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Edgic is a weekly feature analyzing each player’s edit, mapping characters to their story-arc. Note that our focus is not solely to determine the winner, as is typical of other Edgic sites. For more information on how Edgic works and rating definitions read our Introduction to Edgic article.
You can read all our Edgic posts for last season here.
Color Key
Name EP 1 EP 2 EP 3 EP 4 EP 5 EP 6 EP 7 EP 8 EP 9 EP 10 EP 11 EP 12 EP 13 EP 14 Aaron MOR4 Chelsea UTR2 Dan CPN3 Dean UTR1 Elaine CPP5 Elizabeth CP5 Jack CPP2 Jamal UTR2 Janet OTTP3 Jason OTTM2 Karishma MORP3 Kellee CP3 Lauren UTR2 Missy CPP3 Molly MOR3 Noura MOR2 Tom MORP4 Tommy CP3 Vince CPP3 Ronnie MORN4
What Does This Episode Tell Us?
Welcome back! Edgic has returned from the Edge of Extinction, and I’m ready to put my analytical hat back on for another season. So let’s waste no time in getting stuck into this Island of the Idols premiere.
First of all: intro business. While this season doesn’t have a game-breaking twist like the EOE, it does have a theme that is bound to shake-up the edit. The involvement of Boston Rob and Sandra means that we have two non-active participants who will be commenting on the game and its players throughout. So even though I won’t be giving Rob and Sandra their own Edgic ratings and analysis, it’s important to note what they have to say about the active competitors.
The Rob & Sandra twist already threw a wrench into the season-opening. The intro/marooning is usually one of the easiest ways to determine key characters of the season. That wasn’t the case here, as the majority of the intro was spent explaining the twist. We didn’t receive any confessionals from the new players—though we did hear three voiceovers:
Elizabeth – “39 seasons… this game is full of twists and turns.” Jack – “There are endless things you have to adapt to.” Aaron – “Survivor is where it’s at now because it’s evolved. And it’s about to get crazy.”
It’s unclear whether these quotes are significant to the players saying them or are just general season-hype. Though the fact that Elizabeth was the first person sent to the Island of the Idols (IOI) could suggest that they were intentionally given to specific people.
There were also some player close-ups laid over Jeff Probst’s intro, but I think these have become less important over the past couple of years. But I’ll make a note of them anyway. When Probst said, “Which ones will rise to the top,” we saw close-ups of Missy, Karishma, and Aaron. When he said, “And which ones will fall victim to the lessons learned,” we saw Elizabeth, Noura, and Tommy. Again, Elizabeth visited the IOI this episode, and she failed her test, so perhaps there is relevance. But I wouldn’t get too hung up on any of this just yet.
As for the episode as a whole, we received a fairly generous look at the entire cast, save for one or two. As you can see from the chart above, the ratings are pretty colorful; there were only four UTRs out of a cast of 20, and of those four, three of them still received a confessional. Whether the show can keep up this balanced editing in a regular 42-minute episode remains to be seen.
The other thing that stood out right away was the dominance of the women. The first seven confessionals of the season went to the ladies: Karishma, Chelsea, Elizabeth, Missy, Lauren, Molly, and Janet. It leaped out because that is so rare… maybe even a Survivor first? And it seemed intentional, given what else we saw later in the episode: the Lairo women forming an alliance, Missy talking about how women always get voted off first, the situation between Kellee & Dan on Vokai. My initial impression after this episode was that this is going to be a season of strong women.
That’s not to say a woman is guaranteed to win. It’s way too early to make claims that bold. There were similar “female-empowerment” vibes to David vs. Goliath last year but a man still ended up winning in the end. So while I feel like the edit is pointing to a season of strong women stories/characters, that doesn’t necessarily have to translate to the winner’s story.
Lastly, before we jump into the individual character write-ups, I want to touch on the complex tribe theory. Many Edgicers subscribe to the theory that whichever tribe has the most complex edit pre-merge is the tribe that contains the winner. I think it’s a very valid theory and one I personally put a lot of weight in. So which was the most complex tribe after episode one? It was a tough call. Both Lairo and Vokai received a decent amount of content which showed us the tribe dynamics and relationships. However, I lean towards Vokai being more complex.
Lairo attended Tribal Council and had one of their players sent to the IOI, so they were always going to receive more content. Vokai, on the other hand, didn’t have to vote anyone out and yet we still got plenty of insight into their tribe. They had a group scene at camp which introduced us by name to Lauren, Jamal, and Tommy. There was the whole situation with Jason and the idol, which led to story connections with Dan and Noura. Jack and Tommy both explained their games and formed an alliance. There was a scene of the majority alliance forming. And a major personal story with Kellee and Dan which could be a continuous narrative.
Again, it’s very early in the season, and a couple more episodes should really tell us which tribe is the most complex, but if I had to place a bet right now, I’d say the winner of the season is currently wearing a purple buff.
THE CHARACTERS
Under The Radar
As the only player not to receive a confessional, this wasn’t the ideal start for Dean—especially as he was on the tribe that attended Tribal Council. He was very close to getting an Invisible rating; thankfully, he was saved by Elaine, who name-checked him (subtitled) when she was joking about him starving to death. Also, he was mentioned by name post-Immunity Challenge when the various factions on Lairo were counting numbers. For those reasons, he just scraped a generous UTR1.
Does this rating mean Dean is dead-on-arrival? It’s certainly not the start you want if you’re looking for a winner contender. Yes, Chris Underwood won last season with a lackluster edit, but I’m not using that bad fever-dream of a season as precedent. There is no EOE twist here, so no real excuse for a winner not to be properly introduced in the season premiere. But this doesn’t mean Dean can’t be an important character later down the road.
For comparison, Alec in David vs. Goliath started the season with an UTR1, and while he was never a major part of the narrative, he made it to the merge and had a decent CP run before his elimination. Dean fits the Alec archetype almost to a tee, so there is a hope there. The difference is that Alec didn’t attend the first Tribal; Dean did, and the fact he didn’t comment on the vote or his position in the game at all is a little worrying.
It’s early days though, and one lackluster rating doesn’t completely kill a character off. It could be that Dean’s story doesn’t begin until later—perhaps his relevance to the season is connected to characters on the other tribe. Give it another couple of episodes, and we should get a better idea of whether Dean is truly DOA or just biding his time.
Chelsea‘s premiere edit can be summed up in two words: “idols” and “paranoia.” Pretty much all of her content revolved around the Island of the Idols theme: her confessional, her answer to Probst at the challenge, and her response at Tribal Council. It was almost like a copy-and-paste job.
In her first and only confessional, Chelsea talked about being “mind-blown” by the lack of marooning and the season theme. “When people talk about idols in general it’s already paranoia, but that’s what our season theme is revolved around?” she said. “There’s some twist out there, and I’m not sure if I’m ready for it.” It’s probably not a great sign to say you’re not ready for something in Survivor and it makes it seem like this twist will somehow hurt Chelsea.
Before the Immunity Challenge, she again talked about the paranoia caused by this mysterious theme. “Just the word “idol” creates paranoia, so we have a whole theme around that now, and no one knows what that means,” she said. It really felt like the edit was hammering home this idea of idols/the theme causing paranoia and it was using Chelsea as the cheerleader for that. The question is, did Chelsea just give the best soundbites? Or is she directly connected to this theme or paranoia?
The fact we didn’t learn anything about Chelsea on a personal or game level is not a great sign. We know nothing about her life or her strategy/alliances. She was involved in game-talk at the well, but this vote was not told from her perspective. Her name was mentioned as part of a voting-bloc, but we have no idea who she feels closest to or what her plans are moving forward.
A plus point for Chelsea’s edit is that she does have a connection to the theme and idols/paranoia. That means she could have a role to play in that regard. The downside is that there was no depth and no long-term narratives or relationships set-up.
On the surface, Jamal‘s edit didn’t seem like anything special. However, it’s not quite as bad as the UTR2 rating makes out. Despite a lack of content and an extremely generic confessional, there were subtle hints of potential long-term connections.
Firstly, Jamal was one of three Vokai members to introduce themselves in the first camp group scene. We didn’t learn anything about him other than his name, but still, the editors could have picked any of the 10 tribe members to highlight here, so why Jamal? We then didn’t hear from him again until a bit later in the episode when he gave a basic camp-life confessional. He talked about how everything was going awesome and couldn’t be any better. “We’re chilling,” he said. There was perhaps some slight editorial undermining here, given that what came next was the scene of Jason idol searching and the tribe turning against him. Maybe things weren’t as chill as Jamal believed?
While this content alone isn’t exactly memorable, there were a couple of under-the-radar moments that could point to Jamal’s long-term in-game relationships. There was a scene of him bonding with Tommy about their love for their fourth-grade teachers—yes, this was more about Tommy than Jamal, but it’s still a potential connection. And when the majority group came together, Jack specifically mentioned Jamal by name and said that he liked him, which received back-up from the rest of the group (not quite significant enough for a Positive-rating though).
These things don’t completely negate the lackluster premiere for Jamal, but it does give him some narrative options going forward. It seems right now that he’d be more of a secondary character within a larger group, but he could have his moments to shine every now and then.
Lauren‘s edit was similar to Chelsea’s in that it was mostly tied to the season theme—though she didn’t seem quite as paranoid about it as Chelsea. She didn’t have a lot of content across the episode, but we were introduced to her and, like Jamal, we have a vague sense of her early game relationships.
The first confessional on the Vokai tribe came from Lauren. “The theme of the season is Island of the Idols, which really makes your mind sort of go wild,” she said. “So it’s surprising, it’s shocking… and it’s cool.” It felt like Lauren was welcoming of the theme despite her initial shock, which is quite the contrast from Chelsea’s “Ohh noo… I’m not sure if I’m ready for it” stance. I think those who find success this season will be those who embrace the theme and all it has to offer. That could put Lauren in good stead.
Other than that, Lauren was kind of a background character for the majority of the episode, though she was the first person to introduce herself in the camp group scene. As I said in Jamal’s write-up, there are 10 tribe members, and the editors chose to highlight Lauren—that shouldn’t be ignored. We also saw her bonding with Tommy (again, this was more about Tommy than Lauren) and she was part of the majority alliance group chat. Later in the episode, she was present when Janet and Kellee were discussing the issue regarding Dan.
It’s hard to say right now what Lauren’s role will be in the season. Of all the UTRs, I think she stands out the most. There were no negative vibes here; just a lack of meaty content. We need to hear more from Lauren in the next couple of episodes, particularly game-related content. Right now, she feels like a mid-tier character but with the potential to rise based on how the next couple of weeks go.
Middle of the Road
Noura was borderline UTR, but I think there was just enough to her edit to push her into MOR. She wasn’t highly visible across the episode, but her one main scene and confessional explained the reasons behind her actions. She made a game move and told us her reasons for doing it—that was more than any of the four UTRs.
It was after the Vokai tribe pinpointed Jason as a target when Noura sprung into action. She approached Jason and told him that the rest of the tribe thinks he has the idol. “After I hear that people are saying Jason’s name, I’m thinking, ‘I like the guy, and I wanna work with him,'” she explained in confessional. She continued: “He reminds me of an ex-boyfriend that I feel is a very authentic, good guy that I can trust… I wanna work with that. So what’s the first thing I do? I go to him, and I tell him.”
The fact Noura gave a reason for her actions = good. Her wisdom that “perception is reality” = good. The reason itself? Hmm… It’s difficult to say if we’re meant to see this as a smart move or not. Basing a game relationship off someone reminding you of an ex-boyfriend doesn’t sound like the best plan in the world. But she did say she found Jason to be “authentic,” and we heard a lot this episode (especially over on Lairo) about how important it is to make authentic, genuine connections.
I think the problem for Noura is that her edit is very much secondary to Jason’s. She was introduced to us as part of his story. It was all about protecting Jason and less about what is good for Noura. Other than the mention of an ex-boyfriend, we didn’t learn anything about Noura and her personal life. It will be interesting to see where her edit goes from here, but I feel like whatever happens, her story will be strongly connected to Jason.
Molly had a solid first episode. It was a sort of low-key edit but with just enough substance to suggest this is a character to keep our eye on. She talked about the group dynamics and her approach to the game but not in an overly complex manner. But it was enough for a strong MOR rating.
She didn’t introduce herself in the first Vokai group chat, but she did receive a confessional where she expressed her thoughts on the tribe. “Everyone on our tribe seemed really smart (cut to Tommy) and bright (cut to Kellee) and social (cut to Noura). And everyone just seems really excited to be there, which I think is a positive thing,” she said. It was a very narrational sort of confessional, but the tribe narrator is not the worst role to have in a season.
It wasn’t just pure narration, though. We also saw Molly talking game. She was the first person to notice that Jason had left camp. “Molly, you are very perceptive, my friend,” a fellow tribemate said, which was subtitled. Any time something is subtitled unnecessarily, it draws my attention. This quote felt particularly relevant. It tells us that Molly has strong game-awareness and can quickly pick up on what is happening at camp. We should keep watch on whether this becomes a consistent character trait for Molly in the coming weeks.
Molly was also part of the majority alliance formation scene and was the only one of the six to comment on it in confessional. “Already, I can see the core group formed, which is great because I don’t want to be that person on the outs,” she told us. She talked about how the group “just clicked” and how they want to have a “good time” and get rid of the “drama” and “sliminess.” She pointed to Jason as the person acting “shady” and “rubbing people the wrong way.”
This idea of not wanting to cause drama came up again for Molly later in the episode. She was one of the women uncomfortable with Dan’s disregard for personal space, and her approach to this situation gave us an insight into her game. “I’m trying to be delicate about this because it is a game and I don’t wanna ruffle feathers for as long as I possibly can. If you get yourself into a hole early, it’s really hard to climb out of it.”
I find it interesting that for a group that just wanted to have a “good time” and avoid all the “drama,” that there was already a hefty dose of drama within the group in the first three days. I don’t necessarily think that means Molly was wrong when she said Jason was the main source of shadiness—that opinion was backed up by many others. But I do think it’s meant to tell us that there is more than one cause of drama on this tribe and how Molly handles that will be significant to her story this season.
P.S. – The clam scene could be foreshadowing of a blindside, but my read of that is that it was just a fun, bonding scene.
I went back and forth with Aaron‘s rating—the main sticking point being whether he should have Negative-tone or not. I ultimately decided to keep him neutral because he didn’t receive any direct negative SPV (second-person visibility). But I could certainly see the argument for light N-tone simply because of how he was presented in relation to others.
Aaron was essentially the head of the enemy alliance which opposed Elaine, Tom, and Vince, all of whom were clearly edited as the positive heroes of the episode. That’s where the slight negative vibes stem from. It was Aaron and Ronnie who immediately threw the target on that trio; Aaron voiced it to the group and in confessional. It often came across like he was dictating to the rest of the tribe—a real ‘my way or the highway’ attitude. For example, look at the scene where he questioned whether Elaine would be loyal at a swap and then basically pushed her into voting Vince.
The saving grace for Aaron’s edit is that he did explain his reasons for targeting Elaine and Vince, even if they were rather shallow, and at Tribal Council he acknowledged that this is a game involving “people with real feelings and emotions.” That could give him an out if he returns to camp aware of his mistakes and realizing he needs to form stronger, more genuine relationships.
It’s not the best start to be blindsided at the first vote, but that is what happened, and there isn’t a great deal the edit could have done to hide it. Aaron was the only person (other than Ronnie obviously) to vote on the wrong side—that is a fact that cannot be changed by the edit. Could he have been protected more? Perhaps. But remember eventual winner Nick had a rough premiere episode in David vs. Goliath. I’m not saying Aaron is the next Nick—he didn’t receive any personal content like Nick did in his first episode—but there’s always the chance of a comeback.
I really liked Karishma‘s premiere edit. Like Molly’s, it was low-key but full of subtle, important details. She explained her approach to the game, shared a small bit of personal info, and received perhaps the most significant piece of positive SPV in the episode.
Karishma had the first confessional of the episode. It was her voice we heard as the Lairo tribe arrived at their beach. The confessional was mostly narrational, describing her excitement for the season, but it ended with some insight into her strategy. “I can feel all these mixed emotions ready to just burst out, but I gotta keep them down because as soon as I get off the boat, I have to be cool, calm, collected Karishma,” she said. And that “cool, calm, collected” Karishma is exactly what we saw throughout the episode.
She was shown to be social at camp—bonding and getting to know her fellow tribemates. We also learned she is from India in her conversation with Vince—this became more about Vince, who shared details of his Hmong background, but I sometimes think it’s important for the edit to hold some info back. The fact we don’t know Karishma’s full story yet gives us somewhere to go in the future. It would be a bad thing if we didn’t receive anything at all, but because we had a little sprinkling of Karishma, it’s a sign that there is probably more to come.
We also saw that her “cool and calm” approach was working in terms of getting herself into alliances. She was brought into the women’s alliance and was also seen as a valuable number for Aaron and Ronnie. She was sort of presented as being in a swing position. She told Aaron and Ronnie that she’d vote with them against Elaine, but expressed in confessional that she was very much in the middle. “I’m definitely concerned about Elaine,” she said. “She is hilarious. And she’s not here to be the comedian; she’s here to win a million dollars. But the first alliance I made was with Elaine and the women… I’m so torn right now.”
The swing position can often lead to disaster in Survivor, but I didn’t get that sense from this particular confessional. It made Karishma seem crucial to the vote, even though the reality was that the entire tribe voted against Ronnie except for Aaron. That then means the confessional was there to serve another purpose. I think it was included to show that Karishma is aware of Elaine’s threat-level and perhaps means she will turn against Elaine later down the road. She brought this up again at Tribal Council when she said that, “In Survivor, likability is a liability.”
But the moment that I found key in Karishma’s edit came after that aforementioned quote at Tribal. The camera cut to Rob and Sandra in their spy shack viewing gallery and Rob turned to Sandra and said, “She’s smart” (subtitled), and Sandra nodded in agreement. Rob and Sandra are the “Idols” of the season; they’re meant to be these all-knowing gods, and so, I think we’re meant to agree with their judgments. Rob calling Karishma smart is huge for her edit and contender chances. Karishma is definitely one to watch.
Ronnie was another player I went back and forth on, mostly regarding his tone. I ultimately decided on N-tone… even though it wasn’t excessive. Ronnie wasn’t presented as the most despicable person to play Survivor ever, not even close to it, but there was just enough of a negative vibe hanging over his edit.
Like with Aaron, Ronnie’s negativity mostly came due to his opposition to the positively-toned trio of Elaine, Tom, and Vince. However, unlike Aaron, Ronnie actually received some direct NSPV. Elaine called him a “weasel” after their chat on the beach, which in itself portrayed Ronnie in a slightly villainous light—not to mention it undermined him. Ronnie told us he wanted to make Elaine feel safe and put out “good vibes,” but as we saw, Elaine instantly knew that Ronnie was untrustworthy and it only served to paint a target on his own back.
There’s not a lot more to say for Ronnie’s edit—it was very average. We got a little bit of personal info about him being a poker player, and he later reeled off a whole list of jobs he’s had at Tribal Council. But there was nothing particularly in-depth, both personal-wise and game-wise. The main take away is that he tried to vote off the most likable person on his tribe and it backfired—perhaps another sign that authentic relationships mean more than simple numbers.
Tom was yet another rating I struggled with all week. For a while, I had him as CP because we did learn some personal info and he was involved in some game talk. But after rewatching, I don’t think there was quite enough complexity to his content—but it was a close call.
A big reason for the MOR over CP is that Tom’s content didn’t feel individualised enough; he mostly felt like support for Elaine and Vince. Even though we learned that he was a former hockey player (both in an early camp scene and in confessional), a lot of what he was saying pertained to Elaine and Vince, rather than his own game. His first confessional was all about how Vince surprised him with his handiwork and how Elaine had her “work boots on.”
He got a little more personal in his second confessional, where he talked about playing in the NHL and how winning as a team isn’t all about physical strength. “You know, Wayne Gretzky isn’t the biggest guy, but he’s probably the best player that’s ever played the game,” he said, which could perhaps be foreshadowing (of the winner not being the biggest guy… not the winner being Wayne Gretzky, though who knows with current Survivor twists?). He stated that his world is “all about discipline and hard work” and that he believes Elaine and Vince think the same way. This confessional was also backed with uplifting, positive music, hence the light P-tone.
I think it’s a good thing that Tom was portrayed in a positive light and was shown to back up Elaine and Vince—two characters presented as extremely likable. My concern is that Tom’s edit was too “team” focused. He told Elaine and Vince that he wants to get to the merge as a team. In confessional, he talked about being on a team and wanting to win. We never really heard Elaine and Vince talk about Tom to the same degree. I would have liked to have heard a little more “I” in Tom’s edit and a bit less “we.”
That said, this was a solid start for Tom. It gave the impression that he’s likable and has a good read on the game. He was the first person to throw out Ronnie’s name as a target. And when Elaine began to panic, he was the one that assured her it was fine and that Ronnie/Aaron didn’t have the numbers. Those things turned out to be accurate, so we know we can rely on Tom’s word. I would just like to hear a little more about his individual game in the coming weeks if I’m to believe he’s in it for the long-haul.
Over The Top
The Day 1 idol searcher is becoming a Survivor archetype in itself at this point and that honor this season goes to Jason. We’ve seen this type of edit a few times in recent years: David Wright, Mike White, Jacob Derwin. The question is, is Jason a David/Mike who will overcome this early setback and make a deep run? Or will he flame-out early like Jacob?
The first thing we heard from Jason in this episode was how he needs to find an idol. “I’m thinking to myself, this season is Island of the Idols… so you gotta be an idiot not to actually look for an idol,” he said. Cut to the rest of the tribe immediately realizing that he’s missing from camp and probably searching for an idol. It was not a great look for Jason as Dan and Molly stoked the flames of his mysterious disappearance.
There is a glimmer of hope, however. Jason was made aware of his blunder by Noura and recognized that he may be in trouble. “Is there any person that would be more of a liability and distrustful that would go look for the idol on day one? I’m mortified. Am I gonna be the first one out? That is my nightmare,” he said. This tells us that Jason knows the problem and now has the chance to fix it. He didn’t tell us how he was going to fix it in this episode though, hence the OTT rating… it was all straight up idol panic and paranoia (which tied in nicely with what Chelsea was saying throughout the episode).
The other thing that might suggest Jason isn’t as doomed as he may seem is what Dan said in confessional. “I gotta tell you, it was joyous to watch,” said Dan, referring to his throwing of Jason under the bus. “He’s done. It’s over. It is impossible now for Jason to dig himself out of that grave.” This came across slightly villainous, and given that Dan ended the episode with N-tone, I’m not sure we’re supposed to take his word as gospel. That sounds to me like Jason will prove Dan wrong and find his way out of that hole.
As for the Mixed tone, the negativity comes from all the idol shenanigans and how he was called out by his fellow tribemates. But he also received some positivity from Noura, who called him an “authentic, good guy,” and with the emphasis on authentic relationships throughout the episode, I think that was an important quote.
I’m not sure if Jason’s edit has the legs to pull off a David or Mike type run, but I certainly don’t get the feeling that he’s the next Jacob. I suspect we’ll be seeing a lot more of Jason, hopefully with a more rounded, complex edit in the future.
Janet was another one of those players where her rating could have gone either way. For a long while, I had her as CPP because we did learn about her background and motivations for playing Survivor. But when I thought about how a casual viewer would remember Janet after this episode, it became clear. She’s the badass older woman who made fire from scratch. That is what people will remember, and for that reason, I felt OTTP was more appropriate.
On the surface, this was a fantastic episode for Janet. She had a goal and immediately achieved it. “Coming into the game, I am worried about being an easy vote off because of my age and the stigma of the older person, especially the older woman,” she said (also adding to that woman-power theme). “So I need to stand-out to break that stereotype. And there’s no better way to come into this game and make an impact than make fire.” So what did she do? She made fire from bamboo and instantly proved her worth to the tribe.
“I’m a chief lifeguard… I’ve got over 130 lifeguards working for me,” she continued. “It’s been my experience in life, that if you prove who you are, people don’t care what your gender… what your age is. If you prove who you are, then you can become part of them.” This was a nice piece of personal info that tied into her desire to prove herself. We immediately know that Janet can walk-the-walk and is an asset to her tribe. My worry is… where does Janet go from here?
“It was really cool to break the mold on the older woman,” she said after making fire. It already feels like that story is wrapped up. Janet wanted to come in and prove a Survivor stereotype wrong—she’s done that. There was no long-term story here—nothing pointing forward. It was all great and positive, but we didn’t see anything of Janet’s game or her alliances or anything that hinted at where her story might go in future episodes. Maybe she will just continue to be the badass older woman, but we’re going to need more to get our teeth stuck into in the coming weeks.
We did see a little bit of Janet later in the episode during the situation with Dan. She was one of the people that the girls voiced their concerns to, which could be signs of a potential working relationship. “I’ve learned in my life, as a woman, you need to say what you think,” she said in confessional, continuing the strong feminist vibe to her edit. But again, right now, Janet’s edit seems representative of a wider theme, rather than an individual story that could carry her through.
Complex Personalities
Kellee wasn’t featured across the premiere to the extent of some of the other players, but her part in the episode dealt with a complex issue which she talked about intelligently. The whole situation and the way it was handled was complex—so it was hard not to rate Kellee as CP.
While we saw Kellee in some group shots and alliance-making scenes earlier in the episode, she didn’t really pop up until the Dan incident. Kellee felt uncomfortable with Dan touching her, and she voiced her reasons why. “I’m a germaphobe when it comes to other people’s grossness. I think that’s why I do sometimes get annoyed with Dan because Dan is a really touchy person. He makes me feel a little bit uncomfortable,” she said. “And I don’t think he really realizes it. His lack of spacial awareness for me as a germaphobe, but also like a girl… that’s just too much.”
Kellee’s sentiments were backed up by Molly, who felt similarly uncomfortable with Dan. And if the scene ended here, perhaps it wouldn’t have been enough for a CP rating. But what came next was a conversation between Kellee and Dan where she brought up the issue, and the two of them discussed it like adults. Kellee voiced her concerns, and Dan seemingly took it on board. And with all this going on, Kellee still had the game in mind. “We’re playing Survivor, where it’s about fitting in and connecting,” she said. “But Dan being a touchy person… it’s a lot.”
If there is a problem with Kellee’s edit, it’s that her story is now directly linked to Dan. We didn’t get a proper introduction from her. We didn’t get her perspective on alliances or her strategy. We didn’t learn anything about her job and life other than being a germaphobe. It was all tied to this situation with Dan. In comparison, Molly was also involved in this situation, but she had a decent amount of content elsewhere in the episode too which gives her other narrative avenues to explore. Kellee, right now, only has this one story.
It will be very interesting to see where Kellee’s edit goes from here. Is this situation with Dan going to be a continuous narrative? The fact Kellee said she thinks “Dan’s lack of spacial awareness is gonna hurt him in the game” suggests that there is more to come. But if Kellee is to be a contender, we need to hear where she is at game-wise in the next couple of episodes.
On the flip-side, we have Dan, who was unquestionably N-tone for all the things mentioned above. But it wasn’t a one-note, negative edit; we saw enough of Dan to gather a complex view of his personality.
Early in the episode, Dan sprung into action when it was noticed that Jason had left camp on his own. “When I noticed that Jason was gone, the goal was to say ‘where’s Jason?'” he explained. We then saw Dan putting this into motion as he spread the paranoia about Jason at camp. This seemed to work, even if it did come off slightly villainous, as previously mentioned in Jason’s write-up. “It is impossible now for Jason to dig himself out of that grave,” just seems like the kind of quote left in for foreshadowing purposes.
Dan then provided some personal info on his job and how it applies to the game of Survivor. “I run a talent management company in Hollywood, and I think working with actors is very similar to Survivor because I have to get a bunch of very passionate, aggressive people to make the decisions that I really do believe are the best decisions for them and for me,” he said. I find it interesting that when he mentioned “passionate, aggressive people,” the camera focused on Kellee, Molly, and Tommy. Given what we saw later in the episode between Dan/Kellee/Molly, it makes me wonder if these are the people Dan is going to have to try to convince to make decisions.
So we received a relatively complex view of Dan early in the episode… then came the touchy stuff. It’s notable that this was all told from Kellee and Molly’s perspective. Both women expressed how uncomfortable they were with Dan and his touchy-feely-ness, which was backed up in the edit with shots of Dan massaging his tribemates and resting his head on Kellee’s leg. We never heard Dan’s thoughts in confessional. But we did hear his conversation with Kellee where he listened to her concerns and acknowledged that he “has to be open.”
As I said in Kellee’s write-up, we have to work out if this will be a continuous story for Dan or if it was just a hot topic issue that had to be shown regardless. There are signs that we haven’t heard the end of it. It was subtitled when Kellee said: “Hopefully, over the course of these 39 days, it’ll get better.” That sets up a long-term goal and something for us to keep track of. And, as mentioned, Kellee also said she thinks Dan’s lack of spacial awareness is going to hurt him in the game, which suggests more to come.
Jack was another hard one to rate. It’s a borderline CP rating but could have just as easily been MOR. What pushed him into CP over someone like say, Tom, is that Jack’s edit was individualized. He talked about HIS game and what HE wanted and how HE was going to do it.
“I’m 23 years old, which makes me the youngest person on the tribe and I think that’s good. I think my playful attitude will be my biggest asset,” he said in his first confessional. This was a decent intro. He told us a little bit about himself and his personality and applied it to the game. This was also backed up by the edit, as we saw him being playful with his tribemates, chasing Molly with the water-spouting clam. When the edit shows evidence of your words, that’s a big plus point.
He then went on to describe his goals in the game. “My goal and what I want to accomplish is to be liked by everyone. I want everyone to want to have a relationship with me,” he said. It’s not the most groundbreaking strategic talk ever, but it did what it needed to. He continued: “But I need to find a person, and person number one is Tommy. We’re two young dudes. We’re very similar. And that’s just an obvious freaking pairing.” Again, the edit backed this up by showing Jack and Tommy bonding and agreeing to hang out after the game.
Now, there are a couple of issues here. Firstly, when Jack said, “that’s just an obvious freaking pairing,” it started ringing alarm bells. In Survivor, you don’t want to be in an obvious pair as that puts a huge target on your back. This could have been left in the edit as foreshadowing that Jack and Tommy will eventually come under fire for being a tight pair. Secondly, after this confessional, Jack’s edit was usurped by Tommy. It was Tommy that we saw making all these relationships with everyone, which is what Jack said he wanted to do.
As for the P-tone, that comes from the challenge and Probst’s high praise for Jack’s performance, even calling him the hero. I don’t usually take into account challenge commentary unless it’s excessive, but I felt like this particular moment stood out enough to warrant the positivity for Jack.
Overall, I think this was a pretty good start for Jack’s edit. A decent dose of positivity, a goal clearly stated, a bond set-up with Tommy, and we saw him as part of the majority alliance. The worry is if he will ultimately play second fiddle to Tommy. That is something we need to keep our eyes on going forward.
Tommy‘s premiere was really good and the most typically “winner-y” of all the edits so far. He had tons of personal info, lots of connections, and a significant alliance forming scene. The only sticking point is whether it was maybe too much at once?
In the opening group chat on Vokai, Tommy was one of three tribe members to introduce himself, and unlike Lauren and Jamal, who only said their names, Tommy gave us his full name, location, and job. “My name is Tommy Sheehan, from Long Island, New York, and I’m a fourth-grade teacher,” he said, followed by “awws” from the group. Later in the episode, he again told us he’s a fourth-grade teacher and this time explained how that relates to the game of Survivor.
“As a fourth-grade teacher, my job is to make sure everyone feels comfortable around me, and in this game, I’m doing the same thing,” he said. “My strategy was to connect to people in one-on-one conversations and get to know who they truly are.” We saw evidence of this in his chats with Jack, Jamal, and Lauren. Now, some of this stuff was rather shallow—surfing talk with Jack, same age as Lauren, Jamal’s love for his fourth-grade teacher. But I don’t think we were meant to see it as shallow. I think the edit was backing Tommy up. We also learned that he’s planning to propose to his girlfriend, which as a nice bit of extra personal info.
“It’s really working… everyone has been coming up to me. And I think I did a great job of connecting with people one-on-one, and I’m building a lot of alliances,” he said. That is when we saw the formation of the majority alliance led by Tommy, including Jack, Dan, Lauren, Molly, and Kellee (and Jamal mentioned by Jack as a seventh). This puts Tommy at the center of a core alliance while at the same time showing him making connections and relationships.
It’s kind of a perfect edit. And when that happens, you have to question if whether it’s maybe too perfect? Is Tommy creating too many one-on-one relationships? Are his connections too shallow? Did he jump into an alliance too quickly? Those are questions that can’t be answered just yet. But on first impressions, Tommy is another one to watch this season.
If Tommy had the best edit of the premiere, then Missy was an easy close second. She also had a bunch of personal content, lots of connections, and a potentially significant alliance forming scene. However, it’s always much more worrying for a woman to receive an early CP-rating, as it’s them who tend to be victims of the shock pre-merge CP boot curse.
Missy was seen fitting in right away, especially with the women. Karishma asked her about her athletic background, and we found out she used to play basketball. She also bonded with Elizabeth about their love for instruments. “Why are we the same person?!” Elizabeth asked. We then got a massively personal confessional where Missy told us about joining the military at 18, playing basketball for the Air Force team, and then developing a brain tumor. “As it grew, it got worse, and at one point, I couldn’t walk, couldn’t talk… almost died,” she said. This was a hell of an introduction—and coupled with an epic drone shot of Missy and Elizabeth running on the beach.
“I was really lucky because right now the tumor has completely gone, so it’s kinda like new life,” she continued. “That’s why I’m here now. I gotta do something decently dope. I wanna be the Sole Survivor. I wanna be the S-O-U-L Survivor.” That definitely has the makings of a winner quote. But it also tells us why Missy is here. She has a new lease on life, and she wants to make the most of it. Survivor is her chance to live her life to the fullest and fulfill her soul. To achieve that goal, she doesn’t necessarily have to win because there are journey elements to her edit too.
But Missy is a gamer too. She was the one credited for putting together the women’s alliance on Lairo. “I try to be the most observant in this game, and looking around at the other players, I like the girls because it seems like all four of the other women feel that they’re not gonna be subservient and they’re not gonna do what people expect them to do,” she explained. “They’re gonna do what most benefits them. And in this moment, what benefits all the girls is forming a woman’s alliance.”
We then saw the women agreeing to work together, and the scene was narrated by Missy. “I’m tired of women going home first,” she stated, and by the end of the episode, the women had reversed that curse. “Keeping the women strong is super important, and I know that people think Elaine, Tom, and Vince are together, and because of that, Elaine could be in trouble,” Missy continued. She was right, Elaine was a target, and we saw Missy giving Elaine the heads up. This tells us that Missy has a good read on the game and she is looking out for her allies.
Weirdly, after the Immunity Challenge, Missy kind of disappeared. She wasn’t a big part of the pre-Tribal scrambling, and we didn’t hear from her again in confessional or at Tribal Council itself. You could read that as a good thing—that she was intentionally hidden so as not to overexpose her after such a strong start. Or it could be a sign that she isn’t as important to the strategic side of the game as initially thought.
Overall though, this was a great opener for Missy. It ticked all the right boxes. She just has to overcome that hurdle of being the shock CP pre-merge boot which has happened a lot in recent years, though I would say Missy had a better premiere edit than any of those.
Elaine had what we call the “fan-favorite” edit (or maybe that should be the Sia edit now?). She was all over this episode, even though she didn’t actually have her first confessional until about 17-minutes in. If Elaine wasn’t talking, then somebody else was talking to her or about her.
We learned a lot about Elaine. As soon as the Lairo tribe arrived on their beach, she was the one that said: “let’s get to work.” We saw her working, making people laugh, talking about living on a farm—all of this before she’d been formally introduced. We learned via Ronnie that Elaine is from Kentucky and works in a factory. And when she did get a confessional, she opened up about being picked on in the past and how she uses humor to deflect and get people laughing with her, not at her.
The main take away for Elaine’s character is that she is likable. She received massive amounts of PSPV. Tom praised her work ethic. She was called “hilarious” and an “awesome person.” Even the people trying to vote her out only had kind words to say. That likability is both a pro and con. Elaine draws people to her, but she is also perceived as an end-game threat. As Karishma said at Tribal Council, “Likability is a liability in this game.” And I think this will be Elaine’s story, how far can her likability take her before she’s deemed too big of a threat?
It’s interesting that Elaine was put in the position of jeopardy despite it being Vince who received votes at Tribal. There’s no doubt that Elaine was an initial target, and I think it’s a good sign that she was shown to be convincing enough to get Aaron and Ronnie to switch the vote. But it was ultimately Vince who had the two votes sent his way, and yet Elaine got the main focus, which suggests she is the more important character long-term.
If there is a flaw in her edit, I think it is probably the paranoia, which looks to be a key theme of the season. There was more than one occasion where Elaine thought she was going home, despite Tom reassuring her that they had the numbers. Although this could simply have been included in the edit because it added some drama to the vote and made it seem more up in the air than it was in real life. Also, it explained Elaine’s emotional speech at Tribal, which I feel would have made the edit regardless because it was a good TV moment.
I expect Elaine to be a big character of the season. She will continue to make people laugh and be a positive presence. The hit to her winner chances is that she is just too visible as a likable person and that has been commented on several times already. Both Ronnie and Karishma said she is a threat to win the million, and it feels like that is setting up the reason for her eventual downfall.
Vince was another one on the border between MOR and CP, but I feel like he gave just enough of his perspective to warrant the CP rating. We got a good insight into his background, a decent sense of his alliances and in-game relationships, and a solid amount of PSPV on top.
Our first real introduction to Vince was him chopping wood at camp and receiving praise from his fellow tribemates. “I’m the first Hmong person to ever be cast on Survivor,” he said in confessional, sharing a brief history of the Hmong people and how they came over as refugees after the Vietnam war. “I grew up low income. I was the first of my family to go to an institution like Stanford. So I’ve always been that type of person that like does the work,” he explained. This sense of work ethic was recognized by Tom who complimented Vince in confessional.
We didn’t hear much from Vince again until after the Immunity Challenge. He was involved in a couple of group strategy talks and shared his game insights in confessional. “At the moment I’m working with Chelsea, Tom, and Elaine to vote against Ronnie,” he said. “But I feel like my name is on the chopping block…. because the puzzle didn’t come together.” Vince was correct that his name was doing the rounds, but then the story became more about protecting Elaine.
“They (Aaron & Ronnie) want to target Elaine; I don’t want to go down that route with them,” Vince said. “I totally trust Elaine, and I think like she has my back as well. So I need to make sure that Elaine doesn’t get the short end of the stick here.” This is a strange one because as I said in Elaine’s section above, it was Vince who ended up receiving votes. And yet it never felt like the story revolved around Vince; he very much felt secondary to Elaine. It’s interesting as well that Vince wanted to protect Elaine; meanwhile, Elaine told Aaron that she’d write down Vince’s name to save herself. Now, she didn’t end up doing that, but it’s worth noting in case that is potential foreshadowing.
The positive for Vince is that I think as audience members we’re definitely meant to like him. I mean, Sandra straight up said “I like him” during Tribal Council, and as I stated earlier, what Sandra and Rob say is probably crucial. The negative is that he feels like a supporting character to Elaine’s story, in a similar vein to Tom. I feel like, if Vince was a potential winner or end-game character, then this vote would have been portrayed a lot differently. I think we would have seen the story of how Vince dodged the bullet. Instead, it kind of looked like he put himself in danger due to helping Elaine.
Elizabeth was undoubtedly the centerpiece of the premiere episode. A large part of that was due to being the first person sent to the Island of the Idols, but even putting that aside, she had a solid amount of content.
It didn’t take long for us to find out that she’s an Olympian. It was brought up at camp and then elaborated on in a follow-up confessional. “I am a three-time Olympic swimmer, and I am a competitor,” she said. “It’s basically embedded within my DNA because I’ve been a competitive swimmer my whole life.” She went on to talk about stepping away from the sport and the hard transition back into regular life. Survivor, she explained, had brought back that excitement she felt back when she competed in the Olympics.
This idea of Elizabeth being a “competitor” was the main theme of her character. It’s the reason she gave for accepting Rob’s fire-making challenge. “In my heart, I’m thinking it’s gonna be very hard to win, but the competitor in me is ignited,” she said. She then lost the challenge handily, and Rob basically called her out for making a poor decision. I considered giving tone for this segment and Rob’s criticism, but ultimately I didn’t think it mattered too much. These tests are going to be happening a lot this season—I don’t think we can hold it against a player every time they lose. That’s just the concept of the twist.
The whole point of this was that Elizabeth made a hasty decision, and now she had learned to trust her gut. At least, that’s what the edit told us. When Elizabeth returned to camp, she “trusted her gut” and told her tribemates a lie about what happened at the IOI. “I don’t wanna seem untrustworthy, and I don’t wanna lie, but Rob and Sandra told me trust my gut, and I’m gonna have to because knowledge is power in this game,” she said. She then told a lie about having to smash urns for a chance to play a game. What’s interesting is that we didn’t see anybody questioning her lie. I’m sure at least one person must have doubted what she said, and so the fact this was left out is what I’d call editorial protection.
Not only did nobody question Elizabeth’s lie, but everybody wanted her vote. She was pulled into various conversations. This tells us that she has connections and people that trust her. However, it did seem like the game was kind of getting on top of Elizabeth. “My brain is scrambled eggs at this point,” she said. “The sun is going down and I’m heading into Tribal, and I don’t know what’s gonna happen tonight; I honestly have no idea.” This could have just been inserted to add some stakes to the upcoming Tribal (and it’s always nice to get the pre-Tribal confessional), but it also made Elizabeth seem somewhat overwhelmed and out of her depth.
The other notable thing about Elizabeth’s edit was the focus on lying. It’s something she mentioned a few times, specifically how she doesn’t want to lie but that she feels like she has to. “I wanna get to the end, and unfortunately, it’s gonna take me lying,” she stated. It makes me wonder if Elizabeth is going to tell more lies along the way and perhaps burn some bridges in doing so.
That’s it for the first week of Edgic. Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!
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Fossil feather comparison: novel form versus modern form. Credit: University of Bristol
A University of Bristol-led study has revealed new details about dinosaur feathers and enabled scientists to further refine what is potentially the most accurate depiction of any dinosaur species to date.
Birds are the direct descendants of a group of feathered, carnivorous dinosaurs that, along with true birds, are referred to as paravians - examples of which include the infamous Velociraptor.
Researchers examined, at high resolution, an exceptionally-preserved fossil of the crow-sized paravian dinosaur Anchiornis - comparing its fossilised feathers to those of other dinosaurs and extinct birds.
The feathers around the body of Anchiornis, known as contour feathers, revealed a newly-described, extinct, primitive feather form consisting of a short quill with long, independent, flexible barbs erupting from the quill at low angles to form two vanes and a forked feather shape.
The observations were made possible by decay processes that separated some of these feathers from the body prior to burial and fossilisation, making their structure easier to interpret.
Such feathers would have given Anchiornis a fluffy appearance relative to the streamlined bodies of modern flying birds, whose feathers have tightly-zipped vanes forming continuous surfaces. Anchiornis's unzipped feathers might have affected the animal's ability to control its temperature and repel water, possibly being less effective than the vanes of most modern feathers. This shaggy plumage would also have increased drag when Anchiornis glided.
Additionally, the feathers on the wing of Anchiornis lack the aerodynamic, asymmetrical vanes of modern flight feathers, and the new research shows that these vanes were also not tightly-zipped compared to modern flight feathers. This would have hindered the feather's ability to form a lift surface. To compensate, paravians like Anchiornis packed multiple rows of long feathers into the wing, unlike modern birds, where most of the wing surface is formed by just one row of feathers.
Furthermore, Anchiornis and other paravians had four wings, with long feathers on the legs in addition to the arms, as well as elongated feathers forming a fringe around the tail. This increase in surface-area likely allowed for gliding before the evolution of powered flight.
To assist in reconstructing the updated look of Anchiornis, scientific illustrator Rebecca Gelernter worked with Evan Saitta and Dr Jakob Vinther, from the University of Bristol's School of Earth Sciences and School of Biological Sciences, to draw the animal as it was in life.
A new depiction of Anchoirnis and its contour feather. Credit: Rebecca Gelernter
The new piece represents a radical shift in dinosaur depictions and incorporates previous research.
The color patterns for Anchiornis are known from fossilised pigment studies, the outline of the flesh of the animal has been constructed by examining fossils under laser fluorescence, and previous work has described the multi-tiered layering of the wing feathers.
Evan Saitta said: "The novel aspects of the wing and contour feathers, as well as fully-feathered hands and feet, are added to the depiction.
"Most provocatively, Anchiornis is presented in this artwork climbing in the manner of hoatzin chicks, the only living bird whose juveniles retain a relic of their dinosaurian past, a functional claw.
"This contrasts much previous art that places paravians perched on top of branches like modern birds.
"However, such perching is unlikely given the lack of a reversed toe as in modern perching birds and climbing is consistent with the well-developed arms and claws in paravians.
"Overall, our study provides some new insight into the appearance of dinosaurs, their behavior and physiology, and the evolution of feathers, birds, and powered flight."
Rebecca Gelernter added: "Paleoart is a weird blend of strict anatomical drawing, wildlife art, and speculative biology. The goal is to depict extinct animals and plants as accurately as possible given the available data and knowledge of the subject's closest living relatives.
"As a result of this study and other recent work, this is now possible to an unprecedented degree for Anchiornis. It's easy to see it as a living animal with complex behaviours, not just a flattened fossil.
"It's really exciting to be able to work with the scientists at the forefront of these discoveries, and to show others what we believe these fluffy, toothy almost-birds looked like as they went about their Jurassic business."
Explore further Lasers flesh out dino-bird profile
More information: 'Additional information on the primitive contour and wing feathering of paravian dinosaurs' E. Saitta, R. Gelernter and J. Vinther, Paleontology, 2017. | {
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No more charging padsTrue wireless charging is almost ready
Energous' ambitious wireless charging system is coming closer to reality. The startup, which uses RF to charge gadgets from a distance, is finally showing off actual products instead of just talking about some vague future. While the dream of wireless charging at 15 feet is still a while away, its Chipolo Sticker is the start of it all, offering contactless charging... albeit from just a few inches away. At least it's something.
Car sculptures, anyone?BMW looks to the future of sitting in cars
Most automotive startups want to be exactly where BMW currently sits. "Act like a startup, deliver like a grown-up," said Klaus Frolich, a member of BMW's board of management, at an event at CES in Las Vegas today. It helps explain its "i Inside Future sculpture" we saw here at CES.
Follow the leaderSony and Panasonic have OLEDs too, but LG is still showing the way
4K OLEDs were everywhere yesterday at CES. Panasonic brought a version with deeper calibration settings than ever, while Sony took advantage of new tech that uses an OLED screen as a speaker. Meanwhile, LG is not only building the super sharp panels for everyone, but it also showed off its slimmest version yet, with a "wallpaper thin" W edition that mounts flush to the wall.
It's like a non-sliding PrivTCL "Mercury" prototype features a classic BlackBerry keyboard
Now that TCL owns the BlackBerry brand, what's next? Judging by the prototype Cherlynn Low tried out, it plans to build some of the Android-powered phones we wanted to see from RIM. This prototype model features a familiar-looking physical keyboard that doubles as a touchpad and comes pre-loaded with BlackBerry apps.
The first Chromebooks with Google Play preinstalledSamsung's Chromebook Pro and Plus are beautiful laptops built with Android in mind
So what does it look like when someone takes Chromebooks seriously? Probably a lot like the new Chromebook Pro and Plus, two new 12-inch convertible laptops from Samsung featuring an Intel Core M3 and ARM processor, respectively. Otherwise, they have matching high-res touchscreen displays, 32GB of storage and 4GB of RAM, plus access to Google's Play Store full of Android apps right out of the box. Pricing on the Plus starts at $449; there's no word yet on the Pro.
Watching a Let's Play is cheaper and lasts longerGeForce Now offloads PC gaming to the cloud
NVIDIA Shield owners could already stream PC games for $8 a month, and now gamers on PC and Mac have a similar option. Their version of GeForce Now doesn't rent games. Instead, users buy the games, then rent access to the server that handles the heavy load of rendering them. At least in the demos, it felt a lot like playing a game locally, except this time it costs the price of the game, plus $25 for 20 hours of playtime. How many hours make up the difference to your next GPU upgrade?
But wait, there's more...
The Morning After is a new daily newsletter from Engadget designed to help you fight off FOMO. Who knows what you'll miss if you don't subscribe | {
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This framing also allows bill supporters to lambast liberals for uncivil fearmongering and for allegedly making hysterical claims that “MILLIONS WILL DIE!” I haven’t seen people saying that. But it’s easy enough to punch down on social media by finding hysterical-sounding people who exaggerate the numbers, rely on anecdotal data, or misinterpret observational studies.
[Avik Roy immolating his dignity on Twitter omitted]
There’s only—or at least—one problem here. Existing research, for all its flaws, indeed suggests that thousands of Americans will probably die needlessly every year if BCRA is passed. That’s not inflated rhetoric. That’s what any reasonable person would predict based on the available data.
My own favorite study examined the survival benefits of implementing Romneycare in Massachusetts. Other studies compare populations that for one reason or another gained access to expanded Medicaid to populations that did not. Not surprisingly, different studies of different insurance changes applied to different groups find diverse effects. The Massachusetts study suggests that one death is prevented for every 830 people newly insured. Writing at Vox, Ann Crawford-Roberts, Nichole Roxas, and Ichiro Kawachi note that Medicaid coverage thus rivals widely accepted clinical interventions such as screening colonoscopy. If that 1-in-830 finding generalizes BCRA, rendering 22 million people uninsured would imply about 20,000 deaths per year. | {
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Lebron James Thanks the Trans Cast of Pose for Being Inspirational Women
Black women have been dominating magazine covers lately, so much so that even the arguably best basketball player in the world, LeBron James, has taken notice.
In a slideshow on Instagram yesterday, James thanked some notable women for their important and inspiring work with a slideshow of their magazine covers. Along with Beyoncé, Issa Rae, and Zendaya was Out Magazine's latest cover featuring the transgender cast of FX's Pose.
"Nothing in this world is more POWERFUL than Colored Women!" James wrote on Instagram. "Thank you all for continuing to not settle and setting great examples in life for so many looking up to you for inspiration/guidance and love!! My daughter is watching! #WomenPower"
The image of actresses MJ Rodriguez, Dominique Jackson, and Indya Moore didn't go unnoticed by Twitter.
LeBron really posted the cast of POSE on the cover of OUT magazine amongst the the other black women he posted about being positive examples for his daughter to look up to. He’s such a beautiful human being. pic.twitter.com/att7Fb9sC4 — (@DonaldJeromeF) August 8, 2018
And it's even made it's way back to MJ Rodriguez. When Variety asked about her LeBron shout out, Rodriguez couldn't help but gush.
"Thank you, LeBron! I saw that today and that speaks volumes. I knew it was possible, I knew there were people out there watching, I knew that there were people receiving because it touches all types of demographics and it bridges the gap between many different communities that don’t understand that are becoming to understanding."
"Not only was he representing for trans women, he was representing for African-American women." | {
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Imagine a world in which hardly anyone owns a car. Instead, most people subscribe to a service for self-driving cars, probably a mashup of the current players in the space, which include Google, Uber, Lyft, Apple, Chrysler, Volkswagen , Tesla, BMW , Toyota , General Motors , Ford and others.
Call this hypothetical service Applewagen, or Tyft or, what the heck, Goober. The service is great. You whip out your circa-2025 smartwatch, which has all but replaced your phone, bark a command and a self-driving car appears, from a fleet circulating nearby. Maybe there are other people in the car, headed in your direction. Don’t worry, they are friendly. They have four-star ratings just as you do, and anyway they are too absorbed in their augmented-reality headsets to talk to you.
Here is the weirdest thing about this hypothetical future: where you live. Nearly everyone who has studied the subject believes these self-driving fleets will be significantly cheaper than owning a car, which sits idle roughly 95% of the time. With the savings, you will be able to escape your cramped apartment in the city for a bigger spread farther away, offering more peace and quiet, and better schools for the children.
Your commute will be downright luxurious, quiet time in a vehicle designed to allow you to work or relax. Shared self-driving cars will have taken so many vehicles off the road—up to 80% of them, according to one Massachusetts Institute of Technology study—that you’re either getting to work in record time or traveling farther in the same time, to a new class of exurbs.
This future isn’t inevitable, of course. When it comes to self-driving cars, the old maxim that nobody knows anything could hardly be more true. | {
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<#
Description:
Script to copy histroy of target computer
Author:
William Fischer
Last Revised Date:
06/04/2014
Notes:
Must have Browsing History View installed for this to work
#>
#Name of Remote Computer
$RemoteHost
#This is for Vista, 7 and 8
Function Windows - 6
{
#set-location $BHV
& $BHV "./BrowsingHistoryView.exe" / HistorySource 3 / HistorySourceFolder $Source \ "Users\" / VisitTimeFilterType 1 / LoadIE 1 / LoadFIrefox 1 / LoadChrome 1 / LoadSafari 1 / scomma $Destination ".csv"
}
#This is for XP
Function Windows - 5
{
& $BHV "./BrowsingHistoryView.exe" / HistorySource 3 / HistorySourceFolder $Source \ "Documents and Settings\" / VisitTimeFilterType 1 / LoadIE 1 / LoadFIrefox 1 / LoadChrome 1 / LoadSafari 1 / scomma $Destination ".csv"
}
#Asks for remote computer's name
$RemoteHost = read-host "Please enter name of remote computer"
#Checks OS version
$Version = ( Get-WmiObject -computername $RemoteHost -class Win32_OperatingSystem ) .version
#Figures out file name from remote host and current date
$Month = ( get-date ) .month
$Day = ( get-date ) .day
$Year = ( get-date ) .year
$Date = echo $Month $Day $Year
$Name = echo $RemoteHost $Date
#Source of history
$Source = echo \\ $RemoteHost \c$\
#Destination of history
#Change this to where you want the file to be placed
$Destination = echo \\______________________\ $Name
#Location of Browsing History View tool
#Change this to BHV location
$BHV = echo \\________________________\
if ( $Version -eq "5" )
{
#write-host "Windows 7"
Windows - 5
}
#As long as it is not Windows XP it will call the version for Vista+
else
{
Windows - 6 | {
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} |
click to enlarge Photo by Aidan Cullen
Saweetie, best known for "Icy Grl," hails from Hayward.
The opening sequence for the song "Up Now" shows two cars burning rubber at the Oakland Coliseum parking lot. The scene transitions to a shot of the bridge that connects the BART station to the Coliseum and Oracle Arena. Then Diamonté Harper, better known as Saweetie, raps: From the Bay to Sacramento on the way to SoCal / I'm a West coast n**** with a bougie ass sound.
For the 25-year-old rapper, who was raised in Hayward, moved to Sacramento, and now resides in Los Angeles, collaborating on the song with London On Da Track, G-Eazy, and Rich The Kid was a dream come true — but so was filming the video at the Coliseum. She's also gotten to perform at the Coliseum as part of the lineup for the Rolling Loud festival, alongside huge names like Wiz Khalifa and Rae Sremmurd. And she was a surprise guest at one of the Drake and Migos shows that took place over Halloween weekend at Oracle Arena.
"As a kid, we passed by [the Coliseum] a lot on the freeway, and to actually be part of such a huge performance, it was exciting," Saweetie said, recalling the Halloween concerts.
Last week, she returned to the East Bay without performing for the first time. Instead, Saweetie was getting ready to meet with devoted fans who were going to get an exclusive listen of her new material at Pandora in downtown Oakland.
Saweetie's career has skyrocketed since her 2017 song "Icy Grl" took off — some might recognize the beat from 2002's "My Neck, My Back (Lick It)" by rapper Khia. As of early this week, the "Icy Grl" video had over 60 million views on YouTube. The song has a line, my team is trying to eat, so we stay grinding. If those lyrics are any indication, the never-ending grind is paying off for Saweetie, who is now signed to Warner Bros. Records.
The overnight success — and constant internet gossip about who she's dating — has not changed the way she handles herself, or the way she was raised. Like millions of Americans part of the melting pot that is this country, Saweetie comes from a multi-cultural background — she's half Filipinx and half Black.
"One thing I learned that I'm grateful for is that my family is like night and day. It gave me insight to what the world is like, and how no two groups of people are the same," she said. "I learned how to interact with different personalities, just like my family, each with different values."
The young rapper also fondly recalls growing up in Hayward. "I remember the 7-Eleven around the corner, and when we didn't want to ask [for permission] to go to the store, we would run to 7-Eleven and sprint back so we wouldn't get caught," Saweetie said, adding how her generation is the last to grow up without being surrounded by cellphones and technology. "It's unfortunate that these [young] kids don't get to experience that, because it was such a great moment of my childhood to play outside and be back inside before the streetlights came on."
Part of Saweetie's Bay Area upbringing included growing up with producer Zaytoven, whom she refers to as her cousin, and MC Hammer's family. She also name drops Aaliyah as a strong influence. "What I love about Aaliyah is that she was always her," the rapper said. "In this industry, you have many people telling you what to do, what you should sound like, what you should wear, and she was always her. You couldn't box her into one thing."
This influence is palpable in the way Saweetie interacts with her fans. During the Pandora event, she took questions from the audience and answered playfully, as if she was talking to one of her close homies. One aspiring artist in the crowd asked her how she stays motivated and keeps pushing herself. "I was thugging it out in LA for a minute, renting rooms, with no furniture, with my little mattress, and I just prayed," Saweetie responded. "It sounds so simple, but honestly, faith is what gets you there."
click to enlarge Photo courtesy of Pandora
Journalist Mosi Reeves interviewing Saweetie at the Pandora Live event in Oakland.
Most rappers are not known for talking about religion — especially those who are still early in their careers — at the risk of losing "street cred." For Saweetie, it's important that her fans know about her background and her upbringing as a woman of faith. She also credits her family for keeping her grounded despite her skyrocketing success in the music business. "I have a really big family," she said. "I'm always talking to them, and I don't know, it just makes you feel normal."
Saweetie is currently working on a new EP, which was scheduled to be released in November but has been pushed back as she continues recording more music. For those fans who got to listen to some of the tracks off of Saweetie's upcoming release, the reaction was unanimous: The young, up-and-coming rapper is here to stay.
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Bushfires on one side, a festival on the other. Falls organisers faced a very hard decision less than 48 hours before their show was supposed to start.
On Christmas Day a fire burning near the festival's home in Lorne jumped containment lines and destroyed more than 100 homes.
The town of Lorne was evacuated and Falls Festival, due to start on the 28th of December, was on stand-by.
At midday on Boxing Day emergency services met with Falls organisers, including co-producer Jess Decrou.
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Whatsapp Smoke seen over Lorne, Victoria, during bushfires along the Great Ocean Road on Boxing Day, 2015.
"They gave us a very candid outline of what was going on in the local area and (said) around New Year's Eve there was going to be another period of hot weather and they were concerned about where the festival site was and that we should consider whether or not it was appropriate to hold the Falls Festival.
"Certainly from their end it was cancellation."
There was some wiggle room though and the Falls team asked if authorities would let them move the festival if they found a new site.
The answer was yes.
"The only way we could have relocated in such a short period of time was to have the support of all of those stakeholders and they were amazing," Jess says.
The meeting ended at 1pm with Falls on the hunt for a new venue. At 3:30pm Jess's co-producer, Paul Piticco, asked what wineries were nearby.
"We realised that Mount Duneed Estate was 15 minutes from the council chambers we were sitting in so we just jumped in a car and turned up on their doorstep and asked if it was OK if we hold the festival here."
Mount Duneed agreed. It's the site of A Day On The Green events so they're used to musicians dropping by.
"I think we'd confirmed this venue at 5:30pm on Boxing Day and I think we released a press release around 6:30pm," Jess recalls.
"It was very fast and we had trucks turning up at the front gates of Mount Duneed Estates at around 7pm."
But the crew had been building the Lorne site for six weeks. The festival's permanent infrastructure was there too; toilets, showers, fencing and stage.
"We had to pull down what we could, we had to find a new stage," Jess says.
"The biggest issues we had to consider were could we find a stage, on Boxing Day, that was going to be adequate to operate and also the toilet and shower amenities, they were sort of our two main challenges after we found the appropriate space."
A stage was found and the move was on. As well as the festival's crew, many of whom lived around Lorne and were affected by the fires, a bunch of volunteers came out of nowhere to help build the new site.
"We were just so incredibly lucky, we had trades-people who rocked up on our doorstep saying we heard you guys were in trouble what can we do to help," Jess says.
"It's been an incredibly overwhelming experience and it's a real testament to everyone getting together.
It's a very Australian experience, it's quite amazing"
On Sunday morning there was next to nothing at the Mount Duneed site, by Sunday night the festival had been built. It's an incredible feat, marred by four people on the Falls Facebook page complaining the festival had run out of ice to keep their drinks cold.
"I think in the scheme of things it's not too bad," Jess says, adding trucks of ice have now arrived.
As far as she's aware, that seems to have been the only concern.
"The Falls patrons have been so patient and so supportive."
"The support we were getting through the Facebook and other social medias makes such a huge difference when you've got a battle and a mammoth task ahead of you."
The only part of the festival affected by the move was the festivals opening time, pushed back by three hours on Monday. Everything else is the same, even the set-times.
"We've been able to keep the full program, the Village, Rancho Relaxo, all our food stalls and our market stalls and our seconds grand theatre. I don't think we're missing anything from the Lorne site. " Jess says.
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Whatsapp 16,500 fans are expected at the new Falls site in Victoria.
It wasn't easy for Jess and the team to leave the site at Lorne though.
"While it's been an incredible effort for the whole team to pull this off, it really is monumental, our thoughts are very much with what's going on back home.
"There's a lot of people who are distressed and they're going to have a long summer ahead of them and we're doing everything we can raise awareness and money."
An extra 1,200 tickets were released for New Year's Eve at the new site to raise money for the Red Cross' Bushfire appeal. These were $100 each and have already sold out, raising $120,000 for people affected by the Victorian fires.
"“Many hands have ensured the vibrant Falls Festival, an iconic event on the state's music calendar, has been able to go ahead," Victoria's Emergency Management Commissioner, Craig Lapsley, said.
"Fundraising from the event will help support the communities of Wye River and Separation Creek, welcome additional support of those communities at this time.” | {
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DOVER, Del.- Delaware State Police have charged a Dover man for attempting to rob a local restaurant of its tip jar.
According to police, at around 8:45 p.m. Saturday, 36-year-old Titus Rodriguez entered the Pizzeria and Taqueria Porta Bella restaurant in the Rodney Village Shopping Center. Police say Rodriguez approached the register and reached his hand around the counter to grab the tip jar while the employees were busy. Police say Rodriguez tried to flee but was confronted by employees. After a struggle, police say the employees restrained Rodriguez and recovered the tip jar.
Police arrested Rodriguez and charged him for the crime. According to police, a warrant was out for Rodriguez's arrest for failing to appear regarding another robbery case in Dover. Police say Rodriguez attempted to take the tip jar from the Pizzeria and Taqueria Porta Bella restaurant on Nov. 14 as well.
Rodriguez was arraigned and committed to the Sussex Correctional Institution in default of $4,000 secured bond. | {
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The Broncos and City of Denver continue their push to bring an NFL draft to the Mile High City.
Broncos CEO Joe Ellis and team director of partnership marketing Sandy Young were joined by Richard Scharf, the president/CEO of Visit Denver, and Matthew Payne, the executive director of the Denver Sports Commission, in a meeting with league officials in New York on Wednesday to sell Denver as a future host city of the draft.
Dallas is scheduled to host the 2018 draft.
The Broncos have been interested in hosting a draft for years, and Ellis told The Denver Post in September that the Broncos and Visit Denver planned to pitch Denver again.
“The draft is something we’d really like to see accomplished,” Ellis said. “I think it’d be nice for Mr. B (owner Pat Bowlen), to know that the city he’s witnessed tremendous support from in terms of what they’ve done for the Broncos and how important the Broncos are to people and how important football is to people.
“We believe it would be a great thing for the city, a great thing for Colorado, a great thing for this Rocky Mountain region. It would draw a lot of people and would be a really fun event.”
Ellis said then that he had already had preliminary discussions with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell about bringing a draft to Denver and believed the city has “an excellent chance” if the right package is put together.
The Broncos had considered submitting bids for earlier drafts, but scheduling conflicts with the City of Denver limited possible venues to host. Denver could use Philadelphia’s model from 2017 and create a theater or temporary venue exclusively for the draft downtown.
“It’s hard, it’s complicated because the city of Denver has so much popularity when it comes to conventions and tourism and a lot of commitments,” Ellis said. “But we’ll just have to work around that and see if we can get it.”
9News first reported the meeting with league officials in New York. | {
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Rep. Jim Banks (R-IN) continued his campaign to pressure Reddit to reverse its politically biased censorship of r/The_Donald, the website’s largest conservative, pro-Trump community of 700,000-plus members, writing an op-ed for RealClearPolitics condemning the site’s actions.
Reddit, which allows users to create self-moderated communities called “subreddits,” put the massive pro-Trump community r/The_Donald under “quarantine” earlier this year, limiting the sitewide reach of its posts.
Rep. Jim Banks (R-IN) called on Reddit to reverse its censorship in a letter to its CEO, Steve Huffman earlier this month.
In his new op-ed, Rep. Banks repeated his condemnation of Reddit’s censorship.
“Reddit administrators’ decision to “quarantine” r/The_Donald, a subreddit forum for fans of President Trump and Reddit’s largest conservative community, is a recent and egregious example of social media sites meddling in political affairs,” wrote Rep. Banks.
The Indiana representative went on to say that Reddit’s actions constitute election interference
“According to a Senate Intelligence Committee report, over a year-long period the 3,900 [Russian Internet Research Agency]-connected Twitter accounts posted 600,000 tweets regarding Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. Well, researchers from the University of Alabama calculated that from July 2016 to February 2017 r/The_Donald was responsible for an estimated 2,771,030 tweets linking to news stories.”
“Reddit CEO Steve Huffman is set to influence conversation about the 2020 election on Twitter 4.5 times as much as Vladimir Putin influenced the 2016 electoral conversation.”
Banks concluded by urging legislative action from Republicans, writing that “nobody else will stand up for us.”
“It’s time to start exploring legislative solutions to big tech’s bias. The alternative is accepting a status quo where enormous corporations use their publishing power to favor Democratic presidential candidates.”
Are you an insider at Reddit or any other tech company who wants to confidentially reveal wrongdoing or political bias at your company? Reach out to Allum Bokhari at his secure email address [email protected].
Allum Bokhari is the senior technology correspondent at Breitbart News. | {
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The 935 lies of George W. Bush / Yes, you already knew. But now they're actually quantifiable. Like, say, stab wounds
Oh sweet Jesus, someone actually counted.
Two independent nonprofit journalism groups apparently took enough laudanum and beat down whatever healthy sense of human decency they had in order to plunge straight into that quivering mountain of incompetence that is the official record of the Bush administration, all the false quotes and all the lie-strewn press conferences and all the squinty-eyed fabrications from Dubya, Colin Powell, Condi and Cheney and Rummy et al, that took place in the two years after September 11, 2001, and added them all up.
Is it helpful to know the exact number? Does it make a difference? After all, presidential lying isn't exactly a revelation. Pretty much a national pastime, really. Hell, Bill Clinton lied in a harmless civil lawsuit, and was even impeached for it. Of course, his little oral fixation didn't lead us into an unwinnable trillion-dollar war that will scar the nation for multiple generations and which has wasted 4,000 American lives and resulted in tens of thousands of wounded, crippled and brain-damaged U.S. soldiers. But that's just splitting hairs, really.
After all, it's common knowledge that, say, George Bush Sr. lied about Iran-Contra and "read my lips," Ronald Reagan lied like a nasty old rug about Iran and aiding the Contras, Lyndon Johnson lied about the Gulf of Tonkin to gain support for the Vietnam war, Harry Truman probably lied about Hiroshima and John F. Kennedy probably lied about the Bay of Pigs and, well, all presidents lie, really, to some degree or another and with varying degrees of success and historic consequence. Is it not sort of pointless to whine about it?
Fair enough. But there is something truly special about Bush 43. Something so unique, so poisonous and strange that historians are busy right this minute rewriting not only their books, but their entire way of thinking about how we measure and interpret political malfeasance.
It has to do with matters of scale. It has to do with audacity, with sheer recklessness, with BushCo's stunning contempt for all national and international law and historic precedent and human decency. It is the sense that, at bare minimum, the most significant lies told by previous administrations were, by and large, not massive, calculated stabs to the very heart and infrastructure of the entire nation. They were not designed, as Bush's clearly were, specifically to pervert the entire American experiment, to violently shift us from peace-promoting and defense-oriented protector to an arrogant, insular, pre-emptive attacker, widely loathed and mistrusted worldwide.
See, BushCo rewrote the formulas. From WMD to tax cuts, AmeriCorp to Iraq, this administration has officially reset the bar to an all-time low as to what's possible for a truly dreadful, inept president to get away with without some sort of significant repercussion, impeachment, numerous lightning bolts raining down on his soft little monkey skull. Sure, it took leveraging America's most brutal and heartbreaking tragedy in a generation to pull it off, but does the fact the administration exploited 9/11 like a pedophile exploits a child take anything away from the astonishing depth of the abuse?
But maybe you still argue that, even at a whopping 935 calculated lies told specifically to lead us into a bogus war, it makes no difference. Maybe you argue that a lie is a lie and Bush is no better or worse than Clinton or Reagan and here is a giant cocktail of jaded, raging apathy. Let's all chug it together, shall we?
Fine. If it's a fact that all presidents lie anyway, if there's little we can do to stop them, then let us put forth a new hope. Let us now wish for the next president to lie just as passionately, as powerfully, as strategically as BushCo, and get away with it just as extraordinarily.
But let's make one significant change. Let's urge the new president to lie, well, in the other direction, to lie not in the service of horrific war or in the name of powermongering or so as to line the pockets of corporate cronies, or even to cover up stupid personal behavior, but rather in the name of sliding through an agenda of — oh my God can you believe I'm going to say it? Peace, nonviolence, international respect, humanitarianism, sex positivism, religious tolerance, progressive education. I know. Crazy.
Yes. Give us now a president who lies, calculatedly and strategically, straight in the face of the hard right neocons and the evangelicals and the corporate cretins. Let his or her army of lies lull these groups into a false sense of complacency and/or utter soul-deadening fear so they will keep their mouths shut while the rest of us get some real work done.
"As an angry, well-armed God is my witness, I will never push through a national handgun ban," would be a good lie for this new president, thus shutting up the NRA and assuaging the bogus American cowboy mythology, as his army of crazy hippies do the exact opposite and quietly work to make the nation safer and more humane. The horror! The outcry! Whatever.
Or how about this: "All foreign religions clearly hate and wish harm upon America, and therefore it shall be the policy of this administration to never, under any circumstances, attempt to understand other beliefs, to open our schools and textbooks to include honest religious information, or generally reeducate the absolutist, Christian-drunk American populace." And then begin a quiet, subversive national program to revolutionize the spiritual IQ of upcoming generations. The terrible lie!
"America must remain aggressive and antagonistic to all questionable nations who do not cower properly to our demands. We shall close our borders and police the Internet and maintain nasty vigilance on all citizens at all times. This is the only way to true national security." What's the direct opposite of such a promise? Do it, prez!
"And finally, I shall never abolish the death penalty, legalize marijuana, approve gay marriage, promote honest sex education for teens, honor habeas corpus and the Geneva Convention, or eliminate the insidious farm subsidy program. We shall never stop lying about ethanol or offer solar subsidies for every household in America. Our direct ties to horribly misogynistic, terrorist-supporting Saudi Arabian power regimes shall remain deeply corruptive and powerful forevermore."
Go ahead, Mr. or Mrs. Next President. Lie your tail off if you must. But this time, let's try to make it a real party.
Mark Morford's latest book is 'The Daring Spectacle: Adventures in Deviant Journalism'. Join Mark on Facebook and Twitter, or email him. His website is markmorford.com. For his yoga classes, workshops and retreats, click markmorfordyoga.com.
Mark's column appears every Wednesday on SFGate, and is frequently cross-posted to Huffington Post. To join the notification list for this column, click here and remove one article of clothing. To get on Mark's personal mailing list, click here and remove three more.
This column also has an RSS feed and a very handy archive page. | {
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That’s a pretty stunning approval rating. By comparison, Gov. Jerry Brown—one of the most popular California political figures in recent memory—has never seen his job approval breach 60 percent over the past eight years. In 2016, Hillary Clinton beat Donald Trump here by a margin not seen since the days of Franklin Roosevelt, although she got less than 65 percent of the vote.
Such enduring popularity has led officials to long regard Prop. 13 as the untouchable third rail of California politics—yet voters may have a chance to repeatedly touch it in the not-too-distant future. A major proposed crimp in its tax-cutting power is likely headed for the 2020 ballot, and voters will decide on a possible expansion of Prop. 13 benefits this fall. With those battles on the horizon, here’s a breakdown of just how broadly, deeply and consistently Californians love their cheap property taxes.
Prop. 13’s popularity has been remarkably consistent—nothing really moves it much, not even house prices.
Prop. 13 features many controversial components, but the part that hits taxpayers’ pocketbooks directly is arguably the most important. Prop. 13 caps a homeowner’s property tax bill at 1 percent of its market value when the new home is bought, and then indexes that value to inflation. In other words, if you bought your home in 1998, in real terms you’re still essentially being taxed on the price you paid back then—not on what it’s worth 20 years later, which is likely a lot more.
Given that the benefits of Prop. 13 are bigger in a hotter housing market—the more your house is worth, the more Prop. 13 saves you on your property tax bill—you might expect a strong relationship between housing prices and Prop. 13’s approval rating.
You’d be wrong.
Since the institute began polling on Prop. 13 in the early 2000s, the initiative’s approval rating has consistently hovered around the high 50s. That’s true through housing booms and busts.
When California’s housing market was cratering in 2008, 59 percent of those polled thought Prop. 13 had worked well for California. Ten years later, with home prices in many parts of the state at all-time highs, 56 percent of those polled thought Prop. 13 had worked out well. (These marks are for all Californians. Likely voters give Prop. 13 that approval rating of 65 percent).
Support for Prop. 13 is unsurprisingly strongest among those voting blocs you associate with wanting lower taxes—older, whiter, more conservative homeowners. More than 70 percent of Republicans said Prop. 13 was working out well, as did 70 percent of homeowners.
But the landmark initiative enjoys widespread support among pretty much every other major partisan and demographic group. A clear majority of Democrats, independents, self-identified liberals, younger voters, and those with household income below $40,000 give Prop. 13 good marks. Perhaps most shockingly, 57 percent of renters support Prop. 13.
How Prop. 13 is like ‘Obamacare’—no, really
Those who wish to revise Prop. 13 can find a bright spot in the relatively high percentage of Californians who may not know much about the initiative or its consequences. Nearly one in five Californians surveyed couldn’t say whether Prop. 13 has been good or bad for the state.
In the years following the passage of the Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare) in 2010, national polls revealed a consistent contradiction. While most polls found a majority of respondents saying they didn’t like the law writ large, the same polls saw fairly high approval ratings for most of the Affordable Care Act’s specific provisions—keeping adult children on family health plans, for example, or prohibiting price discrimination against people with pre-existing health conditions.
Polling on Prop. 13 has suggested a similar disconnect between how Californians feel about the initiative overall and how they feel about individual components.
Back in 2008 (unfortunately the last year this question was asked), PPIC explained a key consequence of Prop 13 to respondents—the fact that someone who recently bought a home will typically pay much higher property taxes then someone who bought a nearly identical home decades ago in the same neighborhood. Only 41 percent said they supported that defining feature of Prop. 13.
A similar pattern surfaces based on public attitudes about “split-roll”—the idea possibly headed for the 2020 ballot that commercial properties should be taxed at market value. Prop. 13 treats business and residential properties essentially the same.
For most of the past decade, a clear majority of Californians supported the “split roll” idea. But that support isn’t as strong as it used to be. Back in 2012, 60 percent of likely voters wanted to modify Prop. 13 to tax commercial properties at their market value. In January of this year, supporters had dipped to 46 percent.
CALmatters.org is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media venture explaining California policies and politics. | {
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Maurizio Sarri has become Chelsea’s very own Golden Balls by earning the club a huge Champions League windfall.
But head coach Sarri and his Blues players will have to win the Europa League to land any bonuses of their own.
Chelsea’s 3-0 victory over Watford, coupled with Arsenal’s draw against Brighton, clinched a return to the Champions League which is worth upwards of £35 million to the club.
Eagle-eyed Italian football fans noticed that superstitious Sarri left nothing to chance after Chelsea’s success on Sunday, which put them on the brink of Champions League qualification, ahead of Arsenal’s match against Brighton.
Sarri was asked in the Watford post-match press conference whether, with Champions League qualification virtually secured, his team could treat the Europa League as a luxury.
Before answering the question, Sarri was seen to reach down under the desk before returning his hand to the table and telling reporters that he wanted Chelsea to qualify for the Champions League through the Premier League.
In much the same way as people touch wood to avoid bad luck, it is commonplace for superstitious Italians to touch their own nether regions in order to bring them luck.
View more!
Sarri is famed for being incredibly superstitious and it appears a brush of his Golden Balls may have helped Chelsea over the line as, just a couple of hours later, Arsenal surprisingly failed to beat Brighton and the Blues’ Champions League qualification was guaranteed.
Despite the doubts over Sarri’s future, Chelsea chiefs are delighted that Champions League qualification has been secured with one Premier League game to spare.
But, as first revealed by Jose Mourinho in 2015, Chelsea only hand out bonuses to their managers and players if they win a trophy.
That means Sarri and his players will need to win the Europa League to pocket any extra income and they face Eintracht Frankfurt in the second leg of their semi-final on Thursday night, having drawn 1-1 in Germany last week. | {
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The Last of Us™ Remastered
How tall is Joel? He looks like 5'10" to me.
Done | {
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I never expected to stumble upon a Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) story while standing beneath an unshielded light bulb in my garage, but that was before I picked up the manual for my garage door opener.
I recently moved houses, and during a Saturday largely spent clearing a terrific mass from my new garage, I came across a tattered copy of the owner's manual for the garage door opener, thoughtfully left behind for my use. I read through the manual looking for information on how to acquire another remote control unit, when my eye was caught by the sort of statement one does not expect to find in any sort of literature relating to the humble garage door.
"If this Security+ garage door opener is operated with a non-rolling code transmitter, the technical measure in the receiver of the garage door opener, which provides security against code-theft devices, will be circumvented," said the manual. "The owner of the copyright in the garage door opener does not authorize the purchaser or supplier of the non-rolling code transmitter to circumvent that technical measure."
The notice, in all its glory
Bizarre. Though the words "Digital Millennium Copyright Act" were never mentioned, the law's anticircumvention provisions were clearly being referenced here. But those provisions were designed to make breaking the digital rights management (DRM) on DVDs, music downloads, and computer games illegal—and by doing so would help keep DRM-busting devices off of the market. What was this nonsense about circumventing technical measures doing in my garage door opener manual, and why did the manual go out of its way to make it clear that I was not "authorized" to use a specific sort of remote control?
"Code grabbers," DRM, and the garage door
The picture became a little clearer when I flipped back to the front page; the opener was made by Chamberlain, the largest garage door opener company in the US.
Those who have followed tech law for some time will remember that Chamberlain was at the center of a seminal DMCA case back in 2003-2004. Chamberlain sued a Canadian company called Skylink, which made universal garage door openers, on the grounds that Skylink's devices were bypassing a DRM scheme and that Skylink was therefore "trafficking" in circumvention devices under the DMCA.
DRM, what hath you wrought?
For years, garage door remote controls were simple devices that beamed an RF signal at a garage door, which then opened. The setup was insecure, even when each remote and opener unit used an unchanging but unique shared key (a "non-rolling code") to authenticate the "open" command. As the federal appeals court noted in its write-up of the case, "According to Chamberlain, the typical GDO is vulnerable to attack by burglars who can open the garage door using a 'code grabber.' Chamberlain says that code grabbers allow burglars in close proximity to a homeowner operating her garage door to record the signal sent from the transmitter to the opener, and to return later, replay the recorded signal, and open the garage door."
"Code grabbing" appears to be something of an urban myth, however; the court went on to say that "Chamberlain concedes, however, that code grabbers are more theoretical than practical burgling devices; none of its witnesses had either firsthand knowledge of a single code grabbing problem or familiarity with data demonstrating the existence of a problem. Nevertheless, Chamberlain claims to have developed its rolling code system specifically to prevent code grabbing." A footnote reveals that competitor Skylink offered a snarkier explanation for Chamberlain's move to a "rolling code" system: Chamberlain's openers suffered from "inadvertent GDO [garage door opener] activation by planes passing overhead, not as a security measure."
("Oh, snap!" as they say in the legal world.)
Chamberlain's new, secure, definitely-not-triggered-by-low-flying-aircraft innovation was the rolling code. New "Security+" transmitters would broadcast a two-part signal containing a device identification code (fixed) and then a security code (changing). Every time the garage door opens, the opener and the remote agree to change the security code, and they have a few billion choices to pick from. A "code grabber" who rolled up to the house and attempted to open the garage using a recorded signal would find himself locked out.
Straightforward stuff—but how did Skylink bypass it? The company didn't make a rolling code transmitter, instead relying on a bit of trickery. The Skylink universal remote opens Chamberlain garage doors by sending out the correct device identification code and then three signals, none of which have any connection to the expected security code. The first signal, because it is incorrect, is ignored by the opener. The second signal is also an incorrect code, but coming so close to the first, it triggers to opener to look for a third security code to follow milliseconds later, one which differs from the second code by a value of three. If this happens, the opener triggers its own "resynchronization" sequence, resets the code windows it has been using, and (crucially) opens the garage door.
It was a nifty bit of trickery, but Chamberlain argued that it violated section 1201(a) of the Copyright Act, the section against circumventing technical protection measures. Skylink claimed numerous defenses, including the fact that it was protected by 1201(f) on reverse engineering. In addition, Skylink argued that the rolling code was not DRM, since it did not protect access to some copyrighted computer code but to "an uncopyrightable process" (the opening of a garage door).
Making criminals of customers
The case went badly for Chamberlain, both at the federal courthouse here in Chicago and then when the Court of Appeals took up the case in 2004. Both times, some of the highest judges in the country found the argument preposterous; if true, not only would a third-party competitor who made garage door openers be guilty of trafficking in illicit devices, but every homeowner who used a Skylink remote would themselves have violated the DMCA's anticircumvention rules.
Both federal courts that looked at the case "declined to adopt a construction with such dire implications." In other words, they refused to say that hundreds of thousands of garage-door owning Americans were breaking federal law by purchasing cheap replacement remotes. (One wonders whether this logic would be extended to ripping a DVD onto a laptop just before a flight; the exact same consequences follow.)
But beyond this reductio ad absurdum, the courts also found a more technical reason for tossing Chamberlain's case: the company had never proved that "the circumvention of its technological measures enabled unauthorized access to its copyrighted software," with the key word being "unauthorized." If Chamberlain had only made clear in advance that certain uses were unauthorized, who knows? It might have prevailed.
As the appeals court noted when reviewing the lower court's decision, "The District Court agreed that Chamberlain’s unconditioned sale implied authorization... Chamberlain places no explicit restrictions on the types of transmitter that the homeowner may use with its system at the time of purchase. Chamberlain’s customers therefore assume that they enjoy all of the rights associated with the use of their GDOs and any software embedded therein that the copyright laws and other laws of commerce provide."
The lawyers speak
So—a 2004 two-court judicial smackdown, complete with summary judgment in favor of Skylink. The issue wasn't even a close call. So why was I standing in my garage on a cool November Saturday, staring down at text telling me I could not use non-rolling code transmitters? I checked the date on the manual; it was from 2006, and other recent manuals on Chamberlain's website contain the same statement.
I checked in with several lawyers who had participated in the Chamberlain/Skylink case. Matt Schruers filed an amicus brief in the case on behalf of computer industry trade group CCIA, which argued that the DMCA could not be used merely to prevent competition. When I asked Schruers what he made of the notice, he was intrigued.
"I keep seeing the Chamberlain door openers in the Costco and I've wondered what they were up to these days," he said. As for the notice, he said it looked like "an effort to write around the conclusion that the Federal Circuit reached" by clearly refusing authorization to use Skylink's non-rolling code universal remote.
Seth Greenstein, who litigated a similar case involving Lexmark toner and ink cartridges (see below), agreed that the notice in my manual was an attempt to bypass a part of the court's logic. "The element relevant to your question is that the access enabled by the circumvention must be unauthorized," he said. "The court found the unrestricted sale of the GDO implicitly authorized the purchaser to use the opener, including the right to acquire replacement controls. The new text ostensibly remedies that prior omission."
But Schruers didn't think the text was likely to stand up in court. "The revocation of authorization would, at a minimum, need to be part of an explicit contract between the buyer and seller," he pointed out, which appears to be lacking here.
"All that being said," he added, "nothing seems to prevent Chamberlain from attempting to prohibit certain conduct in their documentation, even if the prohibition is unenforceable. By way of example, DVDs marked 'for home use' or 'non-commercial private use only' are not legally restricted as such. Unless there is a contract, those representations are not true. A given use, e.g., classroom showing, is permitted or infringing depending on copyright law, not what is printed on the packaging—unless there is a contract including that restriction. Rightsholders still print such claims on the packaging, however. They might as well print that infringers are obligated to forfeit their first-born child."
Jonathan Band, a DC lawyer who also worked on the CCIA brief and is now in private practice, noted that Chamberlain also had to overcome a second hurdle. "While the case was on appeal," he said, "Chamberlain added the language that you saw in an effort to argue with respect to new openers that there was no authorization. [But] the Federal Circuit decided the case on other grounds, i.e., that there was no nexus between the circumvention and infringement. Thus, the Chamberlain language does not affect the Federal Circuit's rationale."
I went back to the appeals court decision and found the section that Band was referencing. While the court did speak extensively about "authorization," it also made the following crucial point: "The essence of the DMCA’s anticircumvention provisions is that sections1201(a),(b) establish causes of action for liability. They do not establish a new property right. The DMCA's text indicates that circumvention is not infringement."
Translated into English, the court is saying that DMCA anticircumvention rules only provide new liability for accessing copyrighted material without authorization, but that circumvention itself was not a copyright violation. Since Skylink's remote did not make copies of Chamberlain code and did not provide access to that code, the necessary "nexus" between bypassing the DRM and infringing on Chamberlain copyrights was missing.
We contacted Chamberlain to get their side of the story but received no response. | {
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This summer's heat wave in Atlantic Canada was reflected in sea surface temperatures from southern Nova Scotia to northern Newfoundland.
In much of the region, ocean temperatures at the surface last month were two to three degrees higher than the 20-year average, according to data from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans.
"It's getting up to the largest anomalies that we've seen for the 20-year record that we have," said Dave Hebert, a research scientist with DFO.
A chilly June meant the surface temperature was cooler than average that month.
But that changed with heat waves in July and August. Nova Scotia saw 53 days with air temperatures 25 C or higher.
"What we are seeing is the sea surface temperatures really mimicking our weather," said Hebert.
"The [surface] temperature is progressively getting warmer and warmer, and also the warm area has been moving northward from the Gulf of Maine to the Scotian Shelf to the Newfoundland Shelf."
This Fisheries and Oceans Canada map shows how much warmer or colder the temperatures are compared to a 20-year average. The darkest red indicates an increase of 3.5 C. (Submitted by Fisheries and Oceans Canada)
Over a two-month period, DFO maps show dark red blobs gradually engulfing the Atlantic Ocean surrounding the region.
"What's amazing is you can see the progression. It's now all the way over to Newfoundland," he said.
Much of Nova Scotia's south shore, Cape Breton, the Gulf of St. Lawrence and into the Cabot Strait averaged 20 C on the surface in the second half of August, as measured by satellite.
Ocean heat wave
Scientists at the Gulf of Maine Research Institute in Portland, Maine, said the Gulf of Maine crossed the threshold for a so-called marine heat wave this summer.
That's when an area of ocean experiences temperatures above the 90th percentile for more than five consecutive days. It lasted more than a month.
The institute said on Aug. 8 the average sea surface temperature reached 20.52 C, just below the warmest temperature ever. That was recorded in 2012, the wake-up year in the Gulf of Maine when 100-year records were broken.
Hebert said the warm water is not just at the surface.
At mid-level depths, it has been one to two degrees above average this summer, part of an overall trend of warming ocean conditions this decade.
In April, DFO scientists on board the Canadian Coast Guard vessel Hudson made a startling measurement, recording a temperature of 14 C in the 250-metre-deep Northeast Channel, 200 kilometres south of Nova Scotia.
The channel is where offshore water funnels into the Gulf of Maine.
Scientists will head out again Saturday on a fall scientific cruise. One of the first stops will be the Gulf of Maine and the Northeast Channel to see if the warm water persists.
'Regime shift' may be underway
On Aug. 30, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) released a summary of marine ecosystem conditions on the Northeast Shelf, which runs from Cape Hatteras, N.C., up to the Canadian boundary.
The summary noted dozens of species are moving northward and into deeper water, bottom temperatures are rising with lower chlorophyll concentrations and smaller plankton blooms.
"Surface and bottom water temperatures collected over time indicate that a significant, sudden and persistent change, called a regime shift, may have occurred in Gulf of Maine water temperatures, with the last eight years the warmest in the time series by a wide margin," the Northeast Fisheries Science Center, an NOAA agency reported.
Read more articles at CBC Nova Scotia | {
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MOST OF the world’s car companies were started by someone who had a vision. Sir Henry Royce, Sir William Lyons, Louis Chevrolet, Nicola Romeo, Soichiro Honda, Enzo Ferrari, Brian Hyundai. I may have made that last one up.
All these men saw what everyone else was doing and decided they could do something different, something better. They had a dream and they decided to live it. Seat, however, is different.
Shortly after the Spanish Civil War had reduced Spain to a smouldering ruin, a committee of serious-faced bankers and industrialists was formed, and after a couple of meetings these men decided that if their country was to be hauled out of the mire, the population would need cars. And to stop people spending what little money they had on imports, they reckoned the country should make its own. Siat was born.
View the Seat Ibizas for sale on driving.co.uk
At the time, the Spanish were extremely good at shooting one another and throwing donkeys off tower blocks but extremely not good at making anything as complicated as a car. They would therefore need a foreign partner, and they set off into Europe to find one.
Sadly it was 1942, and the rest of Europe was a bit too busy with other things to worry about how the Spanish might make a small and inexpensive family saloon. So they had to wait until 1948, when Fiat came along, explaining that no one in the world was quite so good at making sub-12bhp cars for the downtrodden masses. The Italian company was given the gig and just five years later produced a Barcelona-made family saloon that was very luxurious and expensive. It flopped.
What’s more, General Franco had decided that the “i” in the company name, which stood for Iberica, should really be an “e”, for Española. Which meant the firm wasn’t thinking about exporting to any English-speaking country. Because who in their right mind would buy a car called a Seat?
Actually, strike that. In Britain we had the Humber, which was named after a sludgy brown river of turd and effluent. And in America they had the Oldsmobile. And in Russia they had the Pantry. So, in the grand scheme of things, driving around in a chair wouldn’t have been the end of the world.
The new Spanish operation had bigger problems anyway. Many years of strikes, floods and industrial shenanigans followed, during which no cars of any note were made. Seriously, can you picture a Seat from the 1970s? Nope. Me neither.
“I reckoned there’d be a pulsating beat and a Eurotrash DJ endlessly inviting the party people to spray one another with foam. But no. It was more chillout than house”
At the beginning of the 1980s, though, there was a disaster. Fiat pulled out. Seat was thus forced to go it alone, and in 1982 there was a great deal of trumpetry when it announced it had made a car, all by itself. With no help from Fiat at all. None, d’you hear? None.
Yeah, right. Even people with terrible conjunctivitis could see the Seat Ronda was nothing more than a Fiat Ritmo with a new nose. Happily, however, the people at the arbitration court in Paris plainly did have terrible conjunctivitis, because when Fiat sued, they sided with Seat. Which, to celebrate this important legal victory, started making Volkswagens.
On the face of it, this didn’t sound a good idea. When you buy a Jaguar today, you like to feel it’s shot through with the DNA of Sir William Lyons. It’s the same story when you buy a Honda or a Ferrari. Each of these cars, even today, reflects the passion and dreams of the person who founded the company. But when you bought a Seat, you’d be getting a Volkswagen garnished with a bit of Franco, a layer of social engineering and some tiresome lawsuits.
And, anyway, who in their right mind would wake up one day and say, “Yes. I’d like a Volkswagen, but I’d rather it weren’t built by those efficient Germans. I’d like it to have been made by a Spaniard”?
Lots of people, as it turned out, because Seat later hit on the clever idea of naming its Volkswagens after pretty Mediterranean holiday hotspots. You might not get many takers for a Spanish Polo. But call it an Ibiza and every drug-loving twentysomething from Arbroath to Zurich is going to be queuing round the block.
Which brings me shuddering this morning to the door of the Seat Ibiza Cupra, a racy-looking little three-door hatchback with fat tyres, black wheels and a turbocharged 1.8-litre engine. That’s quite a lump in a car that’s not much bigger than an insect.
I was expecting all sorts of dawn-on-the-beach histrionics. As it has 189 brake horsepower under the bonnet, I reckoned there’d be a pulsating beat and a Eurotrash DJ endlessly inviting the party people to spray one another with foam. But no. It was more chillout than house. It was quiet and restrained and surprisingly grown up.
It’s the same story with the ride. This is a hot hatch built to draw your attention to Seat’s efforts in various touring car championships. It has a manual gearbox and is aimed at people who enjoy discomfort so much, they walk around with their trousers done up under their bottoms. And yet it simply glides over potholes and speed humps.
A chintzy interior, then? Something as colourful as the cocktails in Pacha? Nope. It’s grey with added grey. I’ve seen snazzier slippers.
It is up to date, though. When you accelerate hard out of a bend, it will brake the inside wheel to stop it whirring round pointlessly, and there are adjustable dampers.
More important in this day and age, it comes as standard with the ability to connect to just about every interface known to man. There’s Apple CarPlay on offer and something called Android Auto. I think this means it’s capable of sending pictures of your private parts to the ether, possibly through voice command.
It’s a strange car, this. Make no mistake: it’s very fast and it looks good in a tight, iPoddy sort of way — white paint and black wheels is a combination that works well. Yet it’s like climbing into a pair of gardening trousers.
The Volkswagen Polo GTI — its identical twin mechanically — is far more lively to behold and sit in. And that’s odd, because you’d expect to find that the VW was dour and sensible and the Seat was the hallucinatory alternative.
Browse NEW or USED cars for sale on driving.co.uk
I’m not sure which I prefer, and I can’t be bothered to work it out, because while both are fine, neither is anything like as good as Ford’s Fiesta ST. That car is a gem. You sense Henry Ford’s pile-’em- high-and-sell-’em-cheap mass production, but you can feel Ford’s racing pedigree as well.
The Seat, by comparison, is just somewhere to sit down and relax while it moves you about.
Comment below or write to us at [email protected], or Driving, The Sunday Times, 1 London Bridge Street, London SE1 9GF | {
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Curry
Join Date: Jan 2011 Posts: 1,055 Germany Germany
[NEW] Infantry Teamwork Night - 25.09.2014 - 18:00PRT
The [NEW] community would like to invite you to another Infantry Teamwork Night this thursday at 1800PRT. We will ensure that both teams have commanders and are balanced, if requested we do !restart's to give the teams additional time for preparation and briefing. We expect everyone joining to play professional and teamwork oriented at all times! Anyone not following CO orders may be kicked from the server!
If the server is still populated after we finished Dragon Fly we will run mapvotes and play some regular layouts.
Shijia Valley | Khamisiyah | Dragon Fly
We ask clans and bigger groups which would like to play together to join the [NEW] TeamSpeak for balance discussions. We will try to keep the teams balanced and switch clans if needed.
[NEW] Teamspeak
By joining the server you agree to respect and follow the server rules of the [NEW] New Era Warfare Server. All rules will be strictly enforced by the admin team. There will be no password on the server and no sign-ups are required.
[NEW] Server Rules
Join us on our IRC channel and have a chat with us.
#newcommunity
Thewould like to invite you to anotherthis. We will ensure that both teams have commanders and are balanced, if requested we do !restart's to give the teams additional time for preparation and briefing. We expect everyone joining to play professional and teamwork oriented at all times! Anyone not following CO orders may be kicked from the server!If the server is still populated after we finished Dragon Fly we will run mapvotes and play someWe ask clans and bigger groups which would like to play together to join thefor balance discussions. We will try to keep the teams balanced and switch clans if needed.By joining the server you agree toof the. All rules will be strictly enforced by the admin team. There will be no password on the server and no sign-ups are required.Join us on our IRC channel and have a chat with us.
[NEW], [3dAC], [KSK], =ITW= & Team Chode cheers, | {
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Next Game: Richmond 3/11/2018 | 11:00 a.m. Hatter Vision
Stetson senior catcherset the tone for the Hatters' 7-0 victory over Richmond even before his three-run double in the first inning provided all the offense his team would need.It was in the top of the first, after the visiting Spiders (7-6) got a leadoff single and a walk against Stetson starter(2-1) that Hale crushed the spirit of in the visiting dugout at Melching Field. Richmond tried to pull off a double steal, but Hale gunned down the lead runner at third on the play. After Perkins get the second out on strikes, Hale back-picked the runner at second, catching him off the bag to end the inning.The Spiders managed a couple of other scoring chances later in the game, but they had to play from behind the entire night.Hale made sure of that in the bottom of the first, ripping a bases loaded double into the left field corner, scoring three runs against Richmond starter Aaron Winkler (2-1).The shutout for Stetson (12-1) is the fifth of the young season, which leads all of college baseball. It was the first time this year the Spiders have been blanked in a game.Stetson had plenty of scoring opportunities throughout the game, but left 11 runners stranded on base. It was not until the eighth inning that the Hatters broke through, scoring four insurance runs for closer, who retired all four batters he faced to earn his national best seventh save of the year.The big hits in the eighth for Stetson off Richmond reliever Dalton Light included an RBI single from, a two-run double byand a run scoring single by Hale.On the mound, Perkins worked six innings for his second win of the year. His biggest jam, after the one in the first, came in the sixth inning. An error opened the door before Kyle Adams delivered a one-out double. A walk loaded the bases for the Spiders before Perkins got a strikeout of former Hatterand then a ground out to end the threat.Seniorretired five straight hitters in his second relief outing of the weekend before turning the ball over to Wilson following a two-out walk in the eight.The Hatters piled up double figures in the hits column for the third straight game. McNeil, Hale,andhad two hits each.The only negative in the game for Stetson came in the third inning when juniorwas hit in the head with a pitch. The ball hit his helmet, which caused a cut on his ear that needed stitches to close. Sparks, who already had a hit and scored on Hale's double, will likely be back in the Hatters' lineup on Sunday.Fans planning to attend Sunday's game should note that the start time has been moved up two hours, to 11 a.m., due to thunderstorms that are expected to be in the area during the afternoon. Also, don't forget to set your clocks ahead one hour tonight as Daylight Savings Time begins on Sunday.Stetson University's Athletics Program has a vision of developing a culture of champions athletically, academically and within the community. This vision is accomplished through a mission of recruiting and developing student-athletes, coaches and staff, creating a culture of champions, within and outside of competition. The department operates with five core values: Championship Culture, Integrity, Excellence, Pride/Tradition and Leadership. To learn more about the Vision, Mission and Core Values for Stetson Athletics, visit GoHatters.com and click on Mission Statement under the Inside Athletics tab. | {
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Parejo: "I will rest, which is needed to approach the next year strong”
Valencia CF’s first team squad will be taking a well-deserved break over Christmas. Captain Dani Parejo and Paco Alcácer spoke to VCFplay to reveal their plans for the festive period. | {
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Treaties, uncertainties over Pyongyang’s nuclear readiness, and the sheer scale of armaments on both sides maintain a delicate truce on the Korean peninsula | {
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TARENTUM (KDKA/AP) – A Pittsburgh-area mall that was foreclosed on after its owners failed to repay $143 million was auctioned off Wednesday for $100.
The sprawling Galleria at Pittsburgh Mills mall has been in trouble ever since it opened its doors 11 years ago. After defaulting on that $143 million loan, the bankruptcy court put it up for auction.
Wells Fargo Bank was owed the money from a 2006 loan and submitted the winning bid for the 1.1 million-square-foot mall. The bank was acting as trustee for MSCI 2007 HQ11, the trust that bought the mall in suburban Frazer Township.
Pittsburgh Mills mall auctioned off for a hundred bucks. Bid by Wells Fargo which is holding 149 Mill. Debt on mall. — PAUL D. MARTINO (@PMARTKDKA) January 18, 2017
Wells Fargo foreclosed last year on the mall, which opened in 2005. Pittsburgh Mills Limited Partnership defaulted on the loan.
KDKA’s Paul Martino: “You’re protecting the interests of the bank, right?”
Wells Fargo Attorney Nick Godfrey: “That’s correct, yeah. And the process here will play out. Like I said, I can’t comment further at this time.”
It’s clear that Wells Fargo purchased the property to make sure someone else didn’t grab it at a ridiculous price. But it’s not clear what will happen to the mall now, and that’s got shoppers worried.
“It’s a shame. It’s a nice location. It’s a modern mall. It’s nice. I just don’t understand why the customers don’t come here and shop,” said one shopper.
That’s one of the big problems. The mall sits on more than a million square feet, but not many shoppers are coming.
The other problem is that mall shopping is declining everywhere due to the popularity of online shopping. It means the mall’s former Sears Superstore now sits empty. Many others across the country have closed, too. Macy’s stores are also closing, but so far the one at the Mills is staying.
“It’s very sad. They never developed all the stuff they said was going to happen,” said another shopper.
Plans for an indoor go kart track and a water park never materialized, and the mall is only about 55 percent occupied. Even so, shoppers who live in the area hope someone can save the place.
“It’s just getting people to invest in the right things, in the right time. Hopefully, we can get people to come and help us out,” another shopper said.
But the numbers are not good. The mall was once valued at $190 million, but today its worth just $11 million and there’s that $143 million debt.
Wells Fargo and the mall’s new owners haven’t commented on the purchase.
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(TM and © Copyright 2017 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2017 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.) | {
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Just Dance has a new World Cup champion, and it’s not who anyone thought it would be. Somehow breezing past stiff competition from around the globe, high school-aged Umutcan managed the biggest upset in the game’s short competitive history.
I know what you’re thinking: there’s a World Cup for Just Dance? Yes, there is. That motion-tracking rhythm game from 2009 that originally released for the Nintendo Wii that everyone insisted on playing after coming back from the bar drunk and which spawned seven sequels and even more spin-offs is also an esport.
Umutcan, who goes by “Technoth” in the dancing world, who came to Paris for the Just Dance World Cup as one of its youngest contenders, will leave it a champion. Hailing from Ankara, Turkey’s capital, Umutcan was nobody’s favorite to take the championship. Instead, many assumed Brazil’s Diegho San would take first place for the third year in a row, or that if anyone were to unseat him, it would be France’s own TheFairyDina or perhaps Australian newcomer Denzal Van Uitregt.
Umutcan (center) holding the Just Dance Word Cup trophy beside Pamela (right) and Uitregt left).
But Umutcan proved them all wrong. Using a Swiss-system for the group stage meant that only the top four performers would make it into the playoffs. Umutcan was actually tied with previous champion Diegho San wins, but because he had defeated him during their group stage best-of-three series, it was the Turkish dancer who got to progress (the final ranking was based on points, and San being the two-time world champion, a win against him was worth the most points).
After sending the former world champion home, Umutcan had to go up against Hian who was, up until the semifinals, undefeated. But even on the first song, Beyoncé’s “Single Ladies,” despite the superb timing of his competitor, it was Umutcan’s style and energy gave him a lead. While Hian took the next round on Frankie Valli’s “Cant Take My Eyes Off You,” it was Queen’s “Don’t Stop Me Now,” that decided the winner, which turned out to be, to the surprise of even the announcers, Umutcan.
The judges loved his fluid movements and passion even when it cost him precision on the choreography, a trend that continued through to the finals against a third Brazilian opponent, Pamela. “Don’t Stop Me Now,” returned for the first round, followed by will.i.am’s “Scream & Shout” featuring Britney Spears. Umutcan took both with one of the judges, Just Dance’s own Manager of Choreography, saying she simply couldn’t take her eyes off the aspiring champion. The World Cup trophy was presented to Umutcan with The Verve’s “Bitter Sweet Symphony” blasting in the background, because when you’re a slave to the money then you die the only thing to do is dance in front of a video game.
Prior to the tournament, he told Ubisoft, the game’s publisher and the organizer behind the event, that he tried to qualify last year but was unsuccessful. “I was not as good as now,” he said, having trained three hours a day in the months in-between to make sure 2017 was different.
Ever since Diegho San won the first Just Dance World Cup a few years ago, the scene around the game in Brazil has exploded, as evidenced by the number of top ranked talent that hails from that country. With no comparative community to be inspired by or borrow from in Turkey, Umutcan’s rise feels even more like Billy Elliot (2000) meets The Wizard (1989).
“[The] crowded environment doesn’t make me scared,” he said before the tournament. “On the contrary, it makes me excited and encourages me.” For Umutcan, Just Dance is more than just a competition though, who added that the game is a key part of how he socializes with friends and has built lasting relationships. And of course his favorite Just Dance song is David Guetta’s “Hey Mama” featuring Nicki Minaj, because “when I play this song, I feel more excited and free.”
You can watch the end of the finals here. | {
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Tempers flare in Minnesota as Eduardo Escobar gets into a dispute with Jesus Sucre and Daniel Robertson following a go-ahead balk | {
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Getty Images
Cornerback Byron Maxwell had a big rebound in 2016 after arriving in Miami via a trade with the Eagles and he thinks 2016 was just the the first step in the creation of a top-flight secondary for the Dolphins.
The unit was banged up in 2016 with Maxwell missed the final games of the year with an ankle injury, corner Xavien Howard battling knee problems and safeties Reshad Jones and Isa Abdul-Quddus ending the year on injured reserve. All are expected to be healthy for offseason work this year along with cornerbacks Tony Lippett and Bobby McCain.
Maxwell believes the group can develop into something similar to the Legion of Boom he was part of with the Seahawks, although they’d need a moniker of their own.
“We can be talked about how they talked about us in Seattle,” Maxwell said, via the Palm Beach Post. “We’ve just got to find a nickname. We’ve got to run with it. But we’ve got to put it on the field first. We definitely have the making of something — we can be something great.”
The Dolphins will be working with a new coordinator on defense this season with Vance Joseph moving to Denver as the new Broncos head coach. Whether or not they reach the heights of Maxwell’s former team, having everyone healthy in the back end would make life easier for Matt Burke in his new role. | {
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Volkswagen AG Chief Executive Herbert Diess met on Monday with the top U.S. trade official, a week before new tariffs are set to hit imported Mexican vehicles, two people briefed on the matter said.
FILE PHOTO: The logo of German carmaker Volkswagen is seen at the Volkswagen (VW) automobile manufacturing plant in Puebla near Mexico City September 23, 2015. REUTERS/Imelda Medina
Last week, U.S. President Donald Trump said he would begin imposing tariffs on all Mexican made goods starting at 5% on June 10. The tariffs would rise from there, hitting 25% on Oct. 1 “unless Mexico substantially stops the illegal inflow of aliens coming through its territory,” Trump said.
Diess met with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, the sources said. A spokesman for Lighthizer did not immediately comment.
The tariffs could cause the largest European automaker significant pain.
Mexican made vehicles accounted for nearly half of Volkswagen’s U.S. sales last year. The company builds the Jetta and Tiguan among other models at its Puebla, Mexico, plant and builds engines at a plant in Silao. It also assembles the Audi Q5, its best-selling U.S. vehicle accounting for a quarter of sales, at another plant in Mexico.
“We believe that tariffs of this kind are a tax on the U.S. consumer and will result in higher prices and also threaten job growth,” VW said in a statement on Monday, adding that the company “has made significant long-term investments in the United States that would be impaired by restrictive changes to trade.”
A Volkswagen of America spokesman confirmed Diess was in Washington but declined to confirm his meeting with Lighthizer.
In December, Diess was among a group of senior executives of leading German automakers who were pressed by Trump to expand their investments in the United States.
“The president has a point,” Diess said in December, saying officials “tried to convince us to invest more into America and we are prepared to do this.”
In January, the German automaker said it was investing $800 million to build a new electric vehicle at its plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee. VW said it was adding 1,000 jobs at the plant and that electric vehicle production there would begin in 2022.
Diess also said in January that the company was considering building Audi vehicles in the United States but that no decisions had been made. | {
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Peter Dougan Capaldi (foto ©Gage Skidmore) è nato il 14 aprile 1958 a Glasgow, in Scozia. Fin da bambino ha mostrato talento per la recitazione e per la musica ed è stato un fan di “Doctor Who” fin da quegli anni. Durante la sua adolescenza è stato cantante e chitarrista del gruppo musicale punk rock The Dreamboys, in cui il batterista era Craig Ferguson, un altro futuro attore professionista.
Dopo aver studiato alla Glasgow School of Art, Peter Capaldi ha cominciato a lavorare come attore ottenendo il primo ruolo importante nel film “Local Hero” del 1983. Per vari anni ha avuto ruoli più o meno importanti in produzione cinematografiche e televisive come quello di George Harrison nel film TV “John and Yoko: A Love Story” del 1985.
Nel 1991 Peter Capaldi si è sposato con Elaine Collins. I due hanno una figlia, Cecily.
Negli anni ’90 Peter Capaldi ha trovato ruoli importanti in produzioni televisive come “Mr. Wakefield’s Crusade”, “The Secret Agent”, “Chandler & Co”, “The All New Alexei Sayle Show” e “Neverwhere”. Tuttavia ha fatto anche molto altro e non solo come attore, tanto che ha vinto un premio BAFTA e soprattutto un Oscar per il cortometraggio del 1993 “Franz Kafka’s It’s a Wonderful Life”, da lui scritto e diretto.
La fama di Peter Capaldi è cresciuta ulteriormente dopo che ha cominciato a interpretare Malcolm Tucker in “The Thick of It”, una commedia satirica sul governo britannico. Tucker ricopre un ruolo di consulente del tipo chiamato spin doctor. Cominciata nel 2005, la serie è andata avanti con alcune pause fino al 2012 e Capaldi ha vinto un BAFTA e due British Comedy Awards. Ha interpretato quel ruolo anche nel suo spinoff “In the Loop”, trasmesso nel 2009.
Nel 2008 Peter Capaldi ha avuto il suo primo ruolo in “Doctor Who” nell’episodio “Le fiamme di Pompei” (“The Fires of Pompeii”). L’anno successivo ha avuto un ruolo più importante nello spinoff “Torchwood: Children of Earth”.
Tra i tanti ruoli interpretati nel corso di quegli anni c’è stato quello del Cardinale Richelieu nella serie “The Musketeers” e quello nel film “World War Z” del 2013, dove il suo personaggio è indicato nei titoli come W.H.O. Doctor. Quest’ultimo è stato quasi una profezia perché nello stesso anno è stata annunciata la sua scelta per interpretare il Dodicesimo Dottore in “Doctor Who”. La sua interpretazione del Signore del Tempo è stata molto intensa, abbracciando una vasta gamma di emozioni. I suoi discorsi sono rimasti memorabili con tanti riferimenti a problemi come la guerra.
Nel ruolo del Dottore, Peter Capaldi ha partecipato anche alla produzione di alcuni videogiochi a cui ha prestato la sua voce, allo spinoff “Class” e al programma di beneficenza “Children in Need”. Ha lasciato il ruolo con l’episodio natalizio del 2017.
Nel corso della sua carriera Peter Capaldi ha lavorato anche come narratore di documentari, occasionalmente come presentatore e autore. Ora che ha terminato di lavorare in “Doctor Who” sicuramente lo rivedremo in altre produzioni importanti. | {
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Tips to Lower Your Cholesterol
To lower your cholesterol, you have two levers: dietetics and drug treatments.
As a first step, your doctor will provide you with dietary advice to reduce the ingestion of harmful fats.
If these tips do not work, drug treatments may reduce body fat absorption, reduce LDL cholesterol, increase HDL cholesterol, or have combined actions.
A rate of “bad” cholesterol too high often reflects an unhealthy lifestyle or unbalanced eating habits. Eating well or playing sports can undoubtedly reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease. But do you know how to lower your cholesterol? We give you 10 useful tips.
Also See: Benefits of maintaining a health weight
1. Reduce the Overall Fat Intake
The overall intake of fats for a person should not represent more than 30 to 35% of total calories (instead of 40 to 42% most often today). Indeed, fats, especially saturated fatty acids contribute to a rise in “bad” cholesterol. They are brought by:
Fats of animal origin (meat, eggs, cheese, whole milk);
Butter;
Viennese pastries and pastries;
Some industrialized products such as biscuits, ready meals, etc.
2. Choose Unsaturated Fatty Acids
Unsaturated fatty acids (polyunsaturated and monounsaturated) allows reduction of total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol (this is especially the case of polyunsaturated fatty acids) while preserving the “good” HDL cholesterol (thanks to monounsaturated fatty acids).
These unsaturated fatty acids are provided by:
Vegetable oils (sunflower, maize and rapeseed oils are rich in polyunsaturates; olive and peanut oils contain mostly monounsaturates);
Margarines obtained from these oils;
Oleaginous nuts;
Fatty fish from cold seas (which provide highly polyunsaturated fatty acids)
3. Eat Fruits and Vegetables
Choose fresh fruits and vegetables (seasonal, canned, or frozen if desired).
4. Stop Smoking, Moderate Alcohol Consumption
Stay away from smoking. Stop or limit intake of alcohol.
5. Play Sports
Exercise regularly. For example, you can do brisk walking, cycling, swimming, mild sports that require little investment.
6. Beware Of Salt
Remove the salt shaker at the table, as often as you can, and avoid regular consumption of foods rich in salt (cold cuts, cured meats).
7. Read the Labels Carefully
Labels provide valuable information about the type and amount of lipids (cholesterol is a lipid) found in foods sold in stores. By learning how to decipher them, it is possible to halve your daily consumption of lipids.
8. Monitor Your Blood Pressure
High blood pressure, such as hypercholesterolemia (higher than normal cholesterol levels), increases the risk of heart damage (heart attack and heart failure). Thus, it is important to regularly monitor your blood pressure so as not to aggravate the risk factors.
9. Set a “Target Value”
It is important to carry out regular lipid tests in order to know your cholesterol level. You can talk about the results with your doctor, and he can set a goal on cholesterol to achieve: the target value.
10. Vary Your Diet
It is essential to have a varied diet. For example, you can eat every day:
Bread;
Potatoes or pasta, rice or pulses;
Raw and cooked green vegetables;
Milk and yogurt and lean cheese;
Meat or poultry or fish;
Raw fruits
In Conclusion
A healthy diet low in fat almost always results in lower cholesterol levels. If healthy eating, physical activity, and other changes have had no effect after six months, your family doctor may want to prescribe medication to lower your cholesterol level. It is a treatment for life; it must be considered only if good habits have not worked.
Lowering your cholesterol levels by eating healthy, low-fat foods is easier than you think. It is a matter of common sense and willingness to improve one’s health. You do not have to stop eating your favorite foods, but maybe eat less often or replace them with healthier choices.
Want to know more about cholesterol click here.
Stay Updated! Subscribe for our latest blogs. Register yourself on sehat cloud platform to get help from the team of medical professionals who are available, always get all the help you desire. | {
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Es ist Zeit für was Neues!. Die Zeit is reif für eine neue Erfahrung, die grösste die Du beim Quake spielen je hattest. Nimm teil am neuen Unterhaltungzeitalter und überstehe mehr als 48 Stunden extremsten Fun’s und Aktion! Spiele das beliebteste Spiel auf Erden und messe Dich gegen über 200 andere Quake-Spieler oder beweise wie gut Du bist in entweder einem Deathmatch, einem CTF oder in einem von den EQCP Contests, die an diesem wahnsinns Event stattfinden werden! Der Termin ist der 19.-21. Dezember ’97, in Basel, Schweiz.
Falls Du einen Computer mit Dir zum Geschehen mitnimmst, muss Dein Rechner mit einer funktionierenden Netzwerkkarte bestückt sein. Diese Karte muss RJ45 konform (TBase 10) sein und kann auch in fast jedem Computerladen in näherer Umgebung für ca. CHF 50.– erworben werden. Es wird auch die Möglichkeit geben, sie an der SwissCon’97 für weniger als CHF 40.– zu kaufen.
Bitte stell auch sicher, das auf Deinem Computer keine Viren vorhanden sind, indem Du mit einem gängigen Virenscannerprogramm einen Scan machst bevor Du teilnimmst. Auch empfehlenswert ist es Treiber, Backups, Utilities, CDs und andere wichtige Dinge zur Hand zu haben falls es nötig ist den Rechner zu reparieren bzw. neue Software aufzuspielen. Es ist Dein Computer und Du hast die volle Verantwortung dafür. Du wirst keine Unterstützung erhalten im Falle von einem Schaden. Wir bitten auch allen Spieler eine gültige Quake-Config Datei bei sich zu haben, so dass man schnell und unproblematisch die Spieler an den Computern auswechseln kann. Nochmals – stellt bitte sicher, dass alle Software die Ihr auf Datenträgern mitbringt, eingeschlossen der Festplatte, virusfrei sind. Danke.
https://web.archive.org/web/19980614190115/http://www.swissquake.ch/swisscon97/index.html
{SWM}McKill’s SwissCon ’97 Photo Gallery
The Hilton hotel in Basel greeted us with this sign in the main lobby and next to the doors leading to the ‘Sal des Nations’.
Friday evening – about one-third of the people are already here and the network is running perfectly!
The 12 Fujitsu Servers (thanks again to all the sponsors!) – front view…
…and the back view with the 3Com Switch and the 100 Mbit/s hubs to the servers – and of course tons of LAN cable (Who cares about the mess? It worked!)
A nice view of (almost) the whole room with (almost) all the players on Saturday morning.
Some guys from clan TUG in action.
…and some more TUG guys (nice t-shirts, but nothing compared to ours ;-) )
The Roesti Gibbers in action…
And yet another view of the room (e-mail if you want your name mentioned…)
Our french guys (and the one and only gal) gibbin’ away.
In the back our videoprojector which had provided everyone with the important server and competition info. In front is Acidli checking his PC…
The ReaperBot Clan – second guy from the left with the dark-red shirt is Lancelot.
Fleubeu of the Roesti Gibbers at his arrival…
…and with his cute cow costume as our mascot! In front, WOOnder, also a member of the Roesti Gibbers (forever!!)
Zeus on Sunday morning – guess he was too tired to go home to get some sleep.
Lukio somehow always had some trouble with his PC…
The only female SwissCon player – SB_Marie.
SQM’s Spitfire in action.
Is Lukio’s PC still not working or did he just get gibbed real bad?
Vlad of SQM – server configurator and temporarily SQM clanleader… :-)
Gizmo – Clanleader of the SQM and one of the organisators of this event.
Don’t forget to eat and drink while Quaking away… (food at the Hilton was much too expensive… but there was a grocery store and a McDonald’s nearby :-)) )
Destroyer – the man with the largest monitor and the heaviest PC of them all (believe me, I know, I helped carry that stuff around…)
Hey – that’s me!
Me again – back view, to show our magnificiently cool t-shirts!
The whole SQM clan after a really great weekend! Thanks a lot to Gizmo, Lukio, Incubus and all the others who helped make this great weekend come true!
https://web.archive.org/web/19990127181549/http://www.virtualplaza.ch/home/mike/swisscon/
TUG @ SwissCon97 report
OK, hab ich es doch noch geschafft mich mal hinter das Word zu setzen und für {tug} diesen Bericht zu schreiben, hehe. Und: Na klar ist noch mehr passiert! Aber ich schreib den Bericht ja schliesslich aus unserer Sicht bzw. meiner.
Alles begann natürlich mit dem Lastwagen….wie wären wir sonst an die SwissCon gekommen? Also zuerst mal ein herzliches Dankeschön an die Mutter von {tug}AcIdLi, deren Bekannten, die uns angefressenen Quaker am Freitag Abend, dem 19.12. im Auto aushalten mussten, und ihn selber, da er das ganze für uns alle organisierte :-)!
Es war eine vielversprechende Nacht als wir bei Wind und Wetter gen Basel fuhren, alle waren natürlich aufgeregt und konnten es kaum erwarten die ersten Lamers zu fraggen. Ich fuhr im grossen Laster mit all den Computern zusammen mit SirRaff und Acidlis Mutter, die uns chauffierte. Ein zweiter Kombi transportierte der Rest der Elite.
In Basel fuhr der Laster mit den Computern zuerst mal zur Herberge und der andere Wagen mit dem Rest der Truppe ins Hilton…logisch ned? ;-) Wie auch immer; Acidlis Mutter musste uns zuerst mal die Herberge freimachen…so kam das.
Als wir beim Hilton ankamen erwarteten uns schon ungeduldig Mech, TMC, Acidli, Fish, San und auch Phips, der Power Medic sozusagen die tug-Geheimwaffe :-). Zusammen räumten wir all den Computer-Kram ins 2. Untergeschoss des Hilton und trafen dort das ganze SwissCon Gefragge schon im vollen Gange. Während wir aufstellten, fand uns auch noch TheHornet von den BattlePigs (OINK!!), der eigens aus Deutschland mit seinem Notebook unter dem Arm angereist ist um diesem Event beizuwohnen. Da ihn aber sein Clan im Stich liess, nahmen wir ihn für die SwissCon dankend als Söldner auf.
Am Freitag war noch einrichten und Happy Fragging angesagt…bis Mitternacht, dann war finito und der Raum schloss, {tug} zog sich in die Jugendherberge zurück, während TheHornet es sich im Hilton selber gemütlich machte – zu den SwissCon Spezialpreisen natürlich.
Am nächsten Tag hatten wir um ca. 9:30 Uhr Appel zum Morgenessen und trafen dann um ca. 11:00 Uhr im Hilton ein, wo dann etwas weiter gefraggt wurde; man trug sich noch schnell und spontan für die letzten Turniere ein, als dann um 12:00 Uhr die SwissCon wieder schloss bis – zumindest geplant war es – um 14:00 Uhr.
Aber in diesem Punkt hatte wohl die Administration etwas versagt, denn erst mal dreiviertel Stunden später begannen sie mit dem Pseudo-Batches ausstellen (und natürlich Billete verteilen), was im Nachhinein auch als überflüssig erwies, aber immerhin stolze 1 ½ Stunden an Zeit frass. Verlangt wurde der Batch nie mehr, und kontrollieren konnte man damit sowieso nix, weil ja nicht mal die im Vorneherein gefragten Fotos verwendet wurden.
Immerhin begann dann der Ernst des Fraggens! Zuerst wurden die DM Clanwar 4on4 Duelle ausgetragen, wo wir allgemein gesehen schlechte Figur boten (siehe ScreenShot unten) – Kunststück; bei uns spielt auch niemand regelmässig DeathMatch. Einzelne von uns waren allerdings auch konstant besser als einige der Gegner (Fish ahoi! :-))
Die 1on1 und 2on2 DM-Fights wurden aus Zeitgründen von der Administration ganz geschoben :-(, wobei natürlich, muss man sagen, auf den plus/minus 13 aktiven Quake-Servern niemand und nix zu kurz kam: von DM über Painkeep,Rocket Arena, CTF, ThreeWave-CTF zu TF bis Quake2 konnte wirklich alles, auch während den Tournaments, immer gespielt werden!
Die TeamFortress-Fights kamen dann am Sonntag ab 14 Uhr dran; {tug}’s Spezialgebiet und somit ging auch die Post ab: unser Clan war mit {tug}-Alpha und {tug}-Omega, je ein 5er-Team daran beteiligt.
Der 1. TF-Fight: {tug}-Alpha gegen AS
Ich hatte ein etwas ungutes Gefühl, weil mir dünkte in den FreeFragging-Spielen zuvor, die vom AS-Team seien noch gefährliche Einzelkämpfer. Das mulmige Gefühl verflog aber in den ersten 5 min. des Battles und unser Selbstvertrauen wurde stark aufgebaut (siehe ScreenShot unten links). Teamwork rulez!
Der 2. TF-Fight: {tug}-Omega gegen RG (RöstiGibbers)
Zu diesem Fight kann ich nicht viel sagen, denn ich selber war zur selben Zeit mit {tug}-Alpha gegen AS beschäftigt; ich weiss also auch nur, was auf dem Bild steht… (siehe ScreenShot oben rechts).
Es scheint mir aber ziemlich Eindeutig, vergleicht man den „TOTAL” Teamscore oben: 475 zu 78. Und weiter kann ich noch 9 Caps deuten, den Rest seht ihr ja selbst ;-)
Der 3. TF-Fight: {tug}-Alpha vs SQM (Swiss Quake Masters)
Ich dachte, hmm weiss nicht, Swiss Quake Masters sind so rein ihrem Namen nach noch ziemlich gut. Ich habe mich getäuscht; dazu kommt noch, dass sie sonst nie TF gespielt haben und einfach mal „for fun” mit gespielt haben und daher gratuliere ich ihnen zu den 117 Frags!
{tug} gratuliere ich hingegegen zu den => 1154 <= Frags!! Das bedeutet IMHO, dass wir die Flagge so fast zwanzig mal geholt haben (de facto: 18x J).
Ich will ja nicht gemein sein, aber an den Engineers (wie ich es während den Battles immer war) kann man die Flexibilität und Aufgewecktheit eines Clans messen. D. h. je weiter oben der Engineer desto mehr sind die Feinde einfach in dessen Sentry gelaufen (siehe ScreenShot unten links) ;-).
Dann kam der K.O.-Fight für {tug}-Omega:
Der 4. TF-Fight: {tug}-Omega gegen FsC (French Survivor Clan)
Ich konnte auch diesem Fight nicht beiwohnen, weil wie bekannt der andere Battle parallel lief ({tug}-Alpha vs SQM). Ich konnte danach nur die leicht bedrückten Minen der Kollegen feststellen und die Match-Statistics ab dem Bild lesen (ScreenShot oben rechts); offensichtlich ist die Verteidigung eingebrochen und wie uns eigentlich allen klar war, war in {tug}-Omega zuwenige Leute der Offense, mehr die Spezialisten der Defense.
Da aber auch nur 3 Tuggers im Team waren war wohl auch das Teamwork nicht so wahnsinnig stark ausgeprägt; wobei wohl die nicht allzu üble Offense (TheHornet, Phips [und Zeus?]) scheiterte, denn gerade die Offense muss in der Regel absolutes Teamwork beweisen, sonst werden Alle einer nach dem anderen abgeschlachtet, so wie die Power-Offense des FsC dann gegen {tug}-Alpha.
Das Finale der TF-Fights: {tug}-Alpha gegen FsC
Wie bereits bekannt war der FsC eine Gruppe von sehr starken Einzelkämpfern, so beschloss ich meinerseits auch noch den „gemeinen Dispenser” zu Hilfe zu nehmen, den ich regelmässig auf die Rampe rauf zum oberen Raum in 2fort5 stellte und bei Feindkontakt detonierte.
Wie auch immer; wir nutzten den Überraschungseffekt, gleich ganz am Anfang mit einem Scout die Feinde zu überrennen und die Flagge zu holen.
Und auch danach war die Attacke des Feindes eher noch locker und mehr sporadisch kamen welche vorbei hallo und tschüss zu sagen…;-D
Wie auch immer, danach kriegten wir die volle Macht eines ClanWar-Winner-Clans zu spüren und in den letzen 5min gingen alle Gegner voll in die Offensive, und überrannten mich ziemlich; glücklicherweise waren da noch Mech und TMC, sowohl auch San und Fish, die sich in die Defensive zurückgezogen hatten und wir konnten unsere Flagge bis am Schluss erfolgreich konservieren (ScreenShot unten)!
Fazit: WE’VE WON THE WAR!
Danach kam noch die „Siegerehrung” und wir bekamen alle ein Quake2…alle?…nein, einer bekam noch ein Hexen2 (ok, geht auch) und ein anderer ein echtes Quake (1!) (BOAH ey!); wobei ich mir bei letzterer Gabe der Logik der Organisatoren nicht ganz sicher war, denn ging man nicht davon aus, dass jeder der an die SwissCon kam schon ein Original-Quake (1) installiert haben sollte?? Na egaaaaal – einem geschenkten Gaul schaut man nicht ins Maul und so nahm es halt jemand, der schon ein Quake2 hatte…;-)
TheHornet musste nun auf seinen Flug und verabschiedete sich, nahm sein Notebook unter den Arm und verschwand wie er gekommen war…plötzlich! J Wir bedanken uns noch im Nachhinein für seine Kooperation mit uns!
Anschliessend so um 17:00 Uhr machten wir noch gegen die SBner einen CTF-Match, den wir aber recht satt verloren, da ich wohl der einzige war, der nach einer Freinacht +10h in dem Moment noch irgendetwas kapierte :-).
Auch egaaal! Wir hatten unseren Erfolg!
Jaaaa….alles hat ein Ende, nur die Wurst hat zwei! :-(
Es kam die Zeit näher zu gehen und um 18:00 Uhr hatten wir alles wieder schön verpackt, um die Sachen um 19:00 Uhr alles fein säuberlich wieder in den Laster zu räumen.
Ich war nun (im Gegensatz zu vor einer Stunde) kurz vor dem geistigen, physikalischen sowie emotionellen Shutdown und torkelte mit Monitor & Co. rum, so dass meinen Kollegen Angst und Bange wurde %-))
Es hat in Basel gerade begonnen zu regnen und dunkel war’s wie schon ca. 21 Uhr!
Wir alle hatten es nun ein wenig eilig, weil es viel später wurde, als wir alle vermuteten und ich selber wäre ja auf die 18 Uhr zum Fondue Chinoise bei meiner Mutter eingeladen gewesen, was ich dann aber mit Telefon usw. bis zu meiner Ankunft dann verschieben musste (ja, ich konnte mir dann doch noch den ganzen Magen voll Fondue schlagen – trotzdem! :-).
Heimfahrt bis in ein kleines abgelegenes Aussenquartier in Zürich (manche nennen es Oerlikon :-p), dann musste ich mich auf den Goodwill einer netten {tug}-Mutter verlassen (hierbei herzlichen Dank an San’s Mutter!!), in deren Auto ich mein Zeugs bei einer Nacht und Nebel-Aktion verladen konnte (so mit Schirm drüberhalten und mitrennen :-)).
Daheim angekommen, ass ich besagtes Fondue (tat gut, nach all dem McDonalds-Food), dann…na was wohl: vollautomatischer Selbsterhaltungs-Shutdown und am nächsten Tag => Kaltstart. (*lach*).
So long,
{tug}Fireball
https://web.archive.org/web/19981206140056/http://tug.swix.ch/quake/swisscon.html
[SB]Marie’s SwissCon’97 report
Après des mois et des mois de préparation, la Swisscon’97 a enfin eu lieu! Ce fût un succès sur de très nombreux points. 16 quakeurs français ont finalement fait le voyage, depuis les quatre coins de notre beau pays. Voici en quelques mots mes impressions, mais déjà une chose est sûre, on s’est super bien amusés! pour aller directement voir les photos, cliquez sur l’icone en forme d’appareil photo, là, juste au dessus à droite
1. Le Voyage
Imaginez un nantais, un hollandais et cinq parisiens tous chez Nurgle un vendredi soir, minuit l’heure du crime, on prépare les sandwich et on baille tous en coeur… va-t-on arriver jusque là-bas? Mais quelle idée de faire une war en Suisse! Est-ce bien raisonnable de prendre la route? C’est loin. Mais retentit soudain notre cri de guerre: QFR Roulaize on va y arriver! Arrêt toutes les heures, vive les stations-services et leurs distributeurs de café, vive les autoradios qui marchent pas et les concours de celui-qui-s’endormira-pas en conduisant! Après 7 heures d’un voyage sans fin, en passant par les montagnes noyées dans le brouillard et la pluie, nous arrivons enfin au Hilton de Bâle (chic non?). Hop, garage, hop, déchargement des voitures, hop, retrouvailles avec les français déjà là, hop, montage des PC, hop, FRAG! Top départ chrono pour deux jours de folie et de frags à gogo.
2. Echauffement
On tâte le terrain, petites parties IPX entre français puis internationales pour se mettre en forme, visite au MacDonalds, plusieurs zbouars, test du nouveau pack QFR…. Doucement mais sûrement les QFR s’installent dans la place. SK-Goliath se présente, tiens les gars vous feriez pas un teamplay, mais oui bien sûr, paf on se fait écraser, bon si on allait déjeuner? Gloups, miam, burps (pardon) bon, là ça va mieux on peut retourner fragger et commencer les tournois.
Retour au Hilton. Cassage de nez. La porte de la salle sacrée de frag est fermée! Sommes-nous en retard et l’accès est-il interdit pour cause de début de concours? Horreur, enfer et damnation! Ha non, en fait, tout le monde est dehors. Mais que fabriquent-ils là dedans? Sont-ils en train de vider nos disques dûrs? Transforment-ils la salle pour le début des tournois? Bontanpis, on attend.
On attend. On attend… je ne sais plus quel copain Suisse m’a toujours dit “En Suisse tout va très lentement”…. il avait raison le bougre On attend La salle devait rouvrir à 14h30, il est bien bien plus tard, toujours rien. La foule se presse, se compresse autour de la porte désespérément close. Deux siècles plus tard, passés à refaire le monde assis dans les escaliers du Hilton, à prendre des photos de groupe (bientot ici pour vos yeux), à se demander s’il était vraiment nécessaire d’avoir fait le voyage jusqu’ici, à lire des bandes-dessinées, tout d’un coup, la foule massée-pressée se meut. Ca y est! Ils nous font rentrer (si on avait su qu’on poiroterait deux heures, on aurait fait une sieste tiens).
3. Le Frag
QFR a bien fraggé et est content d’être venu. Dans les quatre équipes QFR, les niveaux -très différents- ont tous trouvé chaussure à leur pied. On a pu faire du frag sportif, de l’easy frag, du frag tactique, du frag plaisir, du frag TF et CTF, du frag for fun, du frag Q2, du frag français et international, du frag, encore du frag, toujours du frag! Bon finalement on n’est pas venus pour rien, qu’est-ce qu’on peut fragger!!! Découverte de maps d’ici et d’ailleurs, on notera un bon point pour Basewalk et pour Dakyne. Le mode de frag est deathmatch 3, bof, bourrin à fond. Mais bon, en tant que SB, ça ne me gêne pas trop :o) et je fais du point:
4. Les Tournois
QFR a participé à tous les tournois et est arrivé dans toutes les finales! Déception, pas de tournoi de duels, et grosse déception pour Dream, pas de tournois Arena (quel monde cruel!). QFR a donc participé au reste, j’ai nommé tournoi clans 4vs4, tournoi TF et tournoi CTF. note de dernière minute: on me dit que le tournoi arena a eu lieu … la nuit. Hé les gars, on avait dit pas la nuit… Ici un clin d’oeil ;o) à Incubus qui a réussi à faire des poules équilibrées et rendant le jeu non seulement compétitif, mais aussi et surtout intéressant et amusant.
Epilogue
La Suisse c’est loin, la Suisse c’est lent, la Suisse c’est cher, ouais mais alors, en Suisse on s’amuse bien! Pour sa première sortie officielle en LAN, QFR a connu un succès hors toutes prévisions, sur tout plein de plans. Alors QFR est content et QFR refera ça quand vous voulez! Et Marie? Bin, Marie pareil :o) Un grand Bravo et un grand Merci à tous ceux qui de près ou de loin ont participé à l’organisation de l’événement, du côté Suisse, et du côté Français!
https://web.archive.org/web/19991002124859/http://www.multimania.com:80/sbmarie/quake/rapports/swisscon/index.htm
QuakeZone’s report of the Swisscon’97
Comments by w00nder on w00nder’s Zone: “21 décembre, la Swisscon97 c’est fini. Un s’est bien marré, on a mis une ambiance d’enfer (u want to fuck my cow ? ou Roesti Gibbers……FORTS-ET-VERTS [FOR-EVER]). Je remercie tous les organisateurs comme il se doit; mais passer plusieurs mois pour avoir une telle désorganisation là je pige ked. En effet la gestion des tournois était pitoyable, quand j’ai fait un résumé de la dernière qlp veveysanne et que je précisais que c’était censé être une répétition générale, je ne savais pas encore que la “release” serait presque pareille. Tout n’a pas été perdu, ça a permis une fois de plus de noué de nouveaux contacts et de rencontrer d’excellents joueurs. A ce propos d’aucuns des RG se sont plaints qu’on est tombé contre les meilleurs, que c’est de la triche, que le terrain était lourd etc mais faut dire qu’en s’entraînant à N4S on a que ce qu’on mérite et que de toute façon nous savions que nous n’allions pas gagner donc on y allait décontracté dans un esprit fun qui a l’air d’avoir été oublié…”
Comments by Lukio on QNews77: “SwissCon97 is over… SwissCon 97 has ended succesfully. There were great fights, superb players, everyone had fun and it was nice and loud ;-)). Expect a detailed SwissCon 97 page with photos and stuff in a short while. Till then cya and have a merry christmas and a happy new year… “
Comments by fleUbeU: SwissCon’97 was just great. There was some big gibbage all weekend long, and great fun ! Unfortunately, at the clans tournament, our clan, the Rösti Gibbers, had to fight against the three best clans in SwissCon, and probably in Europe: The QFR from France, the Schroet Kommando from Germany, and the Tulls, from Italy. Maybe you won’t believe it, but… we got eliminated ! Thanks again, Incubus, for the clans choices. :-) The tournament winner was the Schroet Kommando, at the second place QFR and at the third place the Tulls (if I’m not wrong). QFR1 was Blackat, Danold, Dream and Skill5, Schroet Kommando was Goliath, Griff, Kan3 and Sp33, and Tulls was Boom, Cic, Pdancer and X-man.
https://web.archive.org/web/19990222004331/http://www.quakezone.ch/lan-parties/swisscon97/swisscon97.htm
SwissCon ’97 List of Participants
SwissCon ’97 Technical informations
SwissCon’97 will have 15 dedicated Quake Server Machines with each processing at speeds of 200MHz (MMX) and using 64MB of EdoRam. The network will have a 100MBit/sec. Backbone, used by the Fujitsu Servers and a 100MBit/sec. 3Com SuperSack 2 1000 Switch. Between the Servers and the Switch will be 3 100MBit/sec. Planet Hubs. Between the Switch and the Quake Clients will be around 15 (depending the amount of players comming) 10 Mbit/sec Hubs. Therefore, the 100Mbit Switch will still provide more ports for players wanting to connect themselves directly to the Switch. The fact that theoretically eveybody can open it’s own Quake Server, we will offer the direct-to-switch connection for people wanting to open their own server if they want to use special patches or TC’s.
https://web.archive.org/web/19980614234008/http://www.swissquake.ch/swisscon97/sc_news.html
SwissCon ’97: Karte Und Ort
Soweit wird die SwissCon’97 im Hotel Hilton von Basel stattfinden. Bei genügend grosser Anfrage von erwünschten Schlafmöglichkeiten im Hilton werden mit dem Hotel vertragliche Abmachungen getroffen, um die Quakers mit den günstigten Preise Schlafmöglichkeiten anbieten zu können.
Sobald mehr Informationen betreffs dem Austragungsort reinkommen werden, werden wir diese hier posten, sowie eine Karte mit dem besten Ankunftsweg ab Autobahn zum Hotel Hilton abbilden lassen. Aenderungen betreffs dem Austragungsort bleiben vorbehalten.
https://web.archive.org/web/19980615000846/http://www.swissquake.ch:80/swisscon97/location_d.html
SwissCon ’97 Sponsors
https://web.archive.org/web/19990502102412/http://www.swissquake.ch/swisscon97/sponsors_e.html
-= fLeUbeU’s =- Cat: Quad Pix
Comment faire avaler une pastille à un chat:
1. Prenez le chat et placez-le délicatement dans votre bras gauche comme si c’était un bébé. A l’aide de l’index et du pouce de votre main gauche, appliquez une légère pression sur la mandibule de votre chat de manière à lui ouvrir la bouche. De votre main droite, déposez délicatement la pastille sur la langue du chat. Laissez votre ami(e) fermer la bouche et attendez qu’il avale le médicament.
2. Ramassez la pilule qui se trouve par terre et allez chercher votre chat qui s’est réfugie derrière le canapé du salon.
3. Repetez l’opération en tenant le chat entre vos bras.
4. Allez chercher le chat sous le lit de votre chambre à coucher et jetez à la poubelle la pastille pleine de bave. Prenez-en une nouvelle dans la boite.
5. Saisissez vous du chat, à l’aide d’un gant de cuisine maintenez-le fermement par les 4 pattes, sa tête entre vos genoux. Obligez-le à ouvrir sa gueule et enfoncez-lui la pilule dans le fond de la gorge. Maintenez sa gueule fermée pendant au moins dix secondes pour l’obliger à avalez le médicament.
6. Repechez la pastille dans l’aquarium et descendez ce stupide chat du haut de l’armoire sur laquelle il s’est réfugié. Appelez votre époux(se) pour qu’il vienne vous aider.
7. Agenouillez-vous et immobilisez la bestiole en l’emprisonnant entre vos genoux. Demandez à votre mari/femme de lui lever la tête et de lui ouvrir la bouche avec une règle en bois. Ignorez les miaulements et les couinements du chat. Frottez-lui vigoureusement la gorge avec la pastille (au chat, pas à votre époux(se).
8. Decrochez le chat du haut des rideaux et allez chercher une autre pastille. Prenez note d’aller acheter une nouvelle règle en bois ainsi que de changer les rideaux.
9. Choppez cette charogne de bête et enveloppez-le dans une serviette de bain de manière à ne laisser sortir que la tête. Demandez à votre époux(se) de le tenir et de lui ouvrir la bouche avec un Zippo. Placez une paille dans la bouche du chat, mettezune pastille dans la paille et soufflez violemment.
10. Consultez l’emballage du médicament pour le chat afin de savoir si il est nocif quand il est ingère par les humains. Buvez un verre d’eau pour faire passer le mauvais goût du médicament. Désinfectez les blessures de votre époux(se) et mettez-lui des pansements en vous excusant. Nettoyez avec de l’eau froide le sang qui se trouve sur la moquette.
11. Allez descendre le chat du toit. Prenez une autre pastille.
12. Enfermez cette saloperie d’animal dans le bahut du salon en ne laissant sortir que la tête. Demandez à votre marie/femme de s’asseoir sur le bahut. A l’aide de la ceinture en cuire du grand-père, ouvrez la bouche du chat. Avec un crayon à papier, enfoncez-lui dans la gorge un morceau de viande avec la pastille dedans.
13. Cherchez votre boite à outils et réparez les charnières du bahut du salon. Appelez les pompiers pour faire descendre votre chat de l’arbre d’en face tout en vous excusant auprès de votre voisin qui s’est enfermé chez lui pour échapper au chat furieux.
14. Avec des gants de jardinage et un casque de moto, ligotez les quatre pattes de cette putain de bestiole à un pied de la table de la cuisine. A l’aide des pinces de la cheminée, ouvrez la bouche du chat et jetez prudemment la pastille dans le fond de sa gorge. Videz immédiatement un litre d’eau de seltz dans la gorge du chat pour faire descendre la pastille.
15. Demandez à votre époux(se) de vous emmener aux urgences.
16. Laissez le docteur vous soigner les mains et les bras pendant que votre épouse vous enlève la pastille à l’oeil. En rentrant chez vous, arretez-vous pour acheter une nouvelle table de cuisine.
17. Chez vous, ouvrez la porte d’entrée pour laisser sortir le chat qui s’enfuira immédiatement. Appelez le magasin d’animaux et demandez s’il n’ont pas un hamster à vendre.
https://web.archive.org/web/20020722182900/http://www.fleubeu.ch/files/quad/quad.htm
Swiss Quake Clans | {
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“We’re not reinventing the wheel here,” said Little. “This is an existing, established system that works well in other parts of the United States.”
One of the committee members asked how it would work in Marion and if other surrounding cities and towns like Rutherfordton, Forest City and Spruce Pine could use it.
“It would bring people right into this building through those doors,” said Little of the Marion Depot.
People from other towns close by could come here to take the bus and then travel to where they could board a train, if they wish.
“It’s a very exciting thing to bring people in,” said Little. “It’s a magnificent boost to the economy for all of western North Carolina.”
The N.C. General Assembly is considering an appropriation of state money to operate the thruway bus service. But Gov. Roy Cooper did not include it in his budget, said Rapp.
Committee members said they will continue to advocate for this bus-rail service. Rapp said these depots were renovated years ago so that they could be used as passenger stations again and have since become community centers.
“There was a lot of wisdom with that investment,” he added. | {
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Teams of scientists have already found debris and levels of radiation far off the coast of Japan, one year after the nuclear disaster at Fukushima. Reports are now suggesting that nuclear radiation has traveled at a steady pace. That contaminated debris and marine life could reach the US coast as soon as one year from now, depending on ocean currents.
Radiation from Fukushima's nuclear disaster is appearing in concentrated levels in sea creatures and ocean water up to 186 miles off of the coast of Japan. The levels of radiation are 'hundreds to thousands of times higher than would be expected naturally' according to Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI). Researchers are questioning how the radioactive accumulation on the seafloor will effect the marine ecosystem in the future.
"What this means for the marine environment of the Northwest Pacific over the long term is something that we need to keep our eyes on," said the WHOI.
* * *
Fukushima Radiation Tracked Across Pacific Ocean (Live Science):
"We saw a telephone pole," study leader Ken Buesseler, a marine chemist and oceanographer at WHOI, told LiveScience. "There were lots of chemical plants. A lot of stuff got washed into the ocean." The Tohoku earthquake and tsunami of March 11, 2011, led to large releases of radioactive elements from the Fukushima Dai-ichi power plants into the Pacific Ocean. To find out how that radiation spread in the waters off Japan, in June researchers released "drifters" — small monitoring devices that move with the current and take measurements of the surrounding water. The drifters are tracked via GPS, showing the direction of currents over a period of about five months. Meanwhile, the team also took samples of zooplankton (tiny floating animals) and fish, measuring the concentration of radioactive cesium in the water. Small amounts of radioactive cesium-137, which takes about 30 years for half the material to decay (called its half-life), would be expected in the water, largely left over from atmospheric nuclear tests in the 1960s and the Chernobyl accident in 1986. But the expedition scientists found nearly equal parts of both cesium-137 and cesium-134, which has a half-life of only two years. Any "naturally" occurring cesium-134 would be long gone. [...] SCROLL TO CONTINUE WITH CONTENT Never Miss a Beat. Get our best delivered to your inbox.
The team also looked at the amounts of cesium isotopes in the local sea life, including zooplankton, copepods (tiny crustaceans), shrimp and fish. They found both cesium-137 and cesium-134 in the animals, sometimes at concentrations hundreds of times that of the surrounding water. Average radioactivity was about 10 to 15 Bq per kilogram, depending on whether it was zooplankton or fish (concentrations were lowest in the fish).
* * *
Sampling the Pacific for Signs of Fukushima (WHOI):
An international research team is reporting the results of a research cruise they organized to study the amount, spread, and impacts of radiation released into the ocean from the tsunami-crippled reactors in Fukushima, Japan. The group of 17 researchers and technicians from eight institutions spent 15 days at sea in June 2011 studying ocean currents, and sampling water and marine organisms up to the edge of the exclusion zone around the reactors. Led by Ken Buesseler, a senior scientist and marine chemist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), the team found that the concentration of several key radioactive substances, or radionuclides, were elevated but varied widely across the study area, reflecting the complex nature of the marine environment. In addition, although levels of radioactivity in marine life sampled during the cruise were well below levels of concern for humans and the organisms themselves, the researchers leave open the question of whether radioactive materials are accumulating on the seafloor sediments and, if so, whether these might pose a long-term threat to the marine ecosystem. The results appear in the online edition of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). "Our goal was to provide an independent assessment of what the Japanese were reporting and also to get further off shore to sample in places where we thought the currents would be carrying most of the radionuclides," said Buesseler. "We also wanted to provide as wide ranging a look as possible at potential impacts on the marine system to give a better idea of what was going on in the region, but also to provide a stronger baseline from which to measure future changes." [...] Another open question is why radiation levels in the waters around Fukushima have not decreased since the Japanese stopped emergency cooling operations. According to Buesseler, it may be an indication that the ground surrounding the reactors has become saturated with contaminated water that is slowly seeping out in to the ocean. It may also be a sign that radionuclides in ocean sediments have become remobilized. "What this means for the marine environment of the Northwest Pacific over the long term is something that we need to keep our eyes on," said Buesseler.
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First, a bit of housecleaning: I will be gone from April 19 through the 25th, which means no Q&A, On the Radar or weekend wrap-up columns from me next week. I assume I'll be missed. And you should assume that I'll be picking all home team wins during the days that I'm gone (Week 8, essentially), just as I picked all home team wins for Wednesday's slate. That was obviously the wrong call, as both Colorado and FC Dallas took full road points. Here's how my own, personal Pick 'Em looks for the year: Home teams went 4-1-5 last weekend and 1-2-0 on Wednesday, which means they've won 26 of 55 games so far. That puts them (and me) at 47.2% for the season.
I promised I would deviate from my typical pattern for this coming weekend and make some non-home team picks, but I just can't do it. It'll be all home team wins again, and yes, that will take us into May.
Onto this weekend's games:
Cosmik Debris
Much digital ink has been spilled on the plight of the LA Galaxy, who are actually in somewhat better circumstances record-wise than the current narrative seems to dictate. They're above the red line in the Western Conference with eight points from five games, they've done most of it without their Designated Players contributing a damn thing, and they've discovered a bit of youth and depth along the backline thanks to the play of unheralded Daniel Steres (legally changing his name to "Unheralded Daniel Steres" soon).
Everything's kinda sorta mostly all right heading into Friday night's show at Houston (7 pm ET; UniMás), even if they're certain to do so without Nigel De Jong and Robbie Keane, and possibly Steven Gerrard or Robbie Rogers.
The reason things are only "kinda all right" is because LA aren't generating chances. They're not producing the sort of underlying data that says they're likely to pull out of this current scoring slump, and it's not for lack of trying. Bruce Arena's experimented with personnel and lineups over the last few weeks, including trotting out a 4-2-3-1 in last weekend's 1-1 draw vs. the Timbers.
That put Giovani dos Santos in a central role as the No. 10, and he didn't do much with it:
Yuck. The slow recognition of opportunity is one thing, but the turnover -- which stranded half the Galaxy team -- is the type of thing that's often deadly. In the words of Mike Petke, "It's gotta be betta."
That's the bad news. The good news is that Sebastian Lletget was very, very good back in his natural spot on the wing, and LA spent most of the second half trying to play through him. So even if GDS has another disappointing showing, the Galaxy still have at least one guy who can get the ball into the box and make something good happen.
I'll also be watching: Owen Coyle's substitution patterns. The Dynamo have routinely taken late leads, subbed on an extra d-mid, lost control of the game, and then lost points.
UPDATE: Gio played his best game in Galaxy colors, leading LA to a 4-1 win behind two goals and an assist.
Central Scrutinizer
I have a constitutional predisposition against the term "CAM" or "central attacking midfielder." It's a new-ish term and its meaning is, on the face of it, pretty straight-forward: A central midfielder whose function is primarily to initiate or push into the attack. These guys are generally the No. 10s we talk about and revere.
The secondary meaning is that these are the guys who are in the heart of the lineup -- a left midfielder on one side, a right midfielder on the other. The term basically assumes a 4-1-3-2 or a 4-2-3-1 as the default formation, which is sloppy but acceptable enough.
The underlying implication is what spawns my gripe. For a lot of new-to-the-game folks, "CAM" means "guy who creates his chances from the central channel," and that's just not how the game is played. CAMs have to be smart and mobile, able to seek out both space and combination play anywhere in the attacking third. Most teams are built around this, and while other players are given specific roles the No. 10 is generally offered something close to true positional flexibility, with the idea being that said flexibility allows for true creativity.
To that end, you'll often find New England "CAM" Lee Nguyen operating down the left-hand side, either combining with overlapping left back Chris Tierney or facing up to goal himself with the ball on his stronger, right foot.
Not, however, last week:
That's a network passing graph created using Opta data from New England's 1-1 draw against TFC. The circles represent each player's aggregate position, while the thickness of the lines connecting players represent the volume of passes sent back and forth.
Nguyen is No. 24, and he's got a distinct rightward tilt going on here. He ended up having more touches in the right channel than he did in the central channel or his preferred inside-left position combined. So much for "CAM", right?
On Sunday when the Revs visit Orlando City (3:30 pm ET; ESPN), we'll see if this was a one-off or the start of a new trend for a team that's been struggling out of the gates so far in 2016.
I'll also be watching: How Brek Shea handles the above. He's been a good 1-v-1 defender in his limited time at left back thus far in his career, but can get roasted in combination play.
You Are What You Is
Want to know how FC Dallas are staying afloat -- actually doing more than that, to be fair -- without their best player, Mauro Diaz?
It's through defense. Rugged, dogged, relentless front-to-back defense that starts with forward Maximiliano Urruti, who's proving to be a steal early in his FCD career. He is a one-man high press when Dallas are on the front foot, and a box-to-box, touchline-to-touchline harassment machine when they're on the back foot.
This was from a few weeks back:
@MLSAnalyst Urruti's defensive map. I don't think I've seen something this impressive from a forward in a long time pic.twitter.com/whtaVPKfp6 — Scott Harkema (@the_sharkema) April 3, 2016
That's one of two goals created directly from Urruti's defensive pressure. Oscar Pareja has basically weaponized Urruti's commitment and incorporated it into the gameplan -- he is what he's always been, just better. That's immense on a tactical level, since it's allowed Dallas to get out in transition when, in past years, they've come to a full stop without Diaz.
And guess who they face on Sunday in Frisco (7 pm ET; FS1)? A Sporting KC team that just conceded two goals off of sloppy play from deep in the midfield.
Consider this a warning.
I'll also be watching: Sporting 'keeper Tim Melia. He's been one of the league's most consistent since winning a starting job midway through last year, but he can still struggle with the ball at his feet. Expect Dallas to try to hurry him into some bad distribution.
One more thing:
Stay on your toes out there, folks.
Happy weekending. | {
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A medical organization in the U.S. that dates back hundreds of years is embarking on a blockchain pilot.
The Medical Society of Delaware, first formed in 1776, has revealed it will build a proof-of-concept focusing on the pre-authorization process for care providers and medical insurers. By improving the efficiency of that step, the society said it hopes care can be delivered more quickly.
As a further benefit, the trial will also create a chain of patient records that can be accessed by insurers and medical care providers.
Partnering on the project is healthcare tech startup Medscient, which itself leverages technology developed by blockchain-focused startup Symbiont.
Andrew Dahlke, vice president of the Medical Society of Delaware, said in a statement:
“We are confident that this proof-of-concept will not only address this particular pain point, but will lay the groundwork for streamlining other healthcare administrative issues as well.”
Those involved with the project are due to make a presentation at the Medicaid Enterprise Systems Conference, to be held later this month in Baltimore, Maryland.
The news comes shortly after Delaware became the first U.S. state to pass a law allowing the use of blockchain to create and store business records, including stock ledgers – an effort that was first unveiled in 2016.
Medical files image via Shutterstock | {
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Although many people think that static magnet therapy and pulsed electromagnetic field (PEMF) therapy are one and the same, they are actually quite different. Static magnet therapy is an alternative healing practice, as is PEMF therapy. However, as the name suggests, static magnet therapy uses non-moving magnetic fields to induce healing, while PEMF therapy uses low frequency electromagnetic fields that move through space away from the source to penetrate deeply into the body. | {
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On a riverbank in Texas, a master of disguise waited patiently with his accomplice, hoping that his target, an infamous horse thief, would show himself on the trail. After four days, the hunch paid off, when the bandit unwittingly walked towards the man who haunted the outlaws of the Old West. Springing from the bushes, the cowboy confronted his frightened mark with a warrant. As the desperado reached for his weapon as a last ditch effort, the lawman shot him down before his gun could leave his side.
Though the quick-draw tale may sound like an adventure of the Lone Ranger, this was no fictional event. In fact, it was one of many feats of Bass Reeves, a legendary lawman of the Wild West—a man whose true adventures rivaled those of the outlaw-wrangling masked character. Reeves was a real-life African-American cowboy who one historian has proposed may have inspired the Lone Ranger.
In 1838—nearly a century before the Lone Ranger was introduced to the public—Bass Reeves was born a slave in the Arkansas household of William S. Reeves, who relocated to Paris, Texas, in 1846. It was in Texas, during the Civil War, that William made Bass accompany his son, George Reeves, to fight for the Confederacy.
While serving George, Bass escaped to Indian Territory under the cover of the night. The Indian Territory, known today as Oklahoma, was a region ruled by five Native American tribes—Cherokee, Seminole, Creek, Choctaw and Chickasaw—who were forced from their homelands due to the Indian Removal Act of 1830. While the community was governed through a system of tribal courts, the courts’ jurisdiction only extended to members of the five major tribes. That meant anyone who wasn’t part of those tribes—from escaped slaves to petty criminals—could only be pursued on a federal level within its boundaries. It was against the backdrop of the lawless Old West that Bass would earn his formidable reputation.
Upon arriving in the Indian Territory, Bass learned the landscape and the customs of the Seminole and Creek tribes, even learning to speak their languages. After the 13th Amendment was passed in 1865, abolishing slavery, Bass, now formally a free man, returned to Arkansas, where he married and went on to have 11 children.
Bass Reeves. (Credit: Public Domain)
After a decade of freedom, Bass returned to the Indian Territory when U.S. Marshal James Fagan recruited him to help rein in the criminals that plagued the land. Fagan, under the direction of federal judge Isaac C. Parker, brought in 200 deputy marshals to calm the growing chaos throughout the West. The deputy marshals were tasked with bringing in the countless thieves, murderers and fugitives who had overrun the expansive 75,000-square-mile territory. Able local shooters and trackers were sought out for the position, and Bass was one of the few African-Americans recruited.
Standing at 6 feet 2 inches, with proficient shooting skills from his time in the Civil War and his knowledge of the terrain and language, Bass was the perfect man for the challenge. Upon taking the job, he became the first black deputy U.S. marshal west of the Mississippi.
As deputy marshal, Bass is said to have arrested more than 3,000 people and killed 14 outlaws, all without sustaining a single gun wound, writes biographer Art T. Burton, who first asserted the theory that Bass had inspired the Lone Ranger in his 2006 book, Black Gun, Silver Star: The Life and Legend of Frontier Marshal Bass Reeves.
At the heart of Burton’s argument is that fact that over 32 years as a deputy marshal, Bass found himself in numerous stranger-than-fiction encounters. Also, many of the fugitives Bass arrested were sent to the Detroit House of Corrections, in the same city where the Lone Ranger would be introduced to the world on the radio station WXYZ on January 30, 1933.
A statue of U.S. Deputy Marshal Bass Reeves in Fort Smith, Arkansas. (Credit: Jeannie Nuss/AP Photo)
In addition to his wide-ranging repertoire of skills, Bass took a creative approach to his investigations, sometimes disguising himself or creating new backstories in order to get the jump on his targets. One such plot required Bass to walk nearly 30 miles dressed as a beggar on the run from authority. When he arrived at the home of his targets, two brothers, their mother invited Bass in and suggested that he stay the night. Bass accepted her offer, and the sons were in handcuffs before sunrise. After restraining the siblings in their sleep, Bass walked them the entire way back to his camp.
Much like his silver screen equivalent, Bass was fiercely dedicated to his position. Widely considered impossible to pay off or shake up, Bass demonstrated a moral compass that could put even Superman to shame. He even went so far as to arrest his own son, Bennie, for murdering his wife. In Bass’ obituary in the January 18, 1910, edition of The Daily Ardmoreite, it was reported that Bass had overheard a marshal suggesting that another deputy take on the case. Bass stepped in, quietly saying, “Give me the writ.” He arrested his son, who was sentenced to life in prison.
The legendary lawman was eventually removed from his position in 1907, when Oklahoma gained statehood. As an African-American, Bass was unable to continue in his position as deputy marshal under the new state laws. He died three years later, after being diagnosed with Bright’s disease, but the legend of his work in the Old West would live on.
Although there is no concrete evidence that the real legend inspired the creation of one of fiction’s most well-known cowboys, “Bass Reeves is the closest real person to resemble the fictional Lone Ranger on the American western frontier of the nineteenth century,” Burton writes in Black Gun, Silver Star.
However, Bass accomplished things that dwarf the triumphs of his fictional counterpart, in his journey from slave to one of the staunchest defenders of the very government that had failed to protect his freedom in the first place. And while the truth about the Lone Ranger may remain a mystery, the story of Bass Reeves remains an inspiration for real-life heroes to this day. | {
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[Bitcoin-segwit2x] Bitcoin Protocol Change Specifications
Introduction ---------------------- A familiar claim is that specifications for segwit2x do not exist, or segwit2x is "unspecified." This was false (link <https://lists.linuxfoundation.org/pipermail/bitcoin-dev/2017-July/014708.html>, link <https://github.com/btc1/specifications/commit/49191e2a90418c4e80096475e561842a5434ff95>) -- but it is a fair criticism that you have to google for them, and that shouldn't be the case. Specifications are also an issue in our wider community. To make it easier for both segwit2x and post-segwit2x development, there is a repository and simple process for Protocol Change Specifications (PCS) at https://github.com/btc1/specifications The process ------------------------- 1) Create a specification, stored as *drafts/PCS-$username-$featurename* format. 2) When code exists, is production ready and *may potentially activate*, move the specification to *PCS/PCS-$year-$number-$featurename* Engineers will be familiar with an IETF-like process. It is important for non-engineers to understand *creating a specification does not mean a change is accepted on the network - that's outside anybody's control*. The goal is to document what changes are live, or may go live. Current contents ------------------------------- The first few documents are the tx-size PCS and a clone of Sergio's segwit2x BIP into the PCS repo. 1) tx-size: tl;dr Goal is to state "tx limits don't change, even as block size increases" - tx limits are frozen for wallet compatibility. 2) segwit2x: Document SegWit + 2M multi-phase upgrade. This will also be where the replay protection proposal would be documented. Who is welcome? ---------------------------------- The wider community needs to open the innovative process to more developers. We would welcome and encourage Bitcoin and *Bitcoin-compatible* developers to contribute specifications: Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Litecoin, Zcash, Bitcoin-compatible Drivechain, etc. The current BIP process and the overall toxic environment do not create welcoming, pro-developer outcomes where we all work together to create the best technology possible. Let's change that. What are the goals? --------------------------------------- 1. Shared innovation: It is way too early in the crypto game for infighting, or innovation gatekeeping by a small clique. We need to be sharing innovations across teams and chains, working together, beta testing *with real money* on litecoin or bitcoin cash or a sidechain, then adding that feature to bitcoin more conservatively (or not at all, if RM testing shows flaws). This was the flight path of SegWit (litecoin RM testing first) and now block size increase (Bitcoin Cash RM testing first). The best way to share innovation is working together on common specifications and best practices across chains. "Way back" in 2010, many of us simply assumed that bitcoin governance and upgradability would allow bitcoin to rapidly digest the latest innovations such as zero-knowledge proofs. This has not happened. 2. Increase focus on specification - push back on "the code is the spec" mentality. Work towards a multi-implementation network. 3. Solution sharing. Sharing of bug fixes (vs. features, #1, above). Real world example - A performance problem in bitcoin-derived zcash, found & fixed by zcash team, can be backported to bitcoin and other bitcoin clones. Most of these codebases are derived from Bitcoin, and benefit from sharing fixes. -- Jeff Garzik CEO and Co Founder Bloq, Inc. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://lists.linuxfoundation.org/pipermail/bitcoin-segwit2x/attachments/20171009/286821ff/attachment.html> | {
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We always thought that if this blogging thing didn't work out we'd get a job in an air traffic control tower, but a 99 cent iPhone app has quickly relieved us of that notion.
Flight Control, an incredibly stressful cool air traffic control game developed by Australia's Firemint, has brought out the airplane geek in all of us. Some 700,000 Nick Falzone wannabes have downloaded the app since its release in March, and at one time or another it's been the number one paid download in a dozen countries. Not bad for a game Firemint CEO Rob Murray says took three weeks and $50,000 to develop.
"This has by far been the simplest game we've ever put out," he told the Sydney Morning Herald. "I believe that's brought in those people who haven't played games before."
Part of what makes Flight Control so much fun is that even an idiot can play - and you trolls can spare us your jokes. All you do is use your finger to drag planes across the screen to the proper runway without crashing into another plane.
Yes, it's just that simple. And it's damned addicting.
We won't tell you how many hours we've wasted playing this damn lovely game, but it's safe to say there's been a significant erosion in workplace productivity. One of us even forgot mom's birthday. We're gonna buy her a copy to make up for it.
Despite all those hours spent, we suck at this game. It's shameful, actually. We can't even get 100 planes landed without a crash. If you've been playing FlightControl for even a few days, you're probably better far better than we are.
But are you better than your fellow Autopians?
We want to know. If you've downloaded the game, give it your best shot and post a screenshot of your high score using the Reddit widget below. The highest score wins a prize if you include your e-mail address. Once again for those of you in the back row: If you don't tell us how to reach you, we can't give you a prize. And don't try any Photoshop tomfoolery, because we'll figure it out. Somehow.
We'll announce the top dog next Friday and pull something out of the ol' Autopia Prize Closet. It won't be an iPhone. Or a plane. But it will be something cool. We promise.
Screencaps by Dave Demerjian
**
OK, it's your turn. Post your high score...
** UPDATE, Saturday 1:30 pm * - We are having problems with the Reddit widget. For now, please email your screenshots to Dave (link at top of post). *
Submit a score
While you can submit as many scores as you want, you can only submit one every 30 minutes. No HTML allowed.
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In 1871 William Tecumseh Sherman, visited Texas to investigate complaints against Indians from the Fort Sill Reservation. The government had attempted to insure Indian containment by encircling the Indian Territory with a ring of defensive forts and allowing the Society of Friends to manage the Indian agencies, but neither approach had worked. Sherman left San Antonio on May 2, 1871, accompanied by Maj. Randolph B. Marcy, inspector-general of the army, two aides, and seventeen mounted black troopers of the Tenth Infantry. He traveled north through forts Concho, Griffin, and Belknap, and by May 17 reached Fort Richardson, the northernmost outpost on the Texas frontier. The party had seen no Indians, and Sherman was convinced that the Texans' reports were unjustified. On May 15 over a hundred Kiowas, Comanches, Kiowa-Apaches, Arapahoes, and Cheyennes from the Fort Sill Reservation crossed the Red River into Texas. Satank (Sitting Bear), Satanta (White Bear), Addo-etta (Big Tree), and Maman-ti (Skywalker) were the leaders. On May 16 the war party reached Flint Creek on the Salt Creek Prairie in Young County, eight miles east of Salt Creek and twenty miles west of Fort Richardson. The next day they allowed General Sherman's small column to pass unmolested not a half-mile from their hidden position. Indian informants later testified that Maman-ti's magic had predicted that an attack on the second group of whites to pass would be successful. Historians have speculated that the Indians recognized the first party as soldiers and decided to await a less well-armed prey. On May 18 the Indians attacked a wagon train belonging to a freighting contractor named Henry Warren traveling on the Butterfield Overland Mail route. They killed the wagon master and six teamsters and allowed three to escape. The Indians suffered one dead and five wounded. They immediately returned to the reservation. One of the escaped teamsters, Thomas Brazeal, reached Fort Richardson late that evening, where he told his story to Sherman and Col. Ranald Slidell Mackenzie, the post commander. Sherman ordered Mackenzie to pursue the Indians with three companies of his Fourth Cavalry. Sherman then traveled on to Fort Sill where, on May 27 he personally arrested Satank, Satanta, and Big Tree in a tense confrontation on the front porch of the Fort Sill commandant. Sherman ordered that the three prisoners be returned to Fort Richardson and tried for murder in the civil courts in nearby Jacksboro. On June 8, while being transported to Texas, Satank tried to escape and was killed. On July 5 and 6 Satanta and Big Tree were tried separately, found guilty, and sentenced to hang. This was the first time Indians had been tried in civil courts. Supporters of the Quaker peace policy convinced Governor Edmund J. Davis to commute the Indians' sentences to life imprisonment. Then in October 1873 they were paroled. The Warren Wagontrain raid was not the most destructive of Texas Indian raids, but none held more significance for the future of the Plains Indians. It caused General Sherman to change his opinion about conditions on the Texas frontier, which signaled the end for his own defensive policy and the Quaker peace policy as well. Sherman ordered soldiers to begin offensive operations against all Indians found off the reservation, a policy which culminated in the Red River War of 1874–75 and the cessation of Indian raids in North Texas. | {
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Forget cash, coffee is king.
The owner of an Old South cafe is offering one year’s worth of free java to anyone with information leading to the arrest of whoever broke into his Wortley Rd. business.
Sometime Thursday morning thieves ripped off the electrical panel to disable the alarm at Fire Roasted Coffee Company. After failing to pry the back door open, it was yanked from its frame, said owner Dave Cook.
The only thing stolen was a small cash-filled safe and a few beverages.
But it seems the intruders were more interested in the cafe’s craft beer selection than the wide offering of fair-trade coffees.
“They were comfortable enough that they sat down and had a couple of beers in there,” said Cook, who estimates his loss at around $3,000.
The break-in comes after police warned of a rash of burglaries in the Old South area, with 15 break-ins reported between Jan. 1 and Feb. 17. In most cases, suspects forced their way into homes and businesses through back doors or windows, police said.
“We have had crime prevention officers in the area,” said Const. Ken Steeves.
Cook said he hopes his caffeine reward — redeemable for in-store coffee or beans to take home — will make the neighbourhood safer.
“Some kind of crew is working the area,” he said. “It’s just going to keep going on and on if we don’t figure out who’s doing it.” | {
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Barna Research Group recently reported that evangelical Christians are less likely than most to have friends of other religious beliefs. A whopping 91 percent of evangelicals said that their current friends are “mostly similar” to them when it comes to religious beliefs. However, this statistic wasn’t broken down by age or generation, which is critical to understanding how American evangelicals are changing.
Pew Research found that the younger an evangelical is, the more progressive they will likely be on a number of issues. Public Religion Research Institute discovered that younger white evangelicals (ages 18-39) are far more likely to say that American Muslims are an important part of the religious community in the U.S., and that they are comfortable with public displays of Muslim culture and religious expression, than those ages 40 and up.
We launched our organization, Neighborly Faith, when we were graduate students at Wheaton College in 2015. We were there during the saga between Wheaton College administration and Dr. Larycia Hawkins, and when Wheaton students penned an open letter in the Washington Post, condemning Liberty University President Jerry Falwell Jr.’s inflammatory remarks about Muslims after the San Bernardino shootings. We saw a growing crop of evangelical college students who wanted to love their Muslim neighbors as themselves, but who were getting little guidance on how to do so from their elders.
Fortunately, in the last few years, we have discovered that there are in fact evangelical trailblazers who are modeling how to be a good neighbor to Muslims. Take Pastor Bob Roberts Jr., for example, who leads a Southern Baptist megachurch in Texas. For the last few years, he has devoted a significant portion of his time and energy to introducing evangelical pastors to Imams and encouraging them to build friendships.
We have also been inspired by the work of Fuller Theological Seminary professor Matthew Kaemingk, who has traveled to evangelical colleges across the U.S. to encourage a posture of hospitality toward Muslim immigrants. There are also 2018 books like Islam in North America:Loving Our Muslim Neighbors by Micah Fries and Keith Whitfield and The Dignity Revolution by Daniel Darling, each authored by evangelical thought leaders who are active in the lives of college students.
We saw a growing crop of evangelical college students who wanted to love their Muslim neighbors as themselves, but who were getting little guidance on how to do so from their elders.
As soon as we detected an urgency to love Muslims coming from both evangelical students and established leaders, we sensed that the time was right to launch a program that brought the two together. That’s why we are launching a fellowship program in 2019 for evangelical college students who are eager to be leaders in the public square that exhibit a Christ-like neighborly love toward Muslims. The program will provide them with mentorship from evangelical leaders, professional development opportunities, a fellows retreat, and up to $1500 to launch an initiative that brings Christians and Muslims together or addresses Islamophobia in some way.
What makes our approach unique is that we are interested in helping students cultivate a public faith that is winsome in a religiously plural society that includes Muslims, yet also a faith that remains rooted in traditional faith commitments and an evangelical church. It grieves us when we hear from young evangelicals who felt they had no other choice than to break away from their faith commitments and their church because their love for people of other faiths was deemed “liberal” or “dangerous.” We have seen firsthand in our own lives that we can be concerned and actionable about the integrity of our public witness while remaining unashamed theological conservatives. We know that other young evangelicals are eager to strike the balance as well.
Our inspiration for this work varies between us. Kevin’s father faced insults as a child for being part of a Jewish family, which caused him to be skeptical of religion for most of his life. Chris spent significant time in the Middle East in 2012, where he realized that the fear he had for Muslims growing up was irrational. Both of us have been inspired by the hospitality and generosity we have received from our Muslim friends, as well as the bad habits we have seen percolate in evangelical communities when it comes to our approach to other faiths.
While there have been temptations to back out of our tradition, we are committed to leaning in. This is partly because of the promise of young evangelicals, who are poised to bring a fresh face to the public square. We are confident that investing in this work will produce a bountiful return for the evangelical community and the common good. | {
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 25/1/2018 (969 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
Everyone knows a fire truck can block traffic anywhere anytime to fight a fire or respond to any kind of emergency call.
However, Winnipeg firefighters can apparently also pull up in a no-stopping zone on a busy thoroughfare and tie up traffic to pick up pizza.
And in the case observed by a Free Press reporter, it all played out half a block away from the fire station in the heart of Osborne Village on Friday night.
Despite the traffic delays and raising questions about the appropriateness of using a large fire truck for a pizza run, no rules were broken by the firefighters, says Michelle Finley, a spokeswoman for the Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service.
"We have determined that the crew followed policy," she said, when asked by the Free Press this week for an explanation.
Returning to Fire Paramedic Station No. 4 from a call, firefighters ordered several pizzas from nearby A Little Pizza Heaven, she said. However, the order wasn't ready when they arrived. So the fire truck remained parked outside, blocking one lane of northbound traffic for several minutes in a no-stop zone.
The rescue vehicle eventually pulled away to the station half a block away, leaving two firefighters in the restaurant to await the order. The truck could be seen a few minutes later backing into the station.
A short time later, the same vehicle was back in front of the pizza restaurant, but this time it didn't stay long. It picked up the two firefighters who were waiting inside, but hadn't yet received the pizza, and whisked them off to what the Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service later said was a non-urgent medical call.
At the same time as it picked up the two firefighters, the fire-rescue vehicle dropped off at the restaurant two different firefighters who are assigned to No. 4 station's fire engine. Those two later emerged with several large pizzas, which they carried back to the station on foot.
"It's not uncommon for them to pick up food using WFPS apparatus while on duty," Finley said, adding first responders never know when their meal breaks will occur, and staff are not permitted to use their own vehicles while working. While firefighters are allowed to use WFPS vehicles while on duty to purchase food and other supplies, they must be ready at all times to respond to a call, the city says.
In this case, the two rescue vehicle firefighters who had been separated from their crew remained in radio contact with the fire paramedic station, as did the two fire engine firefighters who replaced them at the pizza place, Finley said.
Alex Forrest, president of the local firefighters union, said crews always remain together while on duty so they can respond to a call. They would only have allowed themselves to be separated in this case because they were so close to the fire hall, he said.
Forrest said it is common for fire crews to stop for food or groceries while on duty, but unlike other city workers they will interrupt a meal — or a shopping trip — at a moment's notice to respond to a call.
"Their shift starts at 6 o’clock, they plan supper for 8 or 9 o’clock and the crews (often) don’t eat until 4 in the morning. That’s just the nature of firefighting," Forrest said.
He said when out shopping, it's typical for two firefighters to remain with the truck and park it in a place where it is not blocking traffic.
The city does not cover costs for food and beverages consumed in fire paramedic stations, Finley said.
[email protected] | {
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Greek and Muslim Automata: Influence of Greek Knowledge in Medieval Islamic Science
By Michela Cigola
Proceedings: 2nd International Conference on Ancient Greek Technology (Athens, 2006)
Abstract: Aim of this work is to delineate the history of automatas from antiquity to Middle Ages, focusing the attention on two authors: al Jazari and Heron of Alexandria. The development of the work will be carried out by the analysis of drawings from ancient texts.
Introduction: Construction of the first automaton, a flying dove, can be attributed to Architas of Tarantum (a pupil of Pythagoras, mathematician an musician, 5th century BC) but it an be presumed that mechanical devices were used much earlier to give an ‘illusion’ of life to men and animals during religious ceremonies and in theatrical performances with the deus ex machina. We find documentary evidence of the established presence of mechanisms and automata in Greek antiquity in various authors, including Aristotle.
Click here to read this article from the University of Cassino | {
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Want to get a new Nissan Juke? Well you’d better act fast, at least if you live in the United States. Because the latest word has it that the Japanese automaker is dropping the divisively styled little crossover from its lineup.
As Autonews points out, the Juke never really caught on in the US, and sales have been dropping off even further.
Following its introduction in 2010, sales of the Juke in the US exceeded 35,000 in its first full year, and continued to climb past 38,000 per year in 2013 and 2014. But then they started falling: to 27,000 in 2015, less than 20,000 in 2016, and just over 10,000 last year. Last month Nissan sold just 41 Jukes in the US, compared to nearly 900 in the same month last year, and over 2,500 in June of the previous three years.
With its appeal (such as it was) fading away and its place effectively taken by the more conventionally styled Kicks crossover, the reported decision comes as little surprise. But it doesn’t spell the end of the model altogether.
Just two weeks ago, Nissan announced it had built its millionth Juke at its Sunderland factory in the UK, supplying a European market where the model continues to sell well. Last year it sold some 95,000 Jukes in Europe – nearly three times as many as its best results in the US, and close to ten times as many as it sold here last year.
Don’t mistake the Juke’s discontinuation in the US market for a withdrawal from crossovers on Nissan’s part altogether, even (or especially) in the US. Last month, it sold over 37,000 Rogues in America, making it far and away Nissan’s top-selling nameplate here. | {
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Seventy five years ago today, the offensive that led to Nazi Germany’s greatest defeat of the Second World War was unleashed. Deploying 2 million bayonets and nearly 6,000 armored vehicles, it wiped some 28 divisions from the Nazi order of battle, granting the victors the positions from which the invasion of Germany itself could be launched months later.
Yet in the Western world, few people have ever heard of “Operation Bagration.”
The Soviet operation – named after a czarist Russian general – covered 720 kilometers, swept the German Army from Byelorussia, and surged to the gates of Warsaw. To the Germans, it was known starkly as “The Destruction of Army Group Center” – its central military grouping on the territory of the USSR. A quarter of German troops on the Eastern Front were lost in just five weeks.
One reason it is largely unknown in the West is timing.
In coordination with the Western Allies, Soviet dictator Josef Stalin launched Operation Bagration 16 days after “Operation Overlord,” the D-Day invasion, which landed 150,000 men, meaning the offensive unfolded at a time when eyes in the UK and US were focused on the intense fighting raging across Normandy. For Stalin, June 22 had immense symbolic value: That was the day, three years prior, when Axis forces had invaded the Soviet Union.
But there is another, broader, reason Bagration is unknown. To this day, much of the Western public is ignorant about the geographic scale of World War II and the differing contributions made by the main combatants – most critically, the role played by the Soviet Union.
Russia ignored, Putin snubbed
Glancing at international news headlines today, there is virtually no mention of the anniversary of Bagration. Compare and contrast with the wall-to-wall global media coverage that accompanied the 75th D-Day commemorations in the first week of this month.
During those events – held in both the UK and France – the global media spotlights fell on US President Donald Trump, French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Theresa May, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and even German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Strikingly absent was Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Of course, Russian troops did not hit the beaches in Operation Overlord in 1944. But during D-Day’s 70th anniversary, Putin had joined US president Barack Obama and the UK’s Queen Elizabeth II in Normandy to celebrate the achievement of all the Allies who wiped Nazism’s murderous scourge from the earth.
But this year, with Russia and the West increasingly at odds, Putin was not invited. The man himself took it on the chin. “As to whether I was invited or not, we also do not invite everyone to every event,” Putin said at the time. “Why do I have to be invited everywhere to some event? Am I a wedding general, or what? I have enough of my own business. This is not a problem at all.”
Some subordinates, however, gave voice to to long-standing Russian grievances.
“The Normandy landings were not a game-changer for the outcome of World War II and the ‘Great Patriotic War,’” said Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova – using the Soviet-era term for the conflict. “The outcome was determined by the Red Army’s victories – mainly, in Stalingrad and Kursk. For three years, the UK and then the US dragged out opening the Second Front.”
Coming from an official spokeswoman, that sounds close to an official position. How firm a foundation is this position built on?
The Eastern Front
While breathless Western media hailed D-Day as a “turning point” in World War II, there had been multiple critical pivots on Soviet soil prior to June 6, 1944.
The exhausted Wehrmacht’s inability to capture Moscow in the face of dogged Soviet resistance in winter 1941 may have sealed Adolf Hitler’s eventual fate. By failing to knock out the USSR, Germany was consigned to a long war she could not win, given the vast manpower and industrial resources deployed against her.
The following winter, the annihilation of the starving German Sixth Army in the frosted rubble of Stalingrad was a trauma from which the German public never recovered. German forces, however, did. At Kharkov in early 1943, well-handled Panzers smashed Red Army units charging westward after Stalingrad. Reinforced, in summer 1943, German forces launched a seismic armored offensive at Kursk.
The failure of that operation, widely considered the biggest armored clash in history, was the real turning point. From that point on – 11 months before D-Day – the Wehrmacht would be on the retreat.
In summer 1944, Bagration swept German troops from Soviet territory and granted the Red Army an assault balcony across the waist of the European continent from which to strike Germany proper. In the final months of the war, it was the Red Army that wrested Eastern Europe from Hitler’s control and the SS extermination camps. (Which, contrary to popular belief, were exclusively in the East – though Western troops would, indeed, liberate numerous concentration camps.)
The final Nazi Gotterdammerung was the Red Army’s doing. Having halted the Wehrmacht’s last, desperate counteroffensive around the Hungarian oil fields in spring 1945, Soviet troops stormed Berlin and drove Hitler to suicide.
So, should the Western Allies’ contributions be dismissed?
The aerial, maritime and Western fronts
No. Hitler’s first serious setback was the Battle of Britain in 1940: Without air cover, he could not launch a cross-Channel invasion. That compelled him to fight the rest of World War II with an enemy at his back.
Subsequently, the ceiling of fortress Europe was smashed by the Western Allies’ bomber offensive. That had collateral impact on the Eastern Front, as the Luftwaffe – whose close-air support had been crucial in early German victories – was pulled back to defend the Reich. Likewise, the 88mm gun, Hitler’s finest anti-aircraft gun – but which was also used as a tank-mounted gun and anti-tank weapon – was increasingly mobilized to defend German skies, rather than to wreck Russian tanks.
At sea, the defeat of Germany’s navy – its heavy units and its U-boat arm – was largely a British achievement. Meanwhile, the massive supply of equipment, notably a fleet of trucks and jeeps, was a hugely important gift from the US to the USSR that made the Red Army more mobile than the Wehrmacht.
And there can be no question that the Allies did, indeed, contribute on land.
The first German ground defeat was El Alamein, and the fall of Tunisia netted 100,000 more German POWs than Stalingrad. Subsequently, the invasion of Sicily compelled Hitler to call off the Kursk operation. And twice in 1944, in Normandy and the Ardennes (“The Battle of the Bulge”), Hitler deployed his favored “fire brigade” units – the top-tier Waffen SS Panzer corps – in the west, not east.
Moreover – until the final week of the war – Moscow was fighting on only one front, while London and Washington were simultaneously battling Tokyo’s forces in the Far East.
Hollywood’s victory, history’s defeat, politics’ loss
Still, the numbers tell their own story. Germany was a continental power, and two-thirds of Berlin’s ground forces were deployed against the Red Army. Between 65% and 80% (sources differ) of total German casualties were incurred on the Eastern Front.
For the Soviet Union, the price of victory was colossal. The western USSR was laid waste, and as many as 27 million Soviets perished. As historians have pointed out, it is highly unlikely that the Western Allies would have been able to take on so much of the fighting burden, and endure such hideous cost, without governments collapsing. It took a dictator – Stalin – to defeat another dictator – Hitler.
Why is the massive Soviet contribution to victory not better known in the Western world?
The blame for ignorance of the Soviet role in World War II can be laid at the doors of mass media – most particularly, Hollywood. The world’s mightiest soft-power arsenal has portrayed World War II as largely an American achievement.
Still, such bias is understandable. Films are entertainment, not history, and US films are produced, primarily, for the US market. More problematically, entertainment overshadows historiography in the public mind – and in every country’s schools, history encompasses national biases.
But while the general public may be uninformed, the specialist is not, for Western history professionals have nothing to be ashamed of. Military historians, such as best-selling Britons Max Hastings and Antony Beevor, have never underplayed the Soviet role; indeed, their works offer generous credit.
That leaves politics.
D-Day is monumentally iconic in Western remembrance of World War II. The celebrations this month will be the largest memorial events until next year’s commemorations of the 75th anniversary of final victory in 1945. After that, living memories of World War II will be extinguished.
With Russia’s president the obvious heir to the Soviet presidency, it seems churlish for Western leaders not to have invited the representative of the nation that both suffered and inflicted the greatest casualties in the war, to the events on June 6.
The politics of today should not besmirch the achievements of yesterday. With so much dividing East from West in the present, it seems a missed opportunity not to have jointly celebrated the just struggle of a shared past. | {
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Director Woody Allen at the premiere Magic in the Moonlight in New York City in 2014. (Lucas Jackson/Reuters)
In his recently published memoir, Woody Allen writes:
I’ve taken some criticism over the years that I didn’t use African-Americans in my movies. And while affirmative action can be a fine solution in many instances, it does not work when it comes to casting. I always cast the person who fits the part most believably in my mind’s eye.
He’s strictly meritocratic, in other words. As he has said elsewhere: “I cast only what’s right for the part. Race, friendship means nothing to me except who is right for the part.”
In light of Mr. Allen’s insistence that, nonetheless, “affirmative action can be a fine solution in many instances,” here is today’s multiple-choice question:
For which of the following positions is it least important to select the person who will do the best job? (a) Medical personnel during a coronavirus pandemic; (b) Policemen, firefighters, schoolteachers, and other public employment in which a lack of “diversity” is a frequent complaint; (c) A position in your company that will affect its success and your paycheck; (d) A job for which you are the most qualified and for which you have applied; or (e) A minor role in a pretentious art-house movie that no one will see. | {
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Just last week I had to school a new programmer...he was animating some graphics, and had set up four booleans to represent of four each animation states...he didn't even realize he was implementing a state machine, much less doing it badly. Lots of logic that really only needed to be an increment to four then reset to one.
It is less likely to happen with high level languages, but with PLCs I have seen this botched several times at different companies and had to clean it up. It has become among the first things I look for when brought in to salvage a project.
State Machines:
In the embedded world, and especially PLC based controls, there is a common need to sequence a series of operations, or to have the system switch between some number of "states" (Standy, accepting input, running process, waiting for heater to come up to temp, etc. etc.) This is so common that it has a name "state machine".
The main thing that all state machines have in common is that the system is only in one of the states at any given time. It moves between states (the order can change, states can be skipped, etc) depending on various conditions like timers, inputs, error conditions, etc.
Example: A washing machine has several states:
-Stopped
-Filling
-Draining
-Hi-speed agitation
-Low-speed agitation
-Spin
A Wash cycle involves Filling->Agitation->Draining->Spin->Filling(rinse)->Agitation...etc.
The machine moves from Stopped to filling based on user input, then moves from filling to agitation based on water level, and between other states based on time...and may jump from spin to stop if an unbalanced load is detected. Several cycles may be programmed each with it's own sequence of states.
To low experience programmers (especially with PLCs) it makes perfect sense to assign a boolean variable (tag in PLC speak) to represent each state. As each state completes, it clears it's own flag, and sets the flag to activate the next state.
DO NOT _EVER_ USE BOOLEANS TO INDICATE EACH STATE! It may work fine when you first program it, but if code has much service life at all, eventually you or a successor will make changes that will result in:
A) Two or more states being active at the same time...because only booleans indicate the state, there is nothing stopping any number of them from being true. Remember, if it is a state machine, only ONE state can be valid at a time.
B) All of the booleans get cleared, and now you are in NO state, with no way to know where you were, and no way to get to what should have been the next state.
Either of the above problems leaves no evidence of how it got into this mess, and if it only happens occasionally it is very difficult to troubleshoot.
The Fix:
1) Use ONE integer variable to select the state. (I'd call it iCycleState for the washing machine example above) This is fairly natural in high level languages that have CASE or SWITCH statements, because these make the whole state machine one very tidy block of code. If the language is lacking CASE/SWITCH, then just use multiple IFs (or Compare= contacts in ladder logic)...just group them all together though!
3) When you first write the code, don't number the the states 1,2,3 etc. Number them 10,20,30... or even 100, 200, 300... Because sure as anything, you will need to add some states later, and this will give you a place to insert them into the natural sequencing of the system instead of tacking them on at the end where they don't really belong. In some cases there are natural "sub states" In that case I'll use the 100, 200,300 scheme for the main states and the tens position for the sub states.
You can move between states in two ways:
-Assign a new value to iCycleState
-Increment iCycleState to reach next state. This tends to break when you add in new states, so don't do this...it only really works for state machines that do a fixed sequence of steps, but the general case is skipping between various states, backing up, etc.
Regardless, this guarantees that only only one state can be active at a time. It automatically turns off the current state when a new state is selected. It gives you one variable to monitor the status of the state machine, either via output or online debugging.
In high level languages, use a Default/Otherwise/Else on your Switch/Case statement. In other languages make sure you at least detect too high and too low invalid states... At some point you or someone else may delete a state and something will try to enter it.
This is mainly an issue with PLCs and machines running a RTOS. Standard computers tend to execute things sequentially, so performing a sequence of steps is their forte. | {
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The idea of Star Wars was simply to make a "real gee-whiz movie." It would be a high adventure film for children, a pleasure film which would be a logical end to the road down which Coppola had directed his apparently cold, remote associate. As Graffiti went out around the country, Lucas refined his ideas. He toyed with remaking the great Flash Gordon serials, with Dale Arden in peril and the evil Emperor Ming; but the owners of the rights wanted a high price and overstringent controls on how their characters were used. Instead, Lucas began to research. "I researched kids' movies," he says, "and how they work and how myths work; and I looked very carefully at the elements of films within that fairy-tale genre which made them successful." Some of his conclusions were almost fanciful. "I found that myth always took place over the hill, in some exotic, far-off land. For the Greeks, it was Ulysses going off into the unknown. For Victorian England it was India or North Africa or treasure islands. For America it was Out West. There had to be strange savages and bizarre things in an exotic land. Now the last of that mythology died out in the mid-1950s, with the last of the men who knew the Old West. The last 'over the hill' is space."
Other conclusions were more practical. "The title Star Wars was an insurance policy. The studio didn't see it that way; they thought science fiction was a very bad genre, that women didn't like it, although they did no market research on that until after the film was finished. But we calculated that there are something like $8 million worth of science fiction freaks in the USA, and they will go to see absolutely anything with a title like Star Wars." Beyond that audience, Lucas was firm that the general public should be encouraged to see the film not as esoteric science fiction but as a space fantasy.
The final plot line was concocted after four drafts, in which different heroes in different ages had soared through space to worlds even wilder than those that finally appeared. It was a calculated blend. "I put in all the elements that said this was going to be a hit," Lucas says. He even put a value on them. "With Star Wars I reckoned we should do $16 million domestic"—that is, the distributors' share in the United States and Canada would amount to $16 million—"and, if the film caught right, maybe $25 million. The chances were a zillion to one of it going further." Wall Street investment analysts, even after the film had opened, shared his doubts. They felt it could never match Jaws.
Both makers and analysts were wrong. Star Wars was a "sleeper," a film whose vast success was in doubt until after it had been open for a while. Meanwhile, Lucas and Kurtz had to do battle over budgets. The original sums were so tight that Kurtz told the board at Fox, "This will only work if everything goes perfectly. And it very rarely does." During shooting, the designer of monsters fell sick, his work for the sequence in a space tavern incomplete. The sequence did not work in its original form, but the studio would allow only $20,000 more to restage and reshoot the scene.
Compared with 2001 (Lucas calls Kubrick's film "the ultimate science fiction movie"), the special effects in Star Wars were cheap. Where Kubrick could allow his space stations to circle elegantly for a minute, Lucas had to cut swiftly between individual effects. But that became part of the film's design. Where Kubrick's camera was static, Lucas and Kurtz encouraged their special-effects team to develop ways to present a dogfight in space with the same realism as any documentary about World War II. As usual in animation, they prepared storyboards, precise drawings of how each frame was to look; but, unlike most animation, their drawings were based on meticulous study of real war footage. They looked for the elements that made an audience believe what they were seeing. For Lucas, it was a return to his original interests at USC-the basics of film, recreated with models, superimposition, paintings, and animation. "We used a lot of documentary footage," Kurtz says, "and some feature film footage. We looked at every war movie ever made that had air-to-air combat-from The Blue Max to The Battle of Britain. We even looked at film from Vietnam. We were looking for the reason each shot worked, the slight roll of the wings that made it look real." | {
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NEW YORK (IFR) - Jared Kushner has divested his equity interest in 666 Fifth Avenue, a 39-story office and retail building on Manhattan’s famed shopping area, according to a spokesperson at Kushner Companies.
Jared Kushner, senior advisor to President-elect Donald Trump arrives for the Presidential Inauguration of Trump at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., U.S., January 20, 2017. REUTERS/Saul Loeb/Pool
Kushner said he would step down as CEO of Kushner Companies, a family owned real estate company, and begin to divest himself of substantial assets after he was made a senior White House advisor to US President Donald Trump, his father-in-law.
“Mr. Kushner divested his equity interest in 666 Fifth Avenue, and has no role in the management or operations of the property,” a Kushner Companies spokesperson said in an emailed statement to IFR.
“Mr. Kushner’s ownership interests were sold using a third-party appraisal for fair market value to a family trust, of which he is not a beneficiary,” the spokesperson said.
Neither Ivanka Trump nor her and Kushner’s children are beneficiaries to the family trust, the spokesperson also confirmed.
When asked by IFR, Kushner Companies declined to give any detail about the sale price of the equity stake and declined to discuss any aspect of the outstanding debt on the property.
Kushner bought the property for US$1.8bn in 2007 - the highest price ever paid for a single office building sale in the United States at the time, according to Kroll Bond Rating Agency - but it was last valued well below that level.
The last appraisal, completed in 2011 as part of a debt restructuring, valued the building at just US$820m. Kroll, which said the building was 20% vacant as of July 2016, valued the property at US$982.1m.
Kushner and his partners in 666 Fifth took out US$1.2bn of senior debt to buy the property, which was later packaged and sold into three CMBS deals.
It is not clear what the divestiture means for the debt on the property.
The senior debt was restructured in 2011 and extended to February 2019. As part of the restructuring, Kushner brought in Vornado Realty as a partner.
A call and email to Vornado was not immediately returned. | {
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Costatare appena la dimensione del disastro è costatare l’ovvio. È limitarsi allo sconforto. Iniziamo quindi dalla fine. L’organizzazione di un campo di resistenza democratica ha come condizione primaria non solo riconoscere le minacce, ma anche l’ambivalenza del risultato elettorale. In particolare, è necessario apprendere il rifiuto a conferire una quinta vittoria al PT e a Lula. Questo rifiuto indica che la sfida è stare nel campo delle lotte democratiche al di là del petismo. L’incapacità di affermare questo campo di lotta dissociato dal PT e in grado di emergere come alternativa democratica alla candidatura di Bolsonaro, è stato ciò che ha portato l’antipetismo a raccogliersi a destra dello spettro politico-partitario. Un nuovo tipo di destra, permeata di elementi di estrema destra, è fermentata negli ultimi quattro anni. Il successo dell’antipetismo non è solo elettorale. L’eterogeneità dell’antipetismo ha trovato nella figura di Jair Bolsonaro il rappresentante di un movimento davvero capace di sconfiggere il PT e con enorme forza nella società brasiliana. Di fronte a questa costatazione, è inutile condannare questo movimento sperando che svanisca con la forza dell’argomentazione razionale e morale. Piuttosto, dobbiamo capire come è diventato maggioritario negli ultimi anni, come funziona, cosa gli dà vitalità e come lottare per sviarlo dalle sue caratteristiche autoritarie.
Abbiamo quindi due compiti complementari: 1. Cogliere le resistenze diffuse, evitando i tentativi di mistificarle attraverso caricature pseudo-eroiche inserite al posto delle lotte. 2. Produrre una riflessione accurata sulla sconfitta di praticamente ogni tentativo di costruire una potente terza via. La resistenza che ci manca deve stare in un altro luogo, in un terzo margine che solo le lotte e le politiche per un nuovo quadro di protezione sociale possono costituire.
Dopo di me, il diluvio. Intravedere e creare possibilità di resistenza passa attraverso l’analisi critica degli ultimi anni. Paradossalmente, è stato il successo della strategia petista in questo periodo che ci ha portato all’abisso. Il nefasto risultato elettorale è l’esito del periodo iniziato nel 2014, dopo la pacificazione della rivolta di giugno 2013. Negli ultimi 5 anni, gran parte del campo di sinistra ha rifiutato di criticare il PT ed è rimasto nel conforto apparente delle soluzioni offerte dal lulismo. Lula e il PT hanno così montato una sistematica politica di ricatto. La difesa del PT non era più un’opzione, ma un obbligo politico, morale e di civiltà. Questa strategia è organizzata a partire da un doppio dispositivo: da un lato, sono rese impraticabili tutte le forze alternative al lulismo; dall’altro, il peggio è incessantemente prodotto, in un peggioramento senza fine. Inizialmente, l’operazione è stata pacificare l’attivismo che ha occupato le fessure della rivolta di giugno 2013. Se il colore giallo-verde divenne obbligatorio durante il Mondiale (luglio 2014), dall’anno successivo sarebbe diventato immorale: lo stigma di “coxinha” (reazionario, ndt) affibiato a tutti i contestatori del “buon governo del PT”. E grazie al marketing basato su fake news dell’ottobre 2014, la candidatura di Marina Silva è stata distrutta perché rappresentava un’alternativa, e si è imposto Aécio Neves come candidato ideale a cui opporsi. In seguito, l’operazione è stata trasformare il losco teatro dell’impeachment in “golpe”. Dopo la diluizione della mobilitazione critica in un opportuno e strumentale frentismo di rifondazione (Frente Brasil Popular, Frente Povo Sem Medo, sempre con Lula a capo) e l’accompagnamento condiscendente dell’emergere di candidature che avrebbero dovuto “unificare” la sinistra, Lula e il PT hanno fatto cadere l’unica che aveva la possibilità di avere un peso elettorale: Ciro Gomes. Alle elezioni del 2014 era obbligatorio votare, anche sotto la buona coscienza del voto critico, contro il “ritorno del neoliberalismo”. Durante l’impeachment del 2016, la mobilitazione è passata a essere contro niente di meno che un golpe. Nel 2018, il voto obbligatorio nel PT è diventato un voto per “la civiltà contro la barbarie”. Questo meccanismo irresponsabile ha permesso che l’urgente critica al PT fosse sempre rimandata dalle “urgenze” che il proprio PT produceva in serie. Non è mai “il momento di criticare il PT”.
Finché non è arrivato il lupo. Di truffa in truffa, la sinistra stava relativizzando la corruzione, gestendo cinicamente notizie false e considerando normale allearsi a candidati “golpisti” (come Eunício Oliveira e Renan Calheiros) per conquistare voti nelle terre aride del nord-est e “conquistare” così la quinta elezione nazionale di fila (senza nemmeno un’alleanza o una coalizione). Questa volta, il lulismo si è visto di fronte al riflesso di sé stesso. Non la trasparenza disarmata di Marina Silva, né la furbizia malandrina di Aécio Neves, ma un movimento reale, capace di dare voce al rifiuto popolare del PT e di mobilitare efficacemente lo stesso volume di distorsioni: l’incantesimo si è rivolto contro lo stregone. Per non essere accusato per gli errori e i crimini, il PT ha continuamente denunciato l’arrivo del lupo. Alla fine il lupo è arrivato e la maggioranza ha scelto il lupo stesso: per la maggior parte degli elettori, Haddad e il PT non sembravano nemmeno una vera alternativa di fronte a un avversario spaventoso. La novità che sembrava essere stata esorcizzata nel 2013, è riemersa e si è imposta. Tuttavia, non è il PT che corre il rischio di essere divorato dal lupo, ma la moltitudine di poveri e minoranze, a cominciare dal nord-est che è rimasto fedele al PT.
Dal mondo delle lotte alla lotta dei mondi: le guerre culturali. L’auto-vittimizzazione che permette al PT di “giudicare gli altri e non essere giudicato” ha un’altra conseguenza: la mobilitazione in difesa della “Vittima” fatta da un gran numero di intellettuali progressisti (professori, agenti culturali, artisti) da una prospettiva distorta: non sono più le lotte a comprendere il mondo, ma è la prospettiva del PT che definisce le lotte. Questa inversione falsifica la materialità delle lotte in guerre culturali che la nuova estrema destra ha dimostrato di saper condurre meglio di chiunque altro. Da questa prospettiva, l’introduzione della politica delle quote per neri e poveri nelle università pubbliche ha cessato di essere il prodotto del movimento autonomo degli esami di ammissione pre-universitari ed è diventata una gentile concessione del lulismo; il programma Bolsa Família ha smesso di essere considerato l’embrione del riconoscimento della potenza produttiva e soggettiva della moltitudine dei poveri ed è diventato un debito infinito che i poveri avrebbero con il paternalismo di Lula; il finanziamento dei punti di cultura nemmeno ha cessato di essere compreso come una rottura del clientelismo che consente il riconoscimento di una diffusa autonomia creativa nel territorio, ed è diventato un sussidio petista al quale si deve reiterare lealtà. Sulla scia di queste inversioni, siamo giunti al parossismo di mobilitare questioni di garantismo giuridico e abolizionismo penale per criticare le operazioni repressive contro la corruzione e difendere i dirigenti di un agglomerato di partito che per 13 anni ha lasciato moltiplicare in maniera esponenziale la popolazione carceraria in condizioni inaccettabili.
Il risultato è evidente: mentre l’egemonia della sinistra svuotava l’autonomia dei movimenti, il campo delle lotte veniva gradualmente catturato dalla destra. Questa tendenza si è resa evidente con lo sciopero autonomo dei camionisti nel maggio 2018, già indicando lo scollamento totale delle reti capillari di politicizzazione in relazione agli apparati di sinistra. Peggio ancora, le lotte dei movimenti neri, indigeni e LGBT vengono a qualificarsi attraverso norme astratte che definiscono questi diritti, non il contrario; cioè, vengono definite prima dall’ombrello partitario piuttosto che dal protagonismo sociale che esprimono e dalla capacità di auto-organizzazione di cui sono capaci.
L’onda globale e il Brasile. La vittoria di Jair Bolsonaro non significa che tutti i voti siano di estrema destra. Il peggiore degli errori sarebbe quello di qualificare tutti i suoi elettori come fascisti. Dobbiamo capire attentamente i suoi componenti. Questo lavoro sarà fondamentale nelle lotte future in difesa della democrazia. La nuova destra, a livello globale, appare oggi come un movimento anti-globalizzazione che promette protezione attraverso la costruzione di nuove mura e si organizza attorno alla produzione di capri espiatori: gli immigrati, le differenze e persino la Cina. A tal fine, la nuova destra utilizza le contraddizioni e i limiti della globalizzazione (come la perdita di status delle classi medie e dei lavoratori industriali) attraverso la polarizzazione sistematica e la creazione di falsi conflitti. Le guerre culturali sono, quindi, dispositivi fondamentali di mobilitazione sociale ed elettorale della nuova destra. Quando guardiamo alla situazione in Brasile, possiamo notare elementi comuni e allo stesso tempo alcuni aspetti specifici. In comune, abbiamo la pratica delle guerre culturali e le proposte in termini di sicurezza. Allo stesso tempo, qui la polarizzazione non la si è dovuta inventare attraverso la nuova destra, ma è stata fornita gratuitamente dalla logica irresponsabile e demagogica della sinistra di difendere l’indifendibile: la sua corruzione diffusa, da un lato, e la gravissima crisi economica, dall’altro. La prima sfida, quindi, per analizzare il fenomeno della “nuova destra” è inserirla in questa serie reale di eventi e non trattarla come una semplice entità astratta che emergerebbe dal profondo conservatorismo esistente in Brasile o dalla manipolazione di massa organizzata da malvagi imprenditori. Questo fenomeno dev’essere spiegato anche da una mutua implicazione distruttiva risultato della polarizzazione. Mentre la sinistra si caratterizzava sempre più attraverso i suoi simboli e bandiere (la trincea rossa), gruppi conservatori come l’MBL iniziarono a guidare una crociata morale che identificava nella sinistra stessa gli elementi della degenerazione sociale, familiare, culturale, ecc. Uno dei risultati dannosi di questa operazione nutrita da entrambe le parti, è stata l’identificazione di tutte le lotte minoritarie con la profonda erosione del lulismo, una trappola in cui ci troviamo ancora oggi. Un’altra dimensione è stata la crescita delle tendenze militariste e autoritarie che sono giunte a rappresentare questo ideale di moralizzazione del Brasile dall’eliminazione di tutto ciò che si identifica con la sinistra, compresi i modi di vita delle minoranze.
Tuttavia, il fenomeno Bolsonaro, inespressivo nel 2015, può essere identificato a partire da quattro vettori emersi in questo ciclo: 1. la tendenza dell’impeachment a presentarsi come una grande strategia di “salvezza” di tutte le élite politiche e di partito, con il supporto di una parte della Corte Suprema; 2. la ricerca di un nuovo ordine e un nuovo patto in vista dell’approfondimento delle dimensioni economiche e sociali della crisi, anche attraverso la costituzione di una nuova autorità prodotta “dall’alto”; 3. la risposta e il veto alle campagne esasperate e false condotte dal lullismo nel suo tentativo di sopravvivere, e al cinismo costitutivo del governo Temer e dei suoi alleati; 4. al successo del fronte moralizzatore che ha identificato le lotte delle minoranze a sinistra. Dobbiamo avanzare in queste riflessioni e intendiamo presentare presto alcuni sviluppi dell’analisi.
Resistenze. Per riprendere l’inizio del testo, affermiamo che la costituzione di un campo di resistenza democratica ha bisogno, prima di tutto, di esaminare, partecipare e investire in lotte che includano anche il rifiuto dell’egemonia del PT e che possano decostruire la falsa polarizzazione. Quindi, non si tratta solo di accettare, ma anche di accelerare il processo di svuotamento dei segni e delle tendenze autocompiacenti e gregarie della sinistra, per immergersi nelle cartografie delle lotte e nell’attenzione ai desideri che compongono le sorgenti soggettive di questo momento.
29 ottobre 2018
Traduzione a cura di Giuseppe Orlandini
*****
Apenas constatar o tamanho do desastre é constatar o óbvio. É limitar-se ao desalento. Comecemos então pelo fim. A organização de um campo de resistência democrática tem por condição número um reconhecer não somente as ameaças, como também a ambivalência do resultado eleitoral. Particularmente, é preciso apreender a recusa em conferir uma quinta vitória ao PT e a Lula. Esta recusa nos indica que o desafio é estar no campo de lutas democráticas para além do petismo. A incapacidade de afirmar esse campo de lutas dissociado do PT e capaz de emergir como alternativa democrática à candidatura de Bolsonaro foi o que levou o antipetismo a reagrupar-se à direita do espectro político-partidário. Uma direita de novo tipo, permeada de elementos de extrema-direita, que fermentou ao longo dos últimos quatro anos. O sucesso do antipetismo não é somente eleitoral. A heterogeneidade do antipetismo encontrou na figura de Jair Bolsonaro a representação de um movimento realmente capaz de derrotar o PT e com enorme força na sociedade brasileira. Diante dessa constatação, não adianta condenar esse movimento, esperando que ele se esfume pela força do argumento racional e moral. Em vez disso, precisamos entender como pôde se tornar majoritário nos últimos anos, como ele funciona, o que lhe dá vitalidade, e então como lutar para desviá-lo de suas características autoritárias.
Temos, assim, duas tarefas complementares: 1. Apreender as resistências difusas, evitando as tentativas de mistificá-las através de caricaturas pseudo-heróicas inseridas no lugar das lutas. 2. Realizar uma reflexão de fôlego sobre a derrota de praticamente todas as tentativas de construir uma terceira via potente. A resistência que nos falta precisa estar em outro lugar, numa terceira margem que só as lutas e as políticas por um novo marco de proteção social podem constituir.
Depois de mim, o dilúvio. Entrever e criar possibilidades de resistência passa pela análise crítica dos últimos anos. Foi o sucesso da estratégia petista nesse período que, paradoxalmente, nos levou ao abismo. O nefasto resultado eleitoral é o desfecho do turno que começou em 2014, depois da pacificação do levante de junho de 2013. Ao longo dos últimos 5 anos, grande parte do campo da esquerda negou-se a fazer a crítica ao PT e ficou no conforto aparente das soluções que o Lulismo lhe oferecia. Lula e o PT foram assim montando uma política de chantagem sistemática. Defender o PT deixou de ser uma opção, e sim uma obrigação política, moral e civilizatória. Essa estratégia é organizada a partir de um duplo dispositivo: por um lado, toda força alternativa ao lulismo é inviabilizada; por outro, o pior é produzido incessantemente, numa piora interminável.
Inicialmente, a operação foi pacificar o ativismo que ocupou as brechas do levante de junho de 2013. Se o verde amarelo passou a ser obrigatório na “Copa das Copas” (julho de 2014), a partir do ano seguinte se tornaria imoral: o estigma de “coxinha” colou na pele de todo contestador do “bom governo do PT”. E Graças ao marketing baseado em fake news de outubro de 2014, destruiu-se a candidatura de Marina Silva, por ela, eventualmente, representar uma alternativa, impondo Aécio Neves como o candidato ideal ao qual se opor. Em seguida, transformou-se o teatro da negociata do impeachment em “Golpe”. Depois de diluir a mobilização crítica em um oportuno e instrumental frentismo de refundação (Frente Brasil Popular, Frente Povo Sem Medo, sempre com Lula à frente) e acompanhar com condescendência a emergência de candidaturas que deveriam “unificar” a esquerda, Lula e o PT passaram a rasteira na única delas que tinha algumas chances de ter algum peso eleitoral: Ciro Gomes. Nas eleições de 2014 era compulsóriovotar, mesmo que sob a boa consciência do voto crítico, contra a “volta do neoliberalismo”. Durante o impeachment de 2016, a mobilização passou a ser contra nada menos que um golpe. Em 2018, o voto obrigatório no PT virou um voto da “civilização contra a barbárie“. Esse mecanismo irresponsável permitiu que a urgente crítica ao PT fosse sempre adiada pelas “urgências” que o próprio PT produziu em série. Nunca é “momento de criticar o PT”.
Até que o lobo chegou. De um estelionato a outro, a esquerda foi relativizando a corrupção, operando com cinismo as fake news e tratando como normal se aliar candidatos “golpistas” (como Eunício Oliveira e Renan Calheiros) para conquistar votos no sertão nordestino, e assim “levar” a quinta eleição nacional seguida (sem sequer uma aliança ou coalizão). Desta vez, o Lulismo viu-se diante do reflexo de si mesmo. Não a transparência desarmada de Marina Silva, e nem a malandragem de Aécio Neves (uma pessoa – candidatura na qual os estigmas que o PT sempre espalhou sobre os adversários não faz sequer cócegas, porque assim se assume). E sim um movimento real, capaz de dar voz à recusa popular ao PT e de mobilizar eficazmente o mesmo volume de deturpações: o feitiço virou contra o feiticeiro. Para não ser responsabilizado pelos erros e por seus crimes, o PT continuamente denunciava a chegada do lobo. Finalmente, o Lobo apareceu e a maioria escolheu o próprio lobo: Haddad e o PT sequer conseguiram aparecer para a maioria dos eleitores como uma verdadeira alternativa diante de um adversário assustador. A novidade que parecia ter sido exorcizada em 2013, ressurgiu e se impôs. No entanto, não é o PT que corre o risco de ser devorado pelo Lobo, mas a multidão dos pobres e minorias, a começar pelo Nordeste que se manteve fiel ao PT.
Do mundo das lutas para a luta de mundos: as guerras culturais. A auto-vitimização que permite ao PT “julgar os outros e não ser julgado” tem outra consequência: a mobilização em defesa da “Vítima” feita por um grande número de intelectuais progressistas (professores, agentes culturais, artistas), através de uma perspectiva distorcida: não são mais as lutas para entender o mundo, mas a perspectiva do PT que define as lutas. Essa inversão falsifica a materialidade das lutas em guerras culturais que a nova extrema direita mostrou saber conduzir melhor do que ninguém. Desta perspectiva, a introdução da política de cotas para negros e pobres nas universidades públicas deixou de ser o produto do movimento autônomo dos pré-vestibulares e passou a ser uma gentil concessão do lulismo; o Bolsa Família deixou de ser visto como embrião de reconhecimento da potência produtiva e subjetiva da multidão dos pobres, e passou a ser uma dívida infinita que os pobres teriam com o paternalismo de Lula; o financiamento dos pontos de cultura tampouco deixou de ser apreendido como uma ruptura do clientelismo que permite reconhecer a autonomia criativa difusa no território e passou a ser um subsídio petista ao qual é preciso reiterar lealdade. Na esteira dessas inversões, chegamos ao paroxismo de mobilizar questões de garantismo jurídico e do abolicionismo penal para criticar as operações de repressão à corrupção e para defender os dirigentes de um conglomerado partidário que durante 13 anos deixou multiplicar, de maneira exponencial, a população carcerária em condições inaceitáveis.
O resultado é evidente: ao passo que a hegemonia da esquerda esvaziava a autonomia dos movimentos o campo das lutas foi paulatinamente sendo capturado pela direita. Essa tendência foi evidenciada pela greve autônoma dos caminhoneiros em maio de 2018, já denotando o descolamento total das redes capilarizadas de politização em relação aos aparelhos de esquerda. Pior, as lutas dos movimentos negro, indígena, LGBT passaram a ser qualificadas pelas normas abstratas que definem esses direitos e não o contrário; isto é, passaram a ser definidas antes pelo guarda-chuva partidário do que pelo protagonismo social que elas exprimem e pela capacidade de auto-organização de que são capazes.
A onda global e o Brasil. A vitória desse candidato não significa que todos os votos sejam de extrema direita. O pior dos erros seria qualificar todos os seus eleitores de fascistas. Precisamos entender com cuidados suas componentes. Esse trabalho será fundamental nas lutas por vir em defesa da democracia. A nova direita, no nível global, aparece hoje como um movimento antiglobalização que promete proteção por meio da construção de novos muros e se organiza em torno da produção de bodes expiatórios: os imigrantes, as diferenças e até a China. Para isso, a nova direita usa as contradições e limites da globalização (como a perda de estatuto das classes médias e dos trabalhadores industriais) por meio de uma polarização sistemática e criação de falsos conflitos. As guerras culturais são, pois, dispositivos fundamentais de mobilização social e eleitoral da nova direita.
Quando olhamos para a situação no Brasil, podemos constatar elementos comuns e ao mesmo tempo algumas especificidades. Em comum, temos a prática das guerras culturais e as propostas em termos de segurança. Ao mesmo tempo, a polarização aqui não precisou ser inventada pela nova direita, mas foi fornecida de graça pela lógica irresponsável e demagógica da esquerda em defender o indefensável: sua corrupção generalizada, por um lado, e a gravíssima crise econômica, por outro. O primeiro desafio, portanto, para analisar o fenômeno denominado “nova direita” é inseri-lo nessa série real de acontecimentos, e não o tratar como uma simples entidade abstrata que emergiria do conservadorismo profundo existente no Brasil ou de uma manipulação em massa organizada por empresários mal-intencionados.
Esse fenômeno também deve ser explicado por uma mútua implicação destrutiva advinda da polarização. Enquanto a esquerda passou a se caracterizar cada vez mais por seus símbolos e bandeiras (a trincheira vermelha), grupos conservadores como o MBL passaram a pautar uma cruzada moral que identificava na própria esquerda os elementos de degeneração social, familiar, cultural, etc. Um dos resultados danosos dessa operação, alimentada pelos dois lados foi a identificação de todas as lutas minoritárias com o desgaste profundo do lulismo, armadilha na qual estamos presos ainda hoje. Outra dimensão foi o crescimento de tendências militaristas e autoritárias que passaram a representar esse ideal de moralização do Brasil a partir da erradicação de tudo aquilo que se identifica com a esquerda, incluindo os modos de vida minoritários.
O fenômeno Bolsonaro, inexpressivo em 2015, pode ser identificado, no entanto, a partir de quatro vetores que surgiram nesse ciclo: primeiro, à tendência do impeachment de se apresentar como uma grande estratégia de “salvação” de todas as elites políticas e partidárias, com respaldo de uma parte do STF; b) segundo, à busca de uma nova ordem e um novo pacto diante do aprofundamento das dimensões econômico-sociais da crise, mesmo por meio da constituição de uma nova autoridade feita “por cima”; c) terceiro, à resposta e veto às campanhas exasperadas e falsas protagonizadas pelo lulismo em sua tentativa de sobrevivência, e ao cinismo constitutivo do governo Temer e seus aliados; d) quarto, ao sucesso do front moralizador que identificou as lutas das minorias à esquerda. Precisamos avançar nessas reflexões e pretendemos apresentar logo alguns desdobramentos de análise.
Resistências. Retomando o início do texto, afirmamos que a constituição de um campo de resistência democrática carece, em primeiro lugar, de perscrutar, participar e investir em lutas que incluem também a recusa à hegemonia do PT e que possam desconstruir a falsa polarização. Assim, trata-se não apenas de aceitar, mas de acelerar o processo de esvaziamento dos signos e tendências gregárias e autocomplacentes da esquerda, para mergulhar nas cartografias das lutas, na atenção aos desejos que compõem as nascentes subjetivas deste momento.
29 de outubro de 2018 | {
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Filmmakers: Rashed Radwan and Carmen Marques
More than a decade after the fall of Saddam Hussein, Iraq's national grid struggles to provide more than six hours of electricity a day - so a new form of entrepreneur has sprung up, the "generator man".
For a price, he will fill the gap.
Hadi is a generator man who owns two generators but finds that being on call for hundreds of people, all desperate for power, means that his life is no longer his own.
Witness follows him as he wanders the backstreets of Baghdad to talk to some of his customers for whom power - or the lack of it - has become the most important fact in their day-to-day-lives.
Of the many ironies of post-conflict Iraq this is perhaps the starkest: how a country afloat on a sea of oil and in receipt of $5bn of US investment since 2003 cannot yet guarantee power for its people.
Editor's note: This film was first broadcast on Al Jazeera English in 2012.
FILMMAKER'S VIEW
By Rashed Radwan
They say the war in Iraq is over. But is it really?
George Bush declared it over when he was president and Barack Obama did the same. But ask ordinary Iraqis and they will tell you that a new war is just starting in a country where the most basic of infrastructure has been destroyed.
In the summer of 2010, I spent two months filming in Iraq.
It was during that summer that I first met Bakr, a 12-year-old boy from Sadr City; a child carrying the soul of an adult.
He told me about the death of his brother, a victim of an American apache, as though it was something that could not have been avoided; an almost inevitable part of his destiny as an Iraqi.
And, when asked about his dreams, Bakr revealed that he had just one: to have electricity so that he might have a fan to keep him cool in summer and a heater to keep him warm in winter.
It was an unusual conversation to have with a child. After all, aren't their dreams usually filled with the more remarkable, with the less mundane?
In the comfort of my hotel, power outages were a problem only in the few minutes between the national grid going down and the lights coming back on - triggered by the huge and noisy generator behind the building.
But Bakr had opened my eyes to a problem I had not been aware of. I began to notice the tangled mess of wires hanging from buildings all over the city. And for the first time I understood why I had met so many people wearily climbing the stairs of Baghdad's general hospital with their sick children in their arms, trying to reach a doctor on a higher floor: without electricity, elevators do not work.
When I spoke to doctors, they told me of patients who could not visit the hospital because they were too weak to reach the higher floors. In these tales, I thought I had found the starting point for this story - but I soon came to realise that doctors and patients are too afraid to talk about their daily struggles in these hellish conditions.
For the past nine years, two words have been at the forefront of Iraqi minds: kahraba (electricity) and amn (security).
Security has improved markedly, although only to the levels that many of those who proclaim this war over would consider murderously dangerous in their own countries.
But the single most crucial ingredient in the country's reconstruction - electrical power - continues to lag far behind the country's needs.
On Tuesday, June 22, 2004, 40 pallets of cash were loaded on to a truck that delivered the money to Andrews Air Force Base, near Washington DC. The money was then transferred to a C-130 transport plane. The next day, it arrived in Baghdad. That was the largest shipment of currency in one single day in the history of the NY Fed. But it was not the first shipment of money to Baghdad. For more than a year, $12bn taken from Iraqi oil revenues - in other words, belonging to the Iraqi people - was delivered for use in reconstruction. At least $9bn has gone missing.
Iraq is swimming in oil, which generates revenues of nearly $2bn a week, but Baghdad's seven million people are reliant on private generators. And the private generator is a luxury most people cannot afford. Fuel prices are too high for many, and the poorest are literally living in the dark.
Those who are fortunate enough to have their own personal generator must either spend hours waiting in line to buy fuel or pay the steepest premiums on the black market.
The generator man - owner and operator of the neighbourhood power plant - is the solution for the vast majority of the Iraqi population. Iraq depends on the generator man to survive. They are the country's umbilical cord, bringing power to hundreds of thousands of homes and shops.
I wish I could tell all of the stories hidden behind the headlines declaring to the world that the war in Iraq is over. I wish each of you could know the suffering and despair that has been left behind and how Iraqis must live huddled in dark houses, sleeping outside during the summer months because the heat inside is unbearable, afraid that they may be hit by a stray bullet from somewhere in their neighbourhood.
I have covered the war in Iraq since 2003, and if there is one thing that I can say for sure, it is that beyond the tragedy lies the triumph of the human spirit as ordinary people fight to preserve their dignity.
I wish I could tell all of their stories - the stories of the children dying from strange diseases never seen before the war or of the army of women awaiting the return of their missing husbands and sons. But Generator Man is a simple story about common people - people who will probably never find a place in the history books. These people are the real witnesses to the reality behind the headlines that the war is over.
Source: Al Jazeera | {
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California already bans the use of traditional ammunition in the protected ranges of the California Condor, based on specious “research” that blames traditional ammo for cases of condors getting lead poisoning. Despite the current ban, incidences of lead poisoning in condors are not on the decline, which has prompted legislators to propose a new bill that would ban all traditional sporting ammo in California.
Bans on traditional ammunition are a popular method of attacking our gun rights from the side – because it’s not a head on attack like banning modern sporting rifles, it’s easy for traditional ammo bans to fly under the radar. California is attempting to be the first state to ban traditional ammo entirely, which obviously would be quite detrimental to the future of California’s already embattled gun culture.
Of course, as a former Californian, there’s another issue here that I’d like to speak out about, and that’s the California Condor. If you believe the PR hype about them, the California Condor is a majestic bird that rivals the bald eagle in grace and beauty. I have a surprise for you: it’s not.
In fact, it’s a really big, really ugly vulture. I cannot understand the amount of energy put into preserving the life of a bird that’s not very adaptable. Seriously, I don’t get it, and I never have. Unfortunately, the plight of the condor is central to the issue of the traditional ammunition ban in California, because that bird is being used as the justification to ban lead-based ammo in an entire state. Think about that for a minute, the lives of 25 vultures are more important than an entire state population’s access to their 2nd Amendment rights. Because let’s be honest for a moment, having all the guns in the world doesn’t do us any good if we can’t access ammunition for those guns.
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Washington — U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell pushed Thursday for Congress to approve legislation that would require cars to be equipped with technology that would prevent them from being operated if the driver is intoxicated.
Speaking at a House Energy and Commerce Committee subcommittee hearing, Dingell invoked the deaths of the Abbas family of Northville, who were killed in January when their SUV was struck by a drunken driver who drove the wrong way on Interstate 75.
"Drunk driving brings pain to families and communities across this country," the Dearborn Democrat said during Thursday's hearing. "Our community in Dearborn and in Michigan felt it only eight weeks ago. In January, the Abbas family, Itssam, Rima, Ali, Isabelle, and Giselle, were driving back from a family vacation in Florida when their car was struck head-on by a drunk driver. No one survived. Everyone in our community felt it. They were active, integral members of our community.
"But what's sad is this story has been repeated for years, over and over again. And Congress need to step up and do something about it. Their deaths and the thousands just like them each year are avoidable and preventable. The technology exists to save lives."
Dingell has introduced legislation known as the Abbas Stop Drunk Driving Act that requires the U.S. Department of Transportation to create a new motor vehicle safety standard that would require cars and trucks to be equipped with an ignition-interlock device that would prevent a vehicle from being operated if the operator is intoxicated.
Republicans on the panel raised the specter of drivers also being impaired by drugs noting that marijuana is now legal in 10 states, including Michigan.
"Marijuana is the most common drug found in fatally injured drivers," said U.S. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Washington, who is the top-ranking Republican on the subcommittee. "It increases drowsiness and decrease reaction speed, both of us which severely limit a driver's ability to operate a vehicle safely."
Robert Strassburger, president and CEO of Automotive Coalition for Traffic Safety Inc., which is developing the Driver Alcohol Detection System for Safety technology that will allow cars to test the blood-alcohol content levels of drivers by touch or breath, said it would be effective if it is offered voluntarily initially like other driver-assistance systems like automatic emergency-braking or lane-departure warnings.
"DADDs technology holds the greatest promise and likely the fast pathway to reversing the drunk driving trends in the United States," he said.
Safety advocates cheered Dingell for introducing the bill to require cars to be equipped with interlocking technology.
"Like the Abbas family, I have a story," said Helen Witty, national president of Mothers Against Drunk Driving, noting that her own daughter was killed in a 2000 crash involving a drunk driver.
"I am here because my 16-year-old daughter is not. One day on a bright sunny June afternoon, she went rollerblading on a well-known route and didn't come home," Witty continued.
Joan Claybrook, board member for Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety and a former administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, said, "It's past time to address drunk driving with bold federal action to facilitate wider use of these proven technologies and enact of proven state laws and enhanced law enforcement."
[email protected]
(202) 662-8735
Twitter: @Keith_Laing | {
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Renter Shashank Kumar (22) came from India to study at UCD and is now a young professional working at Property Button. PHOTO: MARK CONDREN
I moved to Ireland from India to study a Masters in UCD because this country had been sold as a land of opportunity and there are many positives here.
But the quality of life here isn't good due to high rent and lack of homes. I spend 30pc of my salary on rent.
When educational representatives from Ireland came to India to promote studying in Dublin, I thought the city and country sounded amazing. We were told the economy was thriving and there were plenty of jobs. But as soon as I arrived, I realised there was a problem with housing.
I was forced to stay with a friend for a while until I found somewhere to rent but it wasn't affordable. Other students ended up staying for prolonged periods in hostels.
I moved into a house with friends eventually but was paying rent I couldn't afford. We stayed there for around seven months, until the landlord said he wanted to refurbish the house. It took several very stressful weeks to find a new home in Dún Laoghaire. After hundreds of emails and phone calls, I was really lucky and found a home with my friends. There was a queue of families outside and they really needed a home, but I had just made that call first.
I share the house now with my four friends and I pay 30pc of my salary every month on rent. That's too much. It's so hard to find a home to rent and when you do, the prices are so high.
I'm worried that if my rent increased to €800, I wouldn't be able to afford to live in Ireland anymore.
I can't see a long-term future in Ireland unless the property sector is controlled. I expected something to help renters in the Budget, but there was nothing.
The Government is relying heavily on private landlords and developers to provide properties for renters. But they are charging too high rents and there is absolutely no security for renters.
The best answer is the Government building its own houses, to include affordable homes for sale and affordable properties to rent. And a cap should be set on how much rent or sale prices apply to each house.
This system would be much better and fairer, but leaving housing in the private market is proving to be a failure. Not addressing the housing crisis is detrimental to Ireland.
News will spread about how bad Ireland's housing problem is.
Irish Independent | {
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The latest beta of the Unity game engine is now available. Version 5.6 packs some interesting goodies: support for the Vulkan API and Google Daydream VR, in addition to a host of more fine-grained technical features. Vulkan support is the headlining feature, and Unity claims developers can get "a rendering performance improvement out-of-the-box up to 60%" without getting into the nitty-gritty details of the Vulkan API. Unity's Vulkan support is cross-platform, too. The beta version currently running on Windows, Linux, and Android. The company says Samsung's Tizen OS will also be supported in the final release. We're sure at least two people on Earth are excited about that last bit.
Unity says that Vulkan speeds things up through more efficient use of multi-core CPUs and reduced driver overhead. Adding support for Vulkan to existing titles is likely feasible but almost certainly up to individual developers. However, even if Vulkan support is limited to future Unity-based titles, this move should still offer a significant boost to the adoption of the new graphics API.
The company's blog post details a host of other additions to the game engine, including support for Google's Cardboard and Daydream VR platforms, Facebook Gameroom, and more developer-targeted features. The Unity 5.6 beta release notes can be found here. | {
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In addition to the previously reported Yubari International Fantastic Film Festival 2017, internationally acclaimed director Kenji Kamiyama (Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex)'s latest anime feature film Hirunehime -Shiranai Watashi no Monogatari- (English title: Ancien and the Magic Tablet) is also chosen as the opening film for the upcoming Tokyo Anime Award Festival 2017.
The film will be screened at the Cine Libre Ikebukuro theater in Tokyo at 19:00 on March 10, eight days before the film's Japan premiere. The director Kamiyama himself is also scheduled to join for a talk show on the stage. The admission is free, but you need to register beforehand for the seat, registrations will be accepted on the festival's official website at 12:00 on February 1.
The festival also plans to include a special screening program dedicated to Kamiyama's notable works during the period. Details will be announced later.
Full trailer
The story description:
In the summer of 2020, 3 days before the start of the Tokyo Olympic games, Kokone Morikawa lives with
her father alone in Kurashiki, Okayama. She is an ordinary high school girl and the only thing she is good
at is “taking naps”. Recently, she has had a recurring dream many times. However due to the pressure of
the future, friends and family, she is finding less time to nap. With traveling between the dreams and reality,
the secret of her family starts to be revealed.
Main staff:
Director/Screenplay Writer: Kenji Kamiyama
Original Character Designer: Satoko Morikawa (The Cat Returns)
"Hearts" Designer: Shigeto Koyama (Big Hero 6)
Animation Director: Atsuko Sasaki (Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet, Eden of The East)
Anime Production: Signal-MD (Tantei Team KZ Jiken Note)
Distributor: Warner Brothers Japan
Flyer visuals
Source: "Hirunehime -Shiranai Watashi no Monogatari-" official website
©2017 Hirunehime Production Committee | {
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The 16th annual Jeff Fest will offer two stages, along with food and beer. View Full Caption Jefferson Park Chamber of Commerce
JEFFERSON PARK — Attention everyone named Jeff: this is your lucky weekend.
The 16th annual Jeff Fest, which starts Friday and runs through Sunday, is designed to offer something for everyone, including music, food trucks, arts and crafts and beer.
Admission is free all weekend for everyone named Jeff — from Jeff Jones to Jane Jefferson — with proper identification, of course.
Admission is $5 per person not named Jeff. Proceeds from the fest fund scholarships for Jefferson Park students and benefit the Jefferson Park Chamber of Commerce, organizers said.
The fest's two stages will take over Jefferson Memorial Park, 4822 N. Long Ave., from 6-10 p.m. Friday and from 2-10 p.m. Saturday and 2-8 p.m. Sunday. There will also be a Kids Zone, art for sale and a juried photo art competition, organizers said.
For the first time this year, the festival will include a wine tasting from 3 to 6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. For $20, oenophiles can sample 15 wines.
Sixteen Candles, which pays tribute to the songs of the 1980s, will headline the fest's main stage Friday, while 70's Classic Rock Show will headline Saturday and Journey Unauthorized, a tribute band, will close out the fest Sunday.
The Ferns will headline the fest's community stage Saturday while pop band Butterfly in Traffic will play Sunday.
Admission is free for children 12 and younger as well as adults older than 65.
Lawn chairs are welcome, but coolers and alcohol are prohibited, organizers said.
The summer festival typically draws about 4,000 people to Jefferson Memorial Park.
For more information, go to jeffersonpark.net.
For more neighborhood news, listen to DNAinfo Radio here: | {
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There's been lots of talk about electronic surveillance and government-sponsored hacking lately, but Foreign Policy takes a fascinating look at how the Central Intelligence Agency's digital "black bag" squads get access the old fashioned way — by breaking into peoples' houses.
Carried out "at a tempo not seen since the height of the Cold War"
Authorized by the CIA's Office of Technical Collection, the so-called "off-net operations" or "black bag jobs" have been a boon to the National Security Agency over the past decade, filling in the blanks where PRISM, hacking, and existing wiretaps won't get the job done. Foreign Policy reports that over the past decade these operations have been carried out "at a tempo not seen since the height of the Cold War," using agents to physically infiltrate facilities and residences, steal data off hard drives, install wiretaps on foreign networks, and plant spyware on the computers of surveillance targets.
According to US intelligence sources, recent CIA black bag jobs have "given the NSA access to a number of new and critically important targets around the world, especially in China and elsewhere in East Asia, as well as the Middle East, the Near East, and South Asia," though there's been no evidence of them occurring on US soil. With the NSA now coming under fire in Washington, the CIA's operations are an interesting example of how closely the two agencies — once fierce rivals — have been working together. Check out Foreign Policy for the full story. | {
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Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski is such a beloved player not just because he dominates football games in a way unmatched by anyone else who has ever played the position — though that is certainly a big part of it — but also because he has such an unabashed damn good time doing it.
No, Gronk does not seem like a complicated dude, and he finds such joy living in the moment so much that there isn’t time — or presumably even a need — for introspection.
He’s too busy throwing opposing defensive backs out of the club and making ridiculous one-handed catches to spend much time pondering his place in the football universe, you know?
Except sometimes he has done just that. As revealed in an interview with ESPN’s Lindsay Czarniak that will be posted in full on ESPN.com tomorrow and featured in the December 12 edition of ESPN The Magazine, Gronk opened up about several topics, including his fears about his football future after his devastating knee injury last season and how his relationship with Tom Brady has evolved since his rookie season.
Gronkowski confirmed that the low point of his career was probably what we would suspect: the hours and days after he suffered a torn MCL and ACL in his right knee after a vicious low hit by the Browns’ T.J. Ward last December 8.
“When I went down with the knee, I didn’t know what to expect. That night, I was thinking all these crazy thoughts in my head. ‘What’s going on? Why is this happening? I just got back.’
“[I was wondering whether] I was ever going to be able to play football again? What’s going on with my career? I was just thinking things like that. You’ve got tears going down your eyes. You’ve got your trainers right there and my parents right there. I was just thinking, ‘Is this it?’I didn’t know what a knee injury was. I’d never felt pain like that.”
Gronkowski said he doesn’t remember the aftermath with complete clarity because he also suffered a concussion on the play. But he does remember being overwhelmed with emotion as he waited for the diagnosis.
“I remember I was on the X-ray machine after they carried me off the field on the cart,” he said. “I mean, I kind of had a concussion too, so I really don’t remember. But I was actually bawling out on the machine when I was getting X-rays on my knee. And I was holding on to my trainer’s hand and my dad was right there and I was just bawling like, ‘Is this it? Am I done?’ I barely remember any of it. I just remember those little stages of it, because of the concussion.”
Gronkowski also provided insight on his relationship with Brady. While it may have seemed to outside observers that Gronkowski grasped the offense and clicked with Brady early in his rookie season, it turns out the demanding quarterback was tough on him in the beginning.
“We have a great relationship,” Gronkowski said. “We goof around in the locker room. Out on the field, we have great chemistry and a great connection. We’re good friends for sure, and we feel like we’re way different now than where we were my rookie year.
“He always used to yell at me and get on my case. I was like, ‘Man, this dude, why is he coming at me like that?’ He would always be making sure my routes were on point, yelling at me to be where I’ve gotta be. Then he came up to me one day and he was like, ‘Yo, Rob, you know I love you. I just see a lot of potential in you. I’m just trying to get on the same page. I want your max performance out there.’ And when he said that, it all clicked. I was like, ‘Oh, now I know why he’s being like that.’ That actually made me more motivated. I’ve gotta get on the right step. If Tom Brady believes I can do it, then I believe. It was meaningful when he said, ‘I love you and I see so much potential in you.’
Did Gronkowski share that conversation with anyone close to him after that happened?
“Nah, not really,” he told Czarniak with a laugh. “I always told my friends that he was always mean to me.” | {
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An interesting sound in Parliament's debating chamber today caused Speaker Trevor Mallard to briefly interrupt Question Time.
National MP Chris Bishop had just asked Minister for Police Stuart Nash about police attending burglaries.
After Mr Nash sat down, a sound rang out across the House.
"Order, order, I'm just going to interrupt the Member," Mr Mallard said. | {
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In a tragic incident, Ola Cabs CEO Bhavish Aggarwal's paternal grandmother and aunt were brutally murdered in Sher-e-Punjab Colony in Ludhiana on January 29, a leading English daily has reported. The double murder has led to a controversy after the cops detained the family's domestic help Puja, who has claimed that she was badly beaten up in custody.
According to the police, the murder was committed at around 1.30pm on January 29. A blank phone call was made to the police control room at 12.43pm, just about an hour before the murders were committed, from their domestic help Puja's mobile phone. The call lasted just for a couple of seconds, however, the police has not tried to track the call yet.
Puja, who first found the bodies, was detained by the police two days after the murder. However, she was allowed to go after protests from her family and the migrant community she belongs to. The protesters claimed that Puja was illegally detained and badly beaten up. They blocked the busy Ferozepur Road. They also asked other migrants who work as maids to stay away from work for the next week as a mark of protest.
The victims' family has expressed concern about letting the domestic help off. NK Aggarwal, Bhavish's father, said, "How could they let her off without finding out why and under what circumstances she made the call to the control room? It seems they are acting under pressure."
He met Ludhiana police commissioner Paramraj Umaranangal Umranangal and deputy commissioner of police Narindra Bhargav on Wednesday for a speedy investigation. The police said they are keeping an eye on Puja and her family.
The victims, Ola cabs' CEO Bhavish's grandmother Pushpawati Aggarwal, 84, and aunt Dr Sarita Aggarwal, 57, a gynaecologist, had multiple injuries on their head, throat, arms and legs. According to the autopsy report, it is suspected that a hammer may have been used, but it has not been recovered from the spot.
The police were informed about the murder at 2.15pm by Puja on the day of the incident. They initially suspected it to be a case of robbery and questioned other domestic help in the area. The suspicion then shifted to the two drivers who were working for the family and had quit after being employed with the family for sometime.
"It does not look like a case of robbery. It could be a case of old enmity but it would be too early to come to a conclusion," investigating official said. | {
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These indirect impacts of marijuana legalization came from increased demand on local goods and services: growers rent warehouse space and purchase sophisticating lighting and irrigation equipment, for instance. Marijuana retailers similarly rely on other companies, like contractors, lawyers and book-keeping services, to conduct their own businesses.
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"If this is done right, regulated right, taxed right, this industry can bring real economic benefits to a state," study co-author and MPG founder Adam Orens said in an interview. "If the state or the local governments manage, permit and enforce [marijuana regulation] in a thoughtful way, then this can have real benefits."
The state commissioned the study to analyze the initial marijuana market size and demand in Colorado, as well as a review of market performance post-legalization.
Previous attempts to quantify the marijuana industry's financial footprint have often been hindered either by limited real-world data, or by extrapolating state and national numbers from surveys and anecdotal reports based on erroneous assumptions. Those methods can lead to large over- or under-estimates of the true economic impact of legal marijuana.
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The Marijuana Policy Group estimates that the majority of growth in the legal marijuana industry is not coming from new, previously untapped demand for cannabis, but rather from a reduction of the unregulated black market.
"It would be easy to confuse the rapid growth in marijuana sales with an inherent growth in marijuana demand," Orens and his co-authors write. "But that is not the case. Legal marijuana sales are increasing due to a supply shift — away from gray and black market suppliers, toward licensed suppliers."
The elimination of the unregulated black market is often cited by legalization proponents as a benefit of creating a legal, commercial marijuana market. In Colorado and Washington, those black markets have persisted to an extent, frustrating regulators and providing fodder for legalization critics.
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The new report suggests, however, that the black market is being significantly reduced by legalization, and that those reductions will continue. MPG expects that by the year 2020, more than 90 percent of the market will be supplied by regulated, state-licensed dealers. The other 10 percent will come from home growers and a small fraction of unregulated and grey market dealers who manage to maintain a customer base without transitioning fully into the legal market.
When that saturation point happens, the Marijuana Policy Group expects growth in the state's marijuana industry to slow. It will begin to resemble growth in other retail industries, which largely follow population growth.
On the tax side of the ledger, the report finds that marijuana is already pulling in tax revenue at three times the rate of the alcohol industry. By 2020, the firm expects marijuana taxes to outstrip cigarette taxes as a revenue-generator as well.
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In 2015, marijuana taxes brought in about $121 million in revenue to the state. The firm expects that number to rise to about $150 million by 2020.
Orens stresses that this report only looks at the economic impacts of legalization -- by design it's blind to any effects, positive or negative, that legal weed has had on public health or criminal justice. Other recent reports have attempted to quantify those factors.
Orens says, furthermore, that smart regulation doesn't happen by itself overnight. | {
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Counterparts was founded in 1981 as UPenn’s first co-ed a cappella group. Known for its intricate arrangements and powerful soloists, the group has toured internationally, received features on Varsity Vocals’ Best of College A Cappella (BOCA) album, and taken home several awards in the International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella (ICCA). Counterparts also boasts a few notable alumni, such as John Legend (Counterparts ‘99) & Ty Stiklorius (Counterparts ‘97).
Established in 1985, Arts House Dance Company is a co-ed dance company based at the University of Pennsylvania that specializes in contemporary, jazz, lyrical, tap, ballet, and acro. All of their pieces are student choreographed, and all shows are student-produced, operated, and created from start to finish. Many members go on to pursue dance careers in Broadway shows such as West Side Story and Elf the Musical.
The song was recorded and produced by Liquid 5th Productions, and can be found on iTunes and Spotify. The video was shot & edited by Kevin Chiu Cinematography. | {
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ABS, Yemen -- The taxi driver happened by just after a volley of airstrikes hit a highway in western Yemen. The driver, Mohammed al-Khal, stopped, took a wounded ice cream vendor into his car and rushed him to the nearest hospital.
But the warplanes were still hunting. Moments after al-Khal pulled up at the hospital in the town of Abs, hell was unleashed.
A missile struck just outside the hospital entrance, “like a ball of fire,” one witness said. Al-Khal, a father of eight, was incinerated in his car. The blast ripped through patients and family waiting in an outdoor reception area. Nineteen people were killed, along with two civilians killed on the highway.
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The attack in August typified what has been a pattern in the nearly 2-year-old air campaign by Saudi Arabia and its allies against Yemen’s Shiite rebels, known as Houthis. Rights groups and U.N. officials say the U.S.-backed coalition has often either deliberately or recklessly depended on faulty intelligence, failed to distinguish between civilian and military targets and disregarded the likelihood of civilian casualties.
Experts say some of the strikes amount to war crimes.
“The Saudis have been committing war crimes in Yemen,” said Gabor Rona, a professor teaching the laws of war at Columbia University. He pointed to “indiscriminate targeting, that is, attacks in which the attacker makes no effort to distinguish between combatants and civilians.” And he warned that American personnel helping the coalition “may also be guilty of war crimes.”
Nearly 4,000 civilians have been killed since early 2015 and an estimated 60 percent of them died in airstrikes by the Saudi-led coalition, the U.N. says. Around one in three strikes hit civilian targets, according to the Yemen Data Project, an independent group of researchers that has put together a database of more than 8,000 strikes.
The strikes in Abs were notable: The original target was a small checkpoint manned by two rebel fighters on a highway far from any frontline. Three missiles were fired on the highway and one at the hospital. Of 21 people killed, none was a combatant. Moreover, the hospital itself was on the coalition’s own computerized list of sites that should not be targeted.
Each strike that day was carried out with a Paveway guided missile system, built by an American company and sold to Saudi Arabia - a sign of how the United States has become mired in Yemen’s war. Washington and its allies have sold billions of dollars in weapons to Saudi Arabia for the campaign, and the U.S. military has been providing it with intelligence, satellite imagery and logistical help.
Washington underlines that it does not make decisions on strikes, and it calls on the coalition to investigate any claims of violations. “U.S. security cooperation with Saudi Arabia is not a blank check,” National Security Council spokesman Ned Price said in October.
The coalition denies neglect, saying it does its utmost to avoid civilian casualties and noting the rebels often operate among civilians.
“This is the fog of war,” the coalition’s spokesman, Saudi Gen. Ahmed al-Asiri, told The Associated Press when asked if there is a pattern of civilian deaths.
“In war, one plus one doesn’t equal two. In war, there are many changes taking place around the clock. In war, there are decisions that should be taken fast,” he said from the Saudi capital, Riyadh.
But critics say the American and international backing and lack of independent investigation have given Saudi Arabia and its allies a free rein.
“We believe that the coalition understood that ... it has a green light to commit more massacres in Yemen,” said Abdel-Rashed al-Faqeh, the head of Muwatana, one of Yemen’s most prominent rights groups.
Saudi Arabia launched the coalition campaign in a bid to restore the internationally recognized government of President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, after the Houthis overran the capital Sanaa and the north of the country. The Houthis are allied with troops loyal to Hadi’s predecessor Ali Abdullah Saleh, who was ousted after a 2011 pro-democracy uprising.
Saudi Arabia, which calls the rebels a proxy of its regional rival, Iran, has backed an array of military units and fighters against the Houthis.
A Yemeni man inspects the damage following a bomb explosion at the Badr mosque in southern Sanaa on March 20, 2015. Getty Images
The war has been devastating for the country of 24 million. Around 3 million have been driven from their homes, fleeing to other parts of Yemen. The bombardment, fighting and a coalition blockade have fueled widespread hunger.
Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and the U.N. human rights office have also reported possible war crimes by the Houthi rebels, citing their shelling of civilian areas and basing their fighters in schools and other civilian locations.
But the scope of the air campaign has brought widespread destruction. Warplanes have hit medical centers, hospitals, schools, factories, infrastructure and roads, as well as markets, weddings and residential compounds. The Yemen Data Project, for example, documented nearly 60 strikes on medical facilities, most of them in the Houthi heartland in the north, though it says it does not track casualty figures because of how difficult it is to verify events on the ground.
The coalition, which says it investigates claims of civilian casualties, has made nine investigations public. In most cases it said the strikes were against a justified military target. | {
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Transcript for Former Sen. Bob Dole gives final salute as Bush lies in state
moment playing out just a short time ago, right here in the nation's capitol. Former president George W. Bush and his wife Laura, meeting president trump and Melania at Blair house. This is a moment of unity for our country. And we watched today several other poignant and emotional scenes playing out in the capitol rotunda. Terry Moran, leading us off. Reporter: As dusk fell in Washington, president trump and the first lady arrived at Blair house, where the bush clan is staying. And, there to greet them, president George W. Bush and Laura bush. The four then making their way inside. A rare moment of civic graciousness in America. And it followed a quiet tribute last night. The trumps entering the capitol rotunda, where president bush lies in state, silently paying their respects. And then a crisp salute from the 45th president to the 41st. All this, even more noteworthy given the history between these families. President trump knocked Jeb Bush out of the 2016 campaign. He's sharply repudiated many policies of president George W. Bush. And, this -- in 1988, trump reportedly offered to be the first president bush's running mate, an offer that went nowhere. But all that was put aside. President trump even sent air force one to Texas to transport George H.W. Bush's casket to Washington. And, all day today, they filed past. Many wiping away tears, or holding their hands over their hearts. Veterans offering salutes to an American hero. The former CIA chiefs honored their predecessor. Colin Powell and several former military officials from the first gulf war, there to salute their commander in chief. And then, this unforgettable moment. Former senator Bob Dole, 95 years old, wheelchair bound, lifted to his feet. And one final salute to his brother in arms from World War II. Among the crowds, many whose lives are so different because of the Americans with disabilities act, signed into law by president bush. If there's any president that I want to pay my respects to, it's the man who helped pass the law that ensures that I have the same freedoms as everyone else. Reporter: And there, too, in the rotunda, sully, the loyal service dog whose friendship with president bush has captured the nation. This has been such a moving 24 hours. Terry joins us now live. We were talking earlier about this moment of unity for our country. We know that Melania trump invited the bush family to the white house today? Reporter: She did. The first lady bringing Laura bush and a whole bunch of bushes to the white house to see the Christmas decorations. All the bushes under the portrait of the late president bush, black draped. Paying tribute there. And Laura bush posting a picture with members of the residence staff. David? Terry, thank you. We'll see you first thing in the morning for the state funeral. We'll be joining George and our team for the coverage as our nation honors former president George H.W. Bush at 10:00 A.M., right here.
This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate. | {
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This past summer my wife and I had two of our young grandsons staying with us while their parents participated in a pioneer trek activity in their stake. Our daughter wanted to be sure that the boys practiced the piano while away from home. She knew that a few days with the grandparents makes it a little easier to forget about practicing. One afternoon I decided to sit with my 13-year-old grandson, Andrew, and listen to him play.
This boy is full of energy and loves the outdoors. He could easily spend all of his time hunting and fishing. While he was practicing the piano, I could tell that he would rather be fishing on a nearby river. I listened as he pounded out each chord of a familiar song. Every note he played had the same emphasis and meter, making it difficult to clearly identify the melody. I sat beside him on the bench and explained the importance of applying just a little more pressure on the melody keys and a little less on those notes that accompany the melody. We talked about the piano being more than just a mechanical miracle. It can be an extension of his own voice and feelings and become a wonderful instrument of communication. Just as a person talks and moves smoothly from one word to another, so should the melody flow as we move from one note to another.
We laughed together as he tried again and again. His dimpled-cheek smile increased as the familiar melody began to emerge from what was previously a wild set of sounds. The message became clear: “I am a child of God, and he has sent me here.”1 I asked Andrew if he could feel the difference in the message. He responded, “Yes, Grandpa, I can feel it!”
The Apostle Paul taught us about comparing communication to musical instruments when he wrote to the Corinthians:
“And even things without life giving sound, whether pipe or harp, except they give a distinction in the sounds, how shall it be known what is piped or harped?
“For if the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to the battle?”2
If ever there was a time when the world needs disciples of Christ who can communicate the message of the gospel with clarity and from the heart, it is now. We need the clarion call of the trumpet.
Christ was certainly our best example. He always demonstrated courage to stand up for what was right. His words echo through the centuries as He invites us to remember to love God and our fellowman, to keep all of God’s commandments, and to live as lights to the world. He was not afraid to speak against the earthly powers or rulers of His day, even when such were opposing His mission given to Him by His Heavenly Father. His words were not designed to confuse but to move the hearts of men. He clearly knew His Father’s will in all He said and did.
I also love the example of Peter, who confronted the men of the world with courage and clarity on the day of Pentecost. On that day people were assembled from many countries criticizing the early Saints because they heard them speak in tongues and thought they were drunken. Peter, having the Spirit rise in his soul, stood up to defend the Church and the members. He testified with these words: “Ye men of Judea, and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken to my words.”3
He then quoted from the scriptures containing the prophecies of Christ and bore this straightforward testimony: “Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ.”4
Many heard his words and felt the Spirit, and 3,000 souls joined the ranks of the early Church. This is powerful evidence that one man or woman who is willing to testify when the world seems to be going in the opposite direction can make a difference.
When we as members make the decision to stand up and powerfully witness for God’s doctrine and His Church, something changes within us. We take His countenance upon us. We become closer to His Spirit. He in turn will go before us and be on “[our] right hand and on [our] left, and [His] Spirit shall be in [our] hearts, and [His] angels round about [us], to bear [us] up.”5
True disciples of Christ are not looking to make excuses for the doctrine when it doesn’t fit the world’s current concepts. Paul was another valiant disciple, boldly proclaiming that he was “not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth.”6 True disciples represent the Lord when it may not be convenient to do so. True disciples desire to inspire the hearts of men, not just impress them.
Often it is not convenient or comfortable to stand up for Christ. I am sure that was the case with Paul when he was called before King Agrippa and was asked to justify himself and tell his story. Paul, without hesitating, proclaimed his belief with such power that this intimidating king admitted he was “almost” persuaded to be a Christian.
Paul’s response witnessed of his desire for people to understand absolutely what he had to say. He told King Agrippa that it was his desire that all who heard him would not “almost” be Christians but rather would “altogether” become disciples of Christ.7 Those who speak with clarity can bring this to pass.
Over the many years that I have studied the story of Lehi’s dream in the Book of Mormon,8 I have always thought of the great and spacious building as a place where only the most rebellious reside. The building was filled with people mocking and pointing at the faithful who had held on to the iron rod, which represents the word of God, and had made their way to the tree of life, which represents the love of God. Some could not bear up under the pressure of the people mocking them and wandered off. Others decided to join the mockers in the building. Did they not have the courage to speak boldly against the criticisms or messages of the world?
As I watch the current world moving away from God, I think this building is growing in size. Many find themselves today wandering the halls of the great and spacious building, not realizing that they are actually becoming part of its culture. They often succumb to the temptations and the messages. We eventually find them mocking or chiming in with those who criticize or mock.
For years I thought the mocking crowd was making fun of the way the faithful live their lives, but the voices from the building today have changed their tone and approach. Those who mock often try to drown out the simple message of the gospel by attacking some aspect of the Church’s history or offering pointed criticism of a prophet or other leader. They are also attacking the very heart of our doctrine and the laws of God, given since the Creation of the earth. We, as disciples of Jesus Christ and members of His Church, must never let go of that iron rod. We must let the clarion trumpet sound from our own souls.
The simple message is that God is our loving Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ is His Son. The gospel is restored in these latter days through living prophets, and the evidence is the Book of Mormon. The path of happiness is through the basic family unit as originally organized and revealed by our Heavenly Father. This is the familiar melody of the message that many can recognize because they have heard it from their premortal life.
It is time for us, as Latter-day Saints, to stand up and testify. It is time for the notes of the melody of the gospel to rise above the noise of the world. I add my testimony to the message of the Savior and Redeemer of this world. He lives! His gospel is restored, and the blessings of happiness and peace can be secured in this life by living His commandments and walking in His path. This is my testimony in the name of Jesus Christ, amen. | {
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These are just the facts. On July 22, 2013, Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, gave birth to her first child, Prince George. Two weeks later, an enormous “fatberg” was discovered in the sewers under London. A hellish fifteen-ton lump of cooking fat, congealed with diapers, wet wipes, sanitary towels, and condoms. In videos taken by sewer workers the thing crawls over the walls and ceilings of the grand Victorian drain, its tendrils puffing out from the monumental central mass. A mound of fat the size of a London bus, glistening death-pale in the torchlight; fungal, a saprophage, its terrible bulk blocking off the normal hygienic flows of piss and shit. It took three weeks for the utility company Thames Water to fully repair the drains.
On September 8, 2014, Catherine announced that she was pregnant with her second child, the future Princess Charlotte. Seven days earlier, photographs of another London fatberg had been released. This one was the size of a Boeing 747 jet, messier and more coagulated than the first: its surface looked like rubble, strewn with pickled tennis balls and rotting fruit and plastic cartons, an eighty-meter landscape of rejectamenta.
On September 4 of this year, Catherine announced her third child. It took eight days. By September 12, a titanic fatberg had once again been found under London. It’s still there. It’s under my feet as I write. Workers are doing everything they can, blasting it with boiling water at high pressure, but the thing is almost immovable. Nearly ten times heavier than the first, longer than Tower Bridge: 250 meters of concrete-hard fat and waste, a sprawling, city-rending, apocalyptic terror of everything nobody wanted to see again. Your shit-smeared shame, the uncomfortable things you flung into your memory hole, that private Lethe that flows from a clean and tiled little room in your home—it’s back. The repressed always returns. You built a monster.
The fatbergs are evolving.
The fatbergs are evolving. They keep getting bigger and tougher; from what the workers battling them have said, each one smells worse than the last. Not the usual familiar stink of timeless bodily waste, but something far worse. The smell of decaying dishcloths, sour mayonnaise, the uniquely putrid combination of detergent and grease. The soap is more foul than the shit. Why? People are still pouring their cooking fat down the drain and flushing soiled diapers down the toilet, but no more than they always did. The only conclusion is that the fatbergs are growing of their own accord. Whatever intelligence is directing them, it’s getting stronger. It’s building its forces. It’s waiting to burst out from the hidden sewer-dimensions, and conquer the world of sunlight. The fatberg lives.
It will happen slowly; by my calculations, it will take just over eight months. The first victims will be in the sewers. Above ground, ordinary life carries on, and London grumpily ignores itself through eight million busy stares. A few short meters below, the terrible Thing awakes. After weeks of battling the fat-monster, watching it slowly recede under water-jets and shovels, the Thames Water technicians with their rubber boots and white overalls—darting, pale, fragile creatures in the seething, stinking darkness—will hear a rumble. The fatberg is moving. Like a lava flow of rancid fat, crusted with household detritus, grinding towards them, slow as a steamroller and just as unstoppable, it moves. The workers try to run, splashing through effluent that grows denser and paler as the rolling fatberg approaches, until they put their feet down and feel them sink slurping into a mess of compacted fat, grabbing them tight around the shins and pressing against the bone. In the last moment, as the fatwyrm descends, they can see in its roaring edge two bright points that could be eyes, and an inhuman cavity filled with what could be teeth. They suffocate in its bulk. They are carried along in its path. More mass for the fat.
Walls of streaky fat plunge around the gates of Buckingham Palace.
The fatwyrm leeches out through gutters and drains. Greasily languid tentacles feel their way into your dishwasher and extend, smashing crockery, splintering glass, finally blowing the door open and crawling along your kitchen floor in an explosion of filth and steam. Outside, a thin veneer of grime seeps down Oxford Street, a trickle of murky discarded oil that sends vehicles skidding at high speed: up onto the pavement to smash the pedestrians into bursts of viscera, into each other, crumpling into readymade barricades. When the monster rises, nobody can hope to escape. The first fatberg was the size of a double-decker London bus; this thing sweeps up the buses in its churn. In the City of London, the weightless glass skyscrapers seem to drip with slime, sweating thick, viscous trails down their flanks. In the outer reaches of the city, the ordinary garbage that piles up by railways sidings, in abandoned industrial lots, in fallow fields strewn with coffee cups and shredded plastic bags and all the scattered nothing-product of the post-industrial age—every unneeded thing seems to tumble more purposefully in the fetid wind. Its master has arrived. The spirit of the forgotten. The monster of the disposable. The great and jealous god whose name is Use-Once-And-Throw-Away.
The shit-flows, forced from the sewers by pullulating streams of fat, are forced out into the river. The Thames bubbles, a blackened wash of turds. By its banks, a shapeless marshmallow of roasting grease and baby wipes rears up to gnaw at Big Ben. Puffy globes bubble around the base of the tower, and it falls. And not far off, the vacuole is forming. Walls of streaky fat plunge around the gates of Buckingham Palace. And inside, in terror and incomprehension, the god is being born.
The fatwyrm is made of our shame and our rejectamenta. The things of commodity capitalism are autonomous and alive, until we are done with them, and they become junk. And the seepings of the flesh too. Anything that discharges itself from a human body is considered to be shameful. There’s a horror of the things that leak out: they violate the idea that we are whole and impermeable, they connect us in streams to the sordid and undifferentiated body of the earth. Shit is disgusting. Piss, sweat spittle, pus, cum, menses. There are only three exceptions. First, tears, which pour out of the eyes. They are not disgusting: they carry meaning and emotion, they are not quite dead matter. Second, words, which pour out of the mouth. They ought to be the most repulsive of all, but few people are horrified to see a mouth scrunch and grimace and hoot, unless it’s speaking a language they don’t understand. And third, other humans. | {
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In September 2017, the City of Los Angeles adopted the Transit Oriented Communities (TOC) guidelines. The program, which was created as a result of the passage of Measure JJJ in 2016, allows projects that create affordable housing relief from certain zoning laws, including density and height limits.
Over the past year, the TOC guidelines proved popular with developers. Through June 2018, the Los Angeles Department of City Planning reported that the development incentives were used in 19 percent of all entitlement applications - a total of 112 projects and 5,571 housing units. But moving forward, the TOC program's efficacy may be curtailed in some of Los Angeles' residential development hotspots.
Last June, CRA/LA issued a memo indicating that density limits in six redevelopment project areas supersede the TOC ordinance, thereby preventing developers from taking advantage of the full incentives offered by the program. A notice since issued by the Department of City Planning seems to concur with this conclusion, recommending that project applicants consult with their case planners for guidance, and stating that the Department "continues to work collaboratively with the CRA/LA on this topic and will provide future updates on the matter as appropriate."
The six redevelopment areas, which include neighborhoods with robust multifamily development pipelines, are:
City Center
Central Industrial
Hollywood
North Hollywood
Wilshire Center/Koreatown
Pacific Corridor
As of September 2014, the CRA/LA estimated that there were 25 projects in which the TOC incentives were in conflict with the redevelopment plans. They total 1,350 housing units - including 214 affordable units and 59 permanent supportive housing units - and are largely concentrated in the Hollywood and Wilshire Center/Koreatown areas.
Other redevelopment project areas - including the City Center and Central Industrial areas - have yet to see new developments employing the TOC incentives.
A motion introduced in October 2018 by Councilmember Mitch O'Farrell requests a report back on the 25 projects that are in conflict with the redevelopment plans, and what efforts have been taken to resolve the situation. The item was approved yesterday by the City Council's Planning and Land Use Management Committee. | {
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I’ve only been a mom for two years, but I can already say this with certainty: Loving your children does not mean they won’t get under your skin sometimes.
Their aggravating ways, which are probably ingrained from birth, are at full throttle in toddlerhood, when meltdowns and chaos and battles of wills are the norm rather than the exception.
But there’s a silver lining. Despite the fact that they drive you bonkers, these seven exasperating toddler behaviors are actually really important to your child’s learning and emotional development.
So remind yourself of these the next time you’re ready to rip your hair out!
7 Annoying Things Toddlers Do That Are Actually Good for Them
1. Make a total mess.
Yesterday my toddler had dirt all over his shorts, chocolate all over his face, and yogurt smashed into his hair—all at the same time. At some point I simply decided to stop cleaning him up and just let the muck accumulate all over him until his next bath.
Turns out my negligence in the cleanliness department is actually helping him learn.
A study published last year in Developmental Science suggests that mashing oatmeal between your hands or flinging chunky applesauce across the room can be very educational for the under 3 set. Researchers observed over 70 toddlers and found that those who made a total mess with their food were then able to learn the words associated with those foods faster and more accurately.
Translation: That chocolate running down my boy’s chin and that yogurt tangled between his locks was all in the name of learning!
2. Insist on reading the same book over and over again.
Or singing the same song, or playing the same game. I admit that on the 12th time through Goodnight Moon (“Goodnight for real this time, mouse!”), I just want to slap my palm against my forehead.
But I don’t. Most of the time I indulge the repetition because it’s so helpful for toddlers’ speech development; hearing the same words and phrases over and over again helps to cement them into their growing vocabulary. Plus, little kids find such joy in knowing what comes next!
3. Answer every single question with “No.”
Will you eat some breakfast, please? “No.”
Let’s go change your diaper. “No.”
Would you like to wear the blue shirt or the red shirt? “No.” (You’re not even making sense now, child!)
It’s pretty common for toddlers to overuse the word “No”—or my kid’s current favorite, “Nope!”—and it can be seriously frustrating for parents. But try to remember that tucked inside all that seemingly unwarranted defiance is a child who is just developing her self-identity. She’s on an amazing journey of self-discovery that involves the painful realization that her needs and wants are sometimes contrary to her caregiver’s.
In other words, that stubborn and uncooperative “No!” you’re so tired of hearing? It’s your child asserting her independence and developing a healthy concept of self.
4. Cling to you for dear life.
A few weeks ago, when my 2-year-old and I walked in the door to our playgroup, his arm suddenly and unexpectedly turned into velcro. Coincidentally, my pant leg did too, and we spent most of the time stuck together.
A clingy toddler can be quite irritating when your plan was to chat with your fellow moms while your children bond over block towers. It can be a serious annoyance when you’re leaving for a date night with your hubby and the babysitter has to pry him out of your arms.
But take heart: A young child who clings to mommy or daddy is a child who feels safe and secure with them, which is a very good thing.
What’s more, that tight grip around your neck is your toddler learning how to communicate to you that he feels uneasy in a situation—which opens the door for you to offer the reassurance he needs, which in turn will make him less clingy next time.
5. Throw temper tantrums.
Temper tantrums are probably the most bothersome toddler behavior, perhaps because they tend to happen in the grocery store, at a friend’s house, or at the end of a long day—pretty much any time and anywhere you really don’t feel like dealing with them.
My son’s worst tantrum ever occurred during the 30th birthday party I was throwing for my husband. (Read: When I was hosting a house full of friends and family and was trying to refill the drinks. Good times!)
If you can relate, rest assured that there’s a bright side to those meltdowns.
Bottling up anger and frustration isn’t good for anyone, toddlers included. Your child is at the beginning stage of a journey we’re all on: to learn healthy skills and coping mechanisms for dealing with difficult emotions instead of just repressing them.
That’s not to say parents should give in to the screaming, kicking, and flailing—rather, keep your cool, figure out what’s really going on with your child, and remember that it’s an opportunity to teach them about dealing with anger constructively.
6. Refuse to sit still.
About once a week someone looks at my kid and says, “If only I could bottle up that energy…”
Yes, I’d like to bottle it up too—and chuck the bottle in the ocean around 9:00pm when he’s running around like a crazy person in the opposite direction of his bedroom.
But since I can’t encapsulate his hyperactivity—not for disposal, consumption, or sale, though I’d certainly make a killing if I could!—instead I’m choosing to see the positive.
You see, our kids’ natural desire for movement could keep them healthier throughout their lives. In a 2005 study published in the journal Science, researchers at the Mayo Clinic identified a connection between fidgeting and the number on the scale. Not surprisingly, people who had trouble sitting still tended to weigh less than those who were completely comfortable staying off their feet.
There’s a good chance the toddler who squirms during church or runs laps around the house before bedtime won’t struggle to maintain a healthy weight later in life.
7. Dawdle.
This one really gets me. I’m all about efficiency, so the moments I feel the most irked are the ones when I’m trying to get us out the door before we’re late, and my toddler’s just moseying along as if we have all the time in the world.
I get that he can’t read a clock yet—or fully grasp the concept of time, for that matter—but it’s still frustrating!
A better perspective? Remembering that a bit of dilly-dallying is good for him, and for the rest of the family too. In a world where we all feel chronically rushed, with our brains as crammed as our calendars, a child rambling around the house talking to himself instead of putting on his shoes is sometimes a needed reality check. He needs to slow down, and so do I.
Moral of the story: Toddlers can drive us nuts, but that’s often a good thing because the stuff that makes us batty is integral to their mental and emotional development. Even so, some days they’re lucky they’re also adorable!
What kid behavior do you find downright annoying?
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An American student of Vietnamese descent was arrested in Binh Thuan, located east of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, on Sunday for participating in a peaceful protest against China, which turned violent after police started clashing with demonstrators.
Will Nguyen, 32, a Yale graduate and Texas native, was reportedly arrested for “disrupting public order.” He is scheduled to receive a master’s degree from the University of Singapore next month.
The protests were reportedly over proposed economic zones that would allow up to 99-year leases for foreign investors, which raised fears of Chinese encroachment and domination by the so-called “Middle Kingdom.”
Nguyen was arrested in addition to over 100 other protesters and dozens of participants, also injured by police.
According to a statement issued by his family and friends, Nguyen was “beaten over the head and dragged into the back of a police truck.”
A video on YouTube, uploaded by individuals claiming to have witnessed the scene, shows Nguyen being dragged onto a police truck after he was beaten over the head.
The statement added, “On June 12, the police arrived at Will’s hosts’ apartment to confiscate his laptop, passport, credit cards and a change of clothes. They did not respond to questions about Will’s whereabouts or welfare.”
The media reported that, in Vietnam’s capital city Hanoi, more than a dozen protesters carrying anti-Chinese banners were detained.
According to the BBC, some of the protesters held anti-Chinese banners reading: “No leasing land to China even for one day.”
According to the New York Times, Pope Thrower, spokesman for the United States Embassy in Hanoi, said the embassy was “aware of media reports that a U.S. citizen was arrested in Vietnam.” Thrower reportedly added, “When a U.S. citizen is detained overseas, the U.S. Department of State works to provide all appropriate consular assistance. Due to privacy considerations, we have no further comment.”
Adelle Nazarian is a politics and national security reporter for Breitbart News. Follow her on Facebook and Twitter. | {
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A Republican congressman is trying to block the Treasury from redesigning U.S. currency, a move that could prevent the government from replacing Andrew Jackson on the front of the $20 bill with abolitionist Harriet Tubman.
Rep. Steve King of Iowa has offered an amendment to a spending bill barring the use of funds to redesign any Federal Reserve note or coin. It wasn't immediately clear why King opposed the redesign, and his office did not immediately respond to messages.
Under plans announced in April by Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew, Tubman would replace Andrew Jackson on the front of the $20 bill. The abolitionist and former slave who was a leader of the Underground Railroad will become the first African-American featured on U.S. paper currency and the first woman on paper currency in a century.
Andrew Jackson, the nation's seventh president, will be moved to the back of the $20 bill, which will also retain an image of the White House on the back.
Alexander Hamilton's portrait will remain on the front of the $10 bill. The back, which now features the Treasury building in Washington, will be redesigned to commemorate a 1913 suffragette march and feature famous suffragette leaders including Susan B. Anthony.
The $5 bill will retain Abraham Lincoln on the front. The back, which now features the Lincoln Memorial, will be redesigned to include important civil rights events at the memorial including Martin Luther King's "I have a dream" speech and a 1939 concert by African-American opera singer Marian Anderson.
King is a conservative Republican known for his outspoken criticism of U.S. immigration policy. His Democratic opponent in Iowa, Kim Weaver, said it's "a headline-grabbing piece of stunt legislation."
"And what chance does this meaningless and mean-spirited gesture have of actually passing? Just like most measures introduced by Steve King, none," she said. | {
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BOSTON -- The 2019 Boston Red Sox made an admission this weekend: They're not as good as the Tampa Bay Rays -- at least not right now.
Boston squandered an opportunity to climb back up the American League East standings this past weekend, when Tampa Bay took three of four games, putting the Red Sox seven games behind the Rays and New York Yankees in the division race. The last time Boston won a series against a team with an above-.500 record was at the end of April, when the Red Sox swept the Rays at Tropicana Field. In this past series, Tampa Bay routinely displayed its dominance, outscoring Boston 21-9.
"Right now, they're better than us," Red Sox manager Alex Cora said. "We've gotta keep working. We've been saying all along, we've gotta be better with men in scoring position, executing out of the bullpen. Everything."
Seeing Boston squander opportunities to score with men on base has become routine. In his postgame news conference Sunday, Cora highlighted one such instance from the first inning, when the Red Sox had outfielder Mookie Betts on third base and Christian Vazquez on second with no outs following a single, a walk and a wild pitch from Rays lefty Blake Snell.
Boston followed with three straight strikeouts from Xander Bogaerts, Michael Chavis and Eduardo Nunez.
The Red Sox have looked overmatched against Rays pitching before. Tampa Bay starter Yonny Chirinos retired the first 15 Red Sox hitters in order Friday, allowing just two hits in eight shutout innings. That wasn't a fluke, either: The Rays rank first in baseball with a 2.96 team ERA.
"S---, give them credit," Bogaerts told ESPN. "Their pitching was real good. S---, you've got Blake Snell on the mound, and he worked out of it with big pitches at big times. Last year, we capitalized a lot more on those opportunities, and it hasn't been there."
Boston finds itself in a dramatically different position heading into this June 10 than last year's, when the team was tied for first place with the Yankees with a 44-21 record, 14 games ahead of the Rays. Boston finished the season with 108 wins, a franchise record for a season, before winning the World Series. On June 10 this year, the Red Sox find themselves looking up in the division -- way up.
There are caveats here. Slugger J.D. Martinez was out of the starting lineup Sunday for the fourth straight game due to back tightness, missing the entire Rays series. Boston was also without first baseman Mitch Moreland, who leads the team with 13 home runs. But Cora said the offensive consistency problems that have plagued the team all season continue to persist.
Eduardo Rodriguez and the Red Sox are now in a seven-game AL East hole after dropping three of four to the Rays this past weekend. Adam Glanzman/Getty Images
"We keep addressing it and keep talking about it," Cora said. "It's game planning. They made some good pitches too. It's game planning. We have to attack them as a group. Like I said earlier today, doing the little things. A ground ball up the middle, make contact, all of that stuff that helps you get to the big hit. We haven't done that in a while. We have to start doing it."
With the trade deadline a little over a month and a half away, Boston sits in a definitive third place in the AL East. Boston entered the season expected to compete in the same weight class as the Houston Astros and Yankees. Instead, the Red Sox have struggled to keep up with the best teams in the American League, posting a 7-13 record against the Astros, Yankees and Rays thus far.
Dave Dombrowski, Boston's president of baseball operations, was confident about this team. He brought back much of last season's World Series-winning roster, with closer Craig Kimbrel being the only major departure. Cora came into the season confident too, telling reporters at the 2019 BBWAA Boston dinner, "If you thought last year was special, wait 'til this year."
30 for 30 ESPN's award-winning documentary series. Watch on ESPN+
The team hasn't played up to that expectation so far, and with a fan base like Boston's, opting for the status quo can lasts only so long when things aren't going well. This, after all, is a city that spent time speculating on local sports radio about whether its teams could string together titles in all four major American professional sports leagues. Boston doesn't acknowledge postseason participation medals, and as the Bruins' Stanley Cup run wraps up this week, the Red Sox will face increasing scrutiny if the self-feeding circle of inconsistency and mediocrity doesn't end soon. Public acceptance of the Red Sox status quo could disappear if the team's performance does not change quickly.
But things aren't all doom and gloom. David Price, who has been Boston's best and most consistent pitcher, continued his stellar season, throwing six innings against the Rays on Saturday, allowing one run, striking out 10 and walking two batters. Since Aug. 1, including the postseason, Price has 150 strikeouts in 133 2/3 innings pitched with a 2.96 ERA and 1.09 WHIP.
Meanwhile, Bogaerts continues to play like the best shortstop in baseball, hitting .291/.374/.516 with 12 homers, 19 doubles and 42 RBIs, and is on pace for 29 homers and 103 RBIs. Boston will need them both when the Texas Rangers come to town Monday for a four-game series. The Rangers sit one game above the Red Sox in the wild-card standings.
A poor performance against Texas could cement Boston's status as a team resigned to chasing the second wild-card slot alongside the likes of the Rangers, Oakland Athletics and Cleveland Indians. Bogaerts said the team knows it needs to be more consistent at the plate if it hopes to make anything resembling a playoff run. When asked the reason for the team's lack of consistency, the shortstop did not pretend to have answers.
"I don't know," Bogaerts said. "I don't know."
He paused, gathering his thoughts.
"It'll come," he said. | {
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Authored by John Whitehead via The Rutherford Institute,
By all means, let’s talk about patriotism and President Trump’s call for “respect for our Country, Flag and National Anthem.”
At a time when the American flag adorns everything from men’s boxers and women’s bikinis to beer koozies, bandannas and advertising billboards (with little outcry from the American public), and the National Anthem is sung by Pepper the Parrot during the Puppy Bowl, this conveniently timed outrage over disrespect for the country’s patriotic symbols rings somewhat hollow, detracts from more serious conversations that should be taking place about critical policy matters of state, and further divides the nation and ensures that “we the people” will not present a unified front to oppose the police state.
First off , let’s tackle this issue of respect or lack thereof for patriotic symbols.
As the U.S. Supreme Court has made clear, Americans have a right to abstain from patriotic demonstrations and/or actively protest that demonstration, for example, by raising one’s fist during the Pledge of Allegiance. Likewise, Americans have a First Amendment right to display, alter or destroy the U.S. flag as acts of symbolic protest speech.
In fact, in Street v. New York (1969), the Supreme Court held that the government may not punish a person for uttering words critical of the flag. The case arose after Sidney Street, hearing about the attempted murder of civil rights leader James Meredith in Mississippi, burned a 48-star American flag on a New York City street corner to protest what he saw as the government’s failure to protect Meredith. Upon being questioned about the flag, Street responded, “Yes; that is my flag; I burned it. If they let that happen to Meredith, we don’t need an American flag.”
In Spence v. Washington (1974), the Court ruled that the right to display the American flag with any mark or design upon it is a protected act of expression. The case involved a college student who had placed a peace symbol on a three by five foot American flag using removable black tape and displayed it upside down from his apartment window.
Finally, in Texas v. Johnson (1989), the Court held that flag burning was protected speech under the First Amendment. The case arose from a demonstration near the site of the Republican National Convention in Dallas during which protesters marched through the streets, chanted political slogans, staged “die-ins” in front of several corporate offices to dramatize the consequences of nuclear war, and burned the flag as a means of political protest.
In other words, if freedom means anything, it means that those exercising their right to protest are showing the greatest respect for the principles on which this nation was founded: the right to free speech and the right to dissent. Clearly, the First Amendment to the Constitution assures Americans of the right to speak freely, assemble freely and protest (petition the government for a redress of grievances).
Whether those First Amendment activities take place in a courtroom or a classroom, on a football field or in front of the U.S. Supreme Court is not the issue: what matters is that Americans have a right—according to the spirit, if not always the letter, of the law—to voice their concerns without being penalized for it.
Second , let’s not confuse patriotism (love for or devotion to one’s country) with blind obedience to the government’s dictates. That is the first step towards creating an authoritarian regime.
One can be patriotic and love one’s country while at the same time disagreeing with the government or protesting government misconduct. Indeed, real patriots care enough to take a stand, speak out, protest and challenge the government whenever it steps out of line.
It’s not anti-American to be anti-war or anti-police misconduct or anti-racial discrimination, but it is anti-American to be anti-freedom.
America requires more than voters inclined to pay lip service to a false sense of patriotism. It requires doers—a well-informed and very active group of doers—if we are to have any chance of holding the government accountable and maintaining our freedoms.
After all, it was not idle rhetoric that prompted the Framers of the Constitution to begin with the words “We the people.”
This ultimate responsibility for maintaining our freedoms rests with the people.
Third , we need to stop acting as if showing “respect” for the country, flag and national anthem is more important than the freedoms they represent.
Listen: I served in the Army. I lived through the Civil Rights era. I came of age during the Sixties, when activists took to the streets to protest war and economic and racial injustice. As a constitutional lawyer, I defend people daily whose civil liberties are being violated, including high school students prohibited from wearing American flag t-shirts to school, allegedly out of a fear that it might be disruptive.
I understand the price that must be paid for freedom. None of the people I served with or marched with or represented put our lives or our liberties on the line for a piece of star-spangled cloth or a few bars of music: we took our stands and made our sacrifices because we believed we were fighting to maintain our freedoms and bring about justice for all Americans.
Love of country will sometimes entail carrying a picket sign or going to jail or taking a knee, if necessary, to preserve liberty and challenge injustice. And it will mean speaking up for those with whom you might disagree. Tolerance for dissent, we must remember, is a vital characteristic of the citizens of a democratic society.
The problems facing our generation are numerous and are becoming incredibly complex.
As I make clear in my book Battlefield America: The War on the American People, we’re at a very crucial crossroads in American history. We have to be well-informed, not only about current events but well-versed in the basics of our rights and duties as citizens. If not, in perceived times of crisis, we may very well find ourselves in the clutches of a governmental system that is alien to everything for which America stands.
Therein is the menace to our freedoms.
So stop falling for the distractions. Stop allowing yourself to be fooled by propaganda and partisan politics. Stop acting as if the only thing worth getting outraged about is whether a bunch of football players stand or kneel for the National Anthem.
Stop being armchair patriots and start acting like foot soldiers for the Constitution. | {
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Walter Mazzarri stressed that his side are not dependent on striker Edinson Cavani following the Partenopei’s comfortable victory on the road at lowly Pescara.
Napoli ran out 3-0 victors thanks to goals from Gokhan Inler, Goran Pandev and Blerim Dzemaili and Mazzarri was confident that despite the lack of the Uruguayan striker his side would cope just fine with the Delfini challenge.
“It’s nice to see we are not dependent on Cavani” the 51 year-old told Sky Sports Italia, “I was certain that even without Edi we could perform well at the Stadio Adriatico”
On whether his side can clinch a Champions League spot Mazzarri stated, “We have to remain focused both physically and mentally. Tonight we took an important step towards qualification but there is still work to do.
Mazzarri was pleased at Inler’s return to former confessing, “Today he has done very well. I am satisfied with his return to form, he is a great professional and I can now rely on him again.”
The former Sampdoria coach was reluctant to speak about his future in Naples telling reporters, “I do not want to talk about the future. At the end of the season I will tell you everything.
“Now we need to concentrate on Champions League qualification as that is now our equivalent of winning the Scudetto.” | {
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NEW YORK (Reuters) - The dollar rose on Wednesday, even as investors focused on socking their money into bonds and gold - and to a lesser extent the yen and Swiss franc - with no end in sight in the trade tension between China and the United States.
FILE PHOTO: U.S. dollar notes are seen in front of a stock graph in this November 7, 2016 picture illustration. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration
Investor jitters intensified after the People’s Daily newspaper, owned by China’s ruling Communist Party, said Beijing was ready to use rare earths for leverage in its trade dispute with the United States.
The wave of risk aversion sent sovereign bond yields tumbling across the world. Benchmark U.S. Treasury yields fell to their lowest levels since September 2017 while New Zealand bond yields tumbled to a record low.
Fears about a trade war between the world’s two biggest economies spurred selling in emerging market currencies such as the South African rand and Brazilian real and commodity-sensitive currencies including the Australian and New Zealand dollars.
“Most of the risk aversion that’s coursing through markets is being felt by the Aussie, Kiwi and emerging markets,” said Joe Manimbo, senior market analyst at Western Union Business Solutions in Washington. “Big majors (are) little changed as key supports hold for now.”
In late U.S. trading, an index that tracks the greenback against the euro, yen, sterling and three other currencies was 0.23% higher at 98.173, holding below a two-year high of 97.908 reached last week.
The Chinese yuan softened to 6.9130 per dollar, not far from 5-1/2-month lows.
Benchmark 10-year Treasury yields fell to 2.219% earlier Wednesday, the lowest since September 2017, while yields on 10-year New Zealand government debt touched 1.730%, the lowest level since at least 1985.
Gold prices rose on the day’s safe-haven move, gaining 0.2% to about $1,281 an ounce.
The greenback was little changed against the yen and the Swiss franc at 109.65 yen and 1.0081 franc per dollar, respectively.
The euro was a tad weaker against the Japanese and Swiss currencies at 122.075 yen and 1.1227 franc, respectively.
“We are not going to get out of this choppy trading,” said Ellis Phifer, senior market strategist at Raymond James in Memphis, Tennessee.
Major central banks have not signaled an imminent policy easing to counter business slowdown stemming from the Sino-U.S. trade conflict.
The Bank of Canada on Wednesday left interest rates unchanged at 1.75% on expectations growth has picked up in the second quarter following a deceleration in the previous quarter. It did acknowledge increasing risks from global trade tension.
The Canadian dollar reached a five-month low of C$1.3547 after the BOC rate decision.
Still, traders reckoned policy-makers would relent. Interest rate futures implied they believe the U.S. Federal Reserve would lower key lending rates by year-end.
(Graphic: World FX rates in 2019 tmsnrt.rs/2egbfVh).
(This story has been refiled to to fix in 12th paragraph to “choppy” from “choppying”). | {
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This month, Steve Coogan publishes his memoir, Easily Distracted. Here, he interviews himself about sex, drugs and creating Alan Partridge.
Don’t miss an exclusive extract from the book on Saturday, online and in Guardian Weekend magazine. Plus in Monday’s G2: Coogan answers readers’ questions.
Easily Distracted is published by Century 8 October. Order it for £16 from the Guardian bookshop | {
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Based on James Smart's Philadelphia Neighborhoods maps (June, 1988), these data layers comprise the "widely known neighborhoods" and "lesser known neighborhoods" whose names "may be used in copy without further explanation, on the presumption that most Philadelphia residents are familiar with their location."
It is important to note that the areas contained in these layers were not drawn from a base map, rather from street borders. Some of these "lesser known neighborhoods" have been excluded, simply because the borders were too vague to draw (e.g. "THE NECK - Once the entire lower part of South Philadelphia, later the lower east side of South Philadelphia, particularly around Second Street. Old-timers still use the name.") This web mapping application was built by the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission for the Philadelphia Inquirer. Please contact Will Stevens for further information: [email protected]. Data layers last updated: August 2011
Map Navigation: Click-and-drag on the map to pan, or use your mouse wheel to zoom in/out.You may also use the slider bar and arrow controls to zoom in/out of the map. Double-clicking on an area will also zoom in. If you hold down the Shift Key and drag a box on the map, it will zoom into the area drawn.
Click Zoom to extent button to zoom to the initial map extent. To view Google Street View drag from the left hand side onto the map. Any street highlighted blue has an available street level view.
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Hello, I am Argus Hakan. After my last trial, (read Hexepta - Ghost Hack)I have frankly gone of the many ways of my school. I pretended not to care at the time, but the victim of that case was the man I respected the most, he was more than any father I had, and my love for him goes truly to the realms of homosexuality. I only managed to pull through that case with the fear of having myself locked up behind jail bars, but now that life is back to being otherwise normal, I am absolutely devastated.
That is why I am switching schools; to Hopes Peak Academy.
Now, as an absolute and unconditional policy, Hope's Peak Academy do not accept applications. This would mean that any normal student would not be at all able to join this school, no matter how much they wanted. But my case is different; over the past few years, they have repeatedly been pestering me to join, as they greatly wanted my vast intellect to be with them.
However, I well and truly loved my school, and the school court system they use is unique in the world. As prestigious as Hope's Peak Academy may be, [PREVIOUS SCHOOL] was just as grand, if not more so. I am to be accepted as the Ultimate Defense Attorney. As sad as it shall be to say goodbye to all my many friends, this is for the better, for the sake of Hope!
I arrived at the school gates. I have no idea who my classmates shall be, or what cool and wacky talents they may have, and boy do I sure look forward to finding out! I stepped inside the school...
...and felt the dread of despair in my stomach as I lost consciousness.
I woke up in a classroom. Hmm, how on Earth did I get here?! I decided it'd be best to look around a bit, in case I'm supposed to be waiting here. To my left were some boarded up windows. I pulled at them with all the force I could output from my hand, but to no avail. Additionally, there also appeared to be a monitor of some kind, and also a few security cameras. I walked out of the room, and as I stepped outside, I found everyone else.
In total, there were supposed to be 16 of us here, including me, but at present there were only 11. It seemed nobody else knew what was happening.
"Hi I'm Hemlock Ultimate Mastermind" said Hemlock, the Ultimate Mastermind, introducing himself. "I just want to get that out of the way right now, but I can assure y'all that I did nothing bad here, it wasn't me!"
"A likely story. And do you have evidence to support that claim, Mr Hemlock?" Asked Phoenix Wright Ultimate Poker Player, who has apparently never lost a single game.
"I don't," said Hemlock, "But I honestly am not. If I was to really be the mastermind, would I really be going by "Ultimate Mastermind"?"
"Yes that does seem a little odd," squeaked AceHexeptaFan, the """"""""Ultimate"""""""" Fanfiction writer.
"Shut up, imbecile!" ordered Pedro Dock-Finch, Ultimate Elitist. He wore an incredible cape, on which were bestowed several thousand badges acknowledging all his elite accomplishments, like the time when he got into the WC or the time when he had a JD Degree Degree. As the badges glimmered in the light, they were truly impressive.
"Please stop with the shouting," magiced Himiko Yumeno, the Ultimate Magician.
"Yes please" cried AceHexeptaFan since he was scared.
"So guys, anyone able to work out what is happening?" asked AceHexeptaFan.
"I know exactly what is happening," said God, the Ultimate Theological Deity.
"HOLD IT!" I shouted, at the same instant as Phoenix, "What do you know?" I interjected quickly.
"You can find the truth yourself, my children" said God.
"Ok" said Apollo Ultimate Dumbass.
"I'll help you investigate," I told the others, "This is the kind of thing I do for a living!"
"Me too," said Phoenix, "Together we shall find the Truth!"
"Likewise" said Apollo.
We all headed out of the hall and into the gymnasium... | {
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It hasn’t been all sunshine and rainbows for the Rockies’ Double-A affiliate so far this season. Going into Friday’s game the Hartford Yard Goats were 1-6 on the young season and averaging less than 2.5 runs per game on offense. Enter: Garrett Hampson. The no. 9 PuRP led a lineup that broke out for eight runs against the New Hampshire FisherCats, putting up three hits and a walk and scoring twice. Hampson was one of four Yard Goats with a multi-hit game, including Sam Hilliard (no. 17 PuRP) and Yonathan Daza (no. 19 PuRP).
Hampson is adjusting well in his first taste of Double-A so far, hitting .313/.371/.438 and five stolen bases already at the top of the Hartford lineup. Meanwhile, top prospect Brendan Rodgers is off to a very slow start, who went 0-for-4 with two runs scored on Friday. In his second go-around at Double-A (he spent the second half of the 2017 season with the Yard Goats) he has just five hits and one walk through 33 at bats. Granted, two of those five were home runs, plus another double, so it’s not time to go into full panic mode. Also: 33 at bats.
★ ★ ★
Raimel Tapia: 0-for-5, 3 K
Sam Howard (no. 10 PuRP): 4 IP, 6 H, 4 R/ER, 3 BB, 8 K
Tom Murphy (no. 11 PuRP): 0-for-4, BB, K
Jordan Patterson (no. 14 PuRP): 2-for-3, 2 R, HR, 2 RBI, 2 BB
Jairo Diaz (no. 27 PuRP): 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K
Noel Cuevas (HM PuRP): 1-for-5, 3B, 3 RBI
★ ★ ★
Brendan Rodgers (no. 1 PuRP): 0-for-4, 2 R, RBI
Garrett Hampson (no. 9 PuRP): 3-for-4, 2 R, 2B, RBI, BB
Brian Mundell (no. 13 PuRP): 0-for-3, R, RBI, BB
Sam Hilliard (no. 17 PuRP): 2-for-4, R, RBI, BB
Yonathan Daza (no. 19 PuRP): 2-for-5, R
Dom Nuñez (no. 21 PuRP): 2-for-3, 3 RBI
Jesus Tinoco (HM PuRP): 5 IP, 6 H, 3 R/ER, 2 BB, 3 K
★ ★ ★
Colton Welker (no. 5 PuRP): 0-for-2, 2 R, RBI, 3 BB
Tyler Nevin (no. 12 PuRP): 4-for-5, 2 RBI,
Forrest Wall (no. 16 PuRP): 2-for-5, 2 R, 2B, RBI
Vince Fernandez (no. 28 PuRP): 1-for-4, HR, 2 RBI, BB
★ ★ ★
Ryan Vilade (no. 7 PuRP): 0-for-4
Chad Spanberger (no. 29 PuRP): 1-for-4, HR, 2 RBI
Sean Bouchard (ninth round, 2017): 1-for-4, R
Casey Golden: 2-for-4, 2 R, 2B
Garrett Schilling: 5 2/3 IP, 4 H, 1 R/ER, 2 BB, 3 K
★ ★ ★
Saturday Probables
Triple-A Albuquerque: Chris Jensen (0-0, 3.60 ERA) vs. Salt Lake (LAA), 6:35 pm MT
Double-A Hartford: Peter Lambert (no. 4 PuRP, 0-0, 0.00 ERA) @ New Hampshire (TOR), 4;35 pm MT
High-A Lancaster: Logan Longwith (0-1, 6.00 ERA) @ Lake Elsinore (SDP), 7:00 pm MT
Low-A Asheville: Will Gaddis (no. 23 PuRP, 0-0, 3.18 ERA) vs. Columbia (NYM), 4:05 pm MT | {
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Egypt's former military chief of staff, who announced he would run for president in March elections, has called on state institutions to maintain neutrality toward all candidates.
Sami Annan's early Saturday video statement released on his official Facebook page came hours after President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi declared his bid to run for a second four-year term.
He urged civil and military institutions against "unconstitutionally" siding with a president "who may leave his office."
Annan said he formed a presidential team that would include Egypt's former top auditor Hisham Genena, who was sacked by el-Sissi in 2016. Annan also said he is running to "save the Egyptian state" from what he described as "wrong policies."
Other presidential hopefuls include a prominent rights lawyer who has alleged harassment by the authorities. | {
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SPACE DOGS By Erupan Watch
163 Favourites 5 Comments 1K Views
I've been far to absent on deviantart, I'm sorry! I'm going to post some month-old vent art I've been keeping over at my artdump today. But only the things I'm proud of, I don't want to spam you with homestuck fanart when I kind of promised to keep it all on my tumblr. :I
Okay this is the last one, did it on valentines day because I couldn't draw cute shippy things like everyone else for some reason.
Sudderny there are all these winged dog people on my deviantart. :T BUT IT'S OKAY SINCE ONE OF THEM IS AN ADORABLE MAIL LADY CHESSPIECE AND THE OTHER IS A SHADOW MAGERY MOBSTER CHESSPIECE TURNED FURRY AND THEY ARE SIMPLY THE BEST
Pm, bec, Jack noir, Jade and all the planets © Andrew Hussie
IMAGE DETAILS Image size 1328x3118px 3.37 MB Show More
Published : Mar 8, 2012 | {
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徐々に広がりそう。
日本にヒントを得たセックスドール風俗店が9月8日にトロントでオープンします。欧州では昨年現れ物議を醸していますが、北米ではここが初。運営会社のAura Dollsはウェブサイトで、｢リアル彼女のしがらみと制約抜きにニーズを満たす、まったく新しい楽しみ方をお届けするのが当社のビジョン｣と、社会奉仕か何かのように謳っていますよ。
どんなサービス内容なの？
場所は秘密で、予約後に明かされるシステムです。クライアントは6体あるドールの中から自分好みの年齢（21～24歳）、人種、目と髪の色、体形の人形を選ぶことができます。プロフィールには性格も書かれていて、｢Yukiちゃんは、常連さん・事前予約が好き。ほかのAura Dollsと遊ぶとやきもちを焼きます｣とかいう、妄想と虚構のファンタジーワールドが広がっています。
気になる料金は1体30分で80ドル、2体なら4時間で960ドル。今は25%OFFのグランドオープンキャンペーン実施中です。もうじき月極プランも出る予定。男性ドールのリクエストも入っていますが、当面導入は考えていないようです。
場所は秘密のはずなんですが、地元TV局のCityNewsがさっそく取材に行き、店の前から詳しく報じています。｢裏口から入って表から出る一歩通行なので、ほかのクライアントと鉢合わせすることもありません｣と、表玄関を所番地までクローズアップで放映しながら大真面目に解説していて、ジョークのレベルが違うと感心してしまいました。
アイデア元は日本
創業者は匿名希望とのことですが、広報担当ディレクターのClaire Leeさんによると、｢日本訪問でこの起業アイディアを思いついた｣のだといいます。日本はいろんなものをインスパイアしていますね。
スペインでは営業許可で引っかかって1カ月で閉店という騒ぎもありましたが、トロントはまだ適用法がないため違法ではありません。｢広まったら規制も考える｣と市は答えていますよ。
風俗ワーカーの人権運動をしているMonica Forresterさんは、 ｢語りにくい雰囲気を打開し、職業差別の是正につながれば｣とCityNewsの取材に答えています。
一方、パリでは今年2月にオープンしたセックスドール風俗店｢XDolls｣に｢人形レイプはやめろ｣と、風俗反対運動の女性たちが抗議しています。人間が傷つくから反対するのかと思ったら、ロボもダメみたい。｢女子をモノ扱いするな｣と反対していたら、本当にモノが出てきた、という…。こちらも大きな岐路に立たされています。
賛否はありますが、セックスドール風俗店、広まることはあっても当分減ることはなさそうです。こんなに払うんだったら買えば？って思っちゃいますけど、取り寄せるほどの熱意も場所もないけど一度は試してみたいと思っているマニア未満な人は案外多いのかもしれませんね。 | {
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Desilter
KOSUN oilfield drilling fluid desilter belongs to the 3rd stage of solids control for drilling mud, which makes separations between 15 and 45 microns.
We're here to help:
Easy ways to get the answers you need. | {
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Get breaking news alerts and special reports. The news and stories that matter, delivered weekday mornings.
NEW YORK — Frank Vincent, a veteran character actor who often played tough guys, including mob boss Phil Leotardo on "The Sopranos," has died. He was 80.
Vincent died peacefully on Wednesday, a statement from his family said. No cause of death was given.
Actor Frank Vincent attends "The Sopranos: The Complete Fifth Season" DVD launch party at English is Italian on June 6, 2005 in New York City. Paul Hawthorne / Getty Images file
Besides Leotardo, the ruthless New York mob boss who frequently clashed with Tony Soprano on the popular HBO drama and who was memorably whacked at a service station, Vincent portrayed gangsters for director Martin Scorsese. He appeared in "Raging Bull," ''Goodfellas" — where he played Billy Batts, a made man in the Gambino crime family — and "Casino," playing Frank Marino, based on real-life gangster Frank Cullotta.
Vincent had small roles in two Spike Lee films, "Do the Right Thing" and "Jungle Fever," and also was in "The Pope of Greenwich Village," ''Last Exit to Brooklyn," ''Night Falls on Manhattan" and "Shark Tale," among his more than 50 movies.
Raised in Jersey City, New Jersey, he acted in school plays and learned piano, trumpet and drums. As an adult, he became a session drummer for such singers as Paul Anka, Del Shannon, Trini Lopez and The Belmonts.
In 1975, he made his feature film acting debut in Ralph DeVito's "Death Collector," where he was spotted by Scorsese.
In 2006, Vincent published "A Guy's Guide to Being a Man's Man." | {
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"If I had no sense of humor, I would long ago have committed suicide"- Mahatma Gandhi
"I fear the day technology will surpass our human interaction. The world will have a generation of idiots"- Albert Einstein | {
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This preset positioned as "Immersive" into gameplay. He works like "Run into moving object". This is simply, if you moves, DoF and SSAO adapts to you and moves with you. Pirate SSAO is indicated as "Distantly Occlusion", this shader ignores nearby objects and locally obscure distant objects. Light DoF is Depth of Field which works the same depending on distance and the field of view. Be sure to enable LightDof_Autofocus to get this "effect". Be sure you moved to the top of your shaders list "Pirate_DepthPreProcess" this is necessary for "Pirate_SSAO" work. Also check out the preprocessor options to get access for more functionality.
This preset created for using only with original Post-Process effects, this means don't use this Preset with Partially/Full Post-Process removing codes or your game will not look like this.
Many thanks to MrJAG , who gave me this code
That Partially Post-Processing removal code has unique lines that allow you to transform the visual component without losing graphics effects, what is not possible to achieve this simply by editing game config files. For your understanding, "Partial Post-Process removing" 'replaces' the current post-processing game filter and gives the game a new visual look while preserving all the graphic effects.
Create BmInput.ini in this path
==================================================================
Batman Arkham Knight\DLC\356474\Content\BmGame\Config
==================================================================
Dynamic Super Resolution (DSR) will have largest impact, enhancing any game that supports resolutions above 1920x1080. What does DSR do? Simply put, it renders a game at a higher, more detailed resolution and intelligently shrinks the result back down to the resolution of your monitor, giving you 4K, 3840x2160-quality graphics on any screen.
Display section
Select Resolution
But this is not enough to have a very sharp and detailed image, in ReShade menu find HighPassSharp.fx Mode1.fx(FineSharp) Mode2.fx(FineSharp) Mode3.fx(FineSharp) and enable all of this to have a very detailed image. But this is for very strong GPU's because can extreme hit perfomace.
I also included 4KSharpMode Preset in files. Use this only for Screenarchering.(Lut, EyeAdaptation enabled)
To enable DSR:Enter the NVIDIA Control Panel(right click on desktop), select the DSR scaling factors you want to use, and select the corresponding DSR resolution in-game.Additionally, you can adjust the smoothness of the 13-tap Gaussian filter with the NVIDIA Control Panel option directly below in NVCPL, enabling gamers to fine-tune the appearance of the DSR image, similar to sharpness controls found in the popular SweetFX post-process game plugin.DSR is quite literally a game-changer. At 4K, detail is clearer, effects and shadows better, and overall image quality far superior. Simply click GeForce Experience Optimize button and you'll instantly take your games to previously unseen levels of detail, immersing you in the experience like never before. | {
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I may not have gotten into her music until recently, but I'm officially a Lana Del Rey convert. Better late than never, right? And although I'm still obsessed with Born to Die to the point of listening to it all the way through from beginning to end several times a week, there's so much more to love about her besides her music. I'll be the first to admit that Del Rey has a habit of being slightly controversial when giving interviews (the whole "27 club" debacle, mostly) but when she's not raising eyebrows, she's dropping some serious truth. Because she's not afraid of what people might think about her, Del Rey often drops some major truth about life, and for someone so young, she's surprisingly wise.
If you haven't yet been sold on Del Rey, let me change that for you. I understand that she can be a bit polarizing — you either love or hate Lana Del Rey, and in all capital letters — but she's also an incredibly interesting person. If her amazing songwriting talent doesn't do it for you, these quotes will. Del Rey's unique view on life gives her the benefit of having a perspective that not many others have, and it's definitely something we can all learn from.
On How To Achieve Your Dreams
Find someone who has a life that you want and figure out how they got it. Read books, pick your role models wisely, find out what they did, and do it.
It's solid advice — no matter what you want to do, there's someone who's done it before and it's really helpful to learn from them.
On The Importance Of Being Respected
All that stuff about what doesn't kill you makes you stronger is so not true. Do you know what makes you stronger? When people treat you and your art with dignity. Feeling like you're respected among the people who do the same thing you do is incredible and necessary.
Del Rey knew what she was talking about when she said this in an interview with Fashion magazine in 2013. Strength can come from hardships, but it can also come from having people around you who support you and treat you with respect.
On The Freedom In Having Nothing To Lose
I knew that it takes getting everything you ever wanted and then losing it to know what true freedom is.
She's right — there's something so refreshing about starting from scratch.
On Living A Simple Life
Having a simple career as a musician who liked music was good enough for me.
Sometimes keeping it simple is all you need, as Del Rey said in an interview with GQ in 2011.
On The Harsh Realities Of Life
I’m a very happy person, but life is hard sometimes and relationships are s--t sometimes.
In a 2012 interview with Pages Digital, Del Rey got super real.
On Staying Optimistic
I have a personal ambition to live my life honestly and honor the true love that I’ve had and also the people I’ve had around me. I want to stay hopeful, even though I get scared about why we’re even alive at all.
Like she said in her 2014 interview with Complex, Del Rey's always been about being hopeful, even when things scare you.
Images: Giphy (4) | {
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According to Deadline , Frank Whaley has joined the cast of Marvel and Netflix's Luke Cage as Detective Scarfe, a character described only as a hard-nosed detective in the series. However, he has a storied history in the comic books, serving as a close ally to characters like Luke, Iron Fist, and Misty Knight. Scarfe took a surprising villainous turn during the events of Shadowland, so it could be that he's either an ally or enemy to the man known as Power Man. In Luke Cage, Mike Colter stars as Luke Cage, a wrongly accused man who, granted super strength by a sabotaged experiment, escapes prison to become a superhero for hire. Alfre Woodard, Simone Missick, Theo Rossi, and Rosario Dawson were all recently added to the cast of the series. Are you excited to see Luke Cage? | {
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On July 6, three astronauts are set to launch from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, on their way to join the crew on the International Space Station. Crammed in the tiny cockpit of a Soyuz spacecraft will be Takuya Onishi from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, Anatoly Ivanishin from Roscosmos, and one member from the US: Kate Rubins, a biologist-turned-astronaut who's studied infectious disease in biosafety level 4 facilities and on the ground in Congo.
The ISS is home to hundreds of science experiments—from growing red-leafed lettuce to carefully tracking the impacts of microgravity on the human body—and every crew member on board is responsible for keeping them running smoothly. But rarely does NASA get an astronaut with so much on-the-ground experience.
Before her first trip to the station, Rubins talked with WIRED about her preparations for her four months in space, the experiments she'll conduct on board, and how biology is similar to space travel.
__WIRED: ____What ISS experiments are you most excited about working on? __
__Kate Rubins: __Definitely sequencing DNA in orbit. My lab used to do gene expression and genomics, and we did a lot of sequencing samples from virus outbreaks. On the station, we're going to do some of the first DNA sequencing on board with the pocket size MinION sequencer. We're going to see how that technology behaves in microgravity. Does the liquid layer form the same? Does the DNA sequence go through the nanopores the same way? Can we get good data out of this?
So you'll try to get proof of concept; what do you want to look into if it works?
We're pretty interested in microbial communities on board space stations. It's a closed loop system. Our water is recycled, our air is recycled. It's a really interesting environment that's been in space for 10 years continuously now, and we've essentially put microbes up there. It's going to be really interesting to see how that's evolved.
How has your scientific work prepared you for space?
When I first got here I sort of thought, "Oh yeah I've got all this biosafety experience," and it's a completely different animal. It was very helpful to work in a biosafety level 4 suit, you're doing difficult tasks with not a lot of dexterity and limited mobility. But in the space suit it's first of all much heavier, 300, 400 pounds, and your mobility is even more limited. And you're working on all six axes.
NASA
I also worked for a decade in glove boxes in biosafety level 4, and I've worked on the upgrade of the microgravity life science box. We've turned it into a tissue culture hood. It's a pressure-controlled environment, so it uses airflow as a contamination barrier so we can perform experiments in there without air exchange with the station. All the air is filtered through HEPA filters, and a UV decontamination system will disinfect anything that's in there. All the things you would pay attention to in the normal lab.
But there have to be some differences...
One slightly more difficult thing is that the science cell block is attached to the station, and you're floating, so you have to put your feet in some footrests and actually kind of stabilize yourself. You have to make sure you can react against the forces to maintain a steady hold on your cell cultures inside. We have a full simulator with the gloves and the hardware and all of that, but there's no way to simulate the floating aspect. We're just going to have to get used to that when we get on board.
How do you keep the cells for those experiments intact with all of the forces during launch?
That's exactly what I asked! There's a couple of different ways. One is to send them up frozen. When you're packaging a cell line, they'll keep them frozen in liquid nitrogen. Then you thaw the cells very quickly and that reduces the risk of cellular damage. They developed a bag with a system of tubes attached and you warm up fluid to 37 degrees Celsius and you pump the fluid through the bag to warm up the cell culture disk inside. This is the exact sort of thing that would work in Congo; it's not this giant over-engineered thing.
For the first time, you're going to be a test subject, too. What's that feel like?
It's sort of funny to be on the other side of the equation. You feel like you need to be a really good data point. We did a lot of ultrasound training recently, learning how to do ultrasound on ourselves with a remote guider. We can actually study the pressure on the eyeball by ultrasounding your eyeball, which sounds horrible at first and it's actually a really easy thing to do!
I'm just so used to the typical image of ultrasound with the jelly on your skin, is it over your eyelid?
It is, yeah, you close your eye and you put either gel or what works great on orbit is water, actually, because the water just sits there, and you can ultrasound over the top of your eyelid. It's amazing, you watch with the other eye, and you can see your retina and your cornea and your optic nerve and it's really cool.
OK, last, totally unrelated question. I was looking at your Twitter account and I saw a couple of Battlestar Galactica references. Are you a fan?
I'm a huge fan! I'm not sure I'm allowed to say that. I kind of watch anything on the Syfy channel. I think it's reasonable, you can own your nerd credibility when you're an astronaut. I gotta say Starbuck is my favorite character. | {
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Hooligans gegen Satzbau Die AfD mit eigenen Mitteln schlagen
Moderation: Axel Rahmlow
Die Satire-Gruppe "Hooligans gegen Satzbau" erinnert an rassistische Zitate von AfD-Mitgliedern. (Facebook/Hooligans gegen Satzbau)
Abgebrochene Vorträge, Hetze im Netz - und nun verbreiten sogar AfD-Gegner rassistische Zitate von Politikern der Partei in den sozialen Medien, damit sie nicht in Vergessenheit geraten. Aufregung oder Aufklärung?
Es steht schlecht um die Debattenkultur in Deutschland. Das findet zumindest der Chefradakteur der "Welt", Ulf Poschardt. Ähnlich äußerte sich zuvor bereits Bundestagspräsident Norbert Lammert: "Je schlicht vernünftiger das ist, was man gesagt hat, desto geringer ist die Wahrscheinlichkeit, dass es viele erreicht. Denn es wird nicht transportiert."
Die Ereignisse der vergangen Tage scheinen diese Einschätzung einer immer aufgeregteren Debattenkultur zu stützen: Zum zweiten Mal musste der ehemalige AfD-Chef Bernd Lucke seine Vorlesung über Makroökonomie an der Uni Hamburg abbrechen, weil es vor dem Hörsaal zu Tumulten kam. Im Netz beschimpfen rechte Aktivisten Menschen mit Migrationshintergrund, Frauen, Politiker und Journalisten. Und in Göttingen verhinderten linke Aktivisten Anfang der Woche eine Lesung des ehemaligen Innenministers Thomas de Maiziere.
Die Medienstrategie der AfD
Zur Frage, wie und mit welchen Mitteln Debatten zu führen sind, kommt nun ein weiterer Fall: In den sozialen Medien kursiert ein Zitat des AfD-Politikers Nicolaus Fest. Es sieht auf den ersten Blick so aus wie ein Statement, das die AfD in den sozialen Medien verbreitet. Das Zitat auf dem Foto ist von Fest. Aber verbreitet worden ist es von AfD-Gegnern, nämlich von der Satire-Gruppe "Hooligans gegen Satzbau".
Die Gruppe tritt anonym auf, aber ein Sprecher der Gruppe sagte, man wolle mit der Aktion die zweigleisige Medienstrategie der AfD unterlaufen. Die Partei versuche einerseits, mit rassistischen und rechtsextremen Provokationen Aufmerksamkeit zu erregen. Gleichzeitig versuche sie, sich als bürgerliche Partei zu inszenieren.
"Das funktioniert natürlich nur, wenn man alle zwei Wochen wieder vergisst, was man vor einiger Zeit gesagt hat", sagt der Sprecher von "Hooligans gegen Satzbau". Zu solchen vergessenen Zitaten gehöre zum Beispiel, dass Adolf Hitler "nicht ausschließlich böse" sei, oder eben – wie im aktuellen Fall von Nikolaus Fest, "dass man 'Gastarbeiter' rief, aber 'Gesindel' kam".
"Die AfD ist eine gefährliche, rechtsextreme Gruppierung"
Durch die Veröffentlichung des Zitats, das Fest so in der Vergangenheit auf seiner Facebook-Seite geäußert habe, mache man keine Werbung für die AfD, sondern zeige auf, "dass die AfD keine harmlose Partei ist, sondern eine gefährliche, rechtsextreme Gruppierung".
Hat die Gruppe mit der erneuten Verbreitung des Zitats nicht auch jene Menschen mit Migrationshintergrund getäuscht, die sich jetzt in den sozialen Netzen zu Wort melden und sagen, ihre Eltern hätten Besseres verdient, als dass die AfD nun erneut die kalkulierte Aufmerksamkeit für einen rassistische Spruch bekomme? Und was trägt eine solche Aktion zu einer Versachlichung der Debatte bei?
Der Sprecher der Gruppe "Hooligans gegen Satzbau" sagt, für eine Versachlichung der Debatte gebe es genug Soziologen und Politikwissenschaftler, die sich mit der AfD beschäftigen. Es ginge mit der Aktion darum, Werkzeuge und Methoden der Partei aufzuzeigen: "Wir wenden das, was die AfD tut, auf sie selbst an." Die Aktion wolle vor allem zeigen, wie weit das Denken der Partei in die Mitte der Gesellschaft vorgedrungen sei.
(sed) | {
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Posted on December 23, 2012
CNN's Don Lemon On Gun Control: Should We Start Profiling White Men?
CNN's Don Lemon discusses the possibility of profiling white men in an attempt to prevent gun violence and decrease the amount of mass shootings. Lemon argues that white males between the ages of 18 and 25 were behind nearly all recent mass killings.
On the panel: David Sirota, radio talk show host; Richard Moran, criminologist; Lou Palumbo, retired police detective and private security provider; and Tom Deets, gun store owner. | {
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Another week, another exciting development at WePower!
At the European Union Energy Day event in Abu Dhabi, our partnership with 220 Energia has been announced. 220 Energia is an electricity retailer operating across a number of countries in the Nordic and Baltic region. This development marks a continuation of WePower’s platform testing and adoption across the whole energy sector value chain.
The key areas of this partnership, which are also outlined in the copy of the Memorandum of Understanding (the — MoU) attached below, are focused around finding ways to:
1.implement blockchain technology for financing the residential solar projects;
2.match and deliver the tokenized energy from power plants to token holders.
In other words, we will be working on defining and testing WePower’s application in a real consumer to consumer energy trading scenario. Our finding will pave a way into the future where any household with good environmental conditions for solar energy will be able to finance their energy generators easier as well as where any energy consumer will be free to choose what type of energy they want to buy from the market.
This partnership is also a stepping stone from our technological development perspective. Once we complete our technical pilot with Elering, we will be able to quickly move towards offering retail energy packages on the market and in this way support the consumption of tokenized energy. With this partnership we will be able to complete our goals faster and use the case to continue our business expansion through partnerships across Europe and beyond.
“When we started WePower we did not plan to enter the household market until 2020. However, this partnership with 220 Energia allows us to expand our platform adoption scope and move towards our goals faster. This essentially means that we will be able to tokenize and trade energy produced not only by large renewable energy producers but also by any household with a solar panel on their roof or a windmill in their backyard” — Nikolaj Martyniuk, CEO and Co-Founder of WePower.
220 Energia is an ideal partner for us. The company is well established with strong experience in energy retail market across different countries. They have a strong eagerness to innovate and are very keen to drive green energy adoption. As a matter of fact, 220 Energia today buys 67% of electricity from renewable energy sources, which are produced using both Estonian biomass, landfill and biogas, wind and solar energy, and hydropower. We are confident that our work with 220 Energia will serve as an informed blueprint for other energy retailers.
“We aim to use digital technologies to help customers make better everyday energy decisions that help save them money and lower their environmental footprint. We are always looking out for new opportunities. I am glad to partner with WePower to explore the new opportunities that blockchain can bring to the table.“ — Peeter Pikk, Board member, 220Energia.
Peeter Pikk, Board member of 220 Energia at The European Union Energy Day event in Abu Dhabi
At WePower we have always believed in innovation driven through partnerships and utilization of the currently existing energy systems.
Earlier, we have started working with an innovative energy transmission services operator. As of today, we are starting our cooperation with an energy retailer.
With the overwhelming support and constantly evolving partnerships, we are confident that we are on the right path. | {
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While Rachel Maddow drones on with the coherence of Janet Yellen, losing thousands of viewers by the minute, the MSNBC anchor was promptly scooped not only by the White House which revealed her "secret" one hour in advance, but also by the Daily Beast which reported that its contributor David Cay Johnston had obtained the first two pages of Trump’s 2005 federal income tax return, allegedly receiving them in the mail, and posted his "analysts" on his website, DCReport.org.
According to the documents, Trump and his wife Melania paid $38 million in total income tax, consisting of $5.3 million in regular federal income tax, and an additional $31 million of “alternative minimum tax,” or AMT.
Clean copies of Trump's tax returns pic.twitter.com/exJJZ5QqnG — The_Real_Fly (@The_Real_Fly) March 15, 2017
The White House statement confirmed the finding: “Before being elected President, Mr. Trump was one of the most successful businessmen in the world with a responsibility to his company, his family and his employees to pay no more tax than legally required,” the White House said in a statement. “That being said, Mr. Trump paid $38 million dollars even after taking into account large scale depreciation for construction, on an income of more than $150 million dollars, as well as paying tens of millions of dollars in other taxes such as sales and excise taxes and employment taxes and this illegally published return proves just that.”
As the Beast notes, 2005 was the year that Trump, then a newly minted reality star, made his last big score as a real-life real estate developer, when he sold two properties, one on Manhattan’s west side and one in San Francisco, to Hong Kong investors, accounting for the lion’s share of his income that year.
“It is totally illegal to steal and publish tax returns,” the White House statement concluded. “The dishonest media can continue to make this part of their agenda, while the President will focus on his, which includes tax reform that will benefit all Americans.”
But the real story here is that there is no story: what MSNBC confirmed is that Trump made more money than some of his critics said he made in the period in question, and more importantly, that he paid a generous effective income tax rate, well above the 14.1% rate paid by Mitt Romney, and even higher than the 13.5% federal tax rate paid by Bernie Sanders in 2014.
Trump 2005 tax rate: 25%
Romney 2011 tax rate: 14.1%
Sanders 2014 tax rate: 13.5% — zerohedge (@zerohedge) March 15, 2017
Sadly for Maddow, with this attempt at a "blockbuster" story which has quickly backfired, she may well have killed the great distraction that was the trope of Trump's tax returns, and which the rest of the "resistance" press hammered on every now and then. | {
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A clam is called a filter feeder because it sucks in water and food (plankton and other microscopic creatures) through its incurrent siphon. Then, it filters the water with its gills and the waste water is excreted through the excurrent siphon. Then, the labial palps push the food into the clams mouth and the clam starts eating. | {
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Eric Garner, the New Yorker who died from strangulation after a cop used a chokehold against him, also had a broken hyoid bone just like Jeffrey Epstein.
Garner’s high-profile death in 2014 centered around his broken hyoid bone, which led New York City’s chief medical examiner to conclude that Garner died of “compression of neck (chokehold), compression of chest and prone positioning during physical restraint by police.”
Epstein also had a broken hyoid bone according to an autopsy, the Washington Post reported.
And, as reported earlier, experts said they are more common in victims of strangulation.
In the aftermath of Garner’s death, the police union claimed that Garner’s broken hyoid bone “demonstrates conclusively” that Garner didn’t die of strangulation, but the medical examiner completely rejected that claim – and there was also the viral video of the cop choking Garner and Garner stating “I can’t breathe,” which at the bare minimum was a factor in his death.
According to the Washington Post:
The hyoid bone played a central role in a heated dispute last year over another high-profile death in New York, that of Eric Garner. A New York police officer was accused of using an improper chokehold while trying to arrest Garner and of causing his death. A police officers’ association claimed that an autopsy from Sampson’s office found there was no break of Garner’s hyoid bone, and that this proved that the officer could not have strangled Garner and caused his death.
This “demonstrates conclusively that Mr. Garner did not die of strangulation of the neck from a chokehold,” the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association said.
But [New York City’s chief medical examiner] Sampson rejected that claim, saying she stood by her conclusion that Garner died of “compression of neck (chokehold), compression of chest and prone positioning during physical restraint by police.” Sampson’s office said Garner’s bronchial asthma, obesity and high blood pressure were contributing factors.
The Emergency Election Sale is now live! Get 30% to 60% off our most popular products today! | {
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Indiana Jones Crystal Skull Poster and Cannes Debut (Trailer)
The much anticipated Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull has it's star performer, Harrison Ford battling with a group of evil Russians hunting for a lost artifact with supposed psychic powers.
Crystal Skull made it's debut on Sunday, May 18th at the Cannes Film Festival and according to some who previewed the film, it may not have been worth the 19 year wait.
I’m not afraid at all. I expect to have the whip turned on me. It’s not unusual for something that is popular to be disdained by some people, and I fully expect it. I work for the people who pay to get in. They are my customers, and my focus is on providing the best experience I can for those people.”
Steven Spielberg and creator-producer George Lucas opted for the showy splash of the famed film festival to make their big entrance. The movie has been shrouded in secrecy until it's weekend unveiling at Cannes. Normally the film would have made the rounds with numerous press screenings but directorand creator-produceropted for the showy splash of the famed film festival to make their big entrance.
Ford had this to say about the lackluster acceptance of his latest project:
Crystal Skull has been so hotly anticipated that it will be virtually immune from critics’ opinions. The film is expected to put up blockbuster box-office numbers when it opens globally Thursday, May 22.
Check out old posters from previous Indiana Jones films and the Crystal Skull movie trailer below.
Preview movie trailer below.
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There are a few versions of the story. In one, Carlos chopped a cheeseburger to fit a hero roll after running out of circular buns. Another holds that Yemeni workers came up with the sandwich along with Carlos, perhaps bringing some techniques from their home country. A third posits that Carlos had dental issues and was trying to make a burger easier to chew.
Sam Moslih, who works evenings at the bodega, said someone had seen the creation and asked Carlos to make one. “And,” he continued, “it just went from there.”
Fame
For years, the sandwich enjoyed a below-the-radar kind of renown, savored by those who grew up eating it at bodegas across the city, unknown to many others — and fetishized by a few.
Soon as I step out my building, they like I need that / Hajji’s for dinner, them chopped cheese I still eat that — The Harlem rapper Dave East in the song “Nino”
Usually costing $4 or $5, the sandwich has the qualities of what scientists call an emergent property — it is greater than the sum of its parts. Fans of the food say part of its appeal is that it is infinitely customizable.
“It’s not supposed to be a gourmet item,” said Anthony Ramirez II, a Bronx entrepreneur who owns a restaurant and bar, the Bronx Beer Hall, and the company FromTheBronx.com.
Mr. Ramirez said the sandwich was popular with students he used to work with. “You don’t go out of your way looking for it,” he said. “It’s an affordable option, and it’s hot and tasty.”
But in recent years, the sandwich has been finding a wider audience: a cameo in a Bronx-themed episode of Anthony Bourdain’s CNN show, “Parts Unknown”; a shout-out in a restaurant review in The New York Times; an in-depth look on a food blog run by Complex Media; and a growing volume of web features, music videos and social media chatter.
Whatever it was, the chopped cheese’s star was on the rise.
The Almonte Episode | {
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GEORGE TOWN: Penang Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow (pic) has raised several questions about the proposed Kulim International Airport, following reports that the Kedah state government had obtained approval from the Federal Government to develop the new RM1.6bil airport in the Kuala Muda district.
Chow said there were a lot of concerns on the proposed airport in terms of its impact on Penang, adding that while the proposal to have a second international airport, whether in or out of Penang was “not something new”, it looked “quite serious” this time.
“It had been mooted a decade or two ago, but this time it looks quite serious in that the feasibility study was done and a special purpose company has been set up.
“And (Kedah) Mentri Besar (Datuk Seri Muhkriz Mahathir) had paid Penang a visit to convey Kedah’s position on two matters, one on the Ulu Muda catchment issue, while the other on seeking our support for the Kulim International Airport. At the meeting, we did not say if we supported or rejected the proposal.
“At that time, Datuk Seri Muhkriz said it will be only a cargo airport and not a passenger airport. Then we responded by asking Kedah to send us a copy of the feasibility study because he said the study had been done.
“We received the report and it seemed clear that the study is on an airport, not just for cargo but passengers as well,” he said, adding that the study was sent to him late last year.
Chow was speaking to reporters at the Penang Development Corporation (PDC) Chinese New Year celebration at the PDC building in Bayan Lepas yesterday.
He, however, said Transport Minister Anthony Loke had told him that the ministry had not approved any new airport project for the northern region yet.
“I believe Kedah did the study without also referring to us in those days. I don’t know which era the study was done.
“Anyway, it was after the study and after the change of (Kedah) government that the Mentri Besar saw fit to engage with us to seek our understanding,” he said.
Chow said there would definitely be some impact when asked about the economic impact on Penang if the Kulim airport was built,
“The fact that whether a second international airport is feasible or not is a question we would like to ask.
“If it is a cargo airport, what type of cargo are you talking about? If it is for primary products, then perhaps a seaport will be more appropriate than an airport.
“If it is for electronics products, I believe the Penang International Airport in Bayan Lepas is already serving the industry very well.”
Bernama reported on Thursday that a special entity known as KXP AirportCity Holdings Sdn Bhd had been set up to plan, coordinate and manage the development of the Kulim International Airport.
According to Kedah Mentri Besar Datuk Mukhriz Mahathir, the Kedah state government had obtained approval from the Federal Government to develop the new RM1.6bil airport in the Kuala Muda district.
Chow said the state government would commission a study for the possibility of a new international airport on reclaimed land by the side of Batu Maung.
“Even before receiving this report (on the Kulim airport proposal), I had spoken about our plans for a second airport in Penang.”
“We have raised this with the Northern Corridor Implementation Authority (NCIA) and have received a response from NCIA that they are willing to do the study for us but they need to get the budget from the Transport Ministry.
“We decided that if they are unable to come up with the budget, the state will finance the study ourselves.
“Of course the study will also have to look at Kulim. If there is a proposal, our study will also be required to look at other proposals in the northern region of a possible second airport,” he added. | {
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Subsets and Splits