67+145735.2 10:54:12.67 +14:57:35.2 1.2277 18.767 105421.90+212131.2 10:54:21.90 +21:21:31.2 1.2573 17.756 105435.64+101816.3 10:54:35.64 +10:18:16.3 1.2600 17.951 105442.71+104320.6 10:54:42.71 +10:43:20.6 1.3348 18.844 105446.73+195710.5 10:54:46.73 +19:57:10.5 1.2195 18.759 105523.03+130610.7 10:55:23.03 +13:06:10.7 1.3570 18.853 105525.18+191756.3 10:55:25.18 +19:17:56.3 1.2005 18.833 105525.68+113703.0 10:55:25.68 +11:37:03.0 1.2893 18.264 105541.83+111754.2 10:55:41.83 +11:17:54.2 1.3298 18.996 105556.22+184718.4 10:55:56.22 +18:47:18.4 1.2767 18.956 105611.27+170827.5 10:56:11.27 +17:08:27.5 1.3316 17.698 105621.90+143401.0 10:56:21.90 +14:34:01.0 1.2333 19.052 105637.49+150047.5 10:56:37.49 +15:00:47.5 1.3713 19.041 105637.98+100307.2 10:56:37.98 +10:03:07.2 1.2730 18.686 105655.36+144946.2 10:56:55.36 +14:49:46.2 1.2283 18.590 105714.02+184753.3 10:57:14.02 +18:47:53.3 1.2852 18.699 105805.09+200341.0 10:58:05.09 +20:03:41.0 1.2731 17.660 105832.01+170456.0 10:58:32.01 +17:04:56.0 1.2813 18.299 105840.49+175415.5 10:58:40.49 +17:54:15.5 1.2687 18.955 105855.33+081350.7 10:58:55.33 +08:13:50.7 1.2450 17.926 105928.57+164657.9 10:59:28.57 +16:46:57.9 1.2993 19.010 110006.02+092638.7 11:00:06.02 +09:26:38.7 1.2485 18.055 110016.88+193624.7 11:00:16.88 +19:36:24.7 1.2399 18.605 110039.99+165710.3 11:00:39.99 +16:57:10.3 1.2997 18.126 110148.66+082207.1 11:01:48.66 +08:22:07.1 1.1940 18.880 110217.19+083921.1 11:02:17.19 +08:39:21.1 1.2355 18.800 110504.46+084535.3 11:05:04.46 +08:45:35.3 1.2371 19.005 110621.40+084111.2 11:06:21.40 +08:41:11.2 1.2346 18.649 110736.60+090114.7 11:07:36.60 +09:01:14.7 1.2266 18.902 110744.61+095526.9 11:07:44.61 +09:55:26.9 1.2228 17.635 111007.89+104810.3 11:10:07.89 +10:48:10.3 1.2097 18.473 111009.58+075206.8 11:10:09.58 +07:52:06.8 1.2123 18.932 111416.17+102327.5 11:14:16.17 +10:23:27.5 1.2053 18.026 111545.30+081459.8 11:15:45.30 +08:14:59.8 1.1927 18.339 111802.11+103302.4 11:18:02.11 +10:33:02.4 1.2151 17.486 111823.21+090504.9 11:18:23.21 +09:05:04.9 1.1923 18.940 112019.62+085905.1 11:20:19.62 +08:59:05.1 1.2239 18.093 112059.27+101109.2 11:20:59.27 +10:11:09.2 1.2103 18.770 112109.76+075958.6 11:21:09.76 +07:59:58.6 1.2369 18.258 SDSS name RA, Dec (2000) z i 104139.15+143530.2 10:41:39.15 +14:35:30.2 1.2164 18.657 104321.62+143600.2 10:43:21.62 +14:36:00.2 1.2660 19.080 104430.92+160245.0 10:44:30.92 +16:02:45.0 1.2294 17.754 104445.03+151901.6 10:44:45.03 +15:19:01.6 1.2336 18.678 104520.62+141724.2 10:45:20.62 +14:17:24.2 1.2650 18.271 104604.05+140241.2 10:46:04.05 +14:02:41.2 1.2884 18.553 104616.31+164512.6 10:46:16.31 +16:45:12.6 1.2815 18.732 104624.25+143009.1 10:46:24.25 +14:30:09.1 1.3620 18.989 104813.63+162849.1 10:48:13.63 +16:28:49.1 1.2905 18.593 104859.74+125322.3 10:48:59.74 +12:53:22.3 1.3597 18.938 104915.66+165217.4 10:49:15.66 +16:52:17.4 1.3459 18.281 104922.60+154336.1 10:49:22.60 +15:43:36.1 1.2590 18.395 104924.30+154156.0 10:49:24.30 +15:41:56.0 1.2965 18.537 104938.22+214829.3 10:49:38.22 +21:48:29.3 1.2352 18.805 104941.67+151824.6 10:49:41.67 +15:18:24.6 1.3390 18.792 104947.77+162216.6 10:49:47.77 +16:22:16.6 1.2966 18.568 104954.70+160042.3 10:49:54.70 +16:00:42.3 1.3373 18.748 105001.22+153354.0 10:50:01.22 +15:33:54.0 1.2500 18.740 105042.26+160056.0 10:50:42.26 +16:00:56.0 1.2591 18.036 105104.16+161900.9 10:51:04.16 +16:19:00.9 1.2502 18.187 105117.00+131136.0 10:51:17.00 +13:11:36.0 1.3346 19.027 105119.60+142611.4 10:51:19.60 +14:26:11.4 1.3093 19.002 105122.98+115852.3 10:51:22.98 +11:58:52.3 1.3085 18.127 105125.72+124746.3 10:51:25.72 +12:47:46.3 1.2810 17.519 105132.22+145615.1 10:51:32.22 +14:56:15.1 1.3607 18.239 105140.40+203921.1 10:51:40.40 +20:39:21.1 1.1742 17.568 105144.88+125828.9 10:51:44.88 +12:58:28.9 1.3153 19.021 105210.02+165543.7 10:52:10.02 +16:55:43.7 1.3369 16.430 105222.13+123054.1 10:52:22.13 +12:30:54.1 1.3162 18.894 105223.68+140525.6 10:52:23.68 +14:05:25.6 1.2483 18.640 105224.08+204634.1 10:52:24.08 +20:46:34.1 1.2032 18.593 105245.80+134057.4 10:52:45.80 +13:40:57.4 1.3544 18.211 105257.17+105933.5 10:52:57.17 +10:59:33.5 1.2649 19.056 105258.16+201705.4 10:52:58.16 +20:17:05.4 1.2526 18.911 105412.67+145735.2 10:54:12.67 +14:57:35.2 1.2277 18.767 105421.90+212131.2 10:54:21.90 +21:21:31.2 1.2573 17.756 105435.64+101816.3 10:54:35.64 +10:18:16.3 1.2600 17.951 105442.71+104320.6 10:54:42.71 +10:43:20.6 1.3348 18.844 105446.73+195710.5 10:54:46.73 +19:57:10.5 1.2195 18.759 105523.03+130610.7 10:55:23.03 +13:06:10.7 1.3570 18.853 105525.18+191756.3 10:55:25.18 +19:17:56.3 1.2005 18.833 105525.68+113703.0 10:55:25.68 +11:37:03.0 1.2893 18.264 105541.83+111754.2 10:55:41.83 +11:17:54.2 1.3298 18.996 105556.22+184718.4 10:55:56.22 +18:47:18.4 1.2767 18.956 105611.27+170827.5 10:56:11.27 +17:08:27.5 1.3316 17.698 105621.90+143401.0 10:56:21.90 +14:34:01.0 1.2333 19.052 105637.49+150047.5 10:56:37.49 +15:00:47.5 1.3713 19.041 105637.98+100307.2 10:56:37.98 +10:03:07.2 1.2730 18.686 105655.36+144946.2 10:56:55.36 +14:49:46.2 1.2283 18.590 105714.02+184753.3 10:57:14.02 +18:47:53.3 1.2852 18.699 105805.09+200341.0 10:58:05.09 +20:03:41.0 1.2731 17.660 105832.01+170456.0 10:58:32.01 +17:04:56.0 1.2813 18.299 105840.49+175415.5 10:58:40.49 +17:54:15.5 1.2687 18.955 105855.33+081350.7 10:58:55.33 +08:13:50.7 1.2450 17.926 105928.57+164657.9 10:59:28.57 +16:46:57.9 1.2993 19.010 110006.02+092638.7 11:00:06.02 +09:26:38.7 1.2485 18.055 110016.88+193624.7 11:00:16.88 +19:36:24.7 1.2399 18.605 110039.99+165710.3 11:00:39.99 +16:57:10.3 1.2997 18.126 110148.66+082207.1 11:01:48.66 +08:22:07.1 1.1940 18.880 110217.19+083921.1 11:02:17.19 +08:39:21.1 1.2355 18.800 110504.46+084535.3 11:05:04.46 +08:45:35.3 1.2371 19.005 110621.40+084111.2 11:06:21.40 +08:41:11.2 1.2346 18.649 110736.60+090114.7 11:07:36.60 +09:01:14.7 1.2266 18.902 110744.61+095526.9 11:07:44.61 +09:55:26.9 1.2228 17.635 111007.89+104810.3 11:10:07.89 +10:48:10.3 1.2097 18.473 111009.58+075206.8 11:10:09.58 +07:52:06.8 1.2123 18.932 111416.17+102327.5 11:14:16.17 +10:23:27.5 1.2053 18.026 111545.30+081459.8 11:15:45.30 +08:14:59.8 1.1927 18.339 111802.11+103302.4 11:18:02.11 +10:33:02.4 1.2151 17.486 111823.21+090504.9 11:18:23.21 +09:05:04.9 1.1923 18.940 112019.62+085905.1 11:20:19.62 +08:59:05.1 1.2239 18.093 112059.27+101109.2 11:20:59.27 +10:11:09.2 1.2103 18.770 112109.76+075958.6 11:21:09.76 +07:59:58.6 1.2369 18.258 View Large
Table 1. SDSS name RA, Dec (2000) z i 104139.15+143530.2 10:41:39.15 +14:35:30.2 1.2164 18.657 104321.62+143600.2 10:43:21.62 +14:36:00.2 1.2660 19.080 104430.92+160245.0 10:44:30.92 +16:02:45.0 1.2294 17.754 104445.03+151901.6 10:44:45.03 +15:19:01.6 1.2336 18.678 104520.62+141724.2 10:45:20.62 +14:17:24.2 1.2650 18.271 104604.05+140241.2 10:46:04.05 +14:02:41.2 1.2884 18.553 104616.31+164512.6 10:46:16.31 +16:45:12.6 1.2815 18.732 104624.25+143009.1 10:46:24.25 +14:30:09.1 1.3620 18.989 104813.63+162849.1 10:48:13.63 +16:28:49.1 1.2905 18.593 104859.74+125322.3 10:48:59.74 +12:53:22.3 1.3597 18.938 104915.66+165217.4 10:49:15.66 +16:52:17.4 1.3459 18.281 104922.60+154336.1 10:49:22.60 +15:43:36.1 1.2590 18.395 104924.30+154156.0 10:49:24.30 +15:41:56.0 1.2965 18.537 104938.22+214829.3 10:49:38.22 +21:48:29.3 1.2352 18.805 104941.67+151824.6 10:49:41.67 +15:18:24.6 1.3390 18.792 104947.77+162216.6 10:49:47.77 +16:22:16.6 1.2966 18.568 104954.70+160042.3 10:49:54.70 +16:00:42.3 1.3373 18.748 105001.22+153354.0 10:50:01.22 +15:33:54.0 1.2500 18.740 105042.26+160056.0 10:50:42.26 +16:00:56.0 1.2591 18.036 105104.16+161900.9 10:51:04.16 +16:19:00.9 1.2502 18.187 105117.00+131136.0 10:51:17.00 +13:11:36.0 1.3346 19.027 105119.60+142611.4 10:51:19.60 +14:26:11.4 1.3093 19.002 105122.98+115852.3 10:51:22.98 +11:58:52.3 1.3085 18.127 105125.72+124746.3 10:51:25.72 +12:47:46.3 1.2810 17.519 105132.22+145615.1 10:51:32.22 +14:56:15.1 1.3607 18.239 105140.40+203921.1 10:51:40.40 +20:39:21.1 1.1742 17.568 105144.88+125828.9 10:51:44.88 +12:58:28.9 1.3153 19.021 105210.02+165543.7 10:52:10.02 +16:55:43.7 1.3369 16.430 105222.13+123054.1 10:52:22.13 +12:30:54.1 1.3162 18.894 105223.68+140525.6 10:52:23.68 +14:05:25.6 1.2483 18.640 105224.08+204634.1 10:52:24.08 +20:46:34.1 1.2032 18.593 105245.80+134057.4 10:52:45.80 +13:40:57.4 1.3544 18.211 105257.17+105933.5 10:52:57.17 +10:59:33.5 1.2649 19.056 105258.16+201705.4 10:52:58.16 +20:17:05.4 1.2526 18.911 105412.67+145735.2 10:54:12.67 +14:57:35.2 1.2277 18.767 105421.90+212131.2 10:54:21.90 +21:21:31.2 1.2573 17.756 105435.64+101816.3 10:54:35.64 +10:18:16.3 1.2600 17.951 105442.71+104320.6 10:54:42.71 +10:43:20.6 1.3348 18.844 105446.73+195710.5 10:54:46.73 +19:57:10.5 1.2195 18.759 105523.03+130610.7 10:55:23.03 +13:06:10.7 1.3570 18.853 105525.18+191756.3 10:55:25.18 +19:17:56.3 1.2005 18.833 105525.68+113703.0 10:55:25.68 +11:37:03.0 1.2893 18.264 105541.83+111754.2 10:55:41.83 +11:17:54.2 1.3298 18.996 105556.22+184718.4 10:55:56.22 +18:47:18.4 1.2767 18.956 105611.27+170827.5 10:56:11.27 +17:08:27.5 1.3316 17.698 105621.90+143401.0 10:56:21.90 +14:34:01.0 1.2333 19.052 105637.49+150047.5 10:56:37.49 +15:00:47.5 1.3713 19.041 105637.98+100307.2 10:56:37.98 +10:03:07.2 1.2730 18.686 105655.36+144946.2 10:56:55.36 +14:49:46.2 1.2283 18.590 105714.02+184753.3 10:57:14.02 +18:47:53.3 1.2852 18.699 105805.09+200341.0 10:58:05.09 +20:03:41.0 1.2731 17.660 105832.01+170456.0 10:58:32.01 +17:04:56.0 1.2813 18.299 105840.49+175415.5 10:58:40.49 +17:54:15.5 1.2687 18.955 105855.33+081350.7 10:58:55.33 +08:13:50.7 1.2450 17.926 105928.57+164657.9 10:59:28.57 +16:46:57.9 1.2993 19.010 110006.02+092638.7 11:00:06.02 +09:26:38.7 1.2485 18.055 110016.88+193624.7 11:00:16.88 +19:36:24.7 1.2399 18.605 110039.99+165710.3 11:00:39.99 +16:57:10.3 1.2997 18.126 110148.66+082207.1 11:01:48.66 +08:22:07.1 1.1940 18.880 110217.19+083921.1 11:02:17.19 +08:39:21.1 1.2355 18.800 110504.46+084535.3 11:05:04.46 +08:45:35.3 1.2371 19.005 110621.40+084111.2 11:06:21.40 +08:41:11.2 1.2346 18.649 110736.60+090114.7 11:07:36.60 +09:01:14.7 1.2266 18.902 110744.61+095526.9 11:07:44.61 +09:55:26.9 1.2228 17.635 111007.89+104810.3 11:10:07.89 +10:48:10.3 1.2097 18.473 111009.58+075206.8 11:10:09.58 +07:52:06.8 1.2123 18.932 111416.17+102327.5 11:14:16.17 +10:23:27.5 1.2053 18.026 111545.30+081459.8 11:15:45.30 +08:14:59.8 1.1927 18.339 111802.11+103302.4 11:18:02.11 +10:33:02.4 1.2151 17.486 111823.21+090504.9 11:18:23.21 +09:05:04.9 1.1923 18.940 112019.62+085905.1 11:20:19.62 +08:59:05.1 1.2239 18.093 112059.27+101109.2 11:20:59.27 +10:11:09.2 1.2103 18.770 112109.76+075958.6 11:21:09.76 +07:59:58.6 1.2369 18.258 SDSS name RA, Dec (2000) z i 104139.15+143530.2 10:41:39.15 +14:35:30.2 1.2164 18.657 104321.62+143600.2 10:43:21.62 +14:36:00.2 1.2660 19.080 104430.92+160245.0 10:44:30.92 +16:02:45.0 1.2294 17.754 104445.03+151901.6 10:44:45.03 +15:19:01.6 1.2336 18.678 104520.62+141724.2 10:45:20.62 +14:17:24.2 1.2650 18.271 104604.05+140241.2 10:46:04.05 +14:02:41.2 1.2884 18.553 104616.31+164512.6 10:46:16.31 +16:45:12.6 1.2815 18.732 104624.25+143009.1 10:46:24.25 +14:30:09.1 1.3620 18.989 104813.63+162849.1 10:48:13.63 +16:28:49.1 1.2905 18.593 104859.74+125322.3 10:48:59.74 +12:53:22.3 1.3597 18.938 104915.66+165217.4 10:49:15.66 +16:52:17.4 1.3459 18.281 104922.60+154336.1 10:49:22.60 +15:43:36.1 1.2590 18.395 104924.30+154156.0 10:49:24.30 +15:41:56.0 1.2965 18.537 104938.22+214829.3 10:49:38.22 +21:48:29.3 1.2352 18.805 104941.67+151824.6 10:49:41.67 +15:18:24.6 1.3390 18.792 104947.77+162216.6 10:49:47.77 +16:22:16.6 1.2966 18.568 104954.70+160042.3 10:49:54.70 +16:00:42.3 1.3373 18.748 105001.22+153354.0 10:50:01.22 +15:33:54.0 1.2500 18.740 105042.26+160056.0 10:50:42.26 +16:00:56.0 1.2591 18.036 105104.16+161900.9 10:51:04.16 +16:19:00.9 1.2502 18.187 105117.00+131136.0 10:51:17.00 +13:11:36.0 1.3346 19.027 105119.60+142611.4 10:51:19.60 +14:26:11.4 1.3093 19.002 105122.98+115852.3 10:51:22.98 +11:58:52.3 1.3085 18.127 105125.72+124746.3 10:51:25.72 +12:47:46.3 1.2810 17.519 105132.22+145615.1 10:51:32.22 +14:56:15.1 1.3607 18.239 105140.40+203921.1 10:51:40.40 +20:39:21.1 1.1742 17.568 105144.88+125828.9 10:51:44.88 +12:58:28.9 1.3153 19.021 105210.02+165543.7 10:52:10.02 +16:55:43.7 1.3369 16.430 105222.13+123054.1 10:52:22.13 +12:30:54.1 1.3162 18.894 105223.68+140525.6 10:52:23.68 +14:05:25.6 1.2483 18.640 105224.08+204634.1 10:52:24.08 +20:46:34.1 1.2032 18.593 105245.80+134057.4 10:52:45.80 +13:40:57.4 1.3544 18.211 105257.17+105933.5 10:52:57.17 +10:59:33.5 1.2649 19.056 105258.16+201705.4 10:52:58.16 +20:17:05.4 1.2526 18.911 105412.67+145735.2 10:54:12.67 +14:57:35.2 1.2277 18.767 105421.90+212131.2 10:54:21.90 +21:21:31.2 1.2573 17.756 105435.64+101816.3 10:54:35.64 +10:18:16.3 1.2600 17.951 105442.71+104320.6 10:54:42.71 +10:43:20.6 1.3348 18.844 105446.73+195710.5 10:54:46.73 +19:57:10.5 1.2195 18.759 105523.03+130610.7 10:55:23.03 +13:06:10.7 1.3570 18.853 105525.18+191756.3 10:55:25.18 +19:17:56.3 1.2005 18.833 105525.68+113703.0 10:55:25.68 +11:37:03.0 1.2893 18.264 105541.83+111754.2 10:55:41.83 +11:17:54.2 1.3298 18.996 105556.22+184718.4 10:55:56.22 +18:47:18.4 1.2767 18.956 105611.27+170827.5 10:56:11.27 +17:08:27.5 1.3316 17.698 105621.90+143401.0 10:56:21.90 +14:34:01.0 1.2333 19.052 105637.49+150047.5 10:56:37.49 +15:00:47.5 1.3713 19.041 105637.98+100307.2 10:56:37.98 +10:03:07.2 1.2730 18.686 105655.36+144946.2 10:56:55.36 +14:49:46.2 1.2283 18.590 105714.02+184753.3 10:57:14.02 +18:47:53.3 1.2852 18.699 105805.09+200341.0 10:58:05.09 +20:03:41.0 1.2731 17.660 105832.01+170456.0 10:58:32.01 +17:04:56.0 1.2813 18.299 105840.49+175415.5 10:58:40.49 +17:54:15.5 1.2687 18.955 105855.33+081350.7 10:58:55.33 +08:13:50.7 1.2450 17.926 105928.57+164657.9 10:59:28.57 +16:46:57.9 1.2993 19.010 110006.02+092638.7 11:00:06.02 +09:26:38.7 1.2485 18.055 110016.88+193624.7 11:00:16.88 +19:36:24.7 1.2399 18.605 110039.99+165710.3 11:00:39.99 +16:57:10.3 1.2997 18.126 110148.66+082207.1 11:01:48.66 +08:22:07.1 1.1940 18.880 110217.19+083921.1 11:02:17.19 +08:39:21.1 1.2355 18.800 110504.46+084535.3 11:05:04.46 +08:45:35.3 1.2371 19.005 110621.40+084111.2 11:06:21.40 +08:41:11.2 1.2346 18.649 110736.60+090114.7 11:07:36.60 +09:01:14.7 1.2266 18.902 110744.61+095526.9 11:07:44.61 +09:55:26.9 1.2228 17.635 111007.89+104810.3 11:10:07.89 +10:48:10.3 1.2097 18.473 111009.58+075206.8 11:10:09.58 +07:52:06.8 1.2123 18.932 111416.17+102327.5 11:14:16.17 +10:23:27.5 1.2053 18.026 111545.30+081459.8 11:15:45.30 +08:14:59.8 1.1927 18.339 111802.11+103302.4 11:18:02.11 +10:33:02.4 1.2151 17.486 111823.21+090504.9 11:18:23.21 +09:05:04.9 1.1923 18.940 112019.62+085905.1 11:20:19.62 +08:59:05.1 1.2239 18.093 112059.27+101109.2 11:20:59.27 +10:11:09.2 1.2103 18.770 112109.76+075958.6 11:21:09.76 +07:59:58.6 1.2369 18.258 View Large
The Huge-LQG is ∼8| ${.\!\!\!\!\!\!^{\circ}}$|8 north (∼615 Mpc projected) of the CCLQG at the same redshift. Their boundaries on the sky approach to within ∼2° (∼140 Mpc projected).
3 PROPERTIES OF THE HUGE-LQG
Groups found by the linkage of points require a procedure to assess their statistical significance and to estimate the overdensity. We use the CHMS method (‘convex hull of member spheres’), which is described in detail by Clowes et al. (2012). The essential statistic is the volume of the candidate: a LQG must occupy a smaller volume than the expectation for the same number of random points.
In the CHMS method, the volume is constructed as follows. Each member point of a unit is expanded to a sphere, with radius set to be half of the mean linkage (MST edge length) of the unit. The CHMS volume is then taken to be the volume of the convex hull of these spheres. The significance of an LQG candidate of membership N is found from the distribution of CHMS volumes resulting from 1000 sets of N random points that have been distributed in a cube of volume such that the density in the cube corresponds to the density in a control area for the redshift limits of the candidate. The CHMS volumes for the random sets can also be used to estimate residual biases (see Clowes et al. 2012) and consequently make corrections to the properties of the LQGs.
In this way, with A3725 as the control area, we find that the departure from random expectations for the Huge-LQG is 3.81σ. After correcting the CHMS volumes for residual bias the estimated overdensity of the Huge-LQG is δ q = δρ q /ρ q = 0.40. (The volume correction is ∼2 per cent.) The overdensity is discussed further below, because of the cautious, conservative nature of the CHMS estimate, which, in this case, is possibly too cautious.
As discussed in Clowes et al. (2012), a simple measure of the characteristic size of an LQG, which takes no account of morphology, is the cube root of the corrected CHMS volume. For the Huge-LQG the volume is ∼1.21 × 108 Mpc3, giving a characteristic size of ∼495 Mpc.
From the inertia tensor of the member quasars of the Huge-LQG, the principal axes have lengths of ∼1240, 640 and 370 Mpc, and the inhomogeneity thus extends to the Gpc scale. The axis ratios are 3.32 : 1.71 : 1, so it is substantially elongated.
Fig. 1 shows the sky distributions of the members of both the new, Huge-LQG (U1.27), and the CCLQG. Much of the Huge-LQG is directly north of the CCLQG, but the southern part curves to the south-east and away from the CCLQG. The redshift intervals occupied by the two LQGs are similar (1.1742–1.3713 for the Huge-LQG, 1.1865–1.4232 for the CCLQG), but on the sky Huge-LQG is clearly substantially larger.
Figure 1. View largeDownload slide Sky distribution of the 73 quasars of the new, Huge-LQG (U1.27, |$\bar{z}=1.27$|, circles), is shown, together with that of the 34 quasars of the CCLQG (|$\bar{z} = 1.28$|, crosses). The members of each LQG are connected at the linkage scale of 100 Mpc. The area shown is approximately 29| ${.\!\!\!\!\!\!^{\circ}}$|5 × 24| ${.\!\!\!\!\!\!^{\circ}}$|0. The DR7QSO quasars are limited to i ≤ 19.1. Superimposed on these distributions is a kernel-smoothed intensity map (isotropic Gaussian kernel, σ = 0| ${.\!\!\!\!\!\!^{\circ}}$|5), plotted with four linear palette levels (≤0.8, 0.8–1.6, 1.6–2.4, ≥2.4 deg−2), for all of the quasars in the joint redshift range of Huge-LQG and CCLQG (z: 1.1742 → 1.4232). No cos δ correction has been applied to this intensity map.
Figure 1. View largeDownload slide Sky distribution of the 73 quasars of the new, Huge-LQG (U1.27, |$\bar{z}=1.27$|, circles), is shown, together with that of the 34 quasars of the CCLQG (|$\bar{z} = 1.28$|, crosses). The members of each LQG are connected at the linkage scale of 100 Mpc. The area shown is approximately 29| ${.\!\!\!\!\!\!^{\circ}}$|5 × 24| ${.\!\!\!\!\!\!^{\circ}}$|0. The DR7QSO quasars are limited to i ≤ 19.1. Superimposed on these distributions is a kernel-smoothed intensity map (isotropic Gaussian kernel, σ = 0| ${.\!\!\!\!\!\!^{\circ}}$|5), plotted with four linear palette levels (≤0.8, 0.8–1.6, 1.6–2.4, ≥2.4 deg−2), for all of the quasars in the joint redshift range of Huge-LQG and CCLQG (z: 1.1742 → 1.4232). No cos δ correction has been applied to this intensity map.
Fig. 2 shows a snapshot from a visualization of the new, Huge-LQG, and CCLQG. The scales shown on the cuboid are proper sizes (Mpc) at the present epoch. The member points of both LQGs are shown expanded to spheres of radius 33.0 Mpc, which is half of the mean linkage (MST edge length) for the Huge-LQG (consistent with the CHMS method for this LQG). The morphology of the Huge-LQG is clearly strongly elongated, and curved. There is the appearance of a dense, clumpy part, followed by a change in orientation and a more filamentary part. Note that half of the mean linkage for the CCLQG is actually 38.8 Mpc, so, in this respect, the Huge-LQG is more tightly connected than the CCLQG. However, the CHMS density is lower for Huge-LQG than for CCLQG because of the effect of the change in orientation on the CHMS of Huge-LQG. That is, the Huge-LQG is more tightly connected than CCLQG (33.0 Mpc compared with 38.8 Mpc) but its curvature causes its CHMS-volume to be disproportionately large (there is more ‘dead space’) and hence its density to be disproportionately low. Note that the Huge-LQG and the CCLQG appear to be distinct entities – their CHMS volumes do not intersect.
Figure 2. View largeDownload slide Snapshot from a visualization of both the new, Huge-LQG, and the CCLQG. The scales shown on the cuboid are proper sizes (Mpc) at the present epoch. The tick marks represent intervals of 200 Mpc. The Huge-LQG appears as the upper LQG. For comparison, the members of both are shown as spheres of radius 33.0 Mpc (half of the mean linkage for the Huge-LQG; the value for the CCLQG is 38.8 Mpc). For the Huge-LQG, note the dense, clumpy part followed by a change in orientation and a more filamentary part. The Huge-LQG and the CCLQG appear to be distinct entities.
Figure 2. View largeDownload slide Snapshot from a visualization of both the new, Huge-LQG, and the CCLQG. The scales shown on the cuboid are proper sizes (Mpc) at the present epoch. The tick marks represent intervals of 200 Mpc. The Huge-LQG appears as the upper LQG. For comparison, the members of both are shown as spheres of radius 33.0 Mpc (half of the mean linkage for the Huge-LQG; the value for the CCLQG is 38.8 Mpc). For the Huge-LQG, note the dense, clumpy part followed by a change in orientation and a more filamentary part. The Huge-LQG and the CCLQG appear to be distinct entities.
The CHMS method is thus conservative in its estimation of volume and hence of significance and overdensity. Curvature of the structure can lead to the CHMS volume being substantially larger than if it was linear. If we divide the Huge-LQG into two sections at the point at which the direction appears to change then we have a ‘main’ set of 56 quasars and a ‘branch’ set of 17 quasars. If we calculate the CHMS volumes of the main set and the branch set, using the same sphere radius (33 Mpc) as for the full set of 73, and simply add them (neglecting any overlap), then we obtain δ q = δρ q /ρ q = 1.12, using the same correction for residual bias (2 per cent) as for the full set. That is, we have calculated δ q using the total membership (73) and the summed volume of the main set and the branch set, and the result is now δ q ∼ 1, rather than δ q = 0.40, since much of the ‘dead space’ has been removed from the volume estimate.
We should consider the possibility that the change in direction is indicating that, physically if not algorithmically, we have two distinct structures at the same redshift. So, if we instead treat the main and branch sets as two independent LQG candidates and use their respective sphere radii for the calculation of CHMS volumes, including their respective corrections for residual bias, then we obtain the following parameters. Main set of 56: significance 5.86σ; δ q = 1.20; characteristic size (CHMS volume1/3) 390 Mpc; mean linkage 65.1 Mpc and principal axes of the inertia tensor ∼930, 410, 320 Mpc. Branch set of 17: significance 2.91σ; δ q = 1.54; characteristic size (CHMS volume1/3) 242 Mpc; mean linkage 67.7 Mpc and principal axes of the inertia tensor ∼570, 260, 150 Mpc. The similarity of the mean linkages suggests, after all, a single structure with curvature rather than two distinct structures. (Note for comparison that the CCLQG has mean linkage of 77.5 Mpc.) A two-sided Mann–Whitney test finds no significant differences of the linkages for the main and branch sets, which again suggests a single structure. Note also that the main set by itself exceeds the Yadav et al. (2010) scale of homogeneity.
We can estimate the masses of these main and branch sets from their CHMS volumes by assuming that δ q ≡ δ M , where δ M refers to the mass in baryons and dark matter (Ω M = 0.27). We find that the mass contained within the main set is ∼4.8 × 1018 M ⊙ and within the branch set is ∼1.3 × 1018 M ⊙ . Compared with the expectations for their volumes these values correspond to mass excesses of ∼2.6 × 1018 and ∼0.8 × 1018 M ⊙ , respectively. The total mass excess is then ∼3.4 × 1018 M ⊙ , equivalent to ∼1300 Coma clusters (Kubo et al. 2007), ∼50 Shapley superclusters (Proust et al. 2006) or ∼20 SGW (Sheth & Diaferio 2011).
3.1 Corroboration of the Huge-LQG from Mg ii absorbers
Some independent corroboration of this large structure is provided by Mg ii absorbers. We have used the DR7QSO quasars in a survey for intervening Mg ii λλ2796, 2798 absorbers (Raghunathan et al., in preparation). Using this survey, Fig. 3 shows a kernel-smoothed intensity map (similar to Fig. 1) of the Mg ii absorbers across the field of the Huge-LQG and the CCLQG, and for their joint redshift range (z: 1.1742 → 1.4232). For this map, only DR7QSO quasars with z > 1.4232 have been used as probes of the Mg ii – that is, only quasars beyond the LQGs, and none within them. However, background quasars that are known from the DR7QSO ‘catalogue of properties’ (Shen et al. 2011) to be broad-absorption line (BAL) quasars have been excluded because structure within the BAL troughs can lead to spurious detections of MgII doublets at similar apparent redshifts. The background quasars have been further restricted to i ≤ 19.1 for uniformity of coverage. A similar kernel-smoothed intensity map (not shown here) verifies that the distribution of the used background quasars is indeed appropriately uniform across the area of the figure.
Figure 3. View largeDownload slide Sky distribution of the 73 quasars of the new, Huge-LQG (|$\bar{z}=1.27$|, circles). is shown, together with that of the 34 quasars of the CCLQG (|$\bar{z} = 1.28$|, crosses). The members of each LQG are connected at the linkage scale of 100 Mpc. The area shown is approximately 29| ${.\!\!\!\!\!\!^{\circ}}$|5 × 24| ${.\!\!\!\!\!\!^{\circ}}$|0. The DR7QSO quasars are limited to i ≤ 19.1 for the LQG members. Superimposed on these distributions is a kernel-smoothed intensity map (isotropic Gaussian kernel, σ = 0| ${.\!\!\!\!\!\!^{\circ}}$|5), plotted with seven linear palette levels (≤0.62, 0.62–1.24, 1.24–1.86, 1.86–2.48, 2.48–3.10, 3.10–3.72, ≥3.72 deg−2), for all of the Mg ii λλ2796, 2798 absorbers in the joint redshift range of the Huge-LQG and the CCLQG (z: 1.1742 → 1.4232) that have been found in the DR7QSO background quasars (z > 1.4232, non-BAL, and restricted to i ≤ 19.1) using the Mg ii absorber catalogue of Raghunathan (in preparation). The Mg ii systems used here have rest-frame equivalent widths for the λ2796 component of 0.5 ≤ W r, 2796 ≤ 4.0 Å. Apparent Mg ii systems occurring shortwards of the Lyα emission in the background quasars are assumed to be spurious and have been excluded. No cos δ correction has been applied to this intensity map.
Figure 3. View largeDownload slide Sky distribution of the 73 quasars of the new, Huge-LQG (|$\bar{z}=1.27$|, circles). is shown, together with that of the 34 quasars of the CCLQG (|$\bar{z} = 1.28$|, crosses). The members of each LQG are connected at the linkage scale of 100 Mpc. The area shown is approximately 29| ${.\!\!\!\!\!\!^{\circ}}$|5 × 24| ${.\!\!\!\!\!\!^{\circ}}$|0. The DR7QSO quasars are limited to i ≤ 19.1 for the LQG members. Superimposed on these distributions is a kernel-smoothed intensity map (isotropic Gaussian kernel, σ = 0| ${.\!\!\!\!\!\!^{\circ}}$|5), plotted with seven linear palette levels (≤0.62, 0.62–1.24, 1.24–1.86, 1.86–2.48, 2.48–3.10, 3.10–3.72, ≥3.72 deg−2), for all of the Mg ii λλ2796, 2798 absorbers in the joint redshift range of the Huge-LQG and the CCLQG (z: 1.1742 → 1.4232) that have been found in the DR7QSO background quasars (z > 1.4232, non-BAL, and restricted to i ≤ 19.1) using the Mg ii absorber catalogue of Raghunathan (in preparation). The Mg ii systems used here have rest-frame equivalent widths for the λ2796 component of 0.5 ≤ W r, 2796 ≤ 4.0 Å. Apparent Mg ii systems occurring shortwards of the Lyα emission in the background quasars are assumed to be spurious and have been excluded. No cos δ correction has been applied to this intensity map.
The Mg ii systems used here have rest-frame equivalent widths for the λ2796 component of 0.5 ≤ W r, 2796 ≤ 4.0 Å. For the resolution and signal-to-noise ratios of the SDSS spectra, this lower limit of W r, 2796 = 0.5 Å appears to give consistently reliable detections, although, being ‘moderately strong’, it is higher than the value of W r, 2796 = 0.3 Å that would typically be used with spectra from larger telescopes. Note that apparent Mg ii systems occurring shortwards of the Lyα emission in the background quasars are assumed to be spurious and have been excluded.
The RA–Dec. track of the Huge-LQG quasars, along the ∼12° where the surface density is highest, appears to be closely associated with the track of the Mg ii absorbers. The association becomes a little weaker in the following ∼5°, following the change in direction from the main set to the branch set, where the surface density of the quasars becomes lower. Note that the quasars tend to follow the periphery of the structure in the Mg ii absorbers, which is reminiscent of the finding by Söchting et al. (2002, 2004) that quasars tend to lie on the peripheries of galaxy clusters.
Note that the CCLQG is less clearly detected in Mg ii here, although it was detected by Williger et al. (2002). Williger et al. (2002) were able to achieve a lower equivalent-width limit W r, 2796 = 0.3 Å with their observations on a 4 m telescope. Furthermore, Fig. 3 shows that the surface density of the Huge-LQG quasars is clearly higher than for the CCLQG quasars, which is presumably a factor in the successful detection of corresponding Mg ii absorption. The high surface density of the members of the Huge-LQG seems likely to correspond to a higher probability of lines of sight to the background quasars intersecting the haloes of galaxies at small impact parameters.
4 DISCUSSION OF HOMOGENEITY, AND CONCLUSIONS
In Clowes et al. (2012), we presented results for the CCLQG, as it appeared in the SDSS DR7QSO catalogue, and also for U1.11, a newly discovered LQG in the same cosmological neighbourhood. We noticed that their characteristic sizes, defined as (CHMS volume)1/3, of ∼350 and 380 Mpc, respectively, were only marginally compatible with the Yadav et al. (2010) 370 Mpc upper limit to the scale of homogeneity for the concordance cosmology. Their long dimensions from the inertia tensor of ∼630 and 780 Mpc are clearly much larger.
In this paper, we have presented results for the Huge-LQG, another newly discovered LQG from the DR7QSO catalogue, that is at essentially the same redshift as the CCLQG, and only a few degrees to the north of it. It has 73 member quasars, compared with 34 and 38 for the CCLQG and U1.11. Mg II absorbers in background quasars provide independent corroboration of this extraordinary LQG. The characteristic size of (CHMS volume)1/3 ∼495 Mpc is well in excess of the Yadav et al. (2010) homogeneity scale, and the long dimension from the inertia tensor of ∼1240 Mpc is spectacularly so. It appears to be the largest feature so far seen in the early Universe. Even the ‘main’ set alone, before the change of direction leading to the ‘branch’ set, exceeds the homogeneity scale. This Huge-LQG thus challenges the assumption of the cosmological principle. Its excess mass, compared with expectations for its (main + branch) volume, is ∼3.4 × 1018 M ⊙ , equivalent to ∼1300 Coma clusters, ∼50 Shapley superclusters or ∼20 SGW.
The usual models of the Universe in cosmology, varying only according to the parameter settings, are built on the assumption of the cosmological principle – that is, on the assumption of homogeneity after imagined smoothing on some suitably large scale. In particular, the models depend on the Robertson–Walker metric, which assumes the homogeneity of the mass–energy density. Given the further, sensible assumption that any property of the Universe ultimately depends on the mass–energy content then homogeneity naturally asserts that any global property of sufficiently large volumes should be the same within the expected statistical variations. A recent review of inhomogeneous models is given by Buchert (2011).
We adopt the Yadav et al. (2010) fractal calculations as our reference for the upper limit to the scale of homogeneity in the concordance model of cosmology: inhomogeneities should not be detectable above this limit of ∼370 Mpc. The Yadav et al. (2010) calculations have the appealing features that the scale of homogeneity is essentially independent of both the epoch and the tracer used. Note that the scale of ∼370 Mpc is much larger than the scales of ∼100–115 Mpc for homogeneity deduced by Scrimgeour et al. (2012), and, for our purposes, it is therefore appropriately cautious.
The cosmic microwave background (CMB) is usually considered to provide the best evidence for isotropy, and hence of homogeneity too, given the assumption of isotropy about all points. Nevertheless, there do appear to be large-scale features in the CMB that may challenge the reality of homogeneity and isotropy – see Copi et al. (2010) for a recent review. More recently still than this review, Rossmanith et al. (2012) find further indications of a violation of statistical isotropy in the CMB. Furthermore, Yershov, Orlov & Raikov (2012) find that the supernovae in the redshift range 0.5–1.0 are associated with systematic CMB temperature fluctuations, possibly arising from large-scale inhomogeneities. Observationally, for SDSS DR7 galaxies with 0.22 < z < 0.50, Marinoni, Bel & Buzzi (2012) find that isotropy about all points does indeed apply on scales larger than ∼210 Mpc.
While Scrimgeour et al. (2012) find a transition to homogeneity on scales ∼100–115 Mpc, using WiggleZ data, Sylos Labini (2011) does not, on scales up to ∼200 Mpc, using SDSS galaxies. Large inhomogeneities in the distribution of superclusters (supercluster complexes) such as the SGW and in the voids have also been found on scales ∼200–300 Mpc by Einasto et al. (2011b), Liivamägi, Tempel & Saar (2012), Luparello et al. (2011) and earlier references given within these papers. Evidence for Gpc-scale correlations of galaxies has been presented by, for example, Nabokov & Baryshev (2008), Padmanabhan et al. (2007) and Thomas, Abdalla & Lahav (2011). The occurrence of structure on Gpc-scales from the Huge-LQG and from galaxies implies that the Universe is not homogeneous on these scales. Furthermore, if we accept that homogeneity refers to any property of the Universe then an intriguing result is that of Hutsemékers et al. (2005), who found that the polarization vectors of quasars are correlated on Gpc scales. Similarly, the existence of cosmic flows on approximately Gpc scales (e.g. Kashlinsky et al. 2010), regardless of their cause, is itself implying that the Universe is not homogeneous.
Of course, history and, most recently, the work of Park et al. (2012) indicate that one should certainly be cautious on the question of homogeneity and the cosmological principle. The SGW (Gott et al. 2005) – and before it, the Great Wall (Geller & Huchra 1989) – was seen as a challenge to the standard cosmology and yet Park et al. (2012) show that, in the ‘Horizon Run 2’ concordance simulation of box-side 10 Gpc, comparable and even larger features can arise, although they are of course rare. Nevertheless, the Huge-LQG presented here is much larger, and it is adjacent to the CCLQG, which is itself very large, so the challenges still persist.
Park et al. (2012) find that void complexes on scales up to ∼450 Mpc are also compatible with the concordance cosmology, according to their simulations, although the scales here are greater than the Yadav et al. (2010) scale of homogeneity and much greater than the Scrimgeour et al. (2012) scale. Also, Frith et al. (2003) find evidence for a local void on scales ∼430 Mpc. The question of what exactly is a ‘void complex’ might need further attention. It seems likely to correspond to the ‘supervoid’ of Einasto et al. (2011a) and earlier references given there.
Hoyle et al. (2012) have investigated homogeneity within the past light-cone, rather than on it, using the fossil record of star formation and find no marked variation on a scale of ∼340 Mpc for 0.025 < z < 0.55
Jackson (2012) finds, from ultracompact radio sources limited to z > 0.5, that the Universe is not homogeneous on the largest scales: there is more dark matter in some directions than in others.
The Huge-LQG and the CCLQG separately and together would also indicate that there is more dark matter in some directions than in others. Such mass concentrations could conceivably be associated with the cosmic (dark) flows on the scales of ∼100–1000 Mpc as reported by, for example, Kashlinsky et al. (2008), Watkins, Feldman & Hudson (2009), Feldman, Watkins & Hudson (2010) and Kashlinsky et al. (2010). Of particular interest is the possibility raised by Tsagas (2012) that those living within a large-scale cosmic flow could see local acceleration of the expansion within a Universe that is decelerating overall. Tsagas notes that the proximity of the supernova dipole to the CMB dipole could support such an origin for the apparent acceleration that we see. With quasars mostly extinguished by the present epoch, we would probably have some difficulty in recognizing the counterparts today of such LQGs then that might cause such cosmic flows. Very massive structures in the relatively local Universe could conceivably be present, but unrecognized.
In summary, the Huge-LQG presents an interesting potential challenge to the assumption of homogeneity in the cosmological principle. Its proximity to the CCLQG at the same redshift adds to that challenge. Switching attention from galaxies in the relatively local Universe to LQGs at redshifts z ∼ 1 may well have advantages for such testing since the broad features of the structures can be seen with some clarity, although, of course, the fine details cannot.
LEC received partial support from the Center of Excellence in Astrophysics and Associated Technologies (PFB 06), and from a CONICYT Anillo project (ACT 1122). SR is in receipt of a CONICYT PhD studentship. The referee, Maret Einasto, is thanked for helpful comments. This research has used the SDSS DR7QSO catalogue (Schneider et al. 2010). Funding for the SDSS and SDSS-II has been provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the Participating Institutions, the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Energy, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the Japanese Monbukagakusho, the Max Planck Society and the Higher Education Funding Council for England. The SDSS website is http://www.sdss.org/.
The SDSS is managed by the Astrophysical Research Consortium for the Participating Institutions. The Participating Institutions are the American Museum of Natural History, Astrophysical Institute Potsdam, University of Basel, University of Cambridge, Case Western Reserve University, University of Chicago, Drexel University, Fermilab, the Institute for Advanced Study, the Japan Participation Group, Johns Hopkins University, the Joint Institute for Nuclear Astrophysics, the Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology, the Korean Scientist Group, the Chinese Academy of Sciences (LAMOST), Los Alamos National Laboratory, the Max-Planck-Institute for Astronomy (MPIA), the Max-Planck-Institute for Astrophysics (MPA), New Mexico State University, Ohio State University, University of Pittsburgh, University of Portsmouth, Princeton University, the United States Naval Observatory and the University of Washington.
REFERENCES
Brand K. Rawlings S. Hill G. J. Lacy M. Mitchell E. Tufts J. MNRAS , 2003 , vol. 344 pg. 283 , vol.pg. Buchert T. Class. Quantum Gravity , 2011 , vol. 28 pg. 164007 , vol.pg. Clowes R. G. Campusano L. E. MNRAS , 1991 , vol. 249 pg. 218 , vol.pg. Clowes R. G. Campusano L. E. Graham M. J. Söchting I. K. MNRAS , 2012 , vol. 419 pg. 556 , vol.pg. Copi C. J. Huterer D. Schwarz D. J. Starkam G. D. Adv. Astron. , 2010 , vol. 2010 pg. 847541 , vol.pg. Crampton D. Cowley A. P. Hartwick F. D. A. ApJ , 1987 , vol. 314 pg. 129 , vol.pg. Crampton D. Cowley A. P. Hartwick F. D. A. ApJ , 1989 , vol. 345 pg. 59 , vol.pg. Einasto J. , et al. A&A , 2011a , vol. 534 pg. A128 , vol.pg. Einasto M. Liivamägi L. J. Tago E. Saar E. Tempel E. Einasto J. Martínez V. J. Heinämäki P. A&A , 2011b , vol. 532 pg. A5 , vol.pg. Einasto M. , et al. ApJ , 2011c , vol. 736 pg. 51 , vol.pg. Feldman H. A. Watkins R. Hudson M. J. MNRAS , 2010 , vol. 407 pg. 2328 , vol.pg. Frith W. J. Busswell G. S. Fong R. Metcalfe N. Shanks T. MNRAS , 2003 , vol. 345 pg. 1049 , vol.pg. Geller M. J. Huchra J. P. Sci , 1989 , vol. 246 pg. 897 , vol.pg. Gott J. R. III III Jurić M. Schlegel D. Hoyle F. Vogeley M. Tegmark M. Bahcall N. Brinkmann J. ApJ , 2005 , vol. 624 pg. 463 , vol.pg. Hoyle B. Tojeiro R. Jimenez R. Heavens A. Clarkson C. Maartens R. 2012 Hutsemékers D. Cabanac R. Lamy H. Sluse D. A&A , 2005 , vol. 441 pg. 915 , vol.pg. Jackson J. C. MNRAS , 2012 , vol. 426 pg. 779 , vol.pg. Kashlinsky A. Atrio-Barandela F. Kocevski D. Ebeling H. ApJ , 2008 , vol. 686 pg. L49 , vol.pg. Kashlinsky A. Atrio-Barandela F. Ebeling H. Edge A. Kocevski D. ApJ , 2010 , vol. 712 pg. L81 , vol.pg. Komberg B. V. Kravtsov A. V. Lukash V. N. MNRAS , 1996 , vol. 282 pg. 713 , vol.pg. Kubo J. M. Stebbins A. Annis J. Dell'Antonio I. P. Lin H. Khiabanian H. Frieman J. A. ApJ , 2007 , vol. 671 pg. 1466 , vol.pg. Lietzen H. , et al. A&A , 2009 , vol. 501 pg. 145 , vol.pg. Liivamägi L. J. Tempel E. Saar E. A&A , 2012 , vol. 539 pg. A80 , vol.pg. Longo M. J. ApJ , 1991 , vol. 372 pg. L59 , vol.pg. Luparello H. Lares M. Lambas D. G. Padilla N. MNRAS , 2011 , vol. 415 pg. 964 , vol.pg. Marinoni C. Bel J. Buzzi A. J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys. , 2012 , vol. 10 pg. 036 , vol.pg. Miller L. Croom S. M. Boyle B. J. Loaring N. S. Smith R. J. Shanks T. Outram P. MNRAS , 2004 , vol. 355 pg. 385 , vol.pg. Nabokov N. V. Baryshev Yu.V. Baryshev Yu. Taganov I. Teerikorpi P. Practical Cosmology, Proceedings of the International Conference ‘Problems of Practical Cosmology’ , 2008 St. Petersburg TIN pg. 69 pg. Padmanabhan N. , et al. MNRAS , 2007 , vol. 378 pg. 852 , vol.pg. Park C. Choi Y.-Y. Kim J. Gott J. R. III III Kim S. S. Kim K.-S. ApJ , 2012 , vol. 759 pg. L7 , vol.pg. Pilipenko S. V. Astron. Rep. , 2007 , vol. 51 pg. 820 , vol.pg. Proust D. , et al. A&A , 2006 , vol. 447 pg. 133 , vol.pg. Richards G. T. , et al. AJ , 2002 , vol. 123 pg. 2945 , vol.pg. Richards G. T. , et al. AJ , 2006 , vol. 131 pg. 2766 , vol.pg. Rossmanith G. Modest H. Räth C. Banday A. J. Górski K. M. Morfill G. Phys. Rev. D , 2012 , vol. 86 pg. 083005 , vol.pg. Rozgacheva I. K. Borisov A. A. Agapov A. A. Pozdneev I. A. Shchetinina O. A. 2012 Schneider D. P. , et al. AJ , 2010 , vol. 139 pg. 2360 , vol.pg. Scrimgeour M. I. , et al. MNRAS , 2012 , vol. 425 pg. 116 , vol.pg. Shen Y. , et al. ApJS , 2011 , vol. 194 pg. 45 , vol.pg. Sheth R. K. Diaferio A. MNRAS , 2011 , vol. 417 pg. 2938 , vol.pg. Söchting I. K. Clowes R. G. Campusano L. E. MNRAS , 2002 , vol. 331 pg. 569 , vol.pg. Söchting I.K Clowes R. G. Campusano L. E. MNRAS , 2004 , vol. 347 pg. 1241 , vol.pg. Sylos Labini F. Europhys. Lett. , 2011 , vol. 96 pg. 59001 , vol.pg. Thomas S. A. Abdalla F. B. Lahav O. Phys. Rev. Lett. , 2011 , vol. 106 pg. 241301 , vol.pg. Tsagas C. G. MNRAS , 2012 , vol. 426 pg. L36 , vol.pg. Vanden Berk D. E. , et al. AJ , 2005 , vol. 129 pg. 2047 , vol.pg. Watkins R. Feldman H. A. Hudson M. J. MNRAS , 2009 , vol. 392 pg. 743 , vol.pg. Webster A. S. MNRAS , 1982 , vol. 199 pg. 683 , vol.pg. Williger G. M. Campusano L. E. Clowes R. G. Graham M. J. ApJ , 2002 , vol. 578 pg. 708 , vol.pg. Yadav J. K. Bagla J. S. Khandai N. MNRAS , 2010 , vol. 405 pg. 2009 , vol.pg. Yershov V. N. Orlov V. V. Raikov A. A. MNRAS , 2012 , vol. 423 pg. 2147 , vol.pg.
© 2013 The Authors Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society |
As we pass the quarter mark of the MLB season, the Seattle Mariners look to be in good shape. They have a 26-17 record including a 18-7 record on the road and since April 13th they are 24-11 which is the best in the majors. A vast majority of fans attribute this uncommon Mariners success to new General Manager, Jerry Dipoto. The bullpen is excelling beyond all possible expectations, the starting rotation is getting deep in to games and limiting runs allowed, and the entire offense from top to bottom is getting on base and driving in runs. Let’s take a look at what Dipoto has done, and the effect it has had on the ball club.
Logan Morrison, Brad Miller, and Danny Farquhar traded to Tampa Bay for Nathan Karns, C.J. Riefenhauser, and Boog Powel (link)
This trade was Dipoto’s first big one of his tenure and it brought about a bit of controversy among fans. Brad Miller was a fan favorite, and Logan Morrison was the lovable funny guy in the clubhouse (even though he couldn’t hit). Farquhar wearing the pink Hello Kitty backpack out to the bullpen will also be missed but the return ended up being much more valuable.
Nathan Karns is 4-1 with a 3.33 ERA, 48 strikeouts, and 1.283 WHIP. Karns has been the reliable 5th starter that he was brought in to be. Other than a few rough first innings, which has been his problem dating back to his years in Tampa, he has pitched deep into games and provided a level of starting pitching depth the Mariners desperately needed.
For reference, the pitcher with the 5th most innings pitched last season for the Mariners was J.A. Happ, who had an ERA of 4.64 and consistently struggled to get deep into games. On the other hand, Boog Powell has been consistently hitting. He has a .282 BA with 18 homers in the PCL, and he should be a solid option should any of the Marlins outfielders get injured.
As far as the haul that Tampa Bay got, it has been pretty rough so far. Logan Morrison has gotten even worse at hitting, batting .176 with only two homers on the season, which is down from the .225 he hit with Seattle last year. It may just be a cold spell but his room for improvement is narrowing down. Brad Miller is doing a little bit better with a .216 BA and five homers, but his production is far from what the Rays expected.
This multi-player trade looks like a major win for the Mariners and Dipoto. Ketel Marte has stepped right in to Miller’s spot and played well, and the platoon of Dae Ho-Lee and Adam Lind has been vastly more successful (and fun to watch) than Logan Morrison. With Karns performing at full potential, this looks to be an all around success.
Revitalization of the pitching staff
Jerry Dipoto found the new members of his bullpen from all different corners and crevices around the league. Steve Cishek was a closer who lost his job in Miami halfway through 2015, Nick Vincent was just a fringe candidate for San Diego, and Mike Montgomery was a former starter on the Mariners who simply didn’t work out. And yet, somehow this band of misfit toys has ended up as the 5th rated bullpen with a 2.63 ERA.
Many believed this bullpen would be the team’s downfall in 2016 but a quarter of the way through the season, it can be considered an absolute strength. Dipoto threw this group together from seemingly nothing but yet it worked out perfectly and he should be given massive credit – for the time being.
Not to be forgotten, a couple of quality starters were also added. Hisashi Iwakuma was just hours away from becoming an LA Dodger before failing his physical and being added to the Mariners instead (link). At the same time, Roenis Elias and Carson Smith were traded for Wade Miley, who was brought in to be an innings eater right in the middle of the rotation (link). These moves have turned out extremely well for the Mariners, especially with Miley turning around his early struggles and pitching a CGSO a couple weeks ago.
Lengthening of the lineup
Simply, the problem with the Jack Zduriencik’s team(s) was that outside of the guys who could hit the ball the hardest, there was no hope or the rest of the team. Over the years, Kyle Seager, Raul Ibañez, Kendrys Morales, and then eventually Nelson Cruz and Robinson Cano were the only ones worth watching. Dipoto happily put a quick end to it.
Norichika Aoki was added to the top of the lineup, Chris Ianetta was signed to replace the black hole at catcher spot, a reasonable first base platoon was added with Ho-Lee and Lind, and Tom Wilhelmsen and James Jones were traded for Leonys Martin. With Marte and Seth Smith also improving their game, this team consists of a 1-9 lineup that can contribute every single day. With runners on the basepaths for the star players to knock in, the team can now actually score some runs. By buying low on breakout candidates, and getting OBP guys for cheap, Dipoto has managed to keep the team under budget and yet productive.
As long as Felix Hernandez, Cano, Seager, and Cruz continue to play at a high level, there is a solid chance that we will look at Jerry Dipoto’s first year as the Mariner’s GM as a successful one.
Follow @ACAllAmericans for quality, up-to-date sports reporting. |
For several months, we have been monitoring an ongoing cyber-espionage campaign against South Korean think-tanks. There are multiple reasons why this campaign is extraordinary in its execution and logistics. It all started one day when we encountered a somewhat unsophisticated spy program that communicated with its “master” via a public e-mail server. This approach is rather inherent to many amateur virus-writers and these malware attacks are mostly ignored.
However, there were a few things that attracted our attention:
The public e-mail server in question was Bulgarian – mail.bg.
The compilation path string contained Korean hieroglyphs.
These two facts compelled us take a closer look at this malware — Korean compilers alongside Bulgarian e-mail command-and-control communications.
The complete path found in the malware presents some Korean strings:
D:rsh공격UAC_dll(완성)Releasetest.pdb
The “rsh” word, by all appearances, means a shortening of “Remote Shell” and the Korean words can be translated in English as “attack” and “completion”, i.e.:
D:rshATTACKUAC_dll(COMPLETION)Releasetest.pdb
Although the full list of victims remains unknown, we managed to identify several targets of this campaign. According to our technical analysis, the attackers were interested in targeting following organizations”.
The Sejong Institute
The Sejong Institute is a non-profit private organization for public interest and a leading think tank in South Korea, conducting research on national security strategy, unification strategy, regional issues, and international political economy.
Korea Institute For Defense Analyses (KIDA)
KIDA is a comprehensive defense research institution that covers a wide range of defense-related issues. KIDA is organized into seven research centers: the Center for Security and Strategy; the Center for Military Planning; the Center for Human Resource Development; the Center for Resource Management; the Center for Weapon Systems Studies; the Center for Information System Studies; and the Center for Modeling and Simulation. KIDA also has an IT Consulting Group and various supporting departments. KIDA’s mission is to contribute to rational defense policy-making through intensive and systematic research and analysis of defense issues.
Ministry of Unification
The Ministry of Unification is an executive department of the South Korean government responsible for working towards the reunification of Korea. Its major duties are: establishing North Korea Policy, coordinating inter-Korean dialogue, pursuing inter-Korean cooperation and educating the public on unification.
Hyundai Merchant Marine
Hyundai Merchant Marine is a South Korean logistics company providing worldwide container shipping services.
Some clues also suggest that computers belonging to “The supporters of Korean Unification” (http://www.unihope.kr/) were also targeted. Among the organizations we counted, 11 are based in South Korea and two entities reside in China.
Partly because this campaign is very limited and highly targeted, we have not yet been able to identify how this malware is being distributed. The malicious samples we found are the early stage malware most often delivered by spear-phishing e-mails.
Infecting a system
The initial Trojan dropper is a Dynamic Link Library functioning as a loader for further malware. It does not maintain exports and simply delivers another encrypted library maintained in its resource section. This second library performs all the espionage functionality.
When running on Windows 7, the malicious library uses the Metasploit Framework’s open-source code Win7Elevate to inject malicious code into explorer.exe. In any case, be it Windows 7 or not, this malicious code decrypts its spying library from resources, saves it to disk with an apparently random but hardcoded name, for example, ~DFE8B437DD7C417A6D.TMP, in the user’s temporary folder and loads this file as library.
This next stage library copies itself into the System32 directory of the Windows folder after the hardcoded file name — either KBDLV2.DLL or AUTO.DLL, depending on the malware sample. Then the service is created for the service dll. Service names also can differ from version to version; we discovered the following names — DriverManage, WebService and WebClientManager. These functions assure malware persistence in a compromised OS between system reboots.
At this stage, the malware gathers information about the infected computer. This includes an output of the systeminfo command saved in the file oledvbs.inc by following the hardcoded path: C:Program FilesCommon FilesSystemOle DBoledvbs.inc. There is another function called – the malware creates a string containing computer and user names but this isn’t used anywhere. By all appearances, this is a mistake by the malware author. Later on, we will come to a function where such a string could be pertinent but the malware is not able to find this data in the place where it should be. These steps are taken only if it’s running on an infected system for the first time. At system startup, the malicious library performs spying activities when it confirms that it is loaded by the generic svchost.exe process.
Spying modules
There are a lot of malicious programs involved in this campaign but, strangely, they each implement a single spying function. Besides the basic library (KBDLV2.DLL / AUTO.DLL) that is responsible for common communication with its campaign master, we were able to find modules performing the following functions:
Keystroke logging
Directory listing collection
HWP document theft
Remote control download and execution
Remote control access
Disabling firewall
At system startup, the basic library disables the system firewall and any AhnLab firewall (a South Korean security product vendor) by zeroing out related values in registry:
SYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesSharedAccessParameters FirewallPolicyStandardProfile EnableFirewall = 0 SYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesSharedAccessParameters FirewallPolicyPublicProfile EnableFirewall = 0 HKLMSOFTWAREAhnLabV3IS2007InternetSec FWRunMode = 0 HKLMSOFTWAREAhnlabV3IS80is fwmode = 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 SYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesSharedAccessParameters FirewallPolicyStandardProfile EnableFirewall = 0 SYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesSharedAccessParameters FirewallPolicyPublicProfile EnableFirewall = 0 HKLMSOFTWAREAhnLabV3IS2007InternetSec FWRunMode = 0 HKLMSOFTWAREAhnlabV3IS80is fwmode = 0
It also turns off the Windows Security Center service to prevent alerting the user about the disabled firewall.
It is not accidental that the malware author has singled out AhnLab’s security product. During our Winnti research, we learnt that one of the Korean victims was severely criticized by South Korean regulators for using foreign security products. We do not know for sure how this criticism affected other South Korean organizations, but we do know that many South Korean organizations install AhnLab security products. Accordingly, these attackers don’t even bother evading foreign vendors’ products, because their targets are solely South Korean.
Once the malware disables the AhnLab firewall, it checks whether the file taskmgr.exe is located in the hardcoded C:WINDOWS folder. If the file is present, it runs this executable. Next, the malware loops every 30 minutes to report itself and wait for response from its operator.
Communications
Communication between bot and operator flows through the Bulgarian web-based free email server (mail.bg). The bot maintains hardcoded credentials for its e-mail account. After authenticating, the malware sends e-mails to another specified e-mail address, and reads e-mails from the inbox. All these activities are performed via the “mail.bg” web-interface with the use of the system Wininet API functions. From all the samples that we managed to obtain, we extracted the following email accounts used in this campaign:
[email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 beautifl @ mail . bg ennemyman @ mail . bg fasionman @ mail . bg happylove @ mail . bg lovest000 @ mail . bg monneyman @ mail . bg sportsman @ mail . bg veryhappy @ mail . bg
Here are the two “master” email addresses to which the bots send e-mails on behalf of the above-mentioned accounts. They report on status and transmit infected system information via attachments:
[email protected] [email protected] 1 2 iop110112 @ hotmail . com rsh1213 @ hotmail . com
Regular reporting
To report infection status, the malware reads from C:Program FilesCommon FilesSystemOle DBoledvbs.inc which contains the systeminfo command output. If the file exists, it is deleted after reading.
Then, it reads user-related info from the file sqlxmlx.inc in the same folder (we can see strings referencing to “UserID” commentary in this part of the code). But this file was never created. As you recall, there is a function that should have collected this data and should have saved it into this sqlxmlx.inc file. However, on the first launch, the collected user information is saved into “xmlrwbin.inc”. This effectively means that the malware writer mistakenly coded the bot to save user information into the wrong file. There is a chance for the mistaken code to still work — user information could be copied into the send information heap. But not in this case – at the time of writing, the gathered user information variable which should point to the xmlrwbin.inc filename has not yet been initialized, causing the file write to fail. We see that sqlxmlx.inc is not created to store user information.
Next, the intercepted keystrokes are read from the file and sent to the master. Keystrokes are logged and kept in an ordinary and consistent format in this file – both the names of windows in which keys were typed and the actual sequence of keyboard entry. This data is found in the file C:Program FilesCommon FilesSystemOle DBmsolui80.inc created by the external key logger module.
All this data is merged in one file xmlrwbin.inc, which is then encrypted with RC4. The RC4 key is generated as an MD5 hash of a randomly generated 117-bytes buffer. To be able to decipher the data, the attacker should certainly know either the MD5 hash or the whole buffer content. This data is also sent, but RSA encrypted. The malware constructs a 1120 bit public key, uses it to encrypt the 117-bytes buffer. The malware then concatenates all the data to be sent as a 128-bytes block. The resulting data is saved in C:Program FilesCommon FilesSystemOle DB to a file named according to the following format:
“<system time>_<account at Bulgarian email server>.txt”, for example, “[email protected]”.
The file is then attached to an e-mail and sent to the master’s e-mail account. Following transmission, it is immediately deleted from the victim system.
Getting the master’s data
The malware also retrieves instructions from the mail server. It checks for mails in its Bulgarian e-mail account with a particular subject tag. We have identified several “subject tags” in the network communication: Down_0, Down_1, Happy_0, Happy_2 and ddd_3. When found and the e-mail maintains an attachment, the malware downloads this attachment and saves it with filename “msdaipp.cnt” in C:Program FilesCommon FilesSystemOle DB. The attacker can send additional executables in this way. The executables are RC4 encrypted and then attached. The key for decryption is hardcoded in the malicious samples. It’s interesting that the same “rsh!@!#” string is maintained across all known samples and is used to generate RC4 keys. As described earlier, the malware computes the MD5 of this string and uses the hash as its RC4 key to decrypt the executable. Then, the plain executable is dropped onto disk as “sqlsoldb.exe” and run, and then moved to the C:Windows folder with the file name “taskmgr.exe”. The original e-mail and its attachment are then deleted from the Bulgarian e-mail inbox.
Key logger
The additional key logger module is not very complex — it simply intercepts keystrokes and writes typed keys into C:Program FilesCommon FilesSystemOle DBmsolui80.inc, and also records the active window name where the user pressed keys. We saw this same format in the Madi malware. There is also one key logger variant that logs keystrokes into C:WINDOWSsetup.log.
Directory listing collector
The next program sent to victims enumerates all the drives on the infected system and executes the following command on them:
dir <drive letter>: /a /s /t /-c
In practice, this command is written to C:WINDOWSmsdatt.bat and executed with output redirected to C:WINDOWSmsdatl3.inc. As a result, the latter maintains a listing of all files in all the folders on the drive. The malware later reads that data and appends it to content of the file C:Program FilesCommon FilesSystemOle DBoledvbs.inc. At this point, “oledvbs.inc “already stores systeminfo output.
It’s interesting that one sample of the directory listing collector was infected with the infamous “Viking” virus of Chinese origin. Some of this virus’ modifications were wandering in the wild for years and its authors or operators would never expect to see it end up in a clandestine APT-related spying tool. For the attackers, this is certainly a big failure. Not only does the original spying program have marks of well-known malware that can be detected by anti-malware products; moreover the attackers are revealing their secret activities to cyber-criminal gangs. However, by all appearances, the attackers noticed the unwanted addition to their malware and got rid of the infection. This was the only sample bearing the Viking virus.
Due to expensive work of malware with variety of additional files, it’s not out of place to show these “relationships” in a diagram:
HWP document stealer
This module intercepts HWP documents on an infected computer. The HWP file format is similar to Microsoft Word documents, but supported by Hangul, a South Korean word processing application from the Hancom Office bundle. Hancom Office is widely used in South Korea. This malware module works independently of the others and maintains its own Bulgarian e-mail account. The account is hardcoded in the module along with the master’s e-mail to which it sends intercepted documents. It is interesting that the module does not search for all the HWP files on infected computer, but reacts only to those that are opened by the user and steals them. This behavior is very unusual for a document-stealing component and we do not see it in other malicious toolkits.
The program copies itself as <Hangul full path>HncReporter.exe and changes the default program association in the registry to open HWP documents. To do so, it alters following registry values:
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOTHwp.Document.7shellopencommand or HKEY_CLASSES_ROOTHwp.Document.8shellopencommand 1 2 3 HKEY_CLASSES_ROOTHwp . Document . 7shellopencommand or HKEY_CLASSES_ROOTHwp . Document . 8shellopencommand
By default, there is the registry setting “<Hangul full path>Hwp.exe” “%1” associating Hangul application “Hwp.exe” with .HWP documents. But the malicious program replaces this string with the following: “<Hangul full path>HncReporter.exe ” “%1”. So, when the user is opening any .HWP document, the malware program itself is executed to open the .HWP document. Following this registry edit, any opened .HWP document is read and sent as an e-mail attachment with the subject “Hwp” to the attackers. After sending, the malware executes the real Hangul word processing application “Hwp.exe” to open the .HWP document as the user intended. The means the victim most likely will not notice the theft of the .HWP file. The module’s sending routine depends on the following files in C:Program FilesCommon FilesSystemOle DB folder: xmlrwbin.inc, msdaipp.cnt, msdapml.cnt, msdaerr.cnt, msdmeng.cnt and oledjvs.inc.
Remote control module downloader
An extra program is dedicated exclusively to download attachments out of incoming e-mails with a particular subject tag. This program is similar to the pivot module but with reduced functionality: it maintains the hardcoded Bulgarian e-mail account, logs in, reads incoming e-mails and searches for the special subject tag “Team“. When found, it loads the related attachment, drops it onto the hard drive as C:Program FilesCommon FilesSystemOle DBtaskmgr.exe and executes. This particular executable arrives without any encryption.
Remote control module
It is also interesting that the malware author did not custom develop a backdoor program. Instead, the author modified TeamViewer client version 5.0.9104. The initial executable pushed by attackers in e-mails related to the remote control module consists of three more executables. Two of them are Team Viewer components themselves, and another is some sort of backdoor loader. So, the dropper creates three files in the C:WindowsSystem32 directory:
netsvcs.exe - the modified Team Viewer client; netsvcs_ko.dll - resources library of Team Viewer client; vcmon.exe - installer/starter; 1 2 3 netsvcs . exe - the modified Team Viewer client ; netsvcs_ko . dll - resources library of Team Viewer client ; vcmon . exe - installer / starter ;
and creates the service “Remote Access Service“, adjusted to execute C:WindowsSystem32vcmon.exe at system startup. Every time the vcmon.exe is executed, it disables AhnLab’s firewall by zeroing out following registry values:
HKLMSOFTWAREAhnLabV3 365 ClinicInternetSec UseFw = 0 UseIps = 0 1 2 3 HKLMSOFTWAREAhnLabV3 365 ClinicInternetSec UseFw = 0 UseIps = 0
Then, it modifies the Team Viewer registry settings. As we said, the Team Viewer components used in this campaign are not the original ones. They are slightly modified. In total, we found two different variants of changed versions. The malware author replaced all the entries of “Teamviewer” strings in Team Viewer components. In the first case with the “Goldstager” string and with the string “Coinstager” in the second. TeamViewer client registry settings are then HKLMSoftwareGoldstagerVersion5 and HKLMSoftwareCoinstagerVersion5 correspondingly. The launcher sets up several registry values that control how the remote access tool will work. Among them is SecurityPasswordAES. This parameter represents a hash of the password with which a remote user has to connect to Team Viewer client. This way, the attackers set a pre-shared authentication value. After that, the starter executes the very Team Viewer client netsvcs.exe.
Who’s Kim?
It’s interesting that the drop box mail accounts [email protected] and [email protected] are registered with the following “kim” names: kimsukyang and “Kim asdfa”.
Of course, we can’t be certain that these are the real names of the attackers. However, the selection isn’t frequently seen. Perhaps it also points to the suspected North Korean origin of attack. Taking into account the profiles of the targeted organizations — South Korean universities that conduct researches on international affairs, produce defense policies for government, national shipping company, supporting groups for Korean unification — one might easily suspect that the attackers might be from North Korea.
The targets almost perfectly fall into their sphere of interest. On the other hand, it is not that hard to enter arbitrary registration information and misdirect investigators to an obvious North Korean origin. It does not cost anything to concoct fake registration data and enter kimsukyang during a Hotmail registration. We concede that this registration data does not provide concrete, indisputable information about the attackers.
However, the attackers’ IP-addresses do provide some additional clues. During our analysis, we observed ten IP-addresses used by the Kimsuky operators. All of them lie in ranges of the Jilin Province Network and Liaoning Province Network, in China.
No other IP-addresses have been uncovered that would point to the attackers’ activity and belong to other IP-ranges. Interestingly, the ISPs providing internet access in these provinces are also believed to maintain lines into North Korea. Finally, this geo-location supports the likely theory that the attackers behind Kimsuky are based in North Korea.
Appendix
Files used by malware:
%windir%system32kbdlv2.dll %windir%system32auto.dll %windir%system32netsvcs.exe %windir%system32netsvcs_ko.dll %windir%system32vcmon.exe %windir%system32svcsmon.exe %windir%system32svcsmon_ko.dll %windir%system32wsmss.exe %temp%~DFE8B437DD7C417A6D.TMP %temp%~DFE8B43.TMP %temp%~tmp.dll C:Windowstaskmgr.exe C:Windowssetup.log C:Windowswinlog.txt C:Windowsupdate.log C:Windowswmdns.log C:Windowsoledvbs.inc C:Windowsweoig.log C:Windowsdata.dat C:Windowssys.log C:WindowsPcMon.exe C:WindowsGoogle Update.exe C:WindowsReadMe.log C:Windowsmsdatt.bat C:Windowsmsdatl3.inc C:Program FilesCommon FilesSystemOle DBmsdmeng.cnt C:Program FilesCommon FilesSystemOle DBxmlrwbin.inc C:Program FilesCommon FilesSystemOle DBmsdapml.cnt C:Program FilesCommon FilesSystemOle DBsqlsoldb.exe C:Program FilesCommon FilesSystemOle DBoledjvs.inc C:Program FilesCommon FilesSystemOle DBoledvbs.inc C:Program FilesCommon FilesSystemOle DBmsolui80.inc C:Program FilesCommon FilesSystemOle DBmsdaipp.cnt C:Program FilesCommon FilesSystemOle DBmsdaerr.cnt C:Program FilesCommon FilesSystemOle DBsqlxmlx.inc <Hangul full path>HncReporter.exe 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 % windir % system32kbdlv2 . dll % windir % system32auto . dll % windir % system32netsvcs . exe % windir % system32netsvcs_ko . dll % windir % system32vcmon . exe % windir % system32svcsmon . exe % windir % system32svcsmon_ko . dll % windir % system32wsmss . exe % temp % ~ DFE8B437DD7C417A6D . TMP % temp % ~ DFE8B43 . TMP % temp % ~ tmp . dll C : Windowstaskmgr . exe C : Windowssetup . log C : Windowswinlog . txt C : Windowsupdate . log C : Windowswmdns . log C : Windowsoledvbs . inc C : Windowsweoig . log C : Windowsdata . dat C : Windowssys . log C : WindowsPcMon . exe C : WindowsGoogle Update . exe C : WindowsReadMe . log C : Windowsmsdatt . bat C : Windowsmsdatl3 . inc C : Program FilesCommon FilesSystemOle DBmsdmeng . cnt C : Program FilesCommon FilesSystemOle DBxmlrwbin . inc C : Program FilesCommon FilesSystemOle DBmsdapml . cnt C : Program FilesCommon FilesSystemOle DBsqlsoldb . exe C : Program FilesCommon FilesSystemOle DBoledjvs . inc C : Program FilesCommon FilesSystemOle DBoledvbs . inc C : Program FilesCommon FilesSystemOle DBmsolui80 . inc C : Program FilesCommon FilesSystemOle DBmsdaipp . cnt C : Program FilesCommon FilesSystemOle DBmsdaerr . cnt C : Program FilesCommon FilesSystemOle DBsqlxmlx . inc & lt ; Hangul full path & gt ; HncReporter . exe
Related MD5:
3baaf1a873304d2d607dbedf47d3e2b4 3195202066f026de3abfe2f966c9b304 4839370628678f0afe3e6875af010839 173c1528dc6364c44e887a6c9bd3e07c 191d2da5da0e37a3bb3cbca830a405ff 5eef25dc875cfcb441b993f7de8c9805 b20c5db37bda0db8eb1af8fc6e51e703 face9e96058d8fe9750d26dd1dd35876 9f7faf77b1a2918ddf6b1ef344ae199d d0af6b8bdc4766d1393722d2e67a657b 45448a53ec3db51818f57396be41f34f 80cba157c1cd8ea205007ce7b64e0c2a f68fa3d8886ef77e623e5d94e7db7e6c 4a1ac739cd2ca21ad656eaade01a3182 4ea3958f941de606a1ffc527eec6963f 637e0c6d18b4238ca3f85bcaec191291 b3caca978b75badffd965a88e08246b0 dbedadc1663abff34ea4bdc3a4e03f70 3ae894917b1d8e4833688571a0573de4 8a85bd84c4d779bf62ff257d1d5ab88b d94f7a8e6b5d7fc239690a7e65ec1778 f1389f2151dc35f05901aba4e5e473c7 96280f3f9fd8bdbe60a23fa621b85ab6 f25c6f40340fcde742018012ea9451e0 122c523a383034a5baef2362cad53d57 2173bbaea113e0c01722ff8bc2950b28 2a0b18fa0887bb014a344dc336ccdc8c ffad0446f46d985660ce1337c9d5eaa2 81b484d3c5c347dc94e611bae3a636a3 ab73b1395938c48d62b7eeb5c9f3409d 69930320259ea525844d910a58285e15 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 3baaf1a873304d2d607dbedf47d3e2b4 3195202066f026de3abfe2f966c9b304 4839370628678f0afe3e6875af010839 173c1528dc6364c44e887a6c9bd3e07c 191d2da5da0e37a3bb3cbca830a405ff 5eef25dc875cfcb441b993f7de8c9805 b20c5db37bda0db8eb1af8fc6e51e703 face9e96058d8fe9750d26dd1dd35876 9f7faf77b1a2918ddf6b1ef344ae199d d0af6b8bdc4766d1393722d2e67a657b 45448a53ec3db51818f57396be41f34f 80cba157c1cd8ea205007ce7b64e0c2a f68fa3d8886ef77e623e5d94e7db7e6c 4a1ac739cd2ca21ad656eaade01a3182 4ea3958f941de606a1ffc527eec6963f 637e0c6d18b4238ca3f85bcaec191291 b3caca978b75badffd965a88e08246b0 dbedadc1663abff34ea4bdc3a4e03f70 3ae894917b1d8e4833688571a0573de4 8a85bd84c4d779bf62ff257d1d5ab88b d94f7a8e6b5d7fc239690a7e65ec1778 f1389f2151dc35f05901aba4e5e473c7 96280f3f9fd8bdbe60a23fa621b85ab6 f25c6f40340fcde742018012ea9451e0 122c523a383034a5baef2362cad53d57 2173bbaea113e0c01722ff8bc2950b28 2a0b18fa0887bb014a344dc336ccdc8c ffad0446f46d985660ce1337c9d5eaa2 81b484d3c5c347dc94e611bae3a636a3 ab73b1395938c48d62b7eeb5c9f3409d 69930320259ea525844d910a58285e15
Names of services created by malware:
DriverManage WebService WebClientManager Remote Access Service 1 2 3 4 DriverManage WebService WebClientManager Remote Access Service
We detect these threats as Trojan.Win32.Kimsuky except modified Team Viewer client components which are detected as Trojan.Win32.Patched.ps. |
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP has moved to distance himself from Russian president Vladimir Putin, saying that he doesn’t know him.
In a tweet today, he also said that he doesn’t have any deals with Russia:
I don't know Putin, have no deals in Russia, and the haters are going crazy - yet Obama can make a deal with Iran, #1 in terror, no problem! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 7, 2017 Source: Donald J. Trump /Twitter
Throughout the election campaign, Trump refused to criticise the Russian leader, saying better relations with the Kremlin would be in the US national interest.
At the weekend, Trump drew fire from Republicans and Democrats after defending a softer stance on Russia, saying:
“I do respect [Putin]. Well, I respect a lot of people, but that doesn’t mean I’ll get along with them.”
He made the comments to Fox News during a Super Bowl interview on Sunday night.
Mainstream Republicans have repeatedly called on Trump to distance himself from Putin. But this is the first public step he’s made in saying that he doesn’t have personal links to the Russian leader.
Trump has also commented on the US working with Russia in fighting Islamic State, telling Fox:
If Russia helps us in the fight against ISIS, which is a major fight, and Islamic terrorism all around the world, major fight. That’s a good thing.
Last December, US intelligence agencies said that they believed Russia conducted a hacking campaign during the US election, aiming to swing it in Trump’s favour by releasing certain documents.
The question of Trump and Putin’s relationship has been a big one in the past few months, with Trump’s criticism of NATO and comments on Ukraine also leading people to think there are positive links against them.
But with his latest tweet, Trump appears to be concerned that people might think the two men are close on a personal basis.
- Additional reporting - © AFP, 2017 |
Creamy Crockpot Hot Cocoa {Best Ever!}
Creamy Crockpot Hot Cocoa – I guarantee you that this is the BEST YOU’VE EVER HAD! It is so delicious, you may want to lick the crockpot afterwards.
I meant to start my Holiday goodies series on December 1st, but if you keep up with me on my facebook page, then you know that we had a water mishap. A switch had gone bad on our water tank, & we had NO running water in the house for nearly 2 days. We were filling up containers of water from the neighbor’s outdoor spigot, & using that for all of our water needs. I had NO idea that it takes nearly 3 gallons of water to simply flush a toilet! If anything, my 2 day experience with no running water made me appreciate it so much more. I was cooking during the ordeal, then it came time to do the dishes – but kinda hard to do without water! I am SO glad that is over with now.
MY LATEST VIDEOS
MY LATEST VIDEOS MY LATEST VIDEOS
I am starting off the Holiday goody season with my recipe for Hot Cocoa in the Crockpot. This isn’t Swiss Miss, folks. This is the real deal! On a chilly day, it warms you from the inside out. Serve it to a child, & you will see their face light up like a Christmas tree. Proof in point – here is my daughter, Madison after just drinking a swallow. Decadent doesn’t even begin to describe this. I’m serious – this is the BEST hot cocoa. Ever.
SO easy to make! Just stir the cream, sweetened condensed milk, chocolate chips, milk, & vanilla together in your crockpot…
Cover, & cook on low for 2 hours – coming back to whisk it every so often.
How easy was that?? Now just ladle into mugs & serve!
Garnish with marshmallows or whipped cream if desired. I personally love marshmallows with mine. Candy canes are also great!
This serves 6-8 people, depending upon how big of mugs you use – and I used a 5 quart crockpot in my pictures.
Printable recipe after the video tutorial!
Creamy Crockpot Hot Cocoa BEST EVER! Ingredients: 1.5 cups whipping cream
1 14oz can sweetened condensed milk
6 cups milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups of chocolate chips (milk chocolate OR semi-sweet depending on how sweet you like it. I have a heck of a sweet tooth, and I love the milk chocolate, but others prefer the semi-sweet) Directions: Stir together the whipping cream, milk, vanilla, and chocolate chips in a crockpot. Cover and cook on low for 2 hours, stirring occasionally, until mixture is hot and chocolate chips are melted. Stir again before serving. Garnish as desired. All images and text © Mrs Happy Homemaker for Mrs Happy Homemaker
If you like this, you may also like: Crockpot Triple Chocolate Cake
2 Ingredient German Chocolate Fudge |
In China, Obama presses for rights
By Anne E. Kornblut and Andrew Higgins
Washington Post Staff Writers
Monday, November 16, 2009 10:28 AM
SHANGHAI -- Meeting with a carefully screened group of students at the marquee event of his Asia trip, President Obama on Monday sought to advance what he called America's "core principles" during his first public appearance in China. But the event itself -- billed as an opportunity for Obama to reach beyond Chinese officialdom -- illustrated the Chinese government's tight grip.
The "freedoms of expression and worship, of access to information and political participation, we believe are universal rights," Obama said at a town hall-style meeting in Shanghai, China's most modern and outward-looking metropolis. Liberty, the president told nearly 500 students bused to a science museum decked with U.S. and Chinese flags, should be "available to all people, including ethnic and religious minorities, whether they are in the United States, China or any other nation."
Virtually every aspect of the event was staged, and it was unclear how many Chinese citizens saw the hour-long exchange, which was not broadcast on national television. One of the most provocative statements Obama made -- about the importance of opening up the Internet -- was posted on Chinese news sites at first, but then was deleted.
Obama's audience, selected and coached beforehand by university officials, came from eight different Shanghai universities. A small, random sampling suggested the vast majority were members of the Communist Party. Many of the eight questions put to the president by students echoed Chinese government talking points.
Nonetheless, administration officials were satisfied with the outcome. "We understood the limitations," said senior White House adviser David M. Axelrod, who is traveling with the president. Regardless of how the questions were generated, Axelrod said, Obama's "answers were his own, and he got a chance to make them to a larger audience on local TV and over the Internet. That made it a very worthwhile event."
Obama later flew to Beijing for a small dinner with Chinese President and Communist Party chief Hu Jintao, whom he will meet again Tuesday morning.
Interviewed after the town-hall event in Shanghai, students generally gave Obama good, if not rave, reviews. And though highly choreographed, the session still left more room for spontaneity than do the meetings China's own leaders hold with ordinary people.
Wang Zhuchen, a student in international relations at Fudan University, said he was surprised -- and also impressed -- to hear the U.S. president talk of his family and children. A Chinese leader, he said, would never discuss anything personal in public.
Wang, a Party member, quickly added that this did not reflect badly on Chinese leaders but merely their "different traditions and culture." Wang said students could ask what they wanted but had been instructed "not to hurt the feelings of our guests."
The one question that pushed normal Chinese boundaries came via the Internet and was read aloud by U.S. Ambassador Jon Huntsman. "In a country with 350 million Internet users and 60 million bloggers, do you know of the firewall?" the question began, referring to the Chinese government's practice of blocking sites it dislikes, a system of Internet censorship known as the Great Firewall. The question also asked, "Should we be able to use Twitter freely?"
"I've always been a strong supporter of open Internet use. I'm a big supporter of non-censorship," Obama replied. "I recognize that different countries have different traditions. I can tell you that in the United States, the fact that we have free Internet -- or unrestricted Internet access -- is a source of strength, and I think should be encouraged."
Administration officials said the U.S. Embassy in Beijing received more than 1,000 questions for Obama via the Internet. The online questions were chosen at random, with the help of White House Correspondents' Association President Edwin Chen, who selected several numbers that corresponded with questions that were then read aloud.
Before the meeting, Liu Yupang, a 21-year-old mechanical engineering student from Shanghai's Jiaotong University, said he and fellow students had been given an afternoon of "training" before they could participate in the question-and-answer session. He said they could ask Obama whatever they pleased -- so long as they took a "friendly attitude." Liu, too, is a party member.
Obama himself struck a mostly conciliatory tone. Continuing a theme of his Asia trip, he said the United States is not threatened by China's rapid growth. "Surely we have known setbacks and challenges over the last 30 years," Obama said. But, he added, "the notion that we must be adversaries is not predestined."
The meeting was held at the Shanghai Science and Technology Museum, a hyper-modern complex located in Pudong, a new development zone far from the city center. Police sealed off the museum and blocked off nearby streets. A sign outside the museum announced the premises closed from Nov. 14 to 16 for "maintenance needs."
Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush also met students during their own trips to China but did so on university campuses.
U.S. and Chinese officials haggled for weeks over the format of the Shanghai event, with the United States asking that the meeting be as freewheeling as possible, and the Chinese demanding the opposite. Live video of the event was streamed on the official White House Web site in the hopes of reaching members of the Chinese public who were unable to see it any other way.
The meeting was broadcast live by a local Shanghai television station, but the station's Web site, Shanghai TV Station Online, which usually live streams its television programming, went offline about 20 minutes before the town hall began. It then shifted to a children's program -- preventing computer users across the country from watching the event. National Chinese television stations did not broadcast the meeting. It was supposed to be carried on the Internet via the government-run Xinhua news service, but this didn't happen. Instead, Xinhua posted a written transcript of the remarks -- including, to the surprise of some Chinese, Obama's response to the question about access to the Internet.
Taiwan, an issue that has shadowed and frequently poisoned Sino-U.S. relations, resurfaced as a point of friction when a female student asked Obama whether the United States will continue selling weapons to an island that Beijing considers a renegade province. Obama, in his answer, skirted the matter of arms and instead repeated Washington's longstanding commitment to the so-called "one China policy."
The question reflected one of the Chinese government's most insistent concerns, but the he student who read it said she had received the query via the internet from a Taiwanese businessman. Taiwanese journalists who were present thought this unlikely.
Taiwan has so far been largely absent from the Obama administration's top foreign policy concerns but it could become a serious headache in future because of an arms issue. Taiwan has asked the U.S. to sell it a new generation of F-16 warplanes, a sale that, if approved, would enrage Beijing.
Xu Lyiang, a student at Tongji University, said he had wanted to go to the meeting with Obama but had been told that the quota of students had been fulfilled. But he heard from a teacher who was helping select attendees that they were required to attend a "lecture and a meeting" ahead of time.
Obama, in opening remarks, described the United States as a nation that had endured painful chapters in its history because of its core ideals, including a belief that government should reflect the will of the people. He said the United States did not seek to impose "any system of government on any other nation," but said "America will always speak out for its core principles around the world."
"We made progress because of our belief in those core principles that have served as our compass in the darkest of storms," Obama said.
Also Friday, Beijing police arrested Zhao Lianhai, an activist who had become a spokesman for parents protesting over contaminated baby formula, his wife said. It was an example of the sort of human rights restrictions that advocates say occur all too often.
Zhao's wife, Li Xuemei, said police from Beijing's public security bureau arrived at the house about 11 p.m. Friday and arrested her husband, also confiscating two computers, a digital camera, T-shirts and some fliers. She said she was later told that he had been "officially detained."
Bloggers and Internet "netizens" began petitioning online for Zhao's release.
Zhao's 3-year-old son was one of tens of thousands of infants who developed kidney stones last year as a result of drinking formula contaminated with melamine, in one of a series of food safety scandals in China. As many as 300,000 children were infected by the formula. Officially, at least half a dozen infants died, but activists say they think there were possibly more.
Beijing has always been wary of American presidents' desire to reach out beyond the standard rituals of government-to-government meetings. The Chinese government has been particularly reluctant to give them unfiltered access to television since 1998, when, during a joint news conference that was broadcast live, Clinton sharply criticized the bloody 1989 crackdown in Tiananmen Square.
White House officials said they had State Department aides monitoring Chinese television to see how much of the meeting was broadcast.
Obama, traveling through China for the first time, finds himself under the microscope on whether he intends to take up the issue of human rights with Beijing more directly than he has so far.
Human rights activists have been alarmed by his delicate approach to date. Last month, he became the first president in nearly two decades not to meet with the Dalai Lama during a visit to Washington by the exiled Tibetan leader.
Eight months earlier, Hillary Rodham Clinton soft-pedaled on human rights during her first trip to Beijing as secretary of state, saying that the issue could not be allowed to "interfere" with cooperation on the economy and climate change - a dramatic shift from her landmark speech there in 1995, as first lady, in which she declared that "women's rights are human rights."
© 2009 The Washington Post Company |
After year of 'bad news,' Obama shares stories to 'remind us what's best about America'
CLOSE According to a new Gallup poll, 2017's Most Admired Man is not President Donald Trump. Instead, the honor goes to former president Barack Obama. Hillary Clinton was voted the Most Admired Woman for the 16th year in a row. USA TODAY
From deadly natural disasters to intense political division, 2017 was rife with bad news in the United States.
But former president Barack Obama wants to remind you that the year had some bright spots, too.
On Friday, the 44th U.S. president tweeted out three stories from 2017 "that remind us what's best about America."
As we count down to the new year, we get to reflect and prepare for what’s ahead. For all the bad news that seemed to dominate our collective consciousness, there are countless stories from this year that remind us what's best about America. — Barack Obama (@BarackObama) December 29, 2017
One of the stories detailed how a Houston couple used their postponed wedding as an opportunity to aid Hurricane Harvey relief efforts.
Kat Creech, a wedding planner in Houston, turned a postponed wedding into a volunteer opportunity for Hurricane Harvey victims. Thirty wedding guests became an organization of hundreds of volunteers. That’s a story from 2017. https://t.co/yxhjwkr5Se — Barack Obama (@BarackObama) December 29, 2017
Wedding planner Kat Creech organized Sarah Samad and Mohsin Dhukka's wedding guests to help clean up efforts in areas devastated by Harvey, according to Houston TV station KPRC. With the help of other volunteers, Creech created Recovery Houston, a group that cleaned up more than 200 homes and connected people from around the U.S. in the recovery efforts.
Obama also shared a story about Philadelphia Eagles defensive end Chris Long, who donated his paychecks to fund scholarships for disadvantaged students.
Chris Long gave his paychecks from the first six games of the NFL season to fund scholarships in Charlottesville, VA. He wanted to do more, so he decided to give away an entire season’s salary. That’s a story from 2017. https://t.co/NL0RoARkan — Barack Obama (@BarackObama) December 29, 2017
Long donated his first six paychecks to fund scholarships in his hometown of Charlottesville, Va., and later in the season, he announced he'd use the rest of his salary to start Pledge 10 for Tomorrow, which promotes education for students in Philadelphia, Boston and St. Louis — three NFL cities in which he's played, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer.
Another story Obama tweeted profiled Jahkil Jackson, 10, who organized the collection of thousands of bags filled with donated socks, toiletries and food for homeless people in Chicago.
Ten-year-old Jahkil Jackson is on a mission to help homeless people in Chicago. He created kits full of socks, toiletries, and food for those in need. Just this week, Jahkil reached his goal to give away 5,000 “blessing bags.” That’s a story from 2017. https://t.co/muxPZnEGkd — Barack Obama (@BarackObama) December 29, 2017
Jackson calls the packages "blessing bags," and he's had a passion for helping others since he was 5. “He would literally tear up when he would see someone who was homeless, trying to understand how that person got into that situation,” Jackson's mom Natae told the Chicago Tribune.
Obama ended his Twitter thread with a message encouraging Americans to "keep changing the world in 2018."
All across America people chose to get involved, get engaged and stand up. Each of us can make a difference, and all of us ought to try. So go keep changing the world in 2018. — Barack Obama (@BarackObama) December 29, 2017
"Each of us can make a difference, and all of us ought to try," he tweeted.
Follow Ryan Miller on Twitter @RyanW_Miller
Read or Share this story: https://usat.ly/2CjBODV |
Death Of Handcuffed Man In Police Car Ruled A Suicide
A 21-year-old man whose hands were cuffed behind him in the back seat of a police car in Arkansas killed himself with a concealed handgun. That's according to an autopsy report released Monday into the death of Chavis Carter.
Carter died July 28 after being detained during a traffic stop. Police said he had an outstanding arrest warrant – later revealed to be drug-related. The driver and the passenger of the vehicle he was in were allowed to go.
Police searched Carter twice, but found no gun.
The state crime lab report said a gun's muzzle was placed against Carter's temple when it was fired. The Associated Press says the report was signed by three medical examiners.
In ruling the death a suicide, the Arkansas State Crime Labratory report said the manner of death is based on both autopsy findings and the investigative conclusions of the Jonesboro Police Department."
Here's more from the lab report:
"In consideration of the circumstances of death and after autopsy of the body, it is our opinion that Chavis Carter, a 21-year-old black male, died of a gunshot wound of the head. The agencies responsible for the investigation of his death were the Jonesboro Police Department and the Craighead County Coroner's Office. They reported that he was detained during a traffic stop. He was cuffed and placed into a police car, where apparently he produced a weapon, and despite being handcuffed, shot himself in the head."
On Aug. 18, Police released dashboard camera video of Carter's arrest.
Here's what the AP has to say about that footage as well as additional video released later.
"Part of the video showed Carter being patted down and ended before officers found Carter slumped over and bleeding in the back of a patrol car as was described in a police report. Police later released additional video they said was recorded after Carter was found. Neither included the moment they say Carter shot himself, and the footage did little to resolve questions about how the shooting could have happened."
Carter died at a local hospital. According to a toxicology report, he tested positive for methamphetamine, anti-anxiety medication and other drugs.
According to the AP, the Jonesboro Police Department released a video re-creation of the shooting that shows how a man could shoot himself in the head with his hands cuffed behind him.
The suicide ruling as well as the police video have been criticized.
"That's a cold-blooded calculated lie," Dr. Isaac Richmond, national director of the Memphis-based Commission on Religion and Racism, told the Los Angeles Times. He called suicide "incredibly impossible under those conditions." |
Music has been used in psychological operations. The term music torture is sometimes used by critics of the practice of playing loud music incessantly to prisoners or people besieged.
The United Nations and the European Court of Human Rights have banned the use of loud music in interrogations.[citation needed] The term torture is sometimes used to describe the practice. While it is acknowledged by US interrogation experts that it causes discomfort, it has also been characterized by them as causing no "long-term effects".[1]
Music and sound have been usually used as part of a combination of interrogation methods, today recognized by international bodies as amounting to torture.[2] Attacking all senses without leaving any visible traces, they have formed the basis of the widely discussed torture in Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib. They were, however, devised much earlier in the 1950s and early 1960s, as a way to counter so-called Soviet "brainwashing".[3] They include:
sensory deprivation
stress positions
sleep deprivation
food and drink deprivation
continuous music or sound
Instances of use [ edit ]
"These people haven't heard heavy metal. They can't take it. If you play it for 24 hours, your brain and body functions start to slide, your train of thought slows down and your will is broken. That's when we come in and talk to them."[1]
According to the FBI:[10][11]
"W[itness] observed sleep deprivation interviews w/strobe lights and loud music. Interrogator said it would take 4 days to break someone doing an interrogation 16 hrs w/lights and music on and 4 hrs off. Handwritten note next to typed synopsis says "ok under DoD policy". "Rumors that interrogator bragged about doing lap dance on d[etainee], another about making d[etainee] listen to satanic black metal music for hours then dressing as a Priest and baptizing d[etainee] to save him - handwritten note says 'yes'." "W[itness] saw d[etainee] in interview room sitting on floor w/Israeli flag draped around him, loud music and strobe lights. W suspects this practice is used by DOD DHS based on who he saw in the hallway."
The Washington Post, quoting a leaked Red Cross report, wrote:[12]
"The physical tactics noted by the Red Cross included placing detainees in extremely cold rooms with loud music blaring, and forcing them to kneel for long periods of time, the source familiar with the report said."
"A former adviser to Hillary Clinton hired a Mariachi band to play outside of the White House in an effort to disrupt President Trump's sleep on Wednesday night."
According to Amnesty International:[14]
"Detainees have reported being routinely subjected to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment during arrest and detention. Many have told Amnesty International that they were tortured and ill-treated by US and UK troops during interrogation. Methods often reported include prolonged sleep deprivation; beatings; prolonged restraint in painful positions, sometimes combined with exposure to loud music; prolonged hooding; and exposure to bright lights. Virtually none of the allegations of torture or ill-treatment has been adequately investigated by the authorities."
On January 12, 1998 the Supreme Court of Israel declined to ban the use of loud music as an interrogation technique.[15]
According to recent research, the Greek military Junta (1967–1974) used the above-mentioned combination of interrogation techniques, including music. This took place in the headquarters of the Special Interrogation Unit of Greek Military Police (EAT/ESA), Athens. New interviews with survivors, held there in 1973, talk about the use of songs, popular hits of the time: these were played loudly and repeatedly from loudspeakers as the detainee had to stand without rest, food, drink or sleep.[16]
Popular culture [ edit ]
In the book A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess and the subsequent film based upon it, a rebellious teenager is subjected to brutal experimental brain-washing techniques that cause him to feel physical pain if he has similar violent thoughts to those that sent him to jail in the first place; as an accidental side-effect, he has the same response if he hears Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. Later, a man tortures him by locking him in a room where the symphony is played loudly.
In Back to the Future, Marty used music made by Van Halen to scare his dad, George McFly, awake, implying that since that kind of music did not exist in that time, it would scare him.
In Apocalypse Now, a helicopter squadron plays classical music, Richard Wagner's Ride of the Valkyries, over loudspeakers on-board their helicopters while attacking a Viet Cong village, as a form of psychological warfare.
In Woody Allen's early film Bananas, a prisoner is tortured by being tied up in a room while operetta, featuring an annoying coluratora soprano, is played over and over on a cheap record-player.
In The Drew Carey Show, Mimi played "Panama" by Van Halen repeatedly to drive Drew and friends from his house.
In an episode of the U.S. television show Burn Notice Sam Axe plays loud music to a prisoner to break his will.
In the film The Men Who Stare at Goats, a take-off of the Barney & Friends ending song "I Love You" is played in the cells of Iraqi detainees as a form of torture.
In the TV series Homeland, Grindcore is used to keep a prisoner awake.
In Power Rangers Megaforce, Emma sings a song to help the rangers defeat Dischord.
In the series 'Lost', drum and bass music is used to keep an islander's boyfriend awake and indoctrinated and tortured.
In one episode of 'The Flash' Cisco plays 'Never Gonna Give You Up' on repeat to Hartley get him to reveal information they need.
Public awareness of the use of this technique is widespread enough that it can be used in satirical attacks on popular culture:
"Hollywood — Several days after Paris Hilton announced that she will release a music album, the Pentagon has decided to buy 50,000 copies of her upcoming album to use against insurgents in the volatile Anbar province in western Iraq."
In the TV series American Horror Story, in the second season titled Asylum, the song "Dominique" is played constantly for the asylum patients in the episode "Welcome to Briarcliff".
In the TV series "The Walking Dead", the song "Easy Street" by "The Collapsable Hearts Club" is played repeatedly to Daryl Dixon in order to torture him.
In Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (film) a captured British intelligence officer under interrogation in a Soviet prison is subjected to disturbing sounds being repeatedly played through a pair of headphones
Royalty payments [ edit ]
The Guardian reported that the US military may owe royalty payments to the artists whose works were played to the captives.[18][19]
Musicians' protests [ edit ]
On 9 December 2008 the Associated Press reported that various musicians were coordinating their objections to the use of their music as a technique for softening up captives through an initiative called Zero dB.[20][21] Zero dB is an initiative against music torture set up by legal charity Reprieve, which represents over thirty prisoners in Guantanamo Bay. Zero dB aims to stop torture music by encouraging widespread condemnation of the practice and by calling on governments and the UN to uphold and enforce the Convention Against Torture and other relevant treaties. The initiative is backed by the Musicians Union which is calling on British musicians to voice their outrage against the use of music to torture.
Musicians and the wider public are making their own silent protests against music torture which are being shown on Zero dB. A series of silent protests and actions are planned through 2009. Participating musicians will include minutes of silence in their concerts to draw their audience's attention to the USA's use of deafening music against captives.
According to the Associated Press FBI agents stationed at Guantanamo Bay reported that the use of deafening music was common.[21] According to the Associated Press Guantanamo Bay spokesmen Commander Pauline Storum:
"...wouldn't give details of when and how music has been used at the prison, but said it isn't used today. She didn't respond when asked whether music might be used in the future."[21]
Among the musicians united in their objections were Christopher Cerf, a composer for the children's show Sesame Street, and Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave.[21] Others include Massive Attack,[22] R.E.M., The Roots, Rise Against, Rosanne Cash, Pearl Jam, Bonnie Raitt, Trent Reznor, Billy Bragg, Michelle Branch, Jackson Browne, T-Bone Burnett, David Byrne, Marc Cohn, Steve Earle, Limp Bizkit, System of a Down, Disturbed, the Entrance Band, Skinny Puppy[23] and Joe Henry.[24]
The Associated Press reported that Stevie Benton of the group Drowning Pool commented:[21]
"I take it as an honor to think that perhaps our song could be used to quell another 9/11 attack or something like that."[21]
On December 13, 2008, Benton issued an apology on the band's MySpace page about his comment on musical torture, stating his comment had been "taken out of context".[25]
See also [ edit ]
References [ edit ] |
One in an ongoing series on the effects of growing density on life in the city. Condo Town may be up there in the list of nicknames with Hogtown and Toronto the Good these days, judging by the myriad cranes building towers beside towers.
This six-storey condo building at Yonge St. and Alexandra Blvd, south of Glencairne Ave., was a point of contention between developers, the city and residents when it was proposed in the mid-1990s. Now it's a celebrated example of successful mid-rise development: it doesn't dominate the street, it increased density in the area, and houses street-level businesses. It is featured on the cover of the city's Official Plan. ( WENDY GILLIS / TORONTO STAR )
And Toronto’s chief planner has resolved to make it easier for developers to build even more. But Jennifer Keesmaat isn’t calling for just any kind of building, anywhere: Rather than more superstructures in the downtown core, Toronto needs moderate-sized buildings all across town, she said. Citing Eglinton Ave. as an example, Keesmaat says many Toronto streets are prime real estate for mid-rise building, defined as five- or six-storey buildings on narrow streets, and up to 11 storeys on wide arterial roads. Such streets have the space to accommodate mid-rise buildings, often host businesses and services that would benefit from increased density, and most important, are served by transit.
Article Continued Below
“It’s sometimes difficult to appreciate the magnitude of the development opportunity that these avenues present, (but) they’re everywhere,” Keesmaat said. Among the reasons to build mid-rise: the structures increase density without dramatically changing the scale of the street, they’re low enough to let the sun in, and they often combine retail, office and residential space. Toronto already hosts successful mid-rise projects. Though resisted when first proposed in the mid-1990s, the six-storey Alexandra Gate building near Yonge and Glencairn Ave., for instance, is a pleasant addition to the streetscape and has brought business to the stretch. But mid-rises are still the exception to the skyscraping rule, so to encourage developers Keesmaat will be streamlining the process through “as-of-right” zoning. That means streets such as Eglinton will be pre-approved for mid-rise building, allowing the developer to bypass the onerous and often expensive process of rezoning. The pre-approved zoning will be based on the city’s Avenue studies, thorough examining factors such as street character that have been conducted on 19 streets thus far.
Keesmaat also hopes that clarifying land-use policy will provide a financial incentive for developers to go mid-rise. Companies can make a decent profit on such buildings if the land is priced for mid-rise, not highrise development. But developers will sometimes spend more on land if they think it can host a multi-storey building. A clear policy articulating what is acceptable to build on streets prime for mid-rise development will help keep builders from overpaying for land, Keesmaat said.
Article Continued Below
Glenn Miller, vice president of education and research with the Canadian Urban Institute, said developers should invest in mid-rise because such buildings appeal to two distinct markets: young people looking to buy their first home, and older people scaling down. “The advantage to the developer is that it mitigates the risk, because you’ve got a broader market,” he said. But making mid-rise appealing to builders is just one battle. Increasingly, residents’ associations are fighting even mid-rise buildings. That’s illustrated in the ongoing fight by some Queen St. E residents against a six-storey development. “People do, in some cases, say: ‘We don’t want to have any changes,’” said André Sorensen, an associate professor in the University of Toronto’s human geography department and an expert in public participation in urban planning. But research suggests that if there’s meaningful communication between developers and residents, vigorous opposition is much less likely, he said. Keesmaat says concerned residents should familiarize themselves with the city’s Official Plan, which sets out where the city can best create growth. It’s not about whether the city will grow; it’s how to plan for it. “To residents who say we don’t want growth, unfortunately that’s not the city we live in … This is a wonderful challenge, to have to figure out how we’re going to accommodate growth in a sensitive way.” [email protected] |
Final adjustments for Game 1 of the NBA Finals (and pre-game content) is below. There were no other adjustments to the preliminary Thursday broadcast ratings.
Want to know why adjustments occur to the preliminary ratings? Read this.
Broadcast primetime final ratings for Thursday, June 13:
Time Net Show 18-49 Rating/Sh Viewers (Millions) 8:00 CBS The Big Bang Theory – R (8-8:31PM) 2.1/8 8.62 FOX Hell’s Kitchen 2.0/7 5.14 ABC Jimmy Kimmel Game Night – Live 1.1/4 3.99 NBC Save Me – R 0.5/2 2.33 CW The Vampire Diaries – R 0.3/1 0.77 8:30 ABC NBA Countdown – Live 2.0/7 5.69 CBS Two and a Half Men – R (8:31-9:01PM) 1.4/5 6.34 NBC Save Me 0.5/2 2.15 9:00 ABC NBA Finals (9-11:49PM) – Live 6.7/21 16.23 CBS Person of Interest -R (9:01-10:01PM) 0.9/3 6.52 FOX Does Someone Have to Go? 0.9/3 2.34 NBC The Office- R (9-9:31PM) 0.5/2 1.59 CW Beauty and the Beast – R 0.2/1 0.58 9:30 NBC Parks and Recreation – R (9:31-10:01PM) 0.5/2 1.54 10:00 CBS Elementary – R (10:01-11PM) 1.0/3 5.64 NBC Hannibal (10:01-11PM) 0.7/2 2.10
–
Nielsen TV Ratings: ©2013 The Nielsen Company. All Rights Reserved. |
Five-star prospects point guard Kasey Hill (Clermont, FL) and power forward Chris Walker (Bonifay, FL) may have committed seven months apart, but the AAU teammates knew for quite some time that they would be playing together in Gainesville, FL, for head coach Billy Donovan and the Florida Gators.
Hill, unanimously ranked as the 10th best player in the 2013 recruiting class, has already fulfilled his end of the bargain. He enrolled at Florida in late June for the Summer B session and has already pleased the coaching staff and trainers with his attitude and ability both on and off the court.
“I spent some time with him [Tuesday],” said Donovan on Wednesday after returning from leading USA Basketball to gold the 2013 FIBA U19 World Championship. “He’s doing fine. He’s done well. All the reports I’ve gotten from the strength coach and coaches working with him, he’s been great. His attitude has been really good.”
With senior PG Scottie Wilbekin likely to be suspended for the start of the season after violating team rules – and the Gators without another true floor general on the roster at this time – Hill’s work ethic during the summer and fall will go a long way to earning him a starting role (whether temporary or permanent).
Donovan is pleased with he has seen thus far from Hill, who he compared to 2011 five-star guard Bradley Beal in terms of how the young man has flipped the switch from high school star to college underclassman.
“He’s been really humble. I think he’s trying to work hard,” Donovan said. “When you come in and you work and you earn the respect of the other guys on the team – we’ve got some older guys on our team that have been around for several years and have been a part of some different things here – here he is coming in as a freshman with no experience, not even a college practice under his belt. Sometimes when guys come in as freshmen, they don’t handle that the right way. It’s difficult.
“That’s not to say Kasey needs to take a backseat to anybody. He needs to work. But he also needs to understand that sometimes, when you have a level of humility and you’re a guy that’s creating chemistry, sometimes that goes a long way inside your team. The biggest thing for him is just getting better and getting acclimated to what we’re doing. He’s a very gifted, talented player. He’s got great speed and quickness. He’s a really good passer. More than anything else, earning respect inside of our team.
“It’s a whole heck of a lot different going from high school to college regardless of what your reputation is in high school. You have to earn that kind of reputation inside your team. I talked to Kasey a lot about that. He’s such a good kid, I’m not even worried about that with him. I think he understands what he’s got to do in terms of, I don’t want to say ‘proving himself,’ but he’s got to go in there and show these guys that he’s prepared to work, prepared to get better and his high school days are over with and he’s now in college.”
Respect is not what Walker needs to be concerned with earning just yet. Rather, he must ensure he earns the necessary grades in order to qualify to play college basketball this season and enroll at the University of Florida.
The Gators knew Walker would not qualify to enroll in Summer B like Hill, and as the summer continues to drag on, it is becoming less and less likely that he will be able to get in school for the fall semester either.
“He may or may not be here for the fall semester,” Donovan conceded Wednesday.
He added: “[I] haven’t heard anything back yet. Obviously he’s not here in Summer B. He’s still working towards finishing up. However long that’s going to take, I’m not really sure because he’s still working to have to go through the [NCAA] Clearinghouse and get cleared. Right now, he’s not here. We’re hopeful that it will be sooner than later, but he’s still got some work ahead of him and I think he’s trying really hard to get all that finished.”
A source close to the program told OnlyGators.com recently that Florida does not expect Walker to qualify for the fall. His grades and test scores simply needed too much improvement in order for him to turn around and qualify that quickly. However, the Gators do believe Walker will make it in for the spring, which means he would be able to play the entire Southeastern Conference slate and in the postseason.
A separate source close to Walker also told OnlyGators.com that he is laser-focused on attending Florida and has not gone in-depth considering any other options though playing in Europe for a short season would be attractive and lucrative. (Should he not qualify, he could also play in the NBA D-League among other options.) Walker wants to play for the Gators and will do whatever he can to ensure he ends up at UF.
Donovan is pleased with the effort Walker is putting into getting his grades up and is hopeful that he will be able to join the program sooner than later. He also confirmed that he believes Walker is doing what is necessary to find his way to Florida.
“The one thing I feel like with Chris, just talking to him, is his commitment to Florida and to wanting to be here. However long that takes, he wants to make that happen,” Donovan said. “He’s got some things he still needs to do.
“The one thing that we’ve tried to explain to him is the work he’s finishing up and doing, he doesn’t need to rush it. He just needs to get it done correctly, the right way. I think he’s working hard to try to make sure that happens.”
The highest-rated class in Gators basketball history is hinging on Walker eventually pulling through with the necessary grades and test scores. Florida’s frontcourt will be deep whether or not he eventually qualifies but getting Walker in the fold would give the Gators arguably the best frontline in the nation next season. |
- A good number of TNA talents have been informed over the past week that their current TNA contracts will be dropped by the company. The contracts include a monthly guarantee on pay but TNA is offering to replace them with per-appearance deals.
TNA previously paid talents a guaranteed monthly fee and then paid them per appearance. In some cases, TNA will now pay talents a little more per appearance than they were already making, with the idea that it will make up for the loss of the guaranteed pay. If TNA starts booking more dates, the talents could potentially make even more money.
There are many TNA talents who are not happy with the change, according to PWInsider. It's possible that some of the wrestlers may turn the new deals down and wrap up their runs with the company. TNA still may keep some top talents like Kurt Angle or Jeff Hardy under guaranteed deals but most of the company will be working under per appearance deals going forward.
Source: PWInsider |
This post was contributed by a community member.
On August 12th, a resident of Reserve at West Paces, a Riverstone Community, was surprised to find masking tape with derogatory words placed all over her brand new, X6 BMW.
After carefully removing the masking tape, notifying her local Buckhead police, and contacting her management team, she thought some unruly neighbor had misplaced rage at the wrong person.
"I expected to be surrounded by a better caliber of neighbors and their guests considering I pay a premium to stay in this community", the resident said.
After not receiving so much as a courtesy call from the management team, on August 13th, she walked down once again into the parking garage to find two more poorly written threats, signed by the same disgruntled neighbor, threatening to "key her car", because she pays for two reserved parking spots instead of one.
Again, she contacted her local authorities, and asked neighbors to sign a petition asking for security cameras to be placed in the garage, after learning over 10 of the residents have had their cars stolen or vandalized within the past six months to a year.
More alarming, is when she asked for the assistance of her management team after receiving over 50 signatures, she was instructed NOT to speak with him, and he referred her to two people within Riverstone, one of which who is on vacation for a week.
She then emailed several people within Riverstone Residential for a solution, to no avail.
Today, she went to her car after picking her child up from cheerleading, to find a semen filled condom placed on the car.
"We will find the culprit with fingerprints and DNA", advised local Buckhead Police Authorities.
"The terrible thing is that there were so many negative online reviews about the management and how they operate this community. I wish I would have listened before I moved in."
No response from the management team within the Reserve at West Paces or Riverstone has been made at this time. |
Parkinson's disease is the second most common neurodegenerative disorder, affecting 1–2% of the population over 65 years of age. The primary neuropathology is the loss of midbrain dopaminergic neurons, resulting in characteristic motor deficits, upon which the clinical diagnosis is based. However, a number of significant non-motor symptoms (NMS) are also evident that appear to have a greater impact on the quality of life of these patients.
In recent years, it has become increasingly apparent that neurobiological processes can be modified by the bi-directional communication that occurs along the brain-gut axis. The microbiota plays a key role in this communication throughout different routes in both physiological and pathological conditions. Thus, there has been an increasing interest in investigating how microbiota changes within the gastrointestinal tract may be implicated in health and disease including PD.
Interestingly α-synuclein-aggregates, the cardinal neuropathological feature in PD, are present in both the submucosal and myenteric plexuses of the enteric nervous system, prior to their appearance in the brain, indicating a possible gut to brain route of “prion-like” spread. In this review we highlight the potential importance of gut to brain signalling in PD with particular focus on the role of the microbiota as major player in this communication. |
Here’s one mom who’s showing us all how it’s done. Margo Lyons is the kind of woman who would do anything to protect her children. So when she heard that her 14-year-old son, Derek, was getting teased at school, Margo wouldn’t stand for it. Instead, she took action, banishing him to a remote mountain so his bullies couldn’t find him.
What an incredible thing for a mother to do for her son!
As soon as Derek told her that some of the older kids at his school were picking on him, Margo knew what she had to do. That night, she drove with Derek far into the wilderness, took him to the foot of a towering mountain, pointed to the summit, and issued one final instruction: “Go. The hills are your home now. You are banished.”
Advertisement
Yes! Lyons Family: 1; Bullies: 0.
In true supermom fashion, Margo even thought to pack her son some basic provisions for the winter, including bread, salted meat, and a thick coat bearing the Mark of the Pariah. With his mother watching, Derek set off alone knowing that he was finally free to be himself and that he must never, under any circumstance, return.
Well, this is one mama who really cares about her cub! And by providing Derek with no way to contact the outside world, the odds of his aggressors locating him within the dense, mountainous labyrinth of his new home are basically zilch. Job well done, Mrs. Lyons, and on behalf of moms and kids everywhere, we salute you! |
By Kate Hardiman, University of Notre Dame, via The College Fix
Student leaders of this year’s freshman orientation at James Madison University were given a list of 35 things they should avoid saying, including phrases such as “you have such a pretty face,” “love the sinner, hate the sin,” “we’re all part of the human race,” “I treat all people the same,” “it was only a joke,” “I never owned slaves,” and “people just need to pick themselves up by their bootstraps,” among other expressions.
Those phrases and others on the list “widen the diversity gap” and do not “create a safe and inclusive environment,” according to the seven-page handout, a copy of which was provided to The College Fix by a campus spokesman.
Adapted from Dr. Maura Cullen’s book “35 Dumb Things Well-Intended People Say: Surprising Things We Say that Widen the Diversity Gap,” the list also classifies some compliments and encouraging words, such as calling someone “cute” or saying “I know exactly how you feel,” as a no-no.
Many of the “dumb” statements also pertained to race. “I don’t see color,” “I’m colorblind” and “I don’t see difference. We’re all part of the same race, the human race” were all advised against. “If you are going to live in this country, learn to speak the language” also made the list.
After each phrase, an explanation as to why it should be avoided was given. Expressions on race allegedly make people of color feel invisible and diminish their life experiences, the handout states. Statements of empathy supposedly “shuts the other person down,” it adds. Saying to LBGTQ people “what you do in the privacy of your own bedroom is your business” is “hurtful and annoying” because it does not acknowledge the quality and depth of their relationship outside the bedroom, the handout states.
The last item on the list warns against labeling something as political correct, calling it “an attempt to shut the other person up.”
James Madison University’s director of communications Bill Wyatt told The College Fix via email that “this was just an exercise, prior to orientation, to get our volunteers to understand how language affects others. The list was not distributed to our first-year students nor were the volunteers instructed not to use the phrases.”
Yet page one of the handout, written by JMU, reads that orientation leaders should “use this handout as a resource” to help accomplish the goal of creating a “safe and inclusive environment for your first year students.”
They were also called upon by the handout to “take some time to reflect on your prejudices and biases, and how that might affect your interactions with students.”
The full list of 35 “dumb” expressions is:
1. “Some of my best friends are …”
2. “I know exactly how you feel.”
3. “I don’t think of you as …”
4. “The same thing happens to me too.”
5. “It was only a joke! Don’t take things so seriously.”
6. What do ‘your’ people think.”
7. “What are you?” or “Where are you really from?”
8. “I don’t see color” or “I’m color blind.”
9. “You are so articulate.”
10. “It is so much better than it used to be. Just be patient.”
11. “You speak the language very well.”
12. Asking black people about their hair or hygiene.
13. Saying to LBGTQ people “what you do in the privacy of your own bedroom is your business.”
14. “Yes, but you are a ‘good’ one.”
15. “You have such a pretty face.”
16. “I never owned slaves.”
17. “If you are going to live in this country, learn to speak the language!”
18. “She/he is a good person. She/he didn’t mean anything by it.”
19. “When I’ve said the same thing to other people like you, they don’t mind.”
20. Calling women “girls, honey, sweetie pie” or other familiar terms.
21. When people of color say, “It is not the same thing.”
22. When people of faith say, “Love the sinner, hate the sin.”
23. When white men say, “We are the ones being discriminated against now!”
24. Referring to older people as “cute.”
25. Asking a transgender person, “What are you really? A man or a woman?”
26. Referring to the significant other, partner, or spouse of a same gender couple as their “friend.”
27. “Why do ‘they’ (fill in the blank) always have to sit together? They are always sticking together.”
28. “People just need to pick themselves up by their bootstraps.”
29. People with disabilities are “courageous.”
30. “That’s so gay/queer. That’s so retarded.”
31. “I don’t see difference. We are all part of the same race, the human race.”
32. I don’t care if you are pink, purple or orange, I treat all people the same.”
33. Asking a transgender person, “Have you had the operation.”
34. Saying to a Jewish person, “You are so lucky to have ‘your’ Christmas spread over a week!”
35. “Here’s another book on political correctness.”
Click here to read the entire document. |
• Arsenal manager says ‘every kind of solution’ is possible • ‘Both players look happy here; I hope that the situation can be turned around’
Arsène Wenger has admitted Arsenal may be forced to sell Mesut Özil and Alexis Sánchez in January if there is no sign of a breakthrough in contract talks before the transfer window opens.
Özil and Sánchez are both in the final year of their deals and, while Wenger remains hopeful negotiations with his two biggest players will reach a successful conclusion, the manager opened the door to cashing in on the pair if the situation drags on.
The forgotten story of … the Colourful XI tragedy Read more
“Once you are in our kind of situation we have envisaged every kind of solution, yes,” Wenger said. “It’s possible.”
Wenger’s admission could prompt Manchester City to revive their interest in Sánchez, who was aggrieved when a move to Pep Guardiola’s side fell through in the summer. However, Wenger has not put a deadline on talks with either player and said he was encouraged by Özil’s agent saying the German, who is after a massive pay rise before committing himself to Arsenal, wants to stay in the Premier League. Özil earns £140,000 a week and the 28-year-old, who is set to return for the visit to Watford on Saturday, is said to be giving serious thought to staying at Arsenal because of a shortage of suitors.
“That’s my understanding,” Wenger said. “I always said the fact that we didn’t find an agreement last year doesn’t mean the player will necessarily leave. Both players look happy here and overall I hope the situation can be turned around. At the moment, we are not close enough to announce anything.”
Wenger does not believe Chile’s failure to qualify for the World Cup finals will give Sánchez less of an incentive to produce his best form for Arsenal, although he accepted the forward is likely to be suffering emotionally after a 3-0 defeat by Brazil meant the Copa América champions missed out on a place in Russia next summer. “He is in a very difficult mind,” Wenger said.
“Chile just won the Copa América twice and now they don’t even go to the World Cup. Sánchez is 29 at the end of the year, so the next one he will be 33. He expected to go. Certainly it is a big disappointment for him.
“I have no doubt he wants to perform. He never goes on the football pitch to lose a football game. Sánchez is a winner. You want your players to be in a positive mind and to have positive experiences. To go to the World Cup is the target of every single player who plays football.”
Sánchez flew back to London on Thursday and Wenger is worried he will not be ready to start against Watford after a gruelling match against Brazil. “I watched the game, what a physical game it was,” Wenger said. “The number of fouls … He played against Dani Alves, that was a real battle, believe me. It’s worse to watch.”
Arsenal have a potential defensive headache before the trip to Vicarage Road, with Shkodran Mustafi likely to be out for six weeks after suffering a thigh injury in Germany’s win against Azerbaijan on Sunday, Sead Kolasinac struggling with a sore hip and Laurent Koscielny facing a late fitness test on an achilles problem.
“I will completely decide what I do tomorrow because Koscielny will have a test then,” Wenger said. “He worked quite hard physically, he looks like he is capable of playing if he survives the test. If he has no pain on his achilles tendon, he can play. The player I least expected to lose during the break was Mustafi. First of all, I was not sure he would play. Secondly Germany had already qualified so I didn’t expect him to be out injured as the games would be less intense. He didn’t play in the first game and we lost him in the second game against Azerbaijan at home. We have to cope with that now.”
Wenger questioned the proposal by Sky Sports to move Arsenal’s home game against Liverpool to Christmas Eve.“I know that we have to adapt to the schedule dictated by TV,” Wenger said. “If that happens, I think no game should be played after 2pm. I would prefer to be at home on Christmas night and celebrating. I still feel that could happen if we play early.
“You wouldn’t want to sacrifice your evening with your family. But that isn’t considered any more. People want to watch football during the Christmas period.” |
—Austrians voted in a tight presidential race Sunday, electing Alexander Van der Bellen, an independent candidate backed by the Green Party, over Norbert Hofer, the candidate of the right-wing Freedom Party. More here.
—In Italy, voters participated in a referendum on constitutional reform. Prime Minister Matteo Renzi has vowed to resign if the measure fails. More here.
—California officials say the death toll in a fire in Oakland Friday night could rise. Nine people have been confirmed dead. More here.
—The ashes of former Cuban President Fidel Castro were interred in a private ceremony early Sunday in the Santa Ifigenia cemetery, ending a four-day procession across the country. More here.
—We’re live-blogging the news stories of the day below. All updates are in Eastern Standard Time (GMT -5). |
Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)
Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
A newly released police report details allegations that actor Tom Sizemore groped an 11-year-old girl at a Utah photo shoot in 2003.
The documents released Wednesday say the child actor told police Sizemore kissed and groped her as they posed for pictures for the movie eventually titled “Born Killers.”
The report says a woman responsible for children on set told police she didn’t witness inappropriate touching.
Utah prosecutors declined to file charges, citing witness and evidence problems.
A production company lawyer later told police Sizemore had been fired and was suing.
Sizemore’s agent Stephen Rice did not immediately return messages seeking comment.
Sizemore’s career has included roles in “Saving Private Ryan” and “Black Hawk Down,” but he’s also been dogged by drug abuse and domestic violence arrests. |
The main objective of this structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) study was to investigate, using diffusion tensor imaging, whether a neurofeedback training (NFT) protocol designed to improve sustained attention might induce structural changes in white matter (WM) pathways, purportedly implicated in this cognitive ability. Another goal was to examine whether gray matter (GM) volume (GMV) might be altered following NFT in frontal and parietal cortical areas connected by these WM fiber pathways. Healthy university students were randomly assigned to an experimental group (EXP), a sham group, or a control group. Participants in the EXP group were trained to enhance the amplitude of their β1 waves at F4 and P4. Measures of attentional performance and MRI data were acquired one week before (Time 1) and one week after (Time 2) NFT. Higher scores on visual and auditory sustained attention were noted in the EXP group at Time 2 (relative to Time 1). As for structural MRI data, increased fractional anisotropy was measured in WM pathways implicated in sustained attention, and GMV increases were detected in cerebral structures involved in this type of attention. After 50 years of research in the field of neurofeedback, our study constitutes the first empirical demonstration that NFT can lead to microstructural changes in white and gray matter. |
And here we go.
Another chapter out, not too much of a gap in between, thank goodness. Hopefully my plans to write more in the upcoming months come to fruition, as some things have cleared up. Others... not so much, but I'm in no position to complain.
Beta: Maxaro. I'm actually reading The Martian as I type. It's a stellar book, puns aside.
Nora yawned and attempted to wipe the sleep out of her eyes. Shivering a bit against the slightly cooler-than-usual morning temperature, she pulled on a light hoodie over her tank top and pajama bottoms before walking towards the door of her room.
Despite the earliness of the hour and Nora's propensity to sleep in, the smell of pancakes cooking had awoken her, and naturally she had decided to follow its scent to its origin and its dashingly attractive cook.
Sure, that last part may have been a matter of opinion, but Nora could be quite persuasive on the matter – especially so if you had legs and she had her hammer on her.
As Nora entered the kitchen area, Ren looked up and flashed her a smirk.
"Ah, the bear finally awakens after a long winter of hibernation," her boyfriend teased playfully, adopting a narrative tone. "She hasn't eaten in over three months, and now comes in search of potential meal."
"It's eight in the morning, so don't even give me that lip about waking up late. And plus Mama bear's gotta eat, and ain't nobody gonna stop me," she retorted in equal playfulness, lazily finding his lips with her own before pulling back and trudging past him. "'Potential,' my ass."
She immediately yelped as she felt a squeeze on her rear end, and the mirthful voice from behind her. "Your ass indeed has potential."
Sometimes Ren really took Nora off guard.
And that was why that shrewd, unassuming man turned her on so damn much.
"Geez…" Nora sighed, half in exasperation and half in a haze of hastily stifled urges. "You could at least wait til I've eaten before pulling that shit on me." She stretched her arms and torso, feeling each and every muscle ripple as she did so. "Did you pick the mail up this morning?"
"Not yet. It's… really cold."
"Right." Nora grinned at him, swiping up the mailbox keys. "Delicate little lotus flowers don't survive well in the cold. Leave it to the one worthy of Valhalla to brave the cold, my precious blossom!"
She heard a snort from behind her as she walked past the huntsman. "Yeah, whatever."
Opening the door of their house, she walked barefoot across the rather frigid pavement towards the mailbox in front of their minuscule yard. The jangle of the keys rattled along beside her as she reached to unlock the tiny door.
Damn… it's all junk mail today, Nora groaned internally, folding the lump of papers under her left arm. Not like she expected any different, but to Nora boring was still to be treated the way boring had always been treated.
Turning around, she caught sight of a familiar and somewhat ragged form in sweats and a light cerulean training bra heaving ever so slowly towards Nora, her red hair dripping with sweat.
Nora blinked.
"… Pyrrha…?"
The redhead waved with a mighty effort and tempered to a stop before Nora, much in the same way that molten steel tempers solid with agonizing evetuality.
"H… hey… Nora!" Bowled over with her shaking hands on her shaking knees, Pyrrha attempted to reply in between gulps of air, to little success. "What's up… with… you and… Ren…?"
Now that the redhead stood directly in front of her, Nora was able to get a better look at her best friend
Suffice to say, Pyrrha looked... awful. She seemed on the verge of dropping like a sack of potatoes, and the half-hearted grin looked more like a pained grimace. As a matter of fact, all of her looked in pain. Her body was drenched in sweat, and she shined like polished marble - well, melting polished marble, in any case.
However, it was Pyrrha's eyes that stood out the most. They were bagged and haggard, and sleep seemed to have avoided them like the plague.
Nora cleared her throat and tiredly rubbed her nose with her sleeve. "Pyr… what are… doing?"
"Ahah… heh… me? I just… been… y'know… jogging. Good for… the heart!"
She raised an eyebrow dubiously. "From… your house…?"
"Yup! Issa… issa long way, y'know?" Pyrrha laughed, which quickly turned into a wheezing fit.
"Uh…" Nora quickly ran the numbers in her head. "Pyr, you live on the other side of the city. That's an hour-long drive… so that's like forty miles? That's not some 'jog!' Goddamn, Pyrrha, when did you start running?"
"Ah… like… 5:30?"
"… You ran an hour-long drive… in two and a half hours." Nora's head began to ache at the revelation. "That's fucking insane! On top of that, that doesn't sound healthy at all! I mean, maybe I'm kinda impressed, but I'm really worried that you're gonna keel over any second now..."
Pyrrha smiled sheepishly, her heaving breathing still not slowing down. "Well… y'know… I like running."
Nora groaned and pinched the bridge of her nose. All these years later, still the same stubborn, prideful Pyrrha. Based on their personalities alone, it was almost ridiculous how many times Nora had found herself scolding her best friend throughout their friendship as opposed to the other way around.
"I'm pretty sure I know what's up. You're coming in and having breakfast with Ren and me, and we're going to talk. I swear, with how stubborn you are, you probably didn't even eat anything before you ran."
"But I… I gotta… run back…" The redhead attempted to swivel around and almost buckled under her own weight.
Nora grabbed her arm. "There's no way in hell I'm letting you do that. You're gonna have breakfast with us or God so help me I will break your legs and make sure you never run again."
Pyrrha felt her stomach convulse violently
"I think… I'm going to puke."
Nora and Ren gave a collective sigh from the kitchen table as they watched their friend moan from her sprawled position on the floor. Whatever strength had allowed her to stand upright and walk through the door had promptly departed in the middle of the living room, and now Pyrrha was left clutching her angry stomach in one hand and a wastebasket in the other as the world spun around her.
She had actually wretched a couple of times already as she laid there, but true to Nora's suspicions, Pyrrha had nothing in her stomach to actually vomit, and the smell of food from the kitchen made her feel even sicker instead of hungry.
Shaking her head, Nora finished up the rest of her pancakes before heading over to the redhead's unmoving form and massaging her back gently.
"You're that fucked up over Jaune, huh," she murmured softly, and it came out more as a statement than a question.
Pyrrha rolled over gingerly to face her best friend. "Ahaha… why… would you say… that?"
From his spot in the kitchen, Ren poured himself a cup of steaming hot tea. "You're not denying it."
Pyrrha closed her eyes. The spinning of the room had gotten to be too much for her. "I guess... I'm not."
"I have to say… we weren't really expecting you to be this strung up on Jaune moving on," Ren murmured sympathetically. "We thought you'd be the one to move on first. "
The redhead felt her face go red with guilt. "Well, excuse me for... having human tendencies, too."
"Like sleeping with him and then saying it was a mistake?" Nora sighed softly. "Y'know, I can't say that I blame the guy. I mean, don't get me wrong, what he did wasn't exactly the most well thought-out of plans either, him and Rubes hitting it off and all, but what you did to him was… kinda messed up."
"God, I know!" Pyrrha groaned, giving Nora a hurt look. "You think that I haven't... been thinking that same thing... for the last week since I got - oh God." She felt the acidic bile suddenly rise up her throat, and she made every determined effort to quell the urge to vomit.
Eventually, the terrible nausea passed, and Pyrrha hesitantly continued. "Besides... I was planning on apologizing…"
"The month after you got back from Fort Soap?" interjected Ren. "Month's a long time, Pyrrha."
"Yes," Pyrrha hissed softly. "That should've been... plenty of time for him to cool down."
"It was plenty of time for him to try to find some other way to find solace," Ren sighed. "But, we're not going to rag on you. After all, we made some assumptions that we shouldn't have, so who are we to talk?"
"That's true," Nora nodded thoughtfully. "I'm sorry if we came off a little mean. But that's only 'cuz you went dark on us all for a month, y'know. So, please, talk to us. We're always here to listen."
Pyrrha grimaced. "I… I don't know. It still feels like you two are picking sides."
Nora and Ren shared a glance.
"We won't. I promise," replied Nora.
"Agreed," added Ren. "And by the way, these pancakes aren't getting any warmer. Do you feel any better?"
Pyrrha took in a deep breath. Most of the nausea seemed to have subsided by now, and she nodded slowly.
"A little."
Ren smiled. "Wonderful. Please, come take a seat by the table and talk with us."
The redhead looked between both Nora and Ren before sitting up with an effort. "… Alright."
In all the time Nora and Ren had known her, Pyrrha had been a delicate eater, following pretty much every bullet point of meal etiquette in written history.
And it wasn't as if she had completely abandoned all properness as she chowed down on pancakes this time around. However, Pyrrha attacked the pancakes as if she hadn't eaten in days, and despite her fatigued state, she still exhibited none of the sloppiness associated with eating at such a speed.
"Talk about depression eating," Nora muttered under her breath, to which Ren moved to rap his knuckles briskly against the ginger's cranium.
"Ow! Ren!"
Pyrrha glanced up at the squabbling couple and giggled softly. "Some things never change."
Ren and Nora paused their lover's spat for a moment before chuckling along with Pyrrha.
It was the first time all morning that she'd given even a hint of a real smile.
"Well, y'know," Nora chirped. "Someone's always gotta be the comic relief!"
"I refuse to be labeled as such," muttered Ren, sipping his tea.
Nora slapped his back cheerily, causing the huntsman to expel some of the tea from his mouth in a startled fashion.
"Nah, you're the straight man in our Pinky-and-the-Brain routine!"
Ren grumbled as he wiped mouth. "Firstly, I doubt either Pinky or the Brain were trope straight men, and second, the idea that we're a comedy routine scares me."
Pyrrha was just content to watch the couple riff back and forth as she continued to eat.
Eventually, when the pancakes were finished and their appetites were whet, the delicate subject of Pyrrha and Jaune's relationship came up once more.
The redhead stared at her hands as her thumbs twiddled, then sighed.
"It's just… I just… I mean, you guys weren't wrong in thinking I might move on first," the redhead managed. "I thought so, too. At least… at least up until the point when Jaune told me he and Ruby…" She trailed off.
"That's what a divorce is, Pyrrha," Ren smiled sadly. "Eventually, someone's going to have to move on. You, him. Someone has to make that move, and it surprised us too when it was Jaune who did. Talking to him gave me the impression that he was... less than inclined to move on."
"So you see why I thought he wasn't going to move so fast?" Pyrrha attempted to meet her friends' eyes.
"Well…" Nora pulled the neck of her shirt sheepishly. "There was the thing."
The redhead remained silent for a while, and her eyes shifted away once more.
"There's… just no way around it, is there?" she murmured, voice growing hoarse with emotion. "I did a terrible, terrible thing, and I would do anything to take it all back. But… I can't. Because I'm a damned fool."
The couple remained silent. They weren't going to lie to their friend.
Pyrrha continued. "I… I literally have no idea what to do. Every chance that I had to mend our relationship... I… I… fucked up." She flinched at her own utterance of the expletive. "And… now he's about to start a damn family. How do you… how do I even… start to fix… anything? He's moving on… and I'm just… stuck…"
"Well… you just gotta move on, then!" Nora offered, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
Pyrrha's reaction towards Nora's simple answer was nothing short of surprise. "I-I'm sorry?"
"Sounds pretty straightforward to me," Nora smiled gently. "Where you are now is pretty much exactly where Jaune was when he was stuck in your little not-together-together limbo. And he pretty much moved on! So you can, too!"
The redhead balked. "But... but that's not what I want to do at all! I want to fix things with Jaune, not just to pretend we were never friends and start dating other people again!"
"While a bit callous, I have to agree with Nora, honestly," Ren replied gently. "I think you have a bit of soul-searching to do, and it's not something you can do by just making up with Jaune. This is something you need to do for you. If you don't want to be in a rut, then you have to force yourself to get out of it. And I know, neither I nor Nora have had to deal with anything like what you're going through, so we can't give you a step-by-step process on how to get back to good, but life requires self-growth, and this is no different." He poured out a cup of tea and passed it to his former teammate.
Pyrrha accepted the drink gingerly and took a cautioned sip, eyes glued to the golden liquid in the cup. "I… don't even know how to date other people. Jaune was the only person I was ever with. I don't… know how to be with anyone else." Her voice grew quiet, as if she was speaking more to herself than she was to her friends. "Do I even want to move on…?"
Ren let slip a hollow laugh, and Nora elbowed him for it.
"Umph!" Ren coughed, before regaining his composure. "Sorry. It's just that Jaune responded the same way when he came to me for advice a while ago."
Nora rolled her eyes. "Pffft. You tricked him into going to a painting class with you and became Confucius. Don't make stuff up."
"Pot calling the kettle black?" Ren retorted calmly.
The ginger grumbled but kept her mouth shut.
Pyrrha chuckled softly in spite of herself.
Ren cleared his throat. "In any case… we won't tell you what you already know, because you're obviously beating yourself up over it. So… just know that we'll be here if you need help or advice."
"Yup!" Nora added. "In fact, if you'd like, maybe we can set you up on a few blind dates, just so you can test the waters?"
Ren nodded. "I know it must be hard to move on from this, but in our line of work, that's the name of the game – relationships are no different. People make mistakes, and however devastating that lesson may turn out to be, we learn from them and become better people because of it. The only reason you should rue yourself because of a mistake like that is if you don't learn from it. And I know you're not that kind of person."
Pyrrha glanced up from her drink, eyes wrought with poorly hidden emotion as she looked between both Ren and Nora, then nodded, although her expression remained sorrowfully unconvinced. "Right… of course."
Nora, taking note of this, gave a sympathetic grin. "Jaune's our friend, and while we do all we can to help him figure his shit out, you're our friend, too, and we're gonna be here for you because that's what friends are for!"
The redhead turned to her, stifling another heavy sigh… before allowing herself a faint, if not hesitant, smile. "Thank you, Nora, Ren. I… I really have no idea how to handle this… but I am glad that you two are here for me. As you've always been."
Nora nodded happily, before standing up from her seat. "Now let's get you a taxi home!"
Pyrrha laughed nervously. "Um… I think I'll just walk –"
"HELL NO! Are you crazy!?" In a flash, Nora's face was inches from Pyrrha's, causing the latter to utter a short yelp in surprise. "If you think we're gonna let you walk all that way home, you've got another thing comin'! Now just wait patiently like a good little dolly and I promise I won't cave your knees in, m'kay?"
All this was delivered while her face twisted into a hauntingly unpleasant smile, and Pyrrha gulped at the all-too familiar sight.
Indeed, some things never change.
"Right," Pyrrha laughed, a bit forceful. "Of course."
As the taxi sped away from the Valkyrie/Ren household, Nora sauntered back to her seat by Ren at the kitchen table before slumping in the chair.
"That girl… she's in a bad way, ain't she?" Nora murmured wistfully.
"Mmm." Ren only hummed in response.
The ginger glared at her boyfriend and rolled her eyes. "Really, dude?"
"Sorry," Ren smiled mirthlessly. "It's just… I'd never tell them, of course, but those two give me a headache sometimes with how… shall we say, difficult they are. Both of them are fairly hardheaded, and, well, they seem to love ignoring other people's advice for them. They're like teenagers in a rebellious phase."
Nora sighed, then smiled teasingly. "Lookey at you, Renny-Ren. You sound like an old fart trying to teach a bunch of kids how to behave in class. But... this is our old teammates we're talking about here. Ease up on them. They need help, Ren, not scolding, y'know."
Ren looked at Nora meaningfully, then wrapped his adjacent arm around her. "You're right. I'm sorry. I should treat them more like friends then nuisances. God knows they've always been around for us." He sighed. "Sometimes, you're a lot wiser on these matters than I am."
"Oh... shucks, you!" Nora grinned happily and reached a hand up to clasp the one on her shoulder before sobering up a bit. "It must be rough to be in her shoes, though. I think there was a part of her that really hoped to fix their relationship, maybe to when they used to be together-together. But… she doesn't have that chance anymore…"
"Indeed," Ren agreed. "She still loves him deeply, but not just in a platonic way… although maybe she hadn't even realized that herself."
Nora shook her head. "Nope, I think she came around to it. Recently, by the looks of it. And, if I'm being perfectly honest, the way she talks about Jaune moving on with his life with Ruby and all… I can't help but feel like she's a little bit… jealous of him."
"Hmmm… you may be on to something," Ren frowned. "I guess as part of the idea that she'd be the first to move on in that relationship."
"So… like it was a big ol' competition or something?" Nora shook her head, brow furrowed. "No. I just can't see it like that. Pyrrha might be a bit… off, recently, but… I don't think I could ever see her as petty."
Ren remained silent for a moment before nodding. "I hope you're right."
Nora placed her head in the crook of her partner's shoulder. "Me too…"
Ruby sighed and leaned back in her chair to stretch her arms.
A yawn escaped her mouth as she looked back at the project she'd been working on from home. The beginnings of a new mechanical arm lay assembled on the table in front of her, with various other parts scattered around it.
She sighed happily. It wasn't exactly a perfect execution of such a complex build, seeing as it was her first time dabbling in such, but it was progress nonetheless. Progress was good.
Picking up the nearby Philips screwdriver, she continued to tinker around with the components of the arm for a while until the sound of a door unlocking came to her attention.
Perking at the noise, Ruby grinned. "Hey Jaune! Welcome home!" she called out.
The door closed, and the blonde's scruffy-haired head poked into the dining room, where Ruby sat. "Hey Rubes." He waved at her with a smile and walked over towards the table, where Ruby's work-in-progress lay, placing his briefcase on the floor with a soft thump. "You've been busy, huh?"
Ruby stood up from her seat and gave Jaune a light kiss on the cheek. "Yup! Y'know, at first I kinda figured it'd be useful to know how to make these in the future, seeing as I'll be practically living with them, and I figured I could learn how to make different kinds for different purposes… but then I remembered about my job at the weapons mechanic and about how awesome it is when these little huntsmen and huntresses in-training come out of my shop smiling about their new weapons..."
She paused a moment in thought before gesturing at the mechanical arm on the table. "So I thought maybe I could expand a bit and see if maybe I could start making mechanical prosthetics, too! I figured if I start learning how to make these, I might be able to convince the boss to let make me introduce these as a product at the shop and offer repair services for them as well. Not only should there be a sizable clientele for that kinda thing, but, y'know… I could eventually help out a bunch of huntsmen who've become… well, like me." Ruby ended her little spiel with a smile, not one with regret or sadness, but a genuinely pleased smile.
Jaune blinked, wide-eyed.
Ruby frowned. "Hey, you okay? Don't go daydreaming on me now."
"Oh." Jaune shook his head, chuckling. "Sorry. I forget how passionate you can be about these kinds of things."
The redhead puffed her cheeks. "Flattery will get you nowhere," she grumbled in a teasing tone.
"I'm serious!" The blonde reached for Ruby's human hand with both of his own and firmly grasped it. "Not like I should be surprised, actually. I mean, it's just like you… maybe you can't be a huntress anymore, but fate be damned if you can't find a way to keep on helping people like you always, albeit maybe in some different ways. I guess nothing can keep you down for the count in the long run, huh?"
Ruby, staring at her hand in his, smiled coyly. "Oh, you… you're so damn gooey. Our kid is gonna hate us, y'know that?"
Jaune scoffed, pretending to be offended. "Me? Gooey!? P-shaw, I say! And our kid is not gonna hate me, of all people, because I'll be the cool parent."
"Please," Ruby laughed. "You weren't even the cool kid in school."
"Ooof... Geez, Rubes, that's kinda harsh!" Jaune groaned.
The redhead grinned. "You started it."
"Nuh-uh."
"Yeah-huh!"
"Nuh-uh!"
"Yeah-huh!"
"Okay, okay! Y'know what?" Jaune waved his arms in surrender. "How about we call it a truce?"
He stuck a hand out.
Ruby's eyes narrowed at the hand.
Being sisters with Yang, she knew how this went.
It was definitely a trick.
But then again… this was Jaune, the most genuine person ever. He'd never hurt a fly over a grudge. Or anyone else if he could help it, of course.
But… it could be a trick.
Going against her gut feeling, she stuck her own hand out. "Truce."
Jaune grabbed it.
... And swiftly pulled Ruby towards him before giving her a noogie.
Ruby wrenched away, jaw agape, but before she could retaliate, the blonde had ran out of the kitchen and into the living room, a twinkle in his eye and the biggest shit-eating grin across his face as he disappeared from sight.
"You…" Ruby gasped and shook her head, unable to stop the grin from forming on her own face. "So that's how it's gonna be, huh, Arc? Hell, if you think that you can outrun me, you sure have another thing comin', boy!"
With a newly sparked fire in her eyes, she gave chase, laughing mirthfully.
Parenthood could wait.
Story progression, not much else. Felt kinda meh, writing this one. Of course, that could have to do with it being written in segments on an eighteen-hour red-eye flight...
There's a pretty good chance that the next piece of writing I release will be something different entirely, not this fic. Quite a bit of new content coming, including something I've been meaning to start for almost a year now, so keep an eye out for that.
... Serious question, does anyone want me to actually finish Ten Little Hunters? I mean, there's no passion of work left in it for me, but I also feel bad leaving it incomplete, and there's a lot of prizes there I need to keep with, too. Those I'll certainly get to, but it still feels wrong to just leave the fic as it is (outcomes are all figured out, btw. I just didn't finish filling in the actual story parts yet). If there's still an interest in that finishing up, please let me know via here, Tumblr, reddit, etc, and I'll take it out of the archives and see what I can do.
In any case, until next time. |
Some of the hardiest organisms on the planet are so small you can’t see them without a microscope.
Tardigrades, or water bears, are microscopic creatures that can survive when most other earthly animals can’t. Space? Sure. Under extreme pressure (paywall)? Easy. After being frozen for years, like Han Solo’s carbonite cryptobiosis at the end of The Empire Strikes Back? No problem—and they’ll have viable offspring when thawed, too. And remarkably, they can somehow withstand high levels of radiation (paywall), which is “one of the things that’s guaranteed to kill you,” as Mark Blaxter, a geneticist at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, told the BBC.
How water bears live in these extreme conditions is a mystery, but Japanese researchers just published eight years of work isolating a particular tardigrade-unique protein that stops their DNA from mutating when bombarded with radiation. The team was even able to use the protein to protect human DNA from radiation when the gene was inserted into human cells.
The researchers sequenced the entire genetic code of one species of tardigrade called Ramazzottius varieornatus. This species survives radiation (paywall), like the kind emitted by X-rays and cosmic rays in space (paywall), pretty consistently. They found a protein, which they called Dsup for “damage suppressor,” that prevents damage to R. varieonatus DNA when exposed to these kinds of radiation.
“What’s astonishing is that previously, molecules that repair damaged DNA were thought to be important for tolerating radiation,” Takuma Hashimoto, a biologist at the University of Tokyo and co-author of the paper, said in a press release. “On the contrary, Dsup works to minimize the harm inflicted on the DNA.”
The authors isolated the genes that code for this protein, and inserted it into a line of human kidney cells, all of which had the same genetic material. They exposed these modified kidney cells to four Grays worth of X-rays—an amount that would, if applied to a person over the entirety of her body, would cause radiation sickness and kill her within 30 days if she didn’t receive treatment. When treated with Dsup, these human kidney cells experienced 40% less damage than they would ordinarily, and could still reproduce. (Actual tardigrade cells were able to withstand much more radiation: 4,000 Grays of helium ion radiation, which is much more damaging than X-rays. )
Of course, this work looked only at human kidney cells—we’re nowhere near being able to translate tardigrade abilities to another living organism yet. But finding the first step to radioactive invincibility is a start to figuring out how humans may be able to survive in harsh environments, like space, in the future. |
Native American lobbyist Tom Rodgers, the main whistleblower in the Jack Abramoff scandal, isn’t satisfied with the government’s request for two years in jail for Michael Scanlon.
Scanlon, a central figure in the Abramoff lobbying scandal, faces sentencing Friday, and Rodgers wants the judge to hand down at least the same amount of prison time Abramoff received.Abramoff, the former high-flying GOP lobbyist, was ordered to serve a six-year sentence but was released for good behavior after three and a half years last June, first to a halfway house and then to home confinement.
Scanlon, a one-time aide to former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas), was Abramoff’s right-hand man and played a key role in the wide-ranging lobbying scandal, which defrauded several Native American tribes of tens of millions of dollars.
“Is two years justice?” Rodgers, a member of the Blackfeet Nation who represents several tribal interests in Washington, asked in an interview with TPM. “Justice for Native Americans who Michael Scanlon referred to as subhuman while he stole their dreams?…A reduced sentence for being the Judas even among his co-conspirators?”
“I believe in forgiveness for that will enrich one’s soul, but I cannot forget the pain of his words and deeds,” he continued.
Rodgers was referring to e-mails between Scanlon and Abramoff demonstrating a contemptuous attitude toward their tribal clients. In many of them, the pair referred to Native Americans as “morons,” “troglodytes,” and “monkeys.”
To help right the wrongs, Rodgers would like to see Scanlon serve at least part of his sentence in service projects for Native American children and elderly tribal leaders.
“In healing them, perhaps he would heal himself,” Rodgers said.
Other aggrieved tribal members, including the Louisiana Coushatta’s David Sickey, plan to be on hand Friday to argue for a more severe sentence.
Until early last year when The Hill ran a profile of Rodgers revealing his role in bringing down Abramoff through strategic document leaks to key members of the media, he had kept largely silent. Since that time, he has played a leading role in the Abramoff documentary “Casino Jack and the United States of Money,” attended its debut at the Sundance Film Festival and received honorary degrees and ethics awards from several universities.
Scanlon’s attorneys are citing another “Casino Jack” film — a Hollywood feature starring Kevin Spacey as one of several reasons why Scanlon should serve less than two years. The actor’s portrayal of him has already soiled his reputation, they argue in their own legal filing. They also said Scanlon “believed he was literally risking his life” by cooperating with the feds.
Abramoff and Scanlon orchestrated an elaborate kickback scheme in which tribes would pay Scanlon’s public relations firm extraordinary “consulting” fees and Scanlon would kickback a percentage to Abramoff. The practice allowed he and Abramoff to avoid lobbying disclosure rules and sidestepped fees that would have otherwise gone to Greenberg Traurig, Abramoff’s lobbying firm before he was fired after news of the scandal broke.
Scanlon has been cooperating with Justice Department prosecutors to turn state’s evidence against his former friends and colleagues many of whom became defendants in the wide-ranging corruption case.
“The government greatly credits Scanlon for being the first one to cooperate with the government, and, consequently, considers Scanlon’s cooperation as contributing to the success of all of the prosecutions,” DOJ prosecutors said.
The government also requested that the court “set a hearing to determine to whom and the proper amounts of restitution to be paid by Mr. Scanlon.”
In his 2005 plea deal, Scanlon was required to pay nearly $19.7 million in restitution to Native American tribes. Scanlon also testified in DeLay’s state corruption trial last month.
Ethics watchdog Meredith McGehee, the policy director of the Campaign Legal Center, was surprised by the two-year recommendation because most defendants who cooperate as extensively as Scanlon did, receive little or no jail time. But the two-year suggestion is a telltale sign of Scanlon’s integral role in the corruption schemes. |
After seeming destined for Cincinnati, then Penn State, then Ohio State, then Cincinnati again, four-star defensive tackle Aeneas Hawkins has finally come to a decision on where he wants to play his college football. The four-star native of The Queen City is heading east to Happy Valley, as announced in a video posted on The Players Tribune this morning.
The Nittany Lions originally offered Hawkins a scholarship back in July of 2016 while on an unofficial visit. After that, Hawkins earned offers from, well, everyone. Ohio State, Clemson, Alabama, Oklahoma, Miami, USC, and Michigan were just a few of the big names to extend an offer to the powerful tackle. Despite all of this, his experiences at and feelings about Penn State prevailed in the end.
The Hawkins File
Class: 2018
2018 Size: 6'3/265 lbs.
6'3/265 lbs. Pos: DT
DT School: Archbishop Moeller (Cincinnati, OH)
Archbishop Moeller (Cincinnati, OH) Composite Rating: ★★★★ (0.9020)
★★★★ (0.9020) Composite Rank: No. 284 overall, No. 23 defensive tackle
The battle for Hawkins' services had long been one between Ohio State, Cincinnati, and Penn State, with each one running hot and cold at various points. Ohio State being the home-state and national superpower has obvious appeal, as does his parents' alma mater in Cincinnati. Still, as Hawkins told me back in February, this Penn State staff is one of the best in the country in recruiting.
Hawkins had not been on campus in State College since late-March until returning last month for the Lasch Bash. He loved all of his past visits, so it's not a surprise to hear that his final trip before committing went smoothly as well.
RELATED Hawkins: "That coaching staff, they roll out the red carpet"
Hawkins gives Penn State their 23rd commitment in the 2018 class, and fourth defensive lineman. With potentially as few as two total spots left in the class, the Lions are likely in "best available player" mode, rather than looking at specific positions.
Built in the mold of two of his favorite NFL players (Geno Atkins, Aaron Donald), Hawkins will likely never be much of a double team space eater. He will, however, do an excellent job at forcing pressure and creating it on his own. The four-star will look to bring quickness and speed to the defensive tackle position in a way that hasn't been seen since Anthony Zettel.
It doesn't take much to see the potential in a player like Hawkins, and when you can get someone like that who also cares deeply about their education, it's hard to not give everything you've got at that kid.
With Hawkins' commitment, Penn State sits at No. 4 in the country. |
Explosive accusations of sexual misconduct by Alabama's Republican nominee for the US Senate, Roy Moore, made immediate headlines across the United States and the world — but not on Fox News.
A Washington Post report detailing allegations that Moore had sexually abused a 14-year-old girl in Alabama when he was in his early 30s was a leading story Thursday across cable news networks such as MSNBC, CNN and the BBC.
On the other hand, Fox's top prime-time news shows, Hannity and Tucker Carlson Tonight, were more interested in the spat between former DNC Chair Donna Brazile and Hillary Clinton's campaign. Carlson barely mentioned the allegations against Moore, and Sean Hannity tried to play down the story. Hannity went as far as to suggest that the women in the story were lying about their interaction with Moore:
"Do people do it for money, do they do it for political reasons? Is it more common than people would think?" Hannity asked a legal analyst on his show.
Before Hannity, Tucker Carlson spent most of his hour-long show ranting about the addictive dangers of social media and urging the Trump administration to investigate Clinton's campaign for allegedly manipulating the Democratic National Committee.
As Mediaite points out, Carlson only mentioned the allegations against Moore at the very end of his show, for a total of 46 seconds. This is all he said:
Quite a bit of political drama in Alabama tonight. The Washington Post claims that Republican candidate Judge Roy Moore is running for Senate to replace Jeff Sessions. They said he tried to initiate relationships with teens several years ago. The 32-year-old kissed and fondled a 14-year-old girl at his home. More than a dozen Republican senators in Washington have said that Moore must step aside if those allegations prove to be true. Moore says they’re not true. He is sticking by that pretty emphatically. A showdown with Doug Jones is scheduled for December 12th. We’ll continue to follow this story.
Four women said Moore pursued relationships with them as teens
In the Washington Post's story, four women described in detail how the influential Alabama lawyer allegedly pursued relationships with them when he was in his 30s and when they were under 18.
The most shocking accusation came from Leigh Corfman, who said Moore approached her and her mother at an Alabama courthouse when she was 14, then privately asked for Corfman for her phone number. She claims that Moore later drover her to his house, undressed her, and fondled her. Three other women said Moore pursued them when they were between 16 and 18 years old, though they said he didn't pressure them into a relationship after rejecting his advances.
In a statement published in Breitbart, Moore denied the accusations, calling the report “completely false” and “a desperate political attack by the National Democrat Party and the Washington Post on this campaign.”
The allegations have caused panic in Washington, DC, as the special election is a month away. Many prominent Republicans on Capitol Hill asked Moore to step aside, particularly establishment Republicans like Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who endorsed his primary opponent, Luther Strange.
The seat Moore is running for was vacated by former Sen. Jeff Sessions and is considered a crucial win for the Republican Party to maintain its slim majority in the Senate. |
Seems like WarGaming is intent on bringing plenty more special tanks to the game. This is an IS-8 prototype, originally known as Obj. 730, that has seen mass production as IS-8 and seems to be named IS-5 in the game. It’s unclear whether this will be a regular premium or a CW reward tank.
It’s not a new plan though, this tank appeared in the December 2014 supertest, so I’m guessing since is popping up again it might hit the game pretty soon.
Without further ado, here’s the upcoming Soviet Tier 8 Premium Heavy Tank, IS-5:
Characteristics:
HP: 1550
Engine power: 700 hp
Weight: 49.045 t
Power-to-weight: 14.27
Maximum speed: + 42 / -14 km / h
Hull traverse: 26 degrees / s
Turret traverse: 25 degrees / s
View Range: 360 m
Radio range: 440 m
Hull Armour: 120/120 /? mm
Turret Armor: 201/129 /? mm
Gun: D-25-T
Damage: 390
Penetration: 175
Rate of fire: 5.214
DPM: 2033
Reload time: 11.507 s
Accuracy: 0.441
Aiming Time: 3.07
Depression: -5 degrees
Matchmaking: 8-10
Armor:
Source: dom1n.com and FTR(updated stats) |
Get the biggest politics stories by email Subscribe Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Could not subscribe, try again later Invalid Email
Right-wing journalist Raheem Kassam has quit the Ukip leadership race just three days after he launched his bid in a pub.
The Trump-like former Nigel Farage aide, 30, announced his decision today with a rant at the "disgraceful" media for trying to speak to his parents.
Mr Kassam was widely criticised for his abusive outbursts on Twitter, saying Nicola Sturgeon's legs should be taped shut and telling a "blobby" teenager to "f*** off to Greggs".
But the journalist claims it is him who's suffered. He made a harassment complaint against the Times for "showing up at my elderly parents' house at dusk, intimidating them".
Dusk last week was at around 5.30pm. The Times rubbished the complaint saying it was simply "standard reporting practice".
'Farageist' candidate Mr Kassam, who launched his bid in a Westminster pub at 10.45am on Friday, was immediately forced to deny he'd lost the backing of millionaire Ukip donor Arron Banks.
(Image: Getty)
He curiously claimed he didn't have enough funds to mount a full-scale campaign despite diamond mine tycoon Mr Banks swinging behind him.
Mr Kassam wrote on Twitter: "Arron did not pull his support but I never wanted to take big cheques from singular donors. We never discussed money."
He also claimed the top of the party was treating the race like a "coronation" and MEPs had broken rules by using party databases to campaign against him.
Mr Kassam added: "It is a decision I have not taken lightly, but following meetings this weekend I realised the path to victory is too narrow."
(Image: Getty)
The 'alt-right' writer, whose slogan was "Make Ukip Great Again", urged his supporters to back fellow candidate Peter Whittle.
Nominations in the Ukip leadership race close at noon today.
As of 10am there are just four candidates - down from eight last week.
The two frontrunners are former deputy leader Paul Nuttall and former acting leader Suzanne Evans, back in the fold after a six-month suspension.
Also running are London Assembly member Mr Whittle and John Rees Evans, who once said a gay donkey tried to rape his horse.
MEP Bill Etheridge, Assembly member David Kurten and member Andrew Beadle have all pulled out.
Ukip is still fraught with in-fighting. Mr Kassam accused Ms Evans of spreading muck about him to journalists and today Ukip's MP Douglas Carswell tweeted an emoji of a man wearing shades - the same reacting he gave when Nigel Farage quit.
A spokesman for the Times said: "Last week a Times reporter had a very short, polite conversation with a family member.
"It is standard reporting practice to talk to friends and family when writing a profile about someone seeking political office." |
A new Media Matters report examined how frequently recent print and TV reports from major outlets--CNN, NBC, The New York Times, Washington Post, and others--mentioned climate change when they reported on wildfires. The answer: not very frequently. Between April and July, just 4 percent of TV reports and 9 percent of print reports mentioned climate change in their fire coverage.
Climate change is a major contributing factor to wildfires, like the blaze in Arizona that killed 19 firefighters this week . But is that connection being made in news reports?
That actually turned out to be an increase in frequency, albeit a small one: a Media Matters report from last summer put print coverage mentioning climate change at 6 percent, with TV coverage at a mere 2 percent. Any increase is good, since large wildfires have become more frequent and are expected to become even more frequent. (It's important to remember climate change isn't the only cause of the increased frequency, but it's a huge contributing factor to wildfires, and extreme weather in general.)
The report raises some difficult questions, like: What's the ideal frequency of mentioning climate change? Do breaking news stories get a pass, while the majority of follow-ups should mention the relationship? Should only certain stories mention it? But if viewers or readers miss learning about the connection because they blink, it's time to take it up a notch.
Media Matters |
The Melbourne to Geelong train trip would be cut from an hour to 35 minutes and a new "fast line" would link the CBD with the airport, under an ambitious 25-year plan calling for major investment in Victoria's regional rail system.
The "Intercity" report calls for the introduction of new regional trains able to travel at 200 kilometres per hour, and rail upgrades that would allow this high-speed operation "where achievable".
A revamped regional rail network would help ease the burden on Melbourne from its massive population growth, by encouraging more Victorians to live in regional cities, it says.
The plan, prepared by the Rail Futures Institute and to be launched on Monday by former deputy prime minister Tim Fischer, says a better regional rail network would allow thousands more country residents to commute to Melbourne for work, while enabling more Melburnians to travel to jobs in regional cities. It says Victoria should aim for a regional population of at least three million by mid-century. |
Yesterday Microsoft announced plans to allow pirated versions of Windows to upgrade to Windows 10 once the new operating system launches. Now the company has clarified some of its statements and the picture is a bit less rosy.
Yesterday’s good news may have been a bit too good to be true. Microsoft’s Terry Myerson announced that the upcoming free upgrade to Windows 10 would be available to pirates as well, in an effort to bolsters adoption numbers and “re-engage” the hundreds of millions of users that are running non-genuine software.
Unfortunately, the company had scaled back a bit on its plans saying that the free upgrade, though available, won’t actually change the license state of a user’s OS. In plain speak this means that if you were running a pirated copy of Windows, you’ll still be running a pirated copy even after upgrading to Windows 10.
This move seems counterproductive though, or rather self-sabotaging. If the company’s goal was to re-engage users and make sure everyone was running the same codebase then what’s the point in differentiating between licensed and unlicensed? Unless, of course, unlicensed versions will have other limitations. But this might result in pirates still opting to hack the OS to remove those limitations which brings us full circle.
It’s not clear what Microsoft’s plans are and their statements only raise more questions. Unfortunately, the waters will likely remain muddled until we get closer to the launch of Windows 10.
Here’s Microsoft full statement:
The consumer free upgrade offer for Windows 10 applies to qualified new and existing devices running Windows 7, Windows 8.1 and Windows Phone 8.1. Some editions are excluded from the consumer free upgrade — including Windows 7 Enterprise, Windows 8/8.1 Enterprise, and Windows RT/RT 8.1. Active Software Assurance customers in volume licensing have the benefit to upgrade to other Windows 10 enterprise offerings. "We have always been committed to ensuring that customers have the best Windows experience possible. With Windows 10, although non-Genuine PCs may be able to upgrade to Windows 10, the upgrade will not change the genuine state of the license. Non-Genuine Windows is not published by Microsoft. It is not properly licensed, or supported by Microsoft or a trusted partner. If a device was considered non-genuine or mislicensed prior to the upgrade, that device will continue to be considered non-genuine or mislicensed after the upgrade. According to industry experts, use of pirated software, including Non-Genuine Windows, results in a higher risk of malware, fraud (identity theft, credit card theft, etc), public exposure of your personal information, and a higher risk for poor performance or feature malfunctions."
Source: Polygon |
Devotes large portion of programming to latest smear attempt
Steve Watson
Prisonplanet.com
December 30, 2011
Last night MSNBC host Chris Matthews spent a large portion of his Hardball program attempting to destroy Ron Paul’s presidential campaign.
In an embarrassing display of partisanship and outright bias, Matthews poked into every avenue he could in an attempt to paint Paul up as a delusional, paranoid, racist conspiracy theorist. Any non discerning viewers may well have gone away believing Paul was Satan himself when Matthews was finished.
After every sorry attempt to defame Paul, Matthews turned to his bewildered looking guests for reassurance that Paul was indeed a demon sent from the depths of hell to destroy humanity and plunge the planet into eternal darkness.
Watch the segment below:
After dredging up the already thoroughly debunked “racist” newsletters non-issue (Matthews loves injecting phony race talking points into his programming) Matthews switched tack to the latest media driven smear attempt against Paul, namely that he endorses deluded “conspiracy theories”.
A d v e r t i s e m e n t
Quoting the neo-con insider James Kirchick, who wrote a vicious piece in the New York Times yesterday, Matthews went on to suggest that Ron Paul not only endorses 9/11 truth, but is a fully fledged truther himself.
Paul has never even addressed the issue of 9/11 truth, but what is more troubling is that fact that Matthews equates the absolute fact that the US government had intelligence ahead of time of the 9/11 plot – an issue Paul is clearly aware of – with the idea that “George Bush was pushing some sort of button that blew up the World Trade Center.”
Matthews chastised Paul for “not repudiating” theories about 9/11 when given a chance. In reality, Paul said that he is far too focused on other issues to attempt to answer questions about 9/11 truth.
Matthews then went on the attack again, stating “Ron Paul is also a repeated guest on the radio show of Alex Jones” before playing a clip of the Congressman speaking to Jones recently about the alleged Iranian plot to kill the Saudi ambassador to the United States.
Matthews highlighted the fact that Paul suggested that the incident could have been a “propaganda stunt” perpetrated by the Obama administration, yet failed to explain that this this assertion was first made by retired U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel Anthony Shaffer, whose source for making the claim was an FBI insider.
Indeed, far from being an out-there conspiracy theory, the New York Times itself entertained the notion that the incident was potentially a propaganda stunt, reporting how the dubious nature of the plot caused “a wave of puzzlement and skepticism from some foreign leaders and outside experts.”
Anyone who spends more than five minutes looking into these ridiculous assertions made by Matthews and others against Ron Paul, will quickly discover that the Congressman is not the deluded paranoid, and the reality is quite the opposite. Matthews and his ilk operate in a world of lies and spin, and their output has one aim only – to forward their own deluded agenda.
Matthews routinely urges his viewers to believe that anyone who is skeptical of, or expresses disdain toward, anything the government does is psychologically insane.
He has admitted himself that he analyzes politics “from a Marxist perspective” and that his idol is Communist ideologue Saul Alinsky. In other words, he is an extreme left wing radical and routinely goes after anyone who does not share his outright Communist views.
Ron Paul, on the other hand, is concerned with keeping the federal government in check, protecting liberty, upholding the Constitution, ending unauthorized wars and the occupation of foreign nations, healing the economy and restoring sound money. Which of these agendas sounds deluded to you?
Related: Establishment Media Crucifies Ron Paul On Every Front
——————————————————————
Steve Watson is the London based writer and editor for Alex Jones’ Infowars.net, andPrisonplanet.com. He has a Masters Degree in International Relations from the School of Politics at The University of Nottingham in England.
This article was posted: Friday, December 30, 2011 at 3:21 am
Print this page.
Infowars.com Videos:
Comment on this article |
If you ever resided in the USA, you need to contact the state where you last resided.
If you never resided in the USA, then this would depends on where your parents resided. This page describes the rules in details for those who never resided in the USA. I have reproduced them below. Process and rules varies from state to state. Some states are missing in the list below.
In some States, U.S. citizens, 18 years or older, who were born abroad but have never resided in the United States, are eligible to vote absentee. The following States allow these citizens to vote absentee:
Alaska. A U.S. citizen who has never resided in the U.S. and whose parents were last domiciled in Alaska is eligible to register to vote as a "Federal voter" and may vote in Alaska.
Arizona. A U.S. citizen who has never resided in the U.S. and whose parent is qualified to vote in Arizona is eligible to register to vote and may vote in Arizona.
California. A U.S. citizen who was born abroad, who is eligible to vote, and who has not previously registered to vote in any other State, may register and vote in the California county where a parent or legal guardian would be eligible to register and vote.
Colorado. A U.S. Citizen who was born abroad and who is eligible to vote and who has never lived in the U.S. may register and vote in the county where a parent would be eligible to register and vote.
Connecticut. A U.S. citizen who was born abroad and who is eligible to vote and who has never lived in the U.S. may register and vote in the town or city in Connecticut where a parent or legal guardian would be eligible to register and vote.
Delaware. A U.S. Citizen who was born abroad and who is eligible to vote and who has never lived in the U.S. may register and vote in the county where a parent would be eligible to register and vote (for Federal offices only).
District of Columbia. A U.S. citizen born abroad who is eligible to vote and has never lived in the U.S. and is not registered to vote anywhere else in the U.S. is eligible to vote at the same voting residence in the District where a parent or guardian would be eligible to register and vote.
Georgia. If a U.S. citizen outside of the U.S. has never lived in the U.S. and either parent is a qualified Georgia voter then, that person is eligible to register and vote where his or her parent is a qualified voter.
Hawaii. A U.S. citizen who has never resided in the U.S. but has a parent who is eligible to vote in Hawaii is eligible to vote at the same voting residence claimed by their parent (for local, state and Federal office ballots).
Illinois. A U.S. citizen who was born abroad and who is eligible to vote and who has never lived in the U.S. may register and vote in the county where a parent would be eligible to register and vote. Use the most recent residential address in Illinois of a family member.
Iowa. If a U.S. citizen outside the U.S. has never lived in the U.S. and either parent is a qualified Iowa voter then, that person is eligible to register and vote where his or her parent is a qualified voter.
Kansas. Please contact your local election official to determine if you qualify.
Kentucky. For the 2014 General Election, a U.S. citizen born outside the U.S., who is eligible to vote and who has never lived in the U.S. may register and vote where the parent would be eligible to register and vote in the Commonwealth of Kentucky.
Maine. A U.S. citizen who has never lived in the U.S., but who has a parent who is a qualified elector in Maine, may register and vote at the address where that parent is a qualified elector.
Massachusetts. A U.S. citizen who has never resided in the U.S., but has a parent who is eligible to vote in Massachusetts is eligible to vote at the same voting residence claimed by their parent for Federal, State and local.
Michigan. An eligible family member of an overseas voter who is a citizen of the U.S., is accompanying that overseas voter, and is not a qualified and registered elector anywhere else in another State or territory, may apply for an absent voter ballot even though the spouse or dependent is not a qualified elector of a city or township of Michigan.
Nebraska. A U.S. citizen 18 years or older who has never resided in the U.S., but has a parent who is eligible to vote in Nebraska, and has not registered to vote in any other State of the U.S., is eligible to register to vote in one county in which either of their parents claimed residence (for local, state and Federal office ballots). The citizen must include with the registration a signed form provided by the Nebraska Election Commissioner or County Clerk.
New Hampshire. A U.S. citizen who was born abroad and who is eligible to vote and who has never lived in the U.S. may register and vote in the town or city in New Hampshire where a parent or legal guardian would be eligible to register and vote for Federal offices only.
New York. A U.S. Citizen who was born abroad and who is eligible to vote and who has never lived in the US may register and vote in the county where a parent would be eligible to register and vote (for Federal offices only).
North Carolina. A U.S. citizen who was born abroad and has never lived in the U.S. may register and vote in the North Carolina county where a parent would be eligible to register and vote.
North Dakota. A U.S. citizen, who was born abroad, has never lived in the U.S. and who is eligible to vote, may vote in the county where a parent is eligible to vote.
Ohio. A U.S. citizen who was born abroad and who is eligible to vote and who has never lived in the U.S. may register and vote in the town or city in Ohio where a parent or legal guardian would be eligible to register and vote.
Oklahoma. A U.S. citizen, outside the U.S., has never lived in the U.S., and either parent is a qualified Oklahoma voter, then that person is is eligible to register and vote where his or her parent is a qualified voter.
Rhode Island. A U.S. citizen who has never lived in the U.S., but has a parent who is a qualified Rhode Island elector then, that person is eligible to register and vote in Federal elections.
South Dakota. Any overseas citizen may register and vote in any Federal, State, county, or local election held within South Dakota under the following condition: (1) The overseas citizen, or the spouse or parent of the overseas citizen, was last domiciled in South Dakota immediately prior to departure from the United States (2) an adult child of the overseas citizen has not reached the age of 22.
Tennessee. A U.S. citizen who was born abroad and who is eligible to vote and who has never lived in the U.S. may register temporarily and vote in the county where a parent would be eligible to temporarily register and vote pursuant to this action.
Virginia. A U.S. citizen who was born abroad and who is eligible to vote and who has never lived in the U.S. may register and vote in the city or county where a parent would be eligible to register and vote. However, your eligibility to vote may be restricted to Federal elections, please contact your local registrar for additional information.
Washington. A U.S. citizen who was born abroad and who is eligible to vote and who has never lived in the U.S. may register and vote in the county where a parent would be eligible to register and vote. Use the most recent residential address in Washington of a family member.
West Virginia. A U.S. citizen who was born abroad and who is eligible to vote and who has never lived in the U.S. may register and vote in the county where either parent would be eligible to register and vote.
Wisconsin. A U.S. citizen who was born abroad and who is eligible to vote and who has never lived in the U.S. may register and vote in the in the city or village where a parent would be eligible to register and vote (for Federal offices only).
Wyoming. A U.S. citizen who has never resided in the U.S. and whose parent(s) is/are qualified to vote in Wyoming is eligible to register to vote and may vote in Wyoming. |
Inspired by a wealthy Californian businessman who has been stashing cash in San Francisco and Los Angeles and tweeting out clues to their location, a similarly flush Vancouverite has been doing the same locally, and using the Twitter account @HiddenCashYVR to direct searchers to envelopes containing $100 bills.
I’ve always loved the view from the top of this little hill…. first one up here will too! pic.twitter.com/CWidoHoAtC — HiddenCashVancouver (@HiddenCashYVR) May 30, 2014
The real-life finders keepers game kicked off on May 28, and so far about a half-dozen envelopes have been hidden. Finders are posting their tales of unexpected windfall to Instagram and Twitter.
Jacqueline Calapre is the latest lucky @HiddenCashYVR $100 finder at Creelman and Arbutus #cbc pic.twitter.com/hKUmyohCL1 — Mike McArthur (@vancbcmcarthur) May 30, 2014
The clues keep coming; it’s not clear for how long this anonymous benefactor will be playing “Hide and Tweet” with the bucks. The mysterious cash stasher told Global BC he is “copying” the generous person behind @HiddenCashSF and @HiddenCashLA, adding: “It is a nice way to give back. The city [has been] very good to me. What a great opportunity and way for me to be able to do it.”
Find that cash, Vancouver!
Hundred dollar bills via shutterstock
HEY YOU! Sign Up to our Newsletter for exclusive content, contests, and perks.
DH Vancouver Staff Daily Hive is the evolution of Vancity Buzz, established in Vancouver in 2008. In 2016, the publication rebranded and opened newsrooms in Calgary, Toronto, and Montreal. Send story tips to @DailyHiveVan @DailyHiveVancouver Daily Hive is the evolution of Vancity Buzz, established in Vancouver in 2008. In 2016, the publication rebranded and opened newsrooms in Calgary, Toronto, and Montreal. Send story tips to [email protected]
Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. |
The cultural depiction of cats and their relationship to humans is old and stretches back over 9,500 years. Cats are featured in the history of many nations, are the subject of legend and are a favorite subject of artists and writers.
Earliest history [ edit ]
It is thought cats were originally domesticated because they hunted mice that would eat stored grains, but a recent study found that cats domesticated themselves. They were never specifically sought out for domestication like dogs were but their coexistence with humans naturally developed from the mutually beneficial nature of the relationship, with their hunting protecting the food stores. It was a beneficial situation for both species[1]: cats got a reliable source of prey, and humans got effortless pest control. This mutually beneficial arrangement began the relationship between cats and humans which continues to this day.
While the exact history of human interaction with cats is still somewhat vague, a shallow grave site discovered in 1983 in Cyprus, dating to 7500 BCE, during the Neolithic period, contains the skeleton of a human, buried ceremonially with stone tools, a lump of iron oxide, and a handful of seashells. In its own tiny grave 40 centimeters (18 inches) from the human grave was an eight-month-old cat, its body oriented in the same westward direction as the human skeleton. Cats are not native to Cyprus. This is evidence that cats were being tamed just as humankind was establishing the first settlements in the part of the Middle East known as the Fertile Crescent.[2]
The Lineage of today's cats stem from about 4500 BC and came from Europe and Southeast Asia according to a recent study. Modern cats stem from two major lines of lineage. [3][1]
Africa [ edit ]
Ancient Egypt [ edit ]
[4] The ancient Egyptians mummified dead cats out of respect in the same way that they mummified people.
Cats, known in ancient Egypt as the mau, played a large role in ancient Egyptian society. They were associated with the goddesses Isis and Ba'at.[5] Cats were sacred animals and the goddess Bastet was often depicted in cat form, sometimes taking on the war-like aspect of a lioness.[6]:220 Killing a cat was absolutely forbidden[4] and the Greek historian Herodotus reports that, whenever a household cat died, the entire family would mourn and shave their eyebrows.[4] Families took their dead cats to the sacred city of Bubastis,[4] where they were embalmed and buried in sacred repositories.[4]
Europe [ edit ]
The kingdom of Cat was a legendary Pictish kingdom[7] during the Early Middle Ages, centred in what is now Caithness in northern Scotland [8] The place name Caithness derives from Cait, which is also preserved in the Gaelic name for Sutherland (Cataibh), in several specific names within that county and in the earliest recorded name for Shetland (Inse Catt, meaning "islands of the Cat people").[9]
In Norse mythology, the goddess Freyja was associated with cats. Farmers sought protection for their crops by leaving pans of milk in their fields for Freya's special feline companions, the two grey cats who fought with her and pulled her chariot.[10]
Folklore dating back to as early as 1607 tells that a cat will suffocate a newborn infant by putting its nose to the child's mouth, sucking the breath out of the infant.[11]
Black cats are generally held to be unlucky in the United States and Europe, and to portend good luck in the United Kingdom.[11] In the latter country, a black cat entering a house or ship is a good omen, and a sailor's wife should have a black cat for her husband's safety on the sea.[11][12] Elsewhere, it is unlucky if a black cat crosses one's path; black cats have been associated with death and darkness.[5] White cats, bearing the colour of ghosts, are conversely held to be unlucky in the United Kingdom, while tortoiseshell cats are lucky.[11] It is common lore that cats have nine lives.[11] It is a tribute to their perceived durability, their occasional apparent lack of instinct for self-preservation, and their seeming ability to survive falls that would be fatal to other animals.
Cats were seen as good luck charms by actors, and the cats often helped cure the actors' stage fright.[13]
Ancient Greece and Rome [ edit ]
Domestic cats were probably first introduced to Greece and southern Italy in the fifth century BC by the Phoenicians.[14] The earliest unmistakable evidence of the Greeks having domestic cats comes from two coins from Magna Graecia dating to the mid-fifth century BC showing Iokastos and Phalanthos, the legendary founders of Rhegion and Taras respectively, playing with their pet cats.[15]:57–58[16]
Housecats seem to have been extremely rare among the ancient Greeks and Romans;[16] the Greek historian Herodotus expressed astonishment at the domestic cats in Egypt, because he had only ever seen wildcats.[16] Even during later times, weasels were far more commonly kept as pets[16] and weasels, not cats, were seen as the ideal rodent-killers.[16] The usual ancient Greek word for "cat" was ailouros, meaning "thing with the waving tail",[15]:57[16] but this word could also be applied to any of the "various long-tailed carnivores kept for catching mice".[16] Cats are rarely mentioned in ancient Greek literature,[16] but Aristotle does remark in his History of Animals that "female cats are naturally lecherous."[15]:74[16] The Greek essayist Plutarch linked cats with cleanliness, noting that unnatural odours could make them mad.[17] Pliny linked them with lust,[18] and Aesop with deviousness and cunning.[11]
The Greeks later syncretized their own goddess Artemis with the Egyptian goddess Bastet, adopting Bastet's associations with cats and ascribing them to Artemis.[15]:77–79 In Ovid's Metamorphoses, when the gods flee to Egypt and take animal forms, the goddess Diana (the Roman equivalent of Artemis) turns into a cat.[15]:79 Cats eventually displaced ferrets as the pest control of choice because they were more pleasant to have around the house and were more enthusiastic hunters of mice.[19]
Middle Ages [ edit ]
During the Middle Ages, many of Artemis's associations with cats were grafted onto the Virgin Mary.[19] Cats are often shown in icons of Annunciation and of the Holy Family[19] and, according to Italian folklore, on the same night that Mary gave birth to Jesus, a cat in Bethlehem gave birth to a kitten.[19]
Cats were associated with witches, and were killed en masse in the middle of the 14th century during the time of the Black Death. Had this bias toward cats not existed, local rodent populations could have been kept down, lessening the spread of plague-infected fleas from host to host.[20]
Vikings used cats as rat catchers and companions.
A medieval King of Wales, Hywel Dda (the Good) passed legislation making it illegal to kill or harm a cat.[21]
In Medieval Ypres, cats were used in the winter months to control the vermin infesting the wool stored in the upper floors of the Cloth Hall (Lakenhall). At the start of the spring warm-up, after the wool had been sold, the cats were thrown out of the belfry tower to the town square below, which supposedly symbolised "the killing of evil academics". In today's Kattenstoet (Cat Parade), this was commuted to the throwing of woolen cats from the top of out houses and also the people from the Middle Ages used to often suck on the wool as a sign of good luck.
Renaissance and Victorian depictions [ edit ]
In the Renaissance, cats were often thought to be witches' familiars (for example, Greymalkin, the first witch's familiar in Macbeth's famous opening scene), and during festivities were sometimes burnt alive or thrown off tall buildings. Cats became popular and sympathetic characters in such folk tale as Puss in Boots.[22]
Richard Whittington and his Cat (1808) (1808)
One English folk tale in which a cat is given a heroic role is Dick Whittington and His Cat, which has been adapted for many stage works, including plays, musical comedies and pantomimes. It tells of a poor boy in the 14th century, based on the real-life Richard Whittington, who becomes a wealthy merchant and eventually the Lord Mayor of London because of the ratting abilities of his cat. There is no historical evidence that Whittington had a cat,[22] In the tale, Dick Whittington, a poor orphan finds work at the great house of Mr. Fitzwarren, a rich merchant. His little room infested with rats, Dick acquires a cat, who drives off the rats. One day, Mr. Fitzwarren asked his servants if they wished to send something in his ship, leaving on a journey to a far off port, to trade for gold. Reluctantly, Dick sent his cat. In the far-off court, Dick's cat had become a hero by driving very troublesome vermin from the royal court. When Fitzwarren's ship returned, it was loaded with riches. Dick was a rich man. He joined Mr. Fitzwarren in his business and married his daughter Alice, and in time became the Lord Mayor of London.[23]
Russia [ edit ]
Cat of Kazan Eighteenth century folk art,
Cats have been considered good luck in Russia for centuries. Owning a cat, and especially letting one into a new house before the humans move in, is said to bring good fortune.[24]
Many cats have guarded the Hermitage Museum/Winter Palace continually, since Empress Elizabeth's reign, when she was presented by the city of Kazan in Tatarstan five of their best mousers to control the palace's rodent problem.[25] They lived pampered lives and even had special servants until the October Revolution, after which they were cared for by volunteers. Now, they are again looked after by employees.
In modern day Russia there is a group of cats at the Hermitage in Saint Petersburg. They have their own press secretary, with about 74 cats of both genders roaming the museum.
Asia [ edit ]
China [ edit ]
Cats in the Garden, by Mao Yi, 12th century , by Mao Yi, 12th century
Cats that were favored pets during the Chinese Song Dynasty were long-haired cats for catching rats, and cats with yellow-and-white fur called 'lion-cats', who were valued simply as cute pets.[27][28] Cats could be pampered with items bought from the market such as "cat-nests", and were often fed fish that were advertised in the market specifically for cats.[27][28]
Japan [ edit ]
A typical Maneki Neko.
The Maneki Neko of Japan is a figurine often believed to bring good luck to the owner. Literally the beckoning cat, it is often referred to in English as the "good fortune" or "good luck" cat. It is usually a sitting cat with paw raised and bent. Legend in Japan has it that a cat waved a paw at a Japanese landlord, who was intrigued by this gesture and went towards it. A few seconds later a lightning bolt struck where the landlord had been previously standing. The landlord attributed his good fortune to the cat's fortuitous action. A symbol of good luck hence, it is most often seen in businesses to draw in money. In Japan, the flapping of the hand is a "come here" gesture, so the cat is beckoning customers.
There is also a small cat shrine (neko jinja (猫神社)) built in the middle of the Tashirojima island. In the past, the islanders raised silkworms for silk, and cats were kept in order to keep the mouse population down (because mice are a natural predator of silkworms). Fixed-net fishing was popular on the island after the Edo Period and fishermen from other areas would come and stay on the island overnight. The cats would go to the inns where the fishermen were staying and beg for scraps. Over time, the fishermen developed a fondness for the cats and would observe the cats closely, interpreting their actions as predictions of the weather and fish patterns. One day, when the fishermen were collecting rocks to use with the fixed-nets, a stray rock fell and killed one of the cats. The fishermen, feeling sorry for the loss of the cat, buried it and enshrined it at this location on the island.
This is not the only cat shrine in Japan, however. Others include Nambujinja in the Niigata Prefecture and one at the entrance of Kyotango City, Kyoto.[29]
Another Japanese legend of cats is the nekomata: when a cat lives to a certain age, it grows another tail and can stand up and speak in a human language.
In regards to current cat icons, Hello Kitty made her debut in 1974 and has since become a global staple of Japanese culture, created by Yuko Yamaguchi Recent articles have revealed that she is not a cat but instead a cartoon version of a little girl. In her fictional life she is from the outskirt of London and apart of the Santario universe. Today, her merchandise is available all over the world. Hello Kitty is 5 apples tall and 3 in weight. [30]
Islam [ edit ]
Although no species are sacred in Islam, cats are revered by Muslims. Some Western writers have stated Muhammad had a favorite cat, Muezza.[31] He is reported to have loved cats so much, "he would do without his cloak rather than disturb one that was sleeping on it".[32] The story has no origin in early Muslim writers, and seems to confuse a story of a later Sufi saint, Ahmed ar-Rifa'i, centuries after Muhammad.[33]
Modern culture [ edit ]
Pictures of Grumpy Cat are frequently found in the form of memes, due to Grumpy Cat's deformed features giving a permanently unhappy appearance.
Cats have also featured prominently in modern culture. For example, a cat named Mimsey was used by MTM Enterprises as their mascot and features in their logo as a spoof of the MGM lion.[13] As of 1990 cats were the most popular subject depicted on gift items, such as coasters, napkins, jewelry, and bookends. An estimated 1,000 stores in the United States sold nothing but cat-related items.[34]
On the Internet, cats frequently appear often as memes and other humor; and on social media people frequently post pictures of their own cats.
Other [ edit ]
See also [ edit ]
Notes [ edit ]
References [ edit ]
Gernet, Jacques (1962). Daily Life in China on the Eve of the Mongol Invasion, 1250–1276 . Translated by H.M. Wright. Stanford: Stanford University Press. ISBN 0-8047-0720-0.
. Translated by H.M. Wright. Stanford: Stanford University Press. ISBN 0-8047-0720-0. Dodge, Alleine (1949). Nine lives: an exhibition of the cat in history and art, New York: Cooper Union Museum for the Arts of Decoration, archive.org |
Some big American food companies are engaged in a tug-of-war with the Obama administration over the nutritional quality of foods marketed to children.
At issue is a voluntary set of nutrition guidelines for those foods, developed by the Interagency Working Group, comprised of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Food and Drug Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Federal Trade Commission. At the direction of Congress, those agencies drafted a set of recommended guidelines for calories, unhealthy fats and sodium for foods marketed to kids, as well as minimum thresholds to ensure that the foods provide things of value to kids' diets, like fruit, vegetables or whole grains.
Keep in mind that these proposed marketing guidelines are totally voluntary; companies are free to adopt them or ignore them. In fact, to preempt the stronger agency recommendations, the food industry has developed their own, inferior set of nutrition standards for foods marketed to kids.
Here's where it gets strange: Even though the standards are completely non-binding and have no legal or regulatory force, the food industry is pulling out all the stops to get the government to withdraw their marketing recommendations.
So with that all said, we thought we'd take a look at the kinds of foods the industry contends are "healthy" and appropriate to market to kids. These aren't the worst of the worst foods in the food supply, mind you. But are these healthy foods that should be aggressively promoted to young children as they grow and form life-long eating habits?
Don't want the food industry to kill the healthy food marketing guidelines? Click here to make your voice heard. |
Share. The Steam app is about to get really useful. The Steam app is about to get really useful.
Valve is upping Steam’s security ante with impending beta roll out of Steam Guard Mobile Authenticator on iOS and Android devices.
Steam currently only supports two-factor authentication through email with Steam Guard and Valve plans to offer a more convenient option with a new mobile authenticator. The feature provides two-factor login to Steam via the Steam iOS and Android applications.
The feature is presently only enabled for the recently updated Android app but it will roll out to iOS devices for testing once it updates soon.
Those wishing to participate in the limited beta can express their interest by joining the Steam Community group. Valve will choose a small number of beta users from the group for preliminary testing and then open up beta to everyone if the feature runs smoothly.
Exit Theatre Mode
Image Credit: thegreatjug d41y30s
Jenna Pitcher is a freelance journalist writing for IGN. You can follow her on Twitter. |
Using tax payers' money to have luxury dinner is not allowed, according to new rules by the authorities.Google translateInternational online news: April 21, 2013, hearing in Taizhou City, Jiangsu Province, 19 evening, Taizhou City, Jiangsu Province, Riverside Industrial Park Administrative Committee in its hospitality center at a dinner, drink high-end wines, haute cuisine to eat saury and the Blowfish,was the containment of the local people, led by propaganda officials were forced to kneel in the wine on the table for mercy. 20, the local official said, exceed the reception event be severely punished.7:30 that evening, the periphery of Taizhou City, Riverside Industrial Park Administrative Committee hospital over nearly a thousand people nearby, the second floor of the CMC hospitality center, the angry masses of the dining staff containment in the room.In order to explore what, someone entered the restaurant on the second floor unannounced visits, found within the box are eating and drinking, consumption of high-grade tobacco, as well as rare saury and puffer fish and other dishes. They then ran back to the district to inform the residents went to the hospitality center grasping "existing".Subsequently, the masses gathered in the hospitality center more and more, we are emotional, have to participate in the banquet officials seek explanation. In desperation, the participation eat Taizhou City, Riverside Industrial Park Administrative Committee secretary kneeling on the wine on the table with a microphone propaganda, to release to the masses for mercy.20 afternoon, Taizhou official microblogging initial response to entertain Centre luxurious banquets and the masses set the exposure of users of the Riverside Industrial Park on the evening of April 19 visit to the event.Taizhou Medical Hi-tech Zone Party Work in this regard preliminary disposal of advice: set up a set visit to dispose of the leading group, in violation of the central eight provisions, provincial and municipal party committee "Ten Regulations requirements, beyond the standard official reception and seriously deal with decision not be tolerated. Medical Hi-tech Zone is also clear that the relocation of people are concerned about Riverside Garden District will fully listen to opinions of the masses, according to the law implementation. |
Google has smartened up several of its products with a type of artificial intelligence called deep learning, which involves training neural networks on lots of data and then having them make predictions about new data. Google Maps, Google Photos, and Gmail, for example, have been enhanced with this type of technology. The next service that could see gains is Google Translate.
Well, let me back up. Part of Google Translate actually already uses deep learning. That would be the instant visual translations you can get on a mobile device when you hold up your smartphone camera to the words you want to translate. But if you use Google Translate to just translate text, you know that the service isn’t always 100 percent accurate.
In an interview at the Structure Data conference in San Francisco today, Jeff Dean, a Google senior fellow who worked on some of Google’s core search and advertising technology and is now the head of the Google Brain team that works on deep learning, said that his team has been working with Google’s translation team to scale out experiments with translation based on deep learning. Specifically, the work is based on the technology depicted in a 2014 paper entitled “Sequence to Sequence Learning with Neural Networks.”
The idea is to deploy the technology to the production Google Translate product, Dean told Tom Simonite of the MIT Technology Review. “I think we’ll have some results … coming down the pipe,” Dean said.
And the goal, Dean told VentureBeat after he got off the stage, is indeed to make translations more accurate. Currently Translate relies on many types of technology, and the change he’s talking about could make it more purely based on the type of neural networks documented in the paper — specifically a long short-term memory network (LSTM).
Baidu and Microsoft, among others, have also investigated deep learning for machine translation. |
A pair of activists who wrote a piece for the Detroit Free Press prove they haven’t learned the lessons of ESPN, and recently penned a piece urging athletes to use their sport as a platform for left-wing political activism.
For the Detroit paper, Jocelyn Benson and Miami Dolphins Owner Stephen M. Ross, who represent Ross Initiative in Sports for Equality (RISE), wrote a piece last week informing players that they should “lead the push for social change.”
“At a time when we seem so deeply divided, sports have the potential to unite people behind positive change,” the pair opined.
The authors went on to praise the recent RISE partnership with several players to push the issues of “economic equality,” race, LGBTQ, and other left-wing ideas. And with that, the authors insisted that players should do more to engage in political issues on and off the field.
“With evidence of rising economic inequality, a divisive presidential election and debates on access to education and justice, ‘the problem of the color line’ emerged as perhaps the defining issue of 2016,” the pair wrote, alluding to the Black Lives Matter movement. “And the actions of athletes reflected this focus, as many used their platform to advocate for social change.”
With this claim established, they continued saying that “athletes, coaches, owners and others in the sports industry can effectively promote a better world.”
To spread their activism throughout sports, both professional and amateur, RISE produced a “report” that discussed a range of actions.
“They ranged from protests, public statements and wearing special apparel to collective action, community outreach, policy advocacy and financial contributions,” the Free Press piece continued. “The report also provides case studies of best practices from players for the Miami Dolphins, Seattle Seahawks, and New York Liberty.”
The RISE authors went on to urge teams to create internal “forums” for players to be indoctrinated with the left-wing issues RISE pushes, to tell players to speak out early and often, and to kick up protests against the leagues and society for various rules and practices RISE finds distasteful.
Surprisingly, with all of the suggestions that Ross has for other teams and how to welcome in and promote activist athletes, his own team, the Dolphins, has yet to sign free-agent activist quarterback Colin Kaepernick.
The op-ed concludes, saying, “As athlete activism continues, the sports industry should evaluate the impact of actions to inform work and progress.”
But, if ESPN’s experience is any indication, far from “solving inequality,” the constant drumming of liberal political ideals into sports and its coverage is turning fans off. Activism is causing fans to switch the channel at the least, or worse to quit their sports habit altogether.
With ESPN’s recent move to put a dampener on the left-wing activism of on-air hosts, it is clear that the powerhouse sports network is discovering that political activism ladled on top of sports coverage is a detriment instead of a balm that leads to “social change.”
For many fans, political activism leads to the diminished influence for athletes, leagues, and teams, not an increased awareness of social issues.
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston or email the author at [email protected] |
Americans who live abroad -- more than six million of us worldwide (not counting those who work for the U.S. government) -- often face hard questions about our country from people we live among. Europeans, Asians, and Africans ask us to explain everything that baffles them about the increasingly odd and troubling conduct of the United States. Polite people, normally reluctant to risk offending a guest, complain that America’s trigger-happiness, cutthroat free-marketeering, and “exceptionality” have gone on for too long to be considered just an adolescent phase. Which means that we Americans abroad are regularly asked to account for the behavior of our rebranded “homeland,” now conspicuously in decline and increasingly out of step with the rest of the world.
In my long nomadic life, I’ve had the good fortune to live, work, or travel in all but a handful of countries on this planet. I’ve been to both poles and a great many places in between, and nosy as I am, I’ve talked with people all along the way. I still remember a time when to be an American was to be envied. The country where I grew up after World War II seemed to be respected and admired around the world for way too many reasons to go into here.
That’s changed, of course. Even after the invasion of Iraq in 2003, I still met people -- in the Middle East, no less -- willing to withhold judgment on the U.S. Many thought that the Supreme Court’s installation of George W. Bush as president was a blunder American voters would correct in the election of 2004. His return to office truly spelled the end of America as the world had known it. Bush had started a war, opposed by the entire world, because he wanted to and he could. A majority of Americans supported him. And that was when all the uncomfortable questions really began.
In the early fall of 2014, I traveled from my home in Oslo, Norway, through much of Eastern and Central Europe. Everywhere I went in those two months, moments after locals realized I was an American the questions started and, polite as they usually were, most of them had a single underlying theme: Have Americans gone over the edge? Are you crazy? Please explain.
Then recently, I traveled back to the “homeland.” It struck me there that most Americans have no idea just how strange we now seem to much of the world. In my experience, foreign observers are far better informed about us than the average American is about them. This is partly because the “news” in the American media is so parochial and so limited in its views both of how we act and how other countries think -- even countries with which we were recently, are currently, or threaten soon to be at war. America’s belligerence alone, not to mention its financial acrobatics, compels the rest of the world to keep close track of us. Who knows, after all, what conflict the Americans may drag you into next, as target or reluctant ally?
So wherever we expatriates settle on the planet, we find someone who wants to talk about the latest American events, large and small: another country bombed in the name of our “national security,” another peaceful protest march attacked by our increasingly militarized police, another diatribe against “big government” by yet another wannabe candidate who hopes to head that very government in Washington. Such news leaves foreign audiences puzzled and full of trepidation.
Question Time
Take the questions stumping Europeans in the Obama years (which 1.6 million Americans residing in Europe regularly find thrown our way). At the absolute top of the list: “Why would anyone oppose national health care?” European and other industrialized countries have had some form of national health care since the 1930s or 1940s, Germany since 1880. Some versions, as in France and Great Britain, have devolved into two-tier public and private systems. Yet even the privileged who pay for a faster track would not begrudge their fellow citizens government-funded comprehensive health care. That so many Americans do strikes Europeans as baffling, if not frankly brutal.
In the Scandinavian countries, long considered to be the most socially advanced in the world, a national (physical and mental) health program, funded by the state, is a big part -- but only a part -- of a more general social welfare system. In Norway, where I live, all citizens also have an equal right to education (state subsidized preschool from age one, and free schools from age six through specialty training or university education and beyond), unemployment benefits, job-placement and paid retraining services, paid parental leave, old age pensions, and more. These benefits are not merely an emergency “safety net”; that is, charitable payments grudgingly bestowed upon the needy. They are universal: equally available to all citizens as human rights encouraging social harmony -- or as our own U.S. constitution would put it, “domestic tranquility.” It’s no wonder that, for many years, international evaluators have ranked Norway as the best place to grow old, to be a woman, and to raise a child. The title of “best” or “happiest” place to live on Earth comes down to a neighborly contest among Norway and the other Nordic social democracies, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, and Iceland.
In Norway, all benefits are paid for mainly by high taxation. Compared to the mind-numbing enigma of the U.S. tax code, Norway’s is remarkably straightforward, taxing income from labor and pensions progressively, so that those with higher incomes pay more. The tax department does the calculations, sends an annual bill, and taxpayers, though free to dispute the sum, willingly pay up, knowing what they and their children get in return. And because government policies effectively redistribute wealth and tend to narrow the country’s slim income gap, most Norwegians sail pretty comfortably in the same boat. (Think about that!)
Life and Liberty
This system didn’t just happen. It was planned. Sweden led the way in the 1930s, and all five Nordic countries pitched in during the postwar period to develop their own variations of what came to be called the Nordic Model: a balance of regulated capitalism, universal social welfare, political democracy, and the highest levels of gender and economic equality on the planet. It’s their system. They invented it. They like it. Despite the efforts of an occasional conservative government to muck it up, they maintain it. Why?
SCROLL TO CONTINUE WITH CONTENT Help Keep Common Dreams Alive Our progressive news model only survives if those informed and inspired by this work support our efforts
In all the Nordic countries, there is broad general agreement across the political spectrum that only when people’s basic needs are met -- when they can cease to worry about their jobs, their incomes, their housing, their transportation, their health care, their kids’ education, and their aging parents -- only then can they be free to do as they like. While the U.S. settles for the fantasy that, from birth, every kid has an equal shot at the American dream, Nordic social welfare systems lay the foundations for a more authentic equality and individualism.
These ideas are not novel. They are implied in the preamble to our own Constitution. You know, the part about “we the People” forming “a more perfect Union” to “promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity.” Even as he prepared the nation for war, President Franklin D. Roosevelt memorably specified components of what that general welfare should be in his State of the Union address in 1941. Among the “simple basic things that must never be lost sight of,” he listed “equality of opportunity for youth and others, jobs for those who can work, security for those who need it, the ending of special privileges for the few, the preservation of civil liberties for all,” and oh yes, higher taxes to pay for those things and for the cost of defensive armaments.
Knowing that Americans used to support such ideas, a Norwegian today is appalled to learn that a CEO of a major American corporation makes between 300 and 400 times as much as its average employee. Or that governors Sam Brownback of Kansas and Chris Christie of New Jersey, having run up their state’s debts by cutting taxes for the rich, now plan to cover the loss with money snatched from the pension funds of workers in the public sector. To a Norwegian, the job of government is to distribute the country’s good fortune reasonably equally, not send it zooming upward, as in America today, to a sticky-fingered one percent.
In their planning, Norwegians tend to do things slowly, always thinking of the long term, envisioning what a better life might be for their children, their posterity. That’s why a Norwegian, or any northern European, is aghast to learn that two-thirds of American college students finish their education in the red, some owing $100,000 or more. Or that in the U.S., still the world’s richest country, one in three children lives in poverty, along with one in five young people between the ages of 18 and 34. Or that America’s recent multi-trillion-dollar wars were fought on a credit card to be paid off by our kids. Which brings us back to that word: brutal.
Implications of brutality, or of a kind of uncivilized inhumanity, seem to lurk in so many other questions foreign observers ask about America like: How could you set up that concentration camp in Cuba, and why can’t you shut it down? Or: How can you pretend to be a Christian country and still carry out the death penalty? The follow-up to which often is: How could you pick as president a man proud of executing his fellow citizens at the fastest rate recorded in Texas history? (Europeans will not soon forget George W. Bush.)
Other things I've had to answer for include:
Why can’t you Americans stop interfering with women’s health care?
Why can’t you understand science?
How can you still be so blind to the reality of climate change?
How can you speak of the rule of law when your presidents break international laws to make war whenever they want?
How can you hand over the power to blow up the planet to one lone, ordinary man?
How can you throw away the Geneva Conventions and your principles to advocate torture?
Why do you Americans like guns so much? Why do you kill each other at such a rate?
To many, the most baffling and important question of all is: Why do you send your military all over the world to stir up more and more trouble for all of us?
That last question is particularly pressing because countries historically friendly to the United States, from Australia to Finland, are struggling to keep up with an influx of refugees from America’s wars and interventions. Throughout Western Europe and Scandinavia, right-wing parties that have scarcely or never played a role in government are now rising rapidly on a wave of opposition to long-established immigration policies. Only last month, such a party almost toppled the sitting social democratic government of Sweden, a generouscountry that has absorbed more than its fair share of asylum seekers fleeing the shock waves of “the finest fighting force that the world has ever known.”
The Way We Are
Europeans understand, as it seems Americans do not, the intimate connection between a country’s domestic and foreign policies. They often trace America’s reckless conduct abroad to its refusal to put its own house in order. They’ve watched the United States unravel its flimsy safety net, fail to replace its decaying infrastructure, disempower most of itsorganized labor, diminish its schools, bring its national legislature to a standstill, and create the greatest degree of economic and social inequality in almost a century. They understand why Americans, who have ever less personal security and next to no social welfare system, are becoming more anxious and fearful. They understand as well why so many Americans have lost trust in a government that has done so little new for them over the past three decades or more, except for Obama’s endlessly embattled health care effort, which seems to most Europeans a pathetically modest proposal.
What baffles so many of them, though, is how ordinary Americans in startling numbers have been persuaded to dislike “big government” and yet support its new representatives, bought and paid for by the rich. How to explain that? In Norway’s capital, where a statue of a contemplative President Roosevelt overlooks the harbor, many America-watchers think he may have been the last U.S. president who understood and could explain to the citizenry what government might do for all of them. Struggling Americans, having forgotten all that, take aim at unknown enemies far away -- or on the far side of their own towns.
It’s hard to know why we are the way we are, and -- believe me -- even harder to explain it to others. Crazy may be too strong a word, too broad and vague to pin down the problem. Some people who question me say that the U.S. is “paranoid,” “backward,” “behind the times,” “vain,” “greedy,” “self-absorbed,” or simply “dumb.” Others, more charitably, imply that Americans are merely “ill-informed,” “misguided,” “misled,” or “asleep,” and could still recover sanity. But wherever I travel, the questions follow, suggesting that the United States, if not exactly crazy, is decidedly a danger to itself and others. It’s past time to wake up, America, and look around. There’s another world out here, an old and friendly one across the ocean, and it’s full of good ideas, tried and true. |
The revelation "rewrites the history of cyberwar", said Derek Reveron, a professor of national security affairs at the US Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island. Countries have been laying the groundwork for cyberwar operations for years, and companies have been hit recently with digital broadsides bearing hallmarks of government sponsorship. Sony's network was raided by hackers believed to be aligned with North Korea, and sources have said JPMorgan Chase & Co blamed an August assault on Russian cyberspies. Security researchers just uncovered what they said was a campaign by Iranian hackers that targeted commercial airlines, looking for vulnerabilities that could be used in physical attacks. The Refahiye explosion occurred two years before Stuxnet, the computer worm that in 2010 crippled Iran's nuclear-enrichment program, widely believed to have been deployed by Israel and the US. It turns out the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline hackers were ahead of them. The chief suspect, according to US intelligence officials, is Russia. The sabotage of the BTC line - which follows a route through the former Soviet Union that the US mapped out over Russian objections - marked another chapter in the belligerent energy politics of Eurasia. Days after the explosion, Russian fighter jets dropped bombs near the line in neighbouring Georgia. Alexander Dugin, an influential advocate of Russian expansionism and at the time an adviser to the Russian parliament, was quoted in a Turkish newspaper declaring the BTC was "dead". The obituary was premature, but the attack proved to US officials that they were right to be concerned about the vulnerability of pipelines that snake for hundreds of thousands of kilometres across Europe and North America. National Security Agency experts had been warning the lines could be blown up from a distance, without the bother of conventional weapons. The attack was evidence other nations had the technology to wage a new kind of war, three current and former US officials said.
"The timing really is the significance," said Chris Blask, chairman of the Industrial Control System Information Sharing and Analysis Centre, which works with utilities and pipeline companies. "Stuxnet was discovered in 2010 and this was obviously deployed before that. This is another point on the timeline" in the young history of cyberwar. US intelligence agencies believe the Russian government was behind the Refahiye explosion, according to two of the people briefed on the investigation. The evidence is circumstantial, they said, based on the possible motive and the level of sophistication. The attackers also left behind a tantalising clue. Although as many as 60 hours of surveillance video were erased by the hackers, a single infrared camera not connected to the same network captured images of two men with laptop computers walking near the pipeline days before the explosion, according to one of the people, who has reviewed the video. The men wore black military-style uniforms without insignias, similar to the garb worn by special forces troops. "Given Russia's strategic interest, there will always be the question of whether the country had a hand in it," said Emily Stromquist, an energy analyst for Eurasia Group, a political risk firm based in Washington. Nikolai Lyaschenko, a spokesman for the Russian embassy in Washington, didn't respond to two emails and a phone call.
Eleven companies - including majority-owner BP, a subsidiary of the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan, Chevron and Norway's Statoil - built the line, which has carried more than 2 billion barrels of crude since opening in 2006. It was routed south to circumvent Russia, a blow to that country's aims to reassert control over Central Asia, a major pipeline deliberately built outside Russian territory to carry crude from the Caspian. Traversing strategic, politically unsettled terrain, the line was built to be one of the most secure in the world. The 1.06 metre diameter pipe is buried underground and punctuated by fenced valve stations designed to isolate sections in case of emergency and to contain leaks. According to investigators, every kilometrewas monitored by sensors. Pressure, oil flow and other critical indicators were fed to a central control room via a wireless monitoring system. In an extra measure, they were also sent by satellite. The explosion, about 11pm on a warm summer night, was spectacular. Residents described feeling the heat 800 metres away, and patients at a nearby hospital reported hearing a thunderous boom.
Almost immediately, the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, an armed separatist group in Turkey, claimed credit. It made sense because of the PKK's history of bombing pipelines. The Turkish government's claim of mechanical failure, on the other hand, was widely disputed in media reports. Hilmi Guler, then Turkey's energy minister, said at the time there was no evidence of sabotage. Neither he nor officials at the Energy Ministry responded to requests for comment. Huseyin Sagir, a spokesman for Botas International Ltd, the state-run company that operates the pipeline in Turkey, said the line's computer systems hadn't been tampered with. "We have never experienced any kind of signal jamming attack or tampering on the communication lines, or computer systems," Mr Sagir said in an email. He didn't respond to questions about what caused the explosion. BP spokesman Toby Odone referred questions to Mr Botas. The BTC was shut down because of what BP referred to in its 2008 annual report simply as a fire. The investigators - from Turkey, Britain, Azerbaijan and other countries - went quietly about their business. The first mystery they set out to solve was why the elaborate system in place to detect leaks of oil or a fire didn't work as planned. Instead of receiving digital alerts from sensors placed along the line, the control room didn't learn about the blast until 40 minutes after it happened, from a security worker who saw the flames, according to a person who worked on the probe.
As investigators followed the trail of the failed alarm system, they found the hackers' point of entry was an unexpected one: the surveillance cameras themselves. The cameras' communication software had vulnerabilities the hackers used to gain entry and move deep into the internal network, according to the people briefed on the matter. Once inside, the attackers found a computer running on a Windows operating system that was in charge of the alarm-management network, and placed a malicious program on it. That gave them the ability to sneak back in whenever they wanted. The central element of the attack was gaining access to the operational controls to increase the pressure without setting off alarms. Because of the line's design, the hackers could manipulate the pressure by cracking into small industrial computers at a few valve stations without having to hack the main control room. The presence of the attackers at the site could mean the sabotage was a blended attack, using a combination of physical and digital techniques. The super-high pressure may have been enough on its own to create the explosion, according to two of the people familiar with the incident. No evidence of a physical bomb was found.
Having performed extensive reconnaissance on the computer network, the infiltrators tampered with the units used to send alerts about malfunctions and leaks back to the control room. The backup satellite signals failed, which suggested to the investigators that the attackers used sophisticated jamming equipment, according to the people familiar with the probe. Investigators compared the timestamp on the infrared image of the two people with laptops to data logs that showed the computer system had been probed by an outsider. It was an exact match, according to the people familiar with the investigation. Years later, BP claimed in documents filed in a legal dispute that it wasn't able to meet shipping contracts after the blast due to "an act of terrorism". The explosion caused more than 30,000 barrels of oil to spill in an area above a water aquifer and cost BP and its partners $US5 million a day in transit tariffs during the closure, according to communications between BP and its bankers cited in The Oil Road, a book about the pipeline. Some of the worst damage was felt by the State Oil Fund of the Republic of Azerbaijan, which lost $US1 billion in export revenue while the line was shut down, according to Jamala Aliyeva, a spokeswoman for the fund.
A pipeline bombing may fit the profile of the PKK, which specialises in extortion, drug smuggling and assaults on foreign companies, said Didem Akyel Collinsworth, an Istanbul-based analyst for the International Crisis Group. But she said the PKK doesn't have advanced hacking capabilities. "That's not their modus operandi," she said. "It's always been very physical, very basic insurgency stuff." US spy agencies probed the BTC blast independently, gathering information from foreign communications intercepts and other sources, according to one of the people familiar with the inquiry. American intelligence officials believe the PKK - which according to leaked State Department cables has received arms and intelligence from Russia - may have arranged in advance with the attackers to take credit, the person said. The US was interested in more than just motive. The Pentagon at the time was assessing the cyber capabilities of potential rivals, as well as weaknesses in its own defences. Since that attack, both Iran and China have hacked into US pipeline companies and gas utilities, apparently to identify vulnerabilities that could be exploited later. As tensions over the Ukraine crisis have mounted, Russian cyberspies have been detected planting malware in US systems that deliver critical services like electricity and water, according to John Hultquist, senior manager for cyber espionage threat intelligence at Dallas-based iSight Partners, which first revealed the activity in October. Russian hackers also targeted sensitive documents related to a NATO summit in September, hitting dozens of computers belonging to the Ukrainian government and others, according to an iSight report.
In the US, "it is only a matter of the 'when,' not the 'if,' that we are going to see something dramatic," Michael Rogers, director of the NSA and commander of the US Cyber Command, told the House intelligence committee on November 20. "I fully expect that during my time as the commander we are going to be tasked to help defend critical infrastructure." Three days after the BTC blast, Russia went to war with Georgia, and Georgia's then prime minister Nika Gilauri accused Russia of sending the jets to bomb the BTC near the city of Rustavi. The bombs missed their presumed target, some by only a few metres, and the pipeline remained undamaged. The keyboard was the better weapon. Bloomberg |
Skywalker worked on a moisture farm
By Diego Flammini
Assistant Editor, North American Content
Farms.com
A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, Luke Skywalker was a farmer.
May 4 is commonly known as Star Wars Day, and social media is flooded with photos and videos celebrating the iconic movie franchise.
As it turns out, there’s a connection between Star Wars and agriculture – or in this case, moisture-culture.
Before venturing off to battle Darth Vader, Skywalker worked on his uncle Owen Lars’s moisture farm.
A moisture farm is an area of land used to produce water by drawing moisture from the dry air, according to Star Wars fan sites.
Lars moisture farm
Photo: StarWars.com
The farm used 63 devices called vaporators to harvest excess humidity from the atmosphere. Moisture farms were vital on dry worlds like Tatooine, where Skywalker lived.
His duties mainly consisted of equipment maintenance, which included two droids – CP30 and R2D2.
“Harvest is when I need you the most,” Lars said to Skywalker in A New Hope, after Luke expressed his interest to leave the farm to join the Imperial Academy, a military school. “Only one more season. This year we’ll make enough on the harvest so I’ll be able to hire some more hands.”
Not just for space anymore
Researchers on Earth appear to be working on similar technology used on the Star Wars moisture farms.
Scientists from MIT (the Massachusetts Institute of Technology) and the University of California developed a solar-powered harvester that can produce 2.8 litres of water in about 12 hours, according to an April 13 article by The Telegraph.
The device can harvest water in areas like the Mojave Desert, where average humidity is around 20 percent, The Telegraph reports. |
There are only two hard things in Computer Science: cache invalidation and naming things. Phil Karlton
Do you want to write great code? Clean, understandable, human-readable code? Well, there are several skills you need to acquire. But I’d say #1 on the list is “Picking Good Names”.
Choosing great names for your classes, methods, variables and the like is essential. Wisely chosen names often are the difference between good and awful code.
But what exactly is a good name? Even though there are some generally accepted guidelines, I’m afraid there isn’t a real consensus. (As it is with a lot of topics in our field, I’d say).
So, today I’m going to talk about naming conventions and principles that I try to use whenever I’m coding. It’s a mix of what I learned in college, studying by my own and working as a professional developer. It’s been useful to me, so I hope it’s going to be useful to you as well.
Some of the tips I’m going show you here today come from the book “Clean Code”, by Robert C. Martin (Uncle Bob). It’s one of my favorite programming books, and I’ll write a review on it sometime soon. Stay tuned!
0. Use self-explanatory names
What your variable/class/whatever does? How it’s supposed to be used? Choose a name that answers these questions.
Some people have the misguided notion that shorter names are always better. I can’t understand this. Are they trying to save keystrokes or something?
Let’s say you’re browsing a code base and you see some code like this:
int d ; // days until deadline
You could argue that this code is fine. The variable’s meaning is perfectly expressed in the comment. Great, but remember that the variable will probably be used in other points, away from the declaration and the comment.
So…why not just drop the comment and use the comment’s text as the variable’s name?
int daysUntilDealine ;
1. Use abbreviations only when they’re widely known
It would be crazy to name a variable “ServiceUniformResourceLocator” instead of “ServiceUrl”. Every developer knows what a Url is. The same thing with Ftp, UI, IO, and so on. So, it’s ok to use abbreviations to name things, but only if they are widely known and used. It would be counterproductive not to do so.
By the way. When I say “widely known”, I don’t necessarily mean worldwide known. Of course you can use abbreviations that are common in your business domain. It is considered a best practice to program as close as possible to the customer’s language. So, if your fellow developers and the business people are comfortable with the abbreviations, there’s no problem at all in using them.
2. Choose clarity over brevity
This is somewhat related to the first point. All else being equal, shorter names are better. But one day you’ll have to choose between clarity and brevity. When that day comes, always pick clarity. Six months down the road, when you have to revisit that code, you’re going to thank yourself.
3. Use widely accepted conventions (most of the time)
There are very few points in the book “Clean Code” that I disagree with. One of them is Uncle Bob’s recommendation to not start interface names with a capital “I”. He argues that this practice is reminiscent of Hungarian notation, and thus should die. Even though I understand why he thinks like this, I’m still starting my interface names with an “I”.
Why? One simple reason: starting interface names with an “I” is a very widespread and accepted convention in the .Net community. When you go against an established convention, you risk alienating developers who are used to that convention, like potential new team members or open-source projects contributors.
I think you should abandon a widely accepted convention only when the benefit of doing so greatly outweighs the costs. And I don’t think that’s the case here.
4. Don’t use Hungarian notation
Maybe you’ve heard about Hungarian Notation, maybe you haven’t. But I bet you’ve seen it, or even used it yourself, even if the name doesn’t ring a bell immediately.
So, what is this Hungarian thing? Our friend Wikipedia comes to our rescue:
Hungarian notation is an identifier naming convention in computer programming, in which the name of a variable or function indicates its type or intended use. Wikipedia: Hungarian Notation
So, in a nutshell, Hungarian notation is encoding the type of the variable in its name. So, if I have an int variable meant to store the age of a student, I’d call it iStudentAge or intStudentAge . Similarly, a string variable supposed to store a product’s description would be called sProductDescription , or even strProductDescription .
And why is this bad? Here are a few reasons:
First of all, it’s useless. If your variable has a self-explaining name (see item #0), it will give you a decent clue about its type. If you spot a variable called productName , would you think it’s a floating-point number? Besides, most modern IDEs can tell you not only the variable’s type, but also if it’s a local variable,instance member or a method parameter, and even how many times it’s been referenced.
, would you think it’s a floating-point number? Besides, most modern IDEs can tell you not only the variable’s type, but also if it’s a local variable,instance member or a method parameter, and even how many times it’s been referenced. It can be misleading. People make mistakes, and it’s perfectly possible to change the variable’s type but forget to also change its name to reflect the new type. So now you have a variable prefixed with “int” but it’s actually a long.
It makes the names more difficult to pronounce, and this may complicate discussion about the code and the architecture of your application.
5. Stick to the language/framework/project’s coding style
Most C# developers tend to use CamelCase to name local variables, instance variables and methods parameters, as in productName . In Ruby, for instance, the recommended style is snake_case , as in product_name .
Development frameworks and open-source projects might have their own guidelines and standards as well.
It would be pointless to fight against established standards, due to a matter of taste and preference. If you’re writing Ruby code, write the way the Ruby community expects. The same with Java, C#, PHP, what have you.
It’s like they say: “When in Rome, do as the Romans do”.
6. Method names should start with a verb
This one is really short. Methods are usually actions that an object can perform. As such, their names should start with a verb that indicates the action to be performed, e.g. PrintReport() , DrawShape(IShape shape) .
7. Class names should be nouns
Likewise, class names should be nouns, like Product , Customer , Student . Avoid using the words like Manager , Data , because they add little or no value.
8. Property names should be nouns or adjective phrases (C# specific)
Properties should be names with nouns, noun phrases or adjectives. When naming boolean properties, you may add the prefixes Can , Is or Has , when doing so provides value to the caller.
9. Use pronounceable/searchable names
Work hard to choose names that are pronounceable. When you pick a name that is hard or impossible to pronounce, you discourage discussion about your code, which is never a good thing.
Likewise, try to avoid names with a single letter. Among other reasons, they may give you a very hard time when you have to search for them! They make good names only for loop control variables or in lambda expressions. But even then, only when the scope is super short.
Conclusion
Choosing names is really hard. A name should express purpose, intention, meaning. It doesn’t necessarily need to be clever – but there are certain tricky situations that will require a little bit of cleverness.
A name should clearly express the purpose of the entity being named. But there are a lot of things that are very complex by their own nature, and it’s not so easy to come up with a perfect name for a very complex concept.
Sometimes, the difficulty you experience while choosing a name is a symptom of another problem, like a messy architecture, for instance. If you can’t decide between five options when naming a class, maybe the class is violating the Single Responsibility Principle (it’s trying to do more than one thing).
On the other hand, if you feel like calling a dozen classes the same thing…maybe they belong together as a single class.
Choosing names is ultimately about communication. And I think that’s why it’s such a hard task. Because we, developers, are not necessarily famous for our communication skills.
In “Clean Code”, at the end of the chapter about choosing good names, Uncle Bob writes:
The hardest thing about choosing good names is that it requires good descriptive skills and a shared cultural background. This is a teaching issue rather than a technical, business, or management issue. As a result, many people in this field do not do it very well.
Don’t be like most people in our field. Do the hard work and learn how to name things. You’ll thank yourself in the future.
Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. |
The defining war of this century is being waged by “mutant capitalists, whose obsession with perpetual growth and material wealth, is destroying the planet’s ecosystem, will end our civilization.” Jack Bogle warned us of this virus in his classic, “The Battle for the Soul of Capitalism.”
Now, a decade later, mutant capitalism is mutating further, becoming a pandemic among conservative politicians. Today every member of the GOP controlling the Senate, House and their state governors are all de facto mutant capitalists, thanks to big money donations, and like robots all linked to one master machine that renders them incapable of independent thinking when it comes to their lockstep march as climate-science deniers.
Yes, they’re mindless robots at odds with over 2,500 scientists who now warn, after more than two decades of research, that they are 97% “certain humans are causing climate change, that the damage is accelerating 10 times faster than the past 65 million years and soon we will self-destruct our civilization and disappear like dinosaurs, forever.”
Bill Nye “the science guy” is the new warrior challenging antiscience robotic senators like the GOP’s James Inhofe, who’ll soon be chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. Nye says America needs a new generation of leaders savvy in science and technology. Inhofe and fellow Republicans are Luddites trapped in a 19th century Wild West time warp. Fortunately Bill Nye, “the science guy” believes that while deniers are a lost cause, too incapable of rational thinking, their kids are not.
Nye’s “biggest concern is about creationist kids” whose parents are science deniers. “They’re compelled to suppress their common sense, to suppress their critical-thinking skills at a time in human history,” Nye recently told New York Times reviewer Jeffery DelViscio about his new book, “Undeniable: Evolution and the Science of Creation.”
So Nye’s just stepped into the science denialism war zone, and on a rigid ideological land mine. Maybe Nye and his 2,500 “science guy” friends on the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change are worried about the education of the next generation of creation kids.
But unfortunately, the fact is that 42% of all Americans don’t agree with Bill Nye when it comes to science. So Nye, Pope Francis and all climate-science believers have an enormous fight on their hands with the parents, teachers and their state education officials of these creation kids. Here’s a profile of the everyday world their creation kids live and learn in:
Gallup says 42% of Americans believe in creationism
And 76% believe climate is not a major national priority
Half of Americans say climate change is a “sign of the Apocalypse”
Those who do believe will pay only about $5 to stop global warming
Check the facts: According to Gallup polling, “more than four in 10 Americans continue to believe that God created humans in their present form 10,000 years ago, a view that has changed little over the past three decades. Half of Americans believe humans evolved, with the majority of these saying God guided the evolutionary process.”
Moreover, another Gallup poll says only 24% of Americans think “climate change” is a problem, put it near the bottom of 15 national problems polled. So today, 76% of Americans (that’s about 235 million!), say climate change, global warming and the environment are not the nation’s top priority. What is? Social Security, jobs, immigration, crime, big government, etc. But not overheating the planet.
Nye should call Bill McKibben, “the environmental guy” who wrote in Foreign Policy journal that it’s “too late” to change the minds of 236 million climate-science deniers in America, especially when Big Oil’s trillion dollars in annual revenue just keeps fueling the educators and parents of creationist kids, conservative billionaires and the GOP. Betting odds work against Bill Nye.
Keep an open mind: tour the Creation Museum, Noah’s Ark theme park
Moreover, before all you disciples in climate science dismiss all those deniers, keep an open mind and at least check out the online photo tours of the 70,000-square-foot Creationist Museum in new Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s home state of Kentucky, where they’re also building the $73 million Noah’s Ark Theme Park with a 510-foot replica of the ark, to be opened in 2016.
Start with BuzzFeed’s Matt Stopera online tour of the Creation Museum, “This is What Creationists Believe About Dinosaurs.” You’ll learn about some of their basic beliefs, that Bill Nye must overcome in educating creation kids.
Here’s a few beliefs: “There were humans and dinosaurs living together at the same time”... that dinosaurs also came two-by-two on Noah’s Ark ... that dinosaurs didn’t actually go extinct after the Great Flood ... and that science may be no match for America’s 140 million God-fearing creationists.
Other reviews point out that while carbon dating proves that dinosaurs went instinct 65 million years ago, creationists simply dismiss that bit of science. Why? According the “Creation Answers Handbook,” their beliefs are grounded in the Bible which “comes from the Creator, is nonnegotiable, and opposed to the changing views and models of fallible people seeking to understand the data within that framework” where “evolutionists often change their ideas.”
In short, Bill Nye has a impossible task, one that the 2,500 scientists on the UN Panel on Climate Change have been losing for over two decades. Why? There are roughly 120 million God-fearing American creationists. And “the prevalence of this creationist view of the origin of humans is essentially unchanged from 30 years ago, when Gallup first asked the question. About a third of Americans believe that humans evolved, but with God’s guidance.” And only “15% say humans evolved, but that God had no part in the process.”
With these numbers, it’s highly probable a GOP president would mean America would be headed by a science denying creationists.
Big Oil billionaires, GOP lobbyists, creationists are all science deniers
Get it? There’s a clear connection between creationism, climate-science denial, conservative politicians and free-market capitalism. And it all comes together in Oklahoma’s GOP Sen. James Inhofe, author of “The Greatest Hoax: How the Global Warming Conspiracy Threatens Your Future.” Inhofe relies on divine guidance: “God’s still up there. The arrogance of people to think that we, human beings, would be able to change what He is doing in the climate is to me outrageous.”
Moreover, creationists preachers are not bound by Pope Francis; they rely on the Bible teaching preached by their local ministers on Sunday. So no matter what Francis says about global warming destroying the planet in his forthcoming encyclical, those 120 million creationists have more faith that “God’s in charge” ... not the UN’s 2,500 fallible human scientists ... nor a bunch of liberal politicians ... nor an activist Catholic pope who is aligned with “extremists who favor widespread population control and wealth redistribution,” according Fox News. Besides, many of them got jobs in the oil fields and states like Oklahoma need the tax revenue from the oil industry.
Still, Nye trudges on against ever-increasing odds, an idealist, another like Don Quixote: “There are fundamentals of evolution. There are principles. There are things about founders and bottlenecking of genes and altruism and costly signaling and just germs. There are just things about evolution that we should all be aware of, the way we’re aware of where electricity comes from, or that you have cells with mitochondria ... a lot of people who have very little training in evolution.”
Unfortunately, Big Oil doesn’t give a hoot about “the fundamentals of evolution.” Never will. They got Big Jim Inhofe, the GOP, and a trillion in revenue to protect.
Sorry, folks, but the “mutant capitalist” dogma really is mutating, rapidly, a virus that is metastasizing into a mental pandemic that is undermining future economic growth not just for creation kids but all Americans. Northwestern University economist Robert Gordon hit the nail on the head describing six “headwinds” in his NBER paper, “Is U.S. Economic Growth Over?” where he argues that by 2100 these headwinds will slow America’s economic growth to a pre-Industrial Revolution level below 1% GDP.
Well, now we have a seventh headwind — creation theology trumps evolution science. Yes, a new generation of creationist kids who believe dinosaurs and humans coexisted. And soon that science denialism will backfire, slowing our GDP growth dramatically, contributing to the end of our so-called democracy, our capitalist market economy and civilization as we knew it. Why? Because we lost our moral compass. |
Nearly 15,000 Iowa women will lose access to low-cost medical services when four Planned Parenthood clinics close Friday — and advocates say the move foreshadows how the Republican health care bill could affect women nationwide.
Clinics in Quad Cities, Burlington, Keokuk and Sioux City will close at the end of the day Friday as a result of the Iowa state legislature voting to “defund” Planned Parenthood. President Donald Trump has said he wants to accomplish the same thing on a national level, and the health care bill now in the U.S. Senate would take federal funding away from the nonprofit health provider for one year.
“Defunding” doesn’t mean taking federal dollars directly away from Planned Parenthood. It doesn’t get money directly from the feds. It means that Planned Parenthood won’t be reimbursed when it provides care to patients on Medicaid, the public health insurance program for low-income Americans.
See also: How Trump’s budget proposals could impact millions of women
Though it’s often at center stage in the abortion debate, Planned Parenthood’s services range from birth control to cancer screenings to HIV tests. The clinics closing Friday represent a third of Planned Parenthood’s 12 clinics in Iowa.
“If Trumpcare is passed into law, we’ll see the kind of devastation that’s happening in Iowa nation-wide, with far too many women simply going without the health care they need,” said Cecile Richards, President of Planned Parenthood Action Fund. “What’s happening in Iowa is heartbreaking — nearly 15,000 people are losing their trusted health care provider. That’s more than just a number, those are 15,000 moms and daughters, friends and neighbors, who are losing care.”
But anti-abortion advocates say Iowa women have plenty of other options for health care. There are 157 rural health clinics where patients can get most of the services Planned Parenthood provides, with the exception of abortion, the director of Iowans for Life wrote in an editorial for the Des Moines Register. “The reality is that women will not lose health care because of these closings,” Iowans for Life director Maggie DeWitte wrote.
Get a daily roundup of the top reads in personal finance delivered to your inbox. Subscribe to MarketWatch's free Personal Finance Daily newsletter. Sign up here. |
The NBA Western Conference Finals will have DC’s Superman and Batman suiting up for the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Avengers donning Golden State Warriors’ uniforms. The Thunder beat the San Antonio Spurs with great play from their role players but in this round they’ll need their superheroes to get passed the Warriors. In the other corner, the Warriors’ ensemble of superhuman talent will face their toughest challenger yet.
Kevin Durant is Superman for the Thunder, with his calm demeanor while averaging 36.3 points in three games against the Warriors. Durant will face different defenders all series, the Warriors will put Harrison Barnes, Andre Iguodala, and Klay Thompson on him as well as switch Draymond Green in pick-and-roll plays. In the examples below the Thunder used Steven Adams to set on-ball screens near half-court giving Durant plenty of space to attack Andrew Bogut. Superman smoothly glides to the rim and easily lays the ball in both instances.
Russell Westbrook is the other half of this duo as Batman. He plays with a raging fire inside him that at times propels him to great things or hurt the team. In the past series he dominated by crashing the boards and will need to continue to do so in this series. One thing the Thunder can take advantage of is his size advantage over Stephen Curry. Anytime they are matched up he must take him in the post like the example below, Batman overpowered Curry and finished in the paint.
Oklahoma City is the best rebounding team in the NBA and used that to take down the Spurs. The Thunder must create easy baskets by turning the Warriors’ misses into transition plays like the play below. The Thunder did a great job securing the rebound, made the outlet pass to Superman who teamed with Batman and violently attacks the rim.
The real question is if the Thunder’s best lineup of Enes Kanter and Adams in the last series can dominate the Warriors like they did the Spurs? It will be more challenging this time to keep this lineup on the floor if the bigs cannot defend the small ball pick-and-rolls.
The Thunder supporting cast has struggled most of the season but they stepped up in the last round with Waiters playing some of his best basketball in his career and Roberson playing lockdown defense against Kawhi Leonard. They will need to continue to play that way and step up to form the Justice League behind Superman and Batman.
In the other corner is Marvel’s Avengers with Curry as the clean cut Captain America, Green as the trash talking Iron Man, and Thompson as the silent assassin Hawkeye. These Warriors have made it through the first two rounds of the playoffs with their Captain banged up. It is with their strong supporting cast they have been able to withstand Curry’s injuries but they’ll need him to play like the unanimous MVP that he is during this series. The Captain is an absolute nightmare off of pick-and-rolls to guard. In the play below he came off an on-ball screen and took advantage of Kanter switching onto him. He blew right by him for an and-1 basket.
Besides having to be ready to defend Curry off of pick-and-roll situations, the Thunder have to have Curry awareness at all times even when he doesn’t have the ball. In the two plays below the Thunder lost that awareness and Westbrook didn’t stay attached to Curry who got a wide-open three in the first clip off of a set play. In the second clip Westbrook let up for just a moment, Curry slipped to the basket and Bogut founds him underneath the rim for two points.
The Warriors Iron Man is Draymond Green, often in the right place at the right time and is constantly letting anyone in an earshot know about it. Green is the heart of the Warriors, he is a key playmaker for them on the offensive side and is the engine that makes their small ball lineup their death lineup. Iron Man has averaged 12.3 rebounds and 9 assists against the Thunder this season. One extremely important stat is how many technicals Green already has in these playoffs. He already has four techs and it’s an automatic suspension once he hits seven. OKC players like Adams might try to bait him into one. He’ll have to keep his head because it would be a devastating blow for the Warriors to lose Iron Man for a game.
In Curry’s absence Thompson has been a long-range threat similar to Hawkeye in these playoffs. He is scoring 27.2 points per game these playoffs while shooting 47.5% from downtown. Much like Hawkeye, Thompson plays his game without much conversation. He often draws the tougher guard defensive assignment and in the regular season he often matched up on Westbrook. It will be his challenge to keep Westbrook out of the paint and try to goad him into jumpers.
Late in a game versus the Thunder, Iron Man teamed up with Hawkeye on two critical plays. In the first clip, Green grabbed an offensive rebound off of a Curry miss and slung the ball cross court to a wide-open Thompson who made the Thunder pay with a three ball. Then off of an end of game play, Green found Thompson again who is cutting off a back pick to tie the game with an and-1 and showed the most emotion you’ll see from him in a game.
This series has the makings of an instant classic with epic battles. Many questions will be answered like; can the Thunder bigs keep up with the small lineup of death for the Warriors? Can the Superman/Batman duo do enough to defeat the Avengers? Will Green or Westbrook’s tempers have an affect on the series? Can Captain America show yet again why he deserved to be the first unanimous MVP or will Superman remind everyone why he was the MVP just 2 years ago? These are just a few questions that will be answered in this series. This has the potential to be a great series and the birth of a new rivalry. |
By Clemente Lisi – NEW YORK, NY (July 13, 2011) US Soccer Players — The unbelievable rags to riches story of National Team defender Jay DeMerit is the kind of tale Hollywood usually foams over. Indeed, DeMerit’s meteoric rise from unknown amateur to playing at a World Cup would make a great movie.
That’s what filmmakers Nick Lewis and Ranko Tutulugdzija thought when they embarked on the ambitious project to recount how DeMerit left his home with $1,800 in his pocket and a dream of someday playing in the Premier League on his mind. The movie isn’t the whole story. What happened next has been unbelievable.
A labor of love, Rise & Shine: The Jay DeMerit Story, was the result of zeal and determination on the part of the filmmakers. The independent documentary starts with DeMerit’s life in England starting in 2003 as a then-24-year-old struggling player.
The 92-minute film details how DeMerit helped Watford earn promotion to the Premiership in 2006 and his time playing for the USA at last year’s World Cup. Herein lies the financial bind the film’s backers find themselves.
With little money, Lewis and Tutulugdzija made the film and conducted interviews in Wisconsin, England and South Africa, but they still need a staggering $215,000 to pay for the rights to use footage of DeMerit playing in the Premiership and the USA. To put the financials in perspective, it costs about $20,000 a minute to show footage from the Premiership and $50,000 a minute from the World Cup.
“I was dumbfounded by how expensive it is for any footage. Apparently we chose the most expensive sport in the world,” said the film’s executive producer Chris Olenik. “We hope to get this film to a mainstream audience as it is a story that we believe anyone can relate to.”
Relating is exactly what the fans are doing. In an ironic twist, the film’s desperate need for cash and exposure parallels DeMerit’s own compelling pursuit to make a name for himself in the EPL.
“That’s where the beauty lies. Jay appreciates that the film is being made in this fashion," Olenik said. “We wouldn’t have it any other way and it makes for a much more compelling story and justifies it being told. It hasn’t come easy – just like Jay’s journey to get where he has. I think with both stories there were always people that believed from the start. Those people are still giving us unwavering support and are just as excited as we are, on small, simple successes. It’s the reason we keep going.”
Moving forward is exactly what the makers of this film and the growing number of supporters have been doing. Private screenings have popped up nationwide, including DeMerit’s hometown of Green Bay, Wisconsin, with Lewis and Tutulugdzija using the gatherings as an opportunity to raise the much-needed cash. Even MLS teams like the Houston Dynamo and soccer bars from New York to Vancouver have gotten into the act, showing screenings of the film.
The Internet has been a major tool. What has resulted – through social media like Facebook and Twitter – is an unprecedented outpouring of grassroots support. As a result, 1,457 people have given $194,723 as of noon on Wednesday through kickstarter.com – with the goal of $215,000 within sight. The donor list includes Real Salt Lake goalkeeper Nick Rimando and US midfielders Stuart Holden and Alejandro Bedoya, but the producers need to reach that $215,000 dollar target to actually get any of that money to fund the project.
“The support has been amazing. It really has,” said co-director Nick Lewis. "And I'm not talking about the support of big organizations, but of everyday people who simply love Jay's story and want to support the beautiful game. To have people reach out and volunteer their time and creativity has been something we didn’t expect. It really is a testament to Jay's story and to Jay as a person.”
For starters, the help of the American Outlaws fan group and its dozens of local chapters have been a big help. The love fans have for DeMerit certainly played a major role in the successful fundraising effort of the past few months.
“We couldn’t do this without the support of the fans. It is truly humbling the amount of unwavering support we have received,” said Olenik, who has spearheaded the online efforts to raise funds. “It just goes to show the power of the message behind this story and the passion of US soccer fans and fans around the world for the matter.”
Olenik said he was “not surprised” by the support.
“We knew that the soccer community would come together for this, but it was more of a question of how. I thought the how portion was going to be personally responding to each tweet, Facebook post or pledge and thanking them for their support, hopefully creating a two-way dialogue asking for their suggestions and support as it is their film just as much as it is ours.”
Filming began about six months before the 2010 World Cup. Tutulugdzija, who had played soccer with DeMerit at the University of Illinois at Chicago, approached his former teammate with the idea for a documentary. Lewis, a lawyer, and Tutulugdzija, an acupuncturist, put together DeMerit’s story and were even honored earlier this year with the “Rising Star” award at the Canadian International Film Festival.
Olenik said his “worry” was not in making the film, but in how in getting it out there for a mass audience to enjoy.
“How do we get this film noticed? How do we get this amazing message out to people – the fans – in the same way Jay made the story and with no Hollywood involvement?”
The filmmakers are confident they will reach their financial goal by Monday’s deadline. Fans can contribute as little as $1. Anyone who gives $25 will get a DVD of the documentary. Higher dollar amounts, of course, are welcome.
“Yes, I think we can reach our goal – but we still need help,” Olenik said. “We have worked extremely hard and want to get the story out. I think what gets us over the top is the fans and getting the message out to the people that haven’t been touched by this story’s message yet.”
Clemente Lisi is a New York-based writer. Contact him at: [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/ClementeLisi |
First seeing combat in the deserts of North Africa, the first batch of M4 Shermans saw fierce combat against battle-tested German and Italian units. This legendary tank and its variants would eventually play a leading role in driving the Axis out of North Africa, and lead to the liberation of Western Europe.
If you haven't yet had a chance to battle in the Shermans, then now's a great time to start, as we've got discounts on multiple U.S. mediums and themed Missions!
Start Date: Friday, December 5, 03:00 PST / 11:00 UTC
End Date: Monday, December 8, 03:00 PST / 11:00 UTC
Discounts Regular U.S. Medium Tanks
50% Credit Discount: tiers II - V Regular U.S. Medium Tanks
30% Credit Discount: tiers VI -VII
First Use of M4 Medium Missions
Missions & Rewards Crew Bonus Damage at least one enemy vehicle in a battle. Reward: x2 Crew Experience All battle types allowed (except training room)
Repeatable
All vehicles allowed Roll Out The Mediums Destroy at least one enemy vehicle in a battle. Reward: 1,000 Experience Must be in a U.S. medium tank
Tier III or higher Battle for Moscow Deal at least 300 damage in a battle. Reward: + 70% Credit multiplier Must be in a U.S. medium tank
Tier IV or higher Medium Roadblock Destroy at least one enemy U.S. medium tank in battle. Reward: + 50% Credit multiplier U.S. medium tanks NOT eligible
All vehicle types, tier IV or higher
Limit five (5) times per day
Random battles only
First Use of the M4 Medium Bundles
Weekend Warrior Bundle - $9.99 3 Days of Premium + 1,250 + Free: 1 Day of Premium
Gold - Credit Bundles
Gold F.A.Q. | Gold Benefits |
NEW YORK — Breitbart News, headed by Executive Chairman Steve Bannon, has been giving Fox News a “run for its money,” exclaimed Hillary Clinton in her latest memoir released today.
“During the Obama years, the Breitbart News Network, backed by Robert and Rebekah Mercer and led by their advisor Steve Bannon, who is now Trump’s top strategist, emerged to give Fox a run for its money,” Clinton wrote in the memoir, titled What Happened.
Bannon resigned from the Trump White House last month and rejoined Breitbart News.
Hillary made the statement in a chapter section titled, “The War on Truth” in which she espoused the conspiracy that there is a “right-wing war on truth” consisting of a “concerted effort” to “discredit mainstream sources of information, create an echo chamber to amplify fringe conspiracy theories, and undermine Americans’ grasp of objective truth.”
This purported right-wing conspiracy, Clinton alleges, aided Trump’s 2016 victory by discrediting negative stories about the billionaire and helping to build a “receptive audience for false attacks against me.”
Clinton credited News Corporation Executive Chairman Rupert Murdoch and the late Roger Ailes, formerly Chairman and CEO of Fox News, as likely “doing more than anyone else” to facilitate the so-called right-wing war on truth. She followed with the statement about Breitbart giving Fox News a “run for its money.”
“For years, Fox News has been the most powerful and prominent platform for the right-wing war on truth,” she further complained. Clinton failed to mention the manner in which the mainstream news media has served as an echo-chamber perpetuating smears against Trump, as this reporter has previously thoroughly documented.
Clinton has a history of blaming her family’s scandals on right-wing conspiracies. In 1998, during the height of the Monica Lewinsky scandal, she famously promoted the conspiracy that her husband was the victim of a “vast right-wing conspiracy.”
Yesterday, NBC and MSNBC contributor John Heilemann, a bestselling author, stated on the Hardball program that when it comes to influencing elections “Breitbart is a more powerful media institution and a more powerful media institution on the right than Fox News.”
Aaron Klein is Breitbart’s Jerusalem bureau chief and senior investigative reporter. He is a New York Times bestselling author and hosts the popular weekend talk radio program: Aaron Klein Investigative Radio. Follow him on Twitter @AaronKleinShow. Follow him on Facebook. |
The Bay Area outpaced the rest of the state and the country in economic growth for at least the fifth consecutive year, according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis.
The San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara metropolitan area’s gross domestic product increased by 8.9 percent between 2014 and 2015, making it the second-fastest-growing metro area in the country behind only Midland, Texas. In the same period, the economy of the San Francisco metropolitan area, which includes Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin and San Mateo counties, increased by 4.1 percent. The average U.S. metro area grew at a 2.5 percent rate in 2015.
The continued growth of technology companies in the South Bay made a large contribution to the region’s $223 billion GDP in 2015, said Micah Weinberg, president of the Bay Area Council’s Economic Institute.
While so-called unicorn startups make waves for the multibillion-dollar valuations investors place on them, GDP is measured more conventionally, through sales of products and services. So it’s the more established companies like Apple, Google, Facebook and Salesforce that make a significant mark on the region’s economy.
“There are footprints of all major industry sectors in the Bay Area, but tech is the big kahuna,” Weinberg said.
Silicon Valley is also a draw for companies around the world, whose outposts generate local economic activity.
Just last year, Samsung opened a 1.1 million-square-foot, 10-story research-and-development center with 700 employees in San Jose. In June, Sunnyvale’s City Council approved plans for the construction of five new office buildings in Moffett Park, where Amazon, Microsoft and Comcast have expanded their presence.
Access to engineering talent from Stanford University and other local colleges, proximity to venture capitalists and even the weather draw global interest in the area, said Matthew Mahood, president and CEO of the San Jose Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce.
“There is really only one Silicon Valley,” Mahood said.
Despite the growth of companies like Twitter and Uber, San Francisco has a way to go before competing with the established tech businesses of the South Bay, and the city’s finance sector has shrunk over the decades, said UC Berkeley Professor Karen Chapple, who teaches regional planning and economic development.
“You either want to follow a path toward diversity or follow a path toward specialization, and San Francisco hasn’t quite been able to do either,” Chapple said.
Still, the Bay Area remains the envy of the world. Silicon Valley even beat China’s 2015 growth rate of 6.9 percent.
Its growth goes against economic principles that mark high living costs as a barrier to economic growth, according to Chapple. That Bay Area companies compete both on quality of products and innovation as opposed to quantity gives the region a huge advantage, she said.
“The irony is we’re creating these tools in the Bay Area that would seem to make geography irrelevant, but being geographically in the Bay Area has never been more relevant,” Weinberg said. “It’s actually mystifying.”
The concentrated growth brings its own problems, he said.
“There are many places in California that have actually been sliding backwards, the Central Valley for example,” said Weinberg. “It’s not sharing in the economic success. ... If you take the Bay Area out of California, it’s doing just OK.”
“It’s exacerbating income inequality to the extent that it’s basically two different economies in the U.S.,” said Chapple. “It’s harder and harder to have economic development in the places getting left behind.”
Jessica Floum is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @jfloum. |
Peter Chou is out as CEO of HTC, and chairperson Cher Wang is his replacement. Chou will "transition to a strategic new role leading future product innovation" as head of HTC's Future Development Lab. Wang co-founded HTC in 1997, and in 2013 Chou handed her more of his CEO responsibilities in what was said to be a temporary move. She will also retain her chairperson position. "As an entrepreneur at heart, I am excited to see so many new opportunities, and I am honoured to accept this opportunity to help shape the next stage of HTC's development," Wang said in a statement.
Wang takes the reins at a period of transition for HTC: its last two flagship smartphones have failed to sell well despite general acclaim, the upcoming One M9 is an evolutionary change, and the company has started to diversify with devices like the unusual Re camera and the Vive VR headset in development with Valve. "We are seeing rapid changes in the industry, with the smartphone as our personal hub connecting us to a growing world of smart devices," reads Wang's statement. "We pioneered the smartphone industry; now we are applying that thinking to realize the potential of a new generation of connected products and services." |
Unreal Match 3, our newly released app for Android and iOS, began as an Epic Friday project back in April of this year. The game was created primarily by a few of us on the learning resources team -- a small group within Epic that is focused on creating training materials.
Many of our smaller learning resource samples were Blueprints-only, and while they're still really valuable, we understood the need for more C++ samples to round out the resources. While we were brainstorming, Tom Looman was kicking off his survival game in C++, so we wanted to go in a different direction both in the style of the game and the engine features shown. Using a puzzle game like Match 3 meant that we had established rules we could use, which let us focus on showing how to implement those in Unreal Engine.
Our initial brainstorming list includes a few features that didn't make it into the initial sample, like AI and Data Tables. We do intend for it to be a living sample, though, with new functionality added over time. Some of those features might end up in other samples we do, instead.
Coding Unreal Match 3
After Richard and I came up with our project starting point, we began adding code to my original prototype. As we wrote code, there were three main rules to which we adhered.
The first was to keep code as generic as possible. My original grid code assumed a square grid and that we'd only want to have a Match 3 mode. The final Unreal Match 3 game code has parameters that let you create non-square grids or ask players to match 4, 5, 6, or more tiles. During development, we even considered multiplayer support, although we finally made the scope call to remove it from the sample.
The other two code design decisions we made were about object-oriented programming in Unreal Engine. We wanted to use framework classes like Game Instance, Game Mode, and Player Controller for their strong suits. Our Game Instance class handles saving of the whole game, as well as sending information to mobile services, while Game Mode keeps track of the Match 3 rules, such as the amount of time left on the clock. We wrote these C++ classes while trying to keep in mind what designers would want to hook into in Blueprints, although later on when we got to the art pass, we came back and extended our Blueprint API even further.
After about two months of on-and-off coding in between our other work, we had a fleshed out game, complete with the art I'd borrowed from other learning resource samples, along with a free Marketplace pack.
Note the lack of HUD art and landscape mode. Our bombs were actually boxes!
The Art Pass (and Beyond)
This is about the time we started to add to the team. All told, by the end of the project, we had six people working on Unreal Match 3 part-time over a period of about six months. Our artist, Mike, created new textures for the game within a few days, and our audio engineer, Joey, knocked out awesome sounds in a two-day turnaround. It was really remarkable to see the art and design pass transform the project into something that began to feel more and more like a real game.
As the team grew, we became very glad that we'd kept our game logic in multiple C++ classes (and also multiple Blueprints). This way, for example, Wes could work on the Bomb Bar Widget Blueprint, while Alan worked on the explosion effects for all the different tile types, and we rarely ran into issues where someone needed to pause and check in their work to unblock someone else.
There are two examples from this art and design pass that show our goals for how setting up the inheritance and class breakdown.
In C++, our base Tile class handles tasks like storing whether or not it can explode, the animation for when tiles fall, and reporting back to the game grid when they've been selected. Our Blueprint Tile class inherits from that, and adds on base effects like spawning the floating score display. Finally, we have Bomb, Gem, and Block Blueprint Classes that add specialized visual effects for each of those tile types. This way, visual or audio effects are primarily handled in Blueprints, while base game rules or things that happen frequently (like the tiles animating) are in C++. We used Blueprint Native Events and Blueprint Implementable Events throughout the project. For example, after most of the audio pass was done, Joey mentioned that he'd like to do a sound effect for the tiles landing. I added a Blueprint Implementable Event that was called in code when the tiles landed, and he was able to quickly wire the effect up in Blueprints and test it out.
Along with the design and visual pass on Unreal Match 3, we hooked up mobile services like achievements, leaderboards, ads, and in-app purchasing. We also began testing across a range of mobile devices.
These areas brought up some interesting and tough questions for us. We ended up going with a cosmetic overhaul of the level for our in-app purchase, because we wanted to illustrate the flow of the purchase process in the final project without impacting gameplay. The nighttime skin ended up being one of my favorite parts, by the way, because it really shows how a different art and audio style can change the whole feel of the game.
For leaderboards and achievements, we originally had a setup where the online service had authority, and in a full-fledged game where you want to maximize the security of your high scores, that is an ideal setup. But, after a lot of back and forth discussion, we went with a system that is forgiving to people who play offline by using the highest score or achievement level between the local and online systems.
Finally, on the mobile device front, I'm really glad we tested across a wide range of devices, as it uncovered some edge case scenarios we hadn't considered earlier. We used device profiles pretty heavily to try to get as much performance as possible on a wide range of devices without sacrificing the look of the game.
What Went Well
Unreal Match 3 has been an amazing project to be a part of, and I hope that anyone working in Unreal Engine finds it useful as a learning tool. While it is a mobile sample, the C++/Blueprint split, the event-driven UI, and the Paper 2D setup can be applied to many projects.
We used what we had available, and scoped the project to the skills of the team. Being more on the programming side, I leaned toward the 2D game style when planning the project, and the rest grew from there. Since we were a small team doing this on the side, keeping the scope small and achievable really helped in the long run.
Working on Unreal Match 3 was jokingly called the "stone soup project" for a while, in that everyone contributed where they could to get the project one step closer to being done. The learning resource team was the primary team working on it, but we collaborated across the company on art, sound, and testing, and that was an awesome experience.
Alongside making the game, we put together livestreams and written documentation to explain the project setup, from our UI design to force feedback.
More than that, though, creating a complete project like this helped us find the stumbling blocks in development, and how best to work two features together. We'll incorporate those lessons in a lot of other learning resources we create going forward as well.
I like how Wes put it, so I'll quote him shamelessly: "This was also a learning process for us. None of us profess to be the end-all-be-all when it comes to Unreal Engine 4, and we are learning more and more every day, just as you are. Building this project allowed us to get more exposure to the engine and exposed some things on the engine side that we are already taking steps to improve the process and pipeline for. The best way to learn is to set out to build something, then build it – learning along the way if need be! "
Everyone pitched in when and where they could on this project. We didn't have defined roles as much as primary skill sets, and while this caused some hiccups at times, it also contributed to the team feeling a sense of ownership over the whole project.
What We'll Learn From
Even though this is a learning resource for the Unreal Engine community, it's safe to say we learned a lot while making it, too.
Because we didn't have defined roles going into the project, it was sometimes tricky to resolve gameplay design decisions, art style questions, and other discussions. Everyone having a voice is definitely great, but sometimes an executive decision is needed to keep the project rolling. A game design document helps a lot with this too - while we had one on the teaching side of things, we could have used more detail on the plans for overall gameplay.
While we got the game to a playable state fairly early on, the last (big!) push of bug fixing and testing caused a small drop-off in enthusiasm as we got closer to shipping. This definitely isn't unique to this game or this team, and is something to keep in mind when you think that there are "just a few things left to do before shipping."
UI Scaling is an area where we spent a lot of time with fixes and testing. Part of the reason for this is because we made some changes for individual devices first, rather than starting with general fixes and then narrowing down device-specific fixes. Much like optimization, UI scaling (and device-specific fixes in general) is an area to work from general to specific, and proceed with small steps.
Mike, the artist who created a lot of our tile art and UI textures, was also really busy with other projects, and so while we would have iterated more if we'd had more time, we ended up adapting the game to the art instead of the other way around. The main thing we learned here is that when collaborating outside the team, communication is key, because your team's shorthand/internal expectations might not always translate.
Unreal Match 3 Trivia
Number of games played by Samples QA: 1,979
Number of games played by unofficial QA/Unreal Match 3 Fan Club: 101,979
Number of bundt cakes consumed during development: 20 (4 gluten-free)
Most popular Match mode overall: Match 2
We hope you enjoy this project as much as we've enjoyed working on it to bring it to you. It's the first time we've done a major sample with so much accompanying documentation, and ended up with a game that is pretty fun to play along the way!
Check it out in the Learn tab, on Google Play, and soon on the iOS App Store, and let us know what you think in the forums.
Update 1/18/2016: Unreal Match 3 is now live on iOS and Android, and our complete documentation is now available! |
In February of 2012, the late and great Lou Reed, already severely ill and awaiting a liver transplant , visited the Kelly Writers House at the University of Pennsylvania, my alma mater, as a guest at the Blutt Singer-Songwriter Symposium — an annual event inviting prominent musicians, including Patti Smith (whose recent tribute to Reed is pure goosebumps), Loudon Wainwright, and Roseanne Cash, to perform and discuss their work. Reed’s conversation with Rolling Stone critic Anthony deCurtis, author of the excellent In Other Words: Artists Talk About Life and Work, is one of his last recorded live interviews. Here are the essential highlights from the interview, in which Reed radiates his singular fusion of irreverence, insight, and uncompromising creative genius.
On Andy Warhol and the birth of The Velvet Underground:
Warhol was what you would call a workaholic. … And he worked — people have no idea. … He was an astonishing person. When you consider what he was like when he was doing art direction in windows and all that — with the suit, the tie, the whole thing. And then, one day, PHOOM! He’s not Andy Warhol anymore — now he’s Andy Warhol, he’s in Levis and the wig and the jacket — fantastic! He created himself — you gotta love it.
Reed doesn’t conceal his contempt for the music labels, who didn’t like or even listen to the very music they were selling:
All these record companies deserve to go bankrupt. They’re all, you know, lying sacks of shit. No joke — these are bad guys, they deserve everything that’s happened to them.
On Bob Dylan:
On his wife, the artist and musician Laurie Anderson, whose remembrance of Reed is one of the most soul-stirring meditations on love and loss ever written (“And death? I believe that the purpose of death is the release of love.”):
She’s so smart and can do anything — anything she does is absolutely great. It’s amazing.
On balancing raw force and raw vulnerability in his music and writing:
I like conflict — it’s balance. Or, like tai chi, balance is like the yin and the yang. Even a song like “Perfect Day” — the kick is at the end, the last verse: “I thought I was someone else, someone good.”
On adapting literary works to music and rewriting Edgar Allan Poe’s poetry in his 2003 album The Raven and the companion graphic novel:
The trouble with Poe was that his language is so serious — the vocabulary — the words he’s using — some of those words were arcane when he used them — and then, architectural terms from Greece. And I, dutifully sitting there with the dictionary, looking all of this up and thinking, certainly, in a song or on the album I don’t want to have [things like this] in there — you can just as easily use a word someone knows what it means. … For him, great. For me, no. I spent most of the time translating them into English before even starting, but I couldn’t wait to rewrite “The Raven,” the poem. Mine is like a contemporary version of it, and we have a graphic novel out … illustrated by this great Italian artist, Lorenzo Mattotti. … Making things that are beautiful is real fun.
The Raven is absolutely fantastic — here’s a taste: |
CROWNPOINT ROAD RUNNERS every Wednesday evenings and Saturday mornings
at Ottawa and Cannon. We run RAIN OR SHINE, 52 weeks a year. Bring a friend or come solo and make some new ones! No need to sign up or register, JUST SHOW UP!
Our Wednesday run takes place at 7:46 PM, and is open to all runners – just gather on the corner and we will head out at 8:00. We will develop some regular routes and post them here and on strava…. in case you want to catch up.
Our Saturday run takes place at 8:46 AM, and is open to any and all runners…. if it looks like we are getting too spread out… we will start to create some groups. For now – LET’S RUN.
For now, we don’t offer a bag drop but we hope to get a kindly merchant to help us out. |
The arrival of Sarah Palin brings a special something to the 2016 campaign, like a little LSD added to the punch bowl. Are we watching C-SPAN, or a reality TV show, or a “Saturday Night Live” skit? It is impossible to tell without consulting the channel guide.
Ted Cruz may have secured the coveted “Duck Dynasty” blessing. But Palin is the original and best representative of Kardashian conservatism. Her endorsement of Donald Trump was entirely devoid of policy content — a speech that did not even aspire to shallowness. It is enough that Trump is “going rogue” and “ticking people off” and “media heads are spinning.”
Palin has been entirely consumed and replaced by her own bitterness against a Republican establishment she feels betrayed her and against a media that mocked her. More than anything else, she clings to resentment and rage. And her revolution, over time, has become comprehensive; not just a revolt against elites, but a revolt against syntax and taste and preparation and reason.
The phenomenon of Palin raises the question: Does populism need to be anti-intellectual? The answer is: No. The populist mythology surrounding Abraham Lincoln was not only the rail-splitter born in a log cabin, but the youth who studied books by candlelight. He was, indeed, dismissed as a rube. But he wasn’t one. He quoted Shakespeare with ease and suffused politics with thought.
Populism, by definition, is anti-elitist. But that is very different from being anti-intellectual. It was William F. Buckley who provided the best description of conservative anti-elitism. “I would rather be governed by the first 2,000 people in the Boston telephone directory than by the 2,000 people on the faculty of Harvard University.” The assumption of wisdom in ordinary people is the basis for free-market economics and, ultimately, for democratic theory. But every conservative would hope that the phone-book ruling class would possess some knowledge of our national history, some acquaintance with our founding documents, some ability to make reasoned political arguments. These things they would not gain from watching “The Celebrity Apprentice” or “Amazing America With Sarah Palin.”
Sarah Palin joined Donald Trump on the campaign trail in Iowa to endorse his run for president on Tuesday, Jan. 19. (Whitney Leaming/The Washington Post)
In this vacuity, Palin and Trump are a perfect match. They both embrace a politics of personality, a politics at war with reason. Who would go to either for advice on Medicare reform or Syria policy? In the two-dimensional politics of Palin and Trump, depth is not even a category. There is only establishment vs. anti-establishment, weakness vs. strength.
The danger of an anti-intellectual politics is that it quickly becomes unmoored from real problems and real answers. In U.S. history, anti-intellectual populism has often become conspiratorial, focusing anger against powerful and imaginary enemies: the Masons, the international bankers, the Jesuits, the munitions-makers. “How can we account for our present situation,” asked Sen. Joe McCarthy (R-Wis.) in 1951, “unless we believe that men high in this government are concerting to deliver us to disaster? This must be the product of a great conspiracy, a conspiracy on a scale so immense as to dwarf any previous such venture in the history of man.”
Trump rose to political prominence through the power of birtherism — a movement in which every disproof was regarded as evidence of an even broader conspiracy. But Trump also made a mark connecting vaccinations to autism. The idea is “completely discredited” by scientific studies (according to Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases) and dangerous to children. But Trump refuses to back down, asserting “the doctors lied” and the studies have been “fudged up.”
The same is true on other issues. Trump attacks refugees as a serious potential source of terrorism — though the nearly two-year process of being selected by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, then intensively screened by various U.S. agencies, makes this method of infiltration absurdly difficult. He says many undocumented immigrants are rapists and drug dealers — an absurd claim with no empirical basis. He blames immigrants for depressed wages in the United States — though this effect is small and swamped by other factors such as globalization and technological change.
In these cases, Trump is not proposing obnoxious solutions to real challenges; he is promoting obnoxious solutions to fake or wildly exaggerated challenges. His anti-intellectualism is severing the ties between the GOP and reality. If Republicans choose to inhabit the Trump-Palin world, they will offer little of value to our own.
Read more from Michael Gerson’s archive, follow him on Twitter or subscribe to his updates on Facebook . |
Donald Trump loves doling out insulting nicknames to anyone he dislikes. Rep. Frederica Wilson had something to say about that.
Donald Trump’s penchant on the campaign trail for slapping childish nicknames on anyone he dislikes didn’t disappear even once he began occupying the Oval Office.
To “Crooked Hillary” and “Little Marco” and “Lyin’ Ted,” we can now add “Wacky Congresswoman Wilson” as Trump’s latest attempt to demean someone who challenges him.
Florida Democratic Rep. Frederica Wilson has been a target of Trump and his administration for days now, after she stood up for the family of Army Sgt. La David Johnson, who was one of the four U.S. troops killed in an ISIS-led ambush in Niger.
Wilson, a long-time friend of the Johnson family, was in the car with his widow, Myeshia Johnson, when Trump belatedly called to supposedly offer condolences. As Wilson reported, Trump instead callously told Myeshia that her husband “knew what he signed up for.”
Trump lashed out at Wilson, insisting that she was lying. But La David’s mother, Cowanda Jones-Johnson, confirmed Wilson’s account.
That didn’t stop the Trump team from attacking Wilson, though. Chief of staff John Kelly took to the briefing room podium to attempt to defame Wilson, telling a wholly erroneous story about her supposedly bragging about her political clout regarding the naming of an FBI building after two slain agents.
Kelly has been called on from multiple corners to apologize to Wilson, but thus far, she’s gotten nothing from him and little more than continued sniping and her own playground nickname from Trump.
But Wilson was unruffled by Trump’s attempt to abase her, noting smoothly to MSNBC’s Joy Reid that “he doesn’t want me to give him a nickname.
REID: And meanwhile Congresswoman, the president of the United States is still focusing on you. He was tweeting about you this morning, even, and there is his tweet [image on screen]: ‘Wacky Congresswoman Wilson is the gift that keeps on giving, etc etc, disaster for Dems.’ What do you make of the fact that the president is so focused on you, and has not tweeted about Sgt. Johnson? WILSON: Well, that’s the way he is. And I’m sick of him giving people nicknames. He doesn’t want me to give him a nickname.
Wilson went on to pointedly label the ambush in Niger as “Trump’s Benghazi,” and to discuss the important work she has done to combat the forces of ISIS and Boko Haram in Niger — where the four troops were murdered — and neighboring countries, and on behalf of those terrorist groups’ victims, including young schoolgirls.
The administration “needs to concentrate on what happened and what is happening” to our soldiers in Africa, Wilson noted. “I am extremely concerned” that the White House is not showing any urgency regarding finding out exactly what caused this “catastrophe” in Niger, she added.
And later, when Reid asked Wilson about Kelly’s lies about her and if she would like to get an apology from him, Wilson had a sharp analysis of Kelly’s motivations.
“You know, John Kelly is almost — I guess you could say he was a puppet of the president,” she said. “And what he was trying to do was divert the attention away from the president onto me. And he basically just lied on me, and I don’t appreciate people lying on me.”
“I’ve been in politics a long time,” she continued, “and most things don’t bother me. You know, it just rolls off my back.” But it was the “character assassination” that Kelly unleashed on her which truly upset her, and the fact that he spread dishonesty to the public.
“Not only does he own me an apology, but he owes an apology to the American people, because when he lied on me, he lied to them,” she declared.
Trump and Kelly can continue to lie about and attack Wilson and others, but she has made it clear that their insults will only energize her to keep standing up for herself and others. |
Australia's new health minister says Medicare spending is out of control and must be pegged back or we'll all be ruined! Unfortunately for her, the hard numbers show her claim to be an absolute furphy. Glenn Murray reports.
Australia’s Health Minister, Sussan Ley, says Medicare is out of control:
"…our Medicare system is growing at a rapid and unsustainable rate.”
This is an outright lie.
The following are some graphs that show the truth.
Medicare spending in context (in millions)
The first graph shows the Federal Government’s expenditure on Medicare in comparison to our GDP and its tax revenue, as well as its overall health spending. (Note: Medicare GP expenditure is the amount the Federal government spends on GP Medicare rebates (out of hospital, non-referred attendances).)
As you can see, Medicare spending and GP rebates cost us bugger-all, relatively speaking. (Medicare represents just 30% of the Federal government’s overall health spending, and GP rebates only 8%.) And our GDP and tax revenue are increasing by a lot more each year than our health and Medicare spending.
Of course, the above graph doesn’t illustrate the rate of increase each year, just the absolute dollar amount.
As Ley was talking specifically about the rate, let’s have a look at that.
Medicare’s growth rate in context
Firstly, let’s look at Medicare expenditure as a percentage of GDP and tax revenue.
The red line shows us that Medicare expenditure is growing more slowly than our tax revenue and at almost the same rate as our GDP.
Now let’s take a look at the actual rates of growth.
The below graph shows Medicare’s growth rate — the purple line.
So, from 2003-04 to 2004-05, Medicare spending increased by 15%. And from 2004-05 to 2005-06, it increased by 10%. That’s the metric Ley’s talking about when she says “growing”. I’ve also included growth rates for the other measures for comparison (GDP, tax revenue and so on).
This confirms what we saw in the first graph — that everything is still growing. GDP, tax revenue, health expenditure and Medicare expenditure are all still increasing, so no surprises there.
It also shows that, at the moment, everything’s increasing at about the same rate — between 2.28% and 5.45%. Sure, that’s still a difference, but it’s nothing like what was going on in 2008, when tax revenues decreased due to the GFC and health expenditure was increasing at its fastest rate since 2002.
And it shows that the rates of increase have settled down and drawn closer together; there seems to be less volatility.
Importantly, we can again see that, at the moment, Medicare is growing more slowly than our tax revenue and only slightly faster than our GDP.
But it’s when you look at the overall trend of the lines that you see the real lie in our Health Minister’s words. Because the trend tells us about the ongoing growth rate, and it’s this that she says is “rapid and unsustainable”.
The rate of growth is slowing … for everything
The following graphs show each of the above charts, but with a ‘line of best fit’ added, to illustrate the trend — to show whether the growth rate has been increasing or decreasing over the years.
In other words, we know all the measures are increasing (growing); these graphs show whether that growth is speeding up or slowing down.
We can see that GDP growth is, in fact, slowing:
Just like tax revenue growth is slowing:
Health expenditure growth is slowing:
And Medicare growth is slowing too:
So, in summary, growth is slowing for all the key measures.
Conclusion
Yes, Medicare is still growing each year, just as our GDP and tax revenue are — but that growth is slowing down. This is hardly the “rapid and unsustainable rate” our Health Minister has been citing to alarm the public.
This story was originally published at glennmurray.com.au and has been republished with permission. The graphs were prepared by Glenn and compiled using official Government figures. For more on the methodology used and the precise sources, refer to Glenn Murray's original story here. Also, follow Glenn on Twitter @divinewrite.
In Feb 2014, Hockey said Medicare was costing $65b/yr. More lies. That year it cost only $19b! http://t.co/IdusBbS9ow — Glenn Murray (@divinewrite) January 17, 2015
Monthly Donation Frequency Monthly Annually Amount $ Single Donation Amount $ |
Story has it that many hundreds of years ago, Tanovo, chief of the Fijian island Ono, was very partial to a late afternoon stroll. Each day he would walk along the beach, watch the sun go down and undoubtedly contemplate this paradise on Earth.
The cultural memory was right, and our scientific surveys were wrong
But one day Tanovo’s rival, chief of the volcano Nabukelevu, pushed his mountain up and blocked Tanovo’s view of the sunset. Enraged at this, and robbed of the pacifying effects of his daily meditation, Tanovo wove giant coconut-fibre baskets and began to remove earth from the mountain. His rival, however, caught Tanovo and chased him away. Tanovo, in his flight, dropped earth at the islands of Dravuni and Galoa.
When geologist Patrick Nunn first heard this myth, it made sense that it described the volcanic eruption of Nabukelevu, with the associated ash falls on other islands in the Kadavu group. But his scientific investigation of the region concluded that the volcano had not erupted for 50,000 years, long before the island was first inhabited around 2000 B.C. The myth, it seemed, was simply a story—not a description of previous events.
Then, two years later, when diggers carved out a road near the base of the volcano, they uncovered pieces of ancient pottery buried underneath a metre-deep layer of volcanic ash. “This clearly demonstrated that the volcano had erupted within the last 3,000 years while humans lived here,” says Nunn, a professor at the University of the Sunshine Coast in Queensland, Australia. “The cultural memory was right, and our scientific surveys were wrong.”
You attribute it to supernatural forces and you say it is a battle between the giants and the gods
From prehistoric times to, more recently, the pyrotechnics of Hawaii’s Kilauea, volcanic eruptions have aroused fear and inspired myths. Often cultures have seen active volcanoes as the abode of gods - typically gods quick to anger.
“I think the creation of myths is essentially the human reaction to witnessing a natural process that you cannot explain, says Haraldur Sigurdsson, a volcanologist at the University of Rhode Island, US. “So you attribute it to supernatural forces and you say it is a battle between the giants and the gods.”
But deities aside, these traditional oral tales can contain valuable information about the type, and nature of volcanic eruptions, Nunn says. In particular they can contribute “missing data” to geologists about events that happened hundreds or thousands of years ago.
“After 30 years of research in the geosciences I believe that the analysis of myths is hugely important,” Nunn says. “It can help bridge the gap between geological theory and human history and lead to scientific insights.”
Legend has it
Shortly after research volcanologist Don Swanson moved to Hawaii in 1997, a friend, knowing Swanson’s love of poetry, gave him a book of translated Hawaiian chants. One evening, as Swanson sat in an easy chair, reading the translations for pleasure, insight struck.
“This light bulb came on in my head. It didn't flash right away but it was kind of a low and then medium and then high,” Swanson says. “I realised that I was potentially reading about events that I had been studying in the field, geologically, during the preceding months.”
The chants told the story of Pele, Deity of the volcano Kilauea, who’d initially moved to Kauai with her relatives and fell in love with a man called Lohi’au. Kauai wasn’t hot enough for Pele, however, so she settled in the crater at Kilauea on the big island of Hawaii. She then asked her sister Hi’iaka to fetch Lohi’au, giving her a time limit of 40 days.
It was a very earthy love triangle
Hi'iaka agreed on the condition that her sister kept her fires away from Hi'iaka’s beloved grove of flowering trees. But when Hi'iaka arrived at Kauai, she found Lohi’au dead and, by the time she revived him, the 40 days were up.
Pele, thinking that Hi'iaka had stolen Lohi’au for herself, set the forest on fire. Hi’iaka then sought her revenge by returning to Kilauea and making love to Lohi’au in view of Pele. Pele’s response was fast and furious: She killed Lohi’au and threw his body into her crater. Hi'iaka then dug furiously to recover the body sending rocks flying into the air. “It was a very earthy love triangle,” Swanson says.
When Swanson read the story, his insights told him it related the two largest volcanic events that had happened on the island since people had lived there.
We were clearly wrong and we only realised this very recently
The burning forest most likely was a lava flow in the 15th century, one that lasted for 60 years and covered almost 430 square kilometres of the island of Hawaii. Hi'iaka’s furious digging may have represented the dropping down of the Kilauea summit to form a caldera.
Until recently geologists had believed the caldera formed in 1790 during a period of large explosions, and the volcano was quiet in the proceeding centuries. But oral history says the caldera had existed for “many kings’ reigns” before and that red-hot stones often flew into the air during this time. Only in the early 21st century did geologists find evidence to confirm the myth’s timeline.
“We were clearly wrong and we only realised this very recently,” Swanson says. “It’s pretty embarrassing that geologists failed to take the Pele–Hi‘iaka chants into account because we hadn’t believed that the chants had any real meaning.”
Swanson believes that many more scientific treasures lie in the Hawaiian chants, ready for scientists to decipher.
Crowdsourcing through the millennia
Perhaps one of the oldest myths of mankind is that of Atlantis - the story about a prosperous kingdom that disappeared without trace. As the story goes, the people in this utopian civilization enraged the gods so much with their moral corruption that the deities sent one terrible night of fire and earthquakes. These catastrophes sank Atlantis into the ocean, never to be found.
The ancient Greek philosopher Plato told this moral tale in his dialogues, Critias and Timaeus, and for centuries scholars have debated whether those events were true, or invented, and what the location of Atlantis might have been.
One incident that bears a striking similarity to the story was the massive volcanic eruption of the island of Santorini in the Aegean Sea near Greece about 3,600 years ago. The highly advanced civilization of Minoans who lived on the island disappeared about the same time. The eruption itself inspired the Greek poet Hesiod to write the poem Theogony in around 700 B.C., which described the battle of giants and gods on Mount Olympus.
Here was a myth that supported what archeologists found
“I started to become interested in the myth of Atlantis and the poem Theogony because these are our only written or only documented descriptions or interpretations of this huge volcanic phenomenon,” Sigurdsson says. “We don't have any other accounts so, if you accept that they are related to this event, then they do give you some information that you otherwise wouldn't have.”
Several studies support the theory that the volcanic disaster of Plato's story of Atlantis relates to the Santorini eruption. “And once archeologists began to dig on Santorini they looked to the legend as a form of validation of what they were finding,” says John Dvorak, a geoscientist at the University of Hawaii, US.
“One of the things you always look for in science is supportive evidence and consistency,” Dvorak says. “And here was a myth that supported what archeologists found. The timing was right and it looks to be consistent.”
Myths such as these have helped scientists understand some very large past events, Sigurdsson says. One such large event was the eruption of Kuwae in 1453, a volcano in the islands of Vanuatu in the Southwest Pacific. This proved to be one of the largest eruptions anywhere on Earth within the last 10,000 years and was so big it simply sank the island into the sea.
We can't afford to dismiss any source of information about past events
Piecing together the details of an eruption from the geological record can be tricky, Nunn says. Geologists analyse the lava, sediments and other debris that came from the volcano to determine what happened - material that’s become changed, reworked and redeposited over time.
“You're trying to piece together the whole event from those isolated bits of information and it involves a huge amount of assumptions,” Nunn says. “But a lot of the old histories and myths that talk about volcanic eruptions do actually give us insight into the sequencing.”
The Kuwae myths also talk about events leading up to the eruption. In this way, they provide valuable information on how to recognise the precursors of such eruptions, Nunn says. The oral traditions talk about sorcerers digging holes and hot water soaring out, unusual noises from the crater and the exodus of tigers, monkeys and rabbits into the villages before the final eruption.
On the island of Savo in the Solomon Islands, which witnesses a major eruption every 110 years or so, oral traditions relate the filling of the crater with water, local earthquakes and tsunamis and the die-back of vegetation as the lead up to an explosion. From these tales the modern island inhabitants know the warning signs of an eruption and can respond optimally, Nunn says.
“I think that we can't afford to dismiss any source of information about past events,” Nunn says. “But it's taken science a long time to wake up to the value of these kinds of traditions.”
Creating meaning from mayhem
Early attempts to explain volcanic activity sound much like myths to modern day scientists. The ancient Greeks believed volcanoes came from the release of compressed air inside mountains, much like a monstrous belch. The Romans took a more engineering approach in their explanations: they blamed eruptions on chemical reactions and underground compounds catching fire.
“They were trying to attribute what they saw to natural processes rather than to extraterrestrial or godly activity,” Sigurdsson says. “They were moving away from myths and moving toward realism.”
Over the centuries the ideas became more sophisticated, although the theories did take a backward turn with the rise of Christian conceptions of Hell.
The physicist Sir Isaac Newton, most famous for his cosmological and gravitational studies, also practiced alchemy in a shed behind his laboratory. He showed that combining iron and sulphur lead to the release of a lot of heat. This reaction, Newton said, was the origin of volcanic activity.
Myths and rituals help people cope with disaster
“That was the same theory the Romans had put forth about a thousand years before,” Sigurdsson says.
Finally, 19th and 20th-century research in thermodynamics, petrology, geochemistry and plate tectonics moved volcanology from "divine science" and "armchair geology" to the current understanding of volcanic activity. “I think we have a pretty comprehensive working hypothesis now and it's stood the test of time,” Sigurdsson says.
But volcanologists still can’t tell when a volcano is going to erupt, and for how long, and what is going to happen when it does, Dvorak says. What volcanologists can give you are some probabilities.
“It might erupt. This may or may not happen. This is more likely than that,” he says.
Dvorak was present at eruptions in Indonesia and Mount St. Helens and heard some members of the public say, “What’s the use?”
And myths, and the belief in divine retribution, still prevail. After the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens in the US, two local Christian priests announced that the volcano had erupted because people had not been charitable enough and were not taking proper care of their families. “Even in the most highly technical society, people are still trying to grasp meaning in that way,” Dvorak says.
So while science can’t provide all the answers, maybe people still need myths to make sense of the senseless and to claw some meaning from the mayhem. Maybe myths provide a valuable tool for coming to terms with destruction and disaster, or living under a constant umbrella of uncertainty.
So even in this age of advanced science and technology, myths still have their place.
Myths can provide meaning and the rituals they inspire can provide comfort and a sense of security, Dvorak says. “Myths and rituals help people cope with disaster, albeit in a very different way.” |
Jordan’s Queen Rania on Wednesday branded the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) militant group a “bunch of crazy people” who were staining the name of Islam.
The wife of King Abdullah II urged the international community not to focus on the religious claims of the militants and said ISIS should drop the ‘I’ from their name “because there is nothing Islamic about them.”
“This fight is a fight between the civilized world and a bunch of crazy people that really want to take us back to mediaeval times,” she said in a conversation with media mogul Arianna Huffington at a session of the Future of Work conference in London late Wednesday, organized by the Berggruen Institute and the World Post.
Also read:
Azhar slams ISIS for bulldozing Nimrud
ISIS bulldozes ancient city of Nimrud in Iraq
Nimrud, the jewel of the Assyrian era
She warned against letting ISIS “hijack” the identity of Islam, arguing that it would allow them to set up a “battle of civilizations.”
“People call them ISIS, I would love to drop that first 'I' because there is nothing Islamic about them. They have nothing to do with faith and everything to do with fanaticism,” she said.
“They want to be called Islamic because it gives them legitimacy and also it means that any action taken against them would automatically be called a war against Islam.
“They want that clash of civilization that people talk about,” she added.
The 44-year-old queen warned ISIS that their much-publicized displays of violence, such as the burning to death of Jordanian pilot Maaz al-Kassasbeh, only stiffened the resolve of moderates.
“The scare tactics that these terrorists were using backfired because it just angered Jordanians,” she told the Huffington Post founder.
“Instead of making them scared, it made them want to fight.”
Kassasbeh was captured by ISIS in December after his F-16 crashed in Syria while on a mission for the U.S.-led coalition against the Sunni extremist group.
Last Update: Saturday, 7 March 2015 KSA 23:39 - GMT 20:39 |
On what would have been her 133rd birthday, msnbc’s Lawrence O’Donnell honored the most important liberal woman forgotten from American political history: Frances Perkins, the architect of Social Security.
During Wednesday’s Rewrite segment, O’Donnell payed homage to Perkins–coincidentally on the same day President Obama proposed cuts and changes in these benefits in line with many Republican sentiments.
“The man gets all the credit in popular history, but the woman did all the work,” O’Donnell said. “Social Security was her idea. It would never have become law without her.” As the U.S. Secretary of Labor under President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Perkins had immense influence on his policy decisions.
A chance meeting at a tea party with then-Supreme Court Justice Harlan Stone provided Perkins with the legal framework for her initiative, setting into place certain present day laws of the same nature.
“The Constitutionality of Social Security, Medicare, and the Affordable Care Act are all based on Frances Perkins’ novel use of the power to tax 78 years ago,” O’Donnell explained.
“Frances Perkins was a self-made woman,” O’Donnell said. “She did not advance her career by marriage. She didn’t flinch at challenges that everyone else considered impossible. Frances Perkins changed the world the old fashioned way–with hard work, persistence and passion. Tonight, this country owes a happy birthday nod to a uniquely American hero.” |
I wish John Boehner were a vainer man. (And I wish that Boehner and vainer didn't rhyme, undercutting the point.) The way he could earn a place in history, admiring chapters in Profiles in Courage-type books, and even a long swing on the university-lecture circuit would be to defy his extremist minority. And maybe eventually he will.
I am reminded of these points by a very good story this evening on NPR. It's this report, by All Things Considered host Melissa Block, based on an interview with Republican Representative Charlie Dent of Pennsylvania (right). Dent has voted for the various defund-Obamacare resolutions that have come down the pike. But in the segment he explains why he thinks it's (obviously) time to return the government to normal functioning and work out health-policy differences through established channels.
One reason to listen to this story: it shows, in contrast even to some other NPR coverage, how you can be "fair" in presenting a story without sinking into the mire of false-equivalence, "everyone's to blame"-ism. The other reason is for a reminder of the two basic points above.
Very soon, I will return to our travelogue. |
Isn’t it lovely when state laws and federal laws collide, and law enforcement then picks and chooses which conflicting laws to enforce?
A Richland medical marijuana patient recently applied for a Concealed Pistol License, but was denied by police. Medical marijuana is legal under Washington state law, but the federal government won’t make an exception for that when it comes to getting a Concealed Pistol License. Richland police sent the medical marijuana patient a letter stating that federal law prohibits anyone who uses a controlled substance from “shipping, transporting, receiving or possessing firearms or ammunition.” And even if marijuana is legal here, it’s still illegal at the federal level. When anyone applies for a concealed weapons permit with Richland police, they have to follow these federal restrictions.
This localized incident exposes a much bigger potential legal problem for all gun owners who also have a medical marijuana card, in any jurisdiction. The Richland police cited federal law that denies users of controlled substances the right to ship, transport, receive, or possess firearms or ammunition in denying this woman her carry permit.
Law enforcement agencies could just as easily use the same federal statute to completely deny the Second Amendment rights of all medical marijuana card users in Washington and Colorado, or anywhere else where these cards as distributed.
All it would take is for the federal government to obtain a copy of the medical marijuana card databases in those areas that have such databases, and then start sending out federal agents to collect the guns of those who are listed. A model for this effort is California’s use of agents to confiscation guns of people identified by the Armed and Prohibited Persons System (APPS) system.
I’d advise gun owners to avoid medical marijuana cards at all costs. While there is no indication that there is an immediate plan to use these conflicting laws against gun owners, that could easily change overnight, especially under a federal government that never lets a good crisis go to waste. |
This article is about the color. For other uses, see Magenta (disambiguation)
Magenta as a tertiary color red Magenta purple
Magenta () is a color that is variously defined as purplish-red,[1] reddish-purple, purplish, or mauvish-crimson.[2] In the RGB color model, it is made by mixing equal amounts of blue and red.[3] On color wheels of the RGB (additive) and CMY (subtractive) color models, it is located midway between red and blue. It is the complementary color of green. It is one of the four colors of ink used in color printing by an inkjet printer, along with yellow, black, and cyan, to make all the other colors. The tone of magenta used in printing is called "printer's magenta".
Magenta took its name from an aniline dye made and patented in 1859 by the French chemist François-Emmanuel Verguin, who originally called it fuchsine. It was renamed to celebrate the Italian-French victory at the Battle of Magenta fought between the French and Austrians on June 4, 1859, near the Italian town of Magenta in Lombardy.[4] A virtually identical color, called roseine, was created in 1860 by two British chemists: Chambers Nicolson and George Maule.
The web color magenta is also called fuchsia.
In optics and color science [ edit ]
Magenta is an extra-spectral color, meaning that it is not found in the visible spectrum of light. Rather, it is physiologically and psychologically perceived as the mixture of red and violet/blue light, with the absence of green.[5]
In the RGB color system, used to create all the colors on a television or computer display, magenta is a secondary color, made by combining equal amounts of red and blue light at a high intensity. In this system, magenta is the complementary color of green, and combining green and magenta light on a black screen will create white.
In the CMYK color model, used in color printing, it is one of the three primary colors, along with cyan and yellow, used to print all the rest of the colors. If magenta, cyan, and yellow are printed on top of each other on a page, they make black. In this model, magenta is the complementary color of green, and these two colors have the highest contrast and the greatest harmony. If combined, green and magenta ink will look dark gray or black. The magenta used in color printing, sometimes called process magenta, is a darker shade than the color used on computer screens.
A purple hue in terms of color theory, magenta is evoked by light having less power in green wavelengths than in blue/violet and red wavelengths (complements of magenta have wavelength 500–530 nm).[6]
In the Munsell color system, magenta is called red–purple.
If the spectrum is wrapped to form a color wheel, magenta (additive secondary) appears midway between red and violet. Violet and red, the two components of magenta, are at opposite ends of the visible spectrum and have very different wavelengths. The additive secondary color magenta, as noted above, is made by combining violet and red light at equal intensity; it is not present in the spectrum itself.
In the RGB color model, used to make colors on computer and television displays, magenta is created by the combination of equal amounts of blue and red light.
In the RGB color wheel of additive colors, magenta is midway between blue and red.
In the CMYK color model, used in color printing, cyan, magenta, and yellow combined make black. In practice, since the inks are not perfect, some black ink is added.
Magenta is not part of the visible spectrum of light.
Visible spectrum wrapped to join violet and red in an additive mixture of magenta. In reality, violet and red are at opposite ends of the spectrum, and have very different wavelengths.
Fuchsia and magenta [ edit ]
In optics, fuchsia and magenta are essentially the same color. The web colors fuchsia and magenta are completely identical, and are made by mixing exactly the same proportions of blue and red light. In design and printing, there is a little more variation. The French version of fuchsia in the RGB color model and in printing contains a higher proportion of red than the American version of fuchsia. Fuchsia flowers themselves, which inspired both colors, have a variety of colors, from fuchsia to purple to red.
Gallery [ edit ]
The flower of Fuchsia plant was the original inspiration for the dye, which was later renamed magenta dye.
Magenta took its name in 1860 from this aniline dye that was originally called "fuchsine", after the fuchsia flower.
Magenta has been used in color printing since the late nineteenth century. Images are printed in three colors; magenta, cyan, and yellow, which when combined can make all colors. This image from 1902 is using the alternative RYB color model instead.
Color printers today use magenta, cyan, and yellow ink to produce the full range of colors.
Magenta is the complementary color of green. The two colors combined in the RGB model form white. Side-by-side, they provide the highest possible contrast and reinforce each other's brightness.
The Indonesian Marine Corps beret colour is magenta purple.
History [ edit ]
Fuchsine and magenta dye (1859) [ edit ]
An 1864 map showing the Duchy of Bouillon in magenta
The color magenta was the result of the industrial chemistry revolution of the mid-nineteenth century, which began with the invention by William Perkin of mauveine in 1856, which was the first synthetic aniline dye. The enormous commercial success of the dye and the new color it produced, mauve, inspired other chemists in Europe to develop new colors made from aniline dyes.[4]
In France, François-Emmanuel Verguin, the director of the chemical factory of Louis Rafard near Lyon, tried many different formulae before finally in late 1858 or early 1859, mixing aniline with carbon tetrachloride, producing a reddish-purple dye which he called "fuchsine", after the color of the flower of the fuchsia plant. He quit the Rafard factory and took his color to a firm of paint manufacturers, Francisque and Joseph Renard, who began to manufacture the dye in 1859.
In the same year, two British chemists, Chambers Nicolson and George Maule, working at the laboratory of the paint manufacturer George Simpson, located in Walworth, south of London, made another aniline dye with a similar red-purple color, which they began to manufacture in 1860 under the name "roseine". In 1860 they changed the name of the color to "magenta", in honor of the Battle of Magenta fought between the French and Austrians at Magenta, Lombardy the year before, and the new color became a commercial success.[4][7]
Starting in 1935 the family of quinacridone dyes was developed. These have colors ranging from red to violet, so nowadays a quinacridone dye is often used for magenta. Various tones of magenta—light, bright, brilliant, vivid, rich, or deep—may be formulated by adding varying amounts of white to quinacridone artist's paints.
Another dye used for magenta is Lithol Rubine BK. One of its uses is as a food coloring.
Process magenta (pigment magenta; printer's magenta) (1890s) [ edit ]
In color printing, the color called process magenta, pigment magenta, or printer's magenta is one of the three primary pigment colors which, along with yellow and cyan, constitute the three subtractive primary colors of pigment. (The secondary colors of pigment are blue, green, and red.) As such, the hue magenta is the complement of green: magenta pigments absorb green light; thus magenta and green are opposite colors.
The CMYK printing process was invented in the 1890s, when newspapers began to publish color comic strips.
Process magenta is not an RGB color, and there is no fixed conversion from CMYK primaries to RGB. Different formulations are used for printer's ink, so there may be variations in the printed color that is pure magenta ink. A typical formulation of process magenta is shown in the color box at right.
Web colors magenta and fuchsia [ edit ]
At right is the web color magenta. It is one of the three secondary colors in the RGB color model. On the RGB color wheel, magenta is the color between rose and violet, and halfway between red and blue.
Magenta (fuchsia)
#ff00ff
This color is called magenta in X11 and fuchsia in HTML. In the RGB color model, it is created by combining equal intensities of red and blue light. The two web colors magenta and fuchsia are exactly the same color. Sometimes the web color magenta is called electric magenta or electronic magenta.
While the magenta used in printing and the web color have the same name, they have important differences. Process magenta (the color used for magenta printing ink—also called printer's or pigment magenta) is much less vivid than the color magenta achievable on a computer screen. CMYK printing technology cannot accurately reproduce on paper the color on the computer screen. When the web color magenta is reproduced on paper, it is called fuchsia and it is physically impossible for it to appear on paper as vivid as on a computer screen.
Colored pencils and crayons called "magenta" are usually colored the color of process magenta (printer's magenta) shown above.
In science and culture [ edit ]
In art [ edit ]
Shades of magenta began to appear in art soon after it was introduced. Paul Gauguin (1848-1903) used a shade of magenta in 1890 in his portrait of Marie Lagadu, and in some of his South Seas paintings.
Henri Matisse and the members of the Fauvist movement used magenta and other non-traditional colors to surprise viewers, and to move their emotions through the use of bold colors.
Since the mid-1960s, water based fluorescent magenta paint has been available to paint psychedelic black light paintings. (Fluorescent cerise, fluorescent chartreuse yellow, fluorescent blue, and fluorescent green.)
Magenta, along with mauve, made with the newly discovered aniline dyes, became a popular fashion color in the second half of the nineteenth century. It appeared in art in this 1890 work, Psyche , by Bouguereau.
Paul Gauguin, Portrait of Marie Lagadu (1890).
Henri Matisse, Les toits de Collioure (1905). Henri Matisse and the other painters of the Fauvist movement were the first to make a major use of magenta to surprise and make an impact on the emotions of the viewer.
In the 1960s, magenta was a popular color in psychedelic art, such as this concert poster for the Avalon Ballroom in San Francisco (1967).
In astronomy [ edit ]
Astronomers have reported that spectral class T brown dwarfs (the ones with the coolest temperatures except for the recently discovered Y brown dwarfs) are colored magenta because of absorption by sodium and potassium atoms of light in the green portion of the spectrum.[8][9][10]
Artist's vision of a spectral class T brown dwarf
In biology: magenta insects, birds, fish, and animals [ edit ]
In botany [ edit ]
Magenta is a common color for flowers, particularly in the tropics and sub-tropics. Because magenta is the complementary color of green, magenta flowers have the highest contrast with the green foliage, and therefore are more visible to the animals needed for their pollination.
In public transport [ edit ]
Magenta was the English name of Tokyo's Oedo subway line color. It was later alternated to ruby.
In transportation [ edit ]
In aircraft autopilot systems, the path that pilot or plane should follow to its destination is usually indicated in cockpit displays using the color magenta.[11]
In vexilology and heraldry [ edit ]
Magenta is an extremely rare color to find on heraldic flags and coats of arms, since its adoption dates back to relatively recent times. However, there are some examples of its use:
In politics [ edit ]
The color magenta is used to symbolize anti-racism by the Amsterdam-based anti-racism Magenta Foundation. [12]
In Danish politics the magenta is the color of Det Radikale Venstre, the Danish social-liberal party.
See also [ edit ] |
People walk along a flooded road’s median during the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey on Tuesday in Houston. (Brendan Smialowski/Agence France-Presse via Getty Images)
Vernon Loeb is managing editor of the Houston Chronicle.
I’ve covered the news in Houston for 3½ years and have already seen two devastating floods and now what is being described as a one-in-800-years flood brought on by Hurricane Harvey.
That suggests to me that something is happening here that’s way bigger than the largely made-up tiff between Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) and Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner (D) about whether Houston should have been evacuated before Harvey dumped trillions of gallons of rain on the nation’s fourth-largest city.
There’s no denying Texas is politically polarized, with all its major cities liberal and Democratic, and the rest of the state, and all its statewide elected officials, conservative and Republican. So there’s no end of discord and rancor if one wants to find reasons for blame and finger-pointing.
This drone video taken Aug. 27 shows the historic flooding in the Texas Medical Center caused by Hurricane Harvey. (Tom C. Nguyen)
Houston, meanwhile, can be its own worst enemy when it comes to flood control. A big part of its freewheeling, entrepreneurial identity is its lack of zoning, which has produced more than 600 square miles of subdivisions, strip malls and concrete prairie. It’s not hard to wonder whether this vast expanse of what was once coastal plain was really the best place to build a major city.
But anyone who has lived through four straight days of torrential rain that may surpass 50 inches knows perfectly well that no zoning code, infrastructure improvements or flood control regulations could have done anything to deal with this much water inundating a major metropolitan area this quickly.
And it is an unbelievable amount of water. Not wanting to risk my car on Sunday morning, I started toward our newsroom on foot and found myself waist-deep two blocks from my home.
On Monday I ventured a mile north to Buffalo Bayou, a bucolic urban park remade thanks to $25 million from a leading local philanthropist who once worked for Enron. The park was gone, its meandering bayou now a roiling, fast-moving river that had engulfed parkways on both sides, flooded a television station and badly damaged much of the city’s theater district.
On a stretch of Kirby Drive in River Oaks, Houston’s toniest neighborhood, the water was chest-deep, lapping up onto mansion lawns.
Sometimes, even in our political and governmental bureaucracies, people say exactly what they mean. Not known for hyperbole, the National Weather Service tweeted after the first devastating day of rainfall, during which some parts of Houston got more than 25 inches: “All impacts are unknown & beyond anything experienced.”
“It’s catastrophic, unprecedented, epic,” said Patrick Blood, a National Weather Service meteorologist. “Whatever adjective you want to use.”
Brock Long, administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, went even further: “This is a storm the United States has not seen yet.”
What they’re talking about, whether they know it or not, or care to acknowledge it or not, is global warming. The planet is getting warmer, ocean temperatures are rising, the polar ice caps are melting, and all of the incontrovertible science of climate change is that more extreme-weather events are an inevitable consequence.
Tom Friedman in his new book calls climate change a “black elephant” — a combination of the unforeseen “black swan” event with enormous consequences and the “elephant in the room” no one can see.
There’s really no other way to make sense of what’s happening in Houston. The black elephant is here in America, just as it’s in Africa and the Middle East and Antarctica, whether we want to see it or not.
Just acknowledging that will help Houston recover once the rain finally stops, making the political blame game even more futile than it has already become in American politics.
For now, Abbott and Turner are working tirelessly and cooperatively to help the thousands and thousands of people trapped by the worst floods in Houston’s history.
And whenever it’s over, Houston should use Harvey to jump-start its transition from the country’s epicenter for oil and gas to a world capital of alternative energies. If the city can turn this devastating tragedy into an existential moment of reinvention after the storm, then a decade from now we may argue that it was worth it.
As for the nation, Americans need to understand what leading scientists have concluded even if many of our political leaders pretend it’s not true — we’ve just about blown through the Holocene epoch, when Earth emerged from the last ice age and became more comfortable for human life. Some climatologists have started to call our current age the Anthropocene, in which conditions on the planet have been dramatically altered by man. We have to take responsibility for what we’ve done, and take charge of our future.
It’s clearly too late to stop the Category 4 hurricane that led to the millennial flooding in Houston. But it may not be too late to save the planet if we heed Harvey’s hard lesson here in Texas, a proud state that doesn’t like to be messed with. It could be the perfect place to start. |
DARPA Creates Brain Implants that Boost Human Memory
"Everyone has had the experience of struggling to remember long lists of items or complicated directions to get somewhere," program manager Justin Sanchez said in a statement . "Today we are discovering how implantable neurotechnologies can facilitate the brain's performance of these functions."
"As the technology of these fully implantable devices improves, and as we learn more about how to stimulate the brain ever more precisely to achieve the most therapeutic effects, I believe we are going to gain a critical capacity to help our wounded warriors and others who today suffer from intractable neurological problems," said Sanchez. "It is a very complex and challenging frontier, but one I am convinced we will learn to navigate and leverage to good effect in people who today have no effective therapeutic options."
In what sounds like a mixture of The Matrix and Limitless, DARPA has created a device that can be implanted directly into the brain, recording the activity associated with memory and "shocking" the brain to improve specific functions like short-term recall.Previous studies have shown that applying electrical stimulus directly to areas of the brain concerned with memory can improve the patient's recall of information like lists or directions. In this study, DARPA tested implants from their Restoring Active Memory (RAM) program in a few dozen human volunteers, and found that it could record the neural signals or "codes" involved with memory and could also send electrical signals to specific groups of neurons, which could improve certain types of recall.The implant consists of an array of electrodes that are placed directly on the part of the brain that is involved in the formation of declarative memory, a type of long-term memory that consists of episodic memory, or personal experiences, and semantic memory, or factual information, as well as navigation and spatial awareness. Using the recorded signals, the researchers were able to decipher the neural processes involved in this type of memory, and even correctly predict when a patient was about to make a recall error.In addition to telling us more about the process of forming memories, which is relatively opaque to neuroscientists, the researchers believe that this information will indicate the optimal method for applying the electrical stimulus, such as whether it should be done during the memorization or during the recall.In true DARPA fashion, certain details about the study are being withheld, at least until it is peer reviewed and accepted for publication. But if DARPA is able to create and improve on memory-boosting technologies, it could have many therapeutic effects beyond giving struggling novelists superpowers. The technology could potentially help people with neurological deficits as a result of traumatic brain injury or disease, and could even help sufferers of neuropsychiatric illnesses, such as PTSD. DARPA's Systems-Based Neurotechnology for Emerging Therapies (SUBNETS) program recently created implants that were shown to relieve anxiety when electrodes were placed in a certain neuronal region.Via Business Insider |
The last two NFL drafts have produced quality players at the quarterback position. Jameis Winston and Marcus Mariota were the first two players off the board in 2015, and both guys have solved the quarterback issue for their respective teams. The 2016 draft class includes Jared Goff, Carson Wentz and Dak Prescott. Wentz and Prescott have started every game for their teams and are both playing at a high level. So, if you could build a franchise around one of the quarterbacks from the last two draft classes, which one would you choose? I asked five NFL personnel executives that question. Here are their answers.
Note: None of the executives I polled work for teams that these QBs play for.
Executive 1: Carson Wentz
"I love Wentz. He has everything you want: Size, arm strength, accuracy, poise and leadership. I'd probably put Prescott right behind him."
Executive 2: Wentz
"There are some good options here, but I'd go Wentz. He doesn't have much around him right now, but he's helping Philly win games. They don't have any legit receivers and they have some holes on the offensive line. He would be destroying the league if he had Prescott's supporting cast. Long term, I think both of those guys are going to be very successful."
Executive 3: Marcus Mariota
"I'd go with Mariota slightly over Wentz. Both guys have similar temperament and passing skills, but Mariota is a more dynamic athlete and brings a different element to his offense."
Executive 4: Wentz
"It's close, but I'd take Wentz over Mariota. Both guys have ideal makeup, intelligence and the 'it' factor. However, Wentz is just a bigger guy with more durability over the long term. I do love both guys a lot ... smart, tough and great leaders."
Executive 5: Mariota
"It's between Mariota and Wentz. I'll give the nod to Mariota. His mobility is something I worry about every time we play the Titans. He's a real challenge to defend."
Summary: That's 3 votes for Wentz and 2 for Mariota.
Conclusion: Statistically, Wentz hasn't been the most impressive of this group, but he gets a lot of support from these executives. He has all of the tools to be very successful and I believe he will eventually emerge as the best player in this group. However, Prescott has blown me away with his poise and playmaking ability. He's by far the biggest surprise in the NFL this season. Mariota and Winston are both making positive strides and playing at a high level right now. One name we didn't see pop up -- Jared Goff. We'll get a chance to see him take the field for the first time this weekend. I can't wait to see how he stacks up with this impressive group of young signal-callers.
Follow Daniel Jeremiah on Twitter @MoveTheSticks. |
Home | Devices | Aphrodisiacs | Magic and Ritual Timeline | Hall of Fame | House of Horrors
House of Horrors These radium suppositories promised to restore "sexual power" to men's weakened organs. "Also splendid for piles and rectals sores." Radium Suppositories After radium was discovered in 1898 by Paul and Marie Curie, radioactive substances were used as popular quack cures for all kinds of conditions. Before anyone knew about their toxic and carcinogenic properties, people drank radioactive water for its supposed curative effects, and, as you can see, also inserted radiation in the other end. Electrical Therapy This electrostimulation device from the 1880s may look innocuous enough - until you find out that the short cylinder goes up the rectum, while the length of the longer probe is inserted in the urethra. One has a positive charge, one has a negative charge, and together they pack a wallop intended to jolt the genitalia back into action. Prostate Warmer This gadget looks like the offspring of a cattle prod and an electrical lamp. One end of the electric prostate warmer was plugged into a wall socket, and the other end plugged into - well, you can probably figure out where that goes. When switched on, the light bulb would illuminate and the probe would "stimulate the abdominal brain" to restore sexual vigor. Electric Belt Electric belts were popular in the 19th century as a cure for many ailments. The Electric Belt and Suspensory for Men added a jolt to the groin with a coil of wire for the dangly bits - "the greatest boon ever given to weak men." Well, an electrical shock is one way to "invigorate" your manhood. Radioactive Jock Strap The wearer's male organs were then snuggled within a radioactive pouch. We shudder to think about the testicular cancer, sterility, or birth defects that might have resulted from this invention. More radium again, this time in underwear. The Radi-Endocrinator consisted of playing card-sized pieces of metal mesh impregnated with radium that were inserted into the front panel of a suspensory garment. Urethral Sounds In the 19th century, impotence was often thought to result from damage caused to the genitals through excessive masturbation. One symptom of this was strictures in the urethra, which were treated by inserting metal dilating rods, or sounds. These curved rods were pushed through the penis until the tip, which sometimes had a large knob on it, entered the urethra. A related treatment consisted of squirting a caustic substance, such as nitric acid or silver nitrate, into the urethra and bladder. Not surprisingly, few patients returned for a second treatment. Strychnine Tonic Now we know it as rat poison, but back in the day, this toxin was thought to have curative qualities. Of course, this was around the same time heroin was touted as "non-habit forming". Tonics containing strychnine were a popular remedy for impotence, prescribed by many reputable turn of the century physicians. However, at least one doctor noticed its effects weren't entirely beneficial. Dr. William Robinson, in his book The Treatment of Sexual Impotence (1913), noted that "strange as it may seem", patients prescribed strychnine often got better at first but then worsened in time, and in some cases, probably died. Urine Therapy Many ancient Eastern medical traditions suggest drinking one's own urine to treat a variety of conditions, including impotence. Urine therapy was advocated as an impotence cure by the Ayurvedic tradition of India, as well as Taoist practices from China dating back to the second century B.C. Proponents of the treatment point to the fact that urine does contain small amounts of male hormones such as testosterone and androgen. Bee Stings Spanish fly produces genital arousal by irritating the urethra, but some preferred to induce penile engorgement by applying topical irritants. The Kama Sutra suggested that men rub their penises with wasp stingers before intercourse to cause swelling, while others applied plant or insect extracts that caused itching and burning. One Persian method for inducing an erection reportedly involved inserting a wooden dildo smeared with a paste of pepper and ground nettles into the rectum. Home | Devices | Aphrodisiacs | Magic | Timeline | Hall of Fame | House of Horrors Copyright 2010 Viagra Stories. |
[Cody] has a nice little ranch in the middle of nowhere, a rifle, and a supply of ammunition. That’s just fine for the zombie apocalypse, but he doesn’t have an infinite supply of ammo. Twenty years after Z-day, he may find himself without any way to defend himself. How to fix that problem? He needs gunpowder. How do you make that? Here’s a plastic jug.
There are three ingredients required to make gunpowder – saltpeter, charcoal, and sulfur. The last two ingredients are easy enough if you have trees and a mine like [Cody], but saltpeter, the a source of nitrates, aren’t really found in nature. You can make nitrates from atmospheric nitrogen if you have enough energy, but [Cody] is going low tech for this experiment. He’s saving up his own urine in a compost pile, also called a niter bed. It’s as simple as putting a few grass clippings and straw on a plastic tarp, peeing on it for a few months, and waiting for nitrogen-fixing to do their thing.
[Cody] doesn’t have to wait a year for his compost pile to become saturated with nitrates. He has another compost pile that has been going for about 18 months, and this is good enough for an experiment in extracting calcium nitrate. After soaking and straining this bit of compost, [Cody] is left with a solution of something that has calcium nitrate in it. This is converted to potassium nitrate – or saltpeter – by running it through wood ash. After drying out this mess of liquid, [Cody] is left with something that burns with the addition of a little carbon.
With a source of saltpeter, [Cody] only needs charcoal and sulfur to make gunpowder. Charcoal is easy enough to source, and [Cody] has a mine with lead sulfide. He can’t quite extract sulfur from his ore, so instead he goes with another catalyst – red iron oxide, or rust.
The three ingredients are combined, and [Cody] decides it’s time for a test. He has a homebuilt musket, or a piece of pipe welded at one end with a touch hole, and has a big lead ball. With his homebrew gunpowder, this musket actually works. The lead ball doesn’t fly very far, but it’s enough to put a dent in a zombie or deer; not bad for something made out of compost.
Historically, this is a pretty odd way of making gunpowder. For most of history, people with guns have also had a source of saltpeter. During the Napoleonic Wars, however, France could not import gunpowder or saltpeter and took to collecting urine from soldiers and livestock. This source of nitrates was collected, converted from calcium nitrate to potassium nitrate, and combined with charcoal and sulfur to field armies.
Still, [Cody] has a great example of what can be done using traditional methods, and the fact that he can fire a ball down a barrel is proof enough that the niter bed he’s peeing in will produce even better gunpowder. |
A 62-year-old man from Singapore was traveling to the U.S. to see relatives last December and was detained after a routine fingerprint scan showed that he actually had none. So how did this happen?
The man, identified in a medical journal case report only as "Mr. S," had been on chemotherapy to keep his head and neck cancer in check. As it turns out, the drug, capecitabine (brand name, Xeloda) had given him a moderate case of something known as hand–foot syndrome (aka chemotherapy-induced acral erythema), which can cause swelling, pain and peeling on the palms and soles of the feet—and apparently, loss of fingerprints.
Mr. S's doctor, Eng-Huat Tan, a senior oncology consultant at the National Cancer Center in Singapore, described the incident in a letter published earlier this week in Annals of Oncology and recommended patients on that drug obtain letters from their doctors before traveling to the U.S.
Officials allowed Mr. S to enter the country following a few hours' detainment when they were "satisfied that he was not a security threat," Tan noted in his letter. Mr. S says he had not noticed that his fingerprints had vanished before he set out on his trip, and his doctor found informal online mentions of other chemo patients complaining of lost fingerprints.
Forensics expert Edward Richards, director of the Program in Law, Science and Public Health at Louisiana State University, explains that "other diseases, rashes and the like can cause vesicular breakdown of the skin on your fingers—just a good case of poison ivy would do it." But, he notes, "Left alone, your skin replaces at a fairly good rate, so unless you've done permanent damage to the tissue, it will regenerate."
As fingerprint scanning and other biometrics become more common (visitors seeking entry into the U.S. must have their prints scanned to ensure they do not currently hold a visa under another name), scanning technology is also advancing. But cases such as this point out that you actually need fingerprints for identification. So how effective are current scanners, and how else have people—accidentally or intentionally—altered their fingerprints?
To find out, we spoke with fingerprint expert Kasey Wertheim, president of Complete Consultants Worldwide, LLC, which provides fingerprint examination expertise to government clients and has done forensic and biometric work for the U.S. Department of Defense and Lockheed Martin.
[An edited transcript of the interview follows.]
Are all fingerprints truly unique?
Yes. It has to do with how the fingerprints form in the womb. During the first trimester, the fingerprints have already established their permanence and uniqueness.
Aside from forensics and travel, what else are fingerprint scans being used for these days?
More and more, fingerprints are being used in biometric devices to permit secure log-on, to open locks, and for access control in general. The biggest users of biometrics are corporate and private users, but fingerprints also have a long history in the forensics world for criminal identification dating back over a century.
Are current scanners pretty reliable?
The exact rate of print rejection [those that can't be read] depends on the scanner. Ultrasound devices go beyond just the outer layer and capture part of the root system. On average, the rejection rate for [scanned] fingerprints is about 1 to 2 percent.
The patient who was detained for lacking prints had hand–foot syndrome that was caused by his chemotherapy drug. What are some other ways that fingerprints can disappear?
The most prominent of those problems involve bricklayers—who wear down ridges on their prints handling heavy, rough materials frequently—or people who work with lime [calcium oxide], because it's really basic and dissolves the top layers of the skin. The fingerprints tend to grow back over time. And, surprisingly, secretaries, because they deal with paper all day. The constant handling of paper tends to wear down the ridge detail.
Also, the elasticity of skin decreases with age, so a lot of senior citizens have prints that are difficult to capture. The ridges get thicker; the height between the top of the ridge and the bottom of the furrow gets narrow, so there's less prominence. So if there's any pressure at all [on the scanner], the print just tends to smear.
How have people intentionally changed or "disappeared" their fingerprints?
There are many documented cases of intentional fingerprint mutilation, but generally those involve pretty severe damage to the skin—more specifically between the generating layer, where the template of the fingerprint survives, and the upper layer, the epidermis.
Pretty much any cut or burn that goes deeper than the outer layer of the skin can affect the fingerprint pattern in a permanent way. But even with permanent scarring, the new scar becomes a unique aspect of that person's fingerprint.
The first case of documented fingerprint mutilation was in 1934, by Theodore "Handsome Jack" Klutis, who led a gang called the College Kidnappers. When the police finally caught up with him, Klutis went for his gun and the police returned fire, killing him. When they compared his postmortem fingerprints, police found that each of his prints had been cut by a knife, resulting in semicircular scars around each fingerprint. Although it was glorified in the media, it was an amateur job; the procedure left more than enough ridge detail to identify him. |
WATCH: Oregon Gov. Emotionally Signs Conversion Therapy Ban Into Law
Young people shouldn't be broken down because of their sexual orientation or gender identity, says the state's bisexual governor. And now they won't be — at least in Oregon.
Oregon Gov. Kate Brown was clearly affected by the stories of those who spoke out against so-called conversion therapy, as she became emotional during a signing ceremony for the bill that made Oregon the third U.S. state to ban the unscientific practice that seeks to change a person's sexual orientation or gender identity.
Brown officially signed House Bill 2307, the Youth Mental Health Protection Act, on Monday, after more than a year of advocacy from citizens and groups, including Basic Rights Oregon and the National Center for Lesbian Rights.
Oregon now joins California, New Jersey, and the District of Columbia in prohibiting licensed therapists from using the scientifically discredited therapy on minors, which attempts to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity. The practice, sometimes called “ex-gay” or “reparative” therapy, has been denounced as ineffective and harmful by every major mental health organization in the nation, and by President Obama and other top federal officials.
During a ceremonial signing event Thursday at the state capitol in Salem, the governor thanked "All of the supporters, the survivors, the clergy, the parents, and mental health professionals for their advocacy to pass this legislation to ban conversion therapy."
But it was recognizing the stories of young people subjected to the harmful practice that seemed to resonate most with the governor — who, as an out bisexual woman, happens to be the first openly LGBT governor of any state in the U.S.
"There are many things that young people need, but breaking them down based on their sexual or gender identity is not one of them — and in fact, it's inexcusable," said Brown.
"Our young people deserve acceptance, support, and love. To the young people who question their identities, suffer from bullying, or struggle with what it means to come out, today is your day," said the governor, her voice breaking. "Your voices have been heard."
Watch video from the signing ceremony below, where the governor is flanked by state leaders and local advocates, including former "ex-gay" spokesman John Paulk, who denounced reparative therapy and came out as gay in 2013, and has also apologized for the harm he caused promoting so-called conversion therapy. |
'Charlie the Smoking Chimp' was famous for his habit, picked up from visitors to his South African zoo, of smoking lit cigarettes.
But the zoo announced that the ape had finally died, aged 52. Most chimpanzees live to around 40.
Qondile Khedama, a spokesman for Mangaung Zoo, said Charlie was only an 'occasional smoker', but had none the less become famous around the world for the habit.
She explained that although the zoo discouraged the practice, the ape obtained cigarettes from visitors who would throw lit cigarettes to him through his bars.
Ms Khedama explained that Charlie had recently been receiving special care, including a special diet of protein shakes and vitamin and mineral supplements.
Ms Khedama said she did not know whether the ape's bad smoking habit contributed to his demise and that post mortem to determine the exact cause of death would take place soon.
The chimpanzee had learnt that he was not supposed to smoke, he would try and hide the habit from his zookeepers.
Charlie is thought to have picked up the smoking habit when he worked in an American circus. It has been speculated that he was taught the trick to entertain circus-goers. |
Life Alert alerts police to beating of 86-year-old woman; great-grandson arrested Copyright by WISH - All rights reserved (Photo Provided/Monroe County Jail) [ + - ] Video
Staff Reports - BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (WISH) - A man has been arrested after trying to kill his 86-year-old great-grandmother.
Medics arrived to the 800 block of South Winridge Court late Monday night.
They were responding to a Life Alert call from a neck pendant belonging to an 86-year-old female.
"It was absolutely crucial, it was the only way she could reach out and let people know she was in danger, without it who knows when we would have arrived," said Bloomington Police Captain Steve Kellams, on the victim pressing her Life Alert key chain.
According to police, when medics got to the house, they heard yelling and called police.
When officers arrived they spoke to a man on the front porch covered in blood. He began fighting with officers and would not speak to them.
The man was later identified as 19-year-old Zachary Emswiller, the victim's great-grandson, and he was taken into custody.
When police entered the home, they found the elderly lady in her room covered in blood. She had been badly beaten.
According to police, the woman's face and upper body were covered with lacerations and contusions. She said that her great-grandson, Emswiller, had attacked, beaten and attempted to strangle her.
The victim was transported to an Indianapolis hospital due to the extent of her injuries.
Police say Emswiller denied knowing the victim and could not tell them why he was covered in blood. He was arrested and faces preliminary charges of attempted murder and criminal confinement.
Family members for Emswiller say he suffers from mental illness, police are trying to determine if this is true. |
Testing the “gadget”
Due to uncertainties about its capabilities, General Groves and Oppenheimer decided to test the military usability of a plutonium bomb nicknamed the “gadget”. The plutonium-based bomb was detonated at the Trinity site on 16 July 1945 at 5:29 AM local time.
The result was an explosion equivalent to 19 kilotons of TNT. It created a crater 10 feet deep and over 1,000 feet wide. According to an account by Steve Sagarra (“Making the Atomic Bomb”), the blast “illuminated the surrounding landscape brighter than daylight for a few brief seconds. The mushroom cloud caused by the explosion extended nearly eight miles into the sky; the resulting shock wave traveled as far as 100 miles. Noting the accomplishment, Oppenheimer stated simply, “It worked.” He would later recall reflecting privately on a passage in the Hindu scripture, Bhagavad Gita: Now, I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.’” |
6 things you should know about Baylor’s Ferrell Center
While the golden dome of Pat Neff Hall is the iconic image of Baylor University, there’s another golden dome that has housed a significant amount of Baylor history over the last quarter-century. Countless fans have filled the Ferrell Center to watch Baylor’s basketball, volleyball, and now acrobatics and tumbling teams, and thousands of graduates have walked across its stage at Commencement.
But just how much do you know about the Ferrell Center? Here are a few facts every Baylor fan should know:
1. President Ronald Reagan was the featured guest at the Ferrell Center’s first event, just a few months before he left office. (Here’s what preparations for the Ferrell Center opening looked like in a classic news clip from 1988). Including Reagan, the Ferrell Center has hosted three of the five United States presidents to serve during its lifespan. George W. Bush has twice attended Lady Bears games, including his first public appearance after leaving office in 2009, while Barack Obama spoke at a memorial service for victims of the 2013 West explosion. Other notable political figures to visit the Ferrell Center include Colin Powell, Margaret Thatcher and Desmond Tutu.
2. Its name honors the memory of a former Baylor student. Charles Robert Ferrell tragically lost his life in a car accident in 1967 while a Baylor sophomore. Charles’ father, Monroe, was a 1938 Baylor graduate, and his love for his son and for Baylor was shown through the naming gift of the Ferrell Center. Two decades after the accident, Mr. Ferrell’s estate, recognizing what it would have meant to the family to honor Charles at Baylor, made the naming gift for the arena.
3. This is the fourth permanent home for Baylor basketball. Before the early 1920s, the Bears played their home games outside on Carroll Field (located where the Bill Daniel Student Center sits today). After that, they played in a combination auditorium/gymnasium on campus until Rena Marrs McLean Gymnasium debuted in 1938. By 1953, the team was regularly selling out the 3,500-seat gym, and so the Bears moved to the 10,000-seat Heart of Texas Coliseum across town (now the Extraco Events Center). They remained there until the Ferrell Center opened in 1988.
4. The Ferrell Center wasn’t always planned for its current location. In 1982, it was announced that a new special events center would be built “adjacent to Russell Gymnasium, on a site bordered by Waco Creek, University Parks Drive, Bagby Street and Speight Avenue” (where the McLane SLC and Baylor Sciences Building are now). New intramural fields were planned for the corner of University Parks and LaSalle Avenue. But by the time of groundbreaking five years later, the arena’s site had been moved across University Parks — joining what is now Baylor Ballpark in establishing the beginnings of an entire riverfront athletics complex.
5. It has served Baylor longer than any other current athletics facility. Maybe that’s a nice way to say the venerable Ferrell Center is Baylor’s oldest athletic facility, but it really speaks to the incredible growth of Baylor Athletics since it opened. And the Ferrell Center is getting better as it gets older, with more improvements coming; Director of Athletics Ian McCaw has said that renovating the Ferrell Center is one of the university’s current five-year goals.
6. The Ferrell Center has a twin. The University of Hawaii’s Stan Sheriff Center, built in 1994, was modeled after the Ferrell Center. Just look at a few photos and you’ll likely do a double-take. From the triangular design in the domed ceiling to the circular bowl around the floor, Hawaii’s arena is a nearly identical replica of the home of the Bears and Lady Bears. The only real discernible difference in photographs (aside from the Hawaii logos and signage) is the dome itself. As you can see in this exterior shot, the Stan Sheriff Center’s dome lacks the brilliance of the Ferrell’s eye-catching gold. Aside from that, Hawaii could feel like a home away from home for Baylor Bears, which isn’t a bad thing at all.
The Ferrell Center has been a fixture on the Baylor campus for more than 25 years, adapting with the times and serving generations of Bears. So here’s to future generations celebrating graduation, cheering on Big 12 championships, and marveling at the growth of one of Baylor’s most recognizable facilities.
Sic ’em, Ferrell Center! |
Paul Revere, the leader of the '60s rock band Paul Revere and the Raiders , has died. He was 76 years old. The news was revealed on his band's official website .
While no cause of death has been given at this time, Revere had been in poor health recently. Last year , reports surfaced that Revere, who was born with that name and formed his band in Idaho at the end of the '50s, was “fighting a tremendous health battle.” He denied that things were that serious at the time, but did admit that “[I] got my butt kicked but good.”
Revere announced his retirement in July, but the remaining Raiders were still performing regularly.
Along with singer Mark Lindsay, Revere led the band -- which appeared on the daily TV show 'Where the Action Is' -- for several years, and through a few missed hits, before they found their stride in the mid-'60s, riding a wave of Beatlemania. Their first two minor hits came in the form of a song called 'Like, Long Hair' -- a 1961 instrumental based on a classical piece by Rachmaninoff -- and their version of 'Louie, Louie,' which stalled at No. 103 in 1963.
By 1965, they scored their first Top 40 hit with 'Just Like Me.' Over the next four years, Revere and Lindsay led the Raiders to a string of chart singles, including four Top 10 smashes: 'Kicks,' 'Hungry,' 'Good Thing' and 'Him or Me - What's It Gonna Be?' After a dry period at the end of the decade, they emerged with a shortened moniker, the Raiders, and their only No. 1 song, 'Indian Reservation (The Lament of the Cherokee Reservation Indian),' in 1971. They placed a few more songs on the chart through 1973, and have since hit the oldies circuit as a touring act.
On the band's website, a lengthy tribute to Revere begins, "Dear Paul, Where do I begin? How do I tell you how much I love you and what you have meant to me?" And it's signed, "Love forever, Everyone who has ever met you." |
Law is imperfect executed by imperfect individuals. The best way to fix it is from the inside. You shouldn't throw the baby out with the bathwater. We have 200 years of history….and a history thats improving over time as the basis for these claims in the US. Not all coercion is the same. US vs. dictatorships. Also, not al instances of freedom invasion are bad. Grouping all coercion together is really, really unhelpful from a utilitarian or truth perspective. When I'm asked not to infringe on the rights of others--that doesn't infringe on my rights. I would imagine that form most people this is fine. And I seriously question those who think this is a real infringement. Clear expectations and lack of extra-stress is incredibly helpful. Anarchism would experience rather difficult issues in the realm of national security. Law deters vigilantism which risks cycles of violence. Private security forces risk arm races and cycles of violence. Other forms of power and coercion would likely fill the gap. Plus the unpredictability of such a situation would create the risk of misperception…along with arms races and violence. If we all started from an exactly equal place, it might make sense. But thats not the case due to class, educational differences, etc…. I think those at the bottom would be expected to gamble (i.e. be irrational) even more so than they are now. Perfect rationality doesn't exist in human form. People sacrifice the long term for short term interests. We need the force of the law. Humans are emotional, make decisions based on imperfect knowledge, and even some based on pleasure seeking in the short run. Many of the reason why relativism is a bad idea seem like reason--seem like the same reasons why anarchism would experience similar problems. Even Rand wrote a short indict of anarchism (I think its in Virtue of Selfishness). Also, you can always vote with your feet. You have the freedom to choose the types of freedom that are most amenable to the types of freedom you want or desire. If anarchists want more freedom in society, the way to do so is to is to help reform our prison system or other specific manifestations of injustice. That is a far, far more viable form of effective social change. Debating the areas where government should be reduced is much more helpful on a case by case basis. You more accurately and concretely target the actual issues you have with government and its policies.
Reputation management systems for judges wouldn't work--because the losing person in the case almost always has a reason to spike the judgement. Moreover, judges have a reason to be lenient to get reputation for both people in the dispute.
The time and efficiency issues associated with not having judges would also be a massive drag on productivity and time.
Poor people would likely be priced out of the market.
In some cases government + informal arrangements don't solve problems--why would removing one of these possible solutions "help" the situation:
Anarchism amounts to the Old West where justice was problematic and real security was in short supply. Moreover, native american cultures who have been said to be anarchic….got overrun by settlers….but even beyond this had significant problems beyond their borders.
Small failures can be potentially catastrophic. When issues of justice and security are undermined……freedom and efficiency suffer.
History and human behavior dictate that getting rid of the state will re-emerge due to the need for a justice system and protection of individual rights. But in the mean time…..we will endure cycles of violence and injustice while the state re-emerges.
The history of utopian community experiments like Anarchism in the US are't particularly good. I think most that went as far as anarchism or very close….died out. And those people self-selected and had a very short time of existence to draw from.
The economic value of the speed of trust….you know what shared values to expect from the majority of people you encounter. Imagine this parallel scenario: if the person you were talking to at any point in the day were randomly assigned a language (1 in 25)….the number of calculations and additional brain power which would make this. Either….people will be incredibly insular….or won't and will have sooooo much extra time devoted to managing expectations in order to maintain freedom, justice, fairness, and not getting beat up for no reason.
Also, depending on the process of moving from government to non-government you are likely to get some pushback from the powers that be in government, military, and commerce. This could be both violent and coercive. This violent transition is likely to emerge into a Wild West and/or vigilante scenario explained earlier. [not to mention the foreign policy issues of invasion by nation-states]
Gut checks/Update 2:
Here are 15 criticisms of anarchism (actually not all criticisms per se--for instance some address the issue at the heart of the question from a different perspective and there are actually 31 to 33 arguments with the extra updates):I would suggest that many of the issues outlined here also at an underlying level provide significant problems for anarchist type configurations:Update:One that I didn't fully develop though deals with human irrationality or even semi-rational calculation.1) Almost any risk of irrationality on the part of 5%, much less 50% of the population seems to be a reason to favor. If you look at a bell curve….what percentage of the time are our decisions "irrational"?2) At a minimum…..perspectivalism and/or phenomenology means that we don't have. Not everyone agrees on what rational is. Multiply this times of number of decisions per day X number of people.This is still a problem for a state based rational actor model….but at least some of those actors have trust in the law as semi-fair to resolve disputes and to provide accountability if those disputes end up being unjust/biased.3) The basis of the elephant-rider model which comes from behavioral economics. Irrationality is baked in. I tend to think state-based systems have more "safety nets" for us to make irrational decisions.I don't have the theory to back it up, but shared goods and commons areas (aka tragedy of the commons) is probably better solved via.The foreign policy problem….this becomes incredibly massive as the number of anarchist communities increases because these are now countries that you have to have relationships with (based on their power and geography). The empirical problem of outside invaders that are still states is also a problem.I simply trust reformism as a means to change the abuses of the state in a just, predictable, and accountable way. This seems more consistent with an experimentalist model of government--which has enabled us to reform over time.Don't think we get the ROI on government now….or we could get better ROI….apply Six Sigma, so you don't have to throw out the baby with the bathwater….and you can optimize for what the society does best.At a base level….the rhetoric of anarchism is far to idealistic given its historical record. Civilization is difficult. Coordinating differences in culture, expectations, ethics, beliefs, attitudes, and values is challenging. Not taking the reality of embedded incentives…..on a massive, massive level isn't.I think there is often a tendency to think the world is rational like me. The world is hard-workers like me. But….I don't think any of the 3 assumptions going on here are particularly true or even logical:1) I'm rational2) Others are rational3) Others are (self-motivated) hard workersI think you even have to assume very similar thinking (which is easy to assume given that people already clump up…..so sometimes its challenging to find people that think or behave differently than we do)Norms work to help create shared expectations and get everyone on the same page. Having the legal force of law helps create a more endurance and more efficacious and predictable norm (one with a better deterrent effect).People game systems….when laws are lowered….people empirically exploit those weaknesses (thats why the word loop hole exists in the context of laws)In terms of the baby with the bathwater argument…..I think its challenging for people with idealistic assumptions about humans and reality. First, the transition risks everything for only a partial victory (at least in terms of the US). Moveover, this is analogous to telling Steve Jobs to tear down the Apple Company to the ground and he would still get the great inventions it achieved.Thats absurd. No one would take that gamble. |
How I automated my team’s agile and Scrum processes with Scrumile
Phil Taylor Blocked Unblock Follow Following Dec 3, 2017
I work as an Agile Coach at a ~800 employee SaaS company. I coach 2 Scrum teams and naturally I just accepted that my job includes enormous amounts of manual work that has to be done — boy was I so wrong :)
Being in my role requires me to read loads of articles to keep myself up to date and I always felt bad that I never give back to the community, so I decided to write this article so that I can help my fellow colleagues and give a little back to the community for the help I’ve received through out the years.
Back to my teams. :) Our teams use JIRA for project management like probably most companies. JIRA is great for many many things but pretty limited in helping my job as an Agile Coach. My job is to grow my teams and I do that by relying heavily on data-driven decisions.
So to be able to measure my teams’ sprint progress I’ve started to use Google Sheets which does the job pretty well but obviously needs me to sync data manually with JIRA. Doing that for a year I got really used to the daily chore of copying data.
Getting closer to the end of the year I usually do a look back on my year and I realized that I spend too much time with administrative tasks like manually filling my Google Sheets with data.
I set out to find some solutions and the result was underwhelming, nearly all of the tools that do what I need has it’s own project management system instead of relying on JIRA. Sadly changing from JIRA to another system is not realistic for the whole company.
Almost gave up on the search when I’ve found a new tool called Scrumile (https://www.scrumile.com). (Was kind of hard to find though :() I downloaded it and was able to make it work with our on-premise JIRA in 2 minutes. It works without needing any JIRA side setup which in my case was very desirable.
It’s obvious that the tool is still in it’s early days but it already contains many features that I’m already fond of after just using it for 1 sprint (2 weeks).
So of the features that I really liked:
Stand-up It’s very close to what I had in my Google Sheet but at least now I don’t have to manually copy data from JIRA
Image from www.scrumile.com website
Grooming A nice tool that helps the team estimation in swim lanes which is fine but the best part is that we can do it online and since one of my team has a remote member this tool became and instant success.
Image from www.scrumile.com website
Action items It’s fun to keep the team’s action items with assignees in one place — though we usually use Todoist for this purpose.
Online team retrospectives Now this is where Scrumile shines. You can do multiple types of retrospective techniques with your remote team mates. Group your ideas, vote on them, discuss the result and create action items that you can follow up on in your action items tab.
Image from www.scrumile.com website
Image from www.scrumile.com website
Image from www.scrumile.com website
In conclusion Scrumile is a tool that fixes my problem and offers even more with it I’ve managed to automate our processes which saves me precious time. Aside from the fact that the tool still needs many improvement, Scrumile is something that really made my life easier.
Hope with this article I could give a little bit back to the community.
Phil T. |
Lawyers take action taken against Sun, Daily Mail and Telegraph over claims they identified minor accused of breaking into mobile provider’s network
A teenage boy arrested over the TalkTalk hacking breach is suing three national newspapers over an alleged breach of his privacy.
Lawyers for the 15-year-old are taking legal action against The Sun, Daily Mail and the Daily Telegraph over allegations they identified the minor accused of breaking into the mobile and broadband provider’s data network.
The Daily Telegraph named the boy on its website after he was arrested at his home in County Antrim. The minor’s name was later removed.
Google and Twitter have also been named in a legal action at Belfast high court again over an alleged breach of the boy’s privacy. Details emerged over the weekend about the privacy case after a judge lifted reporting restrictions.
The boy was interviewed by detectives from the Metropolitan police and the Police Service of Northern Ireland on suspicion of offences under the Computer Misuse Act before being released on bail.
Since then the boy’s lawyers have issued writs claiming negligence, misuse of private information, defamation, breach of confidence and data protection.
In court on Friday, the boy’s lawyers claimed his family has had to move home as a result of the publicity surrounding his arrest and identification by the three papers and online. A barrister for the boy said the content contributed to his client being “stigmatised” within his community.
Lawyers acting for the Daily Mail rejected allegations that the paper had identified the boy. They argued that the newspaper had taken steps to alter the boy’s appearance and even change the colour of his hair from a photograph of him that was posted online.
Reporting restrictions were lifted late on Friday after Google and Twitter agreed to remove information about the boy from its networks.
An order prohibiting the publication of any material that could lead to the boy being identified remains in place. This includes his name, address, images or any other material about his appearance. The case is due to be heard again next month.
During coverage of the boy’s arrest last month, the Guardian took the decision not to follow other news organisations online who were publishing details about the boy, including his name. |
The crazy pro-abortion protests at the Texas state capitol have received plenty of attention this week.
The protesters at the Texas capitol have already exploited children by making them hold signs supporting their protest against a ban on late-term abortions. Then the Internet was abuzz with shock and disgust over another sign, along with a video showing abortion activists chanting Hail Satan.
Meanwhile, a little girl is shown in a picture along with pro-abortion protestors holding a sign saying, “If I wanted the government in my womb, I’d f— a senator.”
Now, another picture has surfaced of a little boy holding a sign, that surely wasn’t his idea to hold, saying, “Stay Out of My Mommy’s Vagina.” That an abortion activist parent took the time to draw the sign and make her son hold it and pose for a picture is disturbing.
Click here to sign up for pro-life news alerts from LifeNews.com
The picture was posted on Twitter by a pro-abortion activist who goes by the handle SineQuaN0nUSA. Her tweet of the picture follows, though a scan of her tweets doesn’t indicate if she has any relationship to the child depicted. |
PROPERTY WORTH €35.1 million was stolen from households between July 2013 and July 2014.
Jewellery made up 40% of all stolen property with €14.2 millions worth stolen in that time while €7.8 million in cash was taken.
Research from the Garda’s National Crime Prevention Unit also found there were over 200 cases of ‘fishing’ – which sees burglars put fishing rods through letterboxes to ‘fish’ car and house keys from hall tables.
Gardaí say that burglaries typically rise by 25% in the winter and the majority take place between 5pm and 11pm.
Analysis from the gardaí shows the most common point of entry is the front door (29%), rear window (26%) and the rear door (22%).
So that’s nearly 50% of burglaries that take place through the rear of the home – and 20% of households are entered by burglars through an unsecured door or window.
Prevention
While the rate of burglaries has reduced over the last year, An Garda Síochána is advising people to remain vigilant and security conscious in order to thwart burglars.
Sergeant Kelvin Courtney of the National Crime Prevention Unit said the darker evenings and lax security can make it easier for burglars.
The longer evenings can help burglars spot if people are not home. For instrance, they can easily see if a house is empty if rooms are unlit, curtains are open, and there is no car in the driveway. It also makes it easier for them to enter a residence without being seen.
“Light up your house – use timers on lamps inside if you’re going to be out, and make sure you have an outside light that is tied to a motion sensor.”
Gardaí have these tips to prevent winter burglaries:
You can find out more about home safety at www.Garda.ie here.
Gardaí say that reducing burglaries and related thefts is a major priority for An Garda Síochána and a number of operations are in place nationally and locally to combat burglaries.
Operation Fiacala is a national operation targeting travelling burglary gangs – it has led to over 10,000 people being arrested and more than 5,000 being charged. |
Artist's impression of space debris in lower Earth object (debris size exaggerated). Image: ESA
CubeSats and other small-sized satellites promise to democratise space and open up the final frontier. But there's one big thing in their way—or rather hundreds of thousands of small things: space debris. And before we go launching more future-junk into space, we need to figure out what to do about it.
Lesley Jane Smith, a visiting professor of space law at the University of Strathclyde and a member of the London Institute of Space Policy and Law, explained some of the regulatory issues facing the small satellite revolution in a talk at London Space Week.
"Everything that's involved in space is dangerous and hazardous," she told Motherboard in an interview. "But the CubeSats, because of the particular orbit that they're going into—that is the orbit that has the greatest amount of debris already."
Example of a CubeSat. Masat-1 was launched in 2012. Image: Dávid Czifra/ESA
CubeSats are small satellites made of parts measuring around 10 cm cubed and weighing less than 1.33 kg. They're cheaper to build and launch than conventional satellites, offering the chance for more organisations (aside from nation states) to get into the satellite game. They boast a compelling array of potential applications, from telecommunications to Earth observation.
CubeSats and other small satellites are generally launched into lower Earth orbit (LEO) because of latency issues higher up. But that means there are a lot of satellites all wanting a share of the same space—especially as the full potential of CubeSats lies in constellations of tens or even hundreds of the things.
Not only are these satellites trying to access an area already crowded with junk; they will create a lot of new space debris after their limited lifetime is up. And anyone who's seen Gravity knows how damaging that debris can be.
"The entire issue of debris has been brought to a head by the CubeSats"
The diagram below from a UK Space Agency presentation shows the predicted probability of a collision in lower Earth orbit in 2070 compared to in 2001, though Smith suggested the 2070 prediction could come much earlier.
As a result, Smith said that "the entire issue of debris has been brought to a head by the CubeSats."
That's why, if the small satellite industry is going to be sustainable, regulations regarding space debris mitigation need to be discussed pronto.
The problem is, it seems mighty unjust to impose regulations on small satellites given the amount of junk that bigger players already dumped in the same orbital territory.
Smith reckons a state-backed programme such as the European Space Agency (ESA) should therefore lead the way and put up the money to clean up space before anything too bad happens—or before commercial companies are put off the satellite industry due to the looming risk and cost.
"My feeling is that an agency like ESA should get involved"
ESA is responsible for a particularly large piece of space junk in the form of its defunct Envisat satellite.
"If you want to be a team leader, then my feeling is that an agency like ESA should get involved, and bring down its own satellite, Envisat, to show that it can be done," said Smith. "Of course it's dangerous, but it will set a precedent that it can be done and states are responsible, liable, for their own satellites."
ESA's space debris-catching net concept. Image: ESA
ESA has already started testing techniques to catch space debris such as using a giant high-tech fishing net. Another option would be commercial space debris salvage operations, where companies could collect space trash for a fee—but international space law doesn't allow for that at the moment, and changing it would require a fair amount of thought. "There's complicated issues if they remove a functioning satellite instead of a dysfunctional satellite—there are legal issues out there," said Smith, stressing the need for global understanding and consent.
One of the main regulatory issues for CubeSats is that most current rules don't recognise them as any different from other satellites, whether on the issue of debris and de-orbiting or other legal hurdles such as licensing and insurance. There is an argument that exceptions should be made, given smaller satellites' promise both to open up space and provide services to more people; Smith recognised that the technology has "fantastic potential."
"In a way we're talking about a transformative phase," she said in her talk.
Regulation was necessary, she explained, in order for the UK and other countries to keep their place in the current, evolving space industry.
And when it comes down to it, Smith pointed out, the industry and its regulatory system has never really been tested. "If two satellites collide, and they're functional, somebody's going to do something," she said. |
Chevron has been in court since 1993 over its contamination in Ecuador. In that year, the class-action suit Aguinda v. Texaco was filed in New York, where Texaco was headquartered at the time. The company petitioned for years to have the case relocated to Ecuador, submitting numerous affidavits praising the integrity of Ecuador's judicial system. In 2002, after a series of appeals, the company's request was granted and Chevron agreed to submit to the jurisdiction of the Ecuadorian court. The affected communities refiled their lawsuit in Ecuador in May of 2003, and Chevron immediately began to argue that it should not have to defend itself there either.
One of the specious arguments that Chevron used to try to avoid trial was to insist that the government of Ecuador had released it from any further responsibility after it agreed to remediate a small portion of its contaminated sites in 1993. This "release" was negotiated with the government while the Aguinda case was already proceeding, and it explicitly excluded such private claims against the company. For this reason, Chevron's argument has been summarily dismissed whenever they have made it in court, although they still trot it out in press releases. Additionally, the clean up on which the release was conditioned appears to have been a fraud, as samples taken during the trial revealed that the "remediated" sites are just as contaminated as ones that were never treated.
Over the next few years, numerous judicial inspections of Texaco's former oil installations and waste pits were carried out to determine levels of contamination and their sources. The scientific record resulting from these inspections clearly shows soil and water contamination by Texaco far above legal limits, and Texaco had already admitted to dumping toxic waste in the area for decades. Even Chevron's own scientists – as well as independent" labs that the company allegedly set up and controlled – obtained significant data that supports the case against the company. This despite its constant attempts to rig the results of the inspections, including by selecting samples from locations that they had secretly visited beforehand in a fruitless attempt to find uncontaminated areas, as was revealed when a whistleblower within Chevron anonymously mailed a package of internal company videos to Amazon Watch.
In February of 2011, Chevron was found guilty and ordered to pay $9 billion to remediate the environmental damage and pay for clean water and healthcare facilities for the affected population, as well as an additional $9 billion in punitive damages. Chevron appealed all the way to the Ecuadorian supreme court, which issued its decison in November of 2013. In its 222-page opinion, the supreme court affirmed earlier decisions by a Lago Agrio court and the appellate court for $9 billion but rejected the additional $9 billion in punitive damages, given that this was not explicitly permitted in Ecuadorian law. It also lamented the plaintiffs waiting twenty years for justice and attributed this largely to delaying tactics by Chevron. |
The new season is almost upon us, but how will it play out? We asked Iain Macintosh, but we rather regret that now.
AUGUST
Louis van Gaal inspires Manchester United to opening day victory over Swansea by threatening to make Tom Cleverley run a marathon for every misplaced pass.
Brendan Rodgers calls a team meeting for Liverpool and ceremonially marks down the name of the player who he believes will let him down this season. Unfortunately, he gives the name away when he is seen mouthing the syllables, "Mig. No. Lay," as he writes.
Buoyant after a successful summer in the transfer market, Jose Mourinho describes his new-look Chelsea: "Not little horses. Not big horses, either. We are the horses with the bodies of men. And with the bows and the arrows. You know ... like in Harry Potter? Centaurs! That's the one. We are centaurs. Awesome."
According to Iain's predictions, Louis van Gaal is set to return Manchester United as a title contender.
SEPTEMBER
Arsenal build on a bright start with an impressive 3-0 victory over Tottenham Hotspur, and the Gunners lead the way in the Premier League. "This is the year," coughs Jack Wilshere. "This doesn't slip."
Alan Pardew is sacked by Newcastle United when he runs amok, tearing up Sports Direct advertising hoardings and swinging them above his head. Referee Michael Oliver's decision to award Stoke a contentious throw-in is believed to be the cause of the meltdown.
In a wide-ranging interview, Samir Nasri announces that he thinks all cats are idiots. "If they can't deal with that, that's too bad," he sneers. He goes on to describe all dogs as "a bit shifty."
OCTOBER
Paul Lambert says he's very hopeful of Aston Villa avoiding the drop, despite starting the season with seven successive defeats. Alongside him, Roy Keane's eyes glaze over, his head filled with a vision of skeleton warriors cleansing a corrupt city of wrongdoers while lightning streaks across a blood-red sky.
Leading the way in the early stages, Mourinho issues a challenge to Van Gaal. "When I left you," he says, "I was just the learner. Now I am the master."
"Only a master of wibble, Jose," says Van Gaal later.
NOVEMBER
Van Gaal inspires his players to victory over Crystal Palace by slapping Luke Shaw unconscious.
Liverpool's defeat to Stoke leaves them outside the Champions League places, but Brendan Rodgers is defiant. "I've got the eye of the tiger," he explains. "A fighter. Dancing through fire. Because I am a champion. And you're going to hear me roar." He pauses for breath and then clarifies his point. "Louder than a lion."
PREMIER LEAGUE PREVIEWS As we count down to kickoff on Aug. 16, ESPN FC previews all 20 teams in this season's competition. Can Burnley, QPR and Leicester stay up? Will the new signings of Alexis Sanchez, Diego Costa and Adam Lallana help usurp Man City's crown? Will Manchester United get back on track under Louis van Gaal?
DECEMBER
Mauricio Pochettino claims that his Tottenham side will improve after they're beaten at home by Burnley. Daniel Levy refuses to comment or indeed to leave his office. In the solitary gloom, a single tear rolls down his cheek. Irritably, he wipes it away with a leather glove. "Hold it together, Danny," he whispers. "Hold it together."
Lambert apologises to supporters for a run of six games without a win. Alongside him, Roy Keane stares hard at the floor, trying to block out the screams in his head. "No!" the voices wail. "We can change!" Hours later, a number of concerned journalists wonder why the ominous words, "The time for change has passed. This is the quickening," have been picked up on their Dictaphones.
JANUARY
Arsene Wenger lauds Alexis Sanchez for his blistering hat trick against Manchester City and says it will be a travesty if he misses out on the Player of the Year award. "The mood here has never been better," wheezes Wilshere. "Nothing's going to stop us now."
Paul Lambert is sacked. Roy Keane is offered his job. He stares at Randy Lerner and, for the first time in many months, a smile breaks across his face. It begins.
Could Roy Keane become Aston Villa's savior?
FEBRUARY
Sanchez fractures his face and tears his heartstring in a freak collision with a ball boy. He is ruled out for the rest of the season. Arsenal lose 2-0 to Leicester and Wenger blames abnormal solar flares.
Pochettino says there's no reason to panic as his Tottenham side slide to 14th following a defeat to Queens Park Rangers. In the director's box, Levy expresses his feelings through the medium of art, drawing a crude portrait of Van Gaal on the wall with this message written underneath: "Why didst thou desert me?"
Aston Villa are looking for a new defender after it is revealed that Philippe Senderos has run away from home.
MARCH
Arsenal win just a single game through March and lose their place at the top of the table. Wilshere is ruled out for a month with yellow fingers.
Van Gaal inspires his players to victory over Newcastle by arriving in the dressing room wearing an executioner's outfit.
Pochettino says the team is merely adjusting to a new style of football and claims that Levy has given him his full support. Watching in his office, Levy laughs hysterically and throws the television out the window.
APRIL
Pochettino is sacked and replaced by David Ginola. Asked why the mercurial Frenchman has been appointed, Levy shrugs and admits he doesn't know, but it just feels right.
West Bromwich Albion are relegated. Manager Alan Irvine describes it as a complete surprise. "We all thought we'd be down by February," he says.
MAY
Jose Mourinho will have plenty to smile about if he can lead Chelsea back to the Premier League title.
Chelsea are Premier League champions for the first time in five years. At the end of the game, Mourinho swipes the crown from the trophy and puts it on his head. In the press conference afterward, he refuses to answer any question that isn't prefixed with the words, "Your imperial majesty." Later that night, he has Fernando Torres executed simply because he can.
Liverpool finish fifth, but Rodgers claims that he's confident it's just a small backward step before a huge leap forward in 2015. In an attempt to illustrate his point, he asks the assembled journalists if any of them have a guitar...
Aston Villa avoid the drop by a single point after a narrow last-day victory over Burnley. As the players celebrate on the pitch, manager Keane watches silently from the mouth of the tunnel, bows his head and turns his back on them. His work here is complete. But somewhere, there is another city that must be saved from itself. Evil has no offseason. Righteousness has no summer break. Even in a non-World Cup year. Keane sighs, drops a smoke bomb and disappears into the mist.
Iain Macintosh covers the Premier League and Champions League for ESPN FC. Follow him on Twitter @IainMacintosh. |
As a recent convert to the Nexus 4 (after waiting months for my Sprint ETF to drop), I'm in love with the wireless charging orb. That's not to say it doesn't have issues (besides its price), though. While I've had nary an problem with the orb, I have heard a few times that it has one serious issue – failing to keep the Nexus in place as it charges.
A few days ago, I came across a potential solution to this problem – the Nexus 4 Charging Orb Cradle by Etsy user Pixil3D.
The 3D-printed cradle isn't necessarily the most elegant solution imaginable, and adding a $24 fix to a product that already costs $60 isn't exactly palatable to this writer, but the cradle has one thing going for it – it's 3D-printed, and anyone that has a 3D printer can make their own. The design is readily available over at Thingiverse, as reported at MoDaCo.
If you're tired of your precious N4 slipping from its otherwise awesome charging device, and this solution looks appealing to you, you have two options – buy it for $24, or bust out a 3D printer and make it yourself. Make your choice and hit the appropriate link below.
Etsy, Thingiverse |
One of the most important decisions you can make when buying hydroponic nutrients for your plants is the way in which the nutrients are prepared. Fertilizers for soil-less culture are available both within solid and liquid presentations and it is very likely that you have been buying the liquid once up until now since these are the most well-known and easiest to prepare. However, you may not be realizing that by buying liquid fertilizers you are putting an enormous burdden on your hydroponic growth wallet. The fact is that by buying solid hydroponic nutrients you could be saving 5 to 10 times your hydro-food costs. Within today's post I will explain to you the difference between solid and liquid fertilizers and why buying solid nutrients is always a better choice for your hydroponic garden.
Liquid fertilizers available for hydroponics are generally prepared by dissolving an array of salts and additives in water. After these additions are done the concentrated solution is prepared and ready to be sold. When you get it the only thing you need to do is to take a given measure of volume from the liquid and poor it into your hydroponic reservoir. What you may not be realizing is that - due to the fact that salts need to be dissolved in water - there is an inherent limitation in the amount of nutrients you are getting and most of what you are buying is actually water. There is also the added cost that in order to make up a concentrated nutrient solution, compatible salts have to be used. This limits the chemicals that can be purchased and makes the cost of the fertilizer higher.
When you purchase a solid hydroponic fertilizer you simply buy a mixture of salts which you then need to weight and dissolve in a given volume of water. Since there is actually no water and the salts don't need to be predissolved in a concentrated solution, the array of salts that can be used are a lot wider and much cheaper costs can be achieved. Added to that is the fact that packing is a lot simpler and much more efficient since the need to bottle solutions is unecessary. In the end you will see that with 2 pounds of solid nutrients you will be able to prepare more than 300 gallons of nutrient solution while you would probably need much more (about 10-30 gallons of concentrated solution) to prepare the same amount using concentrated liquid fertilizers.
- -
You will definitely see that most hydroponic fertilizer companies are simply charging you a lot for liquid fertilizers when you could as easily be buying bulk solid fertilizers at a fraction of the cost. Premixed solid hydroponic fertilizers are also widely available commercially and easily made up with some basic chemistry concepts (more on this on a later article!). So next time you are planning to buy more hydroponic fertilizers think about cost efficiency and look for some solid premixed hydroponic nutrients which are bound to give you as good - or better - results than your previous liquid mix. |
Apps like Tinder have gained popularity by shallowly focusing purely on physical attractiveness. It’s unfortunate, but also understandable. How is one supposed to boil down something as complex as the ideal personality of one’s perfect mate with an app? Well, Oscar Mayer believes it has found the perfect equation for this and it all comes down to bacon.
Today the company released Sizzl, a dating app that allows lovestruck users a closed network of bacon lovers where they can scour for their ideal dates. This “totally real dating app” allows people to “specify their bacon preferences in a customizable profile, upload photos and start swiping through profiles of local fellow bacon lovers, with the ability to message and meet up with other Sizzl users based on a mutual-matching system,” according to a company press release.
After downloading the app, users are thrown into a bacon questionnaire where they are asked to specify such deeply personal preferences as whether they prefer pork or turkey bacon or whether they enjoy their bacon crispy or chewy, in addition to a number of other judgment calls that deeply reflect on their character.
“In love, as it is in bacon, it’s important to be discerning when selecting your perfect match and to never settle for less than the best,” said Eric Dahmer, Oscar Mayer’s marketing director in a statement. “With the launch of Sizzl, we’re thrilled to give our true bacon lovers the chance to find each other and potentially meet their soulmates, in life and in bacon.”
This app goes past the simple swipe left/right UI that other hookup apps have gravitated towards. Instead Sizzl allows users to specify the intensity of their attraction by holding down on the “sizzl” button for a certain amount of time. The longer you hold down the button, the more intense your attraction is to that potential lover.
I have yet to find any matches, which I suspect has something to do with my profile picture, but once I find love I will be sure to check out the chat feature, as well as invite you all to the wedding. |
The Chad Youth Enhancement Center is a privately owned residential treatment facility nestled in the rolling hills off of a winding, two-lane road just southeast of Clarksville. Barns fashioned out of untreated wood and horses tucked behind white fences dot the pristine grazing land that leads to the facility’s 20 tree-lined acres.Just a few yards from an empty pasture marked by a few intermittent hay bales, Chad’s gym, school building and three dormitories sit, looking clinical and quite unremarkable. Chad is a place where kids—some criminals or drug addicts, or with serious emotional and behavioral disorders—go to get help. All are between the tender ages of 7 and 17, and most have problems so severe that other facilities will not admit them. It’s what Chad prides itself on: taking the most troubled and disadvantaged children “to overcome those obstacles that may be hindering their healthy emotional growth.”
Chad is also a place where two teens have died in two years. And where allegations of excessive use of force, and verbal and physical abuse at the hands of the facility’s staff have slowly piled up in the offices of Tennessee state regulators for nearly a decade.
In 2005 medics arrived at Chad to find the body of Linda Harris, a 14-year-old resident from Amityville, N.Y., limp on the floor of the hallway outside of her room.
According to a brief police office report, Harris had“become unruly by not staying in bed and was flashing the boys”when Chad staff pulled the girl’s arms behind her back and escorted her to a time-out room. It was at this point that Harris “became limp and fell on the floor”and the Chad staffers sat down next to her and held her arms behind her back as she lay on her stomach.
After approximately 30 seconds, according to the report, staff let her go as Harris remained belly down and appeared to be crying. A few minutes later, the Chad employees noticed that her breathing had slowed, so they rolled her over and called 911. While an ambulance was en route, Harris stopped breathing. She was pronounced dead after arrival at Gateway Medical Center in Clarksville.
But law enforcement told a different story: a local sheriff’s official said their office received a call that night saying that Harris had stopped breathing after being physically restrained by a male Chad staffer who fell to the floor with the girl while redirecting her to the time-out room.
Either way, Harris died only a few days after a New York judge sent her to Chad for emotional problems that had become too much for her father, a single dad, to handle. And either way, Tennessee medical examiner Dr. Bruce Levy ruled Harris’ death “natural.” After all, she was morbidly obese: Harris carried an estimated 400 pounds on her 5-foot-6-inch frame. Plus she was asthmatic.
While the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office investigated Harris’ death, they didn’t bring any charges against the Chad staffers who restrained her. Levy ruled that her death was a result of cardiac hypertrophy—an enlarged heart because of her chronic bronchial asthma. Harris’ weight was a contributory cause of her death, Levy found.
So life at Chad moved along.
In a November 2005 visit to the center, Department of Children’s Services (DCS) licensing consultant Linda McLeskey noted that more Chad residents felt unsafe at the facility than at other programs DCS had encountered. Less than one month had passed since Harris met her death at the hands of the very people enlisted to help her. And the effect it had on the resident psyche was lasting. “When asked why they felt unsafe, [residents] often reported they were afraid to be restrained because they didn’t want to be hurt,” McLeskey wrote.
Sue Marshall—not her real name—worked as a licensed practical nurse at Chad for roughly one year and recalls the effect that Harris’ death had on residents. “A lot of girls were having nightmares at night after that because probably none of them had seen another person die,” Marshall says. “And you know, of course the first thing they are going to assume is that the staff was at fault.”
According to one expert on restraint asphyxia, those girls may have been right. After reviewing Levy’s autopsy report and police files on Harris’ death, paramedic and author Charly Miller concludes, “It doesn’t fly that her death was natural.”
Though Levy says he stands by his original findings, he tells the Scene that “to some extent that we can’t quantify,” Harris’ death was caused by “the stress of the situation she was in.”
Miller says it’s quite possible that it was the restraint that killed Harris, especially because Chad staff held her on the floor—belly down. Miller says patients with abdominal fat have an increased risk of restraint asphyxia for one simple reason: when an obese person is forced to lay on their belly, the excess stomach fat pushes up into the lungs, making it difficult to breathe until finally, the lungs give.
“But they can keep moving because their extremity muscles are still working after their diaphragm gives out,” Miller says. “And uneducated restrainers think,‘Oh, well, they must be breathing because they’re moving.’ That’s not true.”So Chad staffers might not have realized that Harris had stopped breathing until it was too late, Miller says.
Before Levy even ruled that Harris died of natural causes, DCS—the department that, along with Tennessee’s Department of Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities, was licensing Chad—stopped placing Tennessee children there. New York stopped too. “All we knew was that a child had died under unknown circumstances,” says DCS spokesman Rob Johnson. “The department already had some concerns, so they just elected to go ahead and pull the remaining children out.” Most of those concerns were about Chad’s use of restraint.
But Tennessee regulatory agencies did not revoke Chad’s license, which meant that other states—Kentucky and Pennsylvania, for example—continued sending children there. When asked why Tennessee regulators would keep Chad’s doors open when they wouldn’t even send the state’s own kids there, Johnson says it was simple: Chad met the state’s licensing standards.
“It’s somewhat akin to, does a restaurant pass standards for health inspections when they go in there?” Johnson says. “Yes, they may pass the standards, but it may be that the health inspector may not choose to take his own family there to dine. It’s somewhat analogous. Tennessee has its standards for how it wants its children to be treated when they’re in state custody.”
Chad is where DCS sent Sharon Pruett’s 16-year-old son, John Boy, for rehab in 2004. It’s where Pruett says her son became a broken boy after a counselor pushed him up against a wall, kneed him in the groin and strangled him until three staffers pried the man off of the teenager.
When Pruett moved her family from Chicago to rural Tennessee, she had grand visions of her two kids growing up in a small town in the friendly South, away from the hustle of big-city life. But even in the town of Hurricane Mills—home of Loretta Lynn’s Coal Miner’s Daughter Museum—Boy, a baseball player who did well in school, found trouble.
Before he was 16, Boy was addicted to methamphetamine. Pruett suspected that he was using drugs, and she says state officials told her that she could not get him into a treatment center unless she filed charges against him for being unruly. When she did, a judge ruled that Boy was a danger to his mother and younger sister and, against Pruett’s wishes, placed him in DCS custody. Soon after, Pruett says DCS put her son on house arrest for a 90-day, in-home treatment.
When Boy overdosed in September 2004, Pruett took him to the emergency room. DCS caseworkers soon followed to take a scared, sobbing Boy away to Chad in the wee hours of the morning. It was his first time away from home.
DCS officials told Pruett that her son would stay at Chad only temporarily—until they could place him in another drug treatment program. Pruett couldn’t understand why Boy would be living in a facility—and sharing a bedroom with—children those in the mental health world dub “level three” residents, kids who are a mere step away from being locked down in a detention center or placed in a full-on psychiatric ward. “My son was never arrested,” she says. “My son is not a bad boy. He did not burn houses. He did not hurt anybody. He was hurting himself with a drug problem. I questioned, I begged, I cried, I did everything [to keep him out of Chad].”
Less than three weeks into her son’s stay, Pruett got a call from her son and his therapist. “Mom, I was attacked last night,” Boy said over the therapist’s speakerphone.“You need to get me out of here.This man attacked me, and he broke my glasses.”
Pruett just began to cry. But Boy wouldn’t go into more detail, Pruett says, because he was scared it might happen again. He didn’t tell her that he hadn’t slept much since the attack the night before, which began after Boy called counselor Calvin Nelms a “fucking dick” when the man accused Boy of stealing another resident’s toiletries.
He didn’t say that Nelms had grabbed him by his shirt collar, pressed his hands against Boy’s throat, lifted him up off the floor and slammed him against the wall before throwing Boy down, kneeing him in the groin and strangling him until three employees intervened.
But Boy did tell his mother that his attacker was still working at Chad. Pruett says the facility acknowledged that they couldn’t fire Nelms because they were understaffed. Later, the family found out that Nelms, who admitted that he overreacted, had been placed on probation for his involvement in two or three similar incidents in the year-and-a-half he had worked at Chad, according to DCS files.
When Boy appeared in court a day after the attack, a judge ordered his immediate removal from the facility. Two months later, a Montgomery County court issued a warrant for Nelms’ arrest in the assault. But Pruett never received a subpoena to appear in court on Nelms’charge. His case was dismissed.
Pruett says Chad was the beginning of the end for her son. Before Chad, Boy was committed to getting better. But when he got home, he just didn’t care anymore. “He was just a different person when he came out of Chad,” she says. “He lost interest. It was like he didn’t trust people. He was just angry.”
She finds it ironic that Chad is dubbed an “enhancement center.”
“This doesn’t improve a child,”she says.“They’re just babies, and they’re going to come out being 10 times worse.”
Things did get worse for Boy. After bouncing among treatment programs for several years, he was shot to death in an unrelated incident in September of last year. But Pruett says she’s still committed to seeing Chad shut down. “How many lives have to be ruined, threatened and how many people have to be killed before they finally shut it down?” she says. “This facility is horrible. And I don’t see that it has changed at all.”
Omega Leach came to Chad from Pennsylvania—one of several states that still sent its most troubled children to Chad after the death of Harris. Leach arrived on May 2, 2007. One month later, he would be dead.
The online message board that accompanied one news story of his death was besmirched with comments keyed in by outsiders—people who dubbed Leach a bad kid who probably would’ve died on the streets anyway. “People out in the general population can refer to a kid who we now know was murdered as being a thug and saying he deserves what he gets,” says Holly Lu Conant Rees, chair of the Disability Coalition on Education of Tennessee. “And what difference does it make whether he dies in a facility or, you know, he gets in a gun battle out on the street? There seems to be a lack of empathy and understanding about the circumstances that led a child to be placed in a facility like Chad.”
To most, he was, quite simply, a delinquent—a boy with a criminal record stretching from his early teens. Leach grew up in Southwest Philadelphia, a rough-and-tumble neighborhood marked by abject poverty and violent crime. In the handful of years before his short stint at Chad, police arrested Leach twice and dubbed him “out of control.” His first offense—threatening students and teachers at his middle school and telling one teacher he would “shoot him full of shells”—landed Leach in a private facility in Virginia before he was even 15.
By 16, he was home again, only to be arrested months later for speeding through Southwest Philly in a stolen Nissan. This time, a Philadelphia judge thought a psychiatric program in the pastoral lands of Middle Tennessee, more than 800 miles from Leach’s home, might do the trick. And Leach wasn’t the first Philly kid to find his way to Chad. The city’s Department of Human Services had been sending children from neglectful or abusive homes there since 2001. And in 2006, the city’s judges began to follow suit, sending a new crop of kids to Chad: those with criminal records.
But Leach grappled with severe emotional issues too. State records show that he had been diagnosed with mood disorder, oppositional defiant behavior and conduct disorder, a condition marked by aggression, the propensity to initiate physical fights and to seriously violate rules and societal norms—such as those you might find in a rigidly structured treatment program.
The American Psychiatric Association would characterize Leach as someone who suffers from a “disruptive behavior disorder.” According to a 2000 report by Wanda and Brian Mohr in the Archives of Psychiatric Nursing, children with conduct disorder share remarkably similar risk factors, such as histories marked by trauma, physical abuse or neglect.
Janice LeBel, director of program management for the Child and Adolescent Division of the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health, has worked 20 years in the oversight of residential programs for children with the most severe mental and behavioral disorders, and she says she’s yet to see a youth with Leach’s diagnosis who doesn’t also have a history of trauma.
And according to the Mohrs’ research, children in treatment facilities who suffer from such disruptive behavior disorders also have another commonality: they’re more likely to be placed in some sort of restraint.
Given Leach’s diagnosis, it’s not a surprise that, when a Chad counselor confronted Leach and told him to leave his dorm room on the afternoon of June 2, Leach reportedly shoved and then tried to choke the counselor.
As the two struggled into the hallway, one of the facility’s surveillance cameras caught what would be one of the last acts of Leach’s young life. Sgt. Brian Prentice with the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office says the tape shows Leach and the counselor rolling around in the hallway in a “full-on fight.”The pair then spilled back into Leach’s room—away from the camera’s eye.
Another counselor and a nurse then ran into the room as the first counselor walked out, seemingly exhausted. The rest of what happened in that room is speculative. According to statements, it seems that a counselor restrained Leach stomach down on the floor of his dorm room with his arms bowed behind his back.
The surveillance camera didn’t catch anything else—except the staffers later sprinting from the room in a frantic search for a defibrillator. Leach was dead.
But staff accounts of what happened in that room didn’t account for one thing: strangulation. When Levy performed an autopsy, he says Leach “had a series of superficial injuries from the struggle all over his body—kind of what you would expect from that type of a close physical struggle, falling on the ground, rolling around.” That accounts for the fight in the hallway.
But Levy also found “scattered superficial blunt force injuries” and “hemorrhages into soft tissues and muscles of the neck.” They were injuries that Levy says were “certainly consistent with some kind of strangulation.” Because of those findings, Levy ruled the death a homicide.
The two counselors involved in the restraint, Milton Francis and Randall Rae, have been suspended from Chad pending the results of a Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office investigation. Neither has been formally charged in Leach’s death.
Incident reports outlining Chad’s physical holds from the last two years alone stack inches tall. Most appear to be hastily handwritten, and many tell chilling, albeit scant, tales of run-ins with residents that resulted in “protective holds.” During a hold, at its least severe, a resident will be held upright with their hands and arms pinned behind their backs. At the worst, a hold can bring a swift and strong “takedown”to the ground, where a resident will be held, face down, arms bowed behind the back.
In May 2006, staff placed a boy in a hold, subsequently breaking the rotator cuff in the boy’s left shoulder—an injury that required a trip to the emergency room, but apparently did not require staff who recorded the incident to go into any great detail as to how the bone was broken when reporting the event to the state. The next month, another boy was “out of control and being aggressive to staff,” according to staff who placed him in a hold. But again, they left out details of how that hold put a gash in the boy’s chin that was severe enough to merit a trip to the ER for four stitches.
It’s not supposed to be this way. Chad adheres to the Handle With Care method of restraint. And according to its brochure, the program’s primary restraint technique—the method that Chad uses with residents in a standing position—gives staff an “unprecedented mechanical advantage without pain or injury.” In the event that staff find an upright hold insufficient and initiates a takedown, the brochure boasts, “there is no impact.”
Still, by many accounts, Handle With Care—at least as it’s used at Chad—is infused with anything but gentle care. When she worked at Chad, Marshall says she would see staff restrain residents “too hard and with anger vs. discipline.” In fact, the first time she saw one of the physical holds in action, it was more than she—a nurse of almost 20 years—could bear. “I ran out of the building crying because I didn’t know that kids—human beings—could be treated so forcefully,”she says.
The facility’s Behavioral Health Incident Report logs for 2006 show that staff physically restrained as many as 10 residents in a single day. In his investigation of Chad, Terry McMoore, director of Clarksville’s Urban Resource Center, found that Chad made 216 911 calls since October 2001, 33 of them for ambulances.
While experts warn that death can occur within six minutes of a hold, many Chad residents endured restraints—for three minutes, 15 minutes, 20 minutes or more—and escaped physically unscathed. While Chad’s own policy dictates that such holds can be used only if a resident’s behavior is violent enough to destroy property or harm the resident or others—never as punishment or retaliation—the facility’s own records tell a different story.
When a resident identified as a “little boy” left his bed in a wing of the facility that staff called the “Little House” one night in April, it wasn’t long before he found himself in a hold. One Chad staffer described it this way: “Little Boys [sic] not wanting to go to quiet time or bedtime. He came out of room again and was escorted by Ms. Jennifer but struggled with her.” Staff then placed the boy in a standing hold for three minutes.
Less than a month later, staff placed another resident, whose gender was not specified, in a hold for 15 minutes after the resident “began to escalate” when he or she wanted to retrieve a tennis ball in one of the facility’s classrooms. Marshall says such school-day restraints were common. “If [a resident] would continue to act up through the class period and so forth, it would end up a restraint,” she says.
According to Chad documents, residents were restrained for the simplest of childhood acts or missteps—even the proverbial glass of spilled milk. When one girl began crying alone in a corner of the facility in May, she refused to tell Chad staff what was wrong. Instead, she asked to speak to a supervisor. But when she grew weary of waiting, she walked out of the room and headed out of the building. Staffers put her in a standing hold for three minutes. When recording the reason for the restraint, a Chad employee checked the box next to “in danger or has harmed self, as evidenced by behavior or ideation.” The report failed to mention how the girl acted dangerously.
Three days later, staff restrained a boy when he walked up to a Chad employee, who already had another resident in a hold, and simply implored the staffer to “let him go.”
Other incident reports describe the facility as a chaotic place. In July, staff member Jermaine Clemmons was walking through the facility’s cafeteria where he found residents loud and out of their seats. He asked a female resident what was happening. The girl then threw milk at another Chad employee because, according to a report, the staff member was “saying things about her.” After one staffer unsuccessfully tried to escort the girl from the cafeteria, Clemmons placed her in escort and transported her to the education building, where she “was non compliant [sic] and was simply placed in a standing hold.”
That simple placement lasted 20 minutes. Clemmons didn’t provide any other details about the hold or any explanation as to exactly how the girl was noncompliant, or how she had become a danger to herself or others.
When the Scene asked if such force—and if as many as 10 restraints a day—in a therapeutic environment seems excessive, one industry expert offers an audible sigh. “That’s real violence going on,” Janice LeBel says. “That’s horrific risk for the youth and for the staff. And I think, over time, when staff aren’t given other tools, [restraint] becomes confused with a treatment intervention. But there is nothing therapeutic about it at all.”
But Tennessee’s Department of Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities has a different answer. Tracey Robinson-Coffee, director of licensure there, says she can’t answer questions about whether Chad’s restraint count is excessive because “to be fair, you know, you’re not dealing with the average population of youth out there....It’s not like everybody is doing as they’re being told: Get up, go to school, go to lunch, whatever. There’s things that happen in the facility, and I can’t say that one [restraint] a day is not excessive or it is excessive.”
There are many experts in the mental health field who believe that, for children who have been abused or have experienced some sort of trauma, physical restraint can be all the more agonizing. In testimony before the National Council on Disability, an independent federal agency, mental health service provider Marcie Kelley characterized her experience being restrained: “As a survivor of sexual abuse, I personally have found the use of restraints on me more traumatizing than being sexually abused. Being put in restraints is a much longer, traumatic ordeal than being raped.”
But Bruce Chapman, creator of the Handle With Care method, sees it quite differently. On his website,The Compassionate Neanderthal, and in a collection of his “unsolicited commentary,” Chapman writes that children in crisis “‘get the difference between doing something for a child and doing something to a child.” And where many advocates and abuse sufferers see restraint as traumatizing, Chapman writes, “On the contrary, it can be a moment of healing when the physical contact is initiated out of genuine concern and duty to the child.”
Even so, Chapman advises: “No person in his right mind wants to wrestle with a kid if he or she doesn’t have to....If you know childcare workers within your agency who routinely place themselves and children at risk, you have a bigger problem than Handle With Care training can fix.”
By DCS’s own account, Chad has had a constant turnover of employees, many of whom are college students and military personnel from the Clarksville area. And according to former Chad employees, it was these untrained applicants—those without any experience working in the mental health field or with kids with such extreme mental and behavioral issues—who would become the resident counselors who worked the most closely with Chad residents.
“They could have been someone who worked at Burger King and came out and put in an application to be a [resident counselor],” Marshall says.“These are the hands-on people who are with the kids 24-7.They’re people just right off the street that go through a week orientation program, and there were times when there were people there who weren’t over 20 or 21 themselves.”
There is little indication that Chad has been exceedingly selective in its hiring process. During its 2005 annual inspection of the facility, DCS reviewed nearly 20 staff files and found that only five contained documentation of references, but none had the required three references.
But all Chad employees are trained in Handle With Care—everyone from the nurses and teachers to the cafeteria workers, Marshall says. In fact, many are trained more than once, some on an annual refresher basis and others after particularly violent incidents of restraint. According to Chad’s policy, all employees undergo eight hours of training in Handle With Care upon hire.
In documents obtained by the Scene, nurse and former Chad employee Charles Wood wrote that most training in-services were “a joke” where “all answers were given at each booth,” so staffers had “no reason to learn them.” Wood reported that he attended all of the in-services, from Handle With Care recertification to suicide prevention, in approximately one hour. And Marshall says the initial week of orientation was the most—and often the only—training counselors had before working with residents.
LeBel says the behavior children can display in facilities such as Chad is absolutely frightening for staff who don’t have adequate training.“You can’t effectively ask people to step into a setting with children with mental health needs if they haven’t been educated,” she says. “Some providers require two weeks, one week [of training] and it varies...but until staff have been educated to understand what they’re looking at, particularly trauma and the impact of trauma, they can’t possibly know the needs of the youth that they’re serving.”
DCS had concerns about Chad’s staff too. In November 2005, McLeskey visited Chad on behalf of DCS and interviewed 55 residents. According to her report, residents said they heard staff call children “stupid” and “retarded.” Two staff members also reported hearing staff use derogatory names with residents. But it hasn’t been enough to stop licensing the facility.
McLeskey thought it necessary to remind Chad that “verbal abuse, ridicule and humiliation” are not acceptable forms of punishment, and she asked administrators to train employees to deal with resident behavior without resorting to abusive language. “Our impression is that there are a large number of immature employees who may not have the skills or the training necessary to deal with the issues and behaviors of the residents at Chad,” McLeskey wrote.
Denna Smith was 44 years old when she started working as a counselor at Chad in December 2005. Smith had been working 40-hour weeks at the center for less than two months, making $8.50 an hour, when she received a “corrective action notice.” Though the notice doesn’t detail Smith’s behavior, the supervisor outlines that she would be placed on “coaching status” so that she could learn to “remain calm and in control” when dealing with residents.
The supervisor writes that the “situation you’re being counseled on was handle [sic] the wrong way, especially when you know what kind of resident your [sic] working with.” Though the resident’s name is redacted, the supervisor identifies the child as “one of the most confrontational, defiant residents” at Chad.
The supervisor created an “action plan to achieve required performance” for Smith to follow: She would take a Handle With Care refresher course. About four months later, two Chad employees filed handwritten complaints about Smith, who, despite that refresher, didn’t seem to have calmed much.
According to one staff report, two girls began horseplaying in the cafeteria line when one employee reprimanded them. But Smith stepped in and yanked one of the girls out of the line and into an adjacent room, where another employee saw that Smith “threw her stuff out and was getting ready to fight.” Others reported seeing Smith moving toward the girl and saying, “You want to fight me? If you want to fight, let’s go.” In a report to Tennessee regulators, Chad’s risk manager wrote that Smith then shoved the girl.
When confronted about the incident, Smith denied it, became defensive and said, “I don’t have to take this shit” and quit. But it seems Smith had been verbally abusive long before she stormed out of Chad—the shoving incident was merely the catalyst for employee disclosure.
One staffer recalled a fight between Smith and another employee where the women exchanged insults, calling each other a “bitch” and “fat hog” in front of residents. Another counselor writes of an evening when a girl waiting in line for dinner asked what time it was, and Smith told her “that she was fat enough and that she was going to eat eventually.” The counselor said the girl went into the lobby for a timeout and returned crying.
Buddy Turner, divisional vice president at Universal Health Services (UHS), a King of Prussia, Pa., for-profit corporation that owns Chad and more than 100 other behavioral health facilities across the country, says UHS bought Chad in the fall of 2005 along with a handful of other facilities. When asked if it is indeed typical for Chad to hire counselors with little to no experience in the mental health field, Turner says they try to give priority to applicants with degrees and any human services experience. “There are employees that come to us that have not had experience working with kids, but again, those individuals, if they’re hired, go through an extensive state-approved training plan before they ever work with kids.”
But once they complete that training, virtually anyone at Chad can place a child in a physical hold. While Chad’s protective hold procedures outline that licensed practitioners (LIP)—doctors, nurses and licensed clinical social workers—must approve the use of a hold on a resident, any employee with a bachelor’s degree or two years experience working at a mental health inpatient facility will do the trick in the absence of an LIP.
Disability Coalition on Education in Tennessee’s Conant Rees bristles at the policy. “Good mercy,” she says. “I don’t see where there would be any preparation in completing...your bachelor’s degree in how to safely engage in a pretty intense, high-level behavioral intervention—one that has life-threatening implications.”
In 2005, the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office called DCS to report that three of Chad’s male residents had beaten and attempted to strangle another male resident at the facility. Even though the state requires Chad to report incidents of harm immediately, this was the first DCS had heard of it.
Chad didn’t report the incident to law enforcement either. Sheriff’s officers got the news from the resident’s sister.
So DCS gave Chad 30 days to retrain its staff on the state’s reporting requirements for suspected abuse and neglect. Two days after the sheriff’s office made that call to DCS, Chad had a staff meeting to hand out a new reporting policy to its staff “to read and ask questions,” the center’s director of human resources reported. And Chad promised to teach new hires about the revamped policy.
The new policy outlined a clear chain of command for reporting harm or suspected abuse and neglect: notify the nurse on duty, who will then contact the Chad administrators, who should report the incident to DCS. At this point, staff are required to make documented attempts to reach the resident’s family. And the supervisor of nursing determines whether the resident should be transported to the emergency room.
It’s a familiar cycle that Tennessee regulatory bodies have developed with the facility: They identify the facility’s shortfalls, Chad responds—action plan in hand—and promises to fix said shortfalls. Inevitably, Chad continues to err.
State official Robinson-Coffee doesn’t see it that way. “It’s not like they were a red flag in our office,” she says. “We just go out and do our surveys and investigations when we got complaints, and they rectified whatever the situation was at that time. I mean, I wouldn’t put them in the category of a problem facility.”
She might not, but one Kentucky family would.
When the family of a 13-year-old boy placed their son in Chad on June 1, they were hopeful. Their son had never committed any sort of crime and, unlike many Chad youths, had not been ordered to attend treatment by a judge. His family enrolled him voluntarily for medical care.
On Aug. 26 of this year—less than three months after he began treatment—another 13-year-old male resident raped him.
According to a Chad incident report, the Kentucky boy was in a bathroom stall at the facility when he was approached by another resident who began banging on the door and threatening him. When the boy opened the door, the resident pushed his way into the stall and told the boy that if he didn’t pull his pants down, he would hit him.
When the boy refused, the resident hit him in the back and forced penetration on him while holding the boy’s mouth shut. Before leaving the stall, the resident threatened the boy and told him to stay quiet. And the boy did, for five minutes as he sat alone in the stall, before he cleaned himself off and told a friend what had happened. That resident notified Chad staff.
The victim’s mother was at the family’s Kentucky home on Sunday evening when she got a call from Chad: Her son had been raped. Rebecca Blair, a Brentwood attorney hired by the family, says her best estimate is that it took anywhere from one to three hours for the family to find out about the assault. Chad records show that it took nearly two hours.
When the boy’s mother asked if anyone had called police, Blair says the Chad supervisor told her it was not protocol. They called DCS— not the police. Then she asked if her son had been taken to the hospital for medical treatment, but she received the same answer: It was not Chad protocol.
The woman insisted that her son be transported to a hospital, and eventually, her pleas wore Chad staff down. Still, it took her nearly an hour to convince them. And by the time the boy arrived at Gateway Medical Center in Clarksville for examination, several hours had lapsed since the attack. And it wasn’t until after midnight that someone at the hospital called police to report the incident.
According to a Chad incident report, the boy returned to the facility a little after 3 a.m., and was transported to Nashville General Hospital and then to Our Kids, a Nashville treatment center for children who’ve been abused. It wasn’t until 9:45 the next morning that the boy made his way back to Chad.
The boy’s family removed him from the facility immediately and placed him at another treatment center closer to home. The suspect, who had come to Chad from Pennsylvania, has since been charged in the rape, taken into custody by Tennessee authorities and transferred back home, Blair says.
The family can hardly understand how such a thing could happen to their son in the first place. “They’re devastated,” Blair says. “And they’re just struggling to cope with this on a day-by-day basis.”
But according to one former Chad staffer, the fear of rape is common among residents. “They were afraid they were going to get hurt sexually by other residents...because they weren’t monitored closely enough, and it only takes a second for a young kid to get raped or for several to gang up on another kid,” Marshall says.
Chad is often understaffed on nights and weekends, Marshall says. Even during the daytime hours, she says Chad operated just at the minimum required staffing levels for the 85 or so residents who lived at Chad during the time she worked there. “You know, you’d call and beg and plead for people to come in and help, and nobody would,”she says.
Residents often told Marshall that they would find counselors sleeping on the job during the night shift. Some residents would use that as leverage. “The older boys would have cigarettes because the counselors at night would give them to them because they would fall asleep and the kids would catch them and they were going to tell on them if they didn’t give them some type of favors,” Marshall says.
Before any Google search of the Chad Youth Enhancement Center returned a multitude of reports on the death of Omega Leach, it wasn’t uncommon for families to research the facility and not find any red flags. “Even kind of knowing the key words to look for, I could find very little information about how this program functioned,” Conant Rees says.
The stress involved in making such a choice only complicates the process. Usually a child is either ordered to treatment by a judge or placed there by his family. And when parents decide to send their kid away from home and into facilities like Chad—centers that are, essentially, the last step before a psychiatric ward or jail—it’s a desperate measure. “Families are often exhausted and have used up their resources and don’t see any other options,” Conant Rees says.
She advises families to visit a facility’s campus before enrolling their child, to get that kind of gut reaction about what really happens behind closed doors. But when the family of the Kentucky boy visited the facility before admitting their son, no one told them that one resident had already died there. “They were shocked and very upset and alarmed that none of that had been brought to their attention when they were selecting this place as a treatment facility for their son,” Blair says.The family had even toured the facility and talked to Chad personnel “extensively before he was admitted.”
Of course, if the Kentucky family were to download Chad’s brochure from the KidLink Network website, a self-proclaimed leading referral source, they probably would’ve been all the more assured. KidLink is owned and operated by a subsidiary of UHS. And just like its UHS parent site, KidLink proudly states its mission: “Finding hope for youth and adolescents who are considered hopeless by others is something we do every day, because for us, giving up on a troubled child is simply not an option.”
Even if families take a closer look at Chad’s accreditation, they’ll find gold seals of approval and stellar marks.
The Joint Commission, a nonprofit group that regulates and certifies more than 15,000 U.S. health care programs, has awarded Chad its highest level of accreditation. And even after the two deaths at Chad, Tennessee’s Department of Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities (DMHDD), which is now the only state agency responsible for licensing Chad, still has not yanked the center’s license.
Mouthpieces for both the Joint Commission and DMHDD give the Scene similar explanations for why a handful of kids are still being treated at the facility today: Chad is trying to make things better.
Joint Commission spokeswoman Elizabeth Zhani says that after the death of Leach, Chad has worked within the commission’s requirements to develop an action plan for improvement. As long as Chad follows those requirements, its gold seal of approval won’t be stripped. “Organizations, when they take these steps, they learn from this,” Zhani says. “We don’t want to create a culture of fear where people are hiding things. We want to create a culture where people are learning from these incidents.”
Robinson-Coffee also seems to think that Chad is learning from its mistakes. She says it’s not the intent of DMHDD to shut it down. She’d much rather see the facility come back into compliance.“I think because Chad has kind of been in the media for so long, there just kind of seems to be a consensus that...there have been a number of incidents, but really in fact, they’ve been in compliance,” she says. “This has been a tragic incident, and they’ve been in the spotlight because of this incident. There are other minor incidents, but again, you have to put it in context of the type of facility they’re running and the population they’re dealing with.”
UHS feels that Chad might be getting an unfair shake in the media as well. In the first interview that the company’s Nashville office has grantedsince Leach’s death,Turner says,“We feel real strongly that thefacility and the company is committed to do the right things with kids.” He says UHS is interested in getting the story told about Chad, at least “the part about our facility treating really the most severely at-risk kids is a real statement about that facility…. We’ve got a successful history doing that, both at Chad and other places too.”
By those “other places,” Turner may be referring to the Compass Intervention Center in Memphis, another UHS-owned residential facility that is now treating an estimated 80 kids who are about the same age as Chad residents and who are generally treated for many of the same problems.
State files on Compass are disturbing. A 2006 report made by a DCS licensing consultant has one resident describing Chad as “better than Compass in Memphis” because “lots of kids get slammed down there.” Much like with Chad, stacks of reports detail resident complaints ranging from injuries sustained in restraint holds—Compass also uses the Handle With Care method—to allegations of staffers making sexual comments to residents. One girl reports that a male employee has asked her “to open her legs.” Other residents report being denied water or being threatened by a staffer who said she would “box [residents] like a grown woman.” One mother alleges that Compass staff laughed at her son and encouraged other residents to make fun of him because the boy had been placed in a private room because of excessive masturbation.
Robinson-Coffee says just as many issues from other facilities come across her desk. “I guess you can probably say it has to do with staffing and the proper training, and that’s something that we need to basically make sure that they’re doing properly,” she says. “But it’s kind of a tough situation all around. It really is.”
It’s an especially tough situation for parents such as Pruett, who don’t know if they will ever be able to move on from what happened to their children at Chad. And explanations from Tennessee’s regulatory bodies haven’t soothed uneasy minds. “Why can’t they just go and have these doors shut and locked up?” Pruett says. “If I were to commit that in my home, where do you think I would be? DCS would take that child out of my home...but [Chad] can do it and get a slap on the hand? I don’t understand why the doors are still open.” |
The deadly train disaster in Lac-Mégantic, Que., is sure to trigger tough new regulations on moving crude oil by rail, a major credit-rating agency said on Thursday.
That threatens to raise costs for railroads and their oil-company shippers, which have vastly expanded the practice as proposals to build major new pipelines have dragged.
The highest cost from increased government scrutiny will be borne by oil producers with operations in in the Bakken region, which is centred in North Dakota and extends into southern Saskatchewan. In the Bakken, surging output has overwhelmed pipeline capacity, and companies turned to railroads to get volumes to markets in the Eastern part of the continent and Gulf Coast, Moody's Investors Service said.
Story continues below advertisement
"These higher costs will be credit negative for North American rail companies, which have experienced a boom as crude shipments from the U.S. mid-continent, North Dakota and western Canada offset falling coal shipments," Moody's analysts wrote.
"Any slowdown in rail shipments of crude will pressure producers focused on the Bakken shale oil formation, which depends far more on rail than on pipelines for transport."
The agency pointed out that North Dakota oil production rose to 727,000 barrels a day in April, a nearly fivefold increase in just five years, and two-thirds of that gets to refiners by rail. It said rail shipments of crude oil and other petroleum products still account for just 6 per cent of car-loadings for Class I North American railroads, but volumes grew by nearly 40 per cent through June compared with a year earlier.
The Montreal, Maine and Atlantic Railway train that careened unmanned down an incline and derailed and exploded in the centre of Lac-Megantic early Saturday was loaded with North Dakota crude and destined for Irving Oil Ltd.'s refinery in Saint John.
Any increase in freight expenses will cut into crude shipments, a concern for such U.S. Bakken producers as Whiting Petroleum Corp., Continental Resources Inc. and Oasis Petroleum Inc., Moody's said.
It is not known yet what new regulations could be imposed in Canada and the United States in the aftermath of the Transportation Safety Board investigation into the tragedy, said David Berge, vice-president and senior credit officer at Moody's and one of the report's authors.
"There could be pressure on the part of regulators, either legislation or administrative directives, to come up with some sort of rules or regulations, that would, for example, add safety features to railroading that would add costs borne by the railroads," Mr. Berge said in an interview.
Story continues below advertisement
Story continues below advertisement
For instance, following a 2008 train crash in Los Angeles that killed 25 people, the U.S. government passed legislation requiring railroads to develop technology to better track and control trains throughout their systems, known as positive train controls. It is not yet known how those costs will flow down to shippers.
"They are still developing them right now. It's fairly costly, but well within the wherewithal of the Class 1 railroads, which have very good liquidity, to handle these things," he said.
Mr. Berge also said new regulations are likely to be considered in both Canada and the United States. Oil trains take routes to the eastern part of the continent that cross the border, as was the case with the Lac-Megantic disaster. |
African elephants are known as some of the greatest communicators in the animal kingdom, they can converse with “extremely low-pitched vocalizations, known as infrasounds, over a distance of miles.”
The “infrasounds” they make occupy a very low frequency range. At fewer than 20 Hertz, or cycles, per second, it’s generally below the threshold of human hearing.
Now, new research has found that “elephants rely on the same mechanism that produces speech in humans (and the vocalizations of many other mammals) to hit those extremely low notes.”
“Christian Herbst from the University of Vienna, along with colleagues from Germany, Austria and the United States, used the larynx of a recently deceased elephant to recreate some elephant infrasounds in a laboratory.”
“These vocalizations are called infrasounds because their fundamental frequency is below the range of human hearing,” explained Herbst during a phone interview. “We only hear the harmonics of such sounds, or multiples of that fundamental frequency. If an elephant’s vocal folds were to clap together at 10 Hertz, for example, we would perceive some energy in that sound at 20, 30, 40 Hertz and so on. But these higher overtones are usually weaker in amplitude.”
“Until now, researchers have wondered whether these low, rumbling elephant infrasounds were created by intermittent muscle contractions, as a cat’s purr is, or by flow-induced vocal fold vibrations, fueled by air from the lungs, as is a human’s voice. But, the natural death of an elephant at a zoo in Berlin gave Herbst and his colleagues a somewhat serendipitous chance to study the mechanism firsthand.”
“The researchers removed the elephant’s larynx and froze it within a few hours of the animal’s death. They then took it over to the larynx laboratory in the Department of Cognitive Biology at the University of Vienna, where Tecumseh Fitch, a senior author of the Science paper, studied it in depth.”
“Herbst and the other researchers imitated the elephant’s lungs by blowing controlled streams of warm, humid air through the excised larynx while adjusting the elephant vocal folds into a phonatory, or vocal-ready, position. In this way, the scientists were able to coax the vocal folds into a periodic, low-frequency vibration that matched an elephant’s infrasound in every detail.”
“The fact that they were able to duplicate the elephant’s infrasounds in a laboratory demonstrates that the animals rely on a myoelastic-aerodynamic, or ‘flow-driven,’ mode of speech to communicate in the wild. The elephant’s brain would have been required to recurrently tense and relax the vocal muscles if the other mechanism, which produces a cat’s purr, was involved, they say.”
“This flow-induced mechanism demonstrated by the researchers is likely to be employed by a wide range of mammals. From echolocating bats with their incredibly high vocalizations to African elephants and their extremely low-pitched infrasounds, this mode of voice production seems to span four to five orders of magnitude across a wide range of body sizes and sonic frequencies.”
“The researchers also saw some interesting ‘nonlinear phenomena’ in the way the elephant vocal folds vibrated. These mostly irregular patterns of vibration occur when babies cry or heavy metal singers scream and the physical mechanism that elephants use is again identical to that seen in humans, they say.”
“If I scream, it’s no longer a periodic vibration,” said Herbst. “It becomes chaotic and you can hear a certain degree of roughness. This can also be observed in young elephants, in situations of high excitement.”
“Herbst says that the findings were only made possible by a collaborative effort between voice scientists and biologists, and that voice science is an essential aspect of our social and economic lives.”
The research was just published in the August 3rd issue of the journal Science.
Source: AAAS and University of Vienna and Wikipedia
Image Credits: Elephant and Serengeti via Wikimedia Commons |
PM pours cold water on Greens' solar pledge STACEY KIRK AND VERNON SMALL
What issues will get your vote? Share your stories, photos and videos. Share your stories, photos and videos. LAWRENCE SMITH/ Fairfax RUSSEL NORMAN: Up-front cost the biggest obstacle to most families going solar. Relevant offers
A Green Party policy to to install solar panels in homes would only push up power prices and drive out competition, Prime Minister John Key says.
The Green Party has promised cheap government loans to households that install solar panels, which they said would see typical savings of $100 a year on power costs.
The election campaign pledge would see loans of up to $15,000 offered to those who installed the panels, to be repaid over 15 years through rates bills.
Making the repayments that way would mean the loan, like the solar panels, would remain with the house when the property changed hands.
"This allows families and businesses to invest without the concern they will lose their investment if they move house within a few years," Green co-leader Russel Norman said.
Any excess power could be sold back to the national grid at a fair price.
But Key told Breakfast this morning the policy would force people to keep their excess power generation.
"If you look at the big emissions at the moment in New Zealand, it's Genesis through Huntly where they have coal fired power plants, and the plan that [the Greens] have got is going to reduce all competition and in my view, put up power costs to consumers, not reduce it, [and] actually locks that in," he said.
"Once you start locking in the market it doesn't work."
A 3 kilowatt solar array, which would produce about $1000 of electricity a year at today's prices, would cost about $10,000.
The repayments on the loan over 15 years would be about $900 a year at present rates, generating a net $100 saving.
Energy and Resources Minister Simon Bridges said the Green Party was making "magic money" with the policy.
"I have news for the Greens - if it's a lower interest rate than normal, it must involve a government subsidy," he said.
"And if it makes the cost of solar power cheaper for families than existing power options it also must involve a subsidy."
He said solar power was about three times more expensive than grid-scale generation from wind, hydro or geothermal power stations.
But Dr Norman said there was no subsidy, because the loans would be repaid with interest determined by the Crown's cost of borrowing.
"The biggest obstacle stopping most families from going solar today is the up-front cost," he said.
"This is where we can leverage our government's lower cost of borrowing to allow tens of thousands of homes and businesses to install solar power, at virtually no cost to the taxpayer."
Only about 600 solar installations are completed each year at present, but the Greens aim to have 30,000 installations in the first three years, which they estimate would create 1000 new jobs.
People were paying too much for power and the policy "will help free Kiwis from the worry and stress of rising electricity prices", Norman said.
While gross government debt would increase, up to a cap of $300 million, net debt would not change, he added.
"Solar Homes lets Kiwis take the power back and break free from the big energy companies," he said.
"The policy is about energy freedom."
- Fairfax Media |
I just got back from the Obama rally at Civic Center Park here in Denver. The Denver Post estimates the turnout was 100,000 people, which is really just astounding considering the total size of the city is about 550,000 people and the total size of the metro area is about 3 million. Here's a shot that gives you a sense of the crowd - and let me just remind you, it's not a short distance between City Hall, where the speech was, to the steps of the state capitol:
Here's an up close photo from the speech:
Most Americans have seen Obama speak, and millions at this point have been to his events, so I won't bore you with my opinion on the details of his promises (pretty progressive) or of the energy at the event (high). But what I will say is that while most of the rhetoric was standard Democratic stuff, what really seemed new and "transformative" (to admittedly use a cliche description of Obama) - what really seemed to capture those 100,000 Coloradoans (including me) - was his discussion about struggle. I may be an old seadog from the many campaigns I've worked, and I may have learned enough to not be easily mesmerized by politicians, but I will admit right here: the flash I saw from Obama at the end of his speech really blew me away.
Indeed, as he was closing his remarks, he touched on how making change is incredibly painful and incredibly grueling - and how it always has been throughout our history. And the best part - the part where the audience was most silent and rapt - was when Obama veered off his prepared remarks and made it personal:
"Maybe some of your parents or grandparents, they were born in another country without freedom of speech or freedom of worship, but they said, you know what, we know there's this land across the ocean called America, where it's a land of opportunity and a land of freedom, and we're willing to take the risk to travel to that place to create a better future for our children and grandchildren. In this audience, there are people whose parents or grandparents couldn't cast a vote, but they said to themselves you know, maybe my child or grandchild, if we march, if we struggle, maybe they may be able to run for the United States Senate, maybe they might run for the Presidency of the United States of America."
Those references to the courage of immigrants and the civil rights movement are clearly personal to Obama, and they are rarely voiced in Colorado politics - an arena that has often been about bashing immigrants. That he departed from his prepared text to talk about those issues, and tied them to a discussion about how difficult change is - well, it suggests that very "transformative" possibility of the Obama candidacy.
Whether you believe Obama represents real change or not, I came away believing that he understands the challenge of actually making change, should he win. That is, he understands that if he really attempts to fundamentally alter the status quo on major issues, it is going to be a very tumultuous and difficult process - one that only begins on election day.
I'm not 100 percent sure, knowing how hard this will be, that Obama will move into the breach. My heart hopes he will, and my gut tells me its more than likely he will, because Republicans are helping create an even bigger mandate for an Obama presidency than Obama ever wanted. But we will never know if he will unless he gets a chance - a chance which, since early into the Democratic primary, I have believed he deserves (even though I stand by my concerns/objections to some of his specific positions). If he wins, I am sure we will have a president who grasps how tough it will be to make progress - and I am becoming more confident we will have a president who will try to make that progress a reality.
UPDATE: I fiddled with one of my pics from the rally, and made it into an artsy kind of image for my desktop. You can download it here if you'd like to do the same. It depicts not just Obama, but the massive crowd - and in that, it is more a picture of democracy, than of an individual candidate.
_______
About author David Sirota is a political strategist and NY Times bestselling author whose work appears in major newspapers and magazines. He has appeared on CNN, MSNBC, CNBC and The Colbert Report. He has appeared in TV debates with right-wing icons like Ann Coulter, John Stossel and John Fund. Email: david [at] davidsirota.com. |
Many college students like to complain about the amount of work that they have to accomplish as the semester ends, giving rise to the term “hell week.” However, what a lot of people overlook is that if hell week exists for students, then it also exists for teachers. So how does the other side of hell week look like? We asked a number of teachers about their views.
Responses have been edited for clarity.
Is Hell Week for Teachers Harder?
Since most of our interviewees are in their 20s, many can still recall their undergraduate days. And for most, the amount of pressure is the same, whether you’re a student or a teacher. But for teachers, the source of pressure is different—it’s beating the deadline to check papers and submit grades.
As Drew, who teaches English at a private university in Manila, puts it: “It's the endless marking and consultation with the students about their essays that is the challenge, and it happens nearly every day anyway, so I personally am used to it. Hell week just means a whole week of checking papers.”
Jaja, who teaches at the same university as Drew, adds: “It's just the checking that presents a challenge. But other than that, it's nothing out of the ordinary. If you're a teacher who's also studying, though, it becomes a different story.”
Destiny, who is currently teaching Math at a state university in Los Banos, has an explanation for the stress: “The amount of work that teachers need to do is simply different when it’s hell week for students. However, the cerebral work is minimal. It’s just stressful because it’s very tiring.”
A Public Struggle
That said, hell week can be even more taxing for teachers in state universities and colleges. With these institutions constrained by small budgets, teachers are forced to handle very large classes.
Kat, who used to teach at a state college in Pampanga, narrates how she had to accommodate 50 to 60 students for each English class. At first, she included essay-type questions in her exams to gauge her students’ writing ability. But with three classes to teach, she eventually shifted to an objective-type exam—meaning multiple-choice and identification-type questions—to make the checking load bearable.
Remz, who also teaches at a state university in Leyte, concurs. She relates how her current English 10 class has 121 students, which means a pile of quizzes, essays, and tests to check while preparing and delivering lessons every day. At the same time, she also has to help out in research and in the university extension service. To top it all off, she will get fined and served a memo if she turns in the grades late.
Of Subjects and Policies
Grappling with school policy is not unique to public institutions. Heck, who teaches Literature at a private university in Intramuros, shares how he had to change parts of his exam to identification and enumeration formats just to fit the school’s online system. As a compromise, he just allotted a bigger percentage of the grade to the essay portion of the test; he explains that writing is the best way to test and evaluate students in the subject.
Other subjects also have specific demands on their teachers. Lester, who teaches at a state university in Quezon City, explains that most of his work is done before and after the hell week of students. This is due to the fact that he has to prepare the exams at the same time as the lessons; and after hell week, he has to check those exams. Even if he teaches the same subjects every semester for the BS Family Life and Child Development course, he still has to revise his lessons based on new issues in the field.
Sometimes, students themselves are also to blame for their teachers’ stress during hell week. Lester gripes that checking exams can even get harder if the student has horrible penmanship.
Meanwhile, Destiny shares that some students have the bad habit of scheduling a consultation with her only when the pre-final grades have been released. This is not to say that students should refrain from consulting with their professors; in fact, Destiny says, they’re highly encouraged to do so. If only that these students sought out her help earlier, hell week would be less stressful for both parties. (Related read: 7 Apps for Cramming)
As all these responses show, hell week is definitely tough—and in some cases tougher—on teachers. That said, there are things that students can do to make things bearable for their teachers. So before students complain about the workload, they should also remember that their teacher will be also having the same challenges as they are. That, or we'll just have to wait for the day when robots are smart enough to check essays.
Can you relate to this experience? Please share it on Facebook and Twitter. |
Honey Maid is coming off as one smart cookie.
The graham cracker brand has released an ad that shows real-life modern families in all their diverse glory, from gay and multiracial to rock 'n' roll. "Everyday wholesome snacks for every wholesome family," the voiceover says.
It is still early in the campaign's launch, but Honey Maid had yet to face the same backlash for its more inclusive marketing as Cheerios did. Or Coca-Cola for that matter.
As of Tuesday afternoon, positive comments dominated the brand's Facebook page and YouTube platform.
"As a brand that has been a part of families’ lives for nearly 90 years, Honey Maid recognizes that while the makeup and day-to-day lives of families have evolved, the idea and importance of wholesome family connections remains the same," the company wrote in an email to The Huffington Post. |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.