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In October 2010, the body of a young short-beaked common dolphin was found stranded on a beach in San Diego, Calif. The sickly female had lesions in its airway, and a necropsy showed that it died of so-called tracheal bronchitis, likely due to an infection.
Now, further investigation has revealed the dolphin's malaise was caused by a virus that scientists had never seen before, according to a new study.
The pathogen, which researchers propose should be named Dolphin polyomavirus 1, or DPyV-1, is still quite mysterious. Scientists say they don't know where it came from, how common it might be, or what threat it poses to wildlife. [Deep Divers: Stunning Photos of Dolphins]
"We don't even know if this is even a dolphin virus. It could also represent a spillover event from another species," Simon Anthony, a researcher who studies wildlife pathogens at Columbia University, said in a statement. "It's no immediate cause for alarm, but it's an important data point in understanding this family of viruses and the diseases they cause."
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Genetic analysis showed that the polyomavirus found in the San Diego dolphin was distinct from other known polyomaviruses (a widespread family of small DNA viruses that can sometimes cause infections and tumors in various animals). The pathogen appeared to be most closely related to the California sea lion polyomavirus, the researchers reported online on Wednesday in the journal PLOS ONE.
"It's possible that many dolphins carry this virus or other polyomaviruses without significant problems," said Judy St. Leger, the director of pathology at SeaWorld in San Diego, who performed the initial animal autopsy (or necropsy) on the stranded dolphin.
"Or perhaps it's like the common cold, where they get sick for a short while and recover," St. Leger added in a statement.
The researchers say they do not know of any other cases resembling the stranded dolphin in San Diego, but they are searching for more examples of polyomavirus in the species. The team hopes to determine the prevalence of DPyV-1 in short-beaked common dolphins and find out if it represents a significant source of dolphin illness and mortality.
Understanding how viruses develop in marine mammals is important for protecting endangered species, whose populations could nosedive if they are hit by a deadly outbreak. And marine mammals can pick up pathogens that originated in other animals, even humans.
Canine distemper virus, for example, has caused sickness in seals and polar bears (often considered marine mammals since they spend much of their time at sea). A strain of bird flu was blamed for a mass die-off of New England harbor seals in 2011. Earlier this year, researchers found that a group of northern elephant seals off the coast of central California was carrying the H1N1 virus strain, which caused a swine flu outbreak in humans in 2009. The seals could have caught the species-jumping pathogen from human feces dumped out of shipping vessels or seabirds, the scientists speculated at the time.
Follow Megan Gannon on Twitter and Google+.Follow us @livescience, Facebook and Google+. Original article on LiveScience.com.
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By Lauren Rearick
Rocko’s Modern Life is officially back. Two decades after the show’s series finale aired on Nickelodeon, the talking wallaby and his friends returned to airwaves on August 9, 2019, with a Netflix special. But as viewers of Rocko’s Modern Life: Static Cling have come to find, not everything in the fictional world of O-Town is the same — and that’s a good thing.
When Rocko’s Modern Life first aired in 1993 on Nickelodeon (which is owned by Viacom, MTV News’ parent company), the show featured frequent guest appearances from Rocko’s neighbors, a family known as the Bigheads. The trio returned for the Netflix special two decades later, and much of the plot is centered on Rachel Bighead coming out as transgender to her parents. The episode, and its accompanying depiction of a family coming to terms with their child’s transition, earned praise from numerous LGBTQ+ organizations.
“Rocko’s Modern Life: Static Cling tells a beautiful — and hilarious — story about accepting change,” Nick Adams, the Director of Transgender Representations at GLAAD, told MTV News. “The younger characters accept Rachel immediately; recognizing she’s still their friend. And while Rachel’s father is slow to accept change within his own family, even he realizes that loving your child should be unconditional. This story of inclusion and acceptance is so needed in our current climate.”
For years, Hollywood had struggled with inclusion and offering accurate, affirming representations of trans characters and other LGBTQ+ individuals for its viewers; in some cases, characters have been mired in harmful stereotypes or doomed to some ultimately tragic fate. But as Rocko’s creator Joe Murray told Entertainment Weekly, those involved with the show recognized the importance of getting their message right. Murray said the show consulted with GLAAD and said the storyline became a “natural” fit for the return.
“I really started latching onto the idea of change and how society has changed and what’s gone on in the last 20 years and the development of our characters and how they would react to change,” he told EW.
The message of transgender inclusion can be a powerful and impactful moment for those watching at home, especially in the realm of a cartoon made with children in mind. "Uplifting, positive representations of young transgender characters can educate and inspire others to respect the transgender and non-binary youth in their lives,” Kevin Wong, the head of communications at The Trevor Project, told MTV News. “This visibility also sends clear messages of love and support to transgender and non-binary youth who are unable to safely be themselves, express their gender identity, or who don't see folks like them in their own communities.”
Molly Merryman, director of the center for the Study of Gender and Sexuality at Kent University, further backed the impact of the special, and told MTV News the episode could serve as a potential “lifeline to a transgender child who has no role models or parental support.” To Merryman, the show serves a much greater purpose than just potential entertainment value.
“Trans individuals are very aware of their identities when they are children, and if they don’t have an ability to express who they are, and if they aren’t seeing themselves represented anywhere, they can feel very confused,” Merryman said. “The Rocko episode does a good job of normalizing trans identity. It’s not sensationalized, it’s not overblown. In the case of this cartoon, this person is very accomplished, successful, and well rounded.”
Rocko’s Modern Life is hardly the first cartoon to make animation, and Hollywood, as inclusive of LGBTQ+ individuals as it should have always been, but it does signal a continued and much-needed shift in on screen portrayals of LGBTQ+ characters. In recent years, animated series like Arthur, Steven Universe, and Star Vs. the Forces of Evil have made history with their queer-centered storylines. While critically acclaimed series including Pose and Euphoria included storylines specifically centered on transgender individuals and storylines. Pose, centered on New York City’s ballroom culture in the 1980s, included the largest group of transgender actors ever assembled for a television series, while Hunter Schafer has been lauded for her debut acting role on Euphoria, in which she portrayed Jules, a transgender teenager.
David Schmid, an associate professor of English at the University of Buffalo, believes this trend could continue. “We’re at a stage now where not only is the inclusion of these characters more accepted and less controversial than ever, but I would say, we’re at a turning point where it’s almost become expected,” he told MTV News.
For that shift, Schmid credits streaming services as a driving force behind both access to diverse storylines; thanks in part to social media, viewers are also more likely to hold their media providers accountable to affirming stories, or call them out when they miss the mark. “When you combine the changes that are taking place within the industry, plus the rise of streaming platforms, you’ve got the preconditions for changes in the way that LGBTQ+ characters are being represented, and you’ve got the preconditions for more of these characters,” he said.
The entertainment industry certainly still has work to do when it comes to creating inclusive media, but programs like Rocko’s Modern Life: Static Cling are a positive step forward. ”It is critical for young people to see art that reflects the full diversity of humanity, including in the television characters they watch,” Sarah McBride, HRC National Press Secretary told MTV News. “Affirming portrayals of transgender characters help to remove stigma and counter the negative messages that too often permeate our politics and culture." | {
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In the three and a half decades after World War II, interest rates in the developed world were on average below zero after adjusting for inflation, according to Carmen M. Reinhart, a professor at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard. This helped Europe, the United States and Japan slowly whittle away much of their war debt as their economies grew faster than their debt burden.
“The difference is that the postwar period was one of strong growth, when rebuilding and capital investment was going on across the Continent, and there were strong demographics,” said Stefan Hofrichter, the chief economist at Allianz Global Investors. “But these elements are not necessarily in place today.”
For that reason, economists are less certain that the success of the strategy will be repeated.
Many major economies are already slowing down, if not outright contracting. And the actions taken by governments to keep interest rates low can restrain how much savers have to spend and force fragile banks and pension funds to take on more risk. Ultimately, it could crowd out private borrowing.
Governments have different mechanisms to keep their borrowing costs artificially low.
The Chinese government can just make a call to banks and dictate how much they will lend and at what interest rate.
“By forcing them to lend at low interest rates, China’s central bank is taxing banks at high rates,” said Nicholas R. Lardy, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. “They make it up to the banks by dictating that banks pay depositors even lower rates, so consumers are getting taxed too.”
Inflation-adjusted interest rates on one-year deposits have been below zero since late 2003, he said. China tightly controls how much money can leave the country, so individuals cannot seek higher yields elsewhere. As a result, Chinese families have been investing their growing incomes in real estate, which has led to a huge real estate bubble in some Chinese cities.
Democracies use more roundabout techniques.
“They have to work with their captive audiences — the pension funds, domestic insurance policies, banks, any domestic buyers they can find — to force-feed sovereign debt, sometimes under the euphemism of ‘macroprudential regulation,’ ” said Professor Reinhart. | {
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Jacksonville Armada FC vs. The Miami FC 2: Previewing the match
While many eyes will be focused on Miami United in Hialeah, a match important to South Florida soccer watchers will be taking place upstate, as The Miami FC 2 travels to Jacksonville to take on the Armada.
Heading into the season, it was clear the heavyweights in the National Premier Soccer League’s Sunshine Conference would be United, FC 2 and Armada. The results of the first month of the season have borne that out. While all three teams have played a different number of games, all three squads lead the Sunshine table in both total points and points per game.
After a sluggish start where Miami FC earned three consecutive draws against the aforementioned teams, the team has responded with three consecutive wins (Palm Beach United, Storm FC and Boca Raton. Now will be a solid test to see if those games were Miami FC feasting on lesser competition or if the quality of performances could see Miami FC approach the top of the table.
If Jaime Chavez has anything to say about it, the answer will be option two. Just like last season, he has come alive in the last few games, putting four goals past goalies in his last two games. His two braces indicate a return to form is underway.
Jacksonville, which lost a crushing match to Miami United in the U.S. Open Cup and then took until the dying moments to put away bottom-of-the-table Storm FC, will be hoping to find its form and deliver a statement of intent to Miami, both FC and United.
Keys To Miami FC 2 Victory:
In their previous match, the Armada did a fantastic job of negating Miami from getting anything from the long diagonal balls into the wings. Miami FC 2 went down early as a result of a goal that should been ruled off-sides, and the Armada were able to absorb the Miami pressure for the better part of the match. It wasn’t until a build up in play down the heart of the pitch, that Ariel Martinez was able to equalize for Miami.
With Miami FC 2’s defense playing much better in their previous two matches, this match will not be decided on their end of the field. The Blues must be able to dissect the Armada midfield with quick passes in order to create enough chaos to free Jaime Chavez for his opportunities at goal. The Armada defense is superior to most of the Sunshine Conference, long balls over the top and into wingers Don Smart and Kris Tyrpak won’t be nearly enough to get Miami to the finish line. While that tactic worked great against Storm FC and Boca Raton FC, Jacksonville is a different breed.
Prediction:
Miami FC2 2 – 1 Jacksonville Armada
The match is available for broadcast tonight courtesy of the Jacksonville Armada Sports Network. Click here to watch tonight’s contest!
Omar Moubayed contributed to this preview | {
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He seeks a fresh mandate to overcome “a national crisis."
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said he would dissolve Parliament's lower house on Thursday for a snap election, as he seeks a fresh mandate to overcome “a national crisis."
Mr. Abe, in power for five years, said he needed a mandate to shift some revenues from a planned future tax hike to social spending such as education, besides seeking support for a tough stance toward North Korea's repeated missile and nuclear tests.
“I will dissolve the lower house on September 28,” Mr. Abe told a nationally televised news conference on Monday.
Earlier, the head of Mr. Abe's junior coalition partner, Natsuo Yamaguchi, said he understood the election would be held on October 22.
The decision is largely seen as aimed at taking advantage of Mr. Abe's recently improved support ratings and Opposition disarray.
Mr. Abe, whose ratings have risen to around 50% from around 30% in July, is gambling his ruling bloc can keep its lower house majority even if it loses the two-thirds “super majority” needed to achieve his long-held goal of revising the post-war pacifist constitution to clarify the military's role.
Strong leader image bolsters his ratings
Mr. Abe's image as a strong leader has bolstered his ratings amid rising tension over North Korea's nuclear arms and missile programmes and overshadowed Opposition criticism of the Premier for suspected cronyism scandals that had eroded his support.
Some critics say Mr. Abe has risked creating a political vacuum at a time of rising geopolitical tension over North Korea.
And, given the unexpected results seen in other major developed countries, political analysts are not ruling out a "nasty surprise” for the Japanese leader.
Mr. Abe told LDP executives at a meeting that he intended to dissolve the lower house on Thursday. He was expected to face a grilling over the cronyism scandals during Thursday's session, and Opposition party officials saw the move as play to avoid difficult questions.
Sources said Mr. Abe's election platform would see him promise to go ahead with a planned rise in the national sales tax to 10 percent from 8 percent in 2019 but increase the proportion of revenue spent on child care and education, delaying a target of putting the budget in the black in the fiscal year ending March 2021.
Mr. Abe on Monday asked his Cabinet to compile a 2-trillion-yen ($17.8-billion) economic package by year-end to focus on childcare, education and encouraging corporate investment, while maintaining fiscal discipline.
The Yomiuri newspaper said earlier that the funding would cover the three years from April 2018 until sales tax revenue kicks in.
The main Opposition Democratic Party is struggling with single-digit ratings and much depends on whether it can cooperate with liberal Opposition groups.
Tokyo Governor to float new party
On Monday, just hours before Mr. Abe's election announcement, Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike said she would lead a new conservative, reform-minded “Party of Hope", to offer voters an alternative to the LDP.
“Our ideal is to proceed free of special interests,” Ms. Koike, a former LDP member, told a news conference.
Over the weekend, a junior LDP Cabinet Minister, Mineyuki Fukuda, said he would leave the ruling party to stand for election with Ms. Koike's new group. | {
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Climate scientist Michael Mann’s perception of reality may be formed more by what he desires to see than what he actually sees. For example:
1.) Despite reams of proxy data and historical records showing that the Earth’s temperature behaved sinusoidally over the last 1000 years, Mann only sees a hockey stick behavior.
2) Despite the Nobel Prize Committee specifically stating that IPCC lead authors were not the recipients of the Nobel Peace Prize, Michael Mann saw himself as a Nobel Prize winner.
3. Despite the fact that the Oxburgh report never exonerated Michael Mann, Michael Mann insists it did.
4. Despite the fact that most climate science skeptics get very little or no funding from Big Oil, Michael Mann insists that they get funded generously.
5. Despite Mann’s insistence climate science is settled, never has it been more in dispute.
And on it goes.
Now Mann’s longtime nemesis, Steve McIntyre, writes in his latest post that also the Muir Russell inquiry did not exonerate him, thus contradicting Mann’s claim that it had. What is now appearing is a pattern of Mann possibly confusing reality with his own personal desires of how he wishes things to be.
Yesterday McInytre wrote (my emphasis):
…Mann’s claim to have been “exonerated” by the Oxburgh inquiry had no more validity than Mann’s claim to have won a Nobel prize. In today’s post, I’ll continue my series on the “investigations” by showing that Mann’s claim to have been “exonerated” by the Muir Russell inquiry is equally invalid. In my most recent post, I showed that Mann’s claim to have been “exonerated” by the Oxburgh inquiry had no more validity than Mann’s claim to have won a Nobel prize. In today’s post, I’ll continue my series on the “investigations” by showing that Mann’s claim to have been “exonerated” by the Muir Russell inquiry is equally invalid. In their memoranda supporting their original motions to dismiss, both National Review and CEI had observed (correctly) that the Muir Russell panel had limited their findings to “CRU scientists” and contested Mann’s assertion that the Muir Russell panel had made any findings regarding Mann himself, let alone “exonerated” him. In Mann’s Reply Memorandum, he vociferously rejected the (correct) assertion that the Muir Russell had not exonerated Mann himself, describing such assertion as merely an attempt to “obfuscate and misrepresent”. Mann supported this bluster with an apparent quotation from the Muir Russell report, but the phrase within the quotation marks does not actually occur within the Muir Russell report. As shown below, Mann and/or his lawyers subtly altered the quotation to more supportive language.”
Read complete post here.
Again, if Steve McIntyre’s assertions are accurate, and I have little doubt they are, it appears Michael Mann tends to believe and cling to things that he desires to see, and not what is plainly real. This is troubling because Dr. Mann is not alone in struggling with the growing gap between what one wishes to see and what reality plainly is. Today we are witnessing the same exasperation and desperation throughout much of the established climate science community in its dealing with the unexpected 17-year temperature plateau. Many scientists just refuse to see it and insist the temperature is still rising rapidly – elsewhere…somewhere. It’s there, they insist – even if we can’t see it!
Another example are the severe winters and record ice we’ve been seeing. Some insist these are actually signs of warming! Naturally for an objective outside observer, it all looks a bit nutty.
Climate science finds itself in dire psychological circumstances. Therefore, as reality continues unfolding, we should not be surprised if climate science suddenly finds itself having a nervous breakdown. That’s what happens to anyone when reality becomes too much to take.
UPDATE Also read:
* rigor-mortis.
* bishop-hill/doctor-mann-i-presume.html
* wuwt.com/caught-in-a-quote-fabrication-fib/ | {
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Attack on the Autonomous workers’ union activist (Ukraine)
On Saturday, May 23, an activist of Autonomous Workers’ Union was attacked in the downtown Kyiv. The motives for the attack were political. The attackers had set up a meeting with the artist Dmitry M., posing as customers for his services. When Dmitry arrived, the two guys menacingly suggested to “go and talk somewhere else” and attacked him outright after his refusal. The fight was over in no time, as some passers-by intervened — the attackers withdrew, shouting their excuses: “He was the first to snitch on us on the Internet!”
The activist wasn’t injured; however, this act cannot be ignored. This set-up meeting was arranged neither by the police agents nor by boneheads, but by our Belarusian “comrades” – former political prisoner Alyaksandr Franzkevich and his friend Maxim aka “The Belarusian”. Several weeks before the incident they had written a homophobic, sexist text about the Kyiv May Day rally participants: they were unhappy with the presence of LGBTQ and anarcha-feminist slogans, behind which, according to the authors, “topics of class and social inequality were lost.” Dmitry indignantly commented on this text which was being pushed through by “manarchists”. After that they decided to “punish” him physically.
Maxim “The Belarusian” at the nationalist demonstration
This is not the first time Alyaksandr Franzkevich engages in a questionable activity: he threatened activists, gave his endorsement to those who employ homophobic and anti-feminist rhetoric (which has recently came into fashion in some quasi-anarchist circles), and advocated cooperation with nationalists. Maxim was recently seen at a nationalist rally organized by the notorious Right Sector – such “allies” are more acceptable to them than feminists and LGBTQ. Still, up until now most of the other leftists tolerated their presence in the movement.
On May 23d, the line was crossed with the attack. This should be a sufficient argument to finally stand against all attempts at establishing hierarchies, hate speech, and police-like methods. These practices, normally employed by the far-right, have no place in the anarchist community.
Autonomous Workers’ Union urges all who consider themselves part of the anarchist movement to renounce any form of cooperation and communication with the aforementioned persons.
Tags: Alyaksandr Franzkevich, Autonomous Workers Union, Kyiv, Repression, Ukraine
This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 27th, 2015 at 2:06 pm and is filed under Anti-Fascist. | {
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CORAL GABLES, Fla. -- Dyron Dye will no longer be part of the Miami football program, a decision Monday that ends the Hurricane career for the last member of the program with any real ties to the Nevin Shapiro scandal.
The university made the announcement on the same day that Dye was hoping to receive clearance from doctors to resume playing. He injured his Achilles and needed surgery after Miami's spring practice season, and it was never clear if he would be physically able to play at any point this year anyway.
That point is moot now.
"The University of Miami has informed football player Dyron Dye that he will no longer be a member of the Miami football program," the school said in a statement. "Given the totality of the circumstances and unresolved issues regarding the NCAA investigation, the University has decided to move ahead."
The decision on Dye comes with Miami still waiting for the Committee on Infractions -- the group that heard the Hurricanes' case against the allegations made by the NCAA -- to issue its decision on any possible additional sanctions the school may face. That decision could come at any time, especially since Miami urged the NCAA to act before this year's football season opens on Aug. 30.
"The team decided that it doesn't want Dyron to be a member because they determined he would be too much of a distraction," said Darren Heitner, Dye's attorney. "The one nice thing is that it won't affect his aid. But as far as his future playing for the University of Miami, that door's closed."
Dye met with investigators three times during the NCAA's probe of the Hurricanes, most recently in May when college sports' governing body had questions why the player said certain things during one interview with them and changed his story in a statement he gave on behalf of Aubrey Hill, a former Miami assistant coach. Hill is among the former Miami staffers who faced charges in the notice of allegations brought against the school in February.
In that statement, Dye said that in an Aug. 16, 2011 interview with the NCAA he "felt compelled to testify in a manner that would be consistent with the manner in which ... (now-retired NCAA investigator Rich) Johanningmeier was directing me in order to keep my eligibility." Dye also said that Hill did not provide travel for one of his unofficial recruiting visits to Miami, or allow him to stay at his home or eat meals there on that trip.
Part of the allegations the NCAA brought against Miami said Hill and another former assistant, Clint Hurtt, allowed Dye and two other recruits -- eventual Miami player Ray-Ray Armstrong (who was dismissed from the team in 2012 over eligibility questions) and Florida player Andre Dubose -- allowed the recruits to stay for at least two nights at each of their homes, and were provided at least two meals in both cases without cost.
Those allegations were strongly denied, and Dye said the NCAA "twisted his testimony to use it negatively against" Hill.
In the notice of allegations against Miami, as reviewed by The Associated Press, Dye is one of 38 Miami players and recruits who was alleged to have gotten the improper benefit of partying at the home of Shapiro, the former booster and convicted Ponzi scheme architect whose claims of wrongdoing sparked the investigation.
The NCAA also alleged that Dye received nightclub access, a strip-club trip, bowling trips and meals, all provided by Shapiro during the recruiting process.
Dye came to Miami as a defensive lineman, then switched to tight end before trying to return to the defensive line this year. He caught four passes for 48 yards and appeared in 24 games with the Hurricanes. | {
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Mississippi State's Jake Mangum (MSU photo)
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New Legislative Proposal Aims To Ease Seniors’ Burden
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Could relief be on the way for college baseball players who return for their senior campaigns?
If at least a few prominent athletic directors have their way, that could be the case in the near future as some administrators are circulating a legislative proposal that would change the landscape of the sport for seniors.
Under current NCAA bylaws, student athletes on athletic aid who return for their senior seasons are still required to get at least 25 percent of a scholarship. However, with many programs having year-to-year deals on aid, these seniors are returning to campus for another year with the realization there’s a great chance their scholarship amount will get reduced to make room for prospective student athletes who otherwise weren’t expected to show up to campus because of the draft or other reasons.
Some administrators believe those situations are unhealthy for the sport. Some players depart programs after being told they’re receiving less scholarship money, while from a coaching standpoint, some are forced to run players off to make room for not only the returning senior, but also some incoming players who previously weren’t expected to show up to campus.
Under the legislation provided to D1Baseball — bylaw 15.5.4.1.3 — a senior who was on athletic financial aid one of the previous three seasons, could return to a Division I Baseball program for his final season of eligibility and would subsequently be given full institutional aid by the school. The institutional aid would not count against a program’s 11.7 equivalencies or 27 roster counters but would count against the 35-man roster. Giving full scholarships to seniors would not be mandatory, but optional for those programs looking to improve the student welfare of baseball players.
The addition of this legislation and bylaw seems like a no brainer for much of baseball, but perhaps not so much for others. The sport is much different than others, especially in the timing that rosters are set. It’s the only sport where a junior, third-year student athlete, 21-year-old student athlete or incoming freshman or junior college transfer is confronted with a situation where they must decide whether to attend college or not a month before the fall semester begins for many institutions. This situation, administrators argue, puts college baseball coaches in an awkward position of having to essentially make educated guesses on whether or not a prospective student athlete is going to college, or if they’re signing a professional contract, while also trying to keep control of 11.7 scholarships dispersed throughout 27 players.
“The harsh reality is that seniors are asked to make the ultimate sacrifice to their teams … they are asked to give back their aid to make 11.7 scholarships work in these unpredictable circumstances,” the legislation says. “Offering senior baseball student-athletes, many of whom have accumulated sizable student loans, opportunity for a full scholarship, could make a sizable retention/graduate rate different at member institutions around the country. The senior baseball player might be the most underserved student-athlete in all of NCAA athletics.”
John McMillon’s unexpected return to Lubbock likely caused some tough decisions for the Tech staff. (Aaron Fitt)
While the addition of this proposal seems obvious to college baseball fans, coaches and players, administrators look at it from a financial perspective as well. Full scholarships for senior players mean more money coming out of the bottom line. The costs across the country would be different. Those programs with more seniors returning would have a heavier burden than those with few returning. But upon our research, an example of how few players in some conferences return to campus for their senior years — the Southeastern Conference, the nation’s No. 1 RPI conference — totaled around 10 percent seniors on 2019 rosters. Power conference rosters on the whole averaged 4.67 seniors in 2019, with 13 percent of rosters from these conferences including seniors. The mid-majors and low-mid majors would have a heavier financial burden, but the percentage differences aren’t drastic. For instance, 21 percent of mid-major rosters in 2019 were seniors, while 28 percent of those rosters were freshmen.
The other prong to consider against the proposal are the Title IX implications. Administrators told me that baseball is much different than softball in this regard. Softball, they said, doesn’t have a senior retention issue that decreases student welfare — baseball does. This is a specific issue. So, again, while that sounds great to folks throughout college baseball, this would be an obstacle to overcome.
Baseball is in an interesting time. Though it’s like pulling teeth to pass no-brainer legislation such as the ability/option to pay a third assistant coach, there does appear to be a window to approach the subject of student welfare as it pertains to baseball players.
After all, when the Big 12 Conference voted against the third assistant legislation the last go round, both Texas Tech athletic director Kirby Hocutt — now on the Division I Selection Committee — and Oklahoma athletic director Joe Castiglione, steered away from the third assistant debate, and instead, said they’d be willing to work hard to improve the student athlete experience in baseball. Perhaps this is legislation they could not only get behind, but help drive moving forward.
This legislation, which would help seniors and college baseball a great deal, is in the infancy stage, and there’s a long way to go. But you have to start somewhere.
But if a few big-time athletic directors and conferences get their way, seniors could soon see some relief. | {
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We're working on deciding on dates for AusHac 2012, and we'd like to get preferences from those who've attended before and those who haven't but want to.This year we're likely to be holding AusHac at a new venue, Atlassian's offices in central Sydney. (Google Maps link - http://tinyurl.com/AtlassianSyd Please get your responses back to us by Friday the 18th of May.Some info to help with your choices:July 6 - 8 is during the NSW public school holidays, so would be good for those with kidsJuly 20 - 22 is right after the July FP-Syd, so those wanting to do both could just stay an extra night.I believe all these dates fall within the mid-year break for most universities | {
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We started the Great NJ Craft Brewery Bracket in March using data collected from Untappd.com to select the top 32 NJ breweries based on number of ratings. We organized each brewery into one of four regions: North, Central, South, and Jersey Shore and you voted. Now we are down to the final four breweries consisting of the top brewery from each region.
Voting continues this week and next week until we crown the 2017 champion. I wanted to highlight each of the remaining four breweries and why it's worth a trip, or at the very least, worth keeping an eye open for their brews.
North Jersey Winner
Being in Jersey City has its perks as Departed Soles is walking distance from stops on just about every form of NJ public transportation. So you already have a designated driver for your trip to visit.
Not only are they a great brewery in their own right, but they are becoming the king of gluten free beer. It's a must try for anyone who suffers from a gluten allergy or intolerance. If you have Celiac Disease or if you simply have been avoiding beer because it doesn't sit well with you. They have a few 100% gluten free choices, A Dark Night and their GoodbIPA to name a few. The latter which won 3rd place out of over 700 beers at New York City's Homebrew Alley.
Or try my favorite Konstantine, a crisp and easy drinking Kolsh with a nice bready finish. Although admittedly I may be partial to this as it's named after a great song by a band I was into in college. Whatever your favorite style, Departed Soles tries to brew something for everyone.
Central Jersey Winner
As one of New Jersey's oldest craft breweries, and arguably one of the easiest to find in stores. River Horse has been pumping out craft beer since 1996. The current owners took over just before I discovered them around 2007 and after outgrowing their old location in Lambertville, they moved to Ewing just around the corner from the radio ranch.
This brewery will always have a special place in my heart. As I wrote in the show notes from our first episode of NJ Craft Beer Review, they were the ones who turned me on to drinking fresh locally crafted beer.
For me it's not officially summer until I have a Summer Blonde barbecuing with friends and family. Similarly, it has become tradition to enjoy a Hipp-O-Lantern around Halloween and a Belgian Freeze in the depths of winter. Besides their season defining brews, they have plenty of other year-round offerings and they seem to be expanding their horizons with new recipes and limited runs like their line of Sours.
South Jersey Winner
How did a brewery that isn't even a year old make it to the final four? They thought outside the box that's how.
For starters, they opened up in Collingswood, an old Quaker borough that has been a dry town since 1873. Being the only game in town, people welcomed them with open arms. Now it was possible to grab a growler of fresh beer before heading into one of the many local restaurants for dinner.
Taking their name from local lore and rumors of Jersey Devil sightings at the Newton Creek watershed, Devil's Creek set out to make beers that nobody else was making. Styles such as old English ales, smoked ryes, black IPAs, and cherry stouts to name a few. Or maybe you want to try their Nessie a strong Scotish ale coming in at 8.4% ABV.
It's definitely not your typical line-up and I think people are always excited to try something they've never had before. If you can make something that's new but also a great beer in its own right, then you really stand out. I have yet to try anything from Devil's Creek, but as I write this I am already thinking about when I can head down there to check them out.
Jersey Shore Winner
And last but absolutely not least, we have Kane.
Known for their incredible IPAs, Head High and Overhead, Kane are masters at extracting amazing flavors from the hops they select in these two popular brews. Not to sway the voting but we all really enjoyed Head High when we reviewed it. If you want to taste what a great IPA should be, you need to visit Kane.
Besides brewing what's probably the best IPA in the state, they also brew up some serious Belgian style ales, experimental brews, and unique seasonals. Take for example their Fall Saints for which they personally roast over 200 lbs. of butternut squash and sweet potatoes. Plus they have an impressive barrel aged line-up; if you ever visited their tasting room you can't help but be memorized by the stacks of resting barrels.
With Kane it's simple, they know what they are doing, they know what they want to do, and they do it very well.
So there you have it, the final four NJ craft breweries. Congratulations to those who have made it this far. If you haven't already, go ahead and vote for your favorites in this week's match ups by clicking the above button. Then don't forget to come back next week to help crown New Jersey 101.5's Best Craft Brewery!
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NASA Glenn developing new instruments to search for life on Mars
Michael Cole
GLENN RESEARCH CENTER, Ohio — One of NASA’s future Mars rovers may be able to search for evidence of life on Mars like never before. A new suite of instruments is currently under development through a joint effort between the NASA Glenn Research Center and the University of Michigan. It is called MAHRS – Martian Aqueous Habitat Reconnaissance Suite.
As its name suggests, the instruments are designed to investigate areas where water is present – in this case, the wet brine environments in the shallow subsurface of Mars.
The MAHRS instrument suite includes an optical microscope, a radiometer, a saltation probe, a soil wetness sensor, and an electric field sensor. A great deal of the work on the instruments is being done by a group of NASA Glenn project engineers with much experience in the development of instruments for previous probes and rovers to Mars and other planets.
Nilton Renno, a professor of Climate and Space Sciences and Engineering at the University of Michigan, had ideas for how the NASA Glenn team’s experience could be applied toward developing instruments for a more focused search for evidence of life on Mars.
“Nilton came here one summer and looked at what we had done in the past for previous missions, hoping to be able to apply that to future NASA research announcement calls,” NASA Glenn Senior Research Engineer Mike Krasowski told SpaceFlight Insider.
Renno and NASA Glenn researchers wrote two proposals together. The first was for a soil wetness sensor, and the other an electrical field sensor.
“We worked on those two things, and got funds to mature those two instruments,” Renno told SpaceFlight Insider.
Shortly thereafter, NASA started the MatISSE program – Maturation of Instruments for Solar System Exploration. Its goal was to develop planetary and astrobiology instruments that could be proposed in response to announcements of flight opportunity, without extensive additional technology readiness development.
“When the MATISSE program started,” Renno said, “people told me here is a new opportunity. That is when I came up with the concept of putting all the instruments together in a suite that would focus on habitability.”
Renno and NASA Glenn engineers decided to come up with an instrument suite that would help a future Mars mission decide where to look for evidence of life. With a moving rover, the places they would want to look at would be areas with water or liquid brine, since all life we know on Earth needs water.
“Another condition is a place where there is a continuous replacement of materials,” Renno said, “so that there are nutrients that would be moving the soil around by a process we call saltation.”
The third condition of searching for life is to find places protected from radiation or energetic particles from outside the planet. The shallow subsurface of Mars would be so protected.
“The suite of instruments we developed are designed to investigate these kinds of areas,” Renno said.
The optical microscope is designed to study the size and characteristics of settling dust on Mars. The microscope lens is turned upward, thereby allowing Martian dust to settle on the settling glass where the lens can take high-resolution images of the settled particles. The instrument is a 4-inch × 4-inch (10 cm × 10 cm) cube equipped with a sensor, a circuit board, and the microscope.
A radiometer mounted to the microscope measures the amount of solar energy absorbed at the surface. The less solar energy observed at the surface means more dust in the Martian atmosphere is absorbing the energy.
The third instrument is a saltation sensor. Even NASA Glenn engineers did not know what saltation was when Renno proposed an instrument to detect it.
“We had to look it up,” Krasowski admitted.
Saltation, essentially, is the process of small particles of dust or sand bouncing or skipping along the surface. In searching for evidence of life on Mars, it is important to understand how this process works on the planet’s surface.
“Some dust goes right up into the air, and that’s what the microscope is going to image as it falls back down,” Krasowski said. “But other stuff just sort of skips across the surface and takes off. The astrobiology people figure that is a primary transport mechanism for organic materials. That’s how seeds and other organics move around on the planet here.”
Since it will observe the movement of particles close to the surface, the saltation probe would hang low from the bottom of a rover. It will look at the habitability of the Martian surface, observing the Martian dust and how it moves, an important factor to knowing what kind of biological processes might be supportable on Mars.
“We have four faces on the sensor,” NASA Glenn engineer Larry Greer told Spaceflight Insider. “Those enable us to determine the particle flow and direction as the particles impact on the sensor. We can also determine the amount of impacts we get and the energy of the impacts.”
The saltation probe and microscope together will help inform astrobiologists what mineral contents are there to support biological processes.
NASA Glenn’s partnership with the University of Michigan also developed the soil wetness sensor, which measures the water content on the surface and detects the formation of liquid brines.
University of Michigan engineers are also testing an electrical field sensor to measure electrical charges in the Martian atmosphere caused by airborne dust. It will take these measurements from its place at the end of a rover arm. It will observe weather patterns and, together with its measurements of airborne dust, will reveal more about the level of erosion on Mars.
“We wanted to enhance existing instruments and integrate them into a suite that will look at the habitability of the Mars surface, particularly dust and how it moves,” NASA Glenn project engineer Norman Prokop told SpaceFlight Insider. “The researchers particularly want to know what kind of biological processes might be supportable on Mars. What mineral contents are there to support biological processes.”
The MAHRS suite of instruments has not yet been tapped for inclusion aboard any of the upcoming Mars missions. But that could change at any time, and NASA Glenn engineers are positioning the suite to be ready and adaptable for upcoming missions. The instruments will be ready to engage in their specific approach to the search for life on Mars.
“It’s geology and astrobiology and how they intersect,” Krasowski said. “There’s a close connection between the astrobiologists and the geologists, and with these Mars missions you see a lot of that because Mars now appears to have some surface water that goes through state changes, and we need to prove that. And that is part of what this set of instruments is all about.” | {
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Sarah Elton is a doctoral research fellow at the Culinaria Research Centre, University of Toronto Scarborough. Rod MacRae is an associate professor in environmental studies at York University. Both are working with the Broadbent Institute on supply management.
The way Canadian dairy farmers are portrayed in the NAFTA debate might lead you to believe they drive Porsches to the milking barns. Farmers who own quota in our food system, where dairy along with poultry fall under supply management, are often portrayed as a lobby group rather than people we rely on for food security.
In fact, opposition to supply management in Canada is based on misrepresentation. If we want a food system that is efficient, sustainable and promotes health, then we should protect supply management vehemently and even expand it to other foods. That means confronting the myths about this system that are bandied about like fact.
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Supply management works by ensuring farmers don’t produce more milk (or eggs or poultry) than we need. The marketing boards for these foods tell farmers how much they can produce – their quota – and then calculate the sale price by considering the cost of production. This is broadly known as demand-supply co-ordination. Neither the federal nor the provincial governments are directly involved – aside from passing laws and maintaining protective taxes that allow supply management to work. The system isn’t perfect – for one, it doesn’t always consider how to produce the healthiest foods – but it’s not what critics say it is.
Myth 1: Supply management stands in the way of a free market. Compare the way milk is produced in the United States to in Canada. Here, supply management ensures farmers’ costs of production are covered by the price they get for what they produce. This means Canadian taxpayers do not subsidize these farmers. However, in the United States, taxpayer dollars subsidize American dairy for irrigation, nutrition and feed as well as through government loan programs. They need this state support because the market price usually doesn’t cover their costs of production. They also need it because, unlike in Canada where supply is matched to demand, American farmers often produce more milk than they can use. This leads to the destructive boom-and-bust cycles so typical of farming. Now they want to sell us their excess and put an end to Canadian supply management.
Myth 2: Supply management only makes some farmers rich. We have supply management in Canada because farmers and governments recognized that it was hard for farmers to make a living in the marketplace. There’s a paradox that makes food different from other commodities: A really lean season means similarly lean income while a bumper crop floods the market and lowers the price, leading to more lean income. Farmers who own quota in a supply management system typically fare better than farmers who don’t. Also, the price guaranteed by supply management provides Canadians with a price-stable, high-quality source of dairy. Milk prices don’t suddenly spike. Moreover, the system has enabled Canadian farmers to have smaller herds than American farmers where herds are as large as 100,000 cattle. Slowing the growth of big dairy farms has left rural communities with more small farms, which in turn contributes to the richness of rural life that even city people experience when they head to the country.
Myth 3: Canadians will benefit if we scrap supply management. A recent study found that Canadians pay less on average than Americans and Australians for dairy and our prices are less volatile. But price isn’t the only consideration when it comes to food. Food, and the way it is produced, determines how healthy we are. And the way food is produced on the farm and then processed has an impact on the environment. Not to mention that farms are part of the social fabric of this country – when farms go out of business because of boom-and-bust cycles, social and community health is negatively affected.
So rather than back away from supply management, Canada should consider how demand-supply co-ordination can be improved by making sustainability and health explicit goals in this system and in national food policy. Such an approach ensures resources are used efficiently, reduces the distance food travels and lessens food waste. These are all good things.
But demand supply co-ordination isn’t popular in a food system run primarily by private interests. And it’s especially not popular with the Trump administration looking for a market for the excess milk flowing from its skewed dairy supports.
Seeing the benefit in supply management asks us to confront our biases and step away from the drumbeat of globalization that makes it seem like supply management stands in the way of progress. If we want a healthy and sustainable food policy, the government needs to protect it for our sake. | {
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The 2004 incident remains the deadliest day in the Malay-Muslim rebellion against rule by the Thai state.
Muslims in Thailand’s south on Friday marked with prayers the 15th anniversary of the death of scores of protesters who suffocated in army trucks, an incident that galvanised unrest and remains an emblem of state impunity.
Known across the south as the “Tak Bai massacre”, the October 25, 2004 incident remains the deadliest day in the rebellion by Malay-Muslims against rule by the Thai state, which colonised the southern provinces bordering Malaysia over a century ago.
Seventy-eight people died from suffocation after they were arrested and stacked face down and hands bound behind their backs on top of each other in Thai military trucks.
Seven more were shot dead as security forces used live rounds on a large crowd of protesters who had gathered outside a police station calling for the release of several detainees.
Since then more than 7,000 people – the majority civilians, both Muslim and Buddhist – have died in near-daily shootings, ambushes and bomb blasts as rebels fight for greater autonomy from Thailand.
Despite the high death toll, the highly-localised unrest garners few international headlines.
Dozens of people died from suffocation after stacked face down on top of each other in Thai military trucks [File: AFP]
No member of the Thai security forces has been prosecuted over the Tak Bai incident, despite a government inquiry condemning the actions of security forces on the day.
Instead, Tak Bai has become synonymous with the lack of accountability in a region governed by emergency laws and flooded with army and police units – and a powerful recruiting tool for the rebels.
“Tak Bai was a massacre and a great tragedy. However, after 15 years of armed conflict, no government officials have been charged,” Pornpen Khongkachonkiet, director of the Cross Cultural Foundation (CrCF) which works extensively on rights in the so-called “deep south”, told AFP news agency.
“That has proved impunity in the Thai judicial system is the greater tragedy.”
Years of peace talks between the Thai state and a collage of rebel groups have fizzled and mistrust runs deep on both sides.
Malay Muslims, who have their own language and whose culture is distinct to that of Buddhist-majority Thailand, accuse security forces of routine abuses, including prolonged and arbitrary detention without charge as well as extrajudicial killings.
The Thai side blames ruthless rebel cells for driving the tit-for-tat violence, which has seen scores of teachers killed as symbols of the state influence as well as bomb attacks on military patrols and raids on checkpoints.
The rebels, who operate in secretive local cells, have rarely taken their fight outside the “deep south” border zone.
But they are suspected of involvement in a series of small, symbolic bombs in Bangkok in August during Thailand’s hosting of Southeast Asian leaders at the ASEAN summit. | {
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Sign in to access your account and customize your profile. | {
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Arthur Leal is concerned about how 2017 is shaping up for his family business, which uses large amounts of electricity to finish and corrosion-proof aluminum for his clients.
In recent years, his Toronto company, Progressive Anodizers Inc., has seen its electricity bills soar to over $50,000 a month. Mr. Leal is also dealing with the impact of Ontario's new climate change plan, which will boost the price of natural gas for his plant by an extra $24,750 this year.
While Ontario has brought in relief measures to help small and large businesses, mid-sized manufacturers like Progressive Anodizers, Copper Core Ltd. and Automatic Coating Ltd., feel left out because they're are either too big or too small to qualify for government rebates and incentive programs.
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"The middle businesses are falling through the cracks on these programs. It's like they're forgotten," said Julie Kwiecinski of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business.
Like many businesses, manufacturers blame their soaring hydro bills on time-of-use prices whose on-peak rates have climbed 81 per cent since the smart meter program began in November, 2010, as well as other fees.
Of particular concern is the global adjustment charge, which was about $25,200 on $6,600 of electricity for Toronto-based Automatic Coating last November. The global adjustment fee covers Ontario's energy conservation programs and varies month to month.
Many medium-size manufacturers aren't eligible for the province's new hydro rebate because they use more than 250,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity a year and exceed a demand of 50 kilowatts. And many also don't qualify for the Industrial Conservation Initiative (ICI), an incentive program for larger electricity users with a monthly peak demand over one megawatt.
The new cap-and-trade system, brought in to reduce Ontario's carbon footprint, is also a challenge for manufacturers. The system puts a limit on the amount of carbon dioxide emissions companies can emit and the government issues participating companies carbon credits, which specify the maximum amount of carbon dioxide each company can emit.
If a company emits less carbon dioxide, it can sell its unused credits to other companies that need more credits to cover their higher emissions. As an incentive to stay in Ontario, the provincial government will provide participating companies with free credits over the next four years.
But many mid-size businesses don't generate enough carbon dioxide emissions to be included in the cap-and-trade program so they can't take advantage of these benefits either.
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"We can't trade credits even though we're low emitters," said Jocelyn Williams Bamford, vice-president of Automatic Coating. "We just pay through increases in our natural gas bills."
These increases could cost a small manufacturer $136,000 in 2017 and $720,000 in 2030, law firm Stikeman Elliott LLP estimated. Another forecast from ICF International Inc. pegs the costs at $170,000 in 2017 and $900,000 in 2030.
Some manufacturers will be eligible for the $25-million Smart Green program for grants to upgrade their processes or production equipment administered by Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters (CME) on behalf of the government. But the fund can only cover about 110 companies based on a grant of $200,000 per applicant, said CME vice-president Ian Howcroft.
To make sure mid-size manufacturers aren't left out, Ms. Williams Bamford of Automatic Coating formed the Coalition of Concerned Manufacturers of Ontario last fall. Her group has lobbied provincial ministers and policy advisers, urging them to "put [in] some strategy mitigation for our size of companies," such as tax credits.
In an e-mailed statement, Ontario's economic development and growth minister Brad Duguid said, "We recognize that there are some businesses in the province that are not being captured in either of these initiatives," referring to the hydro rebate and the ICI program.
"That's why we have made a special commitment to programs under the Climate Change Action Plan targeted at these exact businesses," Mr. Duguid said, adding the ministry will continue to work closely with these manufacturers.
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Ontario Ministry of Energy spokesman Dan Moulton said in an e-mail that the provincial government will dedicate a portion of the annual revenue raised from cap-and-trade "to keep electricity rates affordable for medium-sized commercial and industrial businesses." But details still need to be finalized.
In the meantime, other coalition manufacturers are trying to figure out what to do about their rising energy costs. Progressive Anodizers has raised its prices to clients by 3 to 5 per cent, while fasteners maker Leland Industries Inc. has vowed to open its next plant elsewhere.
"A lot of us are family companies. We work here; we pay taxes; we employ people; and these policies are damaging our ability to compete globally," Ms. Williams Bamford said. | {
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This article originally appeared in the June 10, 2019 issue of SpaceNews magazine.
Since U.S. Vice President Mike Pence directed NASA to accelerate its timetable for returning humans to the surface of the moon by four years, the agency has focused on describing how it can achieve that goal. In the weeks and months that followed Pence’s March speech, NASA has laid out a rough plan for what it now calls the Artemis program, including what needs to be built — SLS and Orion, a “minimal” Gateway and lunar landers — and how it can come together in time for a 2024 landing.
What the agency has been less forthcoming about, though, is how much it will cost. On May 13, NASA finally released a long-awaited budget amendment for fiscal year 2020, seeking an additional $1.6 billion to support work on SLS, lunar landers and related technologies.
But that amount, the agency’s leaders acknowledge, is only a down payment on the total cost of Artemis. That total cost remains undisclosed, although NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine rejected reports it would cost up to $8 billion a year for five years.
“We expect in future years that it will be more than the current $1.6 billion for 2020. We all know that,” he said during a briefing about the budget amendment. “We are working day in and day out to come up with what those numbers are for the future years.”
Those overall cost estimates do exist, at least within NASA Headquarters. “We have those numbers, and we’re still discussing those internally,” Bill Gerstenmaier, NASA associate administrator for human exploration and operations (HEO), said at a May 31 meeting of the NASA Advisory Council. “I’m hesitant to give you the number because we’re still in this deliberation.”
That hasn’t stopped people, like members of the council and its supporting committees, from seeking more details about its cost. “Isn’t it true that the funding for a development program kind of follows, I would say, almost a bell curve?” said Wayne Hale, chairman of the council’s human exploration and operations committee, at a May 28 meeting. “$1.6 billion is just a down payment, right?”
“We anticipate that we’ll need an increase in the budget in ’21, ’22, ’23, ’24,” replied Ken Bowersox, deputy associate administrator for human exploration and operations. “Within HEO, we’ve already laid out budget estimates, but we don’t talk about those publicly until we’ve gotten agreement from all our stakeholders that it’s OK to do that.”
“It looks reasonable,” he said of those still-internal budgets. “That’s all I can say at this point.”
What’s reasonable to one person or agency, though, may be unreasonable to another. That’s also true when it comes to where the money will come from. Bridenstine and others have emphasized that, for 2020, Artemis will be funded entirely with “new” money, in the form of the additional funding requested in the budget amendment, rather than transferring funding from elsewhere in the agency.
“It has been tried in the past that we cannibalize one part of NASA to fund another part of NASA,” Bridenstine said at an astronomy workshop in April. “That path does not work.”
He’s emphasized that point several times since then. “We’ve got support from a budget request that says we’re going to step forward and were going to fund this, and we’re not going to cannibalize NASA in order to fund it,” he told the NASA Advisory Council May 30.
Gerstenmaier, though, offered a different take, at least for later years. “When we get to ’21, I don’t think we’re going to be able to get the entire budget as new money to the top line,” or overall agency budget, he told the council the next day.
He suggested that, to fully fund Artemis in 2021 and beyond, some money will have to come from elsewhere in the agency, either within his own directorate or elsewhere at NASA. “We’re going to have to look for some efficiencies and make some cuts internal to the agency, and that’s where it’s going to be hard,” he said.
And, he hinted, potentially divisive. “Everybody can be on board when everything is going forward and there’s an infinite amount of new money coming into the agency.”
The official agency line, though, remains that Artemis will be funded without affecting other agency priorities, like science. “Everyone looks for efficiencies when managing budgets and that is what Mr. Gerstenmaier was talking about in his presentation before the NASA Advisory Council,” NASA spokesman Bob Jacobs said in a June 5 statement. “However, the administrator said we would not raid science to pay for Artemis and that is the agency’s position.”
There’s still the matter of getting that additional funding for 2020. NASA and the White House released the budget amendment for 2020 just before the House Appropriations Committee released its version of a commerce, justice and science (CJS) spending bill that funds NASA. That bill did not incorporate the amended budget, and members of the committee did not reject or otherwise discuss the amendment during their markup of the bill later in the month.
That’s just a matter of bad timing, Bridenstine told the council, and not a rejection of that proposal. “Don’t get me wrong: there are people that have questions or people who have concerns, people who are interested in where the money is coming from,” he said, a reference to the White House’s proposal to pay for that additional funding from an existing surplus in the Pell Grant fund, which helps low-income students pay for college. That part of the proposal prompted widespread criticism within and outside Congress.
Bridenstine said he expects a warmer reception in the Senate, which has yet to mark up its version of a CJS spending bill. Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), chairman of the CJS appropriations subcommittee, has indicated his willingness to support NASA’s plans.
Ultimately, the Senate’s bill will have to be reconciled with a House bill that added funding to NASA science programs and some elements of its exploration efforts, notably SLS and Orion. That’s a process that, based on recent history, will likely take months.
“People have said we’re in the second inning,” Bridenstine said at the council meeting of the appropriations process. “I’m here to tell you I think we’re in the top of the first inning.”
Management lessons
It may be the first inning, but NASA hasn’t been able to find the plate in its first pitches to Congress.
As part of the rollout of the accelerated lunar exploration plans in March, Bridenstine said NASA would seek to establish a “Moon to Mars Mission Directorate” that would be charged with implementing what is now called Artemis. It would be taken from the agency’s existing Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate, potentially including some space technology or science programs as well.
“When we talk about operations and we talk about development, those are two very different kinds of capabilities” with different skill sets, he said at a NASA town hall meeting in April. “What we’re talking about here is a mission directorate focused on development.”
Such a reorganization required congressional approval. In a May 23 internal memo, though, Bridenstine said that Congress rejected the proposal, but didn’t explain why. Instead, “we will move forward under our current organizational structure within the Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate.”
That decision led to the departure of Mark Sirangelo, an aerospace industry executive who joined NASA earlier in the year as a special assistant to the administrator to support planning for Artemis. He was widely expected to become associate administrator of that new mission directorate, had Congress approved it.
“Given NASA is no longer pursuing the new mission directorate, Mark has opted to pursue other opportunities,” Bridenstine wrote. Sources within the agency said that the two didn’t agree on how NASA should manage Artemis when Congress rejected the mission directorate.
In his first public comments since leaving the agency, a June 6 speech at the National Space Society’s International Space Development Conference (ISDC) in Arlington, Virginia, Sirangelo said he came to NASA to help it carry out that lunar landing goal “by any means necessary.”
“I spent the last three months as a special assistant helping to figure out three things: what is the path to the moon, how does it get funded and what, if any, restructuring will be necessary to make it happen,” he said. By the time he left in May, NASA had developed a plan and submitted the budget amendment for 2020, but was not able to make progress on the restructuring.
His departure has dismayed some in the space industry. “Given NASA’s past performance, there’s a lot of questions about whether or not NASA can meet that deadline,” said Robert Walker, the former chairman of the House Science Committee who served as the space policy adviser to the Trump campaign in 2016, in a June 5 speech at ISDC.
“NASA went to the Hill here recently and asked for a new directorate that would pull all these programs together, and basically Congress shook their heads and said, ‘No, we’re not going to go there,’” he said, prompting Sirangelo to leave NASA, “with probably very good reason.”
“He was a very, very good pick for that kind of program,” Walker said of Sirangelo. “I thought he was an inspired choice. But, Congress basically put the kibosh on trying to move ahead in that way.”
Asked why he thought Congress rejected the new directorate, Walker offered a one-word explanation: “Money.”
At the NASA Advisory Council meeting, Gerstenmaier supported the decision not create the new directorate. “That breaks down a lot of stovepipes that would have occurred between the two directorates. That allows us to innovate,” he said.
Instead, he said there will be organization changes within his directorate to ensure the Artemis program has clear authorities, including being able to work directly with other mission directorates like space technology. “You’ll see some changes coming on the organizational side.”
Sirangelo, in his ISDC speech, emphasized the need for what he called “strong central management” for Artemis, patterned on management of past major programs, both inside and outside NASA. “Typically it was one person working for political leadership who ran a small team of high-level technical, administrative, financial people who oversaw all elements of the project,” he said, citing as one example George Mueller, who managed Apollo for more than six years, through Apollo 11.
“In my view,” he concluded, “that’s what needs to happen for the moon program going forward.” | {
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Two people have been arrested as part of the ongoing investigation into a shooting at a Halloween party in Orinda, Calif., that killed five people last month, authorities said.
The arrests were a result of warrants that were obtained by the Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Office and executed by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives on Thursday, said Alexandria Corneiro, a public information officer with the ATF’s San Francisco Field Division.
Taken into custody were Domico Dones, 29, of Martinez, Calif., and Frederick Johnson, 29, of Vallejo. Both are being held on suspicion of being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition. Johnson was also charged with child endangerment.
Agents seized a firearm while serving the warrants, and investigators used the ATF’s National Integrated Ballistic Information Network to link the gun to multiple shootings in the Bay Area, the agency said.
The ATF is also offering a $20,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible for the shooting, which took place during a party at an Airbnb rental on Halloween night.
According to police, more than 100 people from around the Bay Area had descended on the home in the East Bay suburb. The gathering had been widely advertised on social media, authorities said. Officers responding to a noise complaint at the residence arrived to find a “highly chaotic scene” with multiple gunshot victims and revelers fleeing.
Domico Dones, left, of Martinez, Calif., and Frederick Johnson of Vallejo were arrested during raids Thursday in connection with a shooting that left five people dead last month. (Associated Press)
Three victims were pronounced dead at the scene, and another died at the hospital that night. They were identified as Tiyon Farley, 22, of Antioch; Omar Taylor, 24, of Pittsburg; Ramon Hill Jr., 23, of San Francisco and Oakland; and Javin County, a 29-year-old from Sausalito and Richmond.
A fifth victim, 19-year-old Oshiana Tompkins, was pronounced dead at a hospital the next day, according to a police statement.
Five other men were arrested in connection with the shooting last week, but the Contra Costa County district attorney’s office declined to file charges against them.
Three of the men — Shamron Joshua Mitchell, 30, of Antioch; Jaquez Deshawn Sweeney and Jason D. Iles, both 20 and of Marin City — had been arrested on suspicion of murder and conspiracy. The fourth, Devin Isiah Williamson, 21, of Vallejo, who authorities described as the promoter of the event, had been arrested on suspicion of acting as an accessory.
All four were released from jail Monday.
The fifth man, Lebraun Tyree Wallace, 28, of San Mateo, who was initially arrested on suspicion of murder and conspiracy, remains jailed on a probation violation, according to investigators. He has not been charged in connection with the shooting.
Scott Alonso, a spokesman for the Contra Costa County district attorney’s office, said earlier in the week that prosecutors met with sheriff’s investigators on Monday to review the case, but felt they needed more information in order to file charges.
He said that charges can still be filed later as new evidence emerges, and called for anyone who witnessed the shooting to contact investigators.
In the wake of the shooting, Airbnb announced that it would take steps to crack down on “party houses” on its platform, and the Orinda City Council adopted an interim ordinance imposing a temporary ban on short-term rentals in the city unless the host lives on the property and is present when guests are staying there. | {
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In a statement released on Monday morning, political party Front National’s spokesperson said their white-advocacy party would be approaching Britain’s foreign and Commonwealth affairs secretary, Boris Johnson, for help.
They also addressed their plea to MP Tobias Ellwood, who deals with Middle Eastern and African affairs. They want Dame Judith Macgregor, the high commissioner for Britain to South Africa, to set up an urgent meeting to deal with attacks on white farmers in South Africa.
After reports emerged of a 64-year-old British woman, Susan Howarth, who was tortured and killed in Dullstroom, the party wants to set up a meeting with Johnson in London “to provide the British Government with details of the situation facing the agricultural community in South Africa”.
“With South Africa being one of the 52 member states of the British Commonwealth of Nations, we call on the British Government and the member states to investigate this concerning state of affairs and to consider suitable action in response.”
In their full statement, spokesperson JD Lötter said: “It has been widely reported in the published, social and broadcasting media over the weekend of the gruesome torture and death of the late Mrs Susan Howarth (64), formerly of Southsea in Hampshire. Mrs Howarth and her husband, Robert Lynn (66) were attacked on their smallholding near Dullstroom in northeast South Africa on Sunday 19 February at 3am. After being tortured for hours, including severe beatings, emotional torture, hands being tied up, burned with a blowtorch and eventually shot and dropped off in a ditch by the road, Mrs Howarth suffered two more days of agony before she passed away on Tuesday.”
Lötter said that there had been as many as 30 similar attacks in February alone.
He alleged that the South African government was showing no interest in dealing with the problem.
“When, however, last week the leader of a minority party in Parliament, Dr Pieter Groenewald of the Freedom Front Plus, approached the Speaker of the South African Parliament with an urgent request that this matter be put on the Parliamentary agenda, he was flatly turned down. The South African government does not regard the brutal massacre of people on farms and smallholdings, which is on a rapid increase, as sufficient reason for a debate.”
Front National is a political party formed in late 2013 that contested the 2014 national elections. It promotes secession and Afrikaner self-determination. It says it strikes no distinction between English-speaking whites and Afrikaners.
ALSO READ:
http://citizen.co.za/news/news-national/1434809/one-of-two-victims-of-dullstroom-farm-attack-dies/
http://citizen.co.za/news/news-national/1437999/lone-survivor-of-dullstroom-farm-attack-speaks-about-horror-night/ | {
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Introduction of Rank wise List of Top IBPS Bank Coaching in Noida 2019
Rank wise List of Top IBPS BANK Coaching in Noida
The young India has a growing demand for financial services, and with the growth rate of over 23%, the banking sector is booming with have tried to identify and give Rank wise List of Top IBPS Bank Coaching in Noida. From loan officer to accounts collector and from the credit analyst to a bank teller, the opportunities for good people in banking sector in today’s world are endless. Also as the banking is the heart and soul of every economy, this sector would never go out of style.
Rank wise List of Top IBPS BANK Coaching in Noida.
But in order to go to that position one has to make preparations well enough. And if guidance of any good institutions is added, then nobody can stop him / her in achieving it.Rank wise List of Top IBPS BANK Coaching in Noida, But while selecting these coaching centers, selections must be done keeping in mind some parameters which are:
Institute’s Reputation
Quality of the faculties
Quality of teaching
Success rate
Affordable fees structure
Rank wise List of Top IBPS Bank Coaching in Noida are.
Rank 1. Plutus Academy
Rank wise List of Top IBPS BANK Coaching in Noida , Plutus is the best coaching centre for online classes of IBPS, SSC, RRB, Bank Po, Delhi Police, SI, LIC AAO, and other competitive exams. Along with offline classes they are building their edge in online segment which is completely a modernise thing for Indian students, in the era of digitalisation everything is online so why not classes, the main reason behind launching online classes for all above mentioned courses is to help students of other states where Plutus’s expert faculty is not available offline, Thus they are helping students with online classes and most of students are taking part into online classes. Although traditional classes have been considered better forever but these days online ones are also giving benefits to the students who are having good technical skills of IT equipments. Plutus Academy has many educationist of higher rank on their board who give guidance to the students regarding exams preparation and how to write in exams etc.
They are providing coaching in all over India, So student from any state can contact them for best coaching experience.
plutus Academy Address C-59 ,Basement below HTC,Sec-2 Noida opposite priyagold building Contact Number 01204308959,9718552212 Fee structure Varies from Course to Course Batch Size 15 Notes Study material,online and offline test series Teachers Name Maths-Srijan Gupta,English-Anjali Singh,GA- Mr. Tushar Kumar Past Result Anubhav in 2018 Email id [email protected] website plutusacademy.com
Rank 2. T.I.M.E. :
TIME offers a comprehensive classroom training program to prepare students for the Bank Exams. Over the last 20 years, TIME has fueled the aspirants of more than 9,50,000 in number. It is backed by a highly trained and dedicated faculties which has been acknowledged as THE BEST by students.
Course Details : 120 – 140 hrs. of classroom teaching. Each topic covered in details. Chapter Wise test are taken regularly along with doubt clearing sessions and revision classes. Intensive mock tests are also taken to make them ready.
Result: Talking about its success rate, the UP centers of this institute has secured 261 students qualified in IBPS clerical examination, 86 students in SBI clerical examination and 147 students in IBPS PO.
TIME Address Address: 320,Second Floor,Bhagwan Sahay Complex,, Naya Bans,Main Road,Sector – 15, Above Central Bank of India, Noida, Uttar Pradesh 201301 Contact Number 0120 457 2554 Fee structure Rs 12,000 to 14,000 for 1 yr Batch Size 50 Notes Study material,online and offline test series Teachers Name Naha Past Result Nothing to be shared website www.time4education.com Email id [email protected]
Rank-3.Pinnacle Learning Destination
Pinnacle Learning Destination Address C-25, Second Floor, Sector-2, Back Of Nirulla Hotel, Noida, Uttar Pradesh 201307 Contact Number 095556 62244 Fee structure Rs 10,000 onward Batch Size 15 to 20 Notes Studymaterial,Online Offline test series Teachers Name Maths-Saurabh Sir,Reasoning-Vinayak Sir Past Result 80% Email id [email protected] website pinnacleinstitute.in
Rank-4.Career Launcher
One of the Pioneer Entrance Coaching Center of the Asia, which is run by IIT-IIM alumni team. The center changed life of many students by showing them the right way for their career with its seventeen years of experience. The institute dedicates to provide quality education across various fields to all its students.
Course Details : The Bank PO program is a 3 months program designed for students who require exposure to fundamental concepts and adequate practices for preparation. It consists of 65 classroom sessions, 25 mock tests, personality development sessions and online interactive sessions.
Career Launcher Address C-30/3 Opp. Indian Oil Apartments, Sector 62, Noida, Uttar Pradesh 201301 Contact Number 0120 431 2136 Fee structure Rs 13,865 Batch Size 20 to 30 Notes Study material,Test series online Teachers Name Maths-Ankit Sharma Past Result 8 mains Email id [email protected] website careerlauncher.com
Rank-5.IIFA Banking Coaching
IIFA Banking Coaching Address Whitehouse Building ,Atta Market, Near Vinayak Hospital & Yes Bank, Sector-27, Noida Contact Number 0120 – 4211411, 9871000667 Fee structure Between 4 to 40 Batch Size 15 to 20 Notes Nothing to be shared Teachers Name Nothing to be shared Past Result Nothing to be shared Email id [email protected] website iifaacademy.com
Some more institutes are there on which you may have a look. They are :
Please contact our team whats app and telegram 9958444212 for updated on Rank wise List of Top IBPS Bank Coaching in Noida. Feel Free to share your views and suggestion and keep a note that although we keep on updating these pages for best banking coaching from time to time but many of times teachers changes coaching and this changes rating of coaching s and if during that time our posts are not updated then you may end up taking admission in wrong best coaching , so we would request you to confirm us once before taking admission. Your comment on institutes shall help others in deciding as well. You can also call 120-430-8958 for current list on best bank coaching.
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Summary Reviewer 12759 People Review Date 2018-08-06 Reviewed Item Best IBPS Bank Coaching institute in Noida Author Rating 5
About the Author: prem sharma Prem Sharma is the Passionate writer. He writes content in domain of Education. He is passionate about writing from Childhood. He has done Graduation in Bachelors of Commerce.
« KD Campus Coaching Jaipur Reviews Mothers Education Hub Coaching Jaipur Reviews » | {
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Earth Two #1
Since Kapow Con this weekend, the Internet has been ablaze with rumors concerning the "coming out" of a major DC Comics superhero. Hints were dropped by DC Co-Publisher Dan DiDio about the possible storyline, and Courtney Simmons DC's senior vice-president of publicity, confirmed to ABC News that "One of the major iconic DC characters will reveal that he is gay in a storyline in June." We've heard a rumor about who exactly this character is, (as well as what issue this storyline is going to drop)...and he is definitely major and iconic.A little birdie told us it might be Alan Scott, and the issue Earth Two #2, hitting stands June 6th. This has not been confirmed by DC, who has issued a "no comment," and it is only a rumor.Scott was the original "Golden Age" Green Lantern, who had many modern adventures as part of the Justice Society. With the New 52 reboot, a new Scott was recently introduced in the Earth Two series: a young and dynamic head of business in the Tony Stark mold. If DC was to "start fresh" with a new Scott/Earth Two G.L., his sexual orientation would be an organic part of his character from the start -- quieting critics who might accuse DC of "shoehorning" the storyline to a character previously identified as "straight."The Green Lantern comics are no stranger to storylines regarding issues about homosexuality. The Kyle Rayner version of the character saw his young assistant, Terry Berg, be the victim of a brutal gay bashing -- one that Rayner avenged. Nor is DC Comics devoid of gay superheroes -- the most prominent at the moment being Batwoman. But if a Green Lantern was involved, that might bring things to a whole different level -- no doubt also bringing with the revelation a great deal of controversy. After all, comic fans I'm sure remember what happened when Green Lantern Hal Jordan was replaced with Rayner...Anyway, whether the character is Alan Scott or not, applause to DC Comics for the further diversification of its characters! | {
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Photoshop CC: 40 hours
Hey guys I was contacted by author Tiffani Collins to work on a character splash illustration of her novel's protagonist. The character was described as a white tiger with heterochromatic eyes, owl wings, eagle talons on the hands, ears of a fox, and the tail of an archaeopteryx. Considering the very specific brief I think I was able to make all those things happen. Please be proud of me tiger-senpai
You can check out the Author's work here collinsfamilycreations.wordpre… | {
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General John Kelly finally reached his first anniversary as chief of staff in President Donald Trump’s White House over the weekend, defying rumors of an early exit.
But he did not mark the occasion by traveling with the president on Friday to his club in Bedminster, New Jersey.
A year earlier, Kelly began his tenure during a period of high drama after the president fired his then chief of staff Reince Priebus and replaced him with the general.
That drama continues, and although Kelly has now remained in his position twice as long as Priebus, the rumors of a possible exit never went away. First, reports speculated when Kelly would resign in protest of Trump’s freewheeling style. Now many of Trump’s allies outside the White House wonder if Kelly will ever leave.
“I don’t think that the president is going to get rid of him,” a former administration official said to Breitbart News. The official said Kelly would likely have to make his own ultimate decision about leaving the White House.
Reports of preferred candidates to replace Kelly surfaced in late June, citing Vice President Mike Pence’s chief of staff Nick Ayers or Budget Director Mick Mulvaney, but Kelly remains.
When reporters asked the president in June if the reports were true, Trump replied, “That I don’t know. I like John a lot. I like him and I respect him.”
Some speculate that Kelly might even remain until after the midterm elections.
The White House did not respond to multiple requests from Breitbart News to speak to Kelly about his experience and staff would not comment on the record about his service.
Kelly’s frustrations with the media are legendary as he struggles with the oscillating characterization of his role.
“This is — it’s personal, it’s vicious,” Kelly said in a May interview with National Public Radio, acknowledging that he “was not ready for the press that covers a White House.”
Kelly’s media interviews are more limited, especially after his comments have triggered negative attention on cable news.
After calling his White House job the hardest he ever had, he deadpanned in March that, “God punished me, I guess.”
Once hailed as a savior of the establishment, the media soon turned on Kelly when it was clear he could not control Trump.
Kelly initially attempted to control the media narrative with various off-the-record meetings with White House reporters, but details of his comments still found their way into the headlines.
In July, Trump brought former Fox News executive Bill Shine into the White House as deputy chief of staff for communications to help strengthen the bulwarks of media defense.
Kelly frustrated many of Trump’s loyal contacts, complaining about the new order set by the new chief of staff that froze them out of the president’s daily routine. Many of them were vocally critical of Kelly in the press, complaining that he was not a good fit.
Former administration officials, however, admit that Kelly brought some much-needed order to the West Wing.
“General Kelly brought structure and a systematic approach to running the White House that was welcome,” Dr. Sebastian Gorka, a former Deputy Assistant to the President, said in an interview with Breitbart News.
Another former administration official said it was dishonest for anyone to suggest that Kelly did not bring stability to the administration.
But while Trump’s first Chief of Staff Reince Priebus was described as limiting his fights to things he could control, Trump’s allies fault Kelly for trying to control too much.
“While he has succeeded in bringing some order to the White House he has fallen into the trap of mistaking his role as chief of staff and trying to become something closer to Trump’s nanny,” said a source close to the White House.
Friends who try to sneak in a conversation with the president to discuss White House operations are sometimes surprised by Kelly’s sudden arrival to interrupt or listen in.
One source close to the president’s family told Breitbart News that Kelly was ill-suited for playing the political game in Washington.
“He’s not a bad guy, he just has bad political instincts,” the source said. “He has no understanding of how the levers of power operate.”
Many political allies of the president outside the White House remain vexed that Kelly will not let them in to help him win important political fights.
Kelly struggled for days to control the fallout from White House Staff Secretary Rob Porter’s ugly exit in February after his ex-wives accused him of abuse.
The chief of staff could not control the story, and his staff had no qualms about leaking details to the press for over a week about his failures.
“That was Kelly’s Waterloo,” a source close to the White House said about the Porter fiasco, pointing out that the General “lost control of the troops” in the White House as a result of the scandal.
White House staff increasingly look to Trump to solve his own moments of political crisis, although they are ready to assist with the details.
The president is filling the gaps of political leadership himself, more confident with his experience as president.
“I’m not like other politicians. I’ve never been a politician before,” Trump said to a group of steelworkers on Thursday. “I only started 2 1/2 years and I became president. How am I doing? Okay?”
The crowd cheered with approval. | {
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Audio, video, photos
Luxury and technology combined in the most innovative way. Featuring Ultra High-Definition (4K) and Bang & Olufsen’s iconic sound, the BeoVision Avant TV is mounted on a motorized stand or wall bracket that rotates and tilts it into the optimal position. Three sizes available – 55, 75 and 85 inches – at around US$ 22,000.
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The U.S. Ram II is on sale! Almost always ready to blast the enemy, this Tier V tank's potent 57 mm QF 6-pounder cannon fires fast enough to keep your target perpetually on edge. It's also an ideal first Premium tank for newbies, a great medium Crew trainer, and a solid Credit earner!
The Ram II is available in three discounted bundles and a base model. | {
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Come January, it will be illegal to conduct undercover investigations to expose animal cruelty at factory farms or slaughterhouses in North Carolina. Clearly, North Carolina lawmakers don’t want to stop criminal animal cruelty; they just want to stop people from finding out about it.
By bowing to the factory farming industry, lawmakers in North Carolina have not only let down their constituents who overwhelmingly opposed this ag-gag law, but have also virtually guaranteed the perpetuation of criminal animal abuse in the state. As the Daily Journal pointed out in its scathing editorial, “Sunlight is the best disinfectant.” Unfortunately, North Carolina’s factory farmers will now be allowed to operate in the shadows—torturing animals under the dark cloak of ag-gag.
The good news is that each of us can cast a vote against animal cruelty every time we sit down to eat. By choosing humane vegetarian alternatives to meat, milk, and eggs we ensure that our money doesn’t support this cruel and corrupt industry.
To learn more and find out what you can do to help defeat ag-gag legislation across the country, visit NoAgGag.com | {
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india
Updated: Oct 15, 2015 23:49 IST
A special court on Thursday dismissed the charges against former telecom secretary Shyamal Ghosh and three telecom firms in the 2002 additional spectrum allocation case, saying there was no evidence against them and the CBI’s chargesheet was “fabricated”.
The court observed the chargesheet filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on December 21, 2012 was made to mislead the court and ordered the CBI director to conduct an inquiry against erring officials.
“I find that there is no incriminating material on record against the accused and the accused deserve to be discharged,” Special Judge Saini said in a 235-page order dropping criminal conspiracy and corruption charges against Ghosh and the three companies.
“The chargesheet has been drafted in such a manner as to create an impression that the demand for additional spectrum began only on the joining of late Pramod Mahajan as minister.”
Pramod Mahajan, who died in 2006, was telecom minister in 2002.
Ghosh and three telecom firms — Hutchison Max, Sterling Cellular and Bharti Cellular — had been chargesheeted by the CBI in the case relating to the Department of Telecommunications allocation of additional spectrum that had allegedly led to a loss of `846 crore to the exchequer. All the accused were charged with criminal conspiracy and provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
The 2G spectrum allocation put the role of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government and the then telecom minister Pramod Mahajan under the scanner.
The court said the chargesheet did not take into account relevant documents such as Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) reports and the principle of level playing field.
“The conclusion of aforesaid analysis of the events, evidence, documents and other material on record is that the chargesheet is a distorted and fabricated document, based on deliberately redacted and garbled facts,” the court said. “It has been drafted as to create an impression of a grave crime, where there is none.” | {
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VENGEANCE LPX memory is designed for high-performance overclocking. The heatspreader is made of pure aluminum for faster heat dissipation, and the eight-layer PCB helps manage heat and provides superior overclocking headroom. Designed For High-Performance Overclocking VENGEANCE LPX memory is designed for high-performance overclocking. The heatspreader is made of pure aluminum for faster heat dissipation, and the custom performance PCB helps manage heat and provides superior overclocking headroom. Each IC is individually screened for peak performance potential. CompatibilityTested Part of our exhaustive testing process includes performance and compatibility testing on nearly every motherboard on the market and a few that arent. XMP 2.0 Support One setting is all it takes to automatically adjust to the fastest safe speed for your VENGEANCE LPX kit. Youll get amazing, reliable performance without lockups or other strange behavior. Aluminum Heat Spreader Overclocking overhead is limited by operating temperature. The unique design of the VENGEANCE LPX heat spreader optimally pulls heat away from the ICs and into your systems cooling path, so you can push it harder. Designed For High-Performance Overclocking Each VENGEANCE LPX module is built from an custom performance PCB and highly-screened memory ICs. The efficient heat spreader provides effective cooling to improve overclocking potential. Low-Profile Design The small form factor makes it ideal for smaller cases or any system where internal space is at a premium. Match Your System The best high-performance systems look as good as they run. VENGEANCE LPX is available in several colors to match your motherboard, your other components, your case -- or just your favorite color. World-Famous Reliability Theres a reason why world-champion overclockers, extreme gaming enthusiasts and high-end system builders all trust CORSAIR for high-performance memory that they can install with confidence and pride. Whether youre breaking your own records or youre simply building a dream gaming rig, you can count on CORSAIR memory. Lifetime Limited Warranty Your performance investment is protected. All of our memory products are backed by a limited lifetime warranty. | {
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The leadership role isn't something which comes naturally to Roger Tuivasa-Sheck, and the Warriors skipper admits the responsibilities of captaincy have at times had a detrimental impact on his own form.
The fleet-footed fullback told media on Wednesday that while he'd been learning plenty about the unique demands of guiding a team, it's still a constant work in progress, particularly when it comes to being the ruthless taskmaster the role often requires.
"That's a process I'm still working on," Tuivasa-Sheck confessed.
"I know I can go to a lot of the older boys and tap them on the shoulder and ask "can you speak to this one?", "can you speak to that one?""
"With my back five I'm comfortable doing it but going to the forwards, that's what I'm working on."
By all accounts, the team meeting following the nightmare outing against the Newcastle Knights last weekend provided an opportunity for some direct and open dialogue between both players and staff with the realisation that their playoff hopes were, once again, definitively dead and buried.
The 24-year-old spoke of the "honest" session during which all parties were encouraged to hold each other accountable for some lacklustre showings during another low point in a 2017 season filled with disappointment.
"That was my main message to the team, make sure you're getting yourself ready to perform before looking at others."
It's an edict the Otahuhu-product is firmly holding himself to – leading by example.
"Before you get your team right, get yourself right," he says of the biggest lesson captaincy has taught him.
"If I don't then I'm dropping balls on the field and not doing what I'm supposed to be doing because I'm worried about something else."
An ACL tear prematurely ended his debut season with the Warriors in 2016, and while 2017 has seen him a much more constant presence, he's yet to recapture the magic which saw him named the NRL's best fullback his season prior to arriving in Auckland. | {
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Barge carrying wind turbine towers sinks in Chao Phraya
A wind turbine tower on the sunken barge barely shows above water, in the Chao Phraya River, Pathum Thani, on Tuesday morning. (Photo by Wichan Charoenkiatpakul)
PATHUM THANI: Salvage experts are planning how best to raise a large barge and its cargo of wind turbine towers that sank in the Chao Phraya River, about 300 metres from the Nuan Chawi Bridge, in Muang district on Monday afternoon.
Somkiat Kosikrainiramol, director of the marine department regional office in Nonthaburi, said the barge was taking four wind turbine towers from Chon Buri’s Sattahip port to Nakhon Luang district of Ayutthaya province.
It sank around 3pm on Monday, local media reported.
The wind turbine towers as seen on Monday evening. (Photo from the Facebook page of Pak Kret Damrongtham Centre, Pak Kret district)
Marine investigators said water had been pumped into the hold as extra ballast, to lower its profile significantly so it could pass under the bridge during a high tide. It became unstable, sank and settled on the bottom. Only a small part of the superstructure and cargo remain above water.
There were no injuries reported.
Mr Somkiat said it would take sometime to plan the recovery of the barge and the turbine towers because of their large size.
The sunken vessel and cargo had been clearly marked out, and other vessels were still able to travel the river. | {
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Written and reported by Golnaz Esfandiari, with contributions from Radio Farda broadcaster Mohammad Zarghami.
Stop writing about Iran, or face the consequences.That's the message being sent to Iranian journalists working outside the country, along with warnings that their reputations, finances, and families are at risk should they refuse to comply.Relatives of political journalist Ali Asgar Ramezanpour, who works from London, say they have been told by Iran's intelligence officials to "tell him to quit his activities and return to Iran or expect more pressure."The relatives say they have already been detained a number of times, interrogated, threatened, and denied promotion and benefits at work -- all because of Ramezanpour's work as a journalist abroad.Ramezanpour, a former deputy culture minister under reformist President Mohammad Khatami, contributes to a number of Persian-language media outlets outside the country. He says that apart from the pressure on his family there have been also attempts to discredit him.Ramezanpour says he's been labeled a "spy" in hard-line newspapers and also on state television, where some of his private photos -- apparently obtained through the hacking of his Facebook account -- were put on display.The attempt to silence Ramezanpour appears to be part of a larger campaign by the Iranian authorities who, in the past year, have stepped up intimidation efforts against journalists and media workers based outside the country.The campaign includes threats and arrest of family members and online harassment including the spread of false accusations, rumors -- sometimes of a sexual nature -- and insults. Those giving interviews to Persian-language media from inside the country have been threatened and in some cases sentenced to prison.In one instance, a relative of a reporter with the BBC's Persian service was imprisoned in February 2012, and theby the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps over Skype.Armand Mostofi, director of RFE/RL's Radio Farda, says there have been 20 cases in which relatives of his staff members have been harassed, including through threats and detention by authorities.One Radio Farda reporter, speaking on condition of anonymity, said his close relatives have been summoned to the Intelligence Ministry and other intelligence organs a number of times in recent months."They have been told that they have to persuade me to return to Iran and stop producing programs for Radio Farda," the reporter said. "The authorities have also warned my family over their social activities."Threats have also been made in the state-controlled media.One of the most recent examples is a claim made on January 3 by the hard-line "Bultannews," which is said to be close to security bodies. The website quoted an "informed source" as saying that an intelligence body is aiming to create judicial cases against Iranians working for "counterrevolutionary" networks supporting "terrorists," and obtaining international arrest warrants against them.The unnamed source added that all of the belongings and bank accounts of those individuals would be investigated and "dealt with." The website said those working with Persian-language media -- including Radio Farda, BBC, and VOA -- would be subjected to the measures.Labeling international news outlets as terrorist groups or spy networks is among the tactics employed by the Iranian regime to discredit their work and prevent citizens from contacting them.Mehdi Mohammadi, a commentator with the hard-line "Kayhan" daily, in January claimed during a live television show that the BBC and Radio Farda were training terrorists."Someone from inside the country contacts Radio Farda, saying, 'I would like to cooperate with you in the field of news.' Within six months, he's taking up arms," Mohammadi said. "It means Radio Farda is not a news organization. Radio Farda and the BBC are institutions for attracting terrorists."In September, the conservative "Resalat" daily called for "legal, political, and security" measures against Iranian journalists working for Persian-language media, which he described as "the media soldiers of the West."While the intimidation efforts were originally aimed at journalists, their scope appears to have broadened, Ramezanpour believes. "Until recently those who were involved in politics, such as myself, were pressured, but [the authorities] would, for example, leave artists alone. But in recent months [the authorities] have also turned their attention toward artists," he says."For example, one who works in animation. His mother has been summoned and told that authorities will block her retirement payments, or that they will prevent her son from sending her money from outside the country."Reza Moini, an Iran researcher at Reporters Without Borders (RSF), says the Iranian establishment is trying to export its media-repression policies. "It is an attempt to stop the free flow of information. The main goal is to transfer the censorship and repression that prevails inside the country to free media that are based outside," Moini says.In the past three years, RSF has recorded a dozen arrests and instances of threats against the families of journalists working for foreign-based organizations and international news agencies, the French media watchdog said on January 9.One political analyst and journalist, whose family members have been threatened inside the country, predicts in an interview with RFE/RL that the efforts could intensify ahead of the June 14 presidential vote."[Authorities] are now focusing their efforts on those based outside the country," the journalist says. "They don’t want to be surprised [by their coverage] anymore."Iranian authorities successfully prevented media inside Iran from covering the mass street protests and subsequent crackdown that followed the disputed 2009 reelection of President Mahmud Ahmadinejad. Persian-language media outside the country managed to cover the protests from afar, including reports of human rights abuses, through their contacts inside the country.Persian-language media based outside of Iran, including Radio Farda, often challenge Iran's official version of events. They also provide a platform for activists to express themselves and discuss issues considered taboo inside the country.The intimidation campaign comes amid ongoing extensive censorship and jamming efforts by Iranian authorities. The jamming of broadcasts by Persian-language news outlets often intensifies at sensitive political times. In October, when protests took place in the Iranian capital over the floundering Iranian currency, the Iranian regime disrupted broadcasts by Radio Farda through satellite jamming. | {
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Accessible from any computer via the web
This is not a Library Collection. It is hosted for El Pueblo
The majority of these photographs reflect the early history of the Department of Water and Power, such as the establishment of the Los Angeles Aqueduct and the work of William Mulholland. | {
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UPDATE: Conform calculelor GdS, raportate la numărul de voturi exprimate, cifrele sunt următoarele:
USR PLUS: 29,82%
PSD: 26,93%
PNL: 21,77%
Pro România: 7,71%
PMP: 6,27
ALDE: 4,27
ALTE PARTIDE: 3,23%
Numărul voturilor exprimate de craioveni, pentru fiecare partid:
USR PLUS – 34.854
PSD – 31.480
PNL – 25.449
Rezultat total neaşteptat la alegerile europarlamentare din Craiova. Alianţa USR PLUS a învins PSD-ul în timpul alegerilor europarlamentare din Craiova. În lipsa unor date concrete de la BEJ Dolj, GdS a adunat numărul de voturi de pe fiecare proces verbal al secţiilor de votare din Craiova. Din calcule reiese că USR PLUS a câştigat cele mai multe dintre voturile craiovenilor. Astfel, PSD s-a clasat pe locul 2, iar PNL pe locul 3.
Claudiu Prisnel: „Mi s-a spus că este imposibil, că nu putem bate PSD la Craiova. Dar am învins! Alianța are 35.000 de voturi și va da viitorul primar al Craiovei” | {
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Welcome to Fox News First. Not signed up yet? Click here.
Developing now, Thursday, Feb. 8, 2018
GOP fiscal hawks slam Senate leaders' 'monstrosity'budget deal, threatening passage of plan to avoid government shutdown as deadline looms
Nancy Pelosi drones on for a record-breaking eight hours Wednesday, protesting Senate leaders’ budget deal and demanding a vote on DACA
Was Obama involved in FBI investigations? Newly released text messages between anti-Trump FBI agents raise questions about the former president’s role
House Intel Chairman Devin Nunes says he has mulled calling Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts to testify before Congress about the FISA courts
A top Homeland Security official says Russia hacked into U.S. voter systems during the 2016 presidential election
THE LEAD STORY – CAN SHUTDOWN BE AVERTED? : Republican and Democratic Senate leaders announced a budget agreement Wednesday that includes a big boost in spending for the Pentagon and would keep the government running past a looming deadline. But the agreement faces potential obstacles ... The GOP’s fiscal hawks slammed the bipartisan deal, which would increase government spending by $300 billion, as a “monstrosity,” potentially derailing the last-ditch attempt to prevent another government shutdown Thursday at midnight. The agreement includes a long-term pact to lift spending caps by roughly $400 billion for Pentagon and domestic programs over two years. It also allocates – in addition to over $160 billion extra for the military over two years – $20 billion for infrastructure projects, $6 billion for fighting the opioid epidemic and improving mental health services, and $4 billion for veteran services, among other measures. Senate leaders hope to approve the deal Thursday and send it to the House for a confirming vote.
PELOSI-BUSTER: House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., held the floor of the House of Representatives for more than eight hours Wednesday to deliver a record-breaking marathon speech protesting a budget deal reached by Senate leaders and demanding a vote on an immigration agreement ... Clad in four-inch heels, Pelosi spoke for eight hours and seven minutes and was given a standing ovation by her Democratic colleagues when she yielded the floor at 6:11 p.m. In her remarks, Pelosi announced that she and many fellow House Democrats would oppose the spending package unless House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., promised to allow a vote on a plan to shield from deportation hundreds of thousands of immigrants brought to the U.S. illegally.
Still, there are questions about whether there was a rift between Pelosi and other Democratic leaders on the budget deal. Even as Pelosi announced that the agreement "does not have my support, nor does it have the support of a large number of members of our caucus," Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer called the agreement the "best thing" lawmakers could have done for the middle class.
Pelosi gets most out of 'magic minute' in record-setting speech for DACA, but for what?
DID OBAMA REALLY WANT TO 'KNOW EVERYTHING'?: Newly released text messages between FBI agents Peter Strzok and Lisa Page saying former President Barack Obama wanted to “know everything” the FBI was “doing” could raise questions about his 2016 statement that he was not involved in discussing pending probes ... The texts were part of a batch released by Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., along with majority staff from the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. Strzok and Page, who worked for a short period of time on Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s team investigating Russia collusion, have been in the spotlight ever since a slew of anti-Trump messages between them surfaced last year. In the text message chain from Sept. 2, 2016, Page mentioned Obama in the context of a briefing for then-FBI Director James Comey. The exchange suggested that Obama would meet Comey regarding an FBI matter.
However, in an interview on April 10, 2016, Obama told Fox News’ Chris Wallace that he did not have any involvement in ongoing FBI investigations. “I do not talk to the attorney general about pending investigations. I do not talk to FBI directors about pending investigations,” Obama said on “Fox News Sunday.” “I guarantee that there is no political influence in any investigation conducted by the Justice Department, or the FBI, not just in this case, but in any case.”
ROBERTS ON THE HOT SEAT?: House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, R-Calif., said Wednesday the panel has mulled inviting Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts to testify as a part of the panel’s investigation into the FISA courts ... In an interview with radio host Hugh Hewitt, Nunes said that questioning Roberts over his findings of intelligence abuse by the Justice Department and FBI during the 2016 Trump campaign was something the panel “grappled with,” the Hill reported. As chief justice, Roberts appoints FISA court judges.
Last week the House Intelligence Committee released a four-page memo, written by Nunes, alleging intelligence abuse by the DOJ and FBI during the 2016 Trump campaign, citing a high-ranking government official who said both agencies never would have sought surveillance warrants in the absence of a disputed anti-Trump dossier funded by Democrats. Meanwhile, Democrats are waiting for President Trump to release their version of the FISA memo.
RUSSIA CONCERNS BEFORE MIDTERMS: The head of cybersecurity at the Department of Homeland Security revealed Wednesday that Russia managed to hack into voter registration rolls of several states during the 2016 presidential election ... U.S. intelligence official Jeanette Manfra told NBC News her department saw a small number of states where Moscow was able to hack voters systems, despite there being no evidence that registration rolls were altered in anyway. Her comments came the day after Secretary of State Rex Tillerson confirmed to Fox News that Russian hackers were already targeting the upcoming midterm elections.
AS SEEN ON FOX NEWS
PLAYING 'FOOTSIE': "Adam Schiff should step aside as the lead Democrat on the Intel committee as a consequence of this scandal. Schiff was off playing footsie with the Ukrainians, trying to get naked pictures of Donald Trump. [Schiff] has gone from having an oversight responsibility to an actual principal in this investigation for engaging with 'Ukrainians'." – Rep. Matt Gaetz, on "Tucker Carlson Tonight," demanding Rep. Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, be recused from future involvement in the Trump-Russia probe. WATCH
'IF TRUMP'S A JOKE, THEN BIDEN'S THE PUNCHLINE': "The name 'Biden' is synonymous with 'gaffe.'" – Jesse Watters, on "The Five," sizing up former Vice President Joe Biden's recent criticism of President Donald Trump as a "joke." WATCH
ACROSS THE NATION
FBI says no evidence of attack on dead Border Patrol agent.
Lawsuit may backfire on Powerball winner who wants to remain anonymous.
More trouble for Facebook as Seattle claims it violated city campaign finance law.
2018 WINTER OLYMPICS
Pence tweets support for gay US Olympian who trashed him: 'We are FOR YOU.'
Winter Olympics opening ceremony's $100 million stadium to be used just four times.
Why 2018 Winter Olympics sponsors pay top dollar.
MINDING YOUR BUSINESS
Stock volatility eases, but too late for some.
Tesla posts record loss as Model 3 delays overshadow sales growth.
Elon Musk's Boring Company vying for Chicago airport rail contract: report.
NEW IN FOX NEWS OPINION
Tammy Bruce: Trump wants a military parade and liberals are hysterical (just more proof it's the right thing to do).
John Moody: In Olympics, let's focus on the winner of the race -- not the race of the winner.
Dr. Marc Siegel: Yes, you CAN get the flu twice.
HOLLYWOOD SQUARED
Quincy Jones says he dated Ivanka Trump, knows who killed Kennedy.
Richard Pryor's widow confirms he slept with Marlon Brando: report
Jessica Biel says she and Justin Timberlake are already starting sex education with their 2-year-old son.
DID YOU HEAR ABOUT THIS?
Starbucks sued after 2-year-old customer allegedly drank barista's blood.
'Hangry' is officially a word in the Oxford English Dictionary.
100-million-year-old spider with a tail longer than its body discovered.
STAY TUNED
On Fox News:
Fox & Friends, 6 a.m. ET: A mother whose son was killed by an illegal immigrant responds to Nancy Pelosi's demands for a vote on Dreamers; reaction to the University of Minnesota's decision to exile Ben Shapiro to a distant venue; and Stuart Varney offers the latest analysis of the volatile stock market.
Tucker Carlson Tonight, 8 p.m. ET: The real-life heroes who inspired the new movie "The 15:17 To Paris" sit down with Tucker.
The Ingraham Angle, 10 p.m. ET: Former independent counsel Ken Starr speaks out on the Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Russia probe.
Fox News @ Night, 11 p.m. ET: Corey Lewandowski on the implications of the newly-released FBI texts and the battle of the FISA memos between Democrats and Republicans.
On Fox Business:
Mornings with Maria, 6 a.m. ET: Guests include: Rep. Chris Collins; Larry Haverty, Gabelli Multimedia Trust portfolio manager; Katrina Pierson, former Donald Trump campaign spokeswoman; Burgess Owens, former NFL great; Rep. Henry Cuellar; James Naughton, two-time Tony Award winning actor and director.
Varney & Company, 9 a.m. ET: Steve Hilton, host of "The Next Revolution"; Newt Gingrich; Rep. Greg Walden; Anthony Rinaldi, The Rinaldi Group CEO.
Cavuto: Coast to Coast, Noon ET: Todd Buchholz, former economic adviser under President George H.W. Bush; Robert Shiller, Yale economics professor.
On Fox News Radio:
The Fox News Rundown podcast: The latest release of personal text messages between two FBI agents are raising new questions in the Russia probe. Fox News Correspondent Griff Jenkins weighs in. Facebook is targeting a younger audience with its new Messenger Kids app, but not everyone is racing to download it. Fox on Tech reporter Brett Larson discusses the app's potential dangers and backlash. Plus, commentary by Judge Andrew Napolitano.
Want the Fox News Rundown sent straight to your mobile device? Subscribe through Apple Podcasts, Google Play, and Stitcher.
The Brian Kilmeade Show, 9 a.m. ET: Chris Wallace and Jason Chaffetz with the latest on the newly released FBI texts, dueling FISA memos and the battle over the budget in Congress; Rep. Adam Kinzinger on the battle to avert a government shutdown and all eyes on North Korea during the Winter Olympics; Jennifer Griffin on the debate over military spending and left’s hysteria over President Trump's call for a military parade.
#OnThisDay
1984: General Motors sues NBC, alleging that "Dateline NBC" had rigged two car-truck crashes to show that 1973-to-87 GM pickups were prone to fires in side impact crashes. (NBC would settle the lawsuit the following day and apologize for its "unscientific demonstration.")
1968: "Planet of the Apes," starring Charlton Heston, has its world premiere in New York.
1910: The Boy Scouts of America becomes incorporated.
Fox News First is compiled by Fox News' Bryan Robinson. Thank you for joining us! Enjoy your day, and we'll see you in your inbox first thing Friday morning. | {
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Fox25's morning crew is broadcasting live from Waltham Common on Friday, May 29, from 6-10 a.m.
Residents are encouraged to come to the common, where the Zip Trip segment will highlight what's cool, unique and special about the city.
Be a part of the live audience, and enjoy live guests, games, activities, win prizes and more. | {
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“Ugh!”
Something huge and ugly was the method to create primitive fear. The black tortoise merely cried out to the sky but the high rankers shuddered with fear. They felt threatened by the enormous size of the black tortoise and disgusted by its appearance. Grid was the same. No, the confusion he felt was much greater. It was a side effect of knowing many things.
‘Is this one of the Four Auspicious Beasts?’
Grid knew—the Four Auspicious Beasts were the guardian gods of humanity, born from the aspirations of humanity. It was their role to help with the stability and prosperity of humanity. Naturally, they were favorable to humanity and their existence itself was beneficial for humanity. This wasn’t speculation, it was real.
Grid had witnessed the resurrection of the red phoenix enriching the south. Now the current black tortoise was completely different. The resurrection of the black tortoise didn’t help the north. A black, sticky liquid oozed from the snake scales and eroded the civilization of the earth. The smoke that came from the fire spout protruding from the tortoise shell covered the sun in the sky.
[Death is coming!]
[Death is coming!]
[Death...!]
The transcendent senses that detected and warned of danger drove Grid to great confusion. The warning messages steadily rose and Grid was dizzy.
‘...This isn’t the guardian god.’
Grid watched the growing size of the black liquid puddle and was convinced.
‘A wounded god.’
It was completely different from the red phoenix. The black tortoise was a god that stifled human life and destiny just by its existence. Was it originally like this?
‘No, it is impossible.’
The Twelve Zodiacs had told him that the black tortoise was the gentlest of the Four Auspicious Beasts. They said the reason the black tortoise denied and got rid of artificial substances was for humans.
‘By preserving nature, it is protecting the human race.’
It was extreme logic comparable to the claim that there was no war without an army. In any case, most of the actions of the black tortoise came from its heart or instincts for humanity.
‘It is different now.’
Night came to the world because the poison that the black tortoise emitted completely covered the sun. Was this darkness that withered life, for humanity? Not at all.
‘Something is wrong.’
It was strange from the beginning of the resurrection. It appeared that the yangbans had deliberately released the black tortoise.
‘Did they make this type of black tortoise?’
It happened when Grid was constantly thinking.
“Dammit! They hid a monster instead of a treasure!”
“We were deceived by the yangbans! We have to run away!”
“However, if we fail the quest then we all...!”
“The quest was to protect the treasure but we don’t even know where the treasure is! It is right to run away!”
The high rankers shouted and moved. They were very skilled and avoided the black liquid that fell from the black tortoise’s scales. Whenever the poison touched their skin, they quickly took out an antidote to drink it. However, the situation of some magicians wasn't good. They had relatively low physical abilities due to their investment in intelligence. They were overwhelmed by avoiding both the black pool and the liquid falling from the sky.
“Hey! Come this way!”
The tankers set out to help the magicians. They hid the magicians behind them while raising their shields to stop the black liquid falling from the sky. They didn’t know the power of the black tortoise so it was a foolish mistake.
“Gasp.”
The shields of the tankers were corroded by the black liquid and turned to scraps. The tankers found it unexpected that objects meant for self-defense would melt without defending them. The black tortoise had no idea of the situation on the ground. It was still roaring at the sky without looking at the humans it needed to take care of. Every time it roared, new black liquid oozed from the scales and scattered like rain.
"Damn...!"
The tankers who lost their shields and the magicians behind them all paled. A black drop of water, the same size as a house, was falling over their heads.
“Shield!”
“Anti-magic!”
The magicians used various spells but it was useless. Shield couldn’t handle the mass of liquid and Anti-magic didn’t work at all.
‘We’re going to die!’
The rankers had this thought. It was the blond intruder—the person someone claimed was Grid’s knight appeared between the black drops and the rankers. For some reason, his armor and helmet were removed. He was only wearing a shirt, shoulder guards, gaiters, and boots. The water droplets that should’ve soaked the rankers splashed all over the blond man. The blond knight’s shoulder guards, gaiters, and boots melted away in an instant.
“H-Hey!”
“Kyaaak!”
He would melt and die without a single bone left behind...
Why did this person help them? The stunned rankers were screaming at the blond man’s incomprehensible sacrifice only to close their mouths. The blond knight’s shoulder guards, boots, and gaiters recovered immediately after the black liquid touched it. They repeatedly melted and regained their form. The process was quickly repeated dozens of times and the body of the blond knight wasn’t damaged at all. Not even a single strand of hair was damaged.
Only the shirt melted and disappeared. The half-naked blond man spoke, “This liquid only extinguishes artificial substances and is harmless to organic things. So take everything off and run away.”
“Eh?”
Take it off? The female rankers were perplexed while the male rankers took off their items without hesitation. Then they yelled at the blond knight. “You’re our enemy! Why are you suddenly helping us?”
The blond knight—Grid shrugged with Asmophel’s appearance. "I never thought of you as an enemy.”
If he had considered them enemies then he would’ve killed them the moment he saw them. He would’ve gone beyond the level of piercing their shields and armor.
“Don’t talk nonsense and get out of here,” Grid urged them. He had noticed why the rankers came here.
‘They were drawn here by a call from the heavens, just like me in the past.’
They were only being used by the yangbans and the Five Seniors. Sooner or later, they would regret it. There was no need to inflict pain on them. Grid recalled the blacksmiths who had been killed by Garam before looking up at the black tortoise. In the blackened world, the roaring red glow was more demonic than a great demon.
“Uh...?”
The rankers felt puzzled by the blond knight’s attitude and were rushing to leave this spot when they suddenly stiffened like statues. They stared blankly at the blond knight without being able to close their mouths.
[The durability of Berith's Skin Mask has decreased by 1.]
None of the great demons were comparable to a god. Berith, who was only ranked 22nd, couldn’t be compared to a god. It meant the skin mask made by Berith wouldn’t be safe before the power of the black tortoise. He took off the skin mask in order to avoid the drop in durability.
The gorgeous blond hair turned into short black hair and the cool eyes became sharp. The muscles that made up the chest and the thick waist was reminiscent of the statue of a god.
“...Grid?”
The rankers learned the truth of the blond knight and were astonished. Then their faces soon distorted. The emotion that struck them was anger. “Grid!”
A few rankers stopped moving. They stared at Grid who was standing in front of the black tortoise. Bubat, Shane, Ronam, etc.—they were representatives of their countries. If they had something in common, it was that they suffered due to Grid every time they competed for their country.
“Grid! Why are you helping us?”
For the rankers, Grid was special. They envied him and took him as their goal. Yes, their goal. No matter if they liked Grid or not, they had been struggling to catch up with him and learn from him. They secretly hoped that Grid would look back at them.
“You... we are really nothing to you...!”
The reason Bubat didn’t participate in this year’s National Competition was due to Grid’s declaration that he wouldn’t attend. Bubat became determined after seeing Grid’s interview about how he wouldn’t attend the event because it was boring. He was going to be stronger. He would be sure to become stronger so that Grid wouldn’t be able to say the same thing again. Participating in this quest was just one way to strengthen himself.
However, this quest became a crisis, not an opportunity, and Grid was the one trying to overcome it. Bubat didn’t want to tolerate this situation.
“Helping us instead of hindering us...! Does it mean we’re not even your competitors?” Bubat yelled with bloodshot eyes.
The same was true for the eyes of the other rankers. They were angry. They were mortified by their pitiful selves, who could only be angry at Grid for doing them a favor. It was a complicated feeling that the rankers themselves couldn’t understand. However, Grid understood—he knew the feelings of the weak. “You have misunderstood something.”
He heard a yangban say, “The wrath of the black tortoise is directed at the sky.”
“Stimulate it and encourage it to burn the earth.”
Grid flew up into the sky and saw the two yangbans talking to each other. Then he activated the Open Potential skill. “I have nightmares every night. A nightmare of being brought down by you again.”
“...!”
“The reason I helped you isn’t because I’m ignoring you. I just did it.”
The yangbans wondered, “Who is that person?”
“Get rid of him.”
The three yangbans belatedly discovered Grid talking to the rankers and leaped through space. They made the concept of distance meaningless and reached Grid in an instant. Goosebumps rose on the skin of the rankers who shuddered at the feats of the ‘gods.’
Three swords moved like living snakes, wrapping around Grid and stabbing at his vital points. It was a fast and dazzling pincer attack that was hard to follow even for the rankers watching from afar. On the other hand, Grid’s attacks were neither fast nor dazzling. Not a single ranker was impressed by Grid’s swordsmanship.
It was invisible. The swords of the yangbans stopped just before stabbing Grid and shook.
“...?”
“...?”
There was a moment of silence...
Then the eyes of the yangbans lost their light. Blood sprayed like a fountain from the necks and chests of the yangbans. This was 300,000 Army Swordsmanship Stealth Sword—the technique of Madra, the Undefeated King who killed 300,000 enemy soldiers without them realizing it, was recreated at Grid’s fingertips.
[Critical!]
[The effect of 300,000 Army Swordsmanship has increased the damage of critical hits by 2000%!]
[The effect of 300,000 Army Swordsmanship has exposed the weaknesses of the opponent!]
[Your body doesn’t meet the standards required to use 300,000 Army Swordsmanship. There is a great burden on your body but the effect of the Shoulder Guards of the White Tiger with the Protection of the Red Phoenix has successfully prevented an injury!]
“...Kkuek!”
Without noticing it, the neck of the leading yangban was seriously injured. His eyes rolled and he swallowed down the blood. Then he immediately used the White Tiger’s Breath and Red Phoenix’s Breath to try and recover. It was a reaction rate and mentality that far exceeded the level of common sense.
However, the current opponent was the worst. Grid knew how to kill the yangbans.
“Divinity.” It was to hit them hard. “Open Potential.”
Don’t give them a break.
“Transcended Linked Kill Wave Pinnacle.”
“...!”
A slaughter.
Bubat and the rankers lost strength in their legs and sat down after witnessing the horrific killing of a god by a mere human. | {
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Much has been made of the regional affect of the Syrian conflict, it spilling over into Lebanon, the threat of chemical weapons on Israel and the influence of Iraqi elements in Syria. As far back as February 2012, US counter terrorism experts confirmed publically that Al Qaeda affiliated elements had infiltrated the unrest, though this was occurring probably as far back as the summer of 2011. By March, at a number of varying radical Islamic groups had become established, many of them claiming links to Al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) probably though Syrian members who had been fighting in Iraq. Al Qaeda in Iraq style tactics then began to be increasingly seen by rebel forces in Syria against Assad’s army to great effect, including suicide car bombs and Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs). Iraq had come to Syria.
But little has been reported about the influence of Syria in Iraq. At least 15,000 refugees have fled Syria into Iraq (as of 23 Aug 2012), at various points artillery rounds have been fired into Iraq, at least twice a Syrian fighter jet has strayed into Iraqi territory and the issue of arms smuggling from Central and Southern Iraq is becoming an increasing problem to name a few incidents.
More significantly has been the fallout between from the Kurds gaining strength in Syria. In late July the Iraqi Army attempted to move into the fringes of sensitive semi autonomous Kurdish Region of Iraq near the border with Syria at Al Qaim, presumably to limit Iraqi Kurdish involvement in Syria as Baghdad does not want to see a united Kurdistan. This resulted in a tense stand off between the Iraqi Army and the Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga forces that lasted for nearly a week. The situation was only resolved after negotiations that included American help.
Then a week later, also being worried about the Kurdish ‘issue’ in Syria was Turkey quickly sent its Foreign Minister for a surprise visit to Erbil, the capital of the Kurdish Regional Government in Iraq, to gain assurances that Iraqi Kurds would not help their counterparts in Syria. This in turn created major friction between the governments of Iraq and Turkey, with Baghdad summoning Turkey’s envoy in Baghdad to receive a formal protest over the matter (Baghdad does not like people doing things in the semi autonomous region without it knowledge as it worried it would loose grip on the oil rich region). So you see, Iraq should not get all the bad press when it comes to the Syrian situation.
J Robinsons – Twitter: @jprobinsons
This post first appeared on “The Old UAR” a political blog that focuses on events in the Middle East that is run by Jonathan Bertman. | {
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Authored by Daniel Payne via The College Fix,
Depression, self-injury also common...
A significant majority of transgender and gender-variant students experience mental health issues, a new report shows. That statistic is greatly higher than for the general population.
The study, published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, “examined responses of more than 65,200 students” from several dozen different American institutions, Inside Higher Ed reports. Around 1,200 of those students “said they had an alternate gender identity, meaning they do not identify with the gender that matches their birth sex.”
The number of those students who reported mental health issues was staggering:
“Almost 80 percent of these gender-minority students reported having at least one mental health issue compared to 45 percent of their cisgender peers — students whose gender aligns with their assigned birth sex.”
The study’s lead author, health law professor Sarah Ketchen Lipson, said the findings were not unanticipated:
“The direction of the findings is not surprising,” said Lipson, “but the fact that there are these disparities, and magnitude of that disparity, as a researcher, it makes you take a step back and run the numbers over and over.” More than half of gender-minority students — 58 percent — screened positive for depression, according to the study. And 53 percent of them reported having intentionally injured themselves in a way that was not suicidal. Less than 30 percent of cisgender students screened positive for depression, and 20 percent reported a nonsuicidal self-injury. Three percent of gender-minority students had attempted suicide compared to less than 1 percent of cisgender students, the study found. More than one-third of gender-minority students said they had seriously considered suicide.
One campus official claimed that every school should have “trans-experienced therapists, if not at least one trans-identified therapist, and should have at least one support group specifically for trans students.” | {
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My thanks to Peter Murphy and Quadrant for this very kind review of The Smallest Minority: Independent Thinking in the Age of Mob Politics. A bit:
Today’s third-hand dealers in ideas are mostly mid-tier staff in organisations. One of the big stories of the twentieth century, Williamson notes, was the replacement of self-employment with corporate and government employment. Interest in freedom and autonomy declined as the independent proprietor was replaced by the salaried employee. The game then changed. It was no longer about the autonomous exercise of judgment. What mattered instead was applying pressure on the handful of real decision-makers. The latest phase of this story is internal and external lobbying of departments, companies and universities to adopt PC slogans and policies. Much of this pressure is applied by obscure persons who work in the nether regions of publishing outfits, bureaucracies and interest groups. These people are opinionated but clueless. They are the products of the mass post-industrial university. They are also nervous. For the white-collar and professional work that they qualified for is being automated. This group is riddled with status anxiety. It is angst central.
(I am 99.99 percent sure this Peter Murphy is not the one who sings “The Line Between the Devil’s Teeth” and all those other great songs.)
You can read more on The Smallest Minority from Ben Shapiro in Commentary here and in the New York Post here and in the New Criterion here, among other places. | {
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Manny Diaz opened up Monday’s press conference before they play Florida by crediting Dan Enos and his staff for changing the culture of that football program.
“I really look at two programs in a way separated by 12 months. I look at Dan Mullen and his staff coming in and inheriting a four-win team two years ago, changing the culture of that program.”
The Canes and Gators were both 5-1 in October of the 2018 season when they went in completely different directions. The Gators were facing a 21-3 deficit against Vanderbilt and came back and won that game.
Later that night, Miami played Virginia and lost.
The Gators had a similar showing when South Carolina went to Gainesville a couple weeks later and put them in a 31-21 hole going into the fourth quarter before rallying late and winning.
The Gators had lost their previous two games to Georgia and Missouri and were staring dead in the face of their third straight loss, but Dan Mullen’s team instead showed resilience. They went on to win their final four games against USC, Idaho, Florida State, and Michigan in dominating fashion, finishing the season with 10 wins.
On the other hand, the Hurricanes collapsed — losing four in a row before finally bouncing back with a win at Virginia Tech.
“One of our main objectives of this offseason has been to find that competitive spirit that drive, that backbone that benefitted Florida a year ago.”
Diaz mentioned that the Gators skill guys were a key to their success a year ago.
“I don't know if we’ll play a stable of running backs that will run as hard and try to run through tackles and contact like their backs will.”
On the Gators quarterback Feliepe Franks, Diaz says,
“Two things jump off on film. Number one is just the size. The way he can fall forward as a runner which is a big deal on short yardage and goal line. And Just his arm strength he can zip throws across the field at a rate that really catches your attention.”
On the defensive side, which Manny seems much more comfortable talking about, Diaz sees a lot of similarities in philosophy between the two teams.
“They create a lot of havoc with their front. They were outstanding with their pass defense year ago.”
Diaz also talks about turnovers being a major factor in the game just because of a lack of live contact, especially from quarterbacks, who don’t get hit very often in the off-season.
And special teams, which Diaz says is something people don't like to talk about, but will be essential in the opening game.
“They have a punter who can change the field. We saw how important a year ago field position was in terms of where you’re starting. It’s not complicated. The closer you start towards the goal line, the more that helps. And that's going to come down to what? Special teams and turnovers.”
More than anything, Diaz is ready to go play and said his team has “practiced all you can practice.”
The Hurricanes head coach wants to find out who this team is and who is going to shine bright under the Camping World Stadium lights when the two teams take the field for what is surely going to be an emotional and disruptive atmosphere.
Motivation will not be the deciding factor and there will not be a lack of inspiration on either side. Diaz believes that the team that can sustain their focus for the entirety of the game and compete at a “very high level.”
Manny Diaz noted that the he’s been putting the ones against the ones all the way up until Friday which should help young guys such as John Campbell and Zion Nelson, who face off against a combination of Jonathan Garvin, Scott Patchan, Greg Rousseau, and Trevon Hill on any given snap.
They always say the toughest battles should be on Greentree and that holds true for the two young tackles. You will be hard-pressed to find a tougher rotation of ends for those guys to learn and grow from on a daily basis.
Miami also dropped their first depth chart of the 2019 season, which answers questions about the two tackle positions, which were mentioned earlier in this piece, and some other key positions for the Hurricanes. | {
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Paris floods as River Seine approaches record-level rise Paris is under siege from near record-breaking rain.
-- Paris is under siege from near record-breaking rainfall.
For days, the City of Lights has sustained an unrelenting downpour that has caused the River Seine to overflow. Water levels have risen to almost 17 feet; more than double the average.
Already, the surge has led officials to close roads, including routes around the Eiffel Tower.
Cruises have been halted and, as of Wednesday, train services at six stations alongside the Seine were going offline, the railway company SNCF confirmed.
Storm conditions are not expected to relent in the coming days.
The alarming rise of the waters since Saturday has some fearing the river could exceed 2016 levels, when it rose to 6.1 meters, or 20 feet.
During that time, the Louvre and other famous landmarks were temporarily shut down.
At higher elevations throughout France, so much snow has fallen, and at such a fast rate, that many ski resorts have shuttered to protect the public from possible avalanches.
The Associated Press contributed to this report. | {
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Let’s be honest here. Senator Chuck Schumer, and his ilk, are angry that the Trump administration didn’t give a verbal heads up so that he and the other phony snowflakes could preemptively attack the executive action, and at the same time try to get thousands of refugees in prior to the temporary ban.
Schumer, who finally made it to the top rank of his party in the Senate, is upset that he has no power. If the GOP Senate uses the same exact rules setup by Harry Reid and endorsed by Chuck You Schumer, then Schumer can do nothing but make promises of fighting til the end and accusing Trump of being anti Islam and a racist. It’s all he’s got.
So, my advice to the administration is smile at the Chuck Schumers of the world and continue to do what’s right to Make America Safe Again.
(As reported by: Breitbart News) | {
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The International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) has called on the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) to reconsider its decision to incorporate digital locks into official HTML standards. Last week, W3C announced its decision to publish Encrypted Media Extensions (EME)—a standard for applying locks to web video—in its HTML specifications.
IFLA urges W3C to consider the impact that EME will have on the work of libraries and archives:
While recognising both the potential for technological protection measures to hinder infringing uses, as well as the additional simplicity offered by this solution, IFLA is concerned that it will become easier to apply such measures to digital content without also making it easier for libraries and their users to remove measures that prevent legitimate uses of works. […] Technological protection measures […] do not always stop at preventing illicit activities, and can often serve to stop libraries and their users from making fair uses of works. This can affect activities such as preservation, or inter-library document supply. To make it easier to apply TPMs, regardless of the nature of activities they are preventing, is to risk unbalancing copyright itself.
IFLA’s concerns are an excellent example of the dangers of digital locks (sometimes referred to as digital rights management or simply DRM): under the U.S. Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) and similar copyright laws in many other countries, it’s illegal to circumvent those locks or to provide others with the means of doing so. That provision puts librarians in legal danger when they come across DRM in the course of their work—not to mention educators, historians, security researchers, journalists, and any number of other people who work with copyrighted material in completely lawful ways.
Of course, as IFLA’s statement notes, W3C doesn’t have the authority to change copyright law, but it should consider the implications of copyright law in its policy decisions: “While clearly it may not be in the purview of the W3C to change the laws and regulations regulating copyright around the world, they must take account of the implications of their decisions on the rights of the users of copyright works.”
EFF is in the process of appealing W3C’s controversial decision, and we’re urging the standards body to adopt a covenant protecting security researchers from anti-circumvention laws. | {
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Stay on Top of Emerging Technology Trends Get updates impacting your industry from our GigaOm Research Community
As described in a New York Times story on the weekend — one that for some reason chose to save this information until the end — Google (s goog) has tweaked its search algorithm and downgraded the Page Rank of so-called “mugshot” websites, which post police snapshots of random people and in some cases charge to have them removed. MasterCard has also taken steps to cut such sites off from using its online payment systems.
Everyone seems pretty happy about this turn of events so far (except the mugshot site operators, of course), but I confess that I find the whole thing a little disturbing.
Obviously, Google tweaks its algorithms all the time to boost or lower the ranking of different types of content. And both it and MasterCard are private corporations that can do whatever they wish — within reason — when it comes to their business. We may even agree that mugshot sites are reprehensible and deserve to die. But what happens when Google and/or MasterCard decide to target other sites? What if they choose to cut off WikiLeaks, for example, as MasterCard did in 2010?
Is there a right to be forgotten?
The rise of dedicated mugshot sites is a relatively recent phenomenon. According to the Times, one of the first was started in 2010 by a former credit-card-fraud artist who put together a website based on Florida arrest photos, and now there are close to 100 of them — all of which aggregate booking photos from public websites run by state and regional police departments. Many charge a fee to have photos removed, and/or use Google ads to monetize their traffic. To most, this seems like a thinly-veiled exercise in extortion.
One problem is that booking photos are posted even for relatively minor offenses, and they can exist online long after — even if the arrest did not lead to a conviction. This can make them a source of entertainment when the photo is of someone like Microsoft founder Bill Gates when he was in college, or of a notoriously unstable celebrity such as Lindsay Lohan — but when it is a young person who finds their employment opportunities curtailed as a result of a teenaged lapse in judgement, it suddenly becomes much less amusing.
The problem with mugshot sites is arguably just a small piece of a much larger problem, which is the fact that information about you — including things you did or said or posted online in a fit of anger, youthful indiscretion, etc. — lasts forever. This is why the European community has been debating a “right to be forgotten,” which could require sites like Google to remove information under certain circumstances. But as a number of people have pointed out, such laws would have potentially huge implications.
As Hilary Mason, former chief scientist at Bitly, noted in a blog post, mugshot sites take advantage of information that is in a weird kind of public-private gray area: it is theoretically public, and comes from official sources, but in the past it was difficult or even impossible to collect easily — since in many cases it would have required going to dozens or hundreds of physical locations and photocopying documents. Google (ironically) now makes this kind of thing ridiculously easy.
“What the mugshot story demonstrates but never says explicitly is that data is no longer just private or public, but often exists in an in-between state, where the public-ness of the data is a function of how much work is required to find it.”
Google chooses what we see and don’t see
What bothers me about Google and MasterCard’s decisions is that mugshot websites are based on the aggregation of public — and in many cases potentially useful — information. The fact that some (although not all) ask for payment to have photos removed may border on extortion, but the reality is that they aren’t that different from a site like The Smoking Gun, or other services that offer potentially important background information about a whole range of people: politicians, judges, doctors, etc.
As the New York Times story notes, the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press said downgrading or removing such sites raises some pretty big red flags. “What we have is a situation where people are doing controversial things with public records,” said Mark Caramanica of the RCFP. “But should we shut down the entire database because there are presumably bad actors out there?” As one mugshot provider (whose site charges for removal but also has a “courtesy removal service”) put it:
“No one should have to go to the courthouse to find out if their kid’s baseball coach has been arrested, or if the person they’re going on a date with tonight has been arrested. Our goal is to make that information available online, without having to jump through any hoops.”
Is Google going to somehow differentiate between the good uses of this kind of information and the bad ones? And is MasterCard going to do the same? It seems — to me at least — that there’s a very real risk that this kind of behavior could quickly become a slippery slope, and eventually result in Google and/or other platforms doing what Amazon did when it removed WikiLeaks documents from its S3 cloud servers in 2010 (which the company claims was not the result of any pressure from the U.S. government).
If aggregating public documents for which you may not have a copyright license, or for which you charge money via MasterCard, becomes the sort of thing that Google wants to crack down on or hide from view, then WikiLeaks and other valuable sites could be in trouble. And how will we even know what we aren’t seeing, if these changes happen behind the scenes due to government or legal pressure? The power of proprietary platforms like Google to determine what we perceive about the world has never been greater.
This post was updated to reflect the fact that JustMugshots does charge for some removals, but also has a “courtesy removal service.”
Post and thumbnail images courtesy of New York magazine and Flickr user Affiliate | {
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Best online blackjack games
Blackjack games rules are pretty easy for players. So, what does the game entail? Each card used in the game is assigned a specific value. The ultimate goal of the game is for the player to reach a 21 in the total value of the cards they have. Both the player and the dealer compete to get to 21. As we have mentioned, the game is available online and live depending on the casino of your choice. Regardless of this choice, blackjack games are simple and beginners can also try out the games too.
Best online blackjack players have a tendency to stick to one specific level. It is important that players learn the information behind these games so that they can eventually advance to higher and more exciting stages. Instead of relying on feelings or their memory, it is crucial that players learn more about the game and avoid making any mistakes going forward. Why do we say so?
Without any winning strategies, the house will always have an upper hand in the game. The end result is blackjack games players will lose their money to the casino.
Our team has compiled a comprehensive guide detailing all the strategies and tips to help you win at any blackjack game. The strategies are carefully chosen and analyzed by our team of experts to ensure that you are well equipped for the game every time. Read through our guide on how to avoid common mistakes that beginners make. This is only possible if you apply our strategies in the blackjack online games.
We have also included blackjack guide charts that you can have a look at before the game. One of the most common misconceptions is that a player needs to make decisions about the game when playing live. With these guides and charts, players are able to control the game to their benefit. | {
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Connaissez-vous Babymetal? Si non, il faut absolument lire l’article qui suit car c’est un phénomène musical mondial qui est vraiment fascinant et qui est inconnu pour la plupart d’entre nous même si elles sont incroyablement populaires.
Connaissez-vous Babymetal? Si non, il faut absolument lire l’article qui suit car c’est un phénomène musical mondial qui est vraiment fascinant et qui est inconnu pour la plupart d’entre nous même si elles sont incroyablement populaires.
Les Babymetal c’est trois adolescentes japonaises : Suzuka, Yui et Moa. Elles ont entre 17 et 19 ans et veulent faire combiner la musique pop et le métal.
Elle en sont à leur 2e album et remplissent en Asie des stades de 20 000 personnes sans compter la tournée mondiale des festivals métal qui roule depuis 2 ans. Elles étaient d’ailleurs de passage à Heavy Montréal en 2014. (voir la vidéo plus bas)
Avant de faire du métal, les trois jeunes filles ne savaient pas du tout ce qu’était ce style, préférant Ariana Grande et la K-POP coréenne. Elles avouent même avoir eu au début, lorsque le groupe a été créé, peur de la musique métal. Les Babymetal c’est comme les Destiny’s Child du métal. Elles veulent être «cutes», cartonner sur les palmarès et avoir comme chansons des refrains accrocheurs aux paroles positives pour les jeunes filles en mal de vivre. Oui c’est commercial à souhait mais ça fonctionne.
Et très bien même.
Elles viennent tout juste de sortir leur nouvelle chanson Karate et déjà le vidéoclip diffusé il y a 2 jours sur leur chaine YouTube compte près de 850 000 visionnements! Pour du métal, c’est énorme.
Leur 2e album Metal Resistance est prévu pour le 1er avril et le lancement européen de l’album a été fait nul autre que dans le célèbre Wembley Arena de Londres. On ne rie plus.
Voici Karate
Pour réaliser l’ampleur de leur popularité en Asie
Leur performance à Heavy Montréal en 2014
Voici un documentaire vraiment intéressant sur les Babymetal et sur le phénomène
Avouez que vous vous sentez maintenant plus cool non? | {
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Get breaking news alerts and special reports. The news and stories that matter, delivered weekday mornings.
BEIJING — China has unveiled a proposal for a $50 trillion global electricity network that would help fight pollution and the effects of climate change.
The plan envisions linking existing and future solar farms, wind turbines and electricity plants in Asia, Europe, Africa and the Americas, according to the head of State Grid Corporation of China.
The proposal is in its initial stages and would require huge investment from around the world. If it goes ahead, it would be the world's largest infrastructure project. It could be operational by 2050, according to backers.
The planet faces "three major challenges" of energy scarcity, environmental pollution and climate change, state-run news agency Xinhua News Agency quoted the firm's chairman Liu Zhenya as saying at an international energy conference on Wednesday.
The Morning Rundown Get a head start on the morning's top stories. This site is protected by recaptcha
Energy workers examine solar panels in Lianyungang in Chain's Jiangsu province on March 16. CHINA STRINGER NETWORK / Reuters
"Global energy interconnection” was the answer to these threats, Liu said.
The State Grid Corporation of China envisions a future “global village” of efficient transmission lines to tap and distribute electricity from giant solar farms around the equator and wind stations in the Arctic, according to its website. Liu estimated that the global network could mean clean energy comprising 80 percent of global consumption, displacing fossil fuels as Earth's principal energy source.
China's government invests more than any other country in wind and solar energy.
Energy transmission technology "has matured and clean energy is becoming more economical, so the conditions for building global power interconnection already exist,” Liu said in a statement on the company's website.
Related: Gates, Zuckerberg and Other Tech Titans Team Up to Push Clean Energy
The Chinese firm's proposal is ambitious but possible, according to Xue Jiancong, energy analyst at China Merchants New Energy Group, a leading renewable energy company.
“It’s a brilliant plan," he said. “It might encounter difficulties during construction but it’s possible.”
Xue added: “Reducing carbon emissions is a global issue and as a great power, China is taking on more responsibility. This plan is good news for the world.”
— Julia Zhou contributed to this report. | {
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By Duncan Geere, Wired UK
An Australian chap named Chris Malloy has built a hoverbike from motorbike parts, and he claims it can fly at 173 mph at an altitude of 10,000 feet.
[partner id="wireduk"]Those are theoretical figures for the time being because the contraption hasn't flown too far yet. Malloy bases those outlandish specs on the 231-pound device's thrust-to-weight ratio. It consists almost solely of a pair of massive propellers powered by an 1,170-cc engine good for 107 horsepower. The fuel tank contains enough juice to give it a range of 92 miles at a cruising speed of 92 mph.
The pilot's right hand controls the thrust of the rotors, while the left adjusts the angle of the control vanes, pitching the nose down or up to move forward or backward. Turning the handlebars turns the machine.
There isn't much in the way of safety features with the prototype, but Malloy plans to add a pair of explosive parachutes, or require riders to wear a 'chute, and cover the props with a mesh to prevent limbs from being lopped off. Malloy also hopes to implement gyroscopic controls with on-board overrides to stop the craft from tipping over.
Anyone, er, brave enough to fly one won't need a pilot's license because hoverbike is classified as an ultralight. But it'll be awhile before you can get one. Test flights haven't yet happened and while Malloy hopes to get into limited production within a year, he's still looking for investors to make that a reality.
To that end, he's soliciting donations on his website.
Photos: Hover-bike.com | {
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I recently found myself creating a CI/CD pipeline for a 3 page static html website, and to be honest, despite how long it took to setup, I think it was worth it! In this post I write about my journey and reflection.
Breaking point
Last week I started working on our website as we relaunch to offering only a single service, Software Development and CTO-OnDemand ( moodio if you’re looking!) and do some rebranding. During a period of particularly regular updates as I fixed spelling, copy, and small CSS errors, I started getting agitated with having to repeat a serious of command line commands; (↑↑↑
) x 3, followed by another series of command line inputs in my Linux shell; (↑↑
) x 2.
Now 5 commands might not seem like a lot, but done repeatedly, with different steps sometimes taking a couple of minutes, it gave me a lot of time to reflect. I took a long hard look at myself and I was disappointed. I felt like a philistine, manually calling my gulp tasks to package everything minified, calling my Docker build commands and not even bothering to change the version tag anymore (Know how many left arrows it even takes to get to the tag?) and pushing the image. Following this I’d open my Kubernetes shell to delete and recreate the deployment. Since I didn’t properly tag the Docker images, couldn’t just change the image name to the new tag unfortunately.
I decided enough was enough! I knew I had to make a change and so I decided to practice what I preach. I would automate the whole thing, I would version control it, and as soon as I checked in any changes I would expect to see it online (in production. it’s still a static website, I’m obviously not going to have a dev environment for it).
And so, began my journey to do what any software developer with no plans for a Sunday evening would do. I decide to spend the next couple of hours putting a system in place that would help save me minutes! And so, using Docker, git, visual studio online and a Kubernetes cluster I already had up, I would create a CI/CD pipeline for my static html 3-page website.
The Pipeline
For HTML development, I have a pretty simple template built on Gulp and SCSS, that includes most things I need and a lot of CSS prewritten. It includes a lot of SCSS mixins and functions to help with cross-browser compatibility, and a list of vars that I can change to set most of the styling in a document such as sizes, fonts, spacing, etc. For development, it’s great, it’s but gives all the basics I need to quickly start a project and gave me something to build up from.
Step 1: .git
The first step was to set up a git repo. I use visual studio online and so I logged in, set up a new project, did the initial commit.
Step 2: \dist
As a CI/CD can’t involve any manual work once something is committed, the next step was to set up a gulp task for all the work I was previously doing manually. I set up a group of gulp tasks for this, the group would compress all the images, minify and concat all the JavaScript scripts into a single file, replace all the relative script tags with the new concatted version, minify and clean the html and CSS and push everything into a new folder named dist. Once this was done I had a folder with just the files I needed and everything minified and concatted or compressed.
For anyone interested, I’ve included the full gulpfile in the appendix, however you’ll need to visit their individual pages to see how they work.
Step 3: docker build, docker push
Now that I had a production ready website that PageSpeed Insights would be happy with, the next step is putting it all in a Docker file. To do this I set up a simple dockerfile which copies the dist folder over.
FROM nginx:alpine
WORKDIR /usr/share/nginx/html
COPY dist .
And I’d run a build command on it, and tag my image appropriately, then push it to my private repo.
The dockerfile didn’t require any changes to what I previously have.
Step 4: Kubectl apply
For the deployment, I am hosting it on a Kubernetes cluster i already have running and so I quickly through together a service and deployment config yaml file.
I created a loadbalanced service that connects to a deployment consisting of 2 replicas of the Docker image I had created previously. Did I need 2 pods? no, but it was load balanced, and load balancing to a single pod felt stupid.
Now once I had updated and pushed the Docker image, I would simply change the yaml file and update the tag to the latest version, or use a kubectl set image command to do it from the command line. While that’s true in theory, that would require me to correctly tag, and as I mentioned early I wasn’t bothered, as far as I was concerned when doing it manually, everything was tagged :latest, and only :latest. So instead I deleted the deployment, then reapplied the yaml file. Importantly I only deleted the deployment and not the service, so I would keep my public loadbalanced IP and avoid having it released back.
Step 5: Putting it all together in Visual Studio Online
Now the final piece was to put it all together! To do this I used Visual Studio Online, as I previously mentioned I set up the git repository there as well.
First I set up a new build definition. It was relatively simply.
The overall definition should look like this, and visual studio online includes a template for npm and gulp to add those two.
Luckily this was relatively straight forward, and as Visual Studio would take care of iterating the version number, I could now finally begin to directly modify the image using the correct image number! To do this, in the final task, I connect to the kubectl cluster simple run a kubectl set image command. To connect visual studio online to your Kubernetes cluster, you simply copy the config file from your cluster (~/.kube/config) to visual studio online and give it the cluster url.
And once it was all correctly configured and I worked out all the kinks, I finally had my CI/CD pipeline for my static html website! No longer do I have to repeatedly ↑↑↑
to recall my previous commands. I now simply check in my changes and about a minute later I get an email telling me it completed successful and the updated website will be online.
Reflection
While spending a couple of hours to configure something that would only save me a few minutes a day might seem like overkill, I honestly don’t care. I enjoyed putting it together, and smile a little every time I get an email saying that the build succeeded. Even my fiancée was impressed after I spent an hour over the phone explaining to her what I did exactly and a brief background on CI/CD, DevOps, Jenkins, Agile, Lean Start-ups, and some other high level concepts. She assured me she listened to everything I said and was very impressed, she only left the phone on speaker so that she could better take in everything I was saying.
As for if it will pay off, I think in the long run it will. I don’t do a lot of websites but atleast I now have a CI/CD template I can quickly deploy for any new html project I start, and it can always be extended for other non-static frameworks.
Pitfalls
A few pitfalls I came across, because to be honest I had many failed attempts before it finally working all together.
The hosted VSTS build agents DO NOT have Docker engines installed! make sure to use either your own build agent or set up a connection to an engine. The link for the Docker based VSTS agent is https://hub.docker.com/r/microsoft/vsts-agent/.
Repository name should be all lowercase! The Docker task by default uses the repository name as the image name, and the engine will throw an error if you use capital letters.
Scroll all the way down when copying the config file! I spent hours trying to troubleshoot why it wouldn’t connect to Kubernetes only to then realise I forgot to copy the config file completely and missed the certificate key data field.
When copying over the config file, make sure to remove all line breaks from the certificates. Otherwise this will cause a base64 decoding error in the build.
Appendix
Gulp Tasks
For the gulp tasks, create the gulp.js file, and add the dependacies in the package.json section into your package.json devDependencies section of your package.json (if you don’t already have a package.json file, type npm init. If you dont have node package manager install (npm) then download it….).
To use it, open a new command prompt/shell and navigate to the folder the gulp.js file is in and type.
gulp sass
gulp
Gulp.js
/*
* Place <!-- build:css --> <!-- endbuild -->
* around CSS link tags, to replace with cleaned/minified css
* and <!-- build:js --> <!-- endbuild --> around js tags.
* e.g.:
* <!-- build:js -->
* <script src="scripts/slider.js" async></script>
* <script src="scripts/hammer.min.js" async></script>
* <!-- endbuild -->
* Will replace both script tags with
* <script src="scripts/site.min.js" async></script>
*/
'use strict'; var gulp = require('gulp');
var sass = require('gulp-sass');
var stripCssComments = require('gulp-strip-css-comments');
var removeEmptyLines = require('gulp-remove-empty-lines');
var minify = require('gulp-minify');
var cleanCSS = require('gulp-clean-css');
var concat = require('gulp-concat');
var imagemin = require('gulp-imagemin');
var htmlreplace = require('gulp-html-replace');
var htmlmin = require('gulp-htmlmin'); var browserSync = require('browser-sync').create(); gulp.task('default', function()
{
browserSync.init({
server: {
baseDir: ""
},
cors:true
});
gulp.watch('sass/**/*.scss',['sass']);
gulp.watch('**/*.html').on('change', browserSync.reload);
//gulp.watch('Scripts/*.js',['minify']);
}); gulp.task('sass', function()
{
return gulp.src('sass/main.scss')
.pipe(sass().on('error', sass.logError))
.pipe(stripCssComments())
.pipe(removeEmptyLines())
.pipe(cleanCSS())
.pipe(gulp.dest('CSS'))
.pipe(browserSync.stream());
}); gulp.task('browser-sync', function() {
browserSync.init({
server: {
baseDir: ""
}
});
}); gulp.task('minify',function()
{
return gulp.src('scripts/*.js')
.pipe(minify({
ext:{
src:'.js',
min:'.min.js'
},
ignoreFiles:['.min.js'],
noSource: true
}))
.pipe(concat('site.js'))
.pipe(gulp.dest('Scripts/dist'));
}); gulp.task('imagemin',function()
{
return gulp.src('media/**/*')
.pipe(imagemin())
.pipe(gulp.dest('media/dist'));
}); /*dockerbuild tasks*/
gulp.task('dockerbuild',['docker-minify','docker-sass','docker-imagemin','docker-copy']); gulp.task('docker-minify',function()
{
return gulp.src('scripts/*.js')
.pipe(minify({
ext:{
src:'.js',
min:'.min.js'
},
ignoreFiles:['.min.js'],
noSource: true
}))
.pipe(concat('site.min.js'))
.pipe(gulp.dest('dist/scripts'));
}) gulp.task('docker-sass', function()
{
return gulp.src('sass/main.scss')
.pipe(sass().on('error', sass.logError))
.pipe(stripCssComments())
.pipe(removeEmptyLines())
.pipe(cleanCSS())
.pipe(gulp.dest('dist/css'))
.pipe(browserSync.stream());
}); gulp.task('docker-imagemin',function()
{
return gulp.src('media/**/*')
.pipe(imagemin())
.pipe(gulp.dest('dist/media'));
}); gulp.task('docker-copy',function()
{
gulp.src('*.html')
.pipe(htmlreplace({
'css': 'css/main.css',
'js': {src:'scripts/site.min.js', tpl: '<script src="%s" async></script>'}
}))
.pipe(htmlmin({collapseWhitespace: true}))
.pipe(gulp.dest('dist/')); });
package.json devDependencies
"browser-sync": "^2.17.5",
"gulp": "^3.9.1",
"gulp-clean-css": "^2.3.2",
"gulp-concat": "^2.6.1",
"gulp-html-replace": "^1.6.2",
"gulp-htmlmin": "^3.0.0",
"gulp-imagemin": "^3.1.1",
"gulp-minify": "0.0.14",
"gulp-remove-empty-lines": "0.0.8",
"gulp-sass": "^2.3.2",
"gulp-strip-css-comments": "^1.2.0"
Helpful links | {
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Art Stream
Come join us on Garrets Twitch channel on Wednesday (March 28th) at 1pm PDT. This time Garret will show how we’re updating old rides and will create some new scenery pieces. He will also demo the visuals update.
Devlog
Lights on!
Did you ever feel like your park looks a bit… boring when it rains? After this update that will no longer be the case, because all the lights actually work now.
And if you like it really dark you can turn on the new night mode whenever you want!
The Asset Editor has been updated so mods can use lights as well.
To fully capture the atmosphere of a theme park in the dark we’re updating all flat rides with hundreds of tiny lights.
Moreover, most of these lights also receive unique animation sequences. I have built us a tool for placing and animating the lights, and Garret has been busy working with it. So far we’re at over 6.000 animated lights, but there are still a bunch of rides left to update!
If you want to learn more about how we’re creating light animation sequences you should check out this weeks Art Stream where Garret will show how it works.
Until then here’s a quick video showcasing the new lights in action:
And some higher quality screenshots will follow shortly in the next post again :) | {
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Check out our new site Makeup Addiction
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yeah i went to bridgewater state university | {
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Our R&D department specializes in development of knowledge management automation tools. We offer a wide range of Intellexer semantic products that enable users to deal with various text processing tasks. Moreover, we can solve diverse problems associated with the processing of electronic documents. Find more detailed information in the case studies. | {
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Decisions for War focuses on the choices made by small coteries in Austria-Hungary, Germany, Russia, France, Britain and elsewhere to address a common yet perplexing question: why did World War I happen? Several of the usual causes for the war are reviewed and discussed. Rather than accepting arguments of mass demands, nationalism, militarism, and social Darwinism, the book shows how in each country, the decision to enter the war was made by only a handful of individuals - monarchs, ministers, military people, party leaders, ambassadors, and others. In each case, we also see separate and distinct agendas, the considerations differing from one nation to the next. The leadership of Japan, the Ottoman Empire, Italy, the Balkans, and the United States are explored, as well as that of the major European countries involved. | {
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MSNBC panelists on Monday seemed puzzled by the president’s refusal to visit the U.S.-Mexico border while he fundraises in Texas, with USA Today reporter Susan Page calling the decision Mr. Obama’s “Katrina moment.”
Appearing on “The Daily Rundown,” Carolyn Ryan of The New York Times argued that the crisis on the border, in which thousands of immigrants are crossing illegally in record numbers, goes to question the president’s competence.
“You can see that 30-second TV ad,” host Chuck Todd added, The Washington Free Beacon reported. “You start with the health care rollout. You go to the VA. You go to Syria. You go to Iraq. And you can go to the border. And you can draw a straight line.”
“This is unacceptable to more than Republicans on immigration, the situation we have there,” Ms. Page said. “And boy, is that going to anger some of his core constituents who have wanted him to do more on immigration, not less. … I think this is kind of a lose-lose for him, politically speaking.”
Mr. Todd said the administration has been “defiant” in refusing to visit the border while the president attends a fundraiser in Texas on Wednesday.
“It’s a Katrina moment, right?” Ms. Page asked. “And you’re going to a fundraiser and not going to the border where there’s this crisis?”
“It’s conceivably a lose-lose,” argued The Washington Post’s Dan Balz. “I mean, if he goes he draws even more attention to the fact of the problem that they were unable to solve right now. In a symbolic sense he almost has to go, but in a practical, political sense there’s a risk.”
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I JUST CAN'T WAIT TO GET HOME TO SEE IF THE FRONT PAGE HAS CHANGED SINCE LEAVING WORK
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A large street banner has been installed near the Vilnius Airport to warmly greet first guests from Georgia who travel to Lithuania visa-free.
The bilingual banner says in English and Georgian: "Closer than ever.”
The photographs of the banner were shared on Facebook by Vilnius Mayor Remigijus Simasius.
He said the banner was meant to surprise the first Georgian visa-free guests arriving from Kutaisi International Airport in Vilnius.
"Yesterday, Georgia-EU visa-free travel came into force and now Georgians can move freely within the European Union countries. We have prepared a surprise from the first visa-free guests,” he said.
The banner was not the only surprise the first visa-free travellers enjoyed in Vilnius. They were also greeted by the Mayor himself, Lithuanian Deputy Foreign Minister, as well as by local journalists and the Georgian Ambassador in Lithuania. A special event organised at the airport saw welcoming speeches by the officials and Georgia-Lithuania friendship cupcakes.
Firs Georgian visa-free travelers were warmly greeted at Vilnius airport. Photo: GPB.
The regulation which lifted the visa requirements for Georgian citizens came into effect yesterday. Based on the new regulations, Georgian citizens holding biometric passports can travel to the Schengen Zone for a period of 90 days within any 180-day period for purposes other than working.
The new visa-free countries include 22 EU states, four non-EU countries and four EU membership candidate states. | {
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Image copyright Gilbert family Image caption The disputed painted hanging in the London flat of art dealer Henry Pulitzer in the 1960s
A painting of the Mona Lisa hangs above a fireplace in a London flat in the 1960s. Is this picture not only by Leonardo da Vinci, but also an earlier version of the world famous portrait that hangs in the Louvre Museum in Paris?
Some people are convinced it is, and more than 50 years later, a bitter battle has erupted over both the ownership of the picture and the evidence about who painted it.
The so-called "Earlier Mona Lisa" is at the heart of a mystery that involves Caribbean tax havens, Swiss bank vaults, a mysterious international consortium, and the Sherlock Holmes of the art world.
Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption In 1979, the BBC got a glimpse of the "Earlier Mona Lisa" when it was held by a previous owner inside a Swiss bank vault
So is it genuine? Who are the rightful owners? And could the portrait at the centre of this Da Vinci Code-style mystery be worth hundreds of millions of dollars?
A court case in Italy this week may finally help shed some light on the answers to these questions.
A second Mona Lisa?
In 2012, an organisation called the Mona Lisa Foundation unveiled to the world, in a blaze of publicity, what it claimed to be a second painting of the Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci.
Since the Mona Lisa is possibly the world's most famous painting, and its painter is regarded as one of history's greatest artists, such a find would turn the art world upside down.
Image copyright AFP Image caption A comparison between the two paintings displayed by the Mona Lisa Foundation at a presentation in Geneva, Switzerland
The foundation set out an array of evidence to try to back up the claim that the painting was a second, previously unknown version of the portrait. But curiously the organisation claims it doesn't own the painting.
It says the picture is owned by an unnamed international consortium. When asked about this, the foundation's general secretary, Joël Feldman, replies: "The foundation, as a matter of policy and in compliance with its obligations, does not comment on the ownership consortium."
Image copyright AFP Image caption The Earlier Mona Lisa painting unveiled by the Mona Lisa Foundation in Geneva, Switzerland
But at their home in south London, Andrew and Karen Gilbert have a different story - they say they own a 25% share in the portrait.
When they contacted the Mona Lisa Foundation after it unveiled the portrait in 2012 they claimed the organisation said it "didn't know anything about us, they weren't the owners and just tried to bat us away as someone inconvenient".
"Because we were unable to find out who the owner was, nobody was telling us anything, we didn't know how we could launch any kind of proceedings," Karen says.
Image copyright Gilbert Family Image caption Andrew and Karen Gilbert, from London, say they own a 25% share in the painting
This week has seen a dramatic development that the Gilberts believe may lead to a breakthrough in their claim.
But a claim in what? Is it possible for a near priceless Leonard da Vinci portrait to suddenly come to light?
The $450m painting
Incredibly, that's exactly what happened with a painting called the Salvator Mundi - or Saviour of the World.
Sold for just £45 ($55) in 1958, it was bought at auction for an incredible $450m (£357m) by an anonymous buyer two years ago.
Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Auctioned at Christie's, Leonardo da Vinci's Salvator Mundi is the world's most expensive painting
The difference, of course, was down to the painting being authenticated by an international team of experts as a genuine Leonardo.
Could the painting dubbed the Earlier Mona Lisa by the foundation follow the same path?
'Had to be a Leonardo'
"I was sceptical but intrigued," Professor Jean-Pierre Isbouts says from Santa Monica, California - he was flown to Switzerland by the foundation to view the painting.
"I walked into the vault, it was very cold in there, and I spent about two hours with that painting. But after five minutes I recognised that this had to be a Leonardo."
But it wasn't just the appearance that made the academic from Fielding Graduate University in California (whose work is recommended by the foundation) believe the portrait was genuine - it was also the historical evidence, he says.
Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Leonardo da Vinci pictured in Giorgio Vasari book "The Lives of the Most Excellent Italian Painters"
"Giorgio Vasari, the [16th Century] biographer of Leonardo, clearly states that Leonardo worked on the Mona Lisa for four years and then left it unfinished."
This matches the appearance of the Earlier Mona Lisa, which has an incomplete background, unlike the famous portrait that hangs in the Louvre.
Professor Isbouts also points out that historical records mention Leonardo painting the Mona Lisa for two different clients, raising the possibility that he completed two separate portraits, one for each commission.
Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Histograms displaying colour similarities between the two paintings at the Mona Lisa Foundation presentation in Geneva, Switzerland
He adds that scientific tests appear to back up the claim the painting is genuine.
"With the Earlier Mona Lisa the science told us a) it is from the early 16th Century, b) it is definitely a composition by Leonardo because the configuration and the composition is identical to that of the Louvre Mona Lisa. And c) the histograms [digital graphs of the colours used] show that in terms of the 'handwriting' of the painting, how he applies the paint, [it] is exactly identical."
But not everyone agrees.
"A bit of rubbish"
"It's not the real article for a whole series of reasons," Martin Kemp, emeritus professor of art history at the University of Oxford, says.
"It really isn't a serious runner to be by Leonardo himself."
He thinks the reason Giorgio Vasari believed the Mona Lisa to be incomplete was because "Vasari's information was all Florentine", and the picture was probably completed after Leonardo had left the city of Florence.
Image copyright Getty Images Image caption The writer and painter Giorgio Vasari wrote about Leonardo da Vinci and the Mona Lisa in the 16th Century
And he disagrees that historical records suggest two Mona Lisas were painted.
Instead Professor Kemp says Leonardo probably never handed the portrait over to his original client, and a second person "might well have said if you finish that, I'll take it off you, as it were".
And the scientific evidence? Professor Kemp says the information offered by the Mona Lisa Foundation is only "permissive" and, while not ruling out the Earlier Mona Lisa from being by Leonardo, it certainly doesn't prove that it is.
Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Professor Martin Kemp is one of the world's leading authorities on Leonardo da Vinci
However, he adds "examination by infrared and other technical means, shows that it [the Louvre Mona Lisa] underwent an evolution, as all Leonardo's pictures did.
"The infrared examination of the Isleworth Madonna [as Earlier Mona Lisa is also known] is just tediously exact and is clearly the kind of drawing that's made when you're copying something rather than generating it."
Professor Isbouts, however, is critical of Professor Kemp's analysis in part because "Martin has never seen the work, and that's the beef that David and Joel [Feldman of the Mona Lisa Foundation] have, and I think it's a legitimate beef."
In response Professor Kemp replies: "The old canard that you always have to go and see it in the original, even if it is a bit of rubbish, is not sustainable, particularly with modern imaging techniques. And some of the high quality digital images, you can actually see more in them than you can see in the painting, even with a magnifying glass."
Shifting evidence
The experts may disagree about the evidence, but has all the material been presented clearly?
The BBC has seen sections of a pre-production copy of a book - written by several contributors but edited by Professor Isbouts - about the Earlier Mona Lisa, called "Leonardo Da Vinci's Mona Lisa: New Perspectives".
One of the contributors claims that in the final, published, version of the book, sections of his text seem to have been removed. He claims many of the deleted passages appear to be ones that are not helpful to the theory that the Earlier Mona Lisa is by Leonardo.
Image copyright Getty Images Image caption The Mona Lisa is one of the most famous artworks in the world
Professor Isbouts denied this: "I definitely edited some segments because I'm the editor. And in some cases there were passages that I don't think were scholarly defensible. I was just trying to keep the thrust of the argument intact - I certainly didn't remove anything of a contrarian nature. There were two chapters that were simply way too long."
He later emailed the BBC, having contacted the contributor to see which passages he was concerned about, and said: "We are working on the final version of the book, in hardcover, so we can still make some corrections within the available word count."
A Mona Lisa, but no money
One thing supporters of the theory that the Earlier Mona Lisa is by Leonardo da Vinci have to explain is where the painting came from.
It suddenly emerged in 1913, when Hugh Blaker bought it from a manor house in Somerset.
"Blaker believed he was on to something," says Professor Robert Meyrick of Aberystwyth University who studies the life of the art dealer.
Image copyright Public Domain Image caption Hugh Blaker was an art dealer, critic, collector, museum curator and playwright
Despite successfully tracking down genuine paintings by artists such as Rubens, Velázquez, El Greco, Manet, Constable, and Turner, Blaker's business dealings often went badly, and he never managed to sell his Mona Lisa.
"It was like a like a catalogue of failures really, despite his best efforts," says Professor Meyrick, of the man who struggled financially in later life.
Following Blaker's death, the painting ended up in the hands of an eccentric art dealer called Henry Pulitzer - he believed the Earlier Mona Lisa was actually more impressive than its more famous counterpart in the Louvre.
Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Henry Pulitzer holding a copy of a book he published about the painting called "Where is the Mona Lisa?"
But Pulitzer needed some help in trying to convince the world that they were both by Leonardo.
A helping hand
"He started running out of money to promote it, because he wanted to prove that it was a real Leonardo da Vinci," Andrew Gilbert says.
His family knew Pulitzer, bought pictures from him, and sold him some too.
They have shown the BBC a series of documents which they say shows the family bought a 25% share of the painting in 1964. About a decade later Pulitzer locked the portrait in a Swiss bank vault, and following his death, it eventually ended up in the hands of the international consortium in 2008.
Image copyright Gilbert family Image caption The Gilbert family claim they own a 25% share in the painting
The Mona Lisa Foundation vehemently disagrees with the Gilberts' claim, its president telling the press in July their case is "ill-founded and has no merit".
But the family have pressed on and called in the "Sherlock Holmes" of the art world to help.
"Well, I guess I don't mind it," Christopher Marinello, CEO and founder of Art Recovery International, says about his nickname.
Image copyright AFP Image caption Christopher Marinello has helped recover art worth hundreds of millions of dollars
"We've recovered about $510m (£400m) worth of art over the years. We're still heavily involved in some of the biggest cases going on right now in the art world, and we're proud of that."
But what does he think of the claim that the painting in this case might be by Leonardo da Vinci?
"I honestly don't care about any of it," he replies. "As far as I'm concerned, this is a simple matter of clients who have a contract of purchase for this painting, whatever it may be."
It's thanks to Mr Marinello that the Gilberts (who say they themselves are not sure if the portrait is a real Leonardo) began legal proceedings against the Mona Lisa Foundation in Italy while the painting was being exhibited in Florence.
The Caribbean connection
Ahead of this week's court hearing, the Gilberts' lawyer, Giovanni Protti, said this is the "most tricky and interesting case I've ever worked on".
"We've had to service a writ of summons to a lot of countries all over the world."
And that work has borne fruit. After a court hearing on Tuesday, Karen Gilbert says: "The Mona Lisa Foundation declared in front of the judge that Mona Lisa Inc in Anguilla was the owner of the painting."
Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Anguilla is a British Overseas Territory in the Caribbean
There is nothing to suggest such an arrangement implies any wrong-doing by the foundation or the international consortium, but the Caribbean island, which is a British Overseas Territory, is known for its discreet way of doing business.
"We're chipping away at it," Karen says. "We know therefore that we're on the right track with the research that we've done."
This doesn't establish that the Gilbert family do own a share in the portrait, but it is the first time that the Mona Lisa Foundation have disclosed who the owner is.
Image copyright Getty Images Image caption The Louvre museum where the Mona Lisa hangs has 10 million visitors a year
In response to Tuesday's hearing, the Mona Lisa Foundation's lawyer, Marco Parducci, says: "The Mona Lisa Foundation can neither confirm nor deny the claim, by virtue of the legal obligations it has towards the owners, unless it is explicitly requested by the judicial authority."
He adds that the Gilberts' claims suggest they are motivated by "economic interest and the desire to damage the foundation" and the next hearing in March will show "that there is no case".
Fame
The legal battle will roll on, but what would Leonardo, the great renaissance scholar, make of puzzles like the Earlier Mona Lisa and the myths that surround his work, 500 years after his death?
"Oh, he would be incredibly pleased," laughs Professor Kemp. "He was interested in fame.
"He would have cringed at some of the nonsense, but the fact that his name is the best-known name in the history of culture? Yes, he'd be very pleased." | {
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The House Republican leadership race is expected to reach a full boil following Speaker Paul Ryan Paul Davis RyanKenosha will be a good bellwether in 2020 At indoor rally, Pence says election runs through Wisconsin Juan Williams: Breaking down the debates MORE’s (R-Wis.) retirement announcement on Wednesday.
Ryan’s top lieutenants, Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy Kevin Owen McCarthyMcCarthy's Democratic challenger to launch first TV ad highlighting Air Force service as single mother Trump asked Chamber of Commerce to reconsider Democratic endorsements: report The Hill's Morning Report - Sponsored by The Air Line Pilots Association - White House moves closer to Pelosi on virus relief bill MORE (R-Calif.) and Majority Whip Steve Scalise Stephen (Steve) Joseph ScaliseHouse GOP slated to unveil agenda ahead of election House panel details 'serious' concerns around Florida, Georgia, Texas, Wisconsin elections Scalise hit with ethics complaint over doctored Barkan video MORE (R-La.), are both seen as potential Speakers-in-waiting — or minority leaders, if the GOP loses the House.
Though neither lawmaker has officially thrown his hat into the ring, Republican colleagues think both men will likely start making moves in the weeks ahead. And more lawmakers could enter the race as Republicans scramble to save their majority and consider who should lead them in 2019.
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“I know this town doesn’t let the bodies get cold before people start making announcements,” said Rep. Mark Walker Bradley (Mark) Mark WalkerMike Johnson to run for vice chairman of House GOP conference The Hill's Morning Report - Sponsored by National Industries for the Blind - Woodward book revelations rock Washington The Hill's 12:30 Report — Presented by Facebook — Trump, Biden duel in final stretch | Vaccine trial on pause after recipient's 'potentially unexplained illness' | Biden visits Michigan | Trump campaign has 18 events in 11 states planned in the next week MORE (R-N.C.), chairman of the conservative Republican Study Committee.
“We’ve got to have a Speaker. And this is politics. So people will start running,” said Rep. Roger Williams John (Roger) Roger WilliamsThe Hill's 12:30 Report - Presented by Facebook - Yoho apologizes for accosting AOC Ocasio-Cortez accosted by GOP lawmaker over remarks: 'That kind of confrontation hasn't ever happened to me' Cook shifts 20 House districts toward Democrats MORE (R-Texas).
Ryan announced Wednesday morning that he will retire from Congress in January, bringing his Speakership to an end after a little more than three years on the job.
Speculation about Ryan’s political future had been swirling for months, but his formal announcement will now bring the battle for the Speaker’s gavel to the forefront of the conversation in the months leading up to November’s midterm elections.
“Certainly, his leaving will create a real vacuum,” said Rep. Mark Meadows Mark Randall MeadowsHouse moves toward spending vote after bipartisan talks House Democrats mull delay on spending bill vote Southwest Airlines, unions call for six-month extension of government aid MORE (R-N.C.), the chairman of the conservative House Freedom Caucus. “There will be a de facto battle for Speaker, or minority leader, that will ensue over the coming weeks, not months.”
McCarthy and Scalise, the No. 2 and No. 3 House GOP leaders, respectively, had already begun jockeying behind the scenes in case Ryan decided to call it quits after the midterms.
In separate statements, McCarthy and Scalise both praised Ryan for his service in Congress, but made no mention of their own possible career ambitions.
“Right now, we all need to be focused on getting our job done, getting our economy back on track, working with [President] Trump to continue on the progress we’ve made, and then make sure we hold the majority,” Scalise told The Hill. “Our members are still just digesting the fact that Paul made this dramatic announcement today.”
McCarthy also swatted down speculation about a potential Speaker’s bid.
“Paul’s staying all the way through and we’ve got our work cut out for us to continue to work to keep the majority and a lot of legislation to get done,” McCarthy told The Hill.
A GOP leadership staffer didn’t rule out the possibility of House Republican Conference Chairwoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers Cathy McMorris RodgersHillicon Valley: Trump backs potential Microsoft, TikTok deal, sets September deadline | House Republicans request classified TikTok briefing | Facebook labels manipulated Pelosi video Top House Republicans request classified TikTok briefing More than 100 lawmakers urge IRS to resolve stimulus payment issues MORE (R-Wash.), the only woman in GOP leadership, running for the gavel. McMorris Rodgers is facing a tougher-than-expected reelection race that the Cook Political Report now rates as “lean Republican.”
Members have also floated House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady Kevin Patrick BradyBusinesses, states pass on Trump payroll tax deferral Trump order on drug prices faces long road to finish line On The Money: US deficit hits trillion amid pandemic | McConnell: Chance for relief deal 'doesn't look that good' | House employees won't have payroll taxes deferred MORE (R-Texas), who is fresh off a major tax-reform victory, and Walker as potential contenders. But it remains unclear whether they are interested in the job.
Meadows pointed to Rep. Rob Bishop Robert (Rob) William BishopOVERNIGHT ENERGY: EPA head questions connection of climate change to natural disasters | Pebble Mine executives eye future expansion in recorded conversations | EPA questions science linking widely used pesticide to brain damage in children House GOP seeks to cement Trump rollback of bedrock environmental law LWCF modernization: Restoring the promise MORE (R-Utah), chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee, as someone who could emerge as a dark horse candidate.
As rank-and-file members waited in line to speak at the microphones after Ryan’s announcement, McCarthy gave an impromptu speech, followed by similar off-the-cuff remarks from Scalise and McMorris Rodgers — which some GOP lawmakers took as a sign of their early jockeying for the gavel.
Scalise and McCarthy, who are considered early front-runners in the race, have made moves in recent weeks that could better position themselves in potential bids for Speaker.
McCarthy was one of the earliest and highest-profile congressional backers of Trump, who fondly refers to the majority leader as “my Kevin.”
McCarthy, who flew back to Washington over the Easter recess for a private dinner with Trump and some of his supporters, recently began working with the White House on a rescission package to cut spending hikes from the just-passed $1.3 trillion omnibus legislation after Trump expressed outrage about the pricey government funding bill.
And on Fox News last month, McCarthy sided with Trump’s call for a second special counsel to investigate allegations of political bias at the FBI and Justice Department. Two days later, Scalise issued a statement taking the same position.
Some lawmakers predict Trump could be the deciding factor in the race. While his approval ratings hover in the low 40s, Trump is enormously popular with House GOP lawmakers and the conservative base.
While some think McCarthy has an edge in the “Trump primary,” Scalise has earned his own presidential plaudits and even a nickname: the “legend of Louisiana.”
During the State of the Union address in January, Trump heaped praise on Scalise for surviving a near-fatal shooting during a GOP baseball practice last summer, marveling at how quickly Scalise returned to work.
There’s no doubt that Scalise, who recently transitioned to crutches after months of navigating the Capitol in a motorized scooter, has seen his political star rise.
But some GOP sources doubt that Trump would even get involved in a leadership race on Capitol Hill.
Ryan has floated the possibility that he may eventually weigh in. Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Ryan said he had thoughts on who should succeed him but that it wasn’t the right moment to share those thoughts.
“I have great confidence in this leadership team,” he said. “That election is in November, so it’s not something we have to sweat right now.”
The House Freedom Caucus, a band of roughly 30 conservative hard-liners, may have some sway over the outcome of the race.
McCarthy abruptly dropped his bid to replace then-Speaker John Boehner John Andrew BoehnerLongtime House parliamentarian to step down Five things we learned from this year's primaries Bad blood between Pelosi, Meadows complicates coronavirus talks MORE (R-Ohio) in 2015, saying he was worried he wouldn’t have enough support to effectively preside over the Republican conference.
But Meadows said McCarthy has been making more of an effort to ingratiate himself with the Freedom Caucus this year, and hinted that the Speaker’s race has come up in conversations on the House floor.
Some Republicans have observed that McCarthy has been spending more time with Freedom Caucus members in the back of the House chamber during votes.
And one Republican said McCarthy has even been sending birthday cards to some members.
“He’s been reaching out, trying to keep his promises to a number of members of the House Freedom Caucus. That will serve him well in whatever race, should he throw his hat into the ring,” Meadows said.
At least one conservative member, Rep. Walter Jones Walter Beaman JonesExperts warn Georgia's new electronic voting machines vulnerable to potential intrusions, malfunctions Georgia restores 22,000 voter registrations after purge Stacey Abrams group files emergency motion to stop Georgia voting roll purge MORE (R-N.C.), remains opposed to McCarthy becoming Speaker. Jones said he is more supportive of Scalise, who he thinks has more conservative credentials.
“Steve would be a good person,” Jones said. “He will certainly be in the mix.”
While Ryan plans to stick around as Speaker until the end of his term, Meadows cast doubt on the idea that there would be a seven-month-long race for the gavel, predicting that the issue will be settled, even if informally, before the midterm elections.
“I think who the next Speaker will be, will certainly be decided before November,” Meadows said. “Once that kind of gets settled on, whether it’s in fact a vote, which I doubt, or this is the heir apparent, then there will be a transition in terms of direction.” | {
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The Abbott government has been caught red-handed using national security, our independent police and security agencies, and the fear of terrorism itself, as tools for Liberal Party gain.
Once or twice might be contestable, but a clear pattern has emerged revealing a government too ready to stoke community fear and then parlay its "tough" policy responses for its own aggrandisement.
This harsh judgment is the reasonable conclusion from a series of breaches in the last fortnight. Consider three examples: a leaked briefing paper instructing ministers on how best to use what would have been extraordinary citizenship cancellation powers to politically isolate the ALP; a cynical fundraising campaign by the Victorian Liberal Party using the citizenship and terrorism to solicit political donations; and a media stunt at ASIO headquarters in which potentially sensitive maps showing IS recruitment zones in Melbourne and Sydney were released into the public domain. | {
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REDDIT: The gun control post you came here to see can now be found here: http://liberaltaria.com/?p=7
Although WordPress.com has since apologized and insisted this blog was suspended solely because it triggered an automated anti-spam mechanism, I have since moved to a new host that is in my control.
This blog can now be found at: http://www.liberaltaria.com/ | {
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The mainstream press has been predictably abysmal in its coverage of the Occupy Wall Street protests. Andrew Ross Sorkin, one of the “money honeys” over at the New York Times, looks at the demonstrators as anthropological curiosities, as if they’re from a remote tribe in Papua New Guinea. The Times’ Ginia Bellafante calls the protesters “ideologically vague and strategically baffling,” who are doomed to failure even though they’ve received the blessing of what she calls “the left’s ruling class,” (Michael Moore, Naomi Klein, and Susan Sarandon). Who would have known the “left” has a “ruling class?”
The only reason the press covered Officer Anthony Bologna’s pepper spraying of those non-resisting young women was because it was caught on video. Even the liberal Nicholas Kristof displays his lack of insight when he offered the group his unsolicited advice for a demand: “Close the Carried Interest and Founders’ Stock Loopholes!” (I’m sure down at Zuccotti Park right now people are writing that on placards.)
There are precious few voices in the news media suggesting breaking up the big banks through anti-trust enforcement, slapping windfall profits taxes on them, or dusting off the RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act) statute to put some of the perps behind bars.
Still, the optics are pretty bad for the big banks.
If JPMorgan Chase and the rest of the money cartel cared one whit about people perceiving them as being slightly more tolerable corporate citizens, they would have long ago voluntarily offered a lifeline to underwater mortgage holders and to local governments. Yet their campaign donations, lobbying activities, and predatory practices in abusing their “customers” (like Bank of America’s recent fee hike or Jamie Dimon’s big donation to the New York Police Department) show that these behemoths have no intention of reforming themselves. Instead, they intend to continue to give the country the shaft thinking themselves immune to the public’s wrath by virtue of the immense piles of money they control — which is precisely the problem, isn’t it?
What those corporations on Wall Street and their enablers in Washington did to the country was unconscionable. Now New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg is putting out the tired line that bosses always use to divide workers whenever strike actions are called: “It’s such an inconvenience to the little people! Those unions should be ashamed of themselves!” Bloomberg is just reminding us that he’s just another billionaire whose setting up the PR discourse for an act of repression against the protesters.
The pressure from those “rudderless” protesters on Wall Street, sometimes called “spoiled brats,” helped strengthen the spines of New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and California Attorney General Kamala Harris to push back against the Obama Administration’s efforts to cut a sweetheart deal with the banks. Schneiderman and Harris stopped attorneys general from little states, like Iowa’s Tom Miller and others, from being accomplices in covering up the banks’ multiple felonies. (Last year Harris won a squeaker of an election, which is a reminder that even in a huge state like California every single vote matters.)
Back in May 1986, the Wall Street financier, Ivan Boesky, famously told the U.C. Berkeley business school commencement: “I think greed is healthy.” Eighteen months later, he was convicted for insider trading, sentenced to three years in prison, and fined $100 million. As part of Boesky’s plea deal with federal prosecutors, he gave up Michael Milken as a co-conspirator.
The business press naturally had fallen in love with Milken, calling him “the premier financier of his generation” (Fortune); “the chief architect of America’s corporate restructuring” (Forbes); and “probably the most influential American financier since J.P. Morgan” (The Economist). Milken’s creative accounting in the context of a deregulated Wall Street greased the wheels for corporate raiders to engage in a wave of leveraged buyouts (LBOs) and hostile takeovers that piled up unimaginable profits and commissions. LBOs were particularly damaging to the real economy because they entailed buying companies and then selling them for parts like a chopped stolen vehicle. The financiers made out like bandits while the workers lost their jobs and their pensions when the companies were liquidated.
Even during the height of the Reagan Revolution federal authorities used RICO, normally aimed at mafia titans, to prosecute Milken. He pleaded guilty to six felonies of conspiracy and a host of tax and mail frauds and was sentenced to ten years in prison. Although Milken served less than two years he also paid what was then the biggest single fine in American history: $900 million. Boesky and Milken became the poster boys for the shady deals and widespread “control frauds” that were taking place on Wall Street throughout the 1980s. Their criminal convictions marked an end to an era of fast money and high-stakes gambling that had put the “real” economy at risk and were a factor in the October 19, 1987 stock market crash.
If the feds under Reagan could prosecute a couple of corrupt high rollers on Wall Street, why can’t they do it under Obama?
The dominant ideas of any industrial society are those of its ruling elites. Terrible ideas — such as “trickle down” tax cuts, deeming corporations “people,” or deregulating everything — drench us like a relentless thundercloud opening over our heads. No matter how damaging these ideas are to the well-being of our society, as long as they come down from on high they’ll be ventilated widely and establish the parameters of “acceptable” public discussion.
This hegemony of ideas that serve power is why even “liberal” voices inside the news media cannot comprehend what’s taking place near Wall Street. The nonviolent occupiers in their tents and sleeping bags are creating a subaltern culture, a workers’ culture; the culture of the other 99 percent. They don’t need a 13-point plan of specific demands. (And if they had such a list they’d be denounced for being overly rigid and ideological). What they’re doing is far bigger and more significant than an itemized set of grievances. If you can’t figure out what they’re saying then you’re not really listening.
When a U.S. Senator stands up in the well of the Senate and says that the bankers “own this place,” it should ring alarm bells among our political class and even pundits who claim to care so much about America. Where were the Peggy Noonans or the Thomas Friedmans or the David Brookses when Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois made that sweeping admission? They’re full of advice for working people to follow, but on the Senate controlled by Wall Street and a Supreme Court that uses chicanery to turn corporations into persons, we hear not a peep from these gatekeepers.
The Occupy Wall Street demonstrators most likely at some point will be cleared out, tear-gassed, and clubbed into relinquishing their liberated territory as was the case with the Bonus Army of veterans that occupied Washington in 1932. The economic depression that started in 1929 had awakened protest movements just as our current depression has sparked the occupation of Wall Street.
But even if the protest is repressed this great endeavor of building of working-class culture that represents the aspirations and interests of the other 99 percent will have taken a huge stride forward. With labor unions, students, workers, the unemployed, the elderly, mortgage holders, and veterans working together to confront the centers of ill-gotten wealth and power that have run amok on Wall Street, the wider movement representing the other 99 percent is destined to grow.
Joseph Palermo
Joseph Palermo’s Blog | {
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In the midst of what has been a brutal two weeks for Donald Trump, the Republican presidential nominee announced the brain trust that will serve as his campaign’s economic policy advisory board.
Only two of the names on the list, released Friday, are actual economists, one of whom is Stephen Moore. The other 11 are mostly business titans, including real-estate heavy hitters Steven Roth and Howard Lorber, private equity guys Tom Barrack and Steven Feinberg, and bankers Stephen Calk and Andy Beal.
The most eyebrow-raising name on the list is John Paulson, the hedge funder who famously bet the American housing market would flop and subprime mortgages would collapse in value—events more colloquially known as the financial crisis that toppled the U.S. economy in 2007. Paulson’s firm, Paulson & Co., made $15 billion that year, while Paulson himself pocketed about $4 billion, or as The Wall Street Journal put it, $10 million a day. (Hard times struck the firm earlier this year, and Paulson had to put up his own fortune to back a line of credit Paulson & Co. has had with HSBC since 2010.)
The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to requests for comment, but the candidate, who is scheduled to deliver a speech on his economic policy platform Monday in Detroit, told CNBC: “I am pleased that we have such a formidable group of experienced and talented individuals that will work with me to implement real solutions for the economic issues facing our country.” | {
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Photo via Getty
Per the Santa Clara County DA, former NFL Defensive Player Of The Year Dana Stubblefield has been charged with raping a developmentally disabled woman last year in his Morgan Hill home.
The incident allegedly occurred in April 2015 and there is DNA evidence tying Stubblefield to the case. According to documents referenced by the San Jose Mercury News, Stubblefield conducted an interview with the alleged victim, who was applying for a job as a nanny, then called her back shortly after she left under the guise of wanting to pay her for her time. Allegedly, he gave her $80 after raping her:
She went back to the house where Stubblefield picked her up, carried her to a room and raped her, the report says. Stubblefield gave her $80 and let her go. The woman drove straight to the Morgan Hill Police Department, where she reported being assaulted by a man named “Dana.”
The Santa Clara DA’s office made an announcement today, and it appears they will aggressively pursue prosecution.
Stubblefield, 45, who stands 6-foot, 3 inches tall and weighs 310 pounds, is charged with five felony counts related to assault and faces a “substantial prison sentence” if convicted, according to prosecutors. “This was a crime of violence against a vulnerable victim,” said Deputy District Attorney Tim McInerny in a statement. “She was looking for a job and she was unconscionably assaulted.”
We’ve requested the court documents, and will update this post when more information becomes available. | {
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Un tânăr din Timișoara ia amendă după amendă, din cauza unei hotărâri a Consiliului Local din Timișoara, care a decis că nu poți deține un animal de companie fără să ai acordul scris al proprietarilor apartamentelor limitrofe.
Laurențiu Toader și-a luat anul trecut un câine, pe care l-a numit Ares. Pentru patrupedul său, un metiș de Amstaff, Laurențiu a primit acordul a 14 din cei 20 de vecini, însă conform hotărârii Consiliului Local, are nevoie și de majoritatea celor care locuiesc în apartamentele limitrofe, scrie Adevărul.ro.
„Are vaccinuri, totul la zi. Dar am un limitrof de bloc, care refuză să semneze. El consideră că animalele nu se ţin la bloc. Nu vrea să semneze. Preşedintele de bloc, care e portar la Primărie, prieten cu acest limitrof care nu vrea să semneze, nu e de acord nici el. El tot se lua de mine când ieşeam cu câinele. Am majoritate, dar nu am de la limitrofi, cei care stau lângă tine. A semnat doar unul din trei. Sunt oameni care nu suportă animalele. Preşedintele mi-a spus că dacă luăm semnăturile el ne dă ştampila. Am vecini care au păţit la fel ca mine. Ei au dus câinele, un pui de Beagle, la sat. Deşi aveau toate semnăturile”, a explicat Laurenţiu Toader.
Pentru că refuză să renunțe la animalul său, Laurențiu a fost vizitat de două ori de polițiști și amendat de fiecare dată cu câte 800 de lei.
„Eu la câine nu o să renunţ. Nu am să-l arunc pe stradă. Am atâtea ore de dresaj. Nu poate nimeni să spună că lasă mizerie, că face gălăgie. Dacă las geamul deschis şi trece un câine mai latră şi el, dar până la urmă şi vecinii se mai ceartă sau dau muzica tare”, a mai declarat Laurenţiu Toader, potrivit Adevărul.
HCL 371/2007, care reglementează „Deţinerea animalelor de companie în Timişoara”, spune, la Art.21, litera G, că este contravenţie şi se sancţionează contravenţional creşterea şi deţinerea de animale de companie cu nerespectarea următoarei condiţii: „Deţinerea animalului de companie în apartamente fără acordul scris şi ştampilat al Asociaţiei de proprietari, adoptat cu majoritatea voturilor proprietarilor, în baza acordului expres al proprietarilor din apartamentele limitrofe (apartamentul superior, inferior şi a celor învecinate de pe acelaşi etaj apartamentului de deţinere al animalului de companie)". | {
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Simon Stone, the resident director of Belvoir St. Theatre, an Australian company, jumped head first into a pail of boiling oil when he took it upon himself to rewrite "Death of a Salesman." Not only did he cut the play's epilogue, but he altered the manner in which Willy Loman, Arthur Miller's protagonist, meets his death. In the original play, Willy dies in a car crash that may or may not have been intentional; in Mr. Stone's staging, he commits suicide by gassing himself. On top of that, Belvoir neglected to inform ICM Partners, the agency that represents Mr. Miller's estate and licenses his plays for production around... | {
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In the coming months, President Obama will decide whether to approve the permit for the Keystone XL pipeline, which would transport crude tar-sands oil from Alberta to the Gulf of Mexico. We know that the pipeline would greatly aggravate climate change, allowing massive amounts of the world’s dirtiest oil to be extracted and later burned.
The payoff, say supporters such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, is a job boom in construction industries, which are currently suffering from high unemployment. Earlier this month, Chamber of Commerce CEO Tom Donohue called on the president “to put American jobs before special interest politics.”
If you believe headline-grabbing challenges such as Donohue’s, the president is painted into a corner on the KXL pipeline — trapped by a stagnant economy and an ailing environment.
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The president knows KXL’s jobs promises are way overblown. In July, he explained it this way to The New York Times: “Republicans have said this would be a big jobs generator. There is no evidence that is true.” The most realistic estimates, said the president, show that KXL “might create maybe 2,000 jobs during the construction of the pipeline, which might take a year or two.” And after that, “we’re talking about somewhere between 50 and 100 jobs in an economy of 150 million working people.”
Still, even a few thousand construction jobs can’t be dismissed out of hand, in an industry where nearly a million people are estimated to be out of work. Those jobs would put food on the table and pay mortgages. They would alleviate a lot of pain, even if only temporarily. As a country, we’re still hungry for jobs. It seems as if we’re collectively out on the street and KXL is the only offer that has come along.
But that’s not actually the case.
According to “The Keystone Pipeline Debate: An Alternative Job Creation Strategy,” a study just released by Economics for Equity and Environment and the Labor Network for Sustainability, targeted investments in our existing water and natural-gas pipeline infrastructure needs along the proposed five-state corridor of the KXL pipeline would create many more long-term jobs than Keystone XL, both in absolute terms and per unit of investment.
We can create far more jobs in the construction industry and do it right in the regions that would stand to benefit from the KXL pipeline. We can get beyond the zombie jobs-vs.-environment debate that keeps rearing its ghoulish head, putting people back to work without breaking the climate. We can do all this by tackling the national crisis of aging infrastructure — repairing things such as crumbling water mains and leaking gas lines that are critical to our communities and our economy.
The data from the report are straightforward and compelling. Meeting the $18 billion in needed water and gas line repairs would support:
– More than 300,000 total jobs across all sectors
– Nearly five times more jobs, and more long-term jobs, than KXL
– 156 percent of the number of direct jobs created by Keystone XL per unit of investment
All of this necessary infrastructure work can be financed, as the report describes, just by closing three federal tax breaks fossil fuel companies enjoy for drilling and refining activities. So the tax loopholes that would help subsidize the KXL pipeline could instead fund many more longer-lasting jobs repairing existing water and gas infrastructure.
To be clear, natural gas has serious negative impacts to communities and the environment. Fracking, the now commonly used process of extracting shale gas from deep underground, releases 30 percent more greenhouse gas emissions than conventional drilling and is poisoning water supplies across the country. But we still need to fix leaks in our existing natural-gas pipelines, which are contributing significantly to climate change. Shoring up those pipelines will also protect communities and businesses that rely on gas now, as we transition to cleaner energy.
Damage caused by leaking and unsafe gas pipelines cost governments across the country more than $450 million between 1984 and 2013. The American Society of Civil Engineers, in its latest Infrastructure Report Card, recently gave the country a D+ on energy infrastructure, and a D on drinking-water and wastewater infrastructure. If we don’t get our act together, we’re going to see more devastating explosions like the one that tore through San Bruno, Calif., a few years ago.
What’s curious is that many of the politicians and lobbying groups who have touted the KXL pipeline as a source of jobs have opposed legislation to invest in job-creating pipeline infrastructure programs. Yet when it comes to job creation, infrastructure improvements beat out KXL by a country mile. KXL has become a litmus test for being pro-job, but one that’s far detached from reality and that’s drawing attention away from effective ways to get people back to work.
Meanwhile, environmentalists, frequently excoriated as “job killers,” are becoming a strong collective voice for investment in infrastructure and other things our country really needs. They are increasingly working with organized labor to develop concrete alternatives to jobs that may destroy the environment.
If job creation is our primary goal, then politicians should pivot away from the Keystone XL pipeline and toward repairs to existing pipeline infrastructure. This is how President Obama — and the whole country — can get out of the Keystone jam. | {
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Now, she and her children live in a hotel on New York Avenue that houses other homeless families, and she is dreading the commute that starts Monday, the first day of school.
To get to Smothers Elementary School in Northeast Washington, she and her sons, 4-year-old Kenneth and 5-year-old Emanuel, will have to cross two busy roads and take three buses. They will do that again, in reverse, to get home. The 3.8-mile trip, she says, will take an hour and a half each way, assuming traffic is normal.
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“It’s very, very daunting,” Gaddis, 31, told me as she made her way from the bus stop this week. She reminded her sons to “stay on the inside” of the sidewalk.
“It stresses the parents out,” she said. “All of us.”
The staff of the Homeless Children’s Playtime Project, which serves children housed by the city at the Quality Inn and the Days Inn on New York Avenue, recently held focus groups and conducted a survey of parents at the hotels. They found two primary concerns. The obvious one: housing. The less obvious one: transportation.
Mothers and fathers spoke about their struggles to get their children to and from school and how that has resulted in tardiness and truancy.
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One mother confessed to spending about $400 a month on Uber to get her daughter to school and herself to work.
An unemployed father described how his 8-year-old son had missed school the previous year because of the area’s lack of Metro access and how he was nervous that the same pattern would emerge this year.
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“How can we expect them to do well in school if they can’t get to school?” Jamila Larson, the executive director of the Playtime Project, said of the children at the hotels. At last count, 270 homeless families with 532 children were housed there.
Larson, a former school social worker, said that transportation is not part of the nonprofit group’s mission but that this issue is too important for agencies and organizations to “stay in their lane.”
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“Can’t we just collectively, as a city, help them get to school?” she said. “So much of what they face every day is hard. Can’t we just make this one piece easier? Can’t we just set them up for success?”
She pitched a potential solution to city officials in letters she sent this month, outlining the “dire need.”
“The solution we recommend is providing a shuttle bus service from the shelter hotels to the nearest Metro station, just like these hotels did for tourists (Maybe even dispatch a circulator bus down there during the schoolyear?),” reads the letter she sent to several council members.
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In the letter, she cited a law intended to remove transportation barriers for homeless children and indicated that she had alerted the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Education, the D.C. Department of Human Services and the Office of the State Superintendent of Education about the issue.
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“Transportation is a basic amenity,” Larson told me when we spoke this week. “If we understand that tourists need to get to the monuments and business executives need to get to conferences, why don’t we understand kids need to get to school?”
In a city that fought over whether the D.C. Circulator should offer free rides indefinitely, a shuttle service to get homeless children to and from school seems like a reasonable request.
It also seems to fall in line with previous statements made by top city officials about the importance of access to public transportation.
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“No child should miss a minute or a day of school because of transportation challenges, and no family should be in a position where money is a barrier to getting their children to school on time,” Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) said in a recent statement about the Kids Ride Free cards that allow D.C. students to ride public transportation free to and from school.
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As city officials consider Larson’s suggestion and where they want to stand on this issue, they should know that the families at the hotels are watching, waiting and hoping for help.
I spoke to three families, and all of them said that a shuttle to the Metro would greatly improve their commutes. The nearest Metro stop is 1.7 miles away, and the closest bus stop requires crossing traffic-heavy New York Avenue and Bladensburg Road.
“Sometimes I see kids taking kids to school, and it’s really scary,” said Erica Cubbage-Person, 39. She recalled seeing a girl leading her two younger siblings across the middle of the road. “They had to be under 7. All three of them.”
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Her husband is an Army veteran, and she said the family ended up at the Days Inn in April after one of their sons was a victim of a crime and they had to move for safety concerns. Since arriving, Cubbage-Person has changed her children’s doctors so they won’t have to travel far, and she has enrolled her youngest son, who is 12, in a new school to shorten his commute. Even then, he will have to take several buses to get there.
She said she hopes to buy him a bicycle to further reduce his trip.
“I would do anything for my kids,” she said, “and I’m sure there are a lot of other mothers here who would do the same.”
Fathers, too.
Carlo Blount describes his 6-year-old son, Kyrie, as “a shining star.” He said the boy excels in school and won a spelling bee last year. He added that he has arrived late to school many days because of public transportation.
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“It’s frustrating because if you’re tardy, it opens it up to people just questioning, ‘Why is he always late?’ ” said Blount, 39. “It’s not for lack of trying. It’s just the commute.”
The family also has a 4-month-old and a 2-year-old. Blount said the toddler missed so many days of day care last year that she lost her place there.
Families at the hotels need help with transportation, he said, and the city should find a way to provide it because “it’s the human thing to do.”
When the water began rising on July 8 in Gaddis’s apartment, she grabbed everything that held sentimental value. Almost everything else was destroyed, including her children’s coats and all but one pair of her shoes.
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She still gets choked up when she thinks about what was lost.
Gaddis said she wants for her children what other parents do. She wants them to have a home and feel safe walking in their neighborhood. She wants them to go to college and find success. And she wants to eventually give them that without the city’s help. She is studying information technology and cybersecurity at Strayer University. She said she saw a job in that field advertise a $90,000 yearly salary and set that as her goal.
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“We’re not uneducated, and we’re not lazy,” she said. “We just need a little help because of our situation right now.”
And she could really use that help starting Monday, when she will drop off two little boys for their first day of kindergarten and first grade. | {
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Seven-year-old Havana resident Jennifer Alvarez loves school. Her favorite subject is math, but “sometimes it’s complicated,” she says. Alvarez is a sweet little girl, being raised by a single mother. It’s not just math that’s complicated, the second-grader says. Life is too.
“Sometimes you want to go somewhere and then you can’t and it’s a bit complicated,” she says. Why? “Because you don’t have money, you can’t afford the bus fare, there’s lots of things you can’t afford.”
Despite this, Alvarez has big dreams for when she grows up. “I’ll be like a teacher or a doctor,” she says.
Her mother, Marlene, is a teacher, but her salary was so low she was forced to look for a job in someone’s private business. It’s a conundrum many professionals face today, especially young people.
With the Cuban economy struggling, infrastructure crumbling and low salaries paid by the Cuban state to most professionals, young people are wondering what their future holds. The economy increasingly relies on tourist dollars, and a university degree doesn’t earn one anywhere near as much as working as a waitress, or a taxi driver.
That’s the dilemma facing Tania García. On a recent Sunday afternoon she was hanging out at her boyfriend’s house with her friends. The group of young adults just finished watching a soccer game but they stayed put at home as none had any money to go anywhere.
García graduated from a five-year university course with a degree in biology.
“I really like research work in the labs, I love the world of biology,” she says. “Not so much studying little animals, I prefer the human end — like immunology and genetics, these are the areas I like.”
After graduating, García really only had one option with her qualifications, and that was to work in a government research facility.
“I work for the state, but of course a small business owner earns much more than a state worker,” she says. “Here it’s really hard for young people.”
García says she considered not going to university and finding a job in tourism. But her parents pushed her to study. And she loved her five-year degree.
“When I graduated, I said, ‘I’m going to work and help out my mom, my parents’ — but no, that hasn’t happened,” García says. “I still live under my mother’s roof. It’s my mom who helps me! And that’s not what I want. Now I want to help my parents. And I want some control over things but I feel like I’m still a child. But I’m 25 years old.”
While she and her friends can go to the movies or even the theater — these kinds of outings are cheap and charge in Cuban pesos — bars and restaurants are more expensive and you often have to pay in the dollar equivalent currency, which García doesn’t earn in.
“Going out is a bit limited because sometimes you want to go to a certain place and then you can’t because you don’t have the money,” she says.
Her words echo those of 7-year-old Alvarez.
Like many young adults still living at home, Dariel Ramírez understands that this wasn’t the reality for his parent’s generation.
“In my mom’s time, well she studied and graduated and got a job and with her salary — which wasn’t super high — she had enough to live, to go out when she wanted, to eat out, to buy clothes,” Ramírez says. “It’s not like that today, times have changed.”
Ramírez graduated as a zoo scientist and vet, and that’s the field he’d love to work in. “It’s what I love doing,” he says. “But here’s the thing, the salary is really low. It’s not enough to survive. It’s complicated.”
As they hang out in her living room, Odalis Ramírez is in the kitchen cooking for the half-dozen young adults.
It’s a big family Sunday dinner, she says. She learned to cook after she graduated college and got her first job. “When I moved out on my own was when I learned to cook. I would call my mom and say, ‘Mommy, how do I do this?’ And she’d tell me and that’s how I learned.”
She doesn’t know when her own kids, now in their 20s, will be able to afford to move out on their own.
Across town Michel Ahumada is forging ahead, pursuing the things he loves doing.
Ahumada is a railway technician by trade. He’s also a singer and model. He runs a weekly fashion show where he trains young people in the art of catwalk modeling. But he says there’s an expectation that even models will go to college.
“When a model says she is a model she is also the same as an educated woman,” Ahumada says.
At one of his recent fashion shows, a stunning young woman approaches the designer Ahumado works for, and asks if she too can be a model. The designer looks her up and down and tells her she would be great, but she needs to study first.
Ahumado doesn’t begrudge not making his living solely from modeling. “Everyone says to me, ‘but how do you do all this modeling work when you work in trains?’ But working on the railroads has always been something that has appealed to me. I really like trains a lot,” he says.
Ahumada’s lucky — he’s found a way to make it in Cuba’s two-tiered economy. | {
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They are two small towns in two southern states. Each has a university, and their fan bases love their Tigers. It's Auburn of the SEC and Clemson of the ACC. They have a lot more in common than their passion for the game of college football.
One thing they have in common this month is both are hot as can be on the recruiting trail. And when you speak to a football prospect who has committed to Auburn or Clemson, he's likely to reveal another trait the schools share: The family atmosphere among the coaches and players is the main reason why they committed.
Travis Blanks, the nation's No. 2 safety prospect, fell in love with the family atmosphere at Clemson and committed. Courtesy of Tom Hauck
"I committed to Clemson because of the relationships with the coaches and people of Clemson," said Travis Blanks (Tallahassee, Fla./North Florida Christian), the nation's No. 2 safety prospect and an ESPNU 150 member. "Everyone everywhere is terrific. All the people around the program and the surrounding area are great. Clemson is just a very welcoming place. It's those guys [the Tigers' coaches] and it resonates down to everyone from the players to the secretaries to all their support staff. That's the main reason why I chose Clemson was the relationships with all the people there. I fell in love with their family atmosphere."
Creating that type of environment is something most college staffs strive for. It can't be contrived. It can't be faked. It has to be real. And for whatever rhyme or reason, it seems to really reverberate within both these programs.
"I think every school talks about having a family atmosphere," said Jeff Scott, Clemson's wide receivers coach and recruiting coordinator. "But a recruit will get a chance to see it for himself and get a real sense if that is true or not. They can tell whether you have a family atmosphere or a business atmosphere."
It starts at the top. Both Auburn head coach Gene Chizik and Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney are the facilitators. They set the tone, mood and football environment.
"There is a genuine family atmosphere here at Auburn," said Curtis Luper, Auburn's running backs coach and recruiting coordinator. "It starts with the staff and of course Coach Chizik and works all the way down. Recruits that come here and visit us see us as coaches but they also see us as husbands and fathers. There are 30 school-aged kids from coaches on this staff and the recruits see that and they know. It's very evident when people see it. The kids really enjoy it and they already feel like they are here. And we treat our players as we would our own children.
"Auburn is a fantastic place -- the city, the university and all the people. The entire area is a great atmosphere. The funny thing is that Auburn graduates call themselves the Auburn family."
ESPNU 150 quarterback Chad Kelly (Buffalo, N.Y./St. Joseph's Collegiate Institute) committed to Clemson a few weeks ago. He got the sense of family from the get-go. That immediately put Kelly at ease and made him relax, able to soak in everything the Tigers had to offer on his visit.
"It seems as though everyone that commits there you read about the family atmosphere of Clemson as being the big reason," said Kelly, the nation's No. 5-rated quarterback and the nephew of Hall of Fame quarterback Jim Kelly. "But it's so true. You walk inside there and everyone says hello and they all know everything about you. It makes you feel comfortable from the very beginning and you can just be yourself. You take the tour and again, everyone knows who you are. All the coaches know you before you are there. Everyone affiliated with the program knows you before you are there. It's just a lot different than some other places. The thing is it's so genuine."
Scott and the Tigers coaches know that Clemson won't appeal to all recruits. Still, there are plenty of college-bound football players looking for what the Tigers have to offer.
"We appeal to a certain type of recruit and we know that Clemson is not for everyone," Scott said. "The coaches are more than just about football. They have a genuine interest to see these players grow in life. It's an environment that Coach Swinney and the staff created. It's genuine and consistent. I honestly think it's not something you can fabricate.
"To be honest nothing is orchestrated or planned out. That would show through. What recruits and their families see is how we interact. We are all very close, live in the same neighborhood and our wives hang out together and spend a lot of time together. That's the overall philosophy of Coach Swinney and it's something he's created and cultivated. It's amazing. People talk about it. The players talk about it and relay it to the prospects. It's a 365-day thing."
ESPNU athlete Ricky Parks (Hoganville, Ga./Callaway) was torn among three schools -- Georgia, Alabama and Auburn. Before his decision, Parks publicly stated he felt very comfortable at all three schools. But in the end, he just felt a little more at home on the plains of Auburn.
"Auburn is truly a big family with such a good coaching staff," said Parks, the nation's No. 12 athlete and an ESPNU 150 member. "Everyone's always around. They are so friendly. They pray for each other. It's just a wonderful experience. It's crazy there. Every time I went I felt more comfortable. I went over three weekends and that sold me. I went to Big Cat Weekend and it felt to me like I was with my high school team and coaches. It was just more of a family atmosphere than Georgia and Alabama. Even the coaches' family members are great. The Big Cat Weekend sold it for me. I knew."
What's interesting is both these programs have two different approaches with the same philosophy in terms of getting kids on campus in the early part of summer. For Auburn it's called Big Cat Weekend, a weekend filled with no football. It's just recruits and their families visiting Auburn to hang out with the coaches, their families and players. Meanwhile, Clemson has a three-day summer camp in early June. It's the only camp where they get their main recruiting targets on campus and in front of the coaching staff.
The focus for Auburn and Clemson is the same; they create a no-pressure environment where the kids and coaches can get to know each other better. The results are outstanding. Clemson has 12 commitments to date, and all 12 of them camped with the Tigers. Last year their ratio was 29 commitments, with 21 camping with Clemson the previous summer.
"That's what works for us," Scott said. "We would rather have kids on campus for three days in June and be with us in a real, low-key, stress-free environment. We get to know them and they get to know us. For most of them, it's their third or fourth time on campus. They can also get the real feel for Clemson and everything we have to offer."
One player who was sold was Zac Brooks (Jonesboro, Ark./Jonesboro). In fact, Clemson came out of nowhere to land him last week, and one of the teams it beat out was Auburn.
"I had a great visit," said Brooks, the 35th-ranked wide receiver. "When I went there I knew it was special. I was talking with the coaches and meeting everyone and realized right away it was the perfect fit for me. I never thought of Clemson as a school I would commit to, but then I started feeling them more and more. When I got there it was so much more than what I expected.
"The exact word to describe Clemson is genuine. I just always wanted to go to a school where I felt my home was with me. It didn't matter where or what conference. In the end I had a top four of Arkansas, Auburn, Florida and Florida State. Clemson wasn't even in it. I almost went to Auburn. You get the same feeling there. The only reason why I didn't is there's a better playing opportunity with Clemson."
In the end, this is what works for both the Tigers of Auburn and Clemson. Different teams have different ways to sell their football program. For both Auburn and Clemson, it's the family atmosphere.
"Every coach on staff has a family and kids," said quarterback Zeke Pike (Fort Mitchell, Ky./Dixie Heights), an Auburn commitment. "They understand what it's like to have kids of their own. That makes a special bond with the players and the coaches. I felt that the very first time I stepped foot on their campus. It felt so comfortable there. It's not just the coaches, it's the people of Auburn and the environment of the town. Even if football wasn't in the equation, Auburn is a place where I would want to go to school for four or five years."
Rebels head north for OT
It's not often you find Ole Miss recruiting the Midwest. In fact, if you look over the past decade, the Rebels have landed only one recruit from that region, and it was in this past recruiting class, with junior college transfer quarterback Zack Stoudt (Council Bluffs, Ia./Iowa Western).
That changed on Friday, when Ole Miss landed a commitment from three-star offensive lineman Jake Meador (Whiteland, Ind./Whiteland).
"I just love the Ole Miss coaching staff," Meador said. "Their OL coach [Mike Markuson] reminds me of my OL coach. I think that means a good transition for me. I also really like Coach [Houston] Nutt. He has a great track record in the SEC. I know he hasn't won an SEC championship but he has won a lot of games and has a great record."
Meador wasn't even on the Rebels' radar, and vice versa, earlier this spring. Then his father asked him where he would like him to send some film. Ole Miss was one of the schools Meador wanted his father to send tape. That was back in April.
"They called my coach right after they got the film," Meador said. "Then we decided to come down there and visit. That first time I went with my mom and we really enjoyed it. Then I came back with my entire family and brothers. We all loved it. Oxford is a small town and I think it's a place where I fit in real easy."
Meador, Meador 6-foot-7 and 305 pounds, will play offensive tackle for Ole Miss. He committed to the Rebels over Indiana, Kentucky, Louisville, Illinois and SMU.
"It just goes to show you have to check out everyone," Meador said. "I had no idea it would ever turn out this way."
Ole Miss now has seven commitments for its 2012 class.
Red-hot Blue Devils
A lot of college football programs had hot Junes in terms of commitments, but how about the Duke Blue Devils? Head coach David Cutcliffe and his staff have reeled in six over the past week alone. That includes three-star prospect Daniel Beilinson (Cary, N.C./Panther Creek), the nation's No. 22-ranked tight end.
"Duke's getting a very hard worker," said Wayne Bragg, Panther Creek's head coach. "At 6-5 and 230 pounds, he's a terrific blocker with his hand on the ground in the running game. And in my opinion, he's one of the state's best receiving tight ends. He can really catch the football. Coaches that came through here this spring all commented that every time they see him he continues to get better and better."
A big reason why Beilinson chose Duke over Wake Forest, NC State and Miami was the Blue Devils' academics.
"Daniel carries a 4.7 grade-point average," Bragg said. "He takes AP courses and honors classes. Academics were huge with him and so was proximity to the school."
Beilinson's mom is from Russia and his father is from Estonia. He will travel with his parents to Russia for three weeks in July.
"They have a lot of family there and that could be the last time he has the time to go back and see them," Bragg said. "I am sure once he gets to Duke, between football and school, he won't have the time."
Duke now has a dozen commitments.
Friday a big day in Tennessee
Three of the top-rated prospects from the Volunteer State will all make their college decisions known Friday. Three-star athlete Brian Kimbrow (Memphis/East), three-star defensive end Caleb Azubike (Nashville/McGavock) and wide receiver Cory Batey (Nashville/The Ensworth School) will all announce at 2 p.m. ET from D1 Sports Facility in Franklin, just outside of Nashville.
Kimbrow will choose from among Vanderbilt, Auburn, Mississippi State and Notre Dame. Azubike is down to Vanderbilt, Boston College and Mississippi State, and Batey will pick either Vanderbilt, Kentucky or South Carolina. | {
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Men han er en helt annen spillertype enn pappa Ole Gunnar.
Se Kristiansund-Manchester United på TV 2 eller TV 2 Sumo, tirsdag fra kl. 18.55!
Kommende tirsdag møtes Kristiansund og Manchester United til treningskamp på Ullevaal.
For United-manager Ole Gunnar Solskjær blir det naturligvis spesielt å lede laget sitt mot hjembyens eliteserielag. Og mindre spesielt blir det ikke om eldstesønnen Noah (19) får sin førstelagsdebut for KBK i løpet av kampen.
Etter det TV 2 erfarer er Noah Solskjær med i troppen mot Manchester United.
– Det må du spørre ham om, sier 19-åringen og nikker mot trener Christian Michelsen når TV 2 samler duoen til en prat etter torsdagens formiddagstrening for A-laget.
Michelsen utelukker i hvert fall ingenting.
– Ja, vi får se, sier han og smiler.
– Det hadde vært litt gøy med Solskjær mot Solskjær på Ullevaal?
– Vi får se, gjentar han.
Og legger til:
– Noah og flere av disse ungguttene har vært med oss en tid. Vi visste at de var gode fotballspillere, men det som er artig, er at vi ser at de tar nivået mer og mer. De henger bedre og bedre med. Det er kjempeartig for dem, og gøy for oss at det gror godt. Så vet vi at det er tøft å komme seg gjennom nåløyet. Per nå spiller vi på det øverste nivået i Norge, og det krever litt ekstra, sier Michelsen.
Dette bildet ble tatt i 2003. 16 år senere kan Noah Solskjær få debuten mot Manchester United. Se innslaget i videovinduet øverst!
Høy playmaker
Noah Solskjær er en ganske annerledes spillertype enn det faren var: For det første er han 1.90 meter høy, mens Ole Gunnar Solskjær er 1.78.
– 1.90 er minimumshøyden for å være aktuell i KBK. Faren ville aldri vært aktuell, fleiper Christian Michelsen.
Noah liker seg også bedre litt lenger bak på banen.
– Jeg var spiss til å begynne med, men så er det blitt lenger og lenger ned på banen. Jeg er mer enn 6-er enn en 10-er, sier 19-åringen.
– Er det noen du minner om i spillestilen?
– Jeg har et lite forbilde i Michael Carrick. Litt han, kanskje, svarer Noah Solskjær.
Christian Michelsen beskriver 19-åringen som en «dyp playmaker»
– Mens faren hans var en dødelig effektiv spiller jo nærmere boksen han kom, er Noah mer den som setter opp fine angrep. Han har masse ferdigheter og fotball i seg. Noah har gått en god skole, sier han.
Oppgjøret på Ullevaal nærmer seg utsolgt, og over 5000 kristiansundere er ventet å ta turen til hovedstaden.
Manchester United har framstått solide i treningskampene hittil i sommer, med fire seirer på fire kamper. Christian Michelsen har uansett en målsetting om å gi Premier League-giganten problemer.
Under torsdagens trening stoppet han treningen da det ene laget spilte seg enkelt forbi det andre, og ropte ut over feltet:
«Be organised! Or they will kill us!»
– Går dere inn i denne kampen med bare lave skuldre, eller er du litt nervøs for at dere ikke skal henge med i det hele tatt?
– Vi har lave skuldre og gleder oss. Vi får garantert en wake up-call på nivået. Det er mange gutter i KBK som har noen drømmer, og det skal man ha. Så får de se hvor lista ligger, på det nivået det spilles på i europeisk toppfotball. Vi har ikke lyst til å drite oss ut på tirsdag, men vi er et godt lag. Vi kan sikkert stå imot i perioder, men så vil vi også få lærdom når tempoet blir høyt og det går fort, sier han.
Kjemper mot klokka
En annen KBK-spiller som håper på et minutt eller to på Ullevaal er Andreas Hopmark. Som den kanskje største United-supporteren i garderoben har han et ørlite håp om å rekke kampen, selv om han ikke har spilt et minutt fotball siden starten av mars på grunn av en leddbåndsskade i kneet.
På torsdagens trening måtte han nøye seg med å trene atskilt fra laget, med løping og enkle balløvelser.
– United på Ullevaal føles ikke som en treningskamp, men som en opplevelse du bare får én gang i livet. Det ville vært en drøm å komme inn de siste sekundene, sier han.
Christian Michelsen går langt i å love Hopmark et innhopp.
– Han og jeg er vel de mest entusiastiske når det gjelder United. Så en av oss spiller på tirsdag, he-he. Han har en drøm om å delta, så vi må se hva vi gjør. Han er ikke fotballklar, men om vi prater litt med en dommer så han får noen sekunder, så ville det være artig for gutten, sier KBK-treneren.
Se Kristiansund-Manchester United på TV 2 eller Sumo tirsdag fra kl. 18.55! | {
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The editor and publisher of a small town newspaper who called for the resurgence of the KKK and for the lynching of Democratic politicians in an editorial published last week is stepping down after several days of backlash.
In an phone interview with the Alabama Political Reporter, the editor and publisher of The Democrat-Reporter, Goodloe Sutton, doubled down on the views he espoused in his editorial but said he is old and is taking this opportunity to move on. He said he stepped down Thursday.
“I’m going to drink beer and sex young women,” Sutton said. “I am not going to do anything with it [the paper]. I’m going to be a dead beat — an out-of-work dead beat.”
Check the date. A paper published this in 2019. Wow. pic.twitter.com/jmVSTO61lX — Chip Brownlee (@ByChipBrownlee) February 18, 2019
Sutton has a long track record of penning racist, homophobic and sexist editorials in his small-town newspaper. His last paper published Thursday included letters to the editor on the front page praising his decision to run last week’s editorial. One of the letters is from a self-described Klansman.
The Democrat-Reporter, a community newspaper in West Alabama, published the editorial on Feb. 14 entitled “Klan needs to ride again.” In it, Sutton called for the Klan to “raid the gated communities” of Democrats and “Democrats in the Republican Party” who are “plotting to raise taxes in Alabama.”
The editorial and Sutton’s response to the Montgomery Advertiser sparked national and international backlash.
A review of dozens of issues of The Democrat-Reporter found last week’s racist editorial not to be a one-off event. It’s common.
Public Service Announcement
The paper, published in the small town of Linden, Alabama, has a history of publishing a wide range of offensive editorials. The racist, sexist and homophobic content runs the gamut from a 2018 defense of an Alabama student who used the n-word to a piece in 2016 entitled “Need cotton pickers.”
Sutton has long considered selling the paper. He said Friday that he “does not have a paper to sell” now. APR has not confirmed if he has formally sold the business. He was reached at the Democrat-Reporter office.
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Sutton said he was handing over the publication to Elecia Dexter, who has worked at the publication. A press release from the paper says she will be the new editor-publisher. She is an African-American woman. NBC News reported Sutton will retain formal ownership of the paper.
As of publication, no notice of sale or transfer has been posted on the Secretary of State’s website.
“Jan. 31, 2019, I turned 80 years old,” Sutton said. “I put it [the newspaper] on the market just as Obama came into office. He really fouled up everything. I couldn’t even get anybody to talk to me when he was president. So I guess you might say, ‘Obama happened to me.’ Now I have a chance to get out, and I’m getting out.”
When asked if he regretted writing the racist editorial, Sutton said, “I don’t know, that was a good one.”
Sutton doubled down again and said he did not call for lynching — that instead, he was simply calling for executions.
In an interview with the Montgomery Advertiser Monday, Sutton did, in fact, call for the lynching of Democratic politicians. Sutton told the Advertiser, “we’ll get the hemp ropes out, loop them over a tall limb and hang all of them.”
Lynching, by definition, is the extrajudicial killing of a person: “to put to death (as by hanging) by mob action without legal approval or permission,” according to Merriam-Webster’s dictionary. With references to the Klan and the racial language of his editorial and comments to the Advertiser, he clearly called for lynching.
He used offensive language to describe Melissa Brown, the reporter at the Montgomery Advertiser to whom he made the comments about lynching, saying she “batted her eyes and said she didn’t understand. I told her I know she didn’t understand.” He also questioned her age and college education.
Sutton is known locally as a person who inflames more than he informs.
Aside from his racist, sexist and homophobic editorials, his paper has a history of racially charged news headlines. Locals say they largely ignore the paper, especially when Sutton uses controversy and outrage to try to sell papers.
“I don’t buy the newspaper, and I don’t know anybody who does,” said Kathryn Friday, a former mayor of Linden. “He just has crossed so many lines. He’s advocated killing federal officials. That’s a line you don’t cross. The Klan thing is bad enough, but he is also advocating, ‘Let’s go out and kill somebody.'”
Friday said he writes the editorials for shock value and doesn’t think about the effects they might have on the small community fewer than 2,000 people.
“His newspaper has a negative impact on our community,” Friday said. “If anybody is thinking about locating in your area, they read the newspapers. … Most people don’t pay any attention to him, but they were offended by this and upset by this.”
The paper has lost readership and circulation in recent years. In 2015, the paper had about 3,000 subscribers, according to the Advertiser. Following industry trends, the paper’s numbers have likely dropped even more. The paper is now renting a building after losing its old office and printing presses. It’s printed out of town.
The University of Southern Mississippi said in a statement that Sutton has been removed from the school’s Mass Communication and Journalism Hall of Fame. Auburn University’s journalism school revoked a distinguished community journalism award given to Sutton in 2009.
The Alabama Press Association has censured Sutton and suspended the paper. The association may vote at its next meeting on expelling the paper from the group.
“He’s virtually lost everything,” Friday said.
Friday said she regrets the negative image the story has attributed to Linden.
“I think it puts us in a bad light,” Friday said. “People here don’t want to see that kind of thing. We like to get along and try to work together to get things done.”
This story is developing and will be updated. | {
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A Connecticut mother died Monday after she fell down New York City subway stairs while holding her young daughter in a stroller, police said.
Malaysia Goodson, 22, of Stamford, tumbled at the 7th Ave. Station in Manhattan at around 8 p.m., police said. Goodson was taken to Mt. Sinai West and later declared dead, the New York Post reported.
WOMAN TRAPPED IN ELEVATOR SINCE FRIDAY RESCUED BY NEW YORK CITY FIREFIGHTERS
Commuters who saw Goodson fall rushed up the staircase to tell a station agent that a woman had fallen, the New York Daily News reported.
The 1-year-old was not hurt in the fall.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
It’s unclear how Goodson managed to fall down the stairs. Investigators were trying to determine whether she had a medical episode prior to the incident or if she was killed from the impact from the fall, according to the New York Post. | {
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Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley revealed Thursday that he wants to release the transcripts of interviews the panel conducted with Donald Trump Jr. and others, involving a 2016 meeting with a Russian lawyer at Trump Tower.
Grassley, R-Iowa, said in a statement that he believed the committee’s investigation of the meeting involving President Trump’s eldest son and Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya was finished and that it was time to release the transcripts to the public.
“I believe this Committee’s interviews of the witnesses surrounding the Trump Tower meeting are complete. That section of our investigation is done,” his statement read. “Now it’s time to start officially releasing the transcripts of all witness interviews we have done related to that meeting.”
Democrats have used the June 2016 meeting to suggest the president, his son and other members of the campaign team colluded with Russia ahead of the presidential election. Trump and Trump Jr. have denied those claims.
Grassley added that he hoped to release the transcripts as soon as possible either through “an agreement with a ranking member” or through a committee vote.
“Let’s get them out there for everyone to see,” Grassley added.
Ranking member Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., agreed with Grassley but said that the transcripts should be released to Mueller and only to the public if it did not interfere with the investigation, Reuters reported.
The two senators got into a spat earlier this month after Feinstein released an interview with Glenn Simpson, a co-founder of Fusion GPS. Grassley claimed that release “spooked” other witnesses -- possibly including Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and close advisor.
Grassley continued, “as a result, it looks like our chances of getting a voluntary interview with Mr. Kushner have been shot. He has already provided his account to the Intelligence Committee.”
Fox News' Catherine Herridge contributed to this report. | {
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SAN DIEGO -- Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans and Gwyneth Paltrow lived up to a promise and surprised a student from California who is battling cancer, KSWB reports. | {
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This article is more than 2 years old
This article is more than 2 years old
Human rights groups have demanded that Theresa May launch a government-wide search for missing papers that they say could provide evidence of human rights violations.
As Labour called for an investigation into the Guardian revelations and said that the error risked fuelling accusations of a cover-up, Amnesty International and Reprieve said that procedures had to become more open.
The Guardian reported on Tuesday that thousands of government papers concerning the Troubles, the Falklands war and the Zinoviev letter – in which MI6 officers plotted the downfall of the first Labour government – are all said to have been lost after they were removed from the National Archives.
The British people deserve to know what the government has done in their name Labour MP Jon Trickett
The government admitted losing the files, with both the Home Office and the Foreign Office (FCO) unable to explain why certain files were taken or whether any copies had been made.
Labour MP Jon Trickett, the shadow Cabinet Office minister, led criticism of the government for removing the files and then reporting them as lost.
“The ‘loss’ of documents about controversial periods in history is unacceptable,” he said. “The British people deserve to know what the government has done in their name and their loss will only fuel accusations of a cover-up.
“These important historical documents may be a great loss to history – and their disappearance must urgently be investigated.”
Amnesty International expressed deep concern that evidence from Northern Ireland and elsewhere is “being allowed to vanish”.
“Theresa May must order a government-wide search for these ‘lost’ files and their restoration to their rightful place in the archives at Kew,” said Patrick Corrigan, Amnesty International’s Northern Ireland programme director.
“Victims of human rights abuses in Northern Ireland have a right to full disclosure of what happened to them and their loved ones at the hands of the state.”
Facebook Twitter Pinterest A letter to the prime minister, James Callaghan, in 1977 documented how ministers gave permission for the use of torture against internees in Northern Ireland in the 1970s. Photograph: Central Press/Getty Images
The disappearances demonstrate the lack of oversight government departments are subject to when commandeering official papers after they have been declassified, therefore depriving historians of the chance to scrutinise their contents. In some cases, papers from within files appear to have been carefully selected and withdrawn from their collection.
“Accountability and justice demand that these files are among the evidence available to families, judges and historians in determining the truth of what happened here during three decades of violence,” said Corrigan.
“Revelations that government departments are requisitioning and then misplacing crucial files strengthen our view that decisions on the disclosure of findings by the proposed Historical Investigations Unit in Northern Ireland cannot be left to UK government ministers, as currently demanded by the Northern Ireland Office.”
Reprieve – the human rights advocacy organisation – also condemned the government, fearing that future possible abuses may be hidden from the public eye.
“This is deeply troubling and unfortunately follows a pattern we have seen before,” said Maya Foa, director. “Ministers have previously blamed ‘water damage’ for destroying crucial files showing complicity in rendition and torture, and right now they are forcing legal cases seeking to expose the truth about UK involvement in George Bush’s ‘war on terror’ into secret courts where the public and press are denied access.”
“With a new US president openly supporting torture and other human rights abuses, the tendency of the British government to conceal and cover up creates a serious risk that abuses carried out in our name in future will be hidden from the public until it’s too late.”
Similar files held in the National Archives have previously been instrumental in exposing human rights violations committed by the UK in Northern Ireland.
A 1977 letter from the home secretary, Merlyn Rees, to the prime minister, Jim Callaghan, documented how ministers gave permission for the use of torture against internees in Northern Ireland in the 1970s, evidence that was reportedly withheld from the European court of human rights.
Amnesty has formerly argued that the patchwork system of investigation established in Northern Ireland has proved inadequate for the task of uncovering the full truth about human rights violations committed by all sides.
In 2012 the Guardian disclosed that 1.2m documents were being unlawfully kept at a high-security compound in Buckinghamshire. The cache of files came to public attention when the FCO was forced to admit it had withheld thousands of colonial-era papers after elderly Kenyans took a case to the high court, following their detention and torture in the 1950s during the Mau Mau rebellion. | {
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South Africa’s ruling African National Congress rejected media reports that a faction within the party was plotting to oust President Cyril Ramaphosa because his economic policies were supplanting its pro-poor stance.
The ANC’s leadership remains united and is working well together, its Secretary-General Ace Magashule told reporters in Johannesburg on Wednesday.
The party plans to convene a national general council in late June next year where 3,000 of its members will assess the progress it has made since its last national conference in late 2017, Magashule said.
Citing inside sources, Ramaphosa’s opponents within the ruling party are reportedly plotting to oust him over reforms that they say are failing to benefit the poor, the Citizen reported.
A campaign being led by African National Congress Secretary-General Ace Magashule aims to discredit him over economic policies that his opponents argue are supplanting the party’s pro-poor stance, the newspaper said.
The anti-Ramaphosa faction wants Deputy President David Mabuza to become president, deputised by either Magashule or Water Minister Lindiwe Sisulu, it said.
ANC spokesman Pule Mabe didn’t answer calls to his mobile seeking comment at the time.
Magashule is an ally of former President Jacob Zuma, whose almost nine-year term was marred by a series of corruption scandals.
Read: We will not allow any state-owned enterprises to fail: Ramaphosa | {
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Elon Musk has a few more words on why he thinks oil executive Rex Tillerson could push for a carbon tax and serve U.S. interests well.
Musk tweeted his support earlier this week for Tillerson in the role of secretary of State, a Trump administration choice that has raised hackles among environmentalists as well as skeptics who point to Tillerson's business ties to Russia.
The Tesla chairman and CEO explained his support for Tillerson on Twitter in a brief interview with Gizmodo, conducted via direct message on Twitter.
Here is a bit of what he said:
"Tillerson obviously did a competent job running Exxon, one of the largest companies in the world. In that role, he was obligated to advance the cause of Exxon and did. In the Sec of State role, he is obligated to advance the cause of the US and I suspect he probably will. Also, he has publicly acknowledged for years that a carbon tax could make sense. There is no better person to push for that to become a reality than Tillerson. This is what matters far more than pipelines or opening oil reserves. The unpriced externality must be priced."
The comments mostly echo or repeat things Musk said on Twitter earlier this week, when his initial support of Tillerson led to some to criticize Musk.
It is true that Tillerson has publicly acknowledged that the climate is changing and that emissions are a factor. During a speech in 2009, he said that a carbon tax is "the most efficient means of reflecting the cost of carbon in all economic decisions — from investments made by companies to fuel their requirements to the product choices made by consumers." | {
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Mona Das Exits the Race for WA-8, Which Still Leaves Nine Challengers
Mona Das bows out of her congressional race. Mona Das for Congress
Today, Mona Das announced on Facebook that she's no longer running for Congress in Washington's 8th District. In the post, Das cites fundraising issues and says, ultimately, that "there is not enough money and the responsible thing for me to do is suspend the campaign." Though this run wasn't successful for her, she encourages others, "especially little brown girls with big ideas," to run for office. Hear, hear.
Here's the full post:
With the introduction of scientist Shannon Hader in the race last month, there are now only nine candidates running against Republican Dino Rossi, a three-time loser with an anti-choice record who supported a constitutional ban on gay marriage.
At candidate forums, voters have told me they wish they could roll all the candidates up into one super-candidate, which sounds terrifying to me, but I get what they mean. Everyone running right now has good qualities, but some seem more amateur-hour than others, and it's hard to see substantive policy differences between them, which makes it hard to decide who to support. Those with anti-GOP fire in the 8th District are hungry to support somebody, but their attention is divided. People know it's going to be a hard fight, and polls show a very slim majority of them want to back a Democrat. ONE DEMOCRAT. Not nine Democrats. One.
Unlike every other Democrat, Rossi's name is already widely known in the region. He's going to stay sleepy and he's not going to say much until he absolutely has to. The longer he can stay out of the public eye, the less pressure he faces, and the less time one of the Democrats has to really make a name for herself or himself.
So, Democrats, please: Follow Mona's lead and drop the fuck out. | {
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STF decide que estados e municípios têm poder para estabelecer regras sobre isolamento
Em sessão por videoconferência, o Supremo Tribunal Federal decidiu nesta quarta-feira (15) que, além do governo federal, os governos estaduais e municipais têm poder para determinar regras de isolamento, quarentena e restrição de transporte e trânsito em rodovias em razão da epidemia do coronavírus.
Os nove ministros presentes à sessão votaram de forma unânime em relação à competência de estados e municípios para decidir sobre isolamento. Por maioria, o plenário entendeu ainda que o Supremo deveria deixar expresso que governadores e prefeitos têm legitimidade para definir quais são as chamadas atividades essenciais, aquelas que não ficam paralisadas durante a epidemia do coronavírus.
Os ministros julgam uma ação do PDT contra medida provisória editada pelo presidente Jair Bolsonaro com o objetivo de concentrar no governo federal o poder de editar uma norma geral sobre os temas.
A MP alterou uma lei de fevereiro, que previa quais ações poderiam ser tomadas durante a crise gerada pela pandemia do coronavírus.
O partido considerou que as modificações na legislação feriam a Constituição. Também argumentou que é tarefa de União, estados e municípios, em conjunto, a competência para estabelecer políticas relacionadas à saúde; e que só por lei complementar – para a qual é necessária maioria absoluta de votos no Senado e na Câmara – é possível estabelecer regras de cooperação no tema entre União, estados e municípios.
Em março, o ministro Marco Aurélio Mello, relator do caso, concedeu liminar (decisão provisória) para reforçar que tanto União como estados e municípios têm competência para legislar sobre medidas de saúde. Portanto, no entendimento dele, governadores e prefeitos podem estabelecer regras de isolamento, quarentena e restrição de transporte e trânsito em rodovias e portos.
Na sessão desta quarta, o ministro defendeu a confirmação da liminar pelo plenário. Marco Aurélio Mello disse que a MP foi editada para combater os efeitos da pandemia, mas faltou entendimento.
“Há de ter-se a visão voltada ao coletivo, e talvez o que falte nesta quadra, presidente, é entendimento”, afirmou.
Alexandre de Moraes afirmou que a competência comum não permite que todos os entes federais possam fazer tudo porque isso gera uma “bagunça ou anarquia”.
De acordo com o ministro, a coordenação das medidas compete ao governo federal, mas, a partir de critérios técnicos, estados e municípios, dentro de seus espaços normativos, podem fixar regras de distanciamento social, suspensão de atividade escolar e cultura, circulação de pessoas.
Ele ressaltou que governadores conhecem melhor as realidades regionais e os prefeitos, as locais. “Não é possível que a União queira ter monopólio da condução administrativa da pandemia. É irrazoável", declarou.
Edson Fachin defendeu que estados e municípios podem, inclusive, estabelecer quais são as atividades essenciais, aquelas atividades que não sofrem restrições de funcionamento durante a crise. Ele afirmou que a atuação do governo federal deve seguir parâmetros, inclusive, internacionais.
“As regras constitucionais não servem apenas para proteger a liberdade individual, mas também o exercício da racionalidade coletiva, isto é, da capacidade de coordenar as ações de forma eficiente”, afirmou.
Luís Roberto Barroso se declarou impedido de participar do julgamento “por motivo de foro íntimo”, mas aproveitou para cobrar unidade em torno das ações para combater a crise.
“Eu acho que o enfrentamento dessa questão da covid-19 [doença provocada pelo coronavírus] exige coordenação, liderança, racionalidade e exige cooperação entre os entes estatais. Não pode ser tudo centralizado e nem de uma forma que cada um corra para um lado”, afirmou.
Para a ministra Rosa Weber, da saúde é uma competência comum administrativa e que "cabe ao Brasil valer-se da estrita federalização para evitar o caos".
Segundo a ministra, é possível que sejam editadas medidas diferentes e até mais rígidas de controle do coronavírus diante das realidades de cada local, respeitando o princípio da proporcionalidade.
Ricardo Lewandowski afirmou que o federalismo cooperativo exige que governos federal, estadual e municipal se apoiem mutuamente. O ministro disse que é preciso diálogo e liderança cooperativa.
"Já foi sublinhado aqui com muita precisão que estados e municípios não podem ser alijados nessa batalha porque eles têm o poder, o dever de atuar", disse.
Gilmar Mendes disse que o presidente da República não pode atropelar competências federativas, assim como os estados e município não podem atropelar as competências da União.
“Nós temos no eixo SP, RJ e Minas 100 milhões de pessoas. A metade dos habitantes do Brasil vive nesse eixo. Portanto, sobre os governadores desses estados, recai uma imensa responsabilidade. (...) Tudo isso faz crescer a responsabilidade dos estados e municípios. Por isso, que esta Corte tem afirmado que, a despeito da competência da União, subsistem as competências dos estados e municípios para lidar com o tema", afirmou.
Segundo Luiz Fux, o Supremo já decidiu que normas gerais da União deveriam prestigiar a legislação local, exatamente porque representava uma proteção mais eficiente do que a norma federal. O ministro citou ainda que Estados e municípios devem ouvir as agências reguladoras, que podem sugerir os melhores meios para se determinar uma atividade como essencial.
“Acompanho voto do ministro relator, com a interpretação conforme, conferindo a todas as unidades federadas o poder de enumerar atividades essenciais, devendo ouvir agências reguladoras por falta de expertise para definir as atividades essenciais”, afirmou.
Último a votar, Dias Toffoli entendeu que não era preciso deixar expresso que estados e municípios podem definir quais são os serviços essenciais. Para o presidente do Supremo, isso já seria implícito a partir do entendimento do plenário. | {
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The first public version of the upcoming Manifest V3 for Chrome extensions is expected to be released in late July or beginning of August.
Google published an early draft of the new manifest for extensions in early 2019. The manifest defines what Chrome extensions can do and some of the changes in the draft caught the attention of extension developers.
Developers like Raymond Hill, best known for the Chrome content blocker uBlock Origin, noted that the initial draft could very well end ad-blocking extensions for the web browser. Other extensions, e.g. Tampermonkey, will also be affected by the changes.
One of Google's arguments for a particular API change was that content blockers could slow down the Chrome browser but a benchmark refuted the claim for the most part. Google has not published any benchmarks or data that confirmed the company's claim in this regard.
The company stated as well that the new API would improve privacy and security of Chrome users.
Google made some concessions, e.g. by raising the artificial limit of the controversial API to better accommodate ad-blocking extensions but remained on course.
Chromium Developer advocate Simeon Vincent confirmed on the Chromium Extensions forum that Google would launch the first preview of the new Manifest to the Canary channel in late July or beginning of August.
Manifest V3 is not yet ready for experimentation and feedback. The extensions team is currently working towards releasing a Developer Preview in the Canary channel at the end of July or beginning of August. We'll be sharing additional details when that lands.
Chrome Canary is the cutting edge development version of Google Chrome. While not mentioned in the post, it is likely that the new Manifest will be turned off by default and needs to be enabled using an experimental flag before it becomes available.
Most content blockers won't work properly when the change lands in Chrome Canary. The draft and some of its limits are not final, and developers are still trying to figure out if it is even possible to publish updates that use the new API without sacrificing functionality.
It will take at least six months before the change lands in Chrome Stable at the earliest; this would mean that Manifest V3 could launch as early as the beginning of 2020.
Most companies that produce Chromium-based web browsers have stated that they would not implement the API in this form or that their built-in content blocking capabilities would not be affected by the change.
Google made some adjustments to some of the parameters of the new API that is part of Manifest V3 but the overall change seems to be set in stone.
Closing Words
It seems unlikely that Google will modify Manifest V3 for Chrome extensions significantly at this point. The company may make changes here and there but seems hellbent on releasing the Manifest with the new API.
Now You: What is your take on the whole situation? (via The Register)
Summary Article Name First Chrome browser with Manifest V3 for extensions expected in late July Description The first public version of the upcoming Manifest V3 for Chrome extensions is expected to be released in late July or beginning of August. Author Martin Brinkmann Publisher Ghacks Technology News Logo
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President Trump at a wild, impromptu press conference from Trump Tower on Tuesday defended his initial response to the weekend violence at a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Va., saying he needed to "know the facts" before specifically calling out racist groups.
“I didn't wait long,” Trump said. “I wanted to make sure, unlike most politicians, that what I said was correct, not make a quick statement.
"The statement I made on Saturday, the first statement, was a fine statement, but you don't make statements that direct unless you know the facts. It takes a little while to get the facts. You still don't know the facts.
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"And it's a very, very important process to me. And it's a very important statement. So I don't want to go quickly and just make a statement for the sake of making a political statement. I want to know the facts.”
Trump on Saturday blamed "many sides" for their role in the violence and came under fierce criticism from Democrats and Republicans alike for not being more unequivocal in condemning the white supremacist groups that had come to Charlottesville to rally.
He reiterated at times during his Tuesday remarks that there was violence from "alt-left" groups that had come to counter-protest the Nazi groups. One woman died and others were injured when a driver ran his car into a crowd of counterprotesters. | {
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Ospreys Chairman resigns over WRU's "catastrophic mismanagement" of Project Reset.
Ospreys long-standing benefactor Mike James today resigned as chairman of the regional side, citing the WRU’s “catastrophic mismanagement” of efforts to overhaul the game.
James made the announcement at the start of the today’s PRB meeting in (Cardiff), addressing the management group whose WRU-led restructuring plans have resulted in conjecture over the future of the regions, including the Ospreys.
Speaking after his resignation today, Mike James said:
“None of us doubt that regional rugby requires restructuring in order to ensure the long-term sustainability of the game. The way in which this has been handled however is nothing short of chaotic, resulting in a fatal combination of uncertainty, conjecture and insecurity now hanging over regional rugby’s future.
“To methodically, rationally and impartially map out the future of regional rugby is one thing, to fatally wound it with an ill-judged, cavalier process is another. We now have the worst of all worlds - a lack of clarity, a lack of transparency and a total inability to plan ahead. We can no longer make sound rugby or business decisions and nor can our players or commercial partners. Project Reset has become Project Inept.
“I cannot and will not be a party to this level of catastrophic mismanagement and today I’ve made the decision to stand down as both chairman and a director of the Ospreys, surrendering my position on the PRB.”
Mike James is to be succeeded as chairman by fellow Ospreys benefactor Rob Davies who, like James, has injected millions into the Ospreys, helping it become the most successful Welsh side in the regional game. It is understood that Davies will start his new role by overseeing a legal and financial forensic review of the WRU’s actions in administrating Project Reset.
Amongst the concerns to be investigated are the independence of the WRU’s role given its conflict of interests, the lack of appropriate transparency and adequate governance in the Project Reset process, as well as inducements by officers of the WRU for the regional side to commit further private funds to the game whilst acting against its interests.
Turning to the continued future of the restructuring of the regional game Mike James finished by saying said:
“The only responsible way forward is to now accelerate the plans for a holistic and meaningful restructuring of the game, not delay them or force asymmetric outcomes to emerge. Certainty has to be restored to the game and quickly. The restructuring process itself has to be revisited, with appropriate checks and balances, independent oversight and transparency. We already have so many disadvantages in keeping pace with the professional game, we don’t need more.” | {
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Hamilton's proposed bike share program has had a flat tire as it attempts to roll out its program this summer.
City bike share staff confirmed the $1.6-million project, approved in December 2013 and expected to start this summer, won't be fully operational until September.
"Installations (of the bike hubs) have started over the next seven weeks," said Christine Lee-Morrison, manager of mobility programs and special projects.
She said up to 18 stations will be installed weekly throughout the lower city. In total there are about 100 locations confirmed, with another 10 set to be established. Most of the locations are on public property.
When the locations were approved earlier this year, it was decided that the Mountain wouldn't have any hubs. Mountain councillors were upset, arguing their residents were looking forward to accessing the program.
Instead, Chelsea Cox, community manager for SoBi Hamilton, the non-profit company partnering with the city for the project, stated in an email that hubs will be installed at the bottom of each Mountain staircase and near major transit stops.
"I know that this does not constitute full service to mountain residents right now, but our long-term goal is to cover the entire city," Cox stated.
This is Social Bicycles first foray into Canada with its bike share program. Cox says the program is complicated to coordinate because it involves ordering the bikes from overseas and getting the necessary approvals.
Hamilton Community News | {
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Delain
Interview with Martijn Westerholt
November 1, 2017 – Koko, London
Interview by Torbjørn ‘Toby’ Jørstad
Photography by Graham Hilling
We sat down with keyboardist and founding member of DELAIN, Martijn Westerholt prior to the band’s sold out show at Koko in London last week. Read on to find out about Martijn’s ideal day on the road, reflections on his time in Within Temptation, work on the upcoming Delain album and more!
How are you today? Have you had the chance to check out anything of London?
I am doing good thanks. I’m a huge Harry Potter fan, so I went to Kings Cross Station [laughs]. I’ve been to the Warner Brothers Studios before actually, it’s really cool.
First off, can you explain the name for this tour, Danse Macabre?
We named it that because we wanted kind of a nice theme and vibe. It also reflects the time of the year with Halloween and all that, so we thought the song [“Danse Macabre”] would be nice to build the tour around. It fit well.
You sold out almost every show on your Danse Macabre tour, why do you think the demand for seeing you guys play with Marco Hietala is so high?
I don’t know, and the good thing is that I at first was wondering whether people would come out to see us or Marco, but it turns out that he is just the cherry on the pie – but he’s not the pie. So it’s a really nice marriage. Last year we also played the Koko and we nearly sold it out, I think there were about 20 tickets left, and tonight we did sell it out. It feels fantastic, it’s the biggest compliment you can give a band. It’s just that combination, and we almost never played with Marco in Europe, only about 2-3 times I think. We really like him, he’s a good friend of mine and also musically there’s a great connection.
You played some festivals this summer, what was your personal favourite to play?
I think the one with Marco in Czech Republic actually [Masters of Rock]. The crowd there is always amazing, so I think that one.
Going back to the very roots of Delain, how did you assemble what ended up becoming up becoming today’s band?
That’s a very long story [laughs]. Delain started as a project with me and Charlotte, and we had some guests… one of them was Marco. Then Roadrunner asked if we could support the album release with some shows, and I thought “yeah, sure, that sounds like fun” and we assembled a band. The three members who joined then was with us for about 3-4 years, and the drummer for example is still a good friend of mine. Sometimes people make the choice to go a different path in life, and just live a normal, civilian career. Then we got in touch with Timo [Somers] who is a musician and totally committed to making music, and therefor there was far more flexibility. So it kind of developed slowly in to what it is today. Now we’re here.
How would you say your time in Delain differs from your time with Within Temptation?
First of all, I was 17-21 when I was in Within Temptation so I was still really young [laughs]. Within Temptation is Robert [Westerholt] and Sharon’s [den Adel] band, and for me it was about getting the experience of making music on this level. Delain is mine and Charlotte’s band, so that already makes a difference. But the culture within the bands also is different, it’s not better or worse, it’s just different. We just make what we like to make, my taste is a bit different from my brother’s, who makes the bulk of Within Temptation’s music with Sharon, so I think that’s the main difference.
You just released your first live DVD, A Decade of Delain, congratulations. You had a special cinema screening of the DVD in Holland yesterday, what was that like for you guys?
I was there to see it on the big screen, but had to go afterwards to prep for the show. We actually had cameras and taped the whole show from yesterday [Utrecht] so perhaps we will make another DVD or put it as bonus content on our album, we don’t know yet. So there was a lot of preparation for yesterday’s show, meaning I didn’t get to see the whole live DVD. But there were a lot of fans coming out for that, and it was kind of like a celebration of our first DVD finally being out. I did say hi to a lot of fans, and it was good fun.
When you’re out touring, what does an ideal day on the road look like for you?
Uh, that’s difficult. A day like today, we’re in London, I love London – I could take a stroll in the morning, and we have a sold out show in a beautiful venue in the evening. And Camden is really great as well, so I think a day like today. And no, I don’t say that every day [laughs].
You’re one of few metal bands with their own brand of whiskey, how did the idea for that come along?
Well, I myself am a ‘whiskey barbarian’ actually, I would pour very expensive whiskey in a glass with Coke and still enjoy it. Charlotte and Otto [Schimmelpenninck van der Oije] are big whiskey lovers, and there were also some fans who are in the industry. This is really just a hobby, we don’t earn money on this which is totally fine, because it’s really cool to just have a whiskey that suits the taste of Otto and Charlotte. It was amazing, because it sold out in 30 minutes when we released it.
Do you plan on making more of that in the future?
I think so, because there’s so much demand for it. Also since there’s not any money in it for us, just the hobby element, it seems likely. Some of the fans we have in the industry can offer special whiskey, which we can then give back to our fans.
You have a young son at home, what’s it like for you to be away from him on tour?
We just FaceTimed actually, that’s a coincidence. This is a really short tour, and he actually came to our show yesterday in the Netherlands. I put him on the drumkit in this huge 2000-capacity venue and he just loves it, he kept going “more songs!” during soundcheck. But of course, otherwise I really miss him. But that’s the thing, there are some blessings and some curses with this job, but generally it goes really well.
What’s the biggest positive and the biggest negative about being in Delain?
I feel spoiled and privileged to be able to have this as my job, the fans are the reason for this. I am grateful for it every day, and I love travelling and making something beautiful out of the means we have. The bad thing is that it’s so much work; sometimes it’s craziness. You don’t get rich from doing this, which for me is totally no issue, I don’t really care about money as long as I can pay my bills and all that. If you want to earn a lot of money, you shouldn’t be in this business. On the other hand, I make my living out of this, which is something so few people can say. But it’s a lot of work and sometimes it’s really stressful, and it’s physically heavy.
This is the last show with your drummer Ruben, right?
Yes, finally we got rid of him [laughs]!
Is there a sense of bitter sweetness about it?
Yes, he chose to pursue studies again, and that’s totally fine. That’s life, and there are no bad feelings about that at all. We part ways on very good terms, looking back at our time together with a smile. Tonight’s going to be special and we will tease him a little bit, he doesn’t like attention that much so we will make sure he gets a lot of it [laughs].
Your album release cycle seems to be around one every two years. Is there ongoing work on a new Delain album?
Well, I’ve written some concepts, but this time around I promised myself that we should give ourselves a little more time, because of stress and deadlines and all that. We’ll take the time that is needed… we always do that, but then we stress to get it finished, but now we’ll take it a bit more easy. I also think it’s good to give it more time to keep it more exclusive as well, we also have a different approach on how to do the production. We will record song by song instead of doing everything in one go. It should be special.
When working on writing music, where do you get inspiration from? Do you actively seek it out, or does it just sort of appear out of the blue?
It depends, sometimes we think about something, sometimes it just comes to us. Sometimes I’ll hear some music and go “this is so cool, but I would do this and this and that”. I always have to be in a good mood, everything has to be okay. A lot of people like to get inspiration from misery… not me [laughs].
Anything you would like to add in the end?
Thank you very much for your interest and questions, it was a pleasure.
Thank you very much for your time, and good luck with the show!
Delain
Facebook: www.facebook.com/delainmusic/
Website: www.delain.nl
Napalm Records
Facebook: www.facebook.com/napalmrecords/
Website: shop.napalmrecords.com
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FAU scientists are researching new options for storing energy -- more than one million euros provided in funding for the project by DFG
How to store solar energy is the central challenge facing the energy reform. Alongside traditional solutions - such as solar cells or batteries - creative chemical concepts for storing energy are paving the way for entirely new opportunities. Intramolecular reactions are making it possible for solar energy to be transformed and stored in a singular molecule. This may form the basis for constructing energy-storing solar cells. Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU) is currently investigating this issue in two research projects, receiving funding from the German Research Foundation (DFG) of more than one million euros.
Electricity from a renewable energy source such as sun or wind is only available when the wind blows or the sun shines. If only a little electricity is needed at this time, it is extremely difficult to store any surplus electricity. New concepts are required - and researchers from the Department of Chemistry and Pharmacy at FAU are counting on chemical concepts for storing energy.
In two joint projects, the scientists are exploring new ideas for using molecules to store solar energy and are investigating molecules and processes that allow energy to be stored efficiently and released in a controlled manner as and when required. It is even conceivable that stored chemical energy could be converted directly into electrical energy. A vision which would make it possible to construct an 'energy-storing solar cell'.
Starting point for storing solar energy
The research is based on the so-called 'norbornadiene-quadricyclane storage system'. Norbornadiene (NBD) and quadricyclane (QC) are hydrocarbons and have been under discussion among experts as potential candidates for storing solar energy for some time now: under the influence of light, a reaction within the norbornadiene molecule is triggered, causing the molecule to transform into quadricyclane as a result. The reaction produces an energy density similar to that of a high-performance battery. Thanks to this property, quadricyclane is also known as 'solar fuel'.
Efficient storage
The sub-project focussing on 'Photochemical and magnetochemical storage / release of solar energy in strained organic compounds' is led by Prof. Dr. Dirk Guldi and Prof. Dr. Andreas Hirsch. The scientists are working on producing various new groups of NBD and QC derivatives. In addition, they are systematically investigating the influence of photosensitizers and electron acceptors as well as solvents and magnetic fields within this process. The long-term goal of the researchers is to create a closed system-fuel cycle for molecular storage systems.
Controlled release of energy
Prof. Dr. Julien Bachmann, Prof. Dr. Jörg Libuda and Dr. Christian Papp are working together in the sub-project focussing on the 'Catalytic and electro-chemical release of solar energy stored in strained organic compounds'. The three scientists are developing new catalyst systems and electrodes which can be used to convert chemical energy directly into electrical energy. They intend proving the concept behind the functional principle using hybrid boundary surfaces with a suitable electronic structure, chemical structure and electrochemical stability.
Basis for 'energy-storing solar cell'
The results of both sub-projects could form the basis for building an 'energy-storing solar cell'. The electricity which is created by solar energy could be stored intelligently and used highly efficiently thanks to intramolecular reactions.
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The US says it will "unquestionably veto" a UN draft resolution that calls for measures to protect the Palestinians from the "Israeli occupation."
The Kuwait-sponsored resolution "deplores" and demands an end to "the use of any excessive, disproportionate and indiscriminate force" by the Israeli Defense Forces. The draft also "deplores the firing of rockets from the Gaza Strip at Israeli civilian areas."
US Ambassador Nikki Haley calls the proposal "a grossly one-sided approach that is morally bankrupt" and would hurt efforts towards peace between Israel and Palestinians.
Israel's UN Ambassador Danny Danon also criticized the draft resolution for not mentioning Hamas, the terror organization that rules Gaza.
A vote was expected Thursday evening. Then diplomats said it would be delayed at least until Friday.
Meanwhile the US is calling on the UN Security Council to condemn Hamas for firing more than 100 rockets at civilians in Israel this week. Israel responded to the attacks by targeting 65 terror sites.
Nikki Haley told the UN Wednesday that to condemn Israel while excusing Hamas' actions is wrong.
RT @USUN: Yesterday, Hamas launched 70 rockets into Israel. Who among us would accept 70 rockets launched into your country? We all know the answer to that. No one would. pic.twitter.com/eVzmqoirvS — Nikki Haley (@nikkihaley) May 30, 2018
"To allow Hamas to get away with its terrorist acts, and to somehow expect Israel to sit on its hands when it is attacked, is the height of hypocrisy," she said. "To continue to condemn Israel without even acknowledging what is actually coming from the leaders in Gaza makes me question who actually cares about the welfare of the Palestinian people." | {
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Ethereum wunderkind Vitalik Buterin maintained his hardline stance on Bitcoin SV in a recent interview, calling Craig Wright’s cryptocurrency a “complete scam.”
Speaking with YouTuber Hardcore Crypto, Buterin left little room for interpretation regarding his thoughts on BSV. The Ethereum co-founder also gave his thoughts on decentralized exchanges and the worryingly centralized accumulation of power by Binance.
ETHEREUM CO-FOUNDER: BITCOIN SV IS A ‘COMPLETE SCAM’
Just in case there was any doubt remaining about Buterin’s thoughts on Bitcoin SV, he told Hardcore Crypto:
“Obviously BSV is a complete scam, but the delisting from Binance – that was interesting. There’s arguments in favour of it, but then there’s also an argument that this is a centralized exchange that’s wielding a lot of power.”
Those thoughts regarding Binance’s delisting of Bitcoin SV were echoed in an article of my own from the same time – one which wasn’t received positively by a majority of commenters.
But what those commenters don’t realize is that Binance presents a much bigger potential threat than Bitcoin SV ever could. BSV will at best manage to hoodwink a few gullible investors into parting with their money – maybe.
Binance, on the other hand, has a long history of shenanigans, including demanding exorbitant fees from projects just to gain a listing. As Buterin said:
“They’ve asked for big listing fees. They influence which coins win and lose by deciding which trading pairs they have – so it’s weird to criticize that one decision (the delisting) without looking at all their others.”
Worse yet, if or when Binance falls, so too will most of the cryptocurrency market.
VITALIK BUTERIN THROWS FUEL ON THE CRAIG WRIGHT DUMPSTER FIRE
It only took a month between the creation of Bitcoin SV and Buterin feeling obliged to offer some harsh criticism. Not long after the conclusion of the Bitcoin Cash hash war, Buterin gave the following scathing criticism on Twitter:
The Ethereum overseer also questioned the wisdom of Bitcoin SV’s 128 MB block sizes – some of the biggest (and emptiest) in the cryptosphere. Remarkably, the Bitcoin SVroadmap also posits a Q3 launch date for the activation to 2 GB block sizes. Buterin wrote in December 2018:
But not everyone agrees, and Bitcoin SV supporters were out in full force to defend the integrity of their project. They maintain that the 2 GB block size will open up BSV to become the most scalable blockchain in existence. One commenter suggested Vitalik fears BSV, stating:
“BSV is a threat to ETH and he knows it. ETH will be nothing but a novelty sidechain of BitCoin run by a handful of autistic NEETs for nostalgic purposes to play with their antique ‘smart contracts’ and ‘chain links’ like so many neckbeards with N64 emulators.”
THE ENEMY OF MY ENEMY IS NOT MY FRIEND
One might assume their mutual enemy of Binance might draw Bitcoin SV and Vitalik Buterin closer together, but that’s not so. Another angry commenter on the video wrote:
“Binance and CZ – that is the actual fraudulent exchange and CZ is involved with serious crime (why he has been moving his business to different countries, running away from law enforcement… CZ is going to end up in JAIL).”
This saga began in mid-2018 when Vitalik Buterin said he hoped centralized crypto exchanges would burn in hell. Indeed, as Buterin noted in the recent interview, the success of decentralized exchanges would render Binance’s king-making (and SV-breaking) null and void. | {
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Simon Cowell: Rebecca Black Is 'Genius'
He also discusses new "X-Factor" judge Antonio "L.A." Reid and confirms that Paula Abdul is still in the running to be on the program.
Simon Cowell has nothing but good things to say about overnight Internet sensation Rebecca Black and the single that made her famous, "Friday."
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Cowell gushed about the widely criticized song and called the buzz surrounding it "brilliant."
"Love it!" he said, surprisingly positive words for a critic so notoriously stingy with his praise. "I've never seen anything cause so much controversy. I think it's genius. The fact that everyone's getting upset about it is hysterical."
He likened "Friday" to the hugely popular '90s hit "Saturday Night" by Whigfield.
"It's what we call a 'hair-dryer song,' a song girls sing into their hair dryers as they're getting ready to go out," Cowell explained. "But the fact that it's making people so angry is brilliant."
Black, who appeared on Good Morning America Friday, said she was hurt by the nasty comments people left on the YouTube music video, which has been streamed over 22 million times.
Cowell also revealed more about the highly publicized hiring process for X-Factor's judges, including why Island Def Jam chairman Antonio "L.A." Reid was chosen to board the reality show.
"Taking it back to basics, since we were making the point that the whole idea of the show is that we're trying to find a star, my first thought was, I’ve got to have the No. 1 hit maker in the world on the show," he said. "And L.A. was the obvious choice."
Cowell added that at least one of the show's female judges could be revealed on Monday. Though he did not name any candidates, he confirmed that fellow former American Idol judge Paula Abdul is still in consideration.
"I'm not saying that Paula's definitely got the gig, because we don't know what's going to happen, but part of the fun of Idol when it first started was that it didn't take itself too seriously," he said. | {
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1 A Film With Outsized Influence
Animation by Lisa Larson-Walker. Photo by Dan4th Nicholas/Flickr Creative Commons.
The recent documentary The Hunting Ground asserts that young women are in grave danger of sexual assault as soon as they arrive on college campuses. The film has been screened at the White House for staff and legislators. Senate Democrat Kirsten Gillibrand, who makes a cameo appearance in the film, cites it as confirmation of the need for the punitive campus sexual assault legislation she has introduced. Gillibrand’s colleague Barbara Boxer, after the film’s premiere said, “Believe me, there will be fallout.” The film has received nearly universal acclaim from critics—the Washington Post called it “lucid,” “infuriating,” and “galvanizing”—and, months after its initial release, its influence continues to grow, as schools across the country host screenings. “If you have a daughter going to any college in America, you need to see The Hunting Ground,” the MSNBC host Joe Scarborough told his viewers in May. This fall, it will get a further boost when CNN, a co-producer, plans to broadcast the film, broadening its audience. The Hunting Ground is helping define the problem of campus sexual assault for policymakers, college administrators, students, and their parents.
Emily Yoffe Emily Yoffe is a regular Slate contributor. She writes the Dear Prudence column. You can reach her at [email protected].
The film has two major themes. One, stated by producer Amy Ziering during an appearance on The Daily Show, is that campus sexual assaults are not “just a date gone bad, or a bad hook-up, or, you know, miscommunication.” Instead, the filmmakers argue, campus rape is “a highly calculated, premeditated crime,” one typically committed by serial predators. (They give significant screen time to David Lisak, the retired psychology professor who originated this theory.) The second theme is that even when school administrators are informed of harm done to female students by these repeat offenders, schools typically do nothing in response. Director Kirby Dick has said that “colleges are primarily concerned about their reputation” and that “if a rape happens, they’ll do everything to distance themselves from it.” In the film, a former assistant dean of students at the University of North Carolina, Melinda Manning, says schools “make it difficult for students to report” sexual assault in order to avoid federal reporting requirements and to “artificially keep [their] numbers low.”
One of the four key stories told in the film illustrates both of these points. It is the harrowing account of Kamilah Willingham, who describes what happened during the early morning hours of Jan. 15, 2011, while she was a student at Harvard Law School. She says a male classmate, a man she thought was her friend, drugged the drinks he bought at a bar for her and a female friend, then took the two women back to Willingham’s apartment and sexually assaulted them. When she reported this to Harvard, she says university officials were indifferent and even hostile to her. “He’s dangerous,” she says in the film of her alleged attacker, as she tries to keep her composure. “This is a rapist. This is a guy who’s a sexual predator, who assaulted two girls in one night.” The events continue to haunt her. “It’s still right up here,” she says tearfully, placing a hand on her chest.
In multiple interviews, the filmmakers have said that they rigorously vetted all of the stories they present in The Hunting Ground. They also acknowledge that they are advocates fighting for a cause. Dick, in an interview with a campus newspaper, said, “I see myself as both an activist and a filmmaker.” In the Boston Globe, when Ziering was asked what people can do for victims of sexual assault, she said, “You can believe the survivors.”
An allegation of sexual assault is a grave one. If proven true, it can rightly end a perpetrator’s education and send him to prison. Because the stakes are so high, it is crucial, in telling stories of sexual assault, not to be blinded by advocacy, but to fairly examine the assertions of both sides. Despite the filmmakers’ assurances, The Hunting Ground fails in this regard. I looked into the case of Kamilah Willingham, whose allegations generated a voluminous record. What the evidence (including Willingham’s own testimony) shows is often dramatically at odds with the account presented in the film.
“I see myself as both an activist and a filmmaker”
Willingham’s story is not an illustration of a sexual predator allowed to run loose by self-interested administrators. The record shows that what happened that night was precisely the kind of spontaneous, drunken encounter that administrators who deal with campus sexual assault accusations say is typical. (The filmmakers, who favor David Lisak’s poorly substantiated position that our college campuses are rife with serial rapists, reject the suggestion that such encounters are the source of many sexual assault allegations.) Nor is Willingham’s story an example of official indifference. Harvard did not ignore her complaints; the school thoroughly investigated them. And because of her allegations, the law school education of her alleged assailant has been halted for the past four years.
The Hunting Ground does not identify that man. His name is Brandon Winston, now 30 years old. Earlier this year, he was tried in a Massachusetts superior court on felony charges of indecent assault and battery—that is, unwanted sexual touching, not rape. In March, he was cleared of all felony charges and found guilty of a single count of misdemeanor nonsexual touching. Following the trial, the Administrative Board of Harvard Law School, which handles student discipline, reviewed Winston’s case and voted to reinstate him. This fall, he will be allowed to complete his long-delayed final year of law school.
Like most journalists and critics, I first wrote about The Hunting Ground on Feb. 27 of this year, the day the film made its theatrical debut, and did so unaware that, the same week, the unnamed man Willingham calls a rapist was standing trial in Middlesex County on the charges stemming from her criminal complaint. I learned of Winston’s trial when a juror contacted me after it concluded to express dismay that Winston had been forced to stand trial—and had faced potential jail time—for what she saw as a drunken hook-up. Winston declined to talk with me directly, but I spoke extensively with Norman Zalkind, the lawyer who represented him at trial.
The makers of The Hunting Ground say they gave the young men implicated in the film a chance to comment, and none responded. But it wasn’t until February, a month after the documentary made a celebrated debut at the Sundance Film Festival, that Winston says he was first contacted by a representative for the film. He referred this person to Zalkind, who says he never heard from anyone representing The Hunting Ground. I contacted Kirby Dick to talk to him about the Willingham case. He declined to speak with me, but asked for a list of written questions. I sent him my questions by email, and he replied, “After careful consideration I respectfully decline.” I also contacted CNN to discuss the case. A representative did not respond to a request for comment.
The filmmakers present what happened between Kamilah Willingham and Brandon Winston as a terrifying warning to female college students and their parents, and a call to arms to government officials and college administrators. They offer the case as prima facie evidence that draconian regulations, laws, and punishments are required to end what they say is a scourge of sexual violence. But there is another story, which the filmmakers do not tell. It’s a story in which Willingham’s accusations are taken seriously and Winston’s actions are thoroughly investigated, first by Harvard University and later by the Middlesex County district attorney’s office. It’s a story in which neither the school nor the legal system finds that a rape occurred, and in which Willingham’s credibility is called seriously into question. It’s a story of an ambiguous sexual encounter among young adults that almost destroyed the life of the accused, a young black man with no previous record of criminal behavior. It’s a story that demonstrates how deeply the filmmakers’ politics colored their presentation of the facts—and how deeply flawed their influential film is as a result.
2 The Night in Question
Animation by Lisa Larson-Walker. Photo by digboston/Flickr Creative Commons.
Kamilah Willingham, now 28 years old, is a graduate of Pomona College and until recently worked in Los Angeles for Just Detention International, an organization fighting sexual abuse of prisoners. (I attempted to reach Willingham on the phone, through her former employer, through her lawyer, and via Facebook, but I did not hear back from her.) Brandon Winston was born at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina; his father is a former Marine who became a New York City firefighter, his mother a high school math teacher. He was accepted on scholarship to the elite boarding school Phillips Academy through a program to bring promising urban students to the school. He graduated from St. John’s College in Santa Fe, New Mexico. He wants to be a patent lawyer.
According to the transcripts from Winston’s eventual trial for assault, Willingham got to know Winston, who was a year behind her in school, when they worked together on a research project for a class they were both taking. Both tall and good-looking, they started seeing each other socially, and one time at Willingham’s apartment they made out, but decided to be just friends. After the project concluded, they drifted apart, each busy with school and new romantic involvements. But by the winter of Willingham’s third year of law school, her relationship had ended, and Winston’s was winding down as well. The two began exchanging messages about finding a time to reconnect.
On a Friday in mid-January, replying to a previous invitation from Willingham, Winston texted that he was near Willingham’s apartment and he wanted to drop by. There is general agreement about how the evening began. Winston arrived around 7:30, and Willingham made him a drink of hot chocolate and liqueur. They looked at photos from a recent trip Willingham had made to Kenya to visit her mother, an American working for the United Nations, and were soon joined by a high school friend of Kamilah’s. I’ll call that friend KF (for Kamilah’s friend). Both Willingham and Winston are black; KF is white. In a detail left out of The Hunting Ground, Willingham brought out cocaine, which she and Winston (but not KF) consumed.
Around 11:30, the group decided to go to a bar, the Middlesex Lounge, and here the versions of events begin to diverge. KF testified that she had been drinking at Willingham’s apartment, and just before they all left she was “starting to get hazy” and didn’t clearly remember the cab ride to the bar. Her memory for the remainder of the evening consists of “walking to the bar then waking up the next morning.” Once at the bar, Winston opened a tab; it eventually came to more than $160. The three drank, talked, and danced with strangers. Then, late into the night, Winston testified that KF came over and started dancing with him: “[KF] puts her arms around my neck and starts kissing me, while we were dancing. I start kissing her back.” He continued: “My hands were wrapped around her. Her legs came completely off the floor, wrapped around my body as we were grinding together.” He said that while this was going on, Willingham was near them on the dance floor. On direct examination Willingham said she did not see them dancing; on cross-examination she said that she did.
A little before 2 a.m. the bar closed, and Willingham walked a few blocks to get a cab. She testified that KF was very drunk, had fallen down at the bar, and needed help walking. Winston testified they were all drunk but he never saw KF fall, and she was able to walk to the cab. He also testified that he’d left his bag at Willingham’s apartment, that he asked her in the taxi if he could go back to her apartment and spend the night, and that she said yes. None of them had any cash, so when the cab arrived at Willingham’s apartment, the two women went into the building while Winston went to an ATM to pay the driver. Winston returned to Willingham’s apartment, though the details of his entrance are in dispute: Willingham testified she did not buzz him in and speculated he knew her door code; he testified he didn’t know it and that she let him in.
Willingham testified that she was collapsed at her apartment door when Winston arrived, that he took her key to let them all in the apartment, and that the three of them went to the bedroom. She said she and KF flopped face first on the bed, and then Winston came in and took off both women’s boots. She says she went to the bathroom to be sick, then came back to the bed and passed out. “I woke up and he was kissing me,” she testified. “The next thing I remember is waking up with him on top of me. His hand was inside of my tights. I didn’t know how long it had been there. I remember pulling it out of my tights. He was kissing me and touching me. I think I pulled his hair a little bit.” She said she then reached her hand out and felt naked skin—KF’s back. She said KF was naked from the waist up. She asked Winston how KF’s top had come off, and Winston said he had taken it off. Then, she said, he reached out and stroked KF’s breasts. (In The Hunting Ground Willingham says that she “yanked him by the hair” to get him to stop touching her and that KF was “totally naked.”)
Winston’s account is substantially different. He testified that he arrived at the apartment to find the door ajar and that he walked down the hall to Willingham’s bedroom. Willingham was not there, but KF was, and she appeared to be asleep. He said he roused her and got her to sit up. They started kissing. “She had her hands around my neck and my hands around her body,” he testified. He told her to lift up her arms, and he took off her shirt. They continued kissing, and he tried to unhook her bra. “I wasn’t able to,” he said. Then he passed out. He testified that the entire encounter lasted three to five minutes.
Winston testified that he was awakened by “a body that was rubbing against mine and a tongue in my mouth.” He thought it was KF; it was Willingham. As he came to, he rolled over, and Willingham wrapped her legs around him. He said that their clinch lasted about 30 seconds and that she never pulled his hair. He testified that he then told Willingham he was going to sleep on the couch in the living room. Both Winston and Willingham agree that she encouraged him to sleep in a spare bedroom. Willingham testified she did so because the living room was cold and the bed would be more comfortable for him.
The next day, Willingham began sending accusatory texts to Winston about KF. She recounts the initial exchanges in The Hunting Ground: “I said something very casually like, ‘Am I going to have to tell her that she needs a pregnancy test?’ And he said in the text message, ‘No we didn’t do anything serious. Maybe I put a finger in her v at most.’ ” Willingham’s mother then appears on screen saying, “It was pretty clear he had assaulted them while they were unconscious. I absolutely assumed that Harvard would do right by Kamilah.”
Winston testified that when he got the pregnancy question from Willingham he thought she was joking. The texts were introduced as evidence at the trial. Winston’s text in response was, “Very very funny Kamillah [sic].” She replied: “hahaha…but for realz…did you put your p in her v?” His answer: “No!! I passed out after some minor touchings no more than what you and I were doing a finger briefly in the v at most.” Willingham’s questions and accusations continued, and Winston began denying any genital contact. In an instant message conversation, he stated he had not touched KF’s vaginal area. “There wasn’t any real touching going on. No fingering. I took her shirt off and then passed out.”
Over the next few days, Winston issued a stream of apologies to Willingham. She asked, in an instant message, “When is it ever okay to initiate something with someone while she’s asleep?” He replied: “Never. I was seriously wrecked and I went too far. I wasn’t trying to force her. I know it sounds like it. I was talking to her the whole time, and she was talking back, but in that passed-out mumbling way that is essentially being asleep. And I was totally reckless, I know. I’m sorry.” He would later testify that while he didn’t believe he’d done anything wrong, he was trying to mollify his angry friend.
Willingham, however, was not placated. Winston testified that several days after their late night, she met with him and told him she had found a condom at the top of the wastebasket in her bathroom with blood on it. Willingham told Winston that KF had been menstruating on the evening in question and that she thought he might have used the condom with KF. Winston testified, “I was shaken. She made it very clear that … she was accusing me of rape.”
Winston had no memory of having intercourse with anyone, but when Willingham confronted him, he wondered if he could have done something while in a blackout state. Frightened, he testified that he checked his wallet, and the single condom he always carried was still there. He told Willingham the condom at her apartment wasn’t his. She told him she had already given it to the police. (The Cambridge Police Department declined to comment on the case.) Eventually, the condom was tested by law enforcement. There was both male and female DNA on it. The DNA from the woman was not that of KF but Willingham. Law enforcement did not test to see whether Winston was the source of the male DNA. Winston’s lawyer, Norman Zalkind, did. The male DNA did not belong to Brandon Winston.
3 Harvard’s Response
Animation by Lisa Larson-Walker. Photo by JoséMa Orsini/Flickr Creative Commons.
Willingham waited three months, until April of 2011, a few weeks before her graduation, to report the alleged assault from January. In The Hunting Ground she describes a process that was disdainful and insulting. “There was this extreme reluctance to believe me,” she says in the documentary. But the record suggests otherwise. Harvard hired an outside lawyer to conduct an investigation and present a report to the law school’s Administrative Board, a committee composed of faculty, staff, and students. During this process, Winston was interviewed for about six hours—the tape was played for the jurors at his later criminal trial, and the 150-page transcript shows he was questioned vigorously, asked persistently about every detail of that evening. Willingham and KF declined to have their interviews taped.
In the fall of 2011, the Administrative Board ruled that Winston was responsible for sexual harassment, and he was put on what the school calls “dismission,” a form of expulsion that would allow him to reapply for admission. In the film, the finding against Winston is presented as a rare triumph, though a fleeting one. Willingham says in the movie that upon returning to Cambridge in September, she received a Facebook message from the dean of students, who wanted to meet with her. (Willingham had graduated from the law school; she was back in Cambridge for a teaching fellowship in the sociology department of Harvard College.) The meeting was to deliver the news that Winston’s dismission had been overturned by the faculty. But the movie is misleading on the process and the timeline. Winston missed the entire 2011–2012 academic year because of the finding of the Administrative Board. During that year, he was barred from attending classes while his case slowly worked its way through the law school’s disciplinary process; at that time, expulsion required that two-thirds of the faculty vote to ratify the ruling. It wasn’t until the spring of 2012 that the faculty, after reviewing the testimony from the administrative hearing, voted to dismiss the charges against Winston and allow his return that fall.
“The overwhelming majority concluded this is not a person who should be punished.”
Willingham had pro bono legal representation during the law school’s administrative hearing. Her lawyer, Colby Bruno of the Victim Rights Law Center, says in The Hunting Ground of the Harvard process: “The message is clear: It’s ‘Don’t proceed through these disciplinary hearings.’ No matter what you do, you’re not going to win.”
To get another perspective on the case, I spoke with Harvard Law professor Charles Ogletree Jr. Ogletree was legal counsel for Anita Hill in her sexual harassment hearing against now–Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. He came to know Winston when he was “one of the stars” in the professor’s trial advocacy workshop. Ogletree said the review process of Winston’s case by the law school faculty was lengthy and deliberate: “Women and men offered their input. The overwhelming majority concluded this is not a person who should be punished.” Ogletree ultimately helped Winston secure legal representation for his criminal case.
Winston’s reprieve at Harvard was short-lived. In October 2012, a grand jury indicted him on two felony counts. Harvard placed Winston on an involuntary leave of absence due to the criminal charges pending against him. The indictment was the culmination of the long legal process that began when Willingham and KF reported to the police that they had been sexually assaulted and Willingham gave the police the condom from her bathroom wastebasket. Toward the end of The Hunting Ground, a graphic announces: “A grand jury in Boston indicted Kamilah’s accused assailant with two counts of sexual assault.” What the filmmakers don’t explain is that the grand jury charges stemmed from Winston’s touching of KF. The grand jury declined to indict him on any charges concerning Willingham. She appeared at his trial not as a victim but as a witness.
4 The Verdict
Animation by Lisa Larson-Walker. Photo by aerogondo2/Shutterstock.
Winston’s criminal trial didn’t begin until February of this year, nearly 2½ years after his indictment. Waiting for his day in court, Winston worked for a sculptor and then for a friend in software development. He faced two felony counts of indecent assault and battery against KF, specifically one count of “hand on vaginal area” and one count of “hand on breast.” (Despite the “finger in her v” text, Winston was not charged with a penetrative act, which in Massachusetts would have been considered rape.) The prosecutor, Marisa Tagliareni, argued to the jury in her opening statement that on Jan. 15, 2011, KF “was in no position to give consent to any kind of touching” and that Winston “went too far with [KF] that night.” (A representative for the Middlesex district attorney declined to make Tagliareni available for an interview.) Zalkind, in his opening, countered with a description of an inebriated but consensual encounter: “She kisses him, he kisses her. It’s mutual.”
There was no mention during the five-day trial of Winston drugging anyone’s drinks, a key accusation Willingham makes in The Hunting Ground. The prosecutor agreed with a defense motion not to make such an assertion due to the absence of any evidence to support it. Then there was the matter of the condom. The prosecution sought to have the condom excluded from evidence, arguing that it was not relevant to the crimes for which Winston had been indicted. (The actual source of the male DNA on it has never been identified.) Judge Maynard Kirpalani, in his decision to allow it, wrote, “This evidence is relevant, at a minimum, to demonstrate Willingham’s bias against the defendant, as the jury could infer that Willingham knew, at the time that she questioned the defendant about the condom, that the condom was not his. The jury could further infer that her questioning of the defendant was disingenuous.” Willingham testified she had no idea how the condom had gotten in her wastebasket. She said during cross-examination, “Of course I didn’t know it was mine.”
I spoke to two jurors on the trial: the woman, a public school teacher, age 54, who first approached me about the case, and a man, a public radio employee, age 52. Both jurors were willing to characterize the deliberations, but neither wanted to be publicly identified. The jury, seven men and five women, deliberated for three days. The jurors felt there was insufficient evidence that Winston touched KF’s vaginal area, despite his initial reference to the possibility in his text exchange with Willingham. KF remained clothed below the waist, and Willingham never claimed to have witnessed such an act. Winston was acquitted on that count. But the jury deadlocked 11–1 on the second count of touching the breast; a male juror was the lone holdout for conviction. To break the impasse, the jury acquitted Winston of touching KF’s breast but found him guilty of a single lesser included charge within that count: misdemeanor touching of a nonsexual nature. The male juror I spoke with expressed misgivings about convicting on even the less serious count but acknowledged Winston’s apologies were problematic. “That’s the way I can live with myself,” he said. “Brandon did confess to crossing certain lines.”
At sentencing, the prosecutor noted that KF had suffered confusion and embarrassment as a result of the events of Jan. 15 and that she has since had “issues with trusting people.” Zalkind reminded the court that Winston had been acquitted of the felony counts and that his law school education had already been on hold for nearly four years. The judge, noting Winston was not convicted of a sexual charge, sentenced him to 90 days of supervised probation—meaning a monthly check-in with a probation officer—and 180 days of unsupervised probation. Kirpalani said of Winston, “He has ... no criminal record whatsoever, and until these circumstances arose, had been a model citizen and a student with some promise.”
* * *
Brandon Winston was hardly a perfect gentleman on the night of Jan. 15, 2011. But aside from Kamilah Willingham’s assertions in The Hunting Ground, there is no evidence to suggest he is dangerous or a predator. Nor do Willingham’s claims of institutional indifference hold up; Harvard twice delayed Winston’s education while its own and later Middlesex County’s adjudication processes unfolded. Neither found evidence to substantiate Willingham’s claims in The Hunting Ground, and Winston has since received the punishment the legal system deemed appropriate for his actions.
The filmmakers say they interviewed more than 70 women who have been sexually assaulted in order to find the most compelling and illustrative stories to tell in their film. They say that each of their major cases is backed up with “extensive fact-checking” and thousands of pages of documents. But if they fact-checked this case, that only makes their one-sided portrayal of the Willingham case that much more troubling. | {
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To get a sense of the nation's addiction to firearms, consider the numbers: More than 11 million firearms are manufactured in the US each year, and another five million are imported. Americans own more guns than anyone else in the world. Yes, the rate of gun violence has held steady in recent years, but more than 33,000 people die from a gunshot each year. Blame the National Rifle Association, blame haphazard gun control measures, blame inadequacies in the mental health system—whatever the cause, a growing number of citizens, and lawmakers, feel things must change.
Voters in several states will consider November ballot initiatives to improve gun safety and expand background checks. In California, Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom backs the Safety for All Act, otherwise known as Proposition 63, which would require background checks for ammunition, ban high-capacity magazines, and require anyone whose firearm is stolen to report the theft promptly. The Maine Background Check Initiative, meanwhile, will require everyone who buys a gun, regardless of whether they purchase it from a licensed gun dealer, to pass a background check.
Laws really do help, as evidenced by lower rates of gun deaths in states with stricter firearm regulations. Here’s the shocking data behind America’s problem with gun violence. | {
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Game Dynamics
Dynamics and loops are some of the most important elements of your game design. When thinking about your game dynamics it’s important to consider the following two questions:
1) What actions can players take?
2) How do those actions help them achieve the game objectives?
This article will dive deeper into what game dynamics are as well as how you can use them engage the player in the “core loop” of your game.
Describing game dynamics
Game dynamics are made up of the different actions that players can take in your game. For old standbys like Monopoly that includes rolling a pair of dice and then moving your pawn the appropriate number of spaces. For modern board games this could include placing your worker and gaining corn or another resource. For tile laying games like Carcassone this means playing one of your tiles and then letting the board grown from there.
These are the different actions that players can take in your game. Alone they are meaningful for the player; but together they form the game’s dynamic.
Specifically, the dynamic of the game is the larger changes that occur as a result of players’ actions.
Types of dynamics
The kind of actions that players can take can be incredibly varied. Even more so when you consider the different types of games that use the same kind of actions (i.e. roll and move, tile laying, worker placement etc…)
The larger game dynamic unfolds when these players use these actions in relation to other players. However, the choice of their actions is dependent on the objective of the game. Are players attempting to achieve a specific outcome for themselves? Are they attempting to achieve something together? Are they trying to accomplish something in the game?
The difference in these objectives affect the different types of dynamics which include:
-Competition
-Cooperation
-Narrative
-Social / Party
-Progression / Legacy
Each type of game dynamic connects players’ actions to the objective in the game. Competitive games are meant to determine a single person or a team the winner. Cooperative games are meant to enable players to work together to achieve a common goal.
Narrative dynamics have players exploring the story of the game. Social / party games are meant to primarily host fun interactions between players. Progression / legacy games are meant to reward players for repeated plays where more content is unlocked over time.
When players take these actions in games, they create a pattern of loops that become part of a larger sequence of play.
These patterns of loops that players take are the core loop. The core loop is the main way that players play your game.
Examples of dynamics
An example of a competitive dynamic is in chess where players move their pieces legally until one player’s king is trapped and can no longer move.
Conversely, a game like Pandemic has a cooperative dynamic where players take actions until either one of the following two outcomes occur: either the viruses are eliminated or the viruses take over the planet.
Similarly, the classic table top role-playing game Dungeons and Dragons is heavily dependent on the narrative dynamic. That is where players experience a world and a story together as their characters.
Levels of dynamics
Dynamics can further be broken down into different levels. Those levels include:
-Primary Dynamics
-Secondary Dynamics
-Main Dynamics
Primary dynamics are the summative types of actions which move the game state forward. They can be seen in poker whenever a player folds. When all players fold the hand is over and a new hand is dealt.
Secondary dynamics on the other hand changes the players’ state. In Battleship a player calls out a coordinate: that coordinate results in either a hit or a miss. The result of which changes the player’s board and determines how many more shots they can sustain.
Lastly, main dynamics change both the game state as well as the player’s state. In the social deduction game Werewolf the villagers can nominate to eliminate a player. If that person is a werewolf then a player is lost and the villager team moves one step closer to victory.
Tension in dynamics
Dynamics are one of the best ways for designers to create tension in games because they already harness player motivations to achieve the objective of the game.
Specifically, primary dynamics causes tension from the game. Secondary dynamics cause tension for other players. Finally, main dynamics cause tension for the players from the game.
Rhythm in dynamics
Dynamics are present in games represent two different types of actions: mainly their breadth and depth. The dynamics generated by players determine the pace of the activity and the game. That pace is highly subjective and one that designers aim to identify in their designs.
You can have long euro games that play at a fast pace and short filler games that have a slower pace. That means that controlling for this pace is also another aspect of designing dynamics for games. The way that these primary, secondary, and main dynamics play with each other also determine the pace of the game. That pace is what gives the game its’ unique signature.
Takeaways
There are several types of dynamics which are determined by the objective of the game. Those include competitive dynamics, cooperative dynamics, narrative, social, as well as progression and legacy dynamics.
Dynamics are ultimately created by the designer but utilized by the player. They are a pattern of loops that becomes a larger sequence of play.
Those dynamics include three levels in primary, secondary, and main dynamics. Each level serves to affect and influence the player on several different levels. Each level allows the game to create tension from player decisions. The interplay between player decisions is what gives a game a specific signature.
This article addressed dynamics and loops in table top game design. To learn more about dynamics in gamification check out the free course on Gamification Explained.
Dave Eng, EdD
Managing Partner
[email protected]
www.universityxp.com
References
Kelly, T. (2011, January 01). Game Dynamics and Loops [Game Design]. Retrieved September 26, 2019, from https://www.whatgamesare.com/2011/01/game-dynamics-and-loops-game-design.html
Cite this Article
Eng, D. (2019, October 08). Game Dynamics. Retrieved MONTH DATE, YEAR, from https://www.universityxp.com/blog/2019/10/8/game-dynamics
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Trudno o bardziej wymowny przykład upadku polskiego grafenu niż ostatnia decyzja Nano Carbon. Jak donosi Rzeczpospolita, spółka powołana do komercjalizacji tego wynalazku wystawiła na sprzedaż specjalistyczne urządzenia, takie jak reaktor służący do produkcji grafenu.
O tym, że z grafenem w Polsce nie dzieje się najlepiej, pisze się już od 2-3 lat. Ochrzczony mianem „ojca polskiego grafenu” dr Włodzimierz Strupiński wielokrotnie alarmował, że nasz kraj stoi w miejscu, podczas gdy świat (w szczególności Chiny) robi wręcz milowe kroki w kierunku wykorzystania tego materiału przyszłości w praktyce. Badacz załamywał ręce, że niedługo staniemy się co najwyżej dostarczycielem surowca i...
...były to chyba i tak nadmiernie optymistyczne prognozy. Rzeczpospolita stawia wręcz tezę, że na dobre wypadliśmy już z wyścigu o grafenowe zyski. Dowód? Nano Carbon, czyli spółka powołana do komercjalizacji przemysłowej metody wytwarzania grafenu, wystawił na sprzedaż swoje maszyny. Sam reaktor służący do produkcji grafenu ma być wart kilkanaście milionów złotych.
Brakuje pieniędzy.
Gazeta pisze, że choć Nano Carbon dostało do dyspozycji technologię stworzoną przez zespół dr Strupińskiego, a do tego sponsorów w postaci Polskiej Grupy Zbrojeniowej i KGHM TFI, to spółka wytwarza grafen w ilościach laboratoryjnych i nie realizuje obecnie żadnych zleceń. Pieniądze, które dostaje, mają jej natomiast wystarczać tylko na prowadzenie podstawowej działalności operacyjnej. Wspomniane wcześniej urządzenia chce od Nano Carbon odkupić państwowy Instytut Technologii Materiałów Elektronicznych. Tyle że ITME... również nie ma pieniędzy na dalszą komercjalizację.
Ale to jeszcze nie koniec kłopotów. We wrześniu 2018 r. prokuratura wszczęła postępowanie w sprawie możliwości popełnienia przestępstwa polegającego na próbie sprzedaży nieruchomości po zaniżonej cenie. Sprzedaż jednego z warszawskich budynków ITME przedstawiał wcześniej jako sposób na podreperowanie budżetu.
Przez lata bierności nasz kraj stracił to, co stanowiło początkowo jego największą przewagę – unikalną technologię wytwarzania grafenu. Dzisiaj na skalę masową nauczyli się go produkować także Chińczycy, którzy laboratoria budowali u siebie w ciemno – nie wiedząc nawet dokładnie, jak dużej powierzchni będą potrzebować do prowadzenia badań. A że dysponują dostępem do większego kapitału, nietrudno się domyślić, że tej wojny raczej już nie wygramy. Wielka szkoda, bo globalny rynek robi się coraz większy. Dzisiaj jego wartość szacuje się na 200 mln dol., w 2023 ma być to już okrągły miliard.
Wykorzystanie grafenu.
Skąd taki skokowy wzrost? Nad wykorzystaniem grafenu zastanawiają się dzisiaj właściwie wszyscy. Producenci telefonów widzą jego zastosowanie w wyświetlaczach i akumulatorach (o zdecydowanie większej wytrzymałości). Materiału złożonego z atomów węgla ułożonych obok siebie jak w plastrze miodu można też użyć do budowy superszybkich procesorów czy odsalania wody. A w 2013 r. Novak Djoković wygrał Australian Open używając grafenowej rakiety.
Podsumujmy więc teraz pokrótce. Rok 2011 – Polacy znajdują sposób, by grafen produkować w ilościach przemysłowych. Rok 2017 – jeden z twórców tego rozwiązania i autor patentu, dr. Strupiński dostaje wypowiedzenie z ITME po 34 latach pracy i zastanawia się nad emigracją. Rok 2019 – Nano Carbon wyprzedaje urządzenia, które miały posłużyć do wyprowadzenia grafenu poza laboratoria. To chyba najkrótsza odpowiedź, dlaczego polski grafen jest w tym miejscu, w którym jest. | {
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Best CS:GO players in 2019-2020
2020 is going to be a breakout year for the Counter-Strike professional scene, hence why we’re revamping our top 5 list of the best CSGO players in 2019 – 2020.
Given the fact that no events have been played just yet, we’ll be listen to our guts and provide you with the players that have a legit chance to win the best CSGO player award in 2020.
1. Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut
After being rated as the best CSGO player of 2019 by HLTV, Mathieu will want to propel Vitality towards more victories.
ZywOo definitely deserves a spot on the list of the top 5 CSGO players in 2020 as he really is at the top of the foodchain.
When it comes to proficiency, this French prodigy can literally kill you with everything. For such a young player, he has an insane game sense and his raw aim is off the charts.
It will be interesting to see if ZywOo will be able to consistently top the scoreboard at the ESL One Rio Major since all of the best CSGO players will be competing here.
2. Aleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev
There is no denying that s1mple is a huge talent and definitely one of the best CSGO players. Even though Aleksandr had an excellent 2019, he fell short to ZywOo, at least by HLTV rankings. We believe that s1mple will be on a mission in 2020 and this is why we wanted to include him in the top 5 CSGO players in 2020.
You simply cannot argue with his deadly aim and aggressive playstyle. Even though his movements are transparent there still won’t be much you could do about it. If s1mple gets rolling, there is no stopping him.
However, Natus Vincere will have to step up their game in 2020. This may very well be their last stand. If something does not drastically change, s1mple could definitely consider moving back to North America.
3. Nicolai “device” Reedtz
When it comes to team play, device is your guy. Nicolai is a very mechanically gifted player, but he gets a lot of frags by using his brain. You will barely ever see device re-peak the same angle and his “shoot and fall back” method is working for Astralis.
We think that Astralis is by far the top CSGO team ever, but they certainly wouldn’t be as good if device was not wielding the AWP. He is simply reliable and this is why we included him in our top list of the best 5 CSGO players in 2020.
4. Robin “ropz” Kool
A star in the making; that is all we can say about ropz.
Even though he ranked as the 10th best player in 2019, 2020 is definitely going to be much brighter for Robin, as he gained an enormous amount of experience since mousesports to part in numerous events last year.
It seems that the German-based CSGO roster has finally found a perfect fit with karrigan leading the young guns. It will be very interesting to see if ropz can step up and carry the team alongside woxic and frozen.
The reason why we’ve decided to include Robin in our top list of the best CSGO players of 2020 is because of his raw aim. If you ever watched this guy play, you’ll know what we’re talking about.
5. Ludvig “Brollan” Brolin
We simply cannot talk about the top 5 CSGO players without mentioning this Swedish up and coming prospect. Brollan has had an excellent year as he was voted amongst the best CSGO players in 2019.
Just like ropz, Brollan is on another level when compared to other top tier players.
His weapon of choice is the SG553 or so-called Krieg and when you see him wielding this weapon, you can expect headshots.
Ludvig started out very inexperienced as fnatic was his first big roster. But, we’ve definitely saw him make headway as 2019 progressed.
Even though his game sense and overall experience are not at the highest level, we still believe that he will continue to improve. Once you add his insane aim to that equation, you’ll get one of the top CSGO players.
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Previously Ranked Top CSGO Players in 2019
There were quite a few star players in 2019, but not all of them put up insane numbers such as the 5 we mentioned below. In this piece, you will be able to find the best CSGO players in 2019.
1. Aleksandr ‘s1mple’ Kostyliev
As you could have probably guessed, s1mple is one the best CS:GO players in 2019. He has been on a terror throughout this year, and his statistics are insane. Even though his team, Natus Vincere, was only able to win one tournament this year, this did not stop s1mple from dominating everyone.
In 2019, s1mple topped the charts with AWP kills(565) and AK-47 kills(331). Fun fact, s1mple was able to knife three of his opponents this year. Below you will be able to find some of the statistics for the best CSGO player ever.
Rating 2.0: 1.35
Total Kills: 1282
K/D Ratio: 1.51
Damage Per Round: 88.1
2. Mathieu ‘ZywOo’ Herbaut
ZywOo has recently turned 18, and he already found his footing in the professional CS:GO scene. At the moment, ZywOo is rated as the second-best player in 2019, and I believe that he will keep improving. Unlike s1mple, ZywOo participated in 11 different tournaments in 2019 and he had a positive K/D ratio in each of these events. Furthermore, Vitality was able to win three of those tournaments.
When it comes to weapons, ZywOo has found his rhythm with AWP(854 kills), AK-47(408 kills), and AUG(167 kills). Once again we are presenting you with some incredible stats surrounding the French prodigy.
Rating 2.0: 1.34
Total Kills: 2210
K/D Ratio: 1.43
Damage Per Round: 87.6
3. Ali ‘Jame’ Djami
Another youngster that found his way on our top 5 list. Jame has been dominating basically everyone in 2019, and it is sad that he is not surrounded by better teammates. This puts Russian AWPer in the third-place on our list.
Jame played on 14 different CS:GO tournaments in 2019, and these are his stats for this year.
Rating 2.0: 1.31
Total Kills: 2315
K/D Ratio: 1.56
Damage Per Round: 80.1
4. Vinicius ‘vsm’ Moreira
Even though this player is nowhere near a tier 1 team, statistics say that he is the 4th best CS:GO player in 2019. Vsm is 19 years old and at the moment, he is playing for DETONA.
In 2019, vsm participated in 19 tournaments with DETONA and in 17 of those, he had a positive K/D ratio. However, most of those tournaments were qualifiers, hence why some of the stats are unreal.
Rating 2.0: 1.28
Total Kills: 1543
K/D Ratio: 1.26
Damage Per Round: 88.7
5. Tyson ‘TenZ’ Ngo
The last CS:GO player on our list is still a minor. At the moment, TenZ is only 17 years old and he is a member of Bad News Bears. Even though he did not play in many tournaments, he still put in an excellent performance in some of those events.
Canadian talent dominated everyone in the ESEA MDL Season 30 North American and below you will be able to find some of his best statistics in 2019.
Rating 2.0: 1.27
Total Kills: 1102
K/D Ratio: 1.27
Damage Per Round: 89.5 | {
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Tiroler Burger-King-Filialen geschlossen
Die vier Tiroler Burger-King-Filialen in Innsbruck, Kufstein und Wörgl sind geschlossen. Wie es vom Master-Franchise-Nehmer aus Wien heißt, soll der Tiroler Burger-King-Betreiber kurz vor der Insolvenz stehen. Dieser war am Donnerstag nicht zu erreichen.
Der Geschäftsführer des Tiroler Frachisenehmers „RHS Systemgastronomie“ soll einen Lieferanten informiert haben, keine Ware mehr zu liefern, so Hartmut Graf, Geschäftsführer des österreichischen Master Franchisenehmers TQRS. Von einer Insolvenz wären rund 50 Mitarbeiter betroffen.
ORF
Die wirtschaftliche Situation des dahinter stehenden Franchisenehmers „RHS Systemgastronomie“ scheint jedenfalls angespannt zu sein, meinte Klaus Schaller vom Kreditschutzverband von 1870 (KSV). Bereits die Bilanzen der vergangenen Jahre hätten ein massiv negatives Eigenkapital ausgewiesen. Der Franchisenehmer „RHS Systemgastronomie“ war für eine Stellungnahme vorerst nicht erreichbar.
Schon seit Jahren finanzieller Engpass
Zu den Gründen der Schließung und zur weiteren Entwicklung könne TQRS derzeit mangels gesicherter Informationen jedoch keine Stellungnahme abgeben, hieß es. Es sei aber bekannt, dass es in Tirol in den letzten Jahren mehrmals zu Problemen mit der Auszahlung der Löhne gekommen war. „Ich hoffe, dass die Ansprüche der Mitarbeiter voll erfüllt werden und alles mit rechten Dingen zugehen wird“, meinte Graf auf Anfrage der APA.
TQRS sei bestrebt, den Standort Tirol auszubauen und suche in Tirol Standorte und Franchisenehmer. Man werde möglichst daraufhin wirken, dass es auch in Zukunft Burger King-Standorte in Tirol geben wird. „Tirol ist ein absolutes Ziel“, so Graf. Die „RHS Systemgastronomie“ und auch das Vorgängerunternehmen seien nicht Vertragspartner der TQRS gewesen. | {
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Samsung Electronics reported overall Q3 operating profits of 4.06 trillion won ($3.8 billion)— a 60 percent year-over-year drop— while its Mobile division suffered a 73.9 percent drop in profits.
Apple's overall operating profits for the quarter were $11.2 billion, up 11.3 percent over the year ago quarter. That means Samsung is now earning about one third of Apple's profits while still shipping over twice as many phones. Samsung is now earning about one third of Apple's profits while still shipping over twice as many phones
Samsung reported that while its overall sales were down 19.7 percent over the year ago quarter, its mobile revenues were down by 34 percent.
That's a critical problem for the company because most of its profits were coming from its IT & Mobile Communications (IM) group, which is roughly comparable to Apple's operations. Other divisions of Samsung Electronics include its CE group that sells TVs and appliances and its DS division that includes sales of display panels, semiconductors and memory components.
At the beginning of 2014, IM was contributing 70 percent of the company's profits, primarily from smartphone sales— specifically from sales of its higher end Galaxy S and Note devices.
Samsung notes a black hole in the Galaxy
The company's earnings release noted that within the IM group, "despite slight growth in shipments, earnings declined QoQ as ASP decreased due to weak smartphone product mix and sales decrease put pressure on the cost structure."
Samsung said its phone shipments in the quarter were "driven by mid to low-end products," adding that its Note 4 release only had "marginal increase" due to being released at the very end of the quarter.
Samsung stated that its tablet "shipments increased, led by expansion of new Tab S," but not enough to blunt the impact of low margin, middle tier phones. Samsung's tablet business is also not very profitable.
Looking forward to the winter quarter, the company said to "expect demand for smartphone and tablet to increase under year-end seasonality while competition among set makers to intensify."
Samsung also reported a 93.9 percent drop in profits from its display panel business, which it said was "due to weak OLED shipments despite strong LCD sales."
Samsung's lowest profits since 2011
A report by Korea JoongAng Daily noted that the quarter was the first where Samsung had earned less than 5 trillion won since Q3 2011.
Samsung's overall profit margin bottomed out at 8.72 percent, "which is the first time in three years that the ratio has fallen below the 10 percent mark," the paper stated.
The paper cited Lee Se-chul, an analyst at Woori Investment & Securities, as saying "Samsung's smartphone performance is declining, and as the market is entering a phase of maturity, it is not easy for the company to come up with products differentiated from others." | {
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Image copyright PA Image caption The author of Gun Fight says the gun lobby used to accept some rules and regulations
I've just read a fascinating book about one of the big issues in America which divides the US and most puzzles us British: America's gun laws.
Gun Fight by Professor Adam Winkler (full disclosure: a freebie) is intriguing in these partisan times, both because it is a very balanced, objective book and because the author makes the case for a middle way.
He argues for a ground somewhere between an attempt to ban all handguns from cities and the contention that stopping former criminals from owning machine guns is an infringement of personal liberties.
He says that Americans will never give up their guns, and the anti-gun lobby have to swallow that.
But he also says the gun lobby, in the shape of the National Rifle Association (NRA), used to accept that there is a place for rules and regulations, and they should do so again.
The second amendment
The spine of the book is about the Supreme Court case seeking to overturn Washington DC's ban on handguns, District of Columbia v Heller, but it is interlaced with fascinating historical vignettes:
the contention that the murder rate was low in the frontier towns of the Wild West and kept low by tight gun control
that the shoot-out at the OK Corral was about the rights, or wrongs, of carrying weapons
that a big impetus behind gun control was the desire of white southerners to disarm blacks, and later, conservatives moving to stop Black Panthers.
But it is also about the US constitution, and whether the second amendment is about allowing Americans to own guns for self-defence or simply to form part of a militia.
It is an argument so old it is draped in cobwebs, but Professor Winkler examines the growth of "originalism", the belief that the Supreme Court should base its rulings on the intentions of those who wrote the constitution.
It is another thing most Brits have a hard time getting their heads around.
To me, it seems obvious that whenever the constitution talks about "the people" the authors were excluding black people and women, and that seems to do for the argument about original intention.
But both Professor Winkler and the Supreme Court disagree.
The Supreme Court decided that DC's gun control law violated the second amendment by five to four. After that a similar law in Chicago had to go.
But it also suggested that not all gun control was unconstitutional, particularly a ban on "dangerous and unusual weapons", such as machine guns.
Professor Winkler concludes: "Ever since the founding of America, the right to own a firearm has lived side by side with gun control. Americans don't need to choose between two absolutes".
This is a novel interpretation of a bipartisan approach, one that doesn't translate as "agree with me, or else".
Anyway, thought-provoking stuff. | {
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Le Pacte mondial sur les migrations des Nations unies a été formellement approuvé lundi à Marrakech (Maroc), après proclamation orale et avec le traditionnel coup de marteau. Il est décrié par plusieurs "gilets jaunes".
Le pacte de Marrakech a été formellement approuvé, lundi 10 décembre, par plus de 150 pays. Depuis plusieurs jours, bon nombre de messages circulent sur les réseaux sociaux et sites proches de l'extrême droite, tels que Riposte laïque pour dénoncer ce texte. La sensibilité du sujet a poussé plusieurs pays dans le monde à renier leurs engagements en faveur de ce texte pourtant "juridiquement non contraignant". En France, des "gilets jaunes" l'avait dénoncé, en se basant, notamment sur de fausses informations.
Craignant "le grand remplacement", "le chaos total" avec "des migrants arrivant par milliers", de nombreux "gilets jaunes" dénoncent ce texte de l'ONU, pourtant non-contraignant, et assurent vouloir empêcher le président de la République de se rendre au Maroc pour le signer. Que veulent-ils faire exactement ? D'où viennent ces inquiétudes ? Que dit vraiment le pacte de Marrakech ? Franceinfo fait le point.
Pourquoi certains "gilets jaunes" dénoncent ce pacte ?
De plus en plus de messages dénonçant le pacte de l'ONU sur les migrations sont récemment apparus sur les réseaux sociaux, précisément sur des pages de groupes et d'événements liés au mouvement des "gilets jaunes". Des comptes de personnes soutenant la mobilisation partagent ainsi des messages – et fausses informations – sur le texte de l'ONU, tels qu'"on va être islamisé et en dictature", "900 000 immigrés supplémentaires par an", ou encore "le chaos total", "le remplacement des peuples", "le nouvel ordre mondial".
Un message publié le 3 décembre 2018 sur la page d'un groupe Facebook de soutien aux "gilets jaunes", condamnant le pacte de l'ONU sur les migrations. (FACEBOOK)
"Il faut l'arrêter avant qu'il (Emmanuel Macron) signe (...) le 10 décembre", peut-on ainsi lire sur la page Facebook de l'événement "Acte 4 Mobilisation Gilets Jaunes", qui compte déjà 3 800 participants et quelque 20 000 personnes intéressées. "Je demande à l'armée d'arrêter le plus rapidement possible Emmanuel Macron avant qu'il aille signer le pacte sur l'immigration à l'ONU... Une fois signé, plus de 4 millions d'immigrés arriveront en France !", écrit un autre internaute sur le réseau social. "La France dépendra entièrement de l'ONU et les migrants auront tous les droits sur notre territoire. (...) Il faut rassembler des milliers de 'gilets jaunes' pour prouver à Macron que le peuple est déterminé", affirme encore un message sur Facebook.
Un message condamnant le pacte de l'ONU sur les migrations, publié sur l'une des pages Facebook de soutien au mouvement des "gilets jaunes", le 3 décembre 2018. (FACEBOOK)
Des messages similaires sont également apparus ces derniers jours sur Twitter. "Les 'gilets jaunes' doivent lui demander de ne pas signer le pacte de l'ONU sur l'immigration, sinon là on va en baver", affirme un internaute. L'écrivain Renaud Camus, théoricien du "grand remplacement", écrit quant à lui que "si les 'gilets jaunes' arrivent à empêcher la France de signer la pacte de Marrakech, je m’engage à porter un gilet jaune pour le restant de mes jours".
Les @GiletsJaunes doivent lui demander de ne pas signer le pacte de l'ONU sur l'immigration , sinon la on va en baver surtout qu'il part a Marrakech le 10 ou le 11 , il faut l'empêcher a tout prix de signer encore pour ns mettre dans la guerre civile — lolo (@lolofrench13) December 4, 2018
ATTENTION LE 10 DÉCEMBRE À MARRAKECH MACRON VA SIGNER LE PACTE DE L'ONU SUR L'IMMIGRATION ET CE SERA LA FIN DE TOUTES LES SOUVERAINETÉS NATIONALES DONT CELLE DE LA FRANCE.
LA FRANCE NE SERA PLUS MAÎTRE DE SON TERRITOIRE NI DE SES FRONTIÈRES. #GiletsJaunes #MACRON — Marlene Ramirez (@Ramirez103) December 3, 2018
Le pacte des migrations sera signé à Marrakech parce qu’il n’aurait pas pu être signé en Europe sans de violentes manifestations de protestation. Reste à savoir si les gilets jaunes laisseront Macron y aller ou s’ils bloqueront les aéroports... — Vasel Stus (@VaselStus) December 4, 2018
Beaucoup d'internautes relaient également depuis lundi un appel du site d'extrême droite Riposte laïque, intitulé "Pacte de Marrakech : Gilets jaunes, vous devez bloquer Macron au sol le 10 décembre !" et comptant déjà près de 33 000 vues. "Ce pacte abject est (...) une trahison de nos dirigeants contre les nations européennes qu’ils veulent détruire en les submergeant de dizaines de millions d’immigrés incultes, sauvages et barbares", peste l'auteur du texte. Ce dernier appelle ainsi les "gilets jaunes" à "profiter de leur quatrième acte d'action militante pacifique et ordonnée pour bloquer l'Elysée et tout le quartier, mais aussi les aéroports parisiens, afin que Macron ne puisse pas décoller pour se rendre à Marrakech le 10 décembre".
Comment la rumeur s'est propagée ?
Plusieurs voix d'extrême droite, en France comme à l'étranger, ont directement lié la dénonciation du pacte de Marrakech au mouvement des "gilets jaunes". Lundi, la présidente du Rassemblement national (RN), Marine Le Pen, a tenu une conférence de presse au cours de laquelle elle a estimé que le sujet "n'était pas si éloigné de la révolte populaire" des "gilets jaunes". "Avec cette nouvelle trahison silencieuse de la nation, nos dirigeants franchissent une nouvelle étape dans la submersion organisée de notre pays", a affirmé l'ancienne candidate à l'élection présidentielle. Selon elle, les Français prenant part au mouvement sont "conscients qu'on ne peut pas accueillir des centaines de milliers de personnes supplémentaires, sans que ça ait une influence sur l'équilibre de nos budgets sociaux et de nos territoires". Des paroles rapidement relayées sur les réseaux sociaux lundi, notamment par des "gilets jaunes".
Des organisations d'extrême droite allemandes ont également créé un lien entre leur condamnation du texte de l'ONU et la mobilisation des "gilets jaunes". Samedi, trois d'entre elles ont lancé un "rassemblement en gilets jaunes" pour dénoncer le pacte de Marrakech, rapporte Le Monde. "Notre combat rejoint celui des 'gilets jaunes' français. Ici, nous voulons nous débarrasser de Merkel. En France, ils veulent que Macron démissionne, a expliqué l'un des manifestants au quotidien. Au fond, notre objectif est le même : redonner le pouvoir aux peuples européens, en finir avec ces politiques inconséquentes qui donnent tous les droits aux étrangers alors que les Européens de souche, eux, sont traités comme des citoyens de seconde zone."
Que dit vraiment le pacte de Marrakech ?
Le "pacte mondial pour des migrations sûres, ordonnées et régulières" a été adopté au mois de juillet par la majorité des Etats membres de l'ONU. Il appelle les signataires "à améliorer la coopération en matière de migration internationale", tout en assurant qu'il "respecte la souveraineté des Etats", contrairement à ce que certains messages diffusés sur les réseaux sociaux peuvent laisser entendre. "Le pacte mondial réaffirme le droit souverain des Etats de définir leurs politiques migratoires nationales et leur droit de gérer les migrations relevant de leur compétence, dans le respect du droit international", assure le texte.
Le document est non-contraignant, ce qui signifie qu'il n'impose aucune mesure ou politique spécifique aux Etats signataires.
L'immigration reste une compétence des Etats, aucun traité international ne peut imposer aux Etats d'accueillir des migrants.Matthieu Tardis, chercheur à l'Ifrià franceinfo
Néanmoins, le pacte de Marrakech a été rejeté par plusieurs pays, qui ne signeront donc pas le texte. C'est le cas des Etats-Unis, de l'Australie, d'Israël et de la Suisse, notamment. Dans l'Union européenne aussi, six Etats ont fait savoir qu'ils refuseraient de l'approuver. Il s'agit de la Hongrie, de la République tchèque, de l'Autriche, de la Slovaquie, de la Croatie et de l'Estonie. Selon Le Monde (article payant), le ministre des Affaires étrangères hongrois, Peter Szijjarto, a ainsi estimé que le texte "favorisait les migrations" et qu'il allait engendrer un mouvement massif de populations vers l'Europe, avec "des millions de personnes incitées à se lancer sur les routes". Le texte fait également débat en Bulgarie, qui pourrait également le rejeter, ainsi qu'en Italie, en Allemagne (au sein de la droite, la CDU) et en Belgique.
Que contient exactement ce pacte de l'ONU sur les migrations ? "Il dit surtout qu'il faut un dialogue mondial et une gouvernance mondiale sur les questions d'immigration", et "rappelle un certain nombre de principes", analyse Matthieu Tardis, chercheur au Centre migrations et citoyennetés de l'Institut français des relations internationales (Ifri). Réaffirmant l'attachement de la communauté internationale aux droits de l'homme et de l'enfant, mais aussi à la souveraineté nationale, le pacte liste 23 objectifs "pour des migrations sûres, ordonnées et régulières".
L'ONU appelle ainsi à "lutter contre les facteurs négatifs et les problèmes structurels qui poussent des personnes à quitter leur pays d’origine", à "faire en sorte que les filières de migration régulière soient accessibles et plus souples", à "donner aux migrants et aux sociétés des moyens en faveur de la pleine intégration et de la cohésion sociale" ou encore à "ne recourir au placement en rétention administrative des migrants qu’en dernier ressort et chercher des solutions de rechange".
Le texte peut-il entraîner davantage d'immigration en France, comme l'affirment bon nombre de "gilets jaunes" et l'extrême droite, s'appuyant sur les refus américains ou hongrois ? "Non", estime Matthieu Tardis. Au contraire, "ça peut limiter des arrivées irrégulières et surtout dangereuses pour ces personnes", tempère-t-il. "Et les migrations, on en a besoin, nos économies en ont besoin. Beaucoup de secteurs de l'économie française reposent sur des travailleurs migrants, parfois en situation irrégulière", rappelle le chercheur. Pour ce dernier, le pacte "ne changera pas grand chose" à la politique migratoire de la France, déjà "plutôt dure". "Ce qui compte, c'est qu'il y ait une vraie coopération internationale sur ce sujet-là, ajoute Matthieu Tardis. Mais ces débats polluent totalement le message." | {
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Amir Talai Photo: Paul Archuleta/FilmMagic
This week, we observe the 17th anniversary of the tragedy of 9/11, as well as the beginning of a new fall TV season. As unconnected as those are for most Americans, they are totally intertwined for me, and many other MENA (Middle Eastern and North African) actors. I moved to Hollywood a few months after 9/11. One of my first TV roles was on a TV pilot called Homeland Security, where I actually played one of the 9/11 hijackers in flight school. I had a handful of lines, including, “Is okay, I don’t need to land.” At the time, I was happy to be working, and I didn’t mind playing such a one-dimensional character because I hoped and expected I would eventually play more complex non-terrorist roles. But in the last 17 years, nearly every MENA role I’ve played or auditioned for was in some way informed by 9/11.
That’s not to say I’ve only played terrorists. Far from it — most of the roles I’ve played had nothing to do with terrorism. But they also had literally nothing to do with being MENA. They had traditionally white names like Richard or Mitchell, and no indication of their parents being immigrants, like mine, or of them facing any kind of anti-MENA racism, like I do.
Looking around and talking to fellow MENA actors in audition rooms, it’s always felt like we all were only playing two types of roles: guys named Mohammed in terrorist story lines, or guys named Richard in non-terrorist story lines.
This felt true, but I had no way to prove it beyond my own life experiences. But a recent study, “Terrorists and Tyrants,” shows that my experience is indeed universal to MENA performers in Hollywood. Presented by the MENA Arts Advocacy Coalition (MAAC), the study shows that MENA performers are underrepresented on network, cable, and streaming TV. Specifically, MENAs are 3 percent of the U.S. population but only one percent of series regulars. And when we do get cast, our ethnicity is either erased, playing characters that are not identifiably MENA; or, as is more often the case, we play terrorists, soldiers, special agents, and tyrants — a whopping 78 percent of the time.
Seventy-eight percent is absolutely staggering to me. While it makes me sad to read it in print, it is reassuring to know that I haven’t been imagining it. And now that we have data to back it up, it gives us the opportunity to change things.
For me personally, it would mean a lot to be able to play a character named Mohammed, whose parents are from Iran, but who doesn’t help (or prevent) the Iranian government procure uranium for a nuclear weapon. I’d love to just play an Iranian-American who is tormented by, say, a Mind Flayer from the Upside Down, or an Iranian-American who has to make meth to pay for his cancer treatment.
But my desire to see more MENA actors working, and more MENA characters not connected to geopolitics, goes way beyond what it would mean for me personally. Seventy-five percent of white Americans don’t have any nonwhite friends, and I suspect that number would be much higher if we asked what percentage of white Americans have any MENA friends. So for better or for worse, the only way most Americans know MENAs is through the news media and the scripted media. Given that the news media focuses disproportionately on MENA terrorists compared to their white counterparts, and we know the scripted media disproportionately depicts MENAs as involved in terrorism, is it any wonder that most white Americans voted for a man who campaigned on deporting people from MENA countries? Is it any wonder that hate crimes against Muslims and Arabs in America are higher than they’ve ever been?
If depictions of MENAs were more diverse and more accurate, perhaps there would be less fuel on the fire of bigotry and hate in this country. Perhaps, the same way Will and Grace and Modern Family helped many Americans see that gay people are no different than anyone else, more depictions of real MENAs will help Americans see how much we all have in common.
Know that MENAs are more than terrorists, and more than terrorist-fighters. Most of us go about our daily lives just like everyone else. We are doctors, lawyers, and baristas; we are straight, gay, and trans; we are Muslim, Christian, Jewish, and atheist; we like music, sports, and eating out. What you see on TV is an extremely skewed picture, and every TV and movie viewer should take these study results to heart. | {
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Donald Trump has appointed his vice president Mike Pence to lead the US response to the coronavirus.
The US president said: "Mike will be working with the professionals, doctors and everybody else that is working.
"The team is brilliant. I spent a lot of time with the team the last couple weeks but they are brilliant and we're doing really well and Mike is going to be in charge and Mike will report back to me. But he has a certain talent for this."
Li Xiaoxiong tells Sky News what it is like having coronavirus
Speaking about the outbreak, Mr Trump said: "This will end.
"You don't want to see panic because there's no reason to be panicked.
"Because of all we've done, the risk to the American people remains very low."
But Dr Anne Schuchat of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told the same news conference: "We do expect more cases."
:: Listen to Divided States on Apple podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, and Spreaker
Mr Trump's stance is markedly different from his reaction to the Ebola outbreak of 2014, during which he posted dozens of mostly panicked tweets about the virus.
Many of them attacked then-president Barack Obama's handling of the crisis.
Obama just appointed an Ebola Czar with zero experience in the medical area and zero experience in infectious disease control. A TOTAL JOKE! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 17, 2014
The US has confirmed its first case with no known connection to overseas travel or another known case.
The person lives northeast of San Francisco, and the lack of travel or contact with other infected people has prompted health officials to warn the case may be a sign of "community spread".
The CDC said in a statement: "It's possible this could be an instance of community spread of COVID-19."
Dr Sonia Angell, director of the California Department of Public Health and State Public Health Officer, said: "We have been anticipating the potential for such a case in the US, and given our close familial, social and business relationships with China, it is not unexpected that the first case in the US would be in California."
The other 59 cases in the US had travelled from overseas or been in close contact with those who had.
Image: Brazil has confirmed its first case of coronavirus
In other developments:
Around 160 British tourists are in lockdown at a Tenerife hotel over coronavirus fears
at a Tenerife hotel over coronavirus fears Stock markets are falling sharply again as countries report a surge in coronavirus cases
as countries report a surge in coronavirus cases Some UK hospitals and other medical sites including GP surgeries will now test flu patients for the coronavirus
The government has banned the export of an HIV drug and anti-malaria infection treatment so that they can be tested as potential treatments for COVID-19
Saudi Arabia has halted the entry of Muslim pilgrims to the holy cities of Mecca and Medina
Russia's Federal Tourism Agency recommends the country's holiday firms suspend tours to Italy, South Korea and Iran until outbreaks are brought under control
South Korea has reported 334 more cases, bringing its total to 1,595 - the second-highest number after China
The South Korean and US militaries have postponed their annual joint drills out of concerns over the outbreak
China reports 433 new cases, 383 in the city of Wuhan, where the disease emerged in December
Four pupils at a primary school which Prince George and Princess Charlotte attend are in self-isolation after a trip to northern Italy
Image: Brazil has confirmed its first case of coronavirus
More than 82,100 people have been infected with COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by coronavirus, with 2,801 dying as a result.
Most of the casualties have been in China, where the disease originated, but it has steadily spread to every continent except Antarctica.
Special report on coronavirus: How worried should we be?
In the UK, 7,132 people have been tested for the virus and 13 have been confirmed as infected. Eight of those have since been discharged from hospital.
At least eight schools have closed, after students returning from Italy, where 400 people have been infected and 12 have died.
:: Listen to the Daily podcast with Dermot Murnaghan on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Spreaker
Public Health England said its general advice is not to close schools and that staff did not need to be sent home while waiting for test results. It said most possible cases turn out to be negative.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock said guidance has been sent to UK employers telling them staff who are asked to self-isolate are entitled to take sick leave.
Why is the virus affecting markets so badly?
COVID-19 has been fatal in 2% of reported cases, with the elderly and ill the most vulnerable, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).
The virus can cause fever, coughing, wheezing and pneumonia and health officials think it spreads mainly from droplets when an infected person coughs or sneezes.
Advice is for people to wash their hands with soap and water and avoid close contact with people who are sick. | {
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Baggot Street Medical provides a full range of medical advice, treatment and investigations relevant to general practice to people living and working in Dublin City including Dublin 2, Dublin 4 and Dublin 6.
In addition to providing treatment for specific and acute illnesses, we offer advice and screening for many medical conditions and provide management of chronic conditions. Call us on 01 906 0456 | {
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